Friday, January 30, 2009

Ice Days....

Well we’ve almost made it thru the snow days. After being home Monday thru Thursday with the kids I finally had to tell Ryan that I had to go to work to have some alone time. So I had a nice long day at work today and loved it!!! Yesterday was fun though because Mary and Lucy packed up and came over for a little while to get out of their house. My mother is still without electricity along with thousands of other people in Northwest Arkansas. My family was so fortunate to not loose ours. I don’t know what we would have done if we had to sit in a cold house for days.

Tonight Ryan and I decided that we did not want to sit in the house and play Narnia Castle with Taylor (his new favorite game that he refuses to play by himself), so we got in the truck and went to Shogun for dinner. Taylor loves to go there and watch the show and eat with chopsticks. Unfortunately we were not the only family that wanted to get out of the house because the restaurant was packed. It was going to be an hour wait to get to sit at the grill so we settled for a table. Taylor was not too terribly disappointed because we got to sit by the fish tank and that entertained him well.



















Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Snow Day Again

Today we had another snow day at home with the kids. All of the schools are still closed today so we tried to make the most of being inside. My mom has been staying with us, because she does not have electricity, and Taylor has been in hog heaven. He loves having his manna stay at his house.

Taylor was pretty cute playing in the snow with his dad today. They also entertained themselves by making a tent out of my new bedroom furniture. (And, yes that is curling ribbon that they hung that sheet up with from my bedpost.)







Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ice Ice Baby….

That’s want the residence of Bentonville were singing today. We have roughly an inch of ice on the ground right now. We are very fortunate that as of now we have not lost electricity. I know that my mom lost hers this morning, and when I talked to her she said she was going to pack up her car and come over to our house.

I pray that we keep our electricity. Emma has been running a 100.2 degree temp, Ryan woke up with the stomach gunk, and Taylor is coming down with a cold. That is all that we need are sick babies and no warm heat going. We will wait and see.

We are going a little stir crazy being in the house. We got so board at one point that Taylor and I argued about why they call a Belly Button a Belly Button. He insisted that they meant to call it a “Belly Hole.” How can you argue much with that?

Thursday was supposed to mark the day that we were to start moving to the farm, but with the weather I think it will probably be next week before we can start that process. My mom was having carpet laid on Wednesday and her hardwood floors finished, but I doubt that anyone can get down there to do the work. Lots of moving pieces going on right now and the weather has put them on hold for now. Oh well I guess that just goes to show that you can’t plan everything always.

Enjoy the pictures of our ice filled days.








I usually don’t let messes happen in my house but today was an exception:





Just hanging around:

This is from the other day after church and it was just to cute not to post:

Monday, January 26, 2009

Emma’s Latest Art Work

Some of this is old but I needed to save it. I am really trying to keep up with Emma's, and one day maybe I will be able to go back to Taylor’s and pick out some of his old stuff to archive.

Emma's Ghost Feet 10/08

Emma the Scarecrow 10/08



Emma’s Christmas Coloring 12/08



Emma’s Reindeer Hand 12/08


Emma the Snowman 12/08



Emma’s Snowman Feet Prints 12/08

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Taylor Comments In Sunday School

This morning Taylor’s Sunday school teacher gave me a recap of their bible story conversation, and it was too cute not to post:

The teacher was discussing Jesus’ baptism, and how Jesus will love us forever, and forgive us for all of the things that we do that might not be right. Well Taylor pipes up and says “that is really good Ms. Nikki because I do lots of bad things.” Taylor’s friend Kenneth then pipes up and says “that is good because I do even more bad things than Taylor.” I guess the two of them were confessing their sins, and just needed to get something off of their shoulders.

These two are too funny, and I love hearing their thoughts.

I’m back…..

In my old clothes that is!!!! I was so excited this morning when I took out a pair of my old pants (pre Emma pregnancy) to try on, and they fit!!! They are a little snug but they fit and button up and I wore them all day long because I was so proud that I could finally get back in them.

You know, to this day I have not gotten back to the size 2 that I was before I got pregnant with Taylor. And I will probably never get there again, but I would be really happy with a size 6. When I was pregnant with Taylor I gained 55 pounds, and it took me almost two years to loose 40 of it. But with Emma Grace I took the doctors advice and tried not to gain as much weight. The doctors suggest that you gain only 25 with a single child pregnancy, but I was close by only gaining 30. It was so much easier to take off this time than it was with Taylor. I would say that if I could loose 10-15 more pounds I would be really proud.

This is my advice for all pregnant women: “Only gain what the doctors tell you to. It is so much easier to shed it once the baby gets here.”

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Friday Night Fun

Yesterday afternoon Mary and Lucy came over for a Girl’s/Taylor night of fun. Ryan is out duck hunting with Mr. Aaron Scott, so we took advantage of the opportunity to get together. Taylor and I love it when Aunt Mary and Lucy come over to play. Taylor wants all of his Aunt’s attention and insists on talking to her all night long. It is so cute! Here are some pictures from our night.




It sounds like Ryan and Aaron are having fun together. Evidently Aaron “got” a banded duck, and my husband insure me this is a big deal. We miss you sweetie and can’t wait to see you tomorrow when you get home.



Emma’s 6-Month Check Up

Emma yesterday we went for your 6-Month check up and Marilou (our Nurse Practitioner) said that you were the perfect little baby girl. She said that even though you are tiny for your size she is not worried at all. She thinks you are going to be long and thin when you grow up. She also said that the click that was has been in your hip since the day you were born is no longer there.

This week you are eating squash, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and carrots. You really only like the sweet potatoes and carrots. Marilou cautioned us that if that is all you eat that you would end up with an orange nose. That would be quite a site and a good blog journal if it just so happens. Below are your stats little girl:

6 Months
Weight: 14 pounds 1 ounce (15 percentile)
Height: 26 ½ inches (75 percentile)
Head Circumference: 16 5/8 (50 percentile)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Emma Grace is 6 Months Old!!!

Happy half-year birthday Miss. Emma Grace. Wow how time has flown by! I can’t believe that you are already a half of a year old. You are such a doll and such a pleasure to raise. You are so calm and peaceful and never complain about anything. You are beginning to eat baby food. You love the carrots and sweet potatoes, but you hate the sweet peas and green beans. And you think your daddy hung the moon, every time he comes near you look at him with your big brown eyes and smile so big. We thank God for you everyday.

Green Bean Night


Having an infant in the house is a lot of work, but it is one of my most favorite times. I took these pictures to help me hang onto the things that seem like such hard work right now, but that I know I am going to miss very soon.

Washing and sterilizing bottles and pumping supplies

Drying process

Lots of bottles and baby food. I had forgotten how expensive baby food was and how much of it they go thru.

Taylor Counts by 5’s and 10’s

My four-year-old Taylor baby can now count to 100 by 5’s and 10’s. He is so smart. And he is a very ferocious dinosaur!!!


Barack Obama - 44th President

Dear Emma and Taylor-
Yesterday was such an amazing day in American history. For it was the day that the first African American became president of our United States. What an amazing country we live in. We are simply blessed with so many privileges. I can’t wait to see how much more wonderful this world is when you two are my age.


Instated of rewriting this summary by myself I am just going to steel shamelessly, give credit to Rev. Rex for the below summary, and my kids can have a reminder when they are older. But I did also like Rev. Rex's take on this and his words really hit home, so I did want to save this for you two to read when you are old enough to appreciate this amazing event in American history.

“No matter how you may have voted in the Presidential election, the historic inauguration of the first African American to become President of the United States of America was quite an event. An estimated crowd of over 2 million people filled the Mall in Washington, D.C. to witness the historic event, and being just on the heels of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday observance, it made it all the more special. The historic significance of the 44th President Barak H. Obama being from the same state of Illinois as our 16th President Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in this country, is very ironic and hopeful. The fact that President Obama chose to travel the same route that President Lincoln did to Washington, D.C. in 1861 and used the same Bible Lincoln used at his inauguration to take the oath of office, gives me reason for great pause.

I pray this will be a time for unity in our country. I know there are many against President Obama and some for purely political reasons. I heard a popular radio announcer just the other day say that he was disappointed that some of his party had already “caved” by wishing Obama success in the White House. The same announcer also said that no one in his party should wish Obama success. He went on to say, “I need only four words: I hope he fails.” I understand party politics in our United States, but I do not understand this line of thinking. I believe it to be mean spirited and divisive for the good of the country. What is the ultimate goal here—is it for a political party, any party, to be successful or for the country to be successful? Two party politics is certainly good for debate, but it is not good when it becomes the end all.


Then there are those who are purely against him because of the color of his skin. I, for one, am proud of our freedom to be able to vote and to express our views in this democratic nation even the ability to express different views as in those of the radio announcer above and the view I write in this newsletter—they are all covered under the freedom of speech.


I have been supportive of President Bush and have prayed for him as our leader. I am supportive of President Obama and am proud that he is the first African American to rise to the highest office in the land. I will pray for him and all our leaders as I have done so throughout my life. Without revealing how I voted in this election, I can honestly say that the candidates I have voted for in the past have not always won, but I continue to follow the Apostle Paul’s admonition “that prayers…be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions””

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Girls Night Out



Last night I had the opportunity to go out with some of my girl friends (college sorority sisters) for our monthly Girls Night Out dinner. We always have the best time just talking and catching up. Last night there were six of us (Jennifer Russell, Jennifer Roberts, Mauree, Libby and her son Mason, Leslie, and myself). Mason is just about two months old, Mauree is having baby boy #3 in a couple weeks, and Leslie is expecting twins in June. Lots of life, and Gods glory sitting at this table.

This is truly the first outing that I have been out on completely by myself since Emma Grace was born. Which, was six months ago. I have always been so worried about bombarding Ryan with both kids, that I don’t ever plan on going anywhere, or I always have one of the children with me. Leaving Ryan with only one.

When I got in the car last night to drive down to Fayetteville I felt like a free women. It was so nice to just have a few hours by myself. And it was even nicer to come home to bathed, feed, sleeping children. Now that I know Ryan can do it I might leave him with them both more often.

I am so blessed with such good friends and such a wonderful husband who will watch my kids for me. Thanks Libby for letting me steel this pictures from your website.

My New Year’s Resolutions:

This year I thought very hard about what my New Year’s resolutions would be and this is what I came up with.

1. To be a better friend, sister, mother, wife, daughter, child of God (highest priority).
2. Be more organic and use more naturally made products to feed my family with.
3. Continually refocus my life to allow me to concentrate on the important things.
4. Loose 15 more pounds of baby weight - from Taylor (Emma's is gone!!!) (low priority).

I share these with you for two very important reasons. One: to keep me on track. Two: To let you know that I am working very hard to focus my life on the important things, and to de-clutter all that I have going on. With this being said I believe that I am going to quit updating my “Green Living Blog” and just start putting the important “green” information that I have on my Coble family blog. It is too stressful for me to insure that I updated it regularity (as you have witnessed I have not been very good at it). So look for those tips here and enjoy!

Does anyone know how to set up categories for your BLOG archives? I would like to do that with some of my topics, but I can’t figure it out. Please leave me a comment if you know, and thank you in advance.

Daily Devotional

I have recently fallen in love with this man’s Daily Devotional Blog: http://pastorscmartin.blogspot.com/, and I wanted to share it with everyone who reads mine. Below is a recap of today’s devotion and it really hit home for me and made me want to be a better parent to my children, and a better teacher to my children of “Christ’s love.” I know that is an area in my life that I need to improve upon. If you only read a little of this make sure to read the part that I have highlighted.

Daily Bible Reading - Exodus 2:1 - 4:31



When God gets ready to do a great work on this earth - very often He will send a baby. It was certainly true in His great work of redemption when He sent Jesus to save this world from its sins.



When God sees a wrong that needs to be righted and a truth that needs to be declared, more often than not He sends a baby into the world to do it. He often will send that baby into a little known family. You may not know William and Mary. They lived in the Seattle area. They were concerned about their young son Bill, he was not doing well in school. They finally got him interested in a new invention called the computer. At 31 he became the youngest billionaire in the history of America. You may not know William and Mary, but you probably know their son the founder of Microsoft - Bill Gates.



You may not be very familiar with Amram and Jochubed. They were two obscure Hebrews living in a Goshen ghetto. I am sure you know their son Moses. Moses - the great law-giver. Moses - the author of the first five books of the Old Testament. Moses - mentioned over 700 times in the Bible. Moses mentioned by Paul, Peter, John, Jude and the Lord Jesus Christ.



Moses is an example of what can happen in the life of a young person when his life is touched by God. The greatest accomplishment a parent can make in life is to raise a child who becomes a mighty man or woman for God.



When Exodus opens the people have come down into great honor in Egypt. But things changed. Exodus 1:8 – “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” Pharaoh became suspicious of the Hebrews. He saw them as a potential threat. (vs. 10) Pharaoh then issued a decree that all male babies were to be killed.



Amram and Jochubed then made the decision: “We are going to do everything we can to save this child.” The Bible says in Hebrews 11:23 “they hid him for 3 months, and they were not afraid of the king’s command.”



Listen, if you are going to see your children through and see them become mighty for God, you have to have a lot of courage, a lot of faith, and a lot of effort. Don’t just assume that your children are going to turn out all right. The average child spends 5 hours a day in front of the TV. By 18 he has seen 32,000 murders, 250,000 acts of violence, 100,000 beer commercials. And yet the average child doesn’t have a mom or dad who spends 5 seconds a day with them in Bible study and prayer. We throw our children into the Nile and wonder why they don’t turn out all right.



When you plant a garden you don’t just throw out seeds - then collect a harvest. Luther Burbank the great horticulturist said, “If we paid as much attention to our plants as we pay to our children, we would be living in a jungle of weeds.” It takes some time if you are going to raise a mighty child for God.



But Moses’ parents soon realized they couldn’t hide him forever. If they couldn’t hide him they would do something to save him. I have an idea they searched the oral history. They came across the account of Noah. They said, “That’s what we will do. If he must go in the Nile, we’ll put him in the ark first.” They put that little boy into the wicker ark and lovingly and hopefully committed it to the grace and providence of God.



Oh parents! - Get your children in the ark of safety. Get your children to Jesus! You can’t shelter them from the Niles of this world but you can get them saved forever in the arms of Jesus Christ!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Taco Lasagna

For those of you who did not know I am a United Methodist Women, and it goes without saying that Methodist Women like to cook casseroles. Our groups have some outstanding casserole recipes and I have one that I would like to post and share with all. It is called Taco Lasagna, and it is to die for! I hope that you enjoy.





Taco Lasagna

1 pound ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
2/3 cup water
6 (8 in.) flower tortillas
1 (16 oz) can refried beans
½ cup chopped green pepper
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 envelop of taco seasoning
1 (14.5 oz) can Mexican diced tomatoes
3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Brown beef, pepper and onion until done. Add water and taco seasoning, and bring to a boil. Reduce hear, simmer uncovered for 2 minutes. Stir in beans and tomatoes. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Place 2 tortillas in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Spread with ½ of beef mix, sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Repeat layers. Cook 350 for 35-45 min. Enjoy!!!

Diaper Alternative Update



As many of you know I have a little girl in diapers and I have always struggled with putting her in disposable diapers because of the negative environmental footprint they leave on our earth. (For those of you that don’t know diapers are the worst things that we throw in our landfills. Reason being they virtually never decompose because of the large amount of plastic that is in them.) And I am not able to do reusable cloth diapers because of playschool regulations.


Well I have found a great alternative to traditional diapers!!! Nature Babycare makes Eco Friendly diapers. They are 100% biodegradable because they are made from corn byproducts instead of plastic, and they are 100% chlorine free (meaning they don’t use chemicals to turn them the tree pulp white). I have been using them for about a month now and I love them. I don’t have any problems with leakage or poor performance. They are more difficult to find then your traditional diapers, but they are very cost competitive to Pampers or Huggies. I am able to find them on line, at Babies R Us, Toy’s R Us, some Targets, and the natural food stores. These are my new favorite diapers so I wanted to make sure my readers were informed.









Here is some information from their website:
Nature babycare diapers are 100% chlorine-free and keep oil-based plastics away from babies delicate skin. Our absorbent pulp is from sustainably harvested Scandinavian forests and the unique design of our ultra-thin absorbent core creates a more comfortable fit for your baby while providing enhanced leak protection. Since Nature babycare products are based on natural and renewable materials instead of plastic, our diapers are soft and cloth-like providing comfort without sacrificing protection. Nature babycare has been awarded "Best Disposable Diaper" Silver Award for 2006-2007 by Mother & Baby Magazine and also carries the approval symbol from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

http://www.natyusa.com/products/diapers.php

Sunday, January 18, 2009

My Taylor the Animal Lover

My Taylor loves animals, but he especially loves Cats, and every now and then he and I will sit down at the computer and just google animals to look at and admire. Yesterday we were looking at cats and here are some of the ones that he found particular interesting, and asked me to put on our blog (I think he too will be a blog geek).



Taylor: "That’s hilarious"
Mom: "Taylor that cat looks like a rat.”
Taylor: “That does not look like a rat to me. Mom that is a beautiful cat.”
Taylor: "I love that cat"


Taylor: "Aaaaahhhh, That’s freaking me out mom"




Taylor: "Awa"