LEWICKIPEDIA facts

JOEL BEN LEWICKI:

• 1/2 way through week two of law school. (He will remind you that there is only 11.5 more to go...this semester!
• still loves fishing.  has a new love for riding waves.  has parted ways with his cinema and TV relationship until further notice.
• sleeps much less and has become familiar with 4:00 am - 11:00 pm days.
• frequently embodies super man/ie: getting our new home 110% set up before starting school, and successfully juggling student time and daddy time.

1st Day of School

VICTORIA VAN WYHE LEWICKI

• 1/2 way through week two of law school. (Doesn't like to think about celebrating the end of the semester because there are 5 more after that!)  
• making friends faster than desired, but being blessed incredibly by the warmth of our new community!
• LOVES a busy schedule with very little time commitments! its confusing, I know :)
• kinda liking 5:00 am mornings, not crazy about 11:00 pm nights, and IN LOVE with coffee! :)
• getting much better at problem solving and fixing...
• handling life "pretty well", sort of...It depends if you call - coloring your hair 3-4 times, and cutting it twice all in one week, "pretty well".  I guess we all handle our emotions differently :)

I think this was Color #2 :)

BENJAMIN EDWARD LEWICKI

• "probably, maybe, I think, like, or somefing, what you saying momma?"...Benjamin's frequently used sayings :)
• new buddies with Leon, Sophie and McKayla, and trying to figure out the world of Stawer ( Star Wars).  There are light saber wars EVERYWHERE in the Village!
• In love with his new found outdoor freedom.  (We have the coveted spot on the grassy square away from road)
• tired, but not sleeping during nap time
• thinking about staying dry at night, but not actually doing it
• successfully/purposefully writing the letter A and B...and occasionally doing a couple others decently well.
• in love with drawing shapes/pictures (He generally decides what he drew, and not what he will draw...)
• still Best Friends with his newly named sister, "Vidowet"
• super cuddly - "hold you momma! hold you!"

VIOLET ANN ELOISE LEWICKI

• 21 months - frightening Momma for when she's  21 years
• sneaky, manipulative and so incredibly cute while doing it
• adores "Nenin"
• will say ANY word/phrase, but my favorites are: I don't know?(always perfect context, and adorably mumbled), I do it, I Like Beach, I Big Girl - I egg? (chocolate easter egg treat), I go talk to Nanny.  Momma 'ook - I talk'n to Nanny (holding my phone or her play phones), momma read Biscuit? bunny? Biscuit? - translation:, Momma I want to read the story about the bunny, in the book called Biscuit that we accidentally stole from Grandmas :), I go potty, hold you, otay(o.k.), Neon's house? - translation:Leon's house, etc
• tough enough to hold her own with the boys, but has a shoe fetish that would make any girly girl very proud
• wants very badly to be potty trained, but its tiring taking diapers on and off, and sitting for so long, so frequently, and she's not telling me often enough before she goes, so I'm trying to make her wait...every once in a while, she tells me she has to go, and I put her on the potty and she goes, but I'm not officially potty training anymore..maybe in October :)
• Will declare pain anytime she feels Benjamin is getting too much attention :)

And here's Vidowet and Nenin's frequent tickle wars.  Their giggles are the most beautiful sound I've ever heard.  LOVE LOVE LOVE :)

After being here 2 weeks, I knew I liked the set up of our house, it just felt a little cold...so here is me -  attempting to make it cozier...  With the weather the last couple mornings (low 70's with a slight breeze) early morning quiet time with the rocking chair right in front of the sliding screened door, and a great cup of coffee...AHHH!  I'm talking, so good it makes you want to get up at 5:30, kind of good...anyway, enough typing -  here's some photos:

I was careful in cropping this photo because this wall still kinda looks big and bare, but I have no vision for it yet, so it shall remain simple.  (ps: that's homemade creamer in the mason jar, and although i'm not in love with it, I'm excited to experiment.  Creamer is expensive and essential to the well being of my house.  A problem that needs to be solved!...

Two mornings in a row I woke up at 5:?? and sat and stared at this wall and back at 3 blank canvasses. I wanted so badly to stay purposefully simple, but felt pressure to do otherwise...Well my conscious won in the end, and I ended up with exactly what I wanted.  This was before our budget got  faith stretchingly tight, and I justified spending $10 on the canvasses, and $12 on the paint...well, I ended up not liking the first paint so $12 became $24ish and my boring wall cost me $35 ish.  I regret it now, but I've been able to use the extra paint a bunch of places, and hopefully I've learned my lesson on forcing myself into patience...:)

This room isn't my favorite, but I'm at a loss for ideas.  the center of the squares spell lewicki...I'm sure this room will change eventually...

I want my baby back!

love those chubby thighs!

He melts my hear every time I walk by!

:)

He's a reader like his Daddy!

Time for some fish'n - ocean style...

Daddy got done with class at 4:30 today, was home by 4:45, and we were on the road by 5:20.  Enough of this lawyer stuff, time for some fish'n!

This was our second trip to the Big Blue with plans of going fishing (we normally go swimming), and was much more successful than the first!  It wasn't exactly calm waters tonight, but it was 10x's better than the first time!  The weather was a little better, the waves were much less intense, and momma came considerably better prepared! More food, and more clothes!  We did not dress for a photo shoot, and only came home with one fish (Joel caught 3!), but we did catch some great memories! :)

TORI who?

So, it's happened a couple times this last month...I stop and think to myself, "since when did I start thinking that/doing that?  I'm a middle child and highly influenced by others.  I tend to change my mind as fast as I change conversation partners, and not because I don't have opinions, or lie to the individual whom I'm talking, at least I don't think that's true...Let's say that I am well rounded and like to consider other points of view :)  Another option is that I just keep doing things like my older sister :)

Well here are some of my "Tori who?!?!?!" moments when I have shocked the socks off myself.  Oh, and quite a few of them are my current points of passion...Who knows, maybe I'll rub off on you, like Tara(older sister) is rubbing off on me. :)

• Coconut Oil = I love it.  I love it for my hair (overnight in a shower cap/old shirt & thoroughly washed out in the morning), a monthly face scrub (sugar and CO!), an "anything dry scrub(sugar and CO!), cooking, makeup remover, cuticle softener, sunburn ointment...just to name a few uses 

• Homemade Granola Bars =   http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/homemade-chewy-granola-bars-without-corn-syrup  People, I can't stop eating them.  The recipe is VERY versatile and can be altered, but I like: 1/2 the amt of honey, organic PB, coconut oil, 1/2 old fashioned oats or steel cut oats & 1/2 quick oats, ground flax seed, sesame seed, chopped peanuts, chopped almonds, and when I really need a pick me up - after I get them pressed in my 9x13 I sprinkle a chocolate chip/butterscotch mix on top and lightly press them in....AHHH so good!

• Bed Making = credit goes to my mom here...I can't stand it if it is't made! mine and the kids! My mom is falling off her chair right now (as well as anyone who went to college with me), but its true - I'm a bed maker...It's the first thing on my To Do List for the day :)

• Cloth Diapers - I'm in complete regret mode for having stopped using cloth with Violet 5?ish months ago.  I miss her cute little cloth bum, I miss the absence of buying diapers every month, and I think it would help me in my upcoming job of potty training.  HindSight is 20/20 my friends...

• Tea Tree Oil = It would be used more frequently at my house, but my husband doesn't like the smell.  So I've limited my usage to this -  http://simplemom.net/oil-cleansing-method/.  An oil cleansing method I'm using incorporating castor oil, EVOO and tea tree oil.  I'm on Day #2, so I can't speak of the actual oil cleansing method itself, but i know that tea tree oil is effective when I used it for spot treatment, and nothing I've used in the last 8 years has worked, so here I go, giving it a whirl.  After Day #1 I will say this, "AMAZING make up remover.  This was a huge complaint of mine with my previous cleansers/toner/moisturizers.  The other complaints I've had have been $ and spot treatments.  I can't afford much of anything right now, so spending money on things that leave my skin tight and wrinkly, while still broken out, doesn't seem sensible.  Wish me luck!

• Doing the dishes IMMEDIATELY after a meal.  This has been a process in the making, but I've become passionate since moving.  There are a good amount of bugs outside and that's where I want them to stay, so leaving dirty things lying around, seems counterproductive.  Also, it's a great time to take a breather.  The kids seem to not need as much, when I'm busy washing dishes (contrary to most other things).  Breakfast and Lunch dishes generally take no time, and its nice not seeing them all day. Dinner dishes take much longer, but its great "Daddy/baby time, and it makes me so excited to put the kids to bed and know that the only thing waiting for me is the last load of laundry in the dryer/and or a quick 15 minute pick up from the day, followed by a good read (Did I mention we don't have a TV?)

• Speaking of a good read, I will leave you with my last "obsession".  The Bible in 90 Days. - cover to cover in 12 pages a day.  Again, we don't have a TV, so reading has much less competition that it did in my previous lives.  My husband is studying law, which means constant reading, so the natural thing is to join him.  Now, my choice of the Bible is shocking to even me.  I have never been consistent in my daily time with God, so it's pretty jaw dropping that in the last 20 days I have read Genesis through 1 Samuel 16.  I say this as encouragement to those who would classify themselves in my category of "inconsistent at best", in their quiet time.  Hang in there.  Keep "starting over".  Get rid of the TV if you need to.  Get the 90 day version I mentioned.  Do something, because it's worth it.  I can't remember ever reading the Word of God so continually that it actually became God's letter to me...His story of who he is...It's been the book that I can't wait to read when I get up, the one I grab before I go in to quiet my 1 yr old in nap time so I can get a few pages in while I stand by her bed, and that leaves me wanting to "read one more page" before bed.  In fact I became so wrapped up a few nights ago, that when I got to the end of Judges I was so mad, I almost "threw it out".  I wanted to be done; I was so mad at Israel, mad at a Levite, mad at the Benjaminites and kinda ticked at God.  Good thing I knew the end of the story to keep me going :)  All this to say, if you're looking for a good read, I'd highly recommend it.  Recognize it as God's love story to you, and his Redemption of his children.  It has action, it has romance and I think it will keep you on the edge of your seat. :)

I'd love to hear about one of your points of passion...I'm sure you could persuade me :)

ps (I really must make sure you know how little I researched some of these items, and how naively I jumped in because of my sister Tara.  She's really the one with most the good ideas, I just wait till she's fully researched something and then steal her passion :)

THE END

Baptism Sunday

Hey!  Blogging is so great.  You see, I like to talk a lot and sometimes people are interested, and sometimes they aren't.  But this way, I get to blab all I want, and you can either read it, or skim it, or just look at pictures and criticize (don't act like you've never done it!), and we're all happy.  I don't have to worry about calling you at an inconvenient time, and you don't have to stress about whether to answer my phone call or not...sigh.  Technology is wonderful!

Well, I was talking to my mother in law the other day on the phone, and she was asking about all those little things that make you feel at home...church, grocery store, etc...and this is what we've found so far...

Grocery stores are tricky.  They all have decent sales, but I am not talented enough, nor do I wish to spend the time or gas money, to go to 5 different grocery stores to get their deals, and then having to creatively meal plan before or after, to actually use those specific groceries.  AHHH!  no thank you.  Well, after store #3 (or#4?) I found Kroger.  The selection is pretty good, I really liked their fruit and vegetables,  and they had ground beef for under $3...YAY!  its not exactly as close as the other options, but its ok.  I did a big expense trip Friday night and our fridge actually looks happy. :)

We also found a church we really like.  http://trinitychurchvb.com/  We met McKenzie last Saturday and she was very welcoming and invited us to their Sunday services.  She, McKenzie, was also going to be helping their children's church and since Violet had warmed up to her Saturday, it seemed like a comfortable plan for Sunday.  It's about 20 minutes away and they meet in a Westin Hotel in Town Center.  Last week as we entered I felt my guard going up as I thought "Wow, this is cool, and they have Starbucks Coffee.  They must be compensating for lack of subsistence."  Well, I was wrong.  They use a phrase - "The glory of the old, with the promise of the new."  And that is how I would describe their Sundays thus far.  The worship is very declarative of God's character, their is purposeful liturgy, the messages have been solid in Biblical content and the people seem genuine.  So, we decided to go a second service which they were holding at the beach.  They have 2 locations and a total of 3 services, and this Sunday they unified for a beach service at Neptune Park for worship, teaching and ocean baptism.  It was a great service again (although I didn't get my coffee before we left and my children don't have black out shades, so this momma was groggy!).  Here's a couple photo's from the service, and our afternoon at the beach!

Neptune Park

Coloring available for the kids during church

Benjamin getting fidgety 

not being able to sit still even for a picture

My beachy babes combining church and swimming  attire

The Neptune statue : this is actually the beach Joel and I saw when we visited in January

Sand + Church = happy

Baptisms

swim trunk look alikes :)

DOLPHINS!  you can see how close they are to the swimming area

I was soo excited about them :)

He LOVES the waves

She kept stealing my glasses getting sand in my eyes...I'm not sure why I'm smiling here because it wasn't making me happy! 

I think she loves the waves even more than Benjamin does :)

Here she found a pretty black shell with a pearl :)

Joel and Violet have this game when a wave comes she yells "Oh boy oh boy!" It's adorable. :)

her pretty shell

and this is when they got tired...We now have sand EVERYWHERE...van , house, ears...everywhere

Violet showing off her dirty feet?

Sand wresting...the new olympic sport :)

TAKE ME HOME! :)