Family workouts

Here is a picture of Jason and Kora working on their push-ups.  They even got cousin Jakob to do a few.

 

Here is Kora working with Dad on her sit-ups.  We never ask her to do push-ups or sit-ups, even though Jesse does sound like the drill instructor.  Kora starts doing them on her own and will ask you to hold her feet and hands so she can do the sit-ups.

 

Winter Silliness

 

Below are some pictures of the kids being silly from the last 1-2 months. 

 

With the weather being so cold and nasty most of the time, we've had to come up with new ideas for entertainment and burning off energy.  All three of them have gotten pretty good at doing push-ups and sit-ups.  Kora gets down and does them right with Megan and Jason.  We like to start training our kids early :) 

 

We went to the move "Frozen" earlier in the year and the kids loved it.  We showed them a video of "Let it Go" on YouTube and now Kora is obsessed with the song.  She's asks to watch it almost everyday.  She will sing it over and over and dance using the hand motions from the movie.  Kora also likes princesses now and wants to wear a long, fluffy dress whenever we turn on the music so she can dance in it.   

 

Jason got his glasses in early January.  He was very excited to get them and was amazed at how much better he could see everything.

 

Our family Christmas Present to the kids was to take Megan and Jason to a Toby Mac (with Mandisa/Matthew West/Brandon Heath/Matt Maher)  Concert and to stay in a hotel to go swimming.  I took Megan and Jason to the concert and Jesse stayed with Kora at the hotel.  We had fun, but Megan and Jason were worn out by the end of the concert.  Here are the three of them in the hotel in the morning. 

 

New Year!

Where has the time gone.  It's already 2014.  December was super busy for us until Christmas time.  We spent time at both Grandparent's homes for Christmas over the break.  They had fun playing with all of our family.  Of course, they enjoyed opening their presents.  Kora is still timid when it comes to opening hers.  She needed to have someone start them for her and then she would rip pieces off.  By the second round of presents, she was starting to get more into it. 

 

Once we got back home, we enjoyed playing outside when it was warm enough and having fun at home for the rest of the Christmas break.  They all love to get pulled on the sleds. 

 

 

Kora is saying more words all the time.  She learned to jump just a few days ago.  She likes to color and draw.  I'm afraid the terrible twos have started for her.  Kora can throw quite a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants.  She also gets frustrated and acts out when she can't do what Megan and Jason are doing.  So we have been working on ways to work around that.  Kora loves to dance and sing.  When we are playing with her food and dishes, she will say Amen before we pretend to eat.       

Halloween

Here are the three kids dressed up for Halloween.  Megan was the pink power ranger.  Kora was a giraffe, and Jason was a wasteland warrior. They had a fun time getting dressed up. 

1 Year Anniversary

Today is Kora's one year anniversary of her Gotcha Day.  It's hard to believe a year has gone by already since we were in China.  But yet it feels like Kora has always been apart of the family.  Here is a picture from a year ago in Guangzhou.

   

We all have come a long way in the past year.  When we first got Kora, Jesse and I felt like we were babysitting somebody else's child without any information on what to do with her.  But now when we look at Kora, all we see is our daughter who we love the same as our other children.  Megan and Jason have learned what it's like to have a younger sibling to play with and also to fight with at times. 

Kora has gone from a baby who could only sit and crawl on her belly a short distance to a girl who runs and climbs up and down on furniture.  She also went from making a few sounds to saying probably a hundred words.   Kora started out hating anything to do with water, and now she loves every kind of water.  She would never get out of the water if it was her choice.  She went from being scared of everyone but us, not wanting anyone else to touch her to shaking other people's hands at church and saying hello to everyone in the grocery store.    I can't wait to see what happens in the next year. 

Corn Maze/Pumpkin Patch

We went to a corn maze/pumpkin patch this afternoon.  They had fun going through the corn maze as well as digging for coins in the corn, climbing the hay bales, going on a hay ride, swinging on the barrel swings, and riding in the barrel cars.

 

2 Years Old Today!

It's hard to believe that Kora is 2 years old already.  She's come along way in the last year, but she still seems so little.  She really has blossomed these last couple of months with talking more and  understanding so much more.  I can have little conversations with her now. 

Kora is still stubborn at times, but you can ask her to do things and a lot of the time she will do it.  She has gotten much better with keeping her glasses on, wearing them for several hours at a time.  We still have to watch her closely when wearing them, because she has used them as a chew toy and throws them when she gets mad. 

Kora loves to throw things into the garbage.  Any little piece of paper or crumb she finds on the floor has to go into the garbage.  I have to be careful she doesn't throw anything away that we want to save.  Kora still enjoys going to bed at night.  She loves to wave and say bye to everybody in the room before she picks up her blanket and goes to her bed.

Kora is more comfortable around other people now.  She's still pretty reserved when in new places and around a lot of people.  But she's turned into a little show off when she's at home and we have company over.  She can be very silly at times dancing around.  Kora also has started singing parts of songs, such as Jesus loves me, Wheels on the bus, and Head, shoulders, knees, and toes.  She also will jump right in with Megan and Jason when they are wrestling with Dad with no fear of getting hurt.  Kora continues to enjoy being outside.