HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My baby is one, and I cannot believe it! What is more unbelievable is I have watched the transformation from baby to toddler overnight. Suddenly he was more into his toys and how they work. Making sounds for his trucks, pushing them around the house (and into things), and knows that pieces fit together. He received a drum with a lid and other musical instruments inside. He was playing with it the other morning, found his drumsticks and then realized there was no lid. He began to look around the room, spotted it, half walked/crawled to it and brought it back attempting to place it on the base. He was able to partially place the top on, and smiled brightly and began to beat the drums. He has not mastered walking yet, but can take significant amounts of steps across the living room. He is now to the point of getting back up to walk after he falls. I love watching his chubby feet walk across the carpet. Here are some pictures from his birthday. We had a "Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar" theme, and it turned out great!

6 months

6 month stats:
18.6 LBS 75% (4 mo 16 LBS and 26in)
28.8 in 95%

I can not believe that we are already to the halfway point. Time has gone by so quickly. I look at pictures from just 2 months ago and see how my little boy has changed. He is growing.

Milestones: He says "mama" and "dada", rolling over like crazy. Likes to eat, but I think he likes the idea of it more than the actual food. He is a very messy eater. He has had sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, and carrots. Still working on sitting up on his own. Loves to sleep, eat, play (but not to long). GG (my grandma) got him a saucer, and he REALLY likes to play in that. He spins around and sucks on every toy available. Still no teeth yet, I am just waiting for one to break through any day now.

~Trick or Treat~

Happy Halloween from Little Miss Muffet and her spider

Changes

Sorry I have been away for quite a while. A lot has happened. Cayden is almost 4 months old, Mercie started kindergarten this week, and we no longer live in Spokane! God has moved us to Sumner, Wa. We were asked to be a part of a church plant in Bonney Lake around February of this year. We had been praying, and truly wanted God's direction. We started applying to jobs continuously for 5 months. Little things here and there opened up, but just wasn't "right". I applied for a "team apartment manager" position on Monday August 24th. That evening while we were "skyping" into the church plant meeting, we received an email that the hiring manager wanted to meet us. Ben spoke with him Tuesday afternoon, and that night we drove over and interviewed Wednesday morning. Out of all the things on our resume, he liked that Ben had worked at a church as he too was a pastor. The situation was so out of our comfort zone, but God's fingerprints were all over it. On Sunday, August 30th we got the call we were hired and going to start in a week! BTW our lease ended August 31st. So here I sit, with the first service of Open Life starting tomorrow morning. I can still not believe that everything fell into place, and at the perfect time. There is so much more to share, but dinner is ready and it has been a long week. I will post some updated pictures soon of Cayden and Mercie on her first day. God is so good!! Very excited for this new adventure.