Mackenzie started soccer!

Today marked Mackenzie's first foray into soccer :) She is playing on the fall league at the E.B. YMCA, just like Katie did when she went to preschool there. Even though it rained today (thus canceling Katie's opening day ceremonies & game in the town league), Kenzie still had practice ... they moved it inside to the gym at the Y!

First we do our stretches ...


Then a lap around the gym ...


Next we listen and get instructions from the coaches ...


Learning to stop the ball ...


Finally, I can touch the ball! LOL

First day of chool pictures

Here are Katie and Kenzie on Katie's first day of 1st grade (Sept. 2nd) ... Katie has Mrs. Cowan and just loves her :)



Running to the bus stop ...



Getting on the bus ... and in case anyone was curious, never a backward glance to Mom & Dad!!



Mackenzie started preschool on Sept. 9th ... she had to get all dolled up in the pretty dress that Auntie Nancy bought for her, complete w/ fancy white 'tappy' shoes & her matching purse!



Running up the walkway to the Y preschool ... see a pattern with my kids? LOL



A first day of school hug for Miss Toni, the 'bestest' preschool teacher EVER!

School Has Begun!

Yesterday was Katie's first day of first grade! Yes, my little Katie is now a big first-grader :) She has Mrs. Cowan and is ~LOVING~ school ... yes, I know it's only the second day, but c'mon, she LOVES it!!

Mackenzie will start school next week, back to the YMCA Small-Fry preschool & Miss Toni on Wednesday! She is so excited & frequently asks, "Momma, is it time for ME to go to school YET?"

Jake goes back to UMass this weekend. It's been awesome having him home for the summer (even though my food bill increased quite a bit), and it will take us a while to get used to him not being home. We're driving him out to school tomorrow w/ a van load of stuff & helping him get situated a bit.

Did I say how much I *love* back-to-school??? LOL

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 ...


And the 'after' photo ...


And a photo including the small antique children's chair that I recovered in the same fabric ...


I think that's about it for now, and I promise to update more frequently!!!

I am one *VERY* *PROUD* *MOMMA* !!!

Jake just called to let me know he'd gotten his grades for his first semester at UMass Amherst ... and I am sooooo proud I could just about bust! First, he took a really difficult course load ... second, he was totally on his own, no 'reminders' to 'do your homework' or 'work on that project'! Here is what he accomplished ...

Greek Civilization ... B
Anthropology ... B+
Art History ... A-
French Films ... A
Relativity ... A
Dean's Book ... A

His GPA is a 3.55!!! He has a Grade Point Total of 56.8, which means that technically he could be considered a sophomore! After just ONE semester :)

I am sooooooooooooo proud of Jake!!

Christmas was GREAT!

The Coles family had a GREAT Christmas this year ... both boys were home, the girls loved every second of the holidays, and all the presents were hits! Santa was very good to everyone :)

Katie was in our church's live nativity. We were astonished when she had MAJOR stage-fright ... to the point of taking off her angel costume & declaring, "I QUIT THE SHOW!" I managed to get her back in the costume and up to the altar with everyone else, where Katie proceeded to have an absolute blast, complete w/ waving and winking at all of us!



Christmas Eve service at church was wonderful. The teens from Sunday School carried the nativity figures up to the altar one by one and then held candles while the congregation sang. It was so peaceful and beautiful ... I always love a church lit soley by candelight, faith, and hope.

The poor boys ... their birthday kind of gets lost every year w/ all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. We did have an ice cream cake & sang to both of them (separately, as we wanted the girls to be able to sing to at least one of them & James wasn't home until after the girls were in bed), and they opened their birthday gifts. It makes me so glad that I always gave them a 'half-birthday' party in the summer, just so they'd get some attention of their own!! I can't believe they're 19 ... both such responsible young men.

The boys both slept here on Christmas Eve (after poor Jake had his Rodeo towed home from Dedham ... the axle broke & he didn't make it to Christmas Eve service) and woke up to open presents w/ their sisters.

The boys then spent the rest of Christmas Day with their father, while we trucked to Weymouth to spend the day with Shawn's sister & family, and Nana & Pop. The best gift of the day was Sean's present for Pop ... a BIBLE!! Yup, that boys got some sense of humor ;) Managed to get a good picture of Nana, Pop, Nancy, and Shawn ...

Mackenzie's birthday follows on the heels of Christmas, January 4th. She turned 4 this year, and we held the party on the 3rd so James could be there (he had to go back to base on the 4th). It was just a family party, but Mackenzie was thrilled and got lots of nice presents. Best present of the day (I think) is her brand spankin' new 2-wheeler (w/ training wheels of course) & helmet!

Bowling!

Shawn has been affectionately called the 'bowling electrician' by some friends, and this year I finally joined him in bowling! We bowl at Westgate Lanes on Wednesday evenings on a mixed league. It's so much fun!! Our team is ~awesome~ and we all get along great. One member is out because he had to have knee surgery (speedy recovery, Jim!!) so there are just four of us on the team right now ... it's us & Dave and Lisa Gomes.

I was not sure how effective I'd be on the team, or if I'd be the token bad bowler, LOL. I started out as that bad bowler ... the first week I only averaged 83! We started bowling the Wednesday after Labor Day, and now have 15 weeks (45 games) bowled ... and I've brought my average up to a 103! I've even qualified for a couple of awards ... my high game was a 182!

One great thing about bowling is that we get a date night every single week now. Yeah, it's not a candlelight dinner or some other romantic outing, but it's fun, it's good exercise, and we're having a blast :)

Katie lost her first tooth!

It's been loose for a few weeks, and she's been working at it & wiggling it. Well, yesterday it came out :) What an excited little girl we had yesterday!! When Daddy was talking to her about the tooth fairy, Katie excitedly asked, "I wonder if she'll leave me a yo-yo and two dollars??" Apparently the tooth fairy didn't have any yo-yo's because she left Katie a brand new five dollar bill ... it must have been because it was her very first tooth to come out!

Trick-or-Treat!

The girls had a wonderful time trick-or-treating on Halloween. Daddy "won" the draw for getting to take them out, and Mommy stayed home to dole out the treats to our visitors! (Best costume of the night was a teen who came dressed as a basket of laundry ... complete w/ underwear on his head!!)

Katie dressed as Princess Ariel and Mackenzie was Tinkerbell. Here are some pictures...



Some of you may remember that since Katie's first Halloween, we have put a "big" inflatable pumpkin in our front yard and taken pictures next to it, sort of a size gauge for each passing year. It's become a Coles Family Tradition, and I thought you'd like to see the progression from year to year ...

Katie's first Halloween, October 2003 ...

Katie's second Halloween, October 2004 ...

Mackenzie's first Halloween, October 2005 ...

October 2006 ...

Last Halloween, October 2007 ...

And finally, this year, October 2008 ...


Suddenly our "big" pumpkin is seeming kind of SMALL !!!

Autumn Leaves

What do you get when you take one HUGE leaf pile and add two giggling little girls? Lots of great pictures and a whole lot of fun ...











Here are a copule of short video clips of the fun ...


Here is Daddy blowing the leaves on top of the girls ...

Katie played DOME soccer!

As part of the fall town league, each team was given the opportunity to play a game in the DOME in Bridgewater. Katie's team played on Tuesday ... they had a blast! Katie did super ... actually listened to her coach, followed directions, paid attention, and did really well. She played goalie for a while, and actually ~DOVE~ for the ball!!! She knocked it away, the other team rebounded and shot it in as she hadn't gotten up yet ... but we were proud as punch at her effort! Daddy treated her to an ice cream at Skinner's after the game for trying her best :)

Excuse the picture quality ... again Momma forgot the 'real' camera & only had her phone camera to capture the moments!

Katie waiting for the action to begin ...


Trying to get into the scrum for the ball ...


Coach putting on her goalie jersey ...


Katie waiting for the opportunity to save ...



Peering over the boards at the game (she had to stand on something to see over the boards, LOL!) ...


And a quick side note ... Katie and Mackenzie are actually at an age where they can play a game together, by themselves! Here they are in their room, playing Hi-Ho Cherri-o!

Visited Jake at UMass Amherst :)

Finally we were able to get out to visit Jake at UMass-Amherst! The campus is beautiful, and H~U~G~E!!! Jake took us on an abbreviated walking tour, pointing out the buildings where he has classes, his dining hall, etc. Of course I forgot my camera, so the pictures I took were all on my phone. I think my favorite building is the Old Chapel ...



Here is Jake's dorm building, Webster Hall ...


Jake's dorm room is good sized, and remarkably clean for two guys! LOL Here are pictures of Jake & his sisters in his dorm room ...



Here is one of the three of them outside ...


After our tour of the campus, we had to walk back up 'the hill' to get to Jake's dorm ... what a killer! No wonder the kids are all so skinny, LOL! Jake gave Katie a piggy-back ride & Daddy gave Kenzie one ... no one was left to haul my sorry butt up the hill, so I had to huff & puff on my own ... UGH!


Here is a shot of Jake & Shawn goofing around


We took Jake to Target and bought him some Halloween decorations for his room, some snacks, gatorade & iced tea, and a new jacket ... then we took him to dinner at the Amherst Brewing Company. Food was great! We didn't get home until after 11 p.m., but it was so great to get out there and visit! Now to get Jake to come ~home~ for a visit, LOL!