A 'Kinder" Christmas!

Sorry about the blurriness of this video. The video function on our camera is having some issues I guess. Just imagine four Kinder classes in one small room with parents, siblings and extended family watching these guys sing five or six songs, so exciting! I have a different video for each song but I did not want to totally bore you all so this is the shortest one I could post :)

First Foods!

OK so I gave in. I planned not starting solid foods with Zoey til she was six months old, which is latter than what we did with the boys. Myles was given rice cereal at about 3 1/2 months. Hey we were first time parents and wanted to experience everything right away. Riley was closer to 4 1/2 months. He wanted to be just like his brother. Now there's Zoey. For the past two months she has been our drool bucket! In the last few weeks she has taken an interest to anything we put in our mouths. So over the last few days she has figured out which end of a water bottle and a spoon goes into her mouth. We new change was a coming, I just really wanted to make it through the holidays without a "feeding" schedule. Not so the case any more. Last night Zoey was a bit fussy during dinner so I ended up holding her at the table. All of sudden she grabbed the pizza crust out of my hand and put it straight into her mouth! Great first food right? I should win the mom of the year award too right?? Anyhow we let her gnaw on it for awhile as we finished eating our dinner. Then when I tried to take the crust away from her, she cried :( It was very sad. After the kids went to bed I went grocery shopping and picked up our first box of rice cereal. When I got home I went ahead and prepared her first serving. We were excited, of course it was now 10:30pm!! She was so happy, she ate every bite offered and if I was not holding her hands down she would try to grab and shove the spoon into her mouth all by herself. On to new things!

Five Months!

Zoey is five months! She is such a smart baby! I do not recall the boys ever being so attentive at such a young age. I feel like I can have real conversations with her and she actually understands and responds to me as if she knows what I am saying! Love it!! She rolls from front to back, back to front,, she scoots, she laughs a ton and screams in excitement really loud at times! She loves to hold things even water bottles and she knows what they are for as she tries to drink from them. She just loves to take her socks off and eat her feet as well as anything she can manage to get in her mouth. She is really just a very happy and easy going baby. The downside is she is not quite a good sleeper unless I am holding her all night long. During the day though her naps are just perfect! It almost makes me want to have another baby, well if we could clone her anyways!!!

Tessa!

This is "our" Tessa! She has cared for our children for over three years now. She has become like family to us. She is my friend, a sister to the boys and Zoey, our first daughter, a great sitter and mostly an amazing person of God. Her life story at only 16yrs old has inspired me and others to continue to trust in God even when times are tough. Tessa you are such a blessing to our family! We love you tremendously and are so grateful for you!!

Daddy's little girl!

Can I just say that this is probably one of my favorite pictures of Jeff with Zoey! Even though Jeff has been one handed for almost five months now he still amazes me by how he chooses to care for our children. Jeff is often in pain because of his thumb, wrist and elbow yet he will carry Zoey, Riley and sometimes even Myles around without complaining. These last few months have been really hard physically on our family yet by Gods grace and an amazing support system filled with friends and family we are getting by. Even though there is this blue obstruction in the way Zoey and Jeff always make the best of their time together as you can see above.

All though Jeff is one handed, he has managed to watch all three kids for me so I can run errands alone, go to apts, He has made the kids meals, changed multiple poopie diapers and clothes, bathed the munchkins, done some housework, grocery shopped and continued to work full time. (I must seem really lazy about now)In light of this tough season of life we have been going through we realised that we have grown to be more depended on God and to one another. Something that still amazes us about this time is how the body of Christ works together. It was truly a blessing to see not just the new community we are involved in support us but those in the past and even those far away come together to meet or physical needs. We could not have gotten through this time without any of you. Since I have gotten really bad about sending out thank you notes, please know your kind acts of service have not gone unnoticed.

And to my hubby, you are an amazing man of God and I am so grateful to be your wife, and as usual there is no one I'd rather be going through life with than you :) Love you!!

In the NEWS!

Check this video out :)



http://www.ksbw.com/video/18183162/

Standby, Clear, Rolling, ACTION!

Our little man Myles is now officially a paid actor! This past Saturday night we received a call from Grandma Jill (Jens' "2ND" mom) asking us if we thought Myles would like to be in a movie. At first we laughed it off, thinking it was just some school "movie" project. The phone was then handed over to the Director of the film Bryan Stoller from First American Cinema. He asked a few questions about Myles and shared with us a little bit about the film. At this point we still thought it was a high school movie. We then set a time to go over on Sunday afternoon. A few hours latter the "wardrobe" person called us to discuss what Myles should bring with him, since this is somewhat of a low budget film. Jeff and I suddenly began to realize that this was no high school movie after all. Once we got to the set Sunday evening it became even more apparent that this was the real deal. Bryan meet with Myles upon our arrival and decided in a matter of minutes that Myles was the boy they wanted! So the work began. Myles was in the first scene shot at the new location which is an old Victorian House in Morgan Hill. All he needed to do was sit on the stairs and let the "First Dog" run by him and laugh. Piece of cake. We were told he would be in four scenes over the next few days. Today is the end of day three and he had exceeded the four scenes and still has at least two more to go. Of course he is not the main character. He is "Jeremy" a foster child that is living with Priscilla Barnes (Terry from Three's Company)and four foster brothers and one foster sister. Jeremy (Myles) is sorta the goof, perfect fit right?? Well he laughs a lot, dumps spaghetti on his head, slams the door in a police officers face, hangs up on the President of the USA (Erick Roberts, Julia Roberts bro) and more. It is so fun watching Myles in this sort of environment. He really is enjoying being around the other kids. I do not think he even realizes when the cameras are on. Jeff and I have been learning a lot about the film making industry. For example for a scene that is barely a minute long it can take up to THREE hours to shoot!! You can see why we are all exhausted. Anyhow I feel like I am just rambling on. Check out the website when you get a chance, www.firstdogus.com. Myles will be going back to the set on Thurs to do a few more scenes. The movie may come out in theatres but will most likely be a made for tv movie or DVD release. We will keep you posted when we know more. Enjoy the next few pics and we will try to post more when we have some :)



JP (main character)& Myles on set this morning