Macy with her pile.

 

Everything is unwrapped and she looks happy!!

Emily designed coffee mugs for everyone and here is dad looking his over.

Daniel pleased with the airsoft gun he got.

 

He discovered it was a bit complicated and required reading the directions.  And then a knowledgable friend came over to help with the questions.

And the last Coleman Christmas!!

Once again Daniel gets to play Santa Claus!  You can bet he's been eyeing this present for a while now but since I didn't put any names on the gifts, he wasn't sure it was even his!

Smiling like the cat who ate the canary because he was right. The biggest present WAS his!

A gift mailed from Emily only seemed to be empty but really held Microsoft points.  What are those, you ask??  Only the most coveted thing for boys who play online video games.  You can use them to buy more games and play even longer with your friends.

Another Coleman Christmas

Loren, Gertie, Marlene

Macy, John, Daniel and me

Daniel has been Santa for many years now, we read the names on the gift tags for him when he was small(er) and now you can see that he towers above the tree.  John first noticed how he dwarfs the tree and made jokes about it being a six foot tree and our son was 8 feet tall.  Grandma used to get real trees and then decided a fake one was the way to go.  Much easier to take care of and clean up after. 

And somehow Grandma ended up getting all of the presents so it wasn't too difficult for Daniel to figure out who they were supposed to go to.  The rest of us got 'special' envelopes and we are to shop for ourselves.  Thank you, Grandma.  I'll use my envelope for something very special.

More picture of Christmas goodies to make your mouth water.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas, Coleman style

One of the trays of treats

My family.

Chex mix, anyone??

I guess I needed one of these because it came down the driveway on Saturday afternoon.  Merry Christmas to me??

Christmas a little early

We haven't exchanged presents in my family for many years.  We had started playing bingo after a traditional Christmas dinner and gave away prizes to bingo winners.  This year we decided it had run it's course.  One evening not long ago my mother was saying how she really wanted a robe and slippers to relax in after supper when she watched TV (and fell asleep in her chair).  I paid attention.  Christmas shopping in Penney's gave me the perfect opportunity to find just such a robe that mom had described.  A call to my sister to verify color and size and I decided to add a pair of very pretty pajamas as well.

I have given my dad a senior citizen's pass to school sporting events for several years now for his birthday.  I knew that he was struggling with the uncomfortable bleachers so I decided to buy him a stadium chair.  Hopefully he'll be able to carry it to the gym and get it set up to provide some relief on his hips and back. 

Mom's reaction to her pink robe was classic.  There were tears as well.  From my mom, my dad, my sister and me.  Mom said she didn't know what to get me in return but my request was a simple one.  Stick around for a while longer.  Please.  I love these two people and I understand how fortunate I am to still have them in my life.

 

 

Thanksgiving

Was spent with the usual family members as well as Macy's friends from MCAD.

We had breakfast the next morning at the Hometown Restaurant as part of my 'keep the kitchen clean campaign'.  I had cooked and cleaned for a full turkey and all the fixin's meal on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and I decided the easiest thing for me was to take them out for breakfast.  They all seemed pretty ok with it.  There was James, his mom Shari, Luke, Lance, their friend Zach and Macy and her two new roommates Bri and Leigh.

Mugging for the camera before they all left to go back to their 'other' homes!

James is HOME!!!!!!!!!!

Macy's friend, James, was stationed in South Korea for over a year and was finally assigned to a post state-side.  Friend? BFF? Other Brother? All these descriptions fit when it comes to Macy and her boys.  James was missed very much as he was the instigator in their crazy shinanigans.  He flew home on November 13, Macy picked him up at the airport and together they picked up Lance and Luke from Gustavus  and then to my house they arrived!!  James' plan was to surprise his sisters at school the next day and mission accomplished.  We are so glad you're home, James!  We all missed you!

Me and my other son.  :-)  The picture below is of James, Luke and Lance sitting - no perching on Macy's car.  Poor little car's bumper was almost on the ground with all that weight on it.  These are the shinanigans that we missed while you were in Korea.  Love you forever!!!

Macy moves to MCAD!!

A new chapter began in Macy's life.  When she realized AI wasn't where she wanted to be we scheduled a visit to MCAD and she fell in love.  Actually she fell in love once she saw the studios with the natural lighting.  And the artifical lighting in the classrooms that mimiced natural lighting.  Whatever it was, it was plain to see that it was love at first sight.  The last week of August 2012 was move in time and we loaded up the van and her little blue grandma car and headed out.  Moving in was a good experience.  We got to park on the sidwalk in front of the apartment building and we were the third to arrive.  The fourth roommate was last but that was ok.  Her other two roommate's parents were wonderful and helped carry really heavy totes to the apartment.  Of course there was a farming connection with one set of parents and low and behold the other parent works with two of my classmates.  :-)  It felt a little like 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.  There's always a connection out there!!  Orientation was the next day and was very well organized with lots of good info for parents and students alike.  Great food, great upperclassmen who did a fabulous job of making you feel comfortable about leaving your little girl with them.  Course we'd been there done that before so there were fewer tears this time around.  Still lots of jitters for Macy because the transfer student has the advantage of having left home before but now you're in a new place.  Again.  Deep breath.  You'll be fine. 

Emily came home!!!!!!!!!!!

Emily flew home in July to be around for Erin's birthday and to host her bachelorette party in Sioux City.  It was good to see her and we visited with Grandma and Grandpas and had a supper at the Hometown.

I forced the children from the house and made Macy pose us for a picture.  It turned out great but I thought corraling John to join us would be too much.  Soooo we got a nice picture of me and the kids.

Had to have a picture with Emily and Daniel.  He's so tall and she's so short.  She's complaining that her little brother is taller than she is.  And he's not done growing yet!!

Me and my baby at the airport.

My two baby girls.....love them and miss them when they aren't home.

Daniel's 14th Birthday

Started out with lunch at the Superfair Deli because that's where Grandma and Grandpa always have lunch on Sunday.  Grandma's sister, Faye and her husband, Dennis always meet them there.  Grandma made Daniel's favorite cookies.

 

Later in the afternoon Daniel was joined by friends at Memorial Park.

We waited for another friend to join us and then off to Jakes Pizza we went!

Presents were opened, brownies with ice cream were consumed and back to the basement they went for frolic and fun!!  I had Macy help me buy Daniel an iPod for his birthday and she found an iHome that would be used for playing music and an alarm that could wake him in the morning!!  So the plan was to give him the iHome WITHOUT the iPod....it worked.  He was majorly confused and I played the dumb mom who thought she was buying him an iPod and dock.....friends were thinking I was really stupid.....I apologized once I figured out what went wrong....and then I brought out another gift bag that held the iPod.....he was a happy camper when he opened the iPod and I was happy that I pulled it off!!  Happy birthday Daniel!!