A Few Months Later...

It seems as though life is flying by and I am not keeping up with this blog! Hopefully in a few words I can update you on our lives these past few months.

Since our last post...
Taylor turned 2 on August 24th! Although she really didn't have any desire to talk in the past, her vocabulary has taken off! It's so fun to hear her sweet voice, which seems to be lower in pitch than Kaitlyn's. She FINALLY started saying Kaitlyn's name. Well, it was more "Kate" but it was good enough for us! However, yesterday she started using 2 syllables for Kaitlyn. It's amazing how her vocabulary expands by the day. If she's anything like Kaitlyn, she'll never lack in conversation. Our favorite thing about her is that she truly loves life. Life is a party no matter what the case. She gets excited about everything! We love her enthusiasm. Hopefully it will stay that way. I will say, however, that nothing melts my heart more than snuggling with her. At night during our bedtime routine, I love it when she pulls me close to give me a kiss through that pacifier of hers. As we snuggle she loves to join in singing with me and prays by herself. These are moments I'll treasure forever.

Kaitlyn will be 5 in March- less than 3 months away! Where did that time go? She's growing up. I suppose it's bitter sweet for me. I love that she and I can do special activities and have the conversations we have but I just want her to stay young. I'm not ready to send her to Kindergarten in August. I'm not ready for her to start this phase of life. It's hard to imagine her not being in my care all day. At least I still have several months to get ready. When I taught Kindergarten we had a "Boo-Hoo Breakfast" for parents the first day. Yep, need to prep for that!!!

Kaitlyn LOVES to learn! I pray she'll keep that enthusiasm for learning. She's reading simple books, sounding out words phonetically and writing a simple sentence. And I must say, she is a great learner in the kitchen. She loves to help me bake. I figure it's never too early to teach her the meaning of fractions, right? :) Aside from this, my most favorite moments are our conversations at night. It's fun to lay with her and talk about our day, talk about our plans for tomorrow and share stories from when I was a child. She LOVES that! She told me the other night, "Mom, I love you the most and I love Daddy the most. I love you and Daddy and Taylor the same height." This heart of hers is tender and compassionate. I know I'm the mom but I think she exemplifies this sometimes more than other children her age. At night we pray that she'll always have a beautiful heart, a heart that loves God and others. These moments with our sweet Kaitlyn are ones I will treasure forever.

Jason and I are doing well! I'm so proud of the hard worker he is. He is a PTO and now trains new officers as they come out of the academy. Teaching in the field is right up his alley. He's such a leader and a man of many talents! Boy, the girls and I are so blessed! With one of his many talents he plans on going to Zambia this summer on a medical mission trip. Last year, the medical personnel saw over 16,500 people in just 6 days. Wow! He's very excited to take his God-given talents to the people where many have never seen a doctor, ever. He'll be gone for about 2 1/2 weeks. He will have such an amazing time! We'll miss him but what an amazing experience he'll have.

Well, here are some pictures of our past few months! Enjoy!