Birthday Girls

SJ turned 4 in late August and our niece Jelly turned 3. We celebrated our girls' birthdays with a joint party, with the requested Care Bear cake.

Auntie Jo got the girls matching Care Bear outfits and I made the cake. We had a blast!

In gratitude for our girl, my four favorite things about her:

1-Her love of art and music. SJ can paint for hours, enjoys her ballet class and loves to take piano lessons with Miss Jeannie.

2-Her sense of humor. She loves a good joke and has the cutest giggle.

3-Her sense of adventure. This girl is fearless and loves to go go go.

4-Her caring for her Wendom. SJ loves her brother and often asks to get him a treat if we are out while he's at co-op.

SJ is an amazing little girl and we are so thrilled to get to be her family.

Back to School

After a fun, crazy summer, it's time to get back to school.

B started back to school yesterday. He is a 1st grader! His teacher is fantastic and we are still so pleased with our choice to homeschool with our co-op. B is reading chapter books on his own and is very into Legos these days.

SJ started ballet lessons, she has been so excited to get started. It was a huge blessing to arrive at class to find the other girl in class was a Liberian adoptee we had previously met! SJ has been taking piano lessons all summer. It's been very hard to get her practice time in, but I think the structure of the school year will help us.

We Coffeys are headed into our Birthday Season, more on that to come...

July Catch-Up

A few pictures to catch up. We had such a busy and fun summer!

1- cute kids lounging

2-SuperDaddy at Eagle Falls at Cumberland Falls State Park. SuperDaddy and I took a little trip there, just us grown-ups.

3-SuperDaddy had his 4 best buds over. The 5 of them hadn't been all together in 15+ years.

4-cute cousins. B and SJ are crazy for their cousins!

Wading at Metcalf Bottoms

We took a little day trip to the mountains to wade at Metcalf Bottoms. Lola was in town to visit, so it was a great opportunity to show her the beauty of the Smokies.

Papaw made little wooden boats for the kids to float. And the kids had fun looking for pretty rocks while cooling off in the water. We also visited the Little Greenbrier School after our picnic lunch. So much fun!

Catching Up, May 2009

It has been very busy around Our Coffey House so far this summer, so I'll catch up the best I can.

B participated in his school's Art Fair with a Lego diorama. He titled it Attack of the Robots. B also graduated from kindergarden, complete with ceremony and cap and gown.

We also got to go strawberry picking at our favorite local You-Pick farm. SJ's strawberries had a little bite out of each one. We went with my best friend and her daughters, seen left acting silly.

More fun times to come!

Community

One of the many blessings of adopting our SJ is finding an incredible new circle of friends! We had SO MUCH FUN at our Ethiopian picnic! We had great Ethiopian food, met new children now home with Forever Families like KB and Katie, and shared about our journeys to our children. This group gives me girlfriends who fully understand my passion for orphans, sweet Julie who brings beads for the kids, Tracie who takes amazing pictures, Stacy who happily runs to the store for more plates, Julia and Theresa who are instant friends, and Danielle who is our walking adoption encyclopedia. And also there's Karey, and Kelly, and Robyn, and Julie B, and Amy, and...
<--------Click over to The A Team for more about our day.

East TN Ethiopian Families Picnic

You are invited to join us on this Saturday from 11-3 at Nicholas Ball Park for a picnic lunch and fun in the sun! Please bring a dish or two to share, your lawn chairs and drinks for your family. Feel free to pass this info along to any interested folks!