Tiffany has been working with Cora doing different things…mostly mimic type stuff, but it’s fun to watch nonetheless…

Cora sometimes does this funny sounding laugh..it’s kinda like her courtesy laugh.

Here’s Cora using one of our chairs as a walker.

Sort of like a tiny little (much cuter) frankenstein, Cora has decided she’s ready to walk. Like any new walker, she is still working on her skills. Check out the video below…

This rocking chair has a history in Tiff’s family and we recently brought it up to our house for Cora to play with. One evening we put her in it and discovered she had figured out how to get it rocking on her own…little genius she is…see video below…

Today was another amazing weather day and just after Cora and I got back from lunch (after Church) this afternoon, we had some fun in the driveway with her favorite walker. There’s also a couple other recent photos thrown in as well!

For about 7-8 years now, we’ve been doing some variation on a family ski trip out west to Breckenridge, CO. It is always fun and this year was no exception. What made the trip more notable was the fact that we had to do something else last year (florida) because Tiff was pregnant and because this year we brought Cora along (1st grandchild). It certainly introduces an interesting dynamic into any family trip, but skiing is even more tricky. Why? because she can’t ski with us, someone has to stay in the hotel with her all day. I think we hit a good rotation for the week and everyone got to ski as much as they wanted and hang out in the house with Cora some too…

The other notable thing this year was the weather. Though cold, it was one of the first times we had clear skies all the way up to the summit of the Imperial Lift (highest lift in North America). From this lift you can climb another 160 vertical feet to the summit of the mountain and arrive at 12,998ft. Below are some pictures from the trip including some from the summit views we had at 13000ft.

Tiff just came across this smurf in a basket of her old toys we grabbed from her grandma’s house. I can’t even imagine this toy being made now without some sort of lawsuit or child advocacy group going nuts over it…

Cora has recently discovered (through her new-found mobility) that the bathroom holds endless opportunity for play and fun. We recently caught her in the bathroom playing with the toilet paper after having pulled it down from the holder. Tiff and I laughed, which only encouraged Cora, so i grabbed my camera quick and grabbed these photos…

We count it truly amazing that we have so much family around. Cora has many grandparents and Great grandparents (even one Great Great Grandma!!!) We try to take advantage of those times when we have all the generations together, so this evening we had to get some photos of the 4 generations in Tiffany’s family. Here’s the photos:

This year, Thanksgiving was busy, as always, but we had the added dimension of this being Cora’s first Thanksgiving! We had lots of fun with her as she continues to travel well and be a real sport when being passed around to family and friends the entire day. As always, we ran the Turkey Trot 5mi in Miamisburg on Thanksgiving morning (this year with  my dad, my uncle, a cousin, tiffany and I, no cora this time). We went on to make our way back up rt. 75 to New Knoxville to finish out our day. Friday was an off-day, then we had another thanksgiving meal with my immediate family in BG on Saturday…concluding with a 5K race in Maumee (Holiday Hustle…race reports for both races coming soon)…If it sounds like a lot, it is…but it is always fun each year we do it and we consider it a blessing to have so much family that still gets together with so many relatives! Here’s some of the pictures from the opening weekend of the 09 Holiday Season…

UPDATED

Results for the Turkey Trot have been posted and everyone did really well!

• Jeremy: 36:42 – 7:21/mi pace
• Tiffany: 33:15 – 6:39/mi pace
• Craig: 44:28 – 8:54/mi pace
• Scott: 40:44 – 8:09/mi pace
• Kara: 40:44 – 8:09/mi pace (bandit)

Also of note: friend Johnny Moore completed the race in 34:41 in the wheelchair division..awesome

if i’m forgetting anyone else from this race…i’m sorry

Results and photos have been posted for the Holiday Hustle..Tiff ran a 19:32…awesome! Cora and I ran a frustrating 23:34 due to the amount of traffic at the beginning…to the right is the photo they took pre-race….click for race results.

For those of you who don’t already know, I have this pet peeve  (one of many I know) about celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving…See Twitter post pictured to right and link here. This year, though I didn’t officially start holiday celebrations, I did take part in this years Bowling Green Holiday Parade. I should say that I walked in the parade this year…with Cora…with the Woodlane float and Tiffany’s group from Woodlane. We did dress her up in a Mrs. Claus outfit my mom picked out. Feeling much like a chauffeur, I dutifully carried our little princess from Wolfly St. in Bowling Green to just before the Big Lots complex on the south end of town…I must say it was a lot of fun as being one of the participants in the parade I got to walk past and wave/say hi to many friends. In any event, the real reason to post this is to provide pretense for showing off the photos I grabbed after the parade and one just before of her and Tiff…

“Just wait ’till she’s mobile” has been one of the most repeated phrases I’ve heard as we have journeyed through the (sometimes harrowing, yet always fun) initial stages of life as new parents. Well friends, she’s mobile, and it is both very cute and a bit scary at the same time…She now has the ability to get at all those things we’ve been able to keep at arms length…you know, plastic bags, glassware, knives…the basics. I suppose now we must bubble wrap, child-latch, lock up all things sharp, pointy or otherwise dangerous to babies. In any event, I was able to capture one of the very first successful attempts at this new development stage…the crawl…

Check out our YouTube Channel for more Cora related moving pictures.