Archer turned 21 months old on Christmas Eve. This guy just continues to melt my heart on a daily basis. He frequently takes breaks from whatever he's doing to give me a hug and say, "Hi Mama." He loves greeting everyone and hugging and sharing. Wrestling is his love language (especially with Jonathan) and he's full of sound effects and action noises. He's particularly interested in baby Jesus. For his update photo he insisted that baby Jesus remain in his hand. We went to a Christmas light display and he kept trying to climb up a muddy hill and pull down a fence to get to the lit up nativity scene saying, "Jee-jus! Jee-jus!" He's also very interested in dip at every meal, especially hummus, salsa, and ketchup. 

The day before we moved, he said, "poop!" and ran to the bathroom and tried opening the toilet. I put him on and he eventually did it!! Same thing the following day. Hasn't done it since, but he is very communicative about bathroom updates so maybe we'll be potty training soon?

He is only happy for car rides if we play the Mary Poppins soundtrack. He requests it by saying, "Cheeky" in reference to Spoonful of Sugar. I'm nearly certain I heard him humming Spoonful of Sugar in the bath the other day too. He loves dancing too. 

He still doesn't have a ton of words, but the ones he has are so sweet. We just love you, Archer man! Such a gentle soul. We are excited to see who you become.

I'm finally emerging from the pile of boxes to say that we are in our new house and loving it. We've already entertained guests and set up Christmas decorations. It was very bittersweet leaving our little cottage though. In our last moments there, Quinn burst into tears saying she didn't want to leave it. We had a long ugly cry together. It's just hard to leave a place you love. I told Archer to say goodbye to the house and he stood in the exact spot where he was born, seriously, and waved and said in his sweet voice, "bye bye." Oh man.

We have already completed a lot of projects at our new place and there are many more to come. I'm excited to document them here. We had almost the whole interior painted before we moved in but left the bathrooms and kitchen because we intend to update those in the future. We painted the front door, built a giant bookcase, and I premade a bunch of curtains. There are many lighting updates ahead too. And we'll be preparing to get Archer's room big kid bed ready.

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

John Stocker/Sandra McCracken


Happy Thanksgiving!

The past month or so has been such a relief for me. Quinn and Archer have reached a point developmentally and in their relationship where they actually play well together. The phase of battles, shouting, and tears was starting to feel like it would last forever. They had to be supervised constantly. I prayed about it, sought the advice of parents one step ahead of me, read books and all signs pointed to it being a phase and that I need to stay strong and be consistent. I didn't want to have an expectation that they be best friends, but I wanted them to act respectfully. Well, I think Archer beginning to follow directions better and Quinn growing in empathy and using her words have finally brought us to where we are now. About a month ago I noticed the change in Quinn and pointed it out to her. I asked her if she had any thoughts about what had changed and she said, "Well, I learned and learned and learned about being nice and, finally, it stayed in my brain!" So, there you go. I'm sure it will ebb and flow, but for now I am soaking up how cute it is when they play together.

Right now, a big favorite is they both stick a ball in their shirt and run around bonking into things and each other. They also pretend to be animals, set up picnics/feasts, be a mommy or daddy to their stuffed animals, build with blocks, perform concerts, and lots of dancing. Today they pretended to ride horses that were really just garbage bags full of hand-me-down clothes and held onto the ties as reins. Also, playing inside the coat closet is popular.

Quinn's imagination continues to amaze us. The quotes I have recorded lately from her are so surprising. The other day we were playing Star Wars and she told me Chewbacca packed us a snack. I asked what it was and she said "not dirt and mice like Chewbacca eats, but Italian food, candy, and French Toast." She is really curious about Star Wars. While perusing the ballet section of the library, she spotted a Star Wars book and that kicked it all off. She has had Jonathan tell her about all the movies, knows tons of vocabulary and characters, and is constantly incorporating it into life. She requested to be Princess Leia for Halloween so we obliged. And Archer was an Ewok with a hand-me-down bear costume.

She has been doing great with our home preschooling and is enjoying writing a lot. At the start of the month she requested thankful leaves to start again and has taken the job of recorder for the family. She has also had some great questions lately about death, forgiveness, and other deep things. It's been amazing to be starting to sow the seeds of the gospel with her.

Archer continues to be loud, fast, and physical. He can disassemble the vacuum cleaner parts and reassemble them into a sword and can make a more realistic gun sound than me. I'm also starting to see his compassionate qualities really develop too. He'll often find two similar toys and bring one to another child to try to initiate play. If a child is crying, even a stranger, he'll go check on them. At a playdate he was heading toward a slide and a girl younger than him got there at the same time. He stepped aside and let her go first. 

We feel pretty blessed to be parenting these two! It's definitely challenging at times, but such a gift! 

We went to an awesome parenting conference a couple weekends ago that was a good refresh. We also went to Eugene that weekend to visit family. Quinn went to the Sleeping Beauty ballet with her grandma as a special treat. 

Halloween was rainy but we braved it trick-or-treating with the neighbors. Quinn was pumped about her seven pieces of candy, haha. 

Last weekend we spent the morning visiting some friends who just moved back to the PNW. Their house was so lovely and the kids all played so well. Otherwise we've begun packing, selling stuff, and planning what to buy for the new house. Jonathan has the day off so we are going to have an Ikea date and run some errands while my mom is visiting. Thirteen days until closing day!

A big update from us: we're moving! I'll share more details when the process is complete. But, we found a place in which we are really excited to start a new chapter of our family adventure. Our cottage has so many beautiful, dear, precious memories written into the walls and I've had so many ugly cries about our time here coming to an end. Our baby house. Truly bittersweet. It went on the market on Quinn's birthday so that added to the sentimentality. 

We had Quinn's birthday party at our house. And there was a showing 30 minutes after the party!! But our girlie had requested a pajama pancake party with her dearest friends so we couldn't cancel. She planned the menu which included whipped cream, berries, sprinkles, and bacon as toppings, vanilla milk to drink, and decorating pillow cases with markers and glow in the dark stars as the activity. It was a very sweet time. 

A lot of the kids at the party were neighbors and I just have to say we will miss our neighbors so much!! The husbands, wives, and children have been such a formative part of our development as parents and were such a gift from God. It's been nice in these final weeks that we've had lots of celebrations with them all. The moms went out for 7 hours (woohoo!) of girls night out time to celebrate a baby on the way. The kids and I also made a special trip for donuts with the expectant mom and soon-to-be big sister. There have been dessert nights, pizza nights, and many park dates. We also went to the pumpkin patch together for the fourth time in a row. (Photos at age two and this year)

Yes, those are their shoes beside them. First thing they did after choosing a table was take off their shoes. I guess one must be comfy to eat donuts? Quite a curious pair these two.

Our growth group has started up again for the year and it's shaping up to be another great group. The kids had their doctor check-ups and Quinn is 5 inches and 5 pounds bigger than Archer. She is about 20th percentile and he's about 80th. It will be interesting to see what their growth patterns are like in the future. 

Jonathan and I spent our date night in September writing an offer for a house and we had a nice date day last week going out to brunch, eating ice cream, and wandering home decor shops. I'm so grateful to get to live life with this inspiring, thoughtful man.

My baby girl is four! We had cinnamon rolls with our eggs for breakfast to start the day. Jonathan took the day off and we took a picnic lunch to a park. We had a playdate with Quinn's neighbor buddy. Quinn picked Burgerville for her birthday dinner and then we had cupcakes at the park for dessert. A pretty good day overall I'd say. She seemed pretty pumped about it.

She went to a Mary Poppins performance with my parents last weekend and gets to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet with Jonathan's parents in a couple weekends. 

Our darling Quinn is such a treat to be around. She has a very full vocabulary, a very joyful heart, and loads of passion. She purposely mismatches her socks so that she can wear the most colors/animals at one time possible. 

Her favorite song is "Shut Up and Dance With Me." I know, parenting fail. But it's just such a good dance song for our pre-dinner dance parties. While singing it the other day, a seven year old friend informed her that shut up is not a good thing to say. Oops. 

Instead of just an imaginary friend, she has an imaginary city. It's called Doshington, and with the frequency she talks about it, you'd think it's real. She tells even tells complete strangers about it. Her children, Malia and Morris, and her husband live there and she works as a nurse there. It's a three mile walk from New York City. When we flew to Niagara Falls, she looked out the airplane window and shouted, "There's Doshington!" 

She wants to be a nurse, pediatrician, and veterinarian when she grows up. She also talks a lot about Star Wars and Marcus Mariota. One of my favorite things she says regularly is, "Mom, I'm this tall today!" I have a huge document full of all the surprising things she says.

Quinn, we love you. We have been so blessed to have you as our daughter for these four years and we'll be thankful to God for every day we get going forward. You are a real treasure. 

The past few months have been quite eventful for Archer. He can climb anything. He's trying to say a lot more words - for a long time he was more of a grunt and point kinda guy. He's thrown some impressive tantrums. He got four molars and one tooth in one month. He earned the nickname Wild Card for his unpredictable, rascally ways. I think he grew an inch while we were in Niagara Falls because when we got back he was suddenly able to get enough leverage to turn door knobs and his pants are all too short. He does some sort of bear/lion/monster impression to chase us around the house. He's really good at tackling. We are just smitten with him!

Here he is in all his 18 month old glory!

Last week I went to Niagara Falls with the kids and my parents to visit my grandparents. I felt like a traveling circus the majority of the time because, you know, young kids on planes, in airports, in hotel rooms, in homes with lots of breakable antiques, etc. But all in all the kids did really well. Quinn could strike up a conversation with anyone or put on a song and dance performance. Archer showed off his sprinting skills and his new favorite word: poop. My grandparents have a really old, super bouncy bed that the kids loved bouncing and wrestling on and Raffi videos on youtube saved the day in the car on many occasions. My parents and I have a lot of very special memories from this trip that we can laugh about now. It was wonderful to see my grandparents interact with my kids, especially since Pa's health has been declining in recent years and Grandma June was just diagnosed with lung and brain cancer. They are in our prayers constantly.

The week before, Jonathan traveled for work to San Diego so I visited family in Eugene. Quinn got to say, "Play ball!" on the microphone to start the Eugene Ems game and get high fives from all the players in the dugout, which was pretty exciting for her. We also went camping with our church growth group which was such good fellowship. There were lots of fun wooded paths and places to explore. Archer, being the adventure seeker that he is, was bitten by a tick. Completely disgusting, but he's fine. 

Jonathan has been training big time for the Tough Mudder this weekend. He's been going on longer runs with friends and got to run along the beach in San Diego. I'm so glad he's healthy and strong and able to do stuff like that. 

Quinn started school today. Home school pre-kindergarten that is. I'm doing a daily learning notebook with her with some basic calendar, weather, time, and math elements. We'll also do Bible verses, some Montessori practical life activities, and follow her interest with reading and writing. She just wrapped up gymnastics and we'll be doing ballet and Bible study again and possibly swimming. She shared a Bible verse with me that sounds generally theologically sound except for the reference:
"Don't be afraid and don't be grumpy of your soul." John 23:5 - Matthew 2:13-4

It feels like summer is coming to a close. The mornings are cooler, I'm feeling ready for routine again, Quinn is working on birthday party invitations. We still have a few more adventures before we settle into an autumn rhythm.

We went camping with Jonathan's family a couple weekends ago. The junior ranger program was impressive with a bike safety parade in the morning and birds of prey show at night. The presenter asked if anyone had any questions after each bird was shown. Quinn raised her hand high in the air after the barn owl and I didn't try to coach her or find out what she was going to say, I was really curious. She was called on and asked in a loud, clear, confident voice, "what do owls eat?" After the great horned owl, she asked, "what is inside the owl's eye?" because their eyes are so yellow. So proud of my girlie!

 The kids were very helpful trying to build the fire and set up the tent. Totally safe.

Quinn is getting pretty quick on her bike and Archer is obsessed with bikes. His feet are able to reach the ground with the strider bike so we just ordered him a helmet. Look out world! 

I had the privilege of going on a silent retreat at the coast last weekend with some other women to celebrate a dear friend. From sunrise Saturday until 5pm we were all silent - reading, praying, journaling, etc. I found a cozy little spot to nest in some beach grass. I got completely lost in the book "Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus" which is so beautiful. This retreat was so refreshing!! I definitely need more periods of silence in my life. The rest of the time was full of socializing and encouragement. Bonus: I got to sleep in which has not happened in a very long time. 

Archer turned 17 months old yesterday. Jonathan and I adore this stage for him. He does so many hilarious things and just wanders around with his plump cheeks, big belly, and pudgy little legs. He tries to tackle us, hug us, dance, and makes so many strange noises. He loves being outdoors and seems very interested in basketball and climbing. He's a pretty fun little fellow.

A little update after a long break. Archer turned 16 months old last week. In the span of 24 hours he learned four new words: bubble, ball, truck, and bug. He also figured out how to get Quinn to dance with him and to play their favorite new game, Spin and Plop (they spin in circle with their yaps wide open saying "ahhh" and then fall down on purpose). Now that he's mastered walking (and practically running) he's back to trying out words apparently. For a while now, he has been drawn like a magnet if he sees someone playing basketball at the park. He'll hold a ball with both hands and do a dribbling motion. While visiting my parents, he spotted someone and started wandering over as though hypnotized. They were kind enough to share a ball with him and my Dad helped him practice.

He also had his first opportunity to shoot a bow at an archery event with Jonathan's parents. He seemed to enjoy it. I have never seen our children as filthy as they were after this event. We had a lot of fun.

Quinn is in her second session of gymnastics and loving it. She's still really into practicing writing, and is constantly singing songs she makes up. 

Some friends just moved back to the PNW from Texas and we had them over for dinner. It was wonderful to reconnect with them. I got out for a girls' night with a dear friend. Jonathan has two short notice work trips back-to-back so I spent one of the weeks in Eugene to see both families. While there, I was able to celebrate my birthday with my parents and sister's family which was a real treat. My sister and I had pedicures and treats and it was great to catch up. I also had a lot of quality time with my darling nephew. 

Last weekend we went to Jonathan's work picnic and my cousin's wedding reception. This weekend we've both managed to go for a run, hung out with our neighbors until quiet time and are about to hang out with our neighbors again in ten minutes. Tomorrow is the final Sundae Sunday of the summer. It's a pretty special time of life!

Today was the end of an era. Archer Man gave up nursing. Surprisingly, it all unfolded almost exactly the same way weaning went with Quinn. It came down to giving up the final morning one at just shy of 16 months and replacing it with a mug of cow's milk. I'm a little sad my nursing days are done, but most of all I'm so grateful to God that my body was able to feed two healthy babies for almost 32 months! Before I had children, I had no idea how everything would work out in this part of my mothering journey. What a gift!

Since I last wrote, we had the wonderful Littaus visit from the bay area. They just make us feel so loved and I'm so glad our kids can get to know them. 

We celebrated our ninth anniversary by walking to a favorite restaurant for a lovely meal. I love you hubs!!

The kids and I met up with some friends at a creek for some swimming and there were ducklings swimming there too.

We went to our friends' annual Fourth of July bbq. Quinn held about a dozen sparklers and Archer laughed at all the popping sounds from fireworks. 

We had another Sundae Sunday party with roasted strawberry and goat cheese ice cream.

We grew a strange conjoined twin zucchini.

We went camping with a couple neighbor families near Lincoln City. It was our first time in a yurt and it was pretty fun. Archer was mostly into practicing on the stairs, testing out bikes, and climbing into kayaks. Quinn spent most of her time playing ponies with the neighbor girls and picking flowers. 

Today we went to Oaks Park with the neighbors. Quinn went on a ton of rides and had so much fun! I was amazed how brave she was. Archer went on the hot air balloon, carousel, and train rides and seemed to like them.

We had a great time camping at Cape Lookout last weekend with some friends. The weather was perfect, the kids slept decently well, and they all played well together. We celebrated Father's Day there, went for a hike, played in the sand, and hung around the campfire.

There was also lots of smashing faces on mesh, sitting in camp chairs, drawing and pretending, and tackling sissy in her sleeping bag.

Also this week, Archer turned 15 months old! He's still 90th percentile for height and 70th for weight. He's getting pretty confident and quick with walking. He takes Mr. Fox with him all over the place. He still loves dancing and water and is starting to like kicking a ball and playing with cars. Something I hope I don't forget is after he is done eating (tons of) food at a meal, he'll do the sign for all done. If I say, "Are you all done?" he'll do what we call Super All Done and flap his arms like he's trying to fly away. He's got some rad surfer dude hair that's curly when he wakes up. I think I'll leave it long for the summer for the sun protection, but he's already had three mini-haircuts.  He's still just sweet and happy and we love him so much!

Two weekends ago we had our first Sundae Sunday party of the summer. We made a delicious vegan chocolate coconut ice cream with just cocoa powder, maple syrup, coconut milk, and arrowroot starch. The kids ran all over the backyard in the overgrown grass and picked cherries off the tree in the golden sunlight while the parents chatted. So nice.

We went to a splash pad, a pool, and spent many hours in the kiddie pool. I'm so glad both of my kids love the water. We also went to Cottonwood Beach on the Columbia River with neighbors and the kids loved it. We went strawberry picking with the neighbors too and Quinn did really well. All in the bucket, none in the mouth and she was very selective about which ones to pick. She spotted bird poop on a berry at the start, so I think that contributed to the caution. Our garden is past the strawberry and raspberry season and half way through blueberries. I think the berries have only actually made it into the house twice. My little harvesters pick some every single day. We've been enjoying many carrots from the garden as Quinn likes to pretend to be a bunny. We made it through our out-of-control spinach harvest and kale is almost done. 

We finished up a special version of the game Risk with the Johnsons. It took almost a whole year of playing, but there were many laughs, desserts, and surprise victories. 

Quinn started gymnastics this week and loved it. Huge grin the whole time. We, of course, had to get gymnastics books from the library and now everything in sight is something to climb or jump off. 

I think it's safe to say Archer is officially walking now. He's been taking a handful of steps in a row for a while, and will walk forever holding a hand, but still wasn't taking the risk to really walk. At library yesterday during the bubble time he started walking all over the room because he was so excited about bubbles it distracted him. Since then he's been walking all over the house and even walked on bark chips last night. Here we go! He's down to just nursing in the morning, so it seems he's getting close to leaving the baby stage behind. Today he was playing with the shoes (his favorite) and covered his face with dirt. As his own idea, he took a break and came across the room to give me a huge hug and kiss and then went back to playing. So even though he's growing up way too fast, I think he's still going to be a cuddly love. For a while anyway.

My Mom came for a nice visit and my Dad was up twice for continuing education. Quinn is still really into practicing writing and she worked with my Dad on creating Em's baseball tickets for each family member for at least an hour. She was so focused. I'm so glad my kids know my parents well. And with Father's Day ahead, we are extra grateful for lots of time with Boppa this week. You are an outstanding, impressive person, Dad! We are all so immensely blessed by you.

And speaking of great dads, Happy Father's Day Jonathan! Quinn decorated a card for him with a questionnaire inside (thanks, Martha Stewart) and I feel like her answers are so telling of how much she can tell Jonathan delights in her. We all feel delighted in by you, Jonathan!! You are a caring, thoughtful father and we are all better because of you.