Coles Creations: Long overdue update!

My gosh, how the time flies! I really need to make a mid-year resolution to update the blog more frequently. Lots has happened since January, so here goes ...

Jake ... Jake has finished his first year at UMass Amherst w/ a GPA of somewhere in the vicinity of 3.65 :) We are very, very proud!! Next year he'll be living in a different dorm, with several of his friends. He's excited about his classes & really enjoying himself. He's keeping himself busy this summer, working on his dad's house & doing odd jobs for people. He was asked to speak for the Kiwanis Club during their annual scholarship recipient honor night, and he did a great job!

Katie ... Katie did a great job in kindergarten and will be a first grader in the fall! She got glowing reports from her teacher, and has improved oodles and oodles since the beginning of the year. She's now reading books (mostly) on her own, doing word puzzles, and enjoys playing on the computer & on the Wii. She scored extremely high on her standardized tests :)

Kenzie ... Kenzie 'graduated' from preschool, but will be attending again this fall. This year she only attended for a few months as sort of a 'trial' run. She did very well, and can now write her own name & is starting to spell a few short words. Her biggest recent accomplishment is wearing panties to bed, she's understandably very proud of that!

Shawn and I ... Shawn's dad passed away at the end of March, and we're still dealing with the grief of that loss. Shawn is keeping busy helping his Mom with the paperwork and misc. items that need to be tied up in regards to that. He's also been doing some side jobs, and is s-l-o-w-l-y moving up the Union list.

We've been up to the lake several times, got the house all opened up (Shawn's Mom is now up there for an extended period), and got the boat in the water ... YAY! The girls are totally loving the boat, especially if we're really going fast!

The business is doing ok, still slow but lots of people are having appliances repaired instead of buying new ones. I guess that's one upside of this economy.

We took the girls to the circus this week & they had a wonderful time. This is the same circus that my dad used to take the boys to (and sneak them in at intermission, LOL)! Katie is still talking about the acrobats & the motorcycles in the cage, and both girls were fascinated with the man being shot out of the cannon.

Here is a picture of all four girls (we went with our friends) ...

(from L to R ... Anna, Katie, Kenzie, Jessica)

Our good friends, the Griffins, are coming up from Texas to visit in just 16 days!! We're so excited to be able to show them the Boston area. We have plans to visit Plymouth Plantation, the Mayflower, Boston Common, the Public Gardens, the Freedom Trail, and we'll be taking them up to Lake Winnepesauke as well. Hopefully the weather will cooperate (we're due some sun, right??) and we can do all we've planned. One night the grown-ups are going in to Boston for dinner at the Melting Pot & then to see Blue Man Group! We're lucky that Jake is available to babysit the four girls :)

My latest project was to reupholster our small couch in the living room. Shawn bought it at a yard sale before we got married and it was in decent shape then, but has deteriorated over the years to the point where he thought we'd have to throw it out. It's got a great rattan & bamboo frame, so I figured I'd try to reupholster it. Shawn found a bolt of nice fabric by the side of the road a few years ago & it goes well in our living room so I used that.

Here is the 'before' photo ...