Wit by Amanda

Thursday, May 11, 2017

April 2017

April! This was a good month. Lots of exciting things happened. We did all of our annual Easter traditions. We tagged along on a work trip with Christopher to North Carolina. Christopher celebrated his 36th birthday and we had an awesome party where some of our best friends did a 10 course meal called the 10x10 at one of our favorite restaurants, Josephines! We did for the first time this month take our kids out on day dates. I took Jack and Christopher took Francine. I hope this is something that we can continue to do as they get older.

**Funny/Sweet Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**

We were looking through Jack's Thomas the train magazine and we found a train named Phillip and I said "thats just like your name" and he said "No Mom...mines got an S in it".

I put Francine to bed one night this month and I walked by her door and I heard her sing Happy Birthday to herself and then at the end she said "Happy Birthday Francine!" It was hilarious!!

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Highlight - Jack has a special skill that Christopher and I have noticed. He knows how to turn music to the perfect level for certain environments. Its amazing. We say to each other...we couldn't do it as good as he can.
Favorite color - Red. Still!
Favorite food - I would say its Mac n Cheese this month or Chick-Fil-A
Favorite hobby - We are definitely into playing outside right now
Favorite song - Let's Go Fly A Kite from Mary Poppins. It makes me so hapy!
Learning - I have found that he is really good at teaching. He will show Francine how to do something and then he will explain it to her on her level. Its really cute!

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - On Good Friday, we attended a stations of the cross service and there was one part where the group was asked to carry the cross. Francine heard that and she said "I want to carry Jesus' cross". Others heard her say it and they told me after the service how it moved them. I know it meant a lot to me to hear her say that and also carry it...but it was such a sweet moment when others came up to me and told me.
Favorite Color - Blue. Still!
Favorite food - We still aren't a greens lover over here yet, but she is enjoying freeze dried broccoli...so thats a win!
Crying - She has definitely warmed up to many people this month. People laugh and say, "I think she likes me now..."
Skills - I think the best part of Francine is she is starting to play with Jack as a friend. She is also getting to be silly and joking.

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

2 year and 4 year checkup!

Cheekwood Easter!

Easter cuties!

Hosted Friend's Easter Dinner at our house!

Vacation to Gatlinburg and Asheville

Hotel living!!

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

March 2017

March! It was one for the books for sure! Francine celebrated her 2nd birthday at the beginning of the month. Christopher recorded 2 new records in the studio. We had a big snow in the middle of the month too! Yikes! And a big life change for me is I took a job doing some freelance work for a baking blogger from Sweden (http://www.passionforbaking.com/). I took a quick trip to Chicago with her and David Reme, a good friend of ours that introduced me to Manuela. We were in Chicago for a tradeshow and experienced a lot of great things. The Chicago trip was my first time away from Francine (2 years!! I was with her every day!!) Christopher did a great job playing both parents for 4 days! I am thankful for this month and for the milestones that are involved here. We ended the month at an Enneagram "Know Your Number" Conference with Ian and Suzanne. The information always is so incredible at these events

On Francine's Birthday!! Family photo!

**Funny/Sweet Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**

He was on his swing in the back yard and he saw a brick in the dirt and I said "Look its a buried treasure". He said, "No - God put it there". The back story to this is we are teaching them that God made things...even bugs...and so we don't want to kill things that God made.

Another funny story is we were in the car and we passed a plumbing truck that had a picture of a guy and a girl like on a restroom door...he said "Mommy is that a bathroom truck?"

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Highlight - Jack loves when candles are on. I have been reading lots of books lately about Hygge, the Scandinavian word for calm/rest/peace and a whole lot more...anyway lots of candles have been going in the house and he loves it!
Favorite color - Red
Favorite food - Chocolate oatmeal
Favorite hobby - I would say doing puzzles or trains right now
Favorite song - Trolls Theme Song still!
Learning - We are almost half way through the reading lesson book that we started at the beginning of this year. He is definitely picking up lots of reading.

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - She loves the animal hippopotamus. Her cute little lisp says it so cute. She also says "sassy Francine" now...the lisp and all those SSSS...so cute!
Favorite Color - Blue.
Favorite food - she is still a carb lover but she does love when I make fresh carrot/celery/lemon/ginger juice. :)
Crying - I think we have turned a good leaf with her. It is not nearly as bad as it used to be. It could also be because she is starting to communicate more and so she is able to tell us what she wants
Skills - I think the best part of Francine is she is starting to play with Jack as a friend. She is also getting to be silly and joking.

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

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

February 2017

February was great. We celebrated a lot this month. Definitely we celebrated having Francine sleep much better this month. When everyone gets good sleep, everyone is happy. Valentines Day was this month and we celebrated our annual friends/family Valentine dinner. Jack turned 4 this month and we had a joint birthday party for the kids (since they are 9 days apart). Christopher's parents were in town the end of February. One of our friends got engaged this month. I have continued to work my side job with Dinner Belle which is going great. I love Laura and working for her and getting her yummy food. I love still working at the church while the kids are in Mother's Day Out...what a blessing! February has been a kind of warm month. Not really a lot of snow. That comes with sickness and crud of course, but I enjoy not having to constantly bundle us all up!

**Funny/Sweet Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**

Jack was talking about his balloons from his party that popped and flew away and he said mama did they go to heaven?

A babysitter texted me one night when we were out and she said "Francine says she wants a pencil!?" I said if she is in the kitchen she means pretzel...if she is in the playroom she wants a puzzle! Man - mama's really know what their kids are saying!!

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Highlight - Jack turning 4 made me a bit nostalgic for sure. He is my first born and my boy! He was such a delight when he came into this world. And to this day he is just a delight to everyone who meets him. He is even keeled for the most part. He loves to learn. He is so handsome and has a contagious joy. He is a great big brother and has so much compassion and grace even when she doesn't deserve it.
Favorite color - Red all day every day
Favorite food - Chicken and french fries and green juice
Favorite hobby - He has enjoyed his teepee a lot this month.
Favorite song - Trolls Theme Song still!
Learning - Jack has loved his reading book. He either gets one on one time with mommy or daddy to make sure Francine doesn't get in the way.

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight -Francine is gaining quite a vocabulary. She is definitely using 3 words together. I think compared to Jack at this age she is speaking a lot more.
Favorite Color - Blue!
Favorite food - pasta or pizza. She is our picky eater. I guess every family has to have one. Its the bain of my existence though...
Crying - We are working through our January issues. Definitely coming into her own personality though
Skills - She is definitely learning a lot and not near as clingy to mommy and she use to be. I think she is definitely growing up. Its hard to believe she is going to be 2 in just a few days!

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

Thursday, February 16, 2017

January 2017

2017! January! How do you make January feel as magical as December? Well - you dont unfortunately. You figure out how to just survive through the cold and dark days of January. We had some fun moments of January but really I must say January was really hard!!! We are happy to see February come for sure. Francine's 4 incizor teeth did pop through this month so that means the end of some of this stress. We did get some snow for about two days and that was nice. It was definitely worth buying the snow items at consignment for that one moment! :) The joint birthday party preparations have begun and its going to be so fun next month! Stay tuned! We tried some fun family outings on the weekends this month (some were successful and some were not). Jack started taking swim lessons again this month! Christopher and I went to a really cool, new restaurant for a date night this month. At the end of the year, I started helping a friend with some admin help for her small start up business. Its been great and I can totally see myself doing more of this in the future with more small business people.

**Funny/Sweet Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**

To preface this story I must say that Jack is really into playing doctor right now. So we had some friends over and we told them to go clean up the playroom. He responded with "I'm a doctor, I dont need to pick up". Hmm...Fair Jack...most doctors have nurses...but until you have the letters behind your name...you are going to need to go clean up your own mess.

Another funny quote from this month fro Jack was "Mommy did you know that when you do the hokey pokey you can put your whole self in?"

Sibling story of the month - we are trying more and more to get them to play alone upstairs. Well one time this month it was really quite and they were playing upstairs and then I heard a bunch of laughing. They had taken their whole medical kit and had put it in toilet and was trying to flush it! Help us all!

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Favorite color - Still Red
Favorite food - I would say ice cream and Chic-Fila are the things he requests most often...who doesn't
Favorite hobby - We are really into playing some of his new games he got for Christmas and still into puzzles
Favorite song - Trolls Theme Song!
Funny quote - We had a friend babysit for us who is Indian. While she was there, he asked her "what is your color? I'm white." -- Oh Lord. My friend text me immediately and was laughing thank goodness. Kids say the darndest things.
Learning - We started this month teaching Jack the basic phonetics of reading with this incredible book. He is doing so well with it! He loves to learn!
His quirks - We still have a thing for Santa in January. He told me this month he wishes it was still December so we could still celebrate Christmas. He also prayed one night this month "Thank you for santa moving all my stuff so I could have my bunk bed".

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - 22 months old! She still did quite a bit of teething this month, but we definitely saw a light at the end of the month.
Her words - We taught her to say "silly mommy" or any of our names with Silly. Her little lisp kind of melts both Christopher and I.
Sleep - We regained our routine of sleep by the end of the month, but she did refuse a lot of naps and was up at 4 and 5 am many mornings in January.
Food - We regained some normalcy of food with her at the end of the month too but she still isn't completely back to the way she use to eat. She really has never been a great eater, but we think we may have a vegetarian on our hands at 1 years old.
Crying - Lots of tears! My Lord... lots of melt downs.
Clothes - She is in 18-24 months and some 2T clothes still and she wears size 5 shoes
Diapers - Size 5!
Skills - She loves playing with her babies...stuffed animals or baby dolls. Every baby she has definitely needs a blanket! Which cracks me up! Francine also peed in the kid potty two times this month...just because! That was pretty cool!