Rob's family

Gretchen's Star Originally uploaded by robert_h_coleman . This is the star that Gretchen made to put on our tree. She was very put out when I told her that we had purchased a new bigger tree. We wound up putting out little (3') in the hallway upstairs so she could put this star on it.

DSCN2877 copy Originally uploaded by robert_h_coleman . This is Melinda putting her angel on our tree this year.

We always put out the Christmas decorations on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Always. Except for this year. We were having guests in the evening and it just didn't seem to make sense to put all that stuff out until we had some time we could devote to it. You would have thought that we said, "No dessert for a week!" Both girls moped around and reminded us that "We always put out Christmas decorations on the Friday after Thankgiving." To make matters worse, we didn't do it on Saturday either. Four Colemans woke up cranky so that didn't seem a good time to do it either. Instead, we packed up lunch (Turkey sandwiches of course) and went to the Zoo. Finally this morning we put up the decorations. Wow, what a difference a year makes. The girls did a great job helping. We've got a tree for just their ornaments and they did a nice job putting on the ornaments and working together. We have a Play Mobile Nativity scene and they played with that for ...

Tracey's responsible for running the school book fair. As a result, she asked me (four months ago) if I could take off Mon/Tue before Thanksgiving - so she wouldn't have to worry about finding sitters. Not a problem AT ALL - I've got some vacation... So here we are - day one of my extended weekend... What to do? The first thing I thought of was to go to the new Kohl children's Museum . To you non-Chicago folks, it's an award winning kid's museum - and they JUST opened in a new site (2X as big). I mentioned this plan to Tracey and her lower lip started quivering, "But I thought we all could go some time... Maybe we can go on Wednesday." OK, scratch that idea. Thought number two was ice skating. The preschool the girls went to was right next door to an indoor rink - so they'd been a couple times. Last winter we enrolled Melinda in a class and for 8 weeks, she shuffled around learning some of the basics. OK - that should be fun. My most vivid memor...

Several times over the last 5 or so years, I've attached a microphone to the computer and let the girls talk or sing or whatever..." Here's Melinda: Colors of the Rainbow Doggie and Pepper Belle Doggie wakes up Doggie's making cookies Happy Birthday Hi Papa I love you Mommy! Larry and Bob! Laugh! Look at me!

Several times over the last 5 or so years, I've attached a microphone to the computer and let the girls talk or sing or whatever..." Here's Gretchen: Winnie the Pooh You're naked Big push P B Butter I want to ride on your shoulders Come on Daddy Throw Peanuts Look at me! Sing a song of winter!

0109 Originally uploaded by robert_h_coleman . This is one of my favorite pictures of Gretchen. We frequently take 'puddle walks' when it's nice after heavy rains. We try to encourage boots, but this time, gretchen wanted to wear her sandles.

DSCN1710 Originally uploaded by robert_h_coleman . We had a great trip to Mt. Rushmore. The girls even thought this was an ok stop. Addition - March 24th, 2008. When we arrived at this stop it was only after an hour of driving. We had spent the previous night quite close by. The girls were being a little squirrelly. I parked the van and looked back and laid it out for them. "Girls! We have driven 1500 miles for the experience we're going to have in the next 30 minutes. No screwing around. If you don't whine, you can select something to buy for yourself at Wall Drug Store." No kidding I used the bribe. Not something we often do, but it was effective. They didn't whine and we had a pretty good visit.