More Christmas Pictures

Makenna and Uncle Trent riding in G-Gma's Christmas present--a Jazzy chair

Opening presents

Makenna with the birthday cake for Jesus

Makenna playing with her new toys

Makenna and Daddy opening presents

Still opening

Makenna with Great-Granddad Glen

Makenna playing with cousin Nolan

Makenna's First Christmas

We can't believe that the holiday season has come and gone. It simply went by way too fast for our family, but we enjoyed all the time spent with family and friends. Makenna, of course, got way too much stuff and she will get more for her birthday in just a few weeks. We now understand what others have been telling us about running out of room to put everything!

Makenna is also teething right now so she wasn't feeling her best during Christmas, but overall she did pretty good. She got one of her front teeth and the other is on its way. She did better than I did due to the fact that I had a stomach bug that lasted 5 days. Today is the first day since Christmas Eve that I have felt okay and I pray that it continues. I also pray that Makenna's teeth pop in soon because I know her poor gums hurt--she has five knots on them.

We hope to have a great week as we ring in the new year and reflect on all the blessings we have been given in 2008. We are also preparing for the big birthday on the 10th. It is hard to believe Makenna is almost 1!

Makenna with her cousin Laynie

Makenna with all of her 3rd cousins on the Murray side except for 2

Family Picture


Makenna with a bow on her head

Rocking in her favorite chair at her G-Gma's

Hiding and Parties

The Coffer residence has been quite busy this week. We have had several things to do this week that have kept us busy, but the one thing we weren't expecting to do was locate everything Makenna has hidden. Yes, that is right--she is into hiding everything now. I have found the remote control in a desk drawer, her Christmas bear in a baking dish in the china cabinet, and her socks in the trash can and a towel drawer. She has also learned to say her name. When she sees herself in a mirror or in a picture she gets very excited and says, "Nanenna." It is so cute!

One thing that I got to do this week was attend my dear friend, Lauren's, first annual cookie exchange. Twelve girls gathered at her house to exchange cookies and recipes and to just fellowship with one another. It was a fantastic time and I have several new cookies recipes I am going to make here soon.

We are hoping to get some Christmas pictures taken soon, so we will be sure to post them when we do.

'Tis the Season

Well, it is now that time of year that we must try to keep our almost 1-year old out of the Christmas decorations. I was very concerned about her getting into the tree or pulling the stocking off the mantle, but she doesn't even seem interested in touching them at all. All she does it look at the treeand say, "Wow!" and I don't even think she has realized the stockings. However, she does like to get into these cute little boxes that I stack beside the fireplace. I can't tell you how many times we have had to pull her away from them in the 24 hours we have had them out. But to look on the positive side, I would rather she be into those instead of the tree. We had a great time decorating our home as a family this year and we are looking forward to this first holiday season as parents. It will be neat to see Christmas again through the eyes of a child. Justin has already told me that I am going way too far with all of it this year, but I just can't help myself. I know Makenna doesn't really understand the concept of Santa and all the holiday jazz, but I just explained to Justin that this is my "trial run" because next year she will understand. He laughed at me the other night as I was wrapping some gifts and I was planning out what paper to use for which presents. He looked at me and said, "Just wrap the gifts," but I had to explain to him that there needed to be some thought put into what I did. I told him that I couldn't wrap Makenna's presents from us in the same paper I wrap her presents from Santa. While I like to think I have an exceptionally bright child, I know good and well she won't realize that presents that are from her parents and Santa are wrapped in the same paper and figure out that we are Santa. However, like I said, this is my practice year and I have to get used to having a child now and all that goes into the holiday season. (And just in case you are wondering, I wrapped her presents from Santa in Santa paper and her other ones are wrapping in this cute little paper with Christmas bears on them.) I will try to post some pictures soon.

Three Years Ago Today...

...Justin and I were doing this.

It is hard to believe that we have been married three years today. We have shared so much together over the past three years and we can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the future. We have definitely had our share of ups and downs, but we thank God everyday for allowing us to be married to our best friend and for blessing our lives far beyond our own dreams and ambitions. Here are a few other pictures from our big day.

Thank You Veterans

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and every year I am given a great reminder of the price many have paid for our freedom. A good friend and co-worker of mine puts together an awesome Veteran's Day assembly each year for our school and on Friday I was once again reminded of how blessed we are to live in our country. Of course we had the traditional singing of "God Bless the USA", but two things from this assembly really brought tears to my eyes. One was a song entitled "You Don't Even Know My Name" that another good friend of mine at work composed and sang. I don't have the lyrics to the song, but if I get them I will try to post them. It is just amazing! The other was the following video. The song is "Freedom Never Cries" by Five for Fighting. Enjoy the video and don't forget to thank a veteran for their service.

http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/706270

Halloween

Our happy strawberry

Strawberry again

Makenna and Laynie, cousins and birthday buddies

Strawberry getting into some apples

Excited to go trick-or-treating

Makenna had a great 1st Halloween. I was out of school and Justin took the day off so that we could have a nice family day. We got to sleep in until 8 o'clock and then we headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. While we were there it started pouring so our plans of heading to the pumpkin patch got changed. We decided to head home because Makenna was getting tired and we wanted her to get a good nap in before the main festivities of the day began. After her nap, we dressed Makenna in her costume and then headed out. We first went to Aunt Sheila's, then to Jack Henry so Daddy could show Makenna off to his co-workers and then we headed to Bolivar to see family and friends. It was a long and busy day, but it was a very memorable one for all three of us. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was packed full of events. The craziness began on Thursday afternoon when we had Makenna's nine month pictures taken. They haven't been posted online yet, but we will let everyone know when they are. Makenna was so happy and we know Kimber got a lot of great pictures of her. After pictures we went over to my sister Sheila's to help set up for a garage sale she, my mom, her roommates, and I were having. It was a long night (longer for all the rest of them than the Coffer family), but they finally got everything ready at 11:30.

On Friday, Makenna spent the day with her Nana and Aunt Sheila at the garage sale and she helped make some sales. Then on Friday night we went to Bolivar for the Bolivar vs. Willard high school football game. Makenna even got to go stand on the sidelines with her Uncle Trent during the game.

Saturday was a very memorable day because Makenna made her first visit to Silver Dollar City. My mom won a contest through a radio station and got some tickets to go, so we tagged along. Makenna enjoyed herself very much and we had a blast taking some fall pictures of her.

By the time Sunday rolled around we were all very tired and we all three took a good, long Sunday afternoon nap to help us get ready for this week. We have several activities at church because we are hosted a Global Impact Conference, but hopefully this weekend won't be as packed full as this past one.

Makenna and Aunt Sheila at the garge sale

Family Picture at SDC


Thank you Nana for taking me to SDC

Jennifer and Justin

Makenna is so happy to be at SDC

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

3/4 of a Year

We simply cannot believe that 9 months ago today our little girl was born. It has been an amazing 9 months and we are excited to Makenna continue to grow. She had her nine month check-up yesterday. She weighed 17 lbs. 12 oz. and was 28 1/4 inches long. Yes, she is long and skinny being in the 75th percentile in height and only the 25th in weight. However, Dr. Hampton said she is doing great and seems to be advanced for her age. Of course, that was nothing new to us.

We are taking Makenna on Thursday to have her 9 month pictures taken and we are also looking forward to celebrating Makenna's first Halloween. I am not going to tell what she is going to be, but she will be super cute! I will be sure to post pictures.

Another Milestone

Makenna has reached another milestone--she has learned to clap and play Patty-Cake. It is the cutest thing and we are enjoying her so much. Her personality is really beginning to develop and we love seeing all that she does. We are also preparing ourselves for the next big milestone--WALKING. We know it won't be long.

Here are a few pictures of Makenna taken recently. Makenna enjoyed her first corn picking experience on the Drake family farm a few weeks ago so we had to take a picture. We will post more later.

Correction about the Photo Contest

Shortly after I entered Makenna in the photo contest they changed the link to rate and recommend her. The correct address is http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/searchResults.jsp?_requestid=242210.

Search for "Makenna" and the picture of her in her Bumbo will appear (along with a lot of other Makennas). Click on it to go to her gallery. From there you can rate each picture with up to five stars and also recommend her to be the winner. You can do this once a day until September 15th.

Tomorrow I return to work and Makenna goes back to her babysitter, who is very excited to be getting her back again. I am not real excited about starting another school year because I have enjoyed my time off, but it will be nice to get back into a routine. It is hard to believe that this will be my fourth year of teaching! I will try to post some new pictures sometime soon.

The Next American Baby????

We thought it would be fun to enter Makenna in a contest to become the next cover child of American Baby magazine. The theme was to submit photos of your child discovering something for the first time. Judges will decide on five entries to win a trip to New York City near the end of September. However, between now and September 15th people can go to www.americanbaby.com/covercontest daily and recommend a child to be the winner. It says the winners are in no way determined by the amount of recommendations, but if you would like please visit the website and recommend the following photos of Makenna. You will have to click enter your photo and then on the next screen do a search for Makenna. Hopefully, you will see the following photos. Thanks and we will let everyone know if by some slim chance we are a finalist. We think we should be because we do have the cutest baby in America.

Splish Splash Part 2 and Mischievousness

This past Sunday we finally got to celebrate Justin's birthday in Bolivar, so we decided to take Makenna to the Lehman's pool (some very good family friends) to swim. She didn't seem to mind the water, however, she wasn't in the best of moods because she was so tired. We plan on taking her swimming again sometime soon and hopefully she will be well rested when we go.

Family Photo in the pool.

Makenna just lounging in a chair.

I just thought I would share this other picture. For those of you who think Makenna is so sweet and innocent here is proof that she can be quite ornery. I was in the kitchen cutting us some peaches and I had left Makenna playing in the living room floor where I could see her from the kitchen. After a few minutes I could no longer see her, so I headed into the living room and this is what I found.

I think this is hilarious because not only has she squeezed herself in between the table and the wall, but she somehow managed to get there with her puppy, Rupert, on her back. Never underestimate the power of Makenna!

Splish Splash

Last night Makenna took a swim in her little pool from Grandma Kathy for the first time. We are planning on taking her to an actual pool here soon, so we hope her little "swim" last night helped prepare her for her big "swim."

A few more Makenna pictures

These are a few of my favorite pictures from this past week. I can't believe how big Makenna is getting!

First Post

Welcome to our blog. We have contemplated started a blog a while ago, but had never done it. However, I was inspired today when I learned that the now 8 year old who was one of the flower girls in our wedding had stared her own blog. This news made me realize that I should get with the program and create our own--thanks Shelby for the prompting. We hope to update this blog often to update everyone on what is happening in our lives.

Justin, Jennifer, and Makenna.