It has been a very long time. I think about this blog a lot and then the time I have at night to put key stroke to screen vanishes into thin air.
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| Garden gnomes. |
Life around here in the summer is nutty. I work long hours and we try to maximize fun in the off hours. We love to get these two to smile and play nice together. The four year old is so cool lately. He loves his pre-school we bask in his intelligence. He has some sweet buddies and is quickly becoming the king of the school. The two year old has a couple of good buddies and is pretty jolly. Add them together and let the fighting commence. Sibling rivalry is alive and well in the Coleman house. Just when Ed and I think we are going to go crazy, they play so nicely together, so quietly.
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| Jr. and his dragon carrots. |
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| Graham and the tomato harvest. |
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| Graham's first day at Jr.'s pre-school. |
September was marked by the passing of my grandmother,
Jeri. I was gone working on a fire near Bozeman when I got the call that her liver was failing. They gave her 2 weeks to 2 months to live. All of the family was assembling in Chinook to wish her well on her journey. Jr. and I busted a move to get up there just in time to see her hours before she passed. It was easily the most surreal and intense experience of my life. Jr. was great, he rolled with all of the activity and fully understood the gravity of the situation. I was so grateful to get to see her one more time and wish I could have talked to her while she was still lucid.
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| I miss my grandmother so much. |
I came home, picked up Ed and Graham and headed back to Chinook for her funeral. Everyone was there, all of my cousins minus a couple and we had wonderful celebration of her life. We decided to stay a few more days to hang out with my poor grandfather. The boys had a blast. We were a little bit nervous about rattle snakes nearby, but the boys got to do all of the fun things we got to do as kids. They love it there and were sure pick me ups for my aunts and my dad and stepmom. Even my grandfather described their sweet voices (?!?!?) as music to his ears. Ed worked for my uncle Scott on the Ranch. We attended a homecoming volleyball game and watched as the Chinook Sugarbeeters beat the Centerville Miners in a Friday night game of 8 man football. It was so fun to watch my cousin Courtney and Gavin play sports. We are excited to head back soon.
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| The boys at my grandmother's funeral. |
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| Dancing outside of the funeral. |
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| Ed and I after the funeral. |
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| Baby on the 4-wheeler. |
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| Big boys on the four-wheeler. |
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| Papa Bill up on the prairie. |
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| Jr. shooting at cans with a bb-gun. Both he and Graham knocked the can over (with mom's help...) |
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| Jr. with his shooting eye protection. |
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| The boys and my cousin Gavin. |
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| Ed driving the tractor. |
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| Spiderman and Batman. |
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| The boys with Grandpa. |
We came home in time to celebrate Ed and my birthdays! Ed and I got to go to dinner for his birthday with some friends. Then my mom came to town this last weekend to watch the boys while we went to camp and hot spring in Norris. We were tickled pink to camp just the two of us - well, plus my cousins and Cissie - but still, no boys. Don't get me wrong, we missed them, but this was the first time EVER we have had a night to ourselves without either child since Jr. was born. We may have gone a little crazy... Happy Birthday to us!
