2007

When you're too cheap to buy a jersey for the Super Bowl,
you make one out of a blue shirt and masking tape.
(When #18 next was in a Super Bowl,
one of my favorite people bought me a real one.)

Two cute members of the 2nd place Yellow Team at the AWANA Games

John's 11th Birthday

The last time that we dyed Easter eggs.  They're growing up!

All that for a broken toe.  I'm still not sure why it was necessary.
The toes are exposed!  The break was in a growth plate at the base of the big toe, though. 
Maybe they just wanted to keep him from abusing it while it healed.

Andy's one and only season coaching baseball.  Go Yankees!

This was a pretty fantastic group of friends.  Unfortunately, they had to say goodbye.
This was their last night together...they haven't all been in the same room since.
I miss them.

When your team goes 26 and 1combined for the
regular season and the tournament,
receiving a major award from the best coach
ever is pretty great. 

Andy traveled to Green Bay multiple times for work,and he got to tour Lambeau. 
They ate at some fancy restaurant in there and got to go play down on the field. 
I was extremely envious.

Summer just isn't summer without spending a week playing Pool Football.

He turned 10 and he wanted to go to Laughlin to eat at the breakfast buffet.
Lucky charms, pancakes, bacon, donuts and Mountain Dew.
Man, it's good to be 10.

Andy and I visited Chicago.  I actually don't mind this photo of me.

First time at White Castle!  Had to see what the hubbub was all about.
Unfortunately, it wasn't my last time at a White Castle. 
(Shudder.)

R2-D2 mailbox, best deep dish ever, Soldier Field (of course I took a picture of that)
and the view from the top of the Sears Tower (after I stopped crying and in between hits of my inhaler.)
Good times. 

Nate's Butt Farm!  (Sorry.)
And another broken bone for Matthew; an arm this time.
He also broke a thumb over the summer,
but I didn't manage to get a picture of that cast. 

Disneyland with my boys and parentals.  The best memories.

Love.

Our neighborhood was hit hard by fires; hundreds of homes were lost.
We were fortunate; many friends weren't so lucky.

I loved those boots.
But they weren't mine.  I think I need to buy some boots.
(Getting ready for a piano recital.)

Can there ever be too much Disneyland?  I say no.

Putting up Christmas trees, no matter which room they're in,
is one of my favorite things to do!

This was the last year that they slept "under the Christmas tree."
The next year, if memory serves, they decided that their beds
really are more comfortable than the floor.

Finishing the year right!
A spontaneous, day-after-Christmas trip back up to Monterey
to spend the last week of the year with our favorite people!

Choosing To Be Thankful

The calendar seems quite certain that today is November 1st and if that is truly the case, then today begins NaBloPoMo for 2014.  Despite my lack of creativity and completely against my better judgment, tradition compels me to once again attempt to write each day.  As in years past, I wish that I had deep thoughts or highly inspirational words of wisdom and encouragement to share with you; unfortunately, I probably won’t.  As much as I dislike “mommy blogs,” I’m afraid that my ramblings might read much like a journal of daily life in the Coffman household.  I should have requested blog ideas and taken suggestions!

I did have one thought that wasn’t too terrible… A friend and I were both having pretty crummy days last week and we joked that we could just blog 30 Days of Misery.  You know, because we like to share.  Obviously that’s not going to happen, but it did occur to me that rather than attempt to force deep and profound insights that just might not be there right now, I could focus on 30 Days of Thankfulness.  So if there’s a day (or twenty) that I can’t think of something, you might just get to hear about some small thing that made me smile that day.  I hope that’s okay with you, my readers (all three of you!).  

With that in mind, today I am thankful for the changing of seasons.  

Fall and winter are by far my favorite seasons and I eagerly anticipate this time of year.   As much as I like my Halloween decorations, October in San Diego never really has that crisp, fall feeling.  Finally, as November is here, it’s starting to change.  Yesterday I sat at my desk and watched as the clouds rolled in and the breeze picked up; I was practically giddy!  And last night…it actually rained!  Oh, I was in heaven!  This morning I wore my Uggs when the Mr. and I went out for coffee, I’m taking down the jack-o-lanterns and replacing them with fall and harvest decorations, football is on, and cookies are baking in the oven.  

I could take or leave spring, and I could completely do without summer and the sun; but this - this is my time.  So for sweaters and boots and yummy kitchen smells and blankets and family time and pumpkin spice lattes and leaves that turn colors…for fall…I am thankful.

A Timely Reminder

Before you read on, please take four minutes and watch the video below. It's not the original music video, but it's the one with the best audio and they really do a great job with the photos. Even if you know the song, please watch it, think about the words, and then come back to me...



So, what did you think?

If you're at all like me, it struck a chord and caused you to consider your typical Christmas season. It seems that we spend much of the year waiting for Christmastime to arrive and then it rushes by in a flurry of parties, shopping, presents and responsibilities. It's over before we realize it and it was all one big blur. My head started to spin when I realized that I have to bake around 400 cookies tomorrow; I thought to myself, "It's already started and it's not even December yet!"

Maybe I'm just more reflective these days since my kids are getting older. I seem to notice every second that ticks by, and it's one second less that they'll be here and life will exist as I know it. Adulthood is knocking at the door for them and I'm trying to make the most of all of the time that we have together.

Whatever stage of life you find yourself in, I encourage you to think about the coming month. What are the important things? What really matters? I challenge you to make an effort to slow down this year, to remember what Christmas is really about.

Make this Christmas special, not by attending as many parties as possible or by giving the most expensive gifts, but by remembering the true reason that we celebrate Christmas and by spending time with those you love.

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

No, I'm not talking about a mullet. (Although there is one picture of me that Andy has hidden away somewhere; it had better not ever see the light of day!) I'm speaking about the weird collision of decorations that can be seen at my house right now. I should be used to it; it happens every year on the day before Thanksgiving. It's just always a bit strange.

The front patio and all of the indoor decorations are still fully fall. Granted, they're short-timers now, but they're there. Lots of pumpkins, gourds, scarecrows, leaves, orange lights...it's lovely. However, if you're sitting in my recliner and looking out onto the back patio - it's Christmas!

I have this weird thing: no Christmas lights can go on until after Thanksgiving. But since I'm always so anxious to see the lights, I like to come home to them on Thanksgiving night. Each year on Thanksgiving morning, before the turkey and stuffing and general, wonderful piggy-ness, we put up the Christmas lights out front. And the flowers and the garland. It's great! Then we go celebrate Thanksgiving with family and when we come home, bam!, it's Christmas.

I wanted the same to be true of my back patio too. Knowing that I won't have time to decorate tomorrow morning, I did it today. Don't worry...I won't turn the lights on tonight; that would be cheating. In fact, I'll probably close the blinds so that I won't even be tempted.

By noon tomorrow, all of the outside decorations will be up; by Saturday, the tree and everything inside will be done. But for right now, it's just a little odd to see different holidays, depending on which window you look out from!

I Love Surprises

Today I had a coffee related blog prepared. It's kind of a grumpy blog, I was in a mood. My plan was to drop John off at school, stop for a cup of coffee and then come home and vent to all of you.

All of that changed, however, when I walked in to Starbucks to get my coffee.

I had no idea that today is Red Cup Day! I celebrate this day every year but somehow I missed that today is the oh-so-glorious return of my dear friend, the Red Cup. What a needed surprise this morning!

Tomorrow you still may get the grumpy blog, but for today, I am going to celebrate the joining of two of my favorite things: Fall and Red Cups.

Halloween Time

Since several of my buddies have Halloween themed posts today, I'll jump on the band wagon and share our Halloween with you.

I mentioned a few days ago that we were planning to break tradition this year and spend Halloween at Disneyland. It seemed like a good idea. The kids didn't want to dress up, they're kind of big to go out and trick or treat, and no one was thrilled with the harvest festival idea. So AC game home from work at around 11:30am last Friday, and we headed up to the Magic Kingdom.

It was perfect; we had so much fun. We ended up staying until midnight (I'm getting too old for that!). It was a bit crowded for a while, but not too bad.

Here are a few pics that I took. Enjoy!

We started out in California Adventure. Note the sincere smiles. Ha! They were actually quite irritated at me for bringing the camera; we'd just spend the whole previous evening smiling for our annual family pictures. So when I made them stop for a picture about ten feet from the entrance, they weren't thrilled.

Have you been on the new Toy Story Mania ride? It's so much fun! Especially the sweet 3D glasses they give you!

Not bad for a self portrait.

Matthew loves the water rides. We even talked AC into going on the Rapids with us!

After a few more rides at California, we decided to get the real party started and head over to Disneyland.

When I walk through the tunnel and round the corner onto Main Street, I can literally feel the happiness. I love it.

So cute!


My three men, on a mission to get to the restaurant. Apparently, everyone was hungry.

Snow on the castle, proof that Christmas is coming.

Ah, tradition. Dinner at the Village Haus.


I love the decorations.


The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!


Fall Flowers Everywhere


I don't really like the Haunted Mansion when it's decorated with the Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Matt wanted this picture; we were trying to catch it mid-transformation between nice snowman to spooky pumpkin man.


A tired John, trying to get comfortable while Matt and I went on Splash Mountain.

It was about 10pm.


Happy Halloween, Disneyland!

Joyous Reunions

Welcome Back, Old Friend!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Yippee! I am so excited!! One of my most favorite seasons is finally here!!!

No, it's not Christmastime, as the title might suggest. Nor is it Fall, although each and every morning I pray that Fall will arrive and that the fog and clouds will not burn off!

The glorious season of which I speak...Football Season!

Each year, I eagerly anticipate this week! Basketball season is the worst; I can't stand it. I even look forward to baseball during basketball season! Then, all though the long summer months of baseball, I keep pressing on, knowing that soon, it'll be kick-off time.

I take it quite seriously...

I'm a loyal season ticket holder to our lame local college team. We've been attending games since before I was a teenager and you know what? One of these seasons is going to be a winning season.

Each year, I include a football with the fall and harvest decorations that sit outside my front door.

I have an electric jack-o-lantern for Halloween that's a football. It's terribly cute.

I have football ornaments for the tree.

Each year I have to choose to be a good Aunt, because certain birthday parties always coincide with play-off games.

I never attend Super Bowl parties because there is always too much party-ing going on and not enough watching of the game.

So finally, after all these months of waiting, I am rewarded! NCAA play began last weekend, NFL begins tonight. Don't bother emailing or texting me between 4pm and 8pm this evening...I'll be parked on the couch watching the 'Skins take on the reigning Super Bowl champions. And I'll be loving every minute of it!