Wit by Amanda: 2016

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

November 2016

November was a good month. We have a lot to be thankful for as a family. We went to Phoenix to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my parents 40th anniversary with my side of the family. Another thing that Jack and I got to do today was help with a block party at an apartment complex down the street from us that houses many refugees from all over the world. It was so nice to experience missions with Jack. He passed out Thomas stickers to all the kids around his age and he loved it. We also got our house ready for Christmas before we left for Arizona. It was fun to set up a new house for Christmas. The black and white photos are the kids school photos. Francine and Jack's personalities definitely are showing through in the photos.

**Funny/Sweet Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
This is the sweetest thing that I have seen Jack do with Francine. One day this month I overheard him telling Francine in our driveway, "You see up there (pointing to the chimney)...that's where Santa is coming in".

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Favorite color - Blue
Favorite food - Macaroni and cheese and peas (from home not at a restaurant) :)
Favorite hobby - Trains
Favorite song - Any Christmas song!
Funny quote - We were leaving the YMCA and the Y play coordinator is named Amanda. Jack told me when we were leaving..."mommy she has beautiful hair".
His quirks - Right now we are struggling to keep him in his toddler bed. He comes out of his bed multiple times in the night and during nap. I know this is a temporary thing and it wont be forever...but man its tough right now. The other day he came down from his bed and said he was "having a really bad day".

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - 20 months this month. Time is flying by
Her words - She is definitely a repeater right now. She has a lot to keep up with thanks to her brother
Sleep - She is a great sleeper at nights. We have had some early mornings lately. Again - in the big scheme of things its only a short amount of time. We have definitely gone down to one nap a day for the most part which I kind of miss 2 naps , but we are able to get out and about earlier in the day.
Clothes - She is in 18-24 months clothes. She wears size 5 shoes
Diapers - Size 5!
Food - We are having a hard time with this for sure.
Skills - One of her favorite things to do is play with play dough.
Crying - again....another area of improvement is needed. :)

Until next time....here are some photos from life lately!

Jack gets a B+ for his 2nd dentist visit!

Francine's 1st dentist appt. She recevied a D- on her visit. :)

Helping out at the Stonebrook festival!

Our church was a presidential voting site and we rolled out the red carpet for everyone. It was a lot of fun!

We love Fran!

My little Brit!

REALITY!

The whole family!

Sunday best!

5 weeks apart! Cousins!

She enjoyed the farm in Arizona a lot!

Getting ready for church!

Captive audience!

Hideout!

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

October 2016

October - the best month in my opinion! We started off with our anniversary...9 years! My parents were in town visiting some family friends and so they were able to keep the kids while Christopher and I went out to celebrate. Phillip (my little brother) also came and we were able to spend about a week with him at our house while my parents traveled. October is the perfect month to do outdoor activities. We went to a craft fair in Centennial Park, Visited a pumpkin patch (or 2), and of course "Fall at Cheekwood"! Another fun guest at our house was my old roommate Lynn. We had so much fun with her! We hosted a costume party at our house the weekend of Halloween with my friends and their kids. At the end of October is always Halloween and we had our annual Beam Halloween bash.

A quote that I heard this month about parenting is "Going from one child to two is like going from owning a dog to running a zoo!"

Another great quote is "Pain is the rent we pay for being human, some say; but suffering is usually optional"

**Funny/Sweet Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
Jack is just starting to warm up to the idea of bandaids. Most kids his age love to have bandaids...not him. So the other night I was taking his bandaid off of his foot...and he asked if we could pray for his toe. Its the first time he has ever initiated a prayer outside of a meal or bedtime and I thought it was so sweet.

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Favorite color - blue
Favorite food - ice cream
Favorite hobby - trains!
Favorite song - Still Veggie Tales theme song or the Water Buffalo song
Funny quote - He really got into trick or treating this year. When he finally got the hang of what you do...he would walk by a house and say... "Mom they are open"...meaning...the light was on! :)
His quirks - I never want to forget Jack singing into naps and bedtime

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - 19 months she turned this month!
Her words - She is definitely started to speak a ton. Something that is kind of sad this month is she has stopped saying "LaLa" for Lucy and has gone to "Loo-she"
Sleep - The morning nap is slowly fading away this month. I thought it would be hard to hold onto with school happening and vacation
Clothes - She is in 18-24 months clothes. She wears size 4 shoes moving into 5.
Diapers - Size 4 diapers moving into 5!
Food - We got spoiled with Jack when it comes to eating...Francine is not the same kid for sure. She knows when she doesn't want something and when she does want something...thats for sure!
Skills - She says "puh" a lot and is eager to play with PUZZLES but we are working on that right now.
Crying - I am not sure if its a girl thing, or a 2nd kid thing, or she had to come out kicking and screaming thing...but she does a lot of crying!

Until next time....here are some photos from life lately!

Oh Lynn....I miss you!

Friday, October 14, 2016

September 2016

September was a great month! We started off on the beach in Seagrove for a week and it was my birthday! Started a new Bible study with some friends called BSF (Bible study fellowship). Great childcare program involved in it. Started teaching a class at church on wednesday nights. Staying pretty busy with schedules for sure! Went to our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm for a celebration. It was great! I got terribly sick for almost 5 whole days. It was awful! The fall is slowly coming in and that makes me happy.

A quote that I heard a while ago that rings true for me for sure is: "I think the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me yearn and long for it again".

I receive a daily devotional email from Richard Rohr and have tried to do better with reading them more lately. This one was incredible and thought it would be great to share!

We each carry a certain amount of pain from our very birth. If that pain is not healed and transformed, it actually increases as we grow older, and we transmit it to people around us. We can become violent in our attitudes, gestures, words, and actions. We must nip this process in the bud by acknowledging and owning our own pain, rather than projecting it elsewhere. For myself, I can’t pretend to be loving when inside I’m not, when I know I’ve thought cruel, judgmental, and harsh thoughts about others. At the moment the thought arises, I have to catch myself and hand over the annoyance or anger to God. Contemplative practice helps me develop this capacity to watch myself and to connect with my loving Inner Witness. Let me explain why this is important. If you can simply observe the negative pattern in yourself, you have already begun to separate from it. The watcher is now over here, observing yourself thinking that thought—over there. Unless you can become the watcher, you’ll almost always identify with your feelings. They feel like real and objective truth. Most people I know are overly identified with their own thoughts and feelings. They don’t really have feelings; their feelings have them. That may be what earlier Christians meant by being “possessed” by a demon. That’s why so many of Jesus’ miracles are the exorcism of devils. Most don’t take that literally anymore, but the devil is still a powerful metaphor, which demands that you take it quite seriously. Everyone has a few devils. I know I’m “possessed” at least once or twice a day, even if just for a few minutes! There are all kinds of demons—in other words, there are lots of times when you cannot not think a certain way. When you see certain people, you get afraid. When you see other people, you get angry. This is why all healing and prayer must descend into the unconscious where the lies we’ve believed are hidden in our wounds. During contemplation, forgotten painful experiences may arise. In such cases, it helps to meet with a spiritual director or therapist to process old wounds and trauma in healthy ways. Over a lifetime of practice, contemplation gradually helps you detach from who you think you are and rest in your authentic identity as Love. At first this may feel like an “identity transplant” until you learn how to permanently rest in God.

SOO GOOD!!

**Funny Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
We were picking up a lamp I bought from a website. The ladies house I picked up from her name was Jessica. When I got back in the car with the lamp...Jack said "whats that ladies name?" I said Jessica. Later down the road he said "Ambrose got a Jessica...is it the same Jessica?" haha.

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Favorite color - red
Favorite food - Chic Fila!
Favorite hobby - digging in the dirt outside or playing with trains would be a close tie I believe.
Favorite song - We are in a Veggie Tales love right now.
Funny quote - I put perfume on and then jack came in and he said "you smell like ketchup"
His quirks - As of this month, he always requests a big plate and fork for mealtime. No more of that plastic kids stuff...he wants the real deal! ;)

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - Francine loves the color yellow! So random and so young!
Check-ups - she turned 18 months old this month and had her heart doctor checkup and pediatric checkup. Both amazing!
Her words - She is definitely gaining a vocabulary for sure. Her favorite animal is a duck and her favorite animal sound she says is the duck noise!
Sleep - The morning nap is slowly fading away this month. I thought it would be hard to hold onto with school happening and vacation
Clothes - She is in 18-24 months clothes. She wears size 4 shoes.
Diapers - Size 4 diapers!
Food - Francine is a carnivore still. She likes bread too. And fruit! Bananas are her favorite food for sure!
Skills - If I think of Francine in the moments between her fighting me on food and throwing tantrums... a real funny girl is coming out. She is beginning to be really silly and that makes me happy for sure!
Crying - We have definitely entered 2 year old temper tantrums at 17 months old. Its crazy how different boys and girls are or just every kid in general.