Holidays

I know it has been a while, but life has continued on for us.  Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone and we are now in the midst of the Christmas season.  We are having a great time making memories of our holiday traditions, as well as establishing some new traditions as a family.  Art, our elf, returned a few weeks ago, and the kids think he is pretty cool.  We had planned on going to Silver Dollar City today, but due to the weather we have postponed that until next weekend.  This week, we have holiday baking and visiting Santa are on our agenda as well as a lot of other holiday activities.  I will be sure to post some pictures.

Aside from the holidays, the kiddos are growing each day and we are amazed at how they continue to grow. Beckham is no longer a toddler and his vocabulary and speech have sky-rocketed within the past month.  He talks like a little child and it is so funny to hear what he says.  He also continues to be a ham and keeps us constantly laughing.  Makenna is LOVING school and we couldn't be happier with how her kindergarten year is going.  She does well in all areas, but reading has been her strength.  We went to a book sale this weekend and she picked out some chapter books to begin reading and I was pretty excited because they were some of my favorite books as a child.  We are reading through them together (she reads a page and then I read a page) and it has been great and moments I will cherish forever.  Thankfully, my mom kept all of my childhood books so I will be going through them soon and picking out some for Makenna. :)

Life Lately...A Photo Dump

Makenna on her first day of kindergarten--she loves school and has been blessed with a wonderful teacher

My first made from scratch apple pie of the season

Makenna with her "All About Me" poster she did for her kindergarten open house

Batman--Beckham loved his Batman mask he received from a McDonalds Happy meal (note: the only reason the kids got happy meals was because Makenna's school was having McTeacher night and we stopped by to support them.)

Makenna wanted a picture taken with Beckham while we were waiting in the car for Justin.  He went in to a store to buy some coffee--shocking. :)

A craft Makenna and I made together a few weeks ago.  A pumpkin made out of canning jar lid rims.  So cute and so easy.

Makenna wrote this for her free-write the other day at school.  She is so sweet and she wrote it all by herself.  To clarify, it does say 32, not 35, the 2 is just backwards.

My beautiful birthday flowers from my awesome husband.

 

Two of my current two favorite things--my new tea brewer from Teavana with their Pumpkin Spice Brulee tea.  Perfect fall beverage.

                                                

Busy...the word of the month

I used to think we were busy and had a lot on our schedules, but I can honestly say we have never been as busy as we have been this past month.  Between school starting, soccer, church plant stuff, and just general life we have been home very little.  I am way behind on editing pictures (hence the lack of them on here) and our house is in need of cleaning, but I am learning that this is only a season in life, we a busy doing things we love, and that my kids are growing up too fast so I am soaking up these precious moments.  So here's to a new school year, a new fall soccer season, and the beginnings of a church our city is desperately in need of.  And hopefully there will be some pictures to soon follow.

4 days and 7 weeks

That is how long we have until some incredible things happen.  Our church plant is hosting its first ever Camp in the Park (VBS) this Friday evening and Saturday morning.  This is going to be a huge opportunity for our launch team to reach our target community and make our presence in their area be known.  And in just 7 weeks are church plant will officially launch at our meeting location.  We have been planning like crazy for this big day and while there is still much to be done it is getting very real to our core team and honestly, a bit scary, yet exciting. 

This past weekend Justin and I went to a church planting meeting in Jeff City with part of our team and the whole time we were amazed to be sitting in the room.  We never imagined that at this point in our lives (or ever) that we would be members of a core team getting ready to plant a church in NW Springfield. But never the less, here we are and we are excited to see where God takes us.  Yesterday our planting pastor, JT, spoke at our current campus about why we are planting a church in Springfield and we then sang this song.  While our target area isn't a foreign country, this song definitely applies to the group we are trying to reach--the least of these.

Please pray for us and Freshwater Springfield as we prepare for launch on September 8th. 

A Great Holiday Weekend

Whew...the 4th of July is now over and we had a great one. We spent the actual holiday in Bolivar hanging out with family and as usual, Justin served as our pyro technician.  Justin took PTO on Friday so we had a relaxing day at home recovered from the 4th. Saturday we hung out at home, ran a few errands, and then headed to a church BBQ. It was fun hanging out and getting to know some of the people we are planting our new church with a little better. We capped off our weekend with a trip to Silver Dollar City. Although it was quite hot we had a great time.

This week is a busy one for us as well. We have two church meetings, soccer games, and then we are going on a mini-getaway for Justin's birthday.

Summer So Far

Technically, I won't begin my summer break for a few more weeks, but so far all I can say is that we have been keeping ourselves busy.  I (and Makenna) are halfway through summer school and are looking forward to some rest and relaxation during the month of July.  Here are some tidbits of what's been going on in the Coffer world:

-As mentioned above, Makenna has been going to summer school and is loving it.  It is in the building she will be attending in the Fall and she is really enjoying learning about her new school and making new friends.

-Beckham is potty trained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Justin took PTO last week and worked with him during the day and thankfully he decided he is ready to get rid of diapers.  

-Makenna attended soccer camp with the club she played for in the Spring and will be going to try-outs tomorrow morning and Monday evening.  We still aren't convinced that soccer is going to be her thing (and we are completely ok with that), but at her age all that matters is that she is having fun and she certainly is. 

-After severe stomach pain for the past week and being convinced to go to the doctor by myself and some co-workers, Justin has been diagnosed with diverticulitis.  The current course of treatment is antibiotics, but if those don't work he will go in for some more in-depth testing.

-Since we went to Chicago over spring break we arent' taking a big summer vacation this year, but we are going to spend some time at Lake of the Ozarks in July for Justin's birthday.  We are all looking forward to this little getaway.

-In the next week or so we are going to take both kids to see the movie Monsters University.  We weren't sure if Beckham would be able to sit through a movie at a theater or not, but since he LOVES Monsters, Inc. and can recite it by heart, we think he will be engaged enough to make it.  We shall see.

-I am currently making a schedule for the month of July of activities the kids and I can do.  So far on the list we have weekly storytime at the library, the zoo, the Discovery Center, picnics and playing at local parks, craft time at home, and swimming.  We hopefully can also arrange some fun play dates with friends so I believe we will have plenty to keep us busy.  

Chicago Trip Wrap-Up (Two Months Later)

I am just now getting around to posting the last of the pictures from our Spring Break trip to Chicago.  Life has just seemed to get busier and busier, but we have made a goal to try to simplify our schedules and our life in general as a family.  Sadly, I am about 5 months behind on editing pictures, but getting caught up in on my to-do list for this summer.

 She was so excited about this Dr. Suess exhibit at an art gallery.  She had been studying Dr. Suess and school and we had just seen Suessical the Musical, as well.

 

 Walking along the Magnificent Mile

 

 NBC Studios

 

The Chicago Tribune

 

 The Bean

 

 Makenna loved the Bean.

 

 She loved riding the public transportation although you can't tell it from this photo.

 

 Field Museum

 

 Of course she had to have her picture taken with the owl.

 

 The cool underground exhibit at the Field Museum.  It made me feel like I was in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

 

 The famous Sue, the T-Rex.

 

 Makenna and Sue

 

 Makenna with her large piece of chocolate cake at the Grand Lux.

 

 Having fun the last night in our hotel room.

Goodbye April, Hello May

It is crazy that tomorrow is May 1st.  April has been incredibly busy for us with work-related functions, Makenna's soccer practice and games, Justin's soccer games, church activities, and just life in general and unfortunately May isn't going to slow down.  I will be wrapping up another school year, writing new curriculum and assessments, and preparing to teach summer school in June.   Makenna and Justin will continue playing soccer through the month of May and Beckham will just continue to "go with the flow" with all of our hectic schedules.  And of course, May also brings celebrating moms and graduates and we will definitely be celebrating both, especially our favorite graduate...

 

Isn't that just too cute for words.  This is Mak's professional pre-school graduation photo.  Her ceremony will be on May 16th and we are excited to celebrate this milestone of hers.  It is hard for us to believe she will be going to kindergarten in August, but she is more than ready and we are very proud of how well she did at her kindergarten screening.  But for now we are going to cherish this last month of her preschool career and we will be sure to post pictures of all of our May happenings. (Plus I need to finish editing other pictures to share.)

Spring Break--Chicago Day 2 through Pictures

On Thursday we decided to let Makenna sleep in a little since we had a long day with a lot of walking ahead of us.  Although we did take utilize the public transit system when we could we still did a TON of walking, but Makenna was a real trooper the entire trip.

 Day 2 at the American Girl store.

 

 The Hancock Observatory.  Makenna was amazed at how tall it was.

 

 Makenna on the Magnificant Mile.

 Posing once again outside the American Girl store.

 In front of Saige's display--the 2013 Girl of the Year

 

 You can't read what this says, but it was cute and Makenna wanted a picture in front of it.

 

 Makenna and Kit in front of one of Kit's display.

 

 The Kit and Ruthie display.  Makenna thinks that Santa will bring her Ruthie for Christmas.  Or she has the idea that the tooth fairy should leave her $100 so she can buy her herself.  The first one might happen.  The second idea not so much.

 

 Makenna with McKenna--the 2012 Girl of the Year

 

 Makenna with all the previous girls of the year

 

 Makenna and Saige in her hot air balloon.

 

She loved the sporty outfits--especially the soccer and volleyball players.

 

 Getting ready for our lunch reservations.  I have never seen so much pink in one place.

 

 Makenna and Kit at our table.

 

 Makenna, Kit, and Mom

 

 We were really impressed with the American Girl restaurant.  They even had conversation starters for us to discuss.

 

 And Kit even got her own cup and saucer.

Makena loved the fruit kabobs the most.

 

 After our time at American Girl, we headed to Shedd Aquarium.

 

 

 One of the few pictures Makenna would let me take of her at Shedd.

 

 Jellyfish.

 

 Makenna and Justin looking at a display.

 

 More jellyfish.

 Makenna with the Chicago skyline behind her.

 

 And a silly picture.

 

 Celebrating Pi Day (yes I'm a math nerd) eat the best pizza at Giordano's.

 

 Makenna said it was the best pizza ever.

 

 View of Navy Pier from our hotel.

 

Justin and Makenna ended Day 2 with a little swimming.