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!

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!