New Scooters

The kids received new skooters for Christmas, and they love them!  Almost every afternoon, you can find them riding on them.  It has greatly helped their balance, and there have only been minor injuries.  When we first came home, the kids did not know how to play inside or outside, unless it was very structured.  They never had anything before becoming apart of our family and just didn't know what to do with all we have given them.  Over the past six months, since we have been home, they have really learned how to play outside together.  Since we are home schooling, we try and get them outside every afternoon.  It makes us smile when we hear them laughing and playing.

 

 

Our First Valentine's Day Together

 Like all of the firsts we have been able to celebrate with our kids, Valentine's Day was another special one.  The kids celebrated Valentine's Day in Colombia, so they knew about the holiday.  We spent the week talking about it in school and working on different activities, like making Valentine's cards and writing stories about Valentine's Day.  Dainis surprised everyone with flowers on Valentine's morning, and it meant so much to the kids.  They were so excited!

 At school, the activity for the afternoon was to make Valentine's cookies.  So, after putting on their cooking aprons, the kids were ready to go.  They made lots of heart-shaped cookies and then decorated them.   After all the cookies were baked, and the kids tried one, it was back to the school room table.  We have  creative writing almost everyday, so today's story was to be about making cookies on Valentine's Day.  We are all so amazed at how well they are doing in school and how much they have learned in such a short amount of time.  The two things we tell them as much as we can each day is "I love you" and "I am proud of you". 

 

 After the cookies were made and the stories were written, it was time to make dinner.  Because it was such a big hit the first time, we decided to have make your own pizza night again, with a big heart cookie cutter.  The process of making the pizzas was so much easier this time!  They surprised us with cards they had made, and there was lots of candy for everyone.

 

 

 

 They are doing so much better with each passing day as they understand more and more what it means to be a part of our family.  Day after day, the blessings are more than the challenges.  It is hard to believe that the next big holiday is Easter.  Last Easter, we were celebrating it with our kids in Colombia!

Make Your Own Pizza

We had make your own pizza night, and it was a lot of fun!  We gave the kids pizza dough and let them make their pizza into any shape they wanted to.  They could then choice any toppings they wanted.  Pepperoni is always a favorite!  We made our own pizza at a restaurant in Bogota named Archie's.  Although we had a lot of fun there, it was much better to be home, making pizzas in our pajamas!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Dainis celebrated his first birthday as a Dad today, and it was a special one.  The kids went out last week and chose a new outfit for him as a present.  They helped with all of the decisions from the present, to the decorations, to the cake.  There were lots of decisions to be made and a lot of compromising on everyone's part!!  Whenever a decision needs to be made in our family, like what color tablecloth should we buy for his party, we tell them to get together and Team Vober needs to make a decision.  By the end of the day, everyone was happy. 

Dainis had to work today but was greeted by the kids at the door, ready to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.  After dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, we enjoyed opening presents and eating cake and ice cream.  Everyone went to bed very full and happy! 

Through all of the day to day challenges we face, we can see how far our kids have come since coming home.  When we arrived home, during the month of July, we celebrated Lori's birthday, Ingrid's birthday, and Juan's birthday.  If it was not their special celebration, one of our kids was always upset.  They have learned a lot about patience, good manners, and learning to be happy for others when it is not their turn, since they came home.  We are very proud of the progress they are making, and it is hard to believe we have now been a family for almost ten months!