First Steps...

Some of Evelyn's first steps...

On the Move

For family and friends far away...who haven't seen Evie since she's been on the move!

Pincer Grasp

Enjoy this video of Evelyn (8 months)...she is working on her pincer grasp and learning how to pick up Cheerios all by herself!

School Stuff

One of the things we have been doing with Mara Kate as part of her weekly school routine is memorization.

Each week we work with her on memorizing different bits of information or facts in several different subjects. The idea behind memorizing at this young age (when her brain is very much like a little sponge, ready to soak up lots of stuff) is that it will hopefully give her intellectual "pegs" to hang other related information on later on as she continues to learn. It should also help her to retain what she learns when she is a bit older and is studying on a deeper level, as some of it will already be vaguely familiar to her due to being exposed to the information at a young age.

Here is a video of her reciting some of her memory from our first week of school. :)

Smiles from Evie

Fun Slide Show

My dear friend, Bobbi Jo, put together this slide show of pictures of Mara Kate. These are pictures she took of her awhile back which I still haven't gotten around to ordering, but thought it would be fun to post the slide show on here for everyone's enjoyment.

If you are interested in a booking a portrait session with Bobbi Jo, you will definitely get your money's worth. Click here to get to her website.

Rainy Day Recreation

Today it has been drizzly and deary all day. We've had a low-key day, which has been just fine my me. As I told Mara Kate when she asked where we were going today, "Sometimes it's good to just stay at home.". :)

So, at home is where we've been, but earlier this morning I did send Mara Kate out to play in the rain with her rain boots, her umbrella and her rain jacket on. She had a blast! She enjoyed splashing in the puddles in our yard, but she also loved standing near the side of the house where the rain was dripping off the roof and letting it pelt the top of her umbrella really hard. She loved hearing the pitter-patter sound it made above her head.

Here are a few pictures...

..and a video

"I don't want to go in the deep water."

Notice, I was videoing from inside, standing at my back door, trying to stay as dry as possible. :)

Romans

Well, we are all moved into our new home in Rome, GA. So, I guess you could say we are officially Romans now. :)

The move from Atlanta to Rome went very smoothly and the moving company who moved us did a good job and took pretty good care of our belongings. They left us in our new house around 5pm on July 28th and we went straight to work unpacking! The kitchen was our first priority, then Mara Kate's room. We worked pretty much from morning until past our normal bedtime for 5 days straight, but I'd say we are now 95% unpacked and settled. There are still a few lingering boxes sitting around and some curtains to be bought/made and hung, but it feels good to be mostly unpacked and enjoying our new place. I will try to post some pictures of our house soon, but have just been too busy so far to take any.

Kane actually had not been to our new rental house until we arrived on moving day, so I was anxious to see what he thought. Thankfully he is really happy with the house and the neighborhood we are in. There are a couple lakes in our neighborhood, one of which is fairly large and has a walking trail all the way around it. We are very much planning on taking advantage of having that so close by. There is also a smaller lake or pond that has ducks and geese that live around it. The first weekend we were in Rome Kane's sister and brother in law came down to help us out. They mostly entertained Mara Kate so I could get closets and bathrooms not only unpacked, but completely organized. I was very thankful for their help and it was also fun to have our first house guests in Rome so soon after we moved in. I'm thankful for family and for being able to have them there in spite of the fact that we were still in the process of getting things settled. It was also nice to have Elizabeth's opinion on some things as I was trying to figure out where to put certain things.

While Elizabeth and Choonghwan were in town we girls did take a little break to go down to the pond to feed the ducks. Mara Kate thought that was just the greatest thing ever.

Here's a short video clip of our time at the pond. I'm sure this will become a usual activity for us now that we live so close to ducks who love bread!

Newly Acquired Skill

It's What's for Supper

Sometimes Kane does the craziest things... like feed our child interesting foods or supper.
She loved it, though!

Ah, the joys of food coloring. :)

Hiding the Word in Your Heart

Mara Kate has been memorizing Bible verses the past few months and we usually go over them together after supper in the evenings. I finally was able to get her saying them on video.....enjoy!

A Proud Mama

I am a proud Mama today! Mara Kate was painting with her water colors this afternoon and did this...




It is SO exciting when you see the things you've been "teaching" start to sink in. We are going to keep working on these and practicing, but I feel like our "home pre-schooling" has really gotten off to a great start!

A Bit More Schoolin'

Here's a video of Mara Kate doing some more "school". We are still having a blast watching her learn and we are still pretty darn proud of her too. :)

This time she is learning about "patterns" and how to repeat them. We thought some of you might like to see her in "action".

Wheee!

Here are the little videos I took of Mara Kate sledding...she had so much fun! Enjoy!

Our Dancing Queen

A couple days ago Mara Kate spotted Kane's headphones on our computer desk and wanted to wear them. I put them on her, plugged them into the computer and opened our iTunes library. I turned on a song that we have fun listening to and dancing to together when we are in a silly mood---Dancing Queen!

Mara Kate loves this song and whenever she hears it she wants to dance with me and sing along. Well, since she could hear the music in her ears through the headphones, she sang along with the parts she knows (err...um, at least thinks she knows). :) Enjoy!!

A Window

A window into our world that is. A world where a 2 year old lives and plays. This was filmed while Mara Kate was entrenched in her imagination and simply enjoying the joys of childhood. Hopefully this video will make you laugh (or at least smile) as much as it did us.

Enjoy!

A New Song

Below is a video of Mara Kate singing a song all the kids learned at VBS a couple weeks ago. I had no idea she had even learned it until a week after VBS was over. One day she just started bolting out the words that I recognized from our week at VBS. Currently it is her favorite thing to sing. She likes to be silly and sing it really fast sometimes and then really slow. She has quite the sense of humor when it comes to singing.

Anyway, for your reference here are the lyrics she is singing:

Savior, He can move the mountains.
My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save.

Forever, author of salvation.
He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave!

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
we're singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus!

Shine your light and let the whole world see,
we're singing for the glory of the risen King.

What a precious song for her to know--the very basics of the gospel of Christ, right there on the lips of a 2 year old. I love the fact that she is not ashamed! She sings this song everywhere we go---very loudly at times too! I hope her boldness never wavers!

Mara Kate's Memory Verse

Mara Kate memorized her first Bible Verse this week at VBS, so of course we had to video her saying it. For those of you who can't understand her perfectly clear English, she is quoting Hebrews 12:2, which says:

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus who endured the cross."

Mara Kate in Concert, #2

Here is another video of Mara Kate singing a few more of her songs! Some of these she is still learning, so the lyrics aren't quite as developed, but she makes up for it with hand motions and exuberance! :) Enjoy.

Here are the song titles featured in this video:

• The Hokey Pokey (The Ho Pokey as MK calls it)
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• I'm Very, Very Tall; I'm Very, Very Small
• Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes
• Open, Shut Them
• Good Morning
• Oh How He Loves You and Me

Mara Kate in Concert

Here is a video of Mara Kate singing some various songs she has learned recently, in her music class and elsewhere. She was just in the mood to sing first thing this morning and I'm glad I got it on video.

Songs are sung in the following order:

-Skinnamarinkidink, I Love You

-The B-I-B-L-E

-ABC's

-Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

-Baa, Baa Black Sheep

-You Are My Sunshine

AND

Mara Kate counting to 10

Enjoy!