Kindercare November Art & December Update

Hello All!!

This month Jera's room will be learning about Things That Go. They will learn about different types of vehicles and discover new things that Go! They will learn the importance of safety near vehicles. 

The recommended book of the month is Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini. 

Coming up in January they will have a Winter Gala. The kids will perform classroom/winter songs followed by a fun reception of cookies and hot chocolate. :-)

I realized that I hadn't given an update for November. Their theme was On The Farm and here are some of Jera's art projects. 

I also forgot to post a picture of Jera's Halloween costume...

That is all for now...I'll do a Thanksgiving update later this week. :-) 

Tata for now. 

Love Tony, Deanna and Jera

November Zoo Trip

Today we decides to head to the zoo and we all had a blast!! The last time Tony and I had gone to the Sunset Zoo was when I was pregnant with her. Thought we'd share these pictures. 

That is all for now! I hope you all are enjoying this wonderful Fall weather. :-)

~Tony, Deanna and Jera~

Jera's October Projects

Here are the fun items Jera has been working on this Fall. 

KSU Homecoming 5K

Hello Everyone!

Tony and I had a blast participating in this years KSU Homecoming 5K!! We started by the old stadium and the course went through campus. We averaged about 11:17/mile. We probably would have been a little faster if we would have not taken a quick detour to check out Call Hall's hours. Haha! Here's a shot of us prior to the start of the race. 

We're already gearing up for our next few events!! I know we'll for sure be participating in a race in December. Then Warrior Dash is coming back to KC in April!! Woohoo. Our biggest challenge in 2014 will be Tough Mudder!! You can check out some of the information by visiting the website...

Http://toughmudder.com

That is all for now!!

Love,

Tony, Deanna & Jera

Jera's Leaf Project

One of the things we love about Kindercare is that they have the kids do projects AND they take pictures of them DOING the project and give them to us!!! Last week they did a project involving leaves and here's the results. :-)

Here are a couple other projects I wasn't able to upload earlier...

Yep, she has a blast!!

KinderCare October Update

Hello All!

We are very excited for the amazing Fall weather that has been coming into the Kansas area!  One of my absolute FAVORITE seasons is Fall and it's fun to be able to take Jera outside and only have to worry about having her wear a light jacket!

I wanted to update you on a few things going on in our family this month (more details to post when the events occur).

• KinderCare gave us the October Newsletter this past week and it was packed with some great items.
• Toddler Room Focus:
• Their theme for the month is "Where I Live".  They will explore different homes and cultures identifying with their theme.  They explore their neighborhoods and the different livelihoods people have such as farming.  For art they will be making houses, buildings, and some of the things they find around them.
• Upcoming Events:
• They are having a Fall Party on the 31st of the month.  Parents are able to join in with the festivities and we are instructed to send Jera's Halloween costume to school with her that day. This will also include a parade! (I'm so excited and can't wait to share pictures with everyone. :-D)
• Book Recommendation of the Month:

•  

• KSU Homecoming 5K
• Tony and I are officially registered to participate in the 5K race happening on Sunday, October 20th.  It's to help kick off Homecoming week at KSU.  The last official event we participated in was Warrior Dash back in April!!  It's been too long and we are extremely excited to go for a nice Wog (walk/jog) in the crisp Fall weather.

• Halloween
• So we know what Jera is going to be for Halloween this year.  A Pumpkin...I know, generic...but the outfit was adorable!  Here's a preview...and remember, hers will have a few extra touches. :-D
• 
• Tony and I are still trying to decide what we want to be...but we'll figure it out. :-D

That is all for now!  Keep your eyes peeled for artwork by Jera...coming soon to a internet page near you!

~Tony, Deanna and Jera~

Jera Turned One

Hello All,

Things have been pretty crazy in our house the past few months. Between work and Tony heading back to school we've been on a non-stop go since Mid-August.  We've also been dealing with a little bit of illness going on with poor Jera.  Between an ear infection and a virus that caused her to have very high fevers right around her birthday to her getting HF&M (hand foot & mouth) last week...it's been amp'ed up to a completely different level.  Even with all of the craziness we were able to have Jera celebrate her birthday with some delicious cake and some fun gifts that she is LOVING to play with!  I wanted to give you all some fun pictures from her birthday celebration...

We decided to go with a KSU + Minion Theme (Despicable Me has been the only movie she has stopped to watch...only when the Minion's are featured, I think she likes the way they talk.)

Her personal cake

Her, "What am I supposed to do with this??!!" face!

Oh Yeah, she enjoyed the delicious and very sugary frosting!

The chair that Grandma and Grandpa Wiley got her! She loves this think...she will crawl on and off of it constantly and then pull toys up to play with.

Jera playing with her Noah's Arc with Grandma

She LOVES this little cart.  She will push it from one side of the room to the other...when she hits a wall, she looks at Tony and I like, "Are you going to turn it around for me?!"

BABY STEPS!

Jera has taken a few steps here and there, but we officially caught them on camera!!!  Check out our two awesome videos from last nights performance. :-D

Quick Update

Hello All!

So we noticed that we hadn't updated our blog for a few months.  Life gets busy and the next thing you know it's already JULY! :-)  So I wanted to give you all a quick update on what has been going on for our family the past couple of months.

April:
Tony and I did participate in the Warrior Dash and had a BLAST!  The weather was a bit chilly and overcast, which we weren't expecting, but it was so much fun.  The obstacles, the muddy trails and the interesting and funny outfits people decided to wear were well worth the anticipation. We did not partake in the giant beer or turkey leg at the end of the race, but we both agreed that we will definitely be participating next year. :-)  (I'll apologize ahead of time that our picture can't be viewed larger, we took it on Tony's phone and forgot to update his settings for a larger picture!)

May/June:

May and June flew by for us pretty quickly.  We stayed busy with traveling to visit Tony's family over Mother's Day weekend and then hanging out with my side of the family for Memorial Day.  In June I had my first business trip, which also was my first trip away from Tony and Jera...it was hard but a fun trip since I was able to see the Detroit Red Wing's Hockey Arena!!!! (For those of you who don't know this, I LOVE the Detroit Red Wing's).  We also had a great visit with Ashden and his family.  It was fun to see him, his parents and watch how big he has gotten!  I can't believe he's going to be FOUR in October.

Jera:

Little Miss. Jera is cruising right along.  It won't be much longer till she is walking!  She can stand in one place and bounce up and down without holding onto anything for support and we've tricked her a couple of times into taking one step towards us...but then she figures out what we are doing and starts to automatically sit down!

She is enjoying her time at Kindercare and gets extremely happy in the mornings when I drop her off.  She is also extremely tired in the evenings when we pick her up!  :-)  I'll be sure to update with a video later on when she starts walking so you can all enjoy some of her very first steps!  

I'll leave you with a picture of Jera, this was from our trip to the Zoo with Ashden and the family.

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone! :-D

First Food and St. Patty's Run

Happy Almost April Everyone!

There have been a few fun and exciting events happen for our little family since we last talked!  Hmmm...not sure where to start.  Haha, I've got it!  Since everyone LOVES kids why don't we start with Little Jera??!!

So, Miss. Jera has started eating real food!  Yep. At her 6 month appointment, her doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding her real food.  Woohoo.  She is now eating rice mixed with formula and homemade baby food. It's been fun to watch her taste new things and adjust to the different texture of food compared to formula. She's doing amazing and has really caught onto it!  You can check out Jera's first experience with eating food below!

Also, Tony and I are keeping up with our doing a different event every month.  This month was the 35 Annual St. Patty's Day Road Race!  We didn't participate in the 10K portion of it, maybe next year, this year we participated in the 2 mile Fun Run/Walk.  We had fun even though it was FREEZING!  Here is a picture of us after the race, back in our WARM home. :-D

Next month we will be participating in the WARRIOR DASH!  We are VERY excited about that event.  3 miles of obstacles that we get to tackle together!  It will definitely be a blast, and I can't wait to share that post with you!  Keep your eyes out for it after the 27th of April!!

Love,

Deanna, Tony and Jera

The Proposal

Hello All!

Tony and I are very happy to announce that we are ENGAGED!  Yep. On Valentines day I came home to the most wonderful surprise ever.  Now I get to share the wonderful story with you all. :-)

When I got home from work at about 7:30 I walked into the garage to this wonderful site:

Our Body Opponent Bag, BOB, dressed in a suit with a sign.  The sign said, " Good Evening Deanna, Your arrival tonight has been greatly expected!  Please tread softly, (you'll see what I mean). I would take your coat, but I have no arms...kinda made tying this tie a little tricky. *cough, cough*.  But enough about me, please enjoy your evening and have a very pleasant evening, Tony's woman...he told me to say that..."

When I opened the door...Tony was ready with the camera!

I had brought him flowers for the evening, which paled in comparison to the amazing flower that he had bought for me. There were rose petals leading from the door to the table...

The table had been set for two with our Valentine's gifts from my family and some special ones from Tony.

At this point I was still just thinking that Tony was being very romantic and didn't have anything else up his sleeve!  I hugged him and kissed him and thanked him for going into so much detail for such a wonderful Valentine's day.  I then I got ready in my PJ's and came back out to have a wonderful dinner.  He pointed out the DVD's that he had set out for  me.  One was "Valentine's Day" which we had been talking about watching for months on Valentine's Day.  the second one was "The Proposal".  This didn't give me a clue...even though it should have!  I love the movie and I was excited that he bought it.

The next thing I knew Tony said, "We have more to celebrate than just Valentine's Day." I was CLUELESS!  Then he stated, "We have more to celebrate like you making me the happiest man in the world..." He took the ring box out of his pocket, hit his knee and said, "...Deanna Lynn Cox, will you marry me?"  I was in shock...I almost forgot to say anything!!!  I of course said YES.  We then called my family to tell them what had happened and they were all very excited! We decided that since we would be seeing his family that weekend we would wait to tell them in person!

The night didn't end there.  I had told him that my only request was for him to decide from one of 10 restaurants to buy my favorite meal from, well he went ABOVE AND BEYOND!  He had driven all the way to Topeka to buy rolls from Red Lobster, he then went to Olive Garden to get our salad and main course and THEN he went to Buffalo Wild Wings to get our favorite wings to have for our appetizer!

It was a wonderful evening!  Very romantic and one that I will never forget!  We are enjoying being engaged and starting to discuss wedding planning things.  We'll keep everyone updated when we choose a date for sure. :-)

Run-4-Love 5K

Tony and I had a blast this past Saturday!  We participated in the local Run-4-Love that was hosted by the Manhattan Cross Country Club. We did the 5k by walking and jogging and finished in 40 minutes!  I'm not a huge runner, but I'm working on it.  Tony has been a huge support, especially since he could run the whole way and yet he stays by my side the whole time.  It was fun, a great experience, and our first official race together. :-)

We are looking to do a race every month and here are the ones to come:
March: St. Patty's 2 Mile Walk/Job
April: Warrior Dash
June: Color Run

Right now, I'm on a search for a race to do in May!!!  If you hear of any, let us know. :-)

Jera Finally Rolled Over!

Thought we would share this with everyone.

Jera finally rolled over and she already looks like a pro! :-)

Fresh Start...a Healthy Start

Hello All,

Tony and I have gotten into a huge health kick in the past few months. Well, Tony has been very good for several years about working out and eating right and it has officially rubbed off on me. :-)  We have been working out like crazy and watching what we eat.  (Definitely keep your eyes out for some delicious and healthy recipes that we thoroughly enjoy!)

So our largest step in the direction of getting healthier and leading a healthy life style was to buy BOB, a stationary bike and an elliptical. (You can check out the new fixtures in our house below!) With these items, plus our workout videos, exercise ball, medicine ball, xbox kinect and an awesome stroller we can use to go on walk/jogs, we now have enough variety that we should never get bored of working out! :-D

My biggest suggestions in getting into the routine of a healthy life would be: 1) Find a workout that you LOVE to do!  2) Realize that eating healthy can actually be DELICIOUS!  3) If you're going to count anything, just count calories!  Figure out what you should be eating a day and divide it into your meals so you know about how many calories you should be eating per meal and snack!  (Makes it much easier to stick to your calorie intake when you just need to remember to eat 300 calories for breakfast, 400 calories for lunch and dinner and 100 calories for snacks, for example). 

BOB, our Body Opponent Bag!

Our new stationary bike:

Our awesome elliptical!!

Hopefully this helps inspire you or keeps you inspired in your own goals for this year!  :-D

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hey All,

We can't say that this year has been uneventful, but it's definitely been a great year with lots of changes!  I thought about writing a Chrismas letter to send out with our (late) Christmas cards but decided this would be a fun way to introduce our new blog to keep everyone updated on the happenings in our little family throughout the year. :-)

Jera

Jera is now 4 months old and growing like a weed!  She enjoys standing and sitting up, with help from us of course.  She is one laid back and happy baby, which we are very blessed with.  Tony and I moved her into her own room the very first weekend of January and she did an amazing job sleeping through the night with no issues.  We are trying to enjoy every moment with her since everyone keeps telling us that the time flies by!  Expect lots of updates about Jera with this blog to highlight all of her firsts!

Tony

Tony moved to Manhattan to be with the family in March and started working at Meadowlark Hills as a CNA.  He works in the alzheimer's and dementia house there and enjoys his job for the most part.  We can tell you that no two days are the same which definitely keeps him on his toes.  He's working on getting back into school and should be starting up at Highland Community College this Summer or Fall to start working towards his Associates degree.  He will then follow that up by going to school for nursing.

Deanna

After graduating from KSU last December I got a job at GTM Sportswear.  I am working as a Spirit Sales Representative helping outfit Cheer, Dance, Gymnastic and Band teams for their various events throughout the year.  I started up in March so I've be there for almost a year already, wow has the time flown by!

2013

Besides Tony heading back to school and Jera growing up and having several firsts, we are looking forward to several things this year.  The biggest being getting back into shape and staying there!  For me, I have a goal weight that I want to hit before my 27th birthday in May and I know that it's very doable if I just stick with the eating healthy and exercising. Tony and I are gearing up for a fun 3 mile obstacle course that is happening in April, the Warrior Dash, and we are very exctied to participate in an activity like this together.  We are also enjoying several new, yummy, and healthy recipes and we'll be sure to share those throughout the year as well!!

We love all of our family and friends very much and we look forward to another fun, eventful year that life has to throw our way!!  :-)