Wanda's Awesomeness

August?  Let's see...that was just last month.  I can't think of anything other than Xander's birthday.  He turned 1 on the 4th, 9 days after Tate.  Oh yeah, we went to Ponca City to visit Marybeth, Brent, and their 3 kids who are 2 months older than Tate.  It was baby central over there.  This is a sucky post, and I'll tell you why.  No pics.  I'll post more later. 
I do want to give credit to God, though, for coming through for us a couple of times in a major way.  Jake hasn't been working as many hours as usual, so we've had to tighten our belts a little.  I considered a second job, but Jake said nah, if anyone gets one, he will.  Well, I've searched the whole house numerous times to see if there is anything we can sell on Craigslist and we even decided to sell our car and become a one car family for awhile.   Then last week I found a paycheck of Jake's that he never deposited.  Thank you Jesus!!!  And then I got an opportunity to clean a house after their remodel for excellent pay.  Thanks again Jesus!!!  God is taking care of us even though my relationship with Him is struggling and Jake's faith has been in question for a good while.  I'm so glad that my God is faithful even when we are not.  He really gave my faith a boost in the last week.
On a different note, the kids have been at their new daycare for over a month now and we LOVE it!!!  It's even less expensive since they give a couple of discounts for different things.  It would still be worth more money, though, and I'm so glad our kiddos are going there.  Another praise!
Work has been difficult.  Only because I thought I had over a week's worth of PTO, and come to find out I was nearly a week in the hole.  Somehow, during my maternity leave A YEAR AGO, I got paid twice for the same pay period and didn't realize.  So I've just been going along for a YEAR, thinking I had all this PTO, and I didn't.  They finally realized down in personnel, so now I cannot take any leave unless absolutely necessary.  Argghhhh!!!  Oh well.  And sometimes I feel like my dream of working part time is just never gonna happen.  But I'm praying and working toward that goal, and so is Jake.
The kids are great, as usual.  Tate is such a cutie pie and I just love that he is such a cuddler.  Micah is growing up so fast I can't stand it.   She says funny things all the time and she can just charm your socks right off.  Sorry, I can't help the cheesiness when it comes to the kiddos!!

Well...to Tate's birthday anyway.  Things have been going ok.  After Colorado, we celebrated my cousin Jett's 4th birthday.  He's only 4 months older than Micah and the 3 of them (Micah, Kameron, and Jett)  have lots of fun together.  This is from his party, on June 26.  It was at Incredible Pizza, so of course everyone had a blast!

Then there was the 4th of July, which we celebrated at the Lam's with lots of fun friends.  Tate didn't make it to the fireworks, but Micah did and boy did she love them!

Tate and Xander

Sparkler!

Ready for the big show!

Let's see...then we met Jimmy, Mindy, and the kids in McLoud so we could meet baby Madelynn.  She was born June 23.  She is definitely Jimmy's kid.  :)

Great Gramma Ellen and baby Maddie

Micah, Caleb, Tate, and baby Maddie

And then, of course...Tate's birthday!!  We had his party on July 31, and my Aunt Linda and Uncle Phil were there!  I haven't seen them in a long time!  They are my dad's sister and brother, and we don't see them much at all.  Aunt Linda lives in Shawnee sometimes, and OKC sometimes.  Uncle Phil lives in Arkansas.  I'm glad they came!  There wasn't drama or anything, which is a feat, in my family!  :)
Here are some highlights from Tate's big day:

The cake!  And yes, we did it ourselves if you couldn't tell!

There were a few little 'samplings' in the icing...hmmm... (Micah, Kameron, Lexi, Legend)

Legend, Linda, Lantzr, Phillip

It's gooooood.

Who needs toys when you have ribbon?

Beth and Brent

Reunited and it feels so goood!

It was sooooo hot at the park, and there was no breeze.  We are going to have to get creative next year to beat the heat! 
Ok, so now I just have August to go, and I'll be caught up!