Milestones

We've hit a few milestones this week.
1st Taylor is now officially reading! Yes, reading. She's not even 4 1/2 yet! We've been working with her on letter sounds etc etc this past year and I knew she was ready. So, we purchased Bob Books, which start out with beginning reading. We have the beginner reading books and with in two days she has read the first 3 all by herself! I am so proud. Teaching your child how to read is such a joy and an accomplishment.
2nd Kamdyn is not reading! Ha...She wants to be just like her sister so she's looking at the Bob Books as well. Were working on her letters, sounds and colors. She's doing well!
3rd Harper, is sitting up all on his own! Not crawling yet but he is scooting around the room, rolling and crawling army style backwards. I can't believe how fast time goes.
10 days until our vacation and I couldn't be more excited, mostly to have fun with the kids and to be with Jacob. His schedule is crazy, crazy and he is very busy right now. So, I can't wait to have him 24/7!

Summer, where have you gone?

Where in the world has the summer gone?
All I know is it has been hot here in KC. Its finally in the 80s again but for the last 3 weeks (record heat) has been right over top of us. Very dry, very dangerous heat over 100 degrees pushing 110 with the heat index. Its been hard to breath because when its so hot in a city, the ozone is really bad.
It was so hot this week 108 with out the heat index, I decided to bid on a hotel downtown with a pool. When Jake got home we packed a bag and took the kids to the hotel. After it cooled off we went and played in the pool. It was so much fun and it actually felt like we got away! Its so cold in the winter and than so hot in the summer, the wall of my house feel like they are caving in!
We are heading to Florida in 3 weeks. We're going to Orlando, for a week. My dad bought share's in Hilton about 10 years ago so, every odd year we have a "Free" week long vacation basically any where Hilton is. We decided on Orlando, because we want to take the kids to Disney. Of course, we are doing the princess breakfast! They have no idea that we are going to Disney, its a surprise and I can't wait to see their faces!
Everyone, is getting big!

Taylor, has started homeschooling again. The goal for this year before she turns 5 is for her to be reading on her own. She recognizes and can read some beginning words, but we want her to be able to read before 5. The age 4 is different from 3, 3 she just threw fits all the time, 4 she talks back and is very emotional! As I write, she is crying because she spilt some water..."oh Lord help me!"

Kamdyn, has grown about two inches since April! She is by far the most destructive child that we have. She breaks at least one thing everyday. Yesterday, she took a spoon from the drawer and hit the TV screen with it (flatscreen). Yes, it left marks! But,
her problem is that she is so stinking cute! She got a new guitar (Dora) loves to sing "Jesus Loves Me" on it and "Our Father"

Harper, well he's getting big. He's 7 months, as of yesterday! We just starting mixing Avocado in his millet. I'm making his food. I'm not positive why I didn't do this before. We've always done organic with the girls but hardly ever made it. He's such a good boy but such a horrible sleeper...I think he's starting to teeth.

Jake, is busy right now and will be up until the Onething conference. He is in charge of Marketing the Onething Conference.
We love Woods Chapel Church, I mean LOVE, where he leads worship!

Me, just trying to be a mom, wife and friend....I'm really enjoying the crazyness of this life right now. I was making dinner the other day, toy's were everywhere, Harp was in his jumpy seat just enjoying his sisters and I just stopped and looked around. Took it all in and thanked the Lord for the crazy, crazy moment! They're only little for a short time.....and I am starting to really enjoy it more! I really feel the Lords pleasure over our family right now!

Pictures

The top two pictures are of Harper...we bought him a new toy! We should have had a universal one of these but we didn't. We had a very pink and girly one. It wasn't going to fly in this house!
The bottom two are from a birthday party this past weekend. It was a fun/hot garden party. Note the cupcake all over Kamdyn's face. The girls had a blast!

Lots of updates!

Harper, turned 6 months on the 5th. I can't believe how fast this is going.... He also, had his first helping of homemade "super porridge"on the 7th, he loves it and has been eating it twice a day every sense. As far as sleeping, he seems to be doing better. Two naps during the day and going to bed at 7:30pm, not waking until 2 or 3am and than sleeping until 7am. I feel like there could be break through in his sleeping! Praise the Lord!
The girls are doing well. We are gearing up for a pretty exciting vacation in August. The girls have no idea that we are going to Disney World and doing the princess party thingie...They know were going to Orlando but thats it. We are totally keeping it a secret until we get to Orlando...
They both love their "church" class.
They both have stopped taking afternoon naps....the results are amazing, bed at 7pm and sleeping by 7:30pm. I can deal without naps if it means going to bed on time!
We are doing a little reading program sorta with the local library. I say sorta because we haven't signed up were just doing it!
They love the library, books, learning and reading!
I am reading a new book called "Personality Plus for Parents." So far so good! I'm learning a lot. Its helping me understand how to deal handle different personalities from my own, even if my children have my personality, how to bring out strengths and weaknesses in the girls. I would include Harp buts he's 6months!
My garden is doing well. I'm learning a whole lot about gardening and seeing the fruits of our labor. So far i've taken out the cucumber plants because of cucumber beetles. It made me sad but I wanted to get the beetles out of there!
I've had my first yellow crooked neck squash, a very large zucchini, a patty pan squash and beans. Some might think, thats all...but living in the midwest where its still cold in the spring...it takes a little while longer for things to grow.
I love organic gardening!
Jake is doing well. Today, is his 29th birthday! Next year, i'm throwing him a huge party!!!!! We are celebrating on Saturday.....
He loves his part time worship leader job at Woods Chapel Church. The pastor of the church is amazing and so is the church staff....we already feel like we've been there for years. We can't wait to see what is in our future!
Jake, is co running the conference this week at IHOP. Its the Fascinate Conference (its a teen conference). I'm going on Friday only because Kim Walker will be singing....and well Jake gets the privilage of ushering her and her husband around....Yep one on one! She is by far my favorite female singer right now.
Any ways....enjoy the pictures!

The girls spent the last two days at their Nana's house. It's about an hour and a half away from KC. We needed to get projects done and somethings around the house done. So, my mom really wanted the girls to have a sleep over!
They went to the park, swimming and yesterday they celebrated the 4th at a block party type of thing. They both got their face painted, red, white and blue butterflies. They had such a blast and are fast asleep in their beds tonight! We missed them. I missed the yelling, running, toys, talking...I missed it! They are such a joy and I love the caious!
Harper, is 6 months old today. I can't believe how fast time is going. I'm excited to see how much he weights tomorrow at his 6 month check up. He loves his sisters. He's starting to interact with them more and more. He's starting to babble...la la, da da....he's such a sweet boy. He's a horrible sleeper but we're making it! He takes 2 naps, about 2 hrs and goes to bed from 8pm-12, and than pretty much wakes up every 2 hrs and gets up at 6am!
I just started reading a book called personality plus for parents. It's so informative! Basically, talks about every child carries a different personality and parents tend to mold children into the personality they want them to have and not what they were born with. It's interesting thinking that all children with the same mother and father can have very different personalities. Also, how to build up there strengths and weaknesses. I'm liking it and love learning about children especially my own.
I'll let you all know what our kids are at the end!

Update

Jacob, got the job! He is now the part time worship pastor at a local church, in Lee's Summit. They have about 1500 members on the books. I am so proud of him.
We are still on full time staff at IHOP and he is still co-running the events department, which he loves.
This is a part time paid position which is great and this is what he is called to do "worship lead!"
I'm so proud of you, babe!!!

Summer..almost!

Summer, almost!
We've had such a crazy weather season. I can't even begin to explain how scary the noise of the tornado sound is. Growing up where tornado sirens are not even seen or heard of, its sounds like a nuclear bomb warning! I am ready to get past this.
Everyone is changing and doing well.
Jake had an awesome trip to Nicaragua. He has some amazing stories. One story, he stayed in a "hotel" in the mountains and the power went out. The hotel had back up generators but the generators did not run the air conditioning. So, needless to say he was sweating all night long, waking every 30 minutes. The story gets better, not only was there no air but there were termites all over the ceiling and termite eggs on the bedding. OH MY WORD! Him and the two other guys in the room slept with the light on because the termites were attracted to the light! I think I would have freaked out.....like freaked out! On a side note, he was really impacted when he visited the orphanage. They have nothing and are still happy! He had a great time.
The kids are getting big! Ta, is entering a new stage yet again. I classify this stage as the "pushing buttons" stage. She loves to ask questions and really loves to learn. We are working on sounding words out.
Kamdyn, well she changed over night. She's saying full blown sentences and asking questions. She watching everything Ta does. They are doing well, sharing a room, sometimes!
Harper, he's getting bigger. He's acting like he wants to crawl but not even close. He's doing better at sleeping, about 5 hours first and than another 5-6 hrs. He takes 2 long naps and 1 30min nap still.
Jake, has his final interview with Woods Chapel Church tomorrow. He's applied for the Worship Leaders job. It requires, Sunday mornings and a Thursday night practice. He would continue all his responsibilities with IHOP. We're super excited for him and this new journey.
Enjoy the pictures!