Holiday Pictures

Here are just a few Christmas pictures.   Enjoy!

Opening her stocking

She loves her castle

Still playing with the castle

Kissing Clifford

Surprised look

For Mom

Meeting Molly--She loves her, too

Cute picture

She was a bit afraid of a worm from her Papa

    

Making our Happy Birthday Jesus cake--it is a tradition that we make

one and leave a piece for Santa

The finished product

Checking out what Santa brought her

Working hard to open her gifts

Showing off her Mickey Mouse laptop

Her Sesame Street friends--she now loves Grover

Still opening

Makenna with her Great-Granddad, Glen

Playing with a Play-Doh set

Makenna's dollhouse made with love by Aunt Sheila

Inside the dollhouse

Holiday Rewind

What a crazy week it has been.  I am a bit sad that the holidays are over, but we are thankful we got to see a lot of family and friends and spend the holidays with them.  Once again, Makenna got way too many toys and our living still looks like a mini-ToysRUs because she keeps dragging out her new things.  However, she is only young for a short while and we are glad she is enjoying what everyone got her.  She especially is enjoying her new baby doll, Molly.  She enjoys feeding her, rocking her, and just taking good care of her.  And it will just be a week and a half until she gets her birthday gifts.  Luckily, she isn't getting many toys from us.

Makenna and I are enjoying spending our time together this week.  Next week it is back to work and daycare, but until then we are having fun.  Today, I took her to get her 2 year pictures taken and then went shopping for supplies for her Elmo birthday party.  Tonight, when Justin gets home we are going out to eat so we can use a gift card we got for Christmas.  We are then going shopping to use some other gift cards we received as gifts.  I hope to get some good post-holiday deals.  Tomorrow, we won't be going anywhere because I have to stay here and wait for the DirectTV to come and install our new service.  Justin received an incredible deal in the mail from them (which includes a $100 Visa card so happy shopping to me) so we are cancelling our DishNetwork and picking them up.  We aren't sure of our plans for New Year's Eve yet, but whatever we do we will have fun.  I think Makenna is going to stay with her Nana so that Justin and I can enjoy an evening without having to worry about her.  I don't know what the rest of the week will bring, but I know that I will be sad when Monday comes and I have to return to work.  However, it won't be long until Spring Break and then summer vacation so I know I can make it.

I will try to post holiday pictures when I get them edited. 

"Tis the Season

Wow! What a crazy last few weeks it has been. We have been preparing for Christmas in the Coffer household and it feels like we haven't had time to do anything but prep for Christmas. My last day of school was Friday, so I thought that when my break started things would calm down--that has not been the case at all. The theme of my life the past few weeks has been shop, wrap, bake, shop, bake, wrap, go to holiday gathering, grade finals, etc. I think you get the point.

We had our first family gathering on Sunday with the Murray family. It is always nice to visit with family we don't see very often. Tomorrow night we are having Christmas with my immediate family before heading down to Sikeston and Kennett early Thursday morning to spend Christmas with Justin's family. We will then head back to Bolivar Sunday for Christmas with my grandma and aunt and then I think we will be done. Whew! I have to finish one of Makenna's gifts tonight and wrap a few last minute gifts that Justin procrastinated in getting. We must also make our annual "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake sometime between now and Christmas Eve so that we can leave a piece for Santa under the tree. Okay, so this is only the second year we have done this since this is Makenna's second Christmas, but we have decided it will be a holiday tradition. Makenna even picked out some of the decorations for her "Jesus cake" as she calls it today at the store and she is excited to help make it.

Here are a few pictures of our holiday season so far. We will definitely post more later. Also, since this is probably my last post until after Christmas, from the Coffer family to you, Merry Christmas. Please take some time to reflect on the true meaning of this holiday and enjoy spending time with family and friends who greatly bless your life.

Makenna with her friend Shelby

Makenna just after she put her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ornament on the tree

Sliding down the ice slide at Bass Pro

Visiting Santa at Bass Pro--she wasn't too happy

Our lefty coloring

This is a cute picture, but it doesn't look like Makenna

Family Photo

Makenna with all her Christmas friends

Makenna and Jennifer at our church Christmas party

A face only a mother can love

Makenna with her Aunt Sheila and Uncle Trent

Jennifer, Sheila, Makenna, and Trent

Makenna with Santa and her Nana at Murray Christmas

She finally like Santa because he gave her treats

One More Week

That's right--One more week until Christmas break and I cannot be more ready.  This semester at work has been crazy and stressful and the two week break will be so nice.  Also, I hope to have my Christmas card maile and be finished with my Christmas shopping by this time next week, but I just need to find time to go.  

This weekend we will be in Bolivar spending time with family.  We are planning to take Makenna to the Bolivar Christmas parade. We will also be spending some time with my grandma who will be turning 86 on Monday.  We hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and I will try to upload some pictures next time.

The End of One Holiday=The Beginning of Another

We definitely had a good, but very busy Thanksgiving.  We left our house late Wednesday afternoon for Bolivar to visit my family.  We have a delicious meal as always that was prepared by my mom.  We headed back to our house late Thursday evening with my mom and my sister. 

We planned on heading to bed early so that we could get up for our Black Friday shopping, but that didn't happen.  I had the bright idea of ordering some things online when they went on sale at mid-night, but apparently so did a lot of other people.  The website I was trying to order from kept shutting down and when it did go back up it wouldn't let me place my order.  So at 1:15 I finally decided to go to bed.  I then got up at 2:45 and checked the website once again.  This time I was successful.  We left home at 4:30 (we were originally going to leave at 3:30, but due to my crazy idea of ordering online that was no longer necessary) and headed to our first stop.  I got some good deals on toys for the foster children our family signed up to buy gifts for at church.  I was out of the store by 5:30 and I headed to Staples by myself (the other two were still shopping) to get the most anticipated items on my Black Friday list--a GPS and a digital camera.  The GPS required a ticket in order to get on and I was lucky enough to receive one.  However, when I got to the digital cameras the one I wanted was already gone.  However, I expected this might happen due to the amazing deal this camera was, so I put plan B into place.  This involved calling Justin, who was on standby at home, to order it online.  And luckily, it was still available so we got both of the items we wanted.  I then went to pick my mom and sister back up--however, my mom was waiting in line to pay.  Two hours later, after my sister and I had made additional trips to Walmart and McDonalds, my mom was finally ready to go.  We then headed to Kohl's just to see what they had and then to the mall.  By this time it was about 11 o'clock and we were all pretty tired so we headed home with several items in our car.  After picking Makenna and Justin up at home, we all headed back to Bolivar so that Justin could prepare for the MU/KU football game that he, my brother, and my dad were going to on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, while the guys were at the game, my mom and I made some Christmas wreaths and we also watched a good family friend, Shelby.  The rest of her family had gone to the game as well, so Makenna got to play all day with her.  We went to the park and just had fun.  Justin also had a great time at the game--they sat in the third row in the end zone.  He said it was the craziest game he had ever been to and he thoroughly enjoyed tailgating before the game.
 
Today, we began decorating for Christmas.  I planned on getting the tree up, but I don't think that is going to happen since Justin has yet to get it down from the attic.  Also, I don't want Makenna to miss out on the experience so I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow night.  I have a majority of my other decorations put up and I even made a new decoration today for our porch.  I will take some pictures and post them soon.  Hope everyone has a good week. 

Thankful List Catch Up

Due to being out of town this weekend, I wasn't able to blog, so this post will be an attempt at catching up on my thankful list.  I will break it down day-by-day so I know I have posted at least one thing I am thankful for during the days I was MIA.

Thursday 11/19:  I am so thankful that four years ago on Thursday I married my best friend.  I know I am not always the best at showing or saying how much I love Justin, but he is a wonderful husband and father and I know this sounds so cliche, but I honestly couldn't go through life without him.  I am so thankful for all his support, encouragement, love, humor, etc that make me a stronger person and I thank God for him.

Today I was also reminded of how blessed I am to be surrounded by a wonderful bunch of co-workers.  Once a month, a group of teachers from my school get together to discuss educational topics over dinner--ok, let's be honest, it is mostly about socializing and having a good time--but nevertheless, we always have a good time.  I know that I can always count on anyone in this group, as well as numerous other co-workers.  It is so nice to work with people on a daily basis who you care about and who you know care about you as well.

Friday 11/20--I am thankful for my family.  I think it says it all that when I asked Makenna what she is thankful for today on our drive home she responded without any prompting, "Tent, Eila, Nana, Papa."  In case you're wondering that is my brother, Trent, my sister, Sheila, my mom, and my dad, respectively.  I have never been good at saying how much I appreciate them, but I hope when they read this they will be reminded of all they mean to me.  I am so thankful that my mom is always there to watch Makenna when I need her or to offer any advice I might need, that my dad or brother are there to answer all the questions that Justin doesn't know (especially when it comes to fixing things) and that my sister is always there to listen to all my problems.  I am also thankful that my grandma who will turn 86 on December 14th is still here to provide us all comical relief from all she says or does.  I never knew any of my great-grandparents, but I am so thankful that Makenna has got to know my grandma, who she calls G-Gma.

Saturday 11/21--I am so thankful for friends who provide me encouragement, laughter, entertainment, etc.  Friends have come and gone in my life, as well as Justin's, but I have definitely found that true friendship lasts forever.  I have life-long friends who I consider to be more like family, and I have developed several other friendships in my 28 years of life that continue to grow.  So, friends that are reading this, thank you for your impact in my life, as well as Justin and Makenna's.  We love you.

Sunday 11/22--This might sound silly, but I am thankful for GPS's.  We would have been lost several times during our weekend in St. Louis, but thankfully my sister let us borrow hers (yet another reason I am thankful for her.)  This is the reason Justin and I will be purchasing a GPS for ourselves on Friday--we have scoped out the best deal on one.

Monday 11/23--Today I am thankful for unexpected opportunities God gives us.  At work, I have been given the opportunity to start an after-school program with a few co-workers.  The goal of this program is to help improve students' reading and math skills and I am excited to see how this program goes.  In addition to getting to hopefull make an impact in the lives of the students that will be attending this program, I am also excited about the generous stipend that I will be receiving for this endevour I am taking on. God certainly is good and gives me so much more than I deserve.

Thankful Once Again

Today I realized how blessed my family is and I am so thankful that we always have food on our table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our head.  After school, my boss, another co-worker, and myself who all help sponsor Student Council went to the grocery store and purchased food for families in need.  We were able to supply the families with about a week's worth of groceries and I know that they will be very grateful for what we have done.  I know it isn't easy asking for help when you need it, but I am so thankful God put me in a position where I can help out those around me who need it.

Thankful Part 2

Need I say more?  I think not, but I will.  This little girl brings multiples smiles to my face everyday whether it is her coming up to tickle me or her saying "Uv you, Mommy" when she goes to bed.  She is a huge blessing to my life and I thank God for making me her Mommy.

My Thankful List

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I have decided to make it a goal to post daily until Thanksgiving about what the Coffer family is thankful for.  While we will be out of town this coming weekend and won't be near a computer, I still want to challenge myself to do this as much as I can.  This time of year, we always reflect on what we are thankful for, but this year I want to put it in writing for everyone to read.

The first thing that comes to mind this year when I think about what I am thankful for is that fact that Justin and I both have jobs.  We know several people who have either lost their job or have been laid off due to the poor economy, so I am just glad that we both have secure jobs that we both enjoy.  We certainly don't make the big bucks, but we are so much better off than several around us--plus we have jobs that we like doing everyday. 

Halloween Pics

As promised here are pictures of our Halloween Monkey.  She had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and got way too much candy.

Ready for the Weekend

Night one of Parent/Teacher Conferences are complete.  Now only two more days of school and one more long night and I am free from school for 3 days.  That's right--no school for me on Friday.  I feel like a little kid again being so excited for no school, but I really just need a break.  Justin is also off work on Friday so we plan on just having a good day of family fun.  We have made it a family tradition--okay last year was the first year, but we plan on making it a tradition--for us to both be off work the last Friday in October and just spend the day as a family.  We are goingout to eat breakfast and if the weather cooperates we might take Makenna for some more photos with the beautiful fall trees.  We are also going to take Makenna trick-or-treating at Justin's office and we might take her to a trunk-or-treat Friday evening at a co-worker's church.  Justin was also supposed to be "on call" this weekend, but luckily someone asked him to trade, so now we can enjoy Makenna's 2nd Halloween without any distractions.  We will make sure to post some pictures of our little Halloween monkey.

Fall Pictures

We took advantage of the nice weather yesterday and took Makenna for a little fall photo shoot. She wasn't very cooperative, but here are some of the pictures we got. We hope to get some more this week.