Saturday, February 28, 2009

My Little Present….

Aunt Mary found this adorable shirt for Lucy and Emma and I just had to get some pictures of my little present.

What is this on the Last Day of February….

Will it ever get warm? I am so ready for spring, and this is what we woke up to this morning:



Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Taylor the Carnivore

This morning when I went into Taylor’s room to wake him up I bent over and said “good morning my little angle.” He immediately jumped up out of a sound sleep, and said “I’m not an angel, I’m a meat eater.” Then he said “mom you know that I am a CARNIVORE, because I EAT MEAT.” He is growling the whole time he is saying this.

Six months ago I would walk into this room and say “good morning my little angle.” And his response would be “I’m not an angle I’m a Razorback Fan.” I love saying that to him in the morning because evidently he hates it and he always has something funny to say. He just wakes up as sharp as a tack.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Great Stories

Taylor Stories:
Today I asked Taylor what he wanted for his birthday and he told me “weapons and instruments”. When I asked him what kind of instruments he said “a tuba, a big one that wraps around my neck.” I had to laugh out loud when I hear this. I could just see him walking around my house, with a marching band tuba, bumping into everything, and tearing up the walls. Yes, now everyone knows what goes through my head at some of my children’s ideas. Taylor I do hope that one day you get to play a tuba, but I really hope that it is not for your 5th birthday.

Today for dinner Taylor ate broccoli and he actually enjoyed it. Ryan just put a ton of Tony’s spices on it and Taylor ate it right up. Which if you know my Taylor that is not like him to eat broccoli.


Emma Update:
Saturday Ms. Emma Grace turned 7 months old. I can’t believe it – time just flies when you are raising babies. She is doing so much now. She is not crawling yet, but she sure is trying. She loves to eat real food. She is up to a breakfast fruit, lunch vegetable, and dinner fruit and vegetable. She loves all fruit especially the Banana and Plum Melody, but she rarely likes her vegetables. As you can see from the picture above she loves to feed her self. Tonight she was feeding herself Banana and Orange Melody, which is another one of her favorites.

Taylor and I having a tea party:

We had a bubble party this weekend and Emma loved it:

Emma feeding herself:


Taylor eating broccoli:

Friday, February 20, 2009

Boys and Bows

I just love my little ones. I especially love this bow, so I had to capture a few pictures.


She has already got him wrapped around her little finger.


I am so glad to be back in town now. The past two weeks I have had to travel (Dallas last week, and Phoenix this week) and it has been hard on the family. This week I came home to a sick little Emma. Evidently Monday night when Ryan picked the kids up from playschool he found Miss. Emma looking so sad and sick (mainly her eye was really runny and red). He immediately called the pediatrician on Tuesday morning. Which she must have looked bad if he called and took her to the doctor. Ryan usually does not believe in doctors. At first glance they thought she had RSV, but thank God the test came back negative for that. Turns out she has an ear infection, eye infection, and a terrible cold. I just hated being gone while she was not feeling well. She has been so sweet ever since I have been back because every time I try to put her down for a few minutes she throws the biggest fit ever until I come back and pick her up. This is our first ear infection for Miss Emma.

I can’t believe that we have almost made it 7 months without an ear infection. Taylor already had tubes by the time he was 7 months because of the number of ear infections he had. The only advice I have for new moms is to do everything you can to breastfeed your babies. It truly does pay off. I did not stick with it long with Taylor, but have breastfeed Emma exclusively and have seen a drastic improvement in the amount of ear infections.
A special “thank you” goes out to Nene and Mana for all of their help while I was out of town. We would not have made it without you guys.
Kid Stories:
Taylor’s new thing is to walk around and say “www dot, www dot, mom just go www dot.” His daddy is a computer geek, so he gets it honest.

Emma’s new thing is to act like she is going to be crawling very very soon. She has mastered the rolling over, sitting up, and now we are scooting around the floor on our belly.

Monday, February 16, 2009

The World We Live In

I would be remorse not to document the current state of our economy for my children to one day look back on and have record of these difficult times that our country is facing. I will try not bore everyone with all the details, but I do want to make mention of this so hopefully, one day, all of us can look back and say “wow, we really pulled thru some tough times as a global economy.”

To start with: 3.7 million jobs were lost in the year 2008. It is forecasted that another 2 million jobs will be lost in 2009. Unemployment is currently at 7.6%. (To put this in perspective economist say unemployment should average around 3.4% to yield a health economy.)

There are a lot of factors that have lead to the situation that we are in now, but to help narrow the scope of the problems I will mention “the housing market.” Several years ago banks were loaning everyone and their bother money to by houses. They were going so far as to loan everyone 100% of the money that they needed to buy a house (not requiring a down payment). Banks weren’t being careful with their loans. As a result of these “easy” loans, builders starting building a tone of house, and then people found out that they were not able to pay for these personal loans. Many houses went into foreclosure, and the banks ended up with the houses (that they should not have been loaning money for in the first places.) And then builders were sitting on top of houses that they could not sale. Hints you have the Housing Crash of 2007/2008. And banks ended up with lots of bad loans from the builders they loaned money to to build houses, and also the individuals that they loaned money to that could not afford them, and the viscous cycle goes on and on.

To narrow the scope even further to a personal experience: in the middle of 2008 we woke up one Sunday morning and our personal Bank had been closed down by the FDIC, and another bank had gained ownership of it. That was pretty scary. Luckily all of our assets were protected. But, this is a prime example of how our bank had made too many bad loans and intern were deemed too risky to operate by the FDIC.

Beginning last week in our hometown some 800+ jobs were lost at Wal-Mart’s home office, with an anticipated 1,200 more to come this week. This is a large percent considering that the population of our town is roughly 40,000 people. Some of our good friends have lost their jobs, and it is simply heart breaking.

Spectators, analyst, and economist are calling these times as bad as the 1930’s stock market crash. Of course I was not around during these times, but I still see how frugally my Grandmother lives her everyday life as a result of growing up during the Great Depression. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do predict that my generation is on the brink of experiencing uncharted and life-changing situations.

I do ask that we keep those who have lost their jobs in our prayers, and also keep our country and our global world partners in our prayers as we try to pull ourselves out of this mess.

Pictures


Someone never likes to have his pictures taken anymore (but I will keep on loving him).

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Valentines Day to all!!! Today has been such a fun day for our family. We started the day off by making heart shaped pancakes and pink strawberry milk. Then we headed down to Fayetteville to see the Project Playhouse. These are great playhouses that people from around the community have designed and now they are up for auction. Check it out if you get the chance.




My little Valentine.

Ryan and I found Emma a blanket with hearts on it, and Taylor of course got cupid’s gun. I know, I know, we are such bad parents for getting our 4 year old guns, but he just loves them so much!

Taylor Funnies

The other day Taylor was on a roll so I jotted down his funnies so I could remember them when it was time to make a post.

1. At wresting they play this game where they take their shirts off, tuck them in the back of their pants, and chase each other around on the mat. The game is called “Foxtail.” Taylor hates it and he sits on the sidelines during game time at each practice. Ryan and I have been trying to encourage him to play. We even told him that he could wear two shirts so he would not be naked when he had to take the first one off. Before practice the other day he told me that he did not want to play “foxtail” because “the foxtail game was ruining his howl entire life.” I think the game really stresses him out so Ryan and I aren’t going to push anymore.

2. I can’t remember what I said to Taylor the other day but his response back to me was “Mom, Ms. Deb would make you sit in the relax chair for saying that.” He is certainly keeping us in line these days.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Sunday at the Park

Sunday before I left town we decided to take the kids to the park to enjoy the warm weather that we were having. Taylor loved playing on the dock, and also playing pirates on the pirate ship. Here are some pictures to remember the good times.











Mom’s Back….

Mom’s back in town tonight and the kids are doing great. Ryan always does such a good job taking care of them. When they walked in the house I felt like I had missed the past 6 months of both of theirs lives. They just looked so much bigger than what I remember them looking like before I left.

Taylor Funny: Last night Ryan asked Taylor what he wanted to eat for dinner, and he mentioned to Taylor that “it would be all meat and no veggies because mom was out of town.” Taylor responded “I will take Green Beans with my meat daddy.” Taylor you are such a good little boy – always sticking to the rules.

Thanks to Nene who came and helped out a little bit last night. Poor Emma would not have had a bath for days if it had not been for Nene. Ryan is still scared to give her a bath. He says it is because she is still so little, but sometimes I wonder if it is because she is a “girl.” All in good time I am sure.

I hate being away from my babies, but it sure does make it that much more rewarding when I get to come home and spend time with them.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

A few first for the Coble Kids

Today Emma Grace started waving “hello” and “goodbye.” She was so cute because she literally just woke up waving her little hand, and she continued to do throughout the day. She is growing up so fast.

Today Taylor was going potty by himself, but after a few minutes I stuck my head in there to check on him and ask him how he was doing. His response was “mom I am fine can you go away now.” He is getting very independent and it is breaking this momma’s heart.

Also today was my first day traveling since Emma Grace was born. I had to leave for Dallas, TX for a conference today. I am very excited about the conference (RILA’s Logistics Conference), but I am not excited about leaving either of my babies. Emma and I have never spent a night away from each other since the day she entered my belly, and I will be away from her for the next two nights. She is in good hands with her daddy, but I will miss her none the less.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Taylor’s School Work

Here is some of Taylor’s much anticipated schoolwork. He does so much of it at school it is hard to pick what to post.


Check out the Who is Jesus section of this newsletter:

Check out the "Funnies" section of this newsletter:


Taylor's Address


Everyday we get a little bit neater:


"Hopgrasser" (what Taylor used to call Grasshoppers.)

This is from vacation bible school this past summer, but I thought that it needed to be on the blog.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Taylor and Kenneth when they were less than one years old in the “Red Room” together.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

My Taylor the Wrestler

Isn’t he the most ferocious wrestler you have ever seen?



This is Taylor’s wrestling picture from this year and I though it was just too cute not to post.

Taylor you really enjoy wrestling practice this year. (Mommy and Daddy won’t sign you up for any of the tournaments, but you don’t seem to mind.) You especially enjoy when you get to wrestle with your best buddy Kenneth. You two have so much fun. You guys have always been thick as thieves.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Taylor Stories

Taylor, my love, you were really on a roll today so I thought I would take a few minutes to capture some of your funny stories.

1. Today you told the director of your daycare that “she needed some more writing on the glass entrance door”, and you suggested that she let you paint your name on it. You told her not just your first name but that you wanted it to read “Taylor Lee Coble.” Sometimes you can be very sure of yourself.

2. Sometimes when I pick you up in the afternoons this little boy Lucas always runs over to me and tattles on you for whatever wrong you have done during the day. Well today he was headed right for me, but before he could get to me you pulled him aside and I heard you tell him “look Lucas I am sick and tired of you always running up to my mom and telling her stories on my, so you just need to knock it out.” When I asked you about it in the car you said to me “you wanted me to start picking you up later so you could start running over to Lucas’s mom and telling stories on him.” You’re going to make a great businessman one day!

3. You also take the time to tell me about all the gossip at school. You tell me that ###### is the meanest girl in the whole class because she cries all the stinking time. Then you told me that Ms. Deb does not even like ####### because she gets on everyone’s nerves. I am sure this is not true about Ms. Deb, but I think that it is hysterical that you would interpret it like that.


Emma Update

Emma you are as cute as ever these days, but there is only one thing wrong “you have a nasty cold, and you have given it to your mom.” I don’t know who feels worse. My heart goes out to you though because you are so little and you get so congested at night and wake up a couple times a night in the worst mood. I brought you to the doctor the other day and she said that your lungs and your ears look great, but that your upper chest is very congested. She told us to wait 48 hours and if you were not feeling better to start you on some antibiotics. So we did today, and I am really praying that you feel better soon because mommy really needs you to sleep thru the night very soon.

On a side note: this morning when I dropped you off at playschool you cried for me when I walked out of the door. It was so sad, but it made me feel so good about myself. I know that we will have a lot of these mornings but your playschool is the very best and you will learn more from them than I could ever thing to teach you. You have great teachers and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful place to drop you off each day.

I love this little face and wish it felt better today:



Looking just like your daddy:

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Silly Days

Wow I can’t believe it is already the first day of February. Bring on the spring!!!! I am so sick of cold weather and ice. Here are some reach cute pictures from this weekend.


This summer while I was on maternity leave my team had meetings up in the Chicago area, and while they were there they found the time to do some site seeing and stopped by the Oprah store. Where they picked up this cute bib for Emma Grace.







Taylor was bored tonight with the basket of clean laundry that I had just folded. He did everything from play with sock puppets to putting underwear on his head. It was too cute not to post, but I am sure one day he is going to be very unhappy with me.


Taylor with his shirt and his underwear on backwards: