The Coffey Cabin

Well, fall break was too short, but we enjoyed it while it lasted. We took a quick trip up to Caneyville, KY with my cousins and some friends to stay in their family's cabin. I use the word "cabin" loosely...it is a beautiful, luxurious, woodsy retreat; there was no "roughing it" involved at all! My cousin, Terri, cooked for everyone all weekend and whipped up the most scrumptious meals; she had fresh flowers in everyone's room, and of course, brought along her fabulous mobile coffee bar....we were truly pampered! I keep telling her she needs to run her own bed & breakfast! The woods surrounding the house are gorgeous, with just a hint of fall color starting to show. We went on lots of nature hikes and discovered all kind of new (to us) trees and forest fauna. We were a tree-huggin' bunch all weekend, and have the chigger bites to prove it!

A big "thank you!" to Curt & Terri, for inviting us and to Joan & Larry for being so generous in sharing their beautiful home away from home!

Here's the whole gang; The Millers (friends from Indiana), Curtis & Terri Byers and our crew....

Our gracious hosts, Curt &Terri.....

Curtis on the front porch with all the kids...Bible trivia time!

The boys hanging out in the "BOYS ONLY" treehouse....

...And the girls in the "GIRLS ONLY" clubhouse!!

Here are a few shots from our nature hikes......


(can you see the "eye" on the tree trunk?....very Lord of the Ring-ish!
I thought it might start talking to us!)






(No, these are not ancient Native-American carvings, the artists are wood-boring beetles....cool!)






Jacob being a dare-devil....

Too tired to hike any more........

Enjoying the sunset.........


Smores at the fire pit........


Saturday morning, last minute hike to the lake.......

September Summary

Well, while the rest of the world is watching the debate, happening right here in Music City, I am going to plop down in front of the computer and try to recap the last hectic few weeks. I have been busier than usual the past month, which partially accounts for my blog-neglect. The other excuse is that my camera was missing for a few weeks...finally found it last week...in a cooler....long story....don't ask. Good news is, it's still functioning, so I have a few pictures to add to our September update, although not as many as I would like since I had no camera to take pictures with for a while!!

September started off with the wedding of our cousin Alex Hartsell and his lovely bride, Lindsey Yeater. It was at the historic Hermitage mansion, home of president Andrew Jackson and was so beautiful, despite the rainy weather! Mary Rose and Sophie were flower girls and my nephews, Eli and Cooper were the most adorable "ring bears." We had lots of family in town for the event and had a fun weekend.

Jacob had his 13th birthday on September 27th and celebrated with about a dozen of his friends. They played football and basketball and stuffed themselves with cake and icecream for 3 or 4 hours, then all went home and crashed. At least that's what we did afterwards! Whew! There's nothing like a bunch of adolescent boys hyped up on sugar and testosterone!! It was a blast, though and Jacob said it was his best party ever! CANNOT believe that we have a teenager! We can't be that old!




Jacob finished up football season last week and had basketball tryouts yesterday and today. They just posted the list at the end of the school day today, and he made the middle school team, so here we go with basketball season! It is his favorite sport (and mine, too) so we are all really excited that he made the team, even though it will add another aspect to our crazy schedule. Practice is every morning at 6:15 am!!! My wonderful husband is coming up to bat for those early morning practices, though. I just cannot function properly at 5:30 in the morning. It is just not natural....really, it's not. If it is dark outside, it is obviously not time to be up yet. Before electricity was invented, you literally COULD NOT function that early in the morning because there were no lights and you would have to go shuffling around in the dark to light candles, burning your sleepy fingers and walking into walls in the process. I rest my case. Our Creator obviously meant for "dark" time to be "sleeping" time. Now, for you nay-sayers who want to quote the "worthy woman's" attributes in Proverbs 31...."She rises while it is still dark...." I'm not quite sure how that passage fits into my theory, but I am working on an explanation and I will get with you later. BUT, I digress....



We also celebrated the birthday of a dear friend of ours, Mrs. Nellie Mayes, who turned 95 in September! All the kids from church helped contribute artwork for a big wall art project I assembled (stole the idea from Family Fun - I love that magazine!) and we gave it to her at her birthday lunch at Cracker Barrel, her favorite restaurant. Then we hung it on the wall of her room at the retirement home. I think it turned out so cute and it really brightens up her room! She is a special lady and we love her a lot! I hope I am half as spunky as she is when I turn 95!




Last weekend, we had a neighborhood garage sale, which was kind of a bust. Not much traffic, not much buying, oh well! Somebody told us that there were 230 garage sales listed in the paper that weekend, so I think we just had too much competition. At least we got rid of a bunch of stuff! Everything that was left over (which was a LOT) we loaded up and took to GoodWill. Kevin got sentimental, if you can believe it, over the old floor-model TV that he grew up with that we finally carted off. It had been upstairs in the kids bonus room until the picture finally started getting a little wavier than was healthy for the eyeballs, so we sadly (NOT) parted with it. Cel-e-brate good times, c'mon!! Sing with me now! Alas, my joy was Kevin's pain....he actually had to take a picture of the thing at the last minute before the GoodWill guys hauled it away!!

Behold, the bringer of "Brady Bunch" and other cheesy classics (is that an oxymoron?) that the Stinson gang grew up on....isn't she a beaut!!

We are finally starting to feel a noticeable chill in the air here in Nashville, so it's started to feel like fall! Hooray! Hopefully I will get to an October update before November gets here!

Summer's end.....

The days are still hot and humid, and we’re trying to be patient waiting for fall to arrive. Even though our days are very busy now that school has started back, we’re still enjoying the great outdoors, despite the heat. Here’s a little glimpse of our backyard “habitat”….home to deer, turkeys, skunks, an occasional coyote, possums, lizards, toads, birds in every color of the rainbow, our sweet Gypsy and her two feline nemeses, DC and Shady, and four sweaty kids (when I can talk them into leaving the air-conditioned great indoors.)

Isaac's

little

lizard

friend

"Josh"

(not sure

why he

chose

that name)...



An afternoon visitor drops by for a snack....

Mom

and

baby at

dinner

time....

Plump pears, ready for picking....

My pear-pickin' partner.....

An abundance of apples...please come get some!

Our sweet Gypsy girl....

Sophie & her favorite playmate, Shady

DC is utterly disgusted with all this photo- journalism...

Isaac is not too sure he wants to do the zipline....

...so big sister "helps" him out.

Can you make out the look of

terror on his face?

Hammock hilarity.....

This week, it's been good for me to contemplate God’s creation just outside our door, to remind myself of all the beauty in this world. Lately, the world has seemed like a not-so-beautiful place sometimes. Funerals, visitations, hospitals, cancers, sickness and sadness have filled up a lot of our time and thoughts recently and those things have a way of wearing you down. Of course, they also help us realize how blessed we are to have a perfect home waiting for us in the future, where none of these things will trouble us. But sometimes it’s hard waiting for that! So in the meantime, it’s nice to observe the beauty and goodness that God has included in this temporary home and remember that, despite the occasional trials and troubles, this world is still a pretty fantastic “waiting room” in which to spend the long hours until the big day arrives.

Jacob's touchdown

Let me take this opportunity to issue an apology to our fine football franchise, the Merrol Hyde Magnet Middle School Hawks, who put up our school's first football victory this past Thursday night. All that talk about them being a "geek squad," and jokes about calculators during huddles was obviously premature, short-sighted and just plain WACK, because our boys put a serious beat down on HCA!!! Jacob had a great game....scored his first ever TOUCHDOWN, threw a completion for extra points, and had a couple of great tackles (including an awesome back-field sack.)

CONGRATULATIONS, HAWKS!! Keep those wins comin'!!

Here's a video clip of Jacob's touchdown run....

First day of school....

Well, I guess the fun part of summer is officially over, but the kids have actually been pretty excited about school starting back, so we're still having a good time. Isaac was especially ready for kindergarten to start; he's been asking for MONTHS how much longer he had to wait. And he had a super first day....no separation anxiety for him. No, that was more of a problem for mom. Our last "first day of kindergarten" (as far as we know!).......I definitely had some moments of weepiness, but was mostly just full of joy for him as he was finally getting his wish fulfilled! All in all, it was a better day than I thought it would be for the lonely, empty-nester mom..... hmmm....in reality that might be because I never actually left the school. I know, I know....pitiful. It's just that I found plenty of very "urgent" projects around the library that needed my "immediate attention" (while spying on Isaac every half hour or so as he went on a "bear hunt," ate his first cafeteria lunch, smashed play-dough into the soles of his shoes, etc) until it was time to pick him up. I hope his teacher did not catch on to all those frequent trips past their door. She's no dummy, though.....she probably thinks I'm psycho-mom. "Well, would you look at the time! I can't believe it's already time to get Isaac and I'm still here!" YEAH, right.....I had been counting down the minutes!


ANYWAY, here are a few more pictures from the first day of school:

Isaac with his "best friend" and most favorite librarian in the whole world, Mrs. Scotti.....

Isaac with his new teacher, Mrs. Cawthon........

Sophie with her new teacher, Mrs. Ryckeley.........

Now, on to other "firsts"..........Jacob played his very first football game tonight! He is on the middle school football team for his school and it was SO MUCH FUN watching him out there on the field (even though we got whupped.) Now, you have to remember that our kids go to an academic magnet school (in other words, there is not a lot of expectation for a winning season, or even A WIN, for that matter. Can you say "GEEK SQUAD"?) Just kidding, we just like to make fun of ourselves. Jacob says the team makes jokes that they should break out their calculators during a huddle to REALLY intimidate the other guys. Nothing like a couple of logarithms to strike fear into the heart of even the brawniest football player. Our team only scored two touchdowns over the ENTIRE SEASON last year, so our main goal is just not to get hurt. We actually played really well tonight and only got outscored 34-0. Seriously, that is not a bad night. I can't believe I just said that. Sad, but so true......

But on the bright side, we only have 18 kids on the whole team, so they all get a lot of playing time. (In contrast, our opponents tonight had 42 kids on their team). Here's our little safety, running back and "special teams" guy after his first game...........

Isn't he cute!!!

Cramming in the last of summer.....

Wow, only 11 days left until school starts back! We have been trying to take advantage of the last little bit of summer break by cramming in more fun than we can stand over the past few weeks!

Jacob and Mary Rose had a great time at Kamp Kennessee. They loved.....seeing old friends and making new ones, getting freaked out on the 60 foot high zip line, the daily Bible devos and spiritual atmosphere, the grand-daddy of all "slip and slides", (which incorporates dish-washing detergent, shaving cream and industrial strength fire hoses down a very steep hill--whoa!!)
....just to name a few of their favorites.

Here is Mary Rose with some of her camp friends and bunk mates:















And Jacob with his good buddy, Tanner:















After picking the kids up at camp, we headed to Texas for our annual trip to the Lonestar state. It was awesome, as always.....lazy days, humid nights, dear friends and loads of fun! We thoroughly enjoyed staying in Conrad & Mary's beautiful new home, a modern marvel perched in the treetops.




Here is a view from their living room...










And we finally got to meet their newest addition, Cora Mae, who is 5 months old already!!





Here is a snuggly, swaddled baby Cora with Jacob What a sweetheart!









Kevin played with his "boys" in the Tyler golf tournament and put up some respectable numbers. His buddy, Reagan, talked the guys into having a "retro" dress up day, so they showed up on the course modeling some happenin' vintage golf wear. OOOOweeee, I know they were having to fight those cart girls off!! No, I'm not posting a picture of them......I don't want all of you viewers to be blinded by their male beauty.....just trust me when I say they were SMOKIN'!

We headed out of Dallas and spent a couple of days visiting other friends and relatives on the way back home. Spent an afternoon with my Aunt Anne & Uncle John in their "retirement" home in Bryan/College Station. They were so good to us when we lived in College Station while Kevin was finishing school at A&M. We love them dearly and wish they weren't so far away!





The kids with Uncle John & Aunt Anne











Then we headed to Centerville, TX for a great (but too short) overnight visit at the home of Brian & Rebekah Klutz and their 4 kids, Magnus, Titus, Justus & Rayah. What a wonderful family...we wish we could see them more often!

We spent the night with my sweet Uncle Andrew and Aunt Polly in Bradley, Ark on the last night before heading home. Going to Bradley is always an adventure...we love to hear Uncle Andrew's stories and see his "souvenirs" from all of his world travels. And he always takes us on a tour of the farm............acres upon acres of soybeans, cotton and sometimes wheat. The kids get to ride for miles in the back of his pickup down dusty dirt roads and if they get too hot, he lets them drink out of the irrigation pipes. How fun is that?! Sometimes we go up the road to where the Amish farmers raise catfish and the kids get to watch thousands of catfish leaping up out of the surface of the pond during feeding time. Talk about exciting! Who needs Disneyworld when we've got Uncle Andrew and his farm?!!




Jacob taking a swig from the irrigation pipe....



















Uncle Andrew teaching Kevin how to calculate yield per acre.



















Riding country roads in the back of Uncle Andrew's truck


















It's a great year for Uncle Andrew's cotton....it's already taller than Mary Rose and still a month away from harvest!!















"Farm livin' is the life for me!"














SO, that's our "western" trip in a nutshell!

Home again, but still on the go! The day after we got home, Mary Rose headed north to Bowling Green for violin camp at Western Kentucky University. She and her friend Emily had a great week at camp and she enjoyed seeing her relatives and friends in BG.





Emily and Rosie at violin camp with cousin Claire, who came to see their final performance.










This past week everyone has been back home for good, and we've enjoyed having my sister, Sharon, and her kids here from Atlanta for a few days, as well as Kevin's parents for a short visit.
Busy enough for ya?? Like I said, we're cramming in the fun while we can!! Only 11 days and counting down...........