My sweet Quinn darling is two and three quarters of a year old today. She is very imaginative and whimsical. She loves making up stories and songs and playing pretend. When I took her to the dentist the other day, she told the secretary that Archer's name was John because she was Wendy from Peter Pan that day. She brought her baby doll to the grocery store yesterday and told the cashier that she was Mary and her doll was baby Jesus. She frequently has a crown or flowers and accessorizes guests in her bracelets. Each day when asked what she wants to wear, she chooses a dress. She likes to make everything "mix and match" especially pajamas, nail polish, and marker caps. She is very into drawing and can actually draw fruits and vegetables that look like what she says they are. Her current favorite game is princess neighborhood which involves building homes for the princess paper dolls I drew. And the neighborhood has a playground too. She could play blocks independently for hours. In the second photo below, she declared herself Sleeping Beauty Bride Radish. The bottom photo is her learning about grilling. She loves hanging out there while Jonathan grills.

We love you Quinn girl!

Today is Jonathan and my eighth anniversary. Eight years! And what an exciting journey it's been. I love adventuring, laughing, walking, learning, changing and parenting with him. He serves me, and the kids, so very well. Here's to many more shared smiles, my love (photo credit: Quinn Lily Gowins).

We just got back from our second annual Cape Lookout camping trip with friends. Two nights in a tent with our newly potty trained toddler and our infant with a rainy weather forecast. Who does that? There is no one else I could or would ever sign up for that with. But nothing is impossible with Jonathan by my side. 

In all fairness, Quinn has been doing amazing with the potty business and Archer seemed to love being outdoors nonstop. I loved smelling campfire on his soft, fuzzy head. It did rain, but we made a little shanty town out of tarps so there was a large sheltered area to hang out under. The camping trip was a blast and we are already pumped to plan next year's trip. But, still, there were a lot of unknowns so that makes a little bit edgy, right?

My baby is 3 months old! Oh, Archer, please slow down. 

This guy loves standing, splashing in the bath, eating, and being rolled around like a log. He started sleeping from 8pm to 6:30ish am last week. He went on his first stroller ride last week and loves it. He loves the Ergo too, but a pre-bed walk to the park in a stroller seems to be quite fun to him. He thinks his daddy is so funny and singing I've Got the Joy in My Heart song or My God Is So Big song to him while using his arms to do the motions almost always gets a laugh.

We love you Archer!

[Big sigh of relief] We've actually finally really made it through our Spring to-do list now. We are so tired. We have spent a lot of time working outside (especially Jonathan) the last couple weeks, but we also squeezed in some fun. My mom came for a visit and Jonathan's parents came for a visit. We got to meet the Wrights' sweet baby girl. We hosted cake club with the fabulous Changs. And had some fun park trips with friends. We turned a corner with potty training progress at the end of last week and it was really encouraging. The Lord has sustained us. I'll spare the details, but Quinn has such a good attitude, bless her heart.

Mr. Archer is sleeping an eight hour stretch, is drooling a ton, started laughing, and was trying to do planks during tummy time. Look out world.

This girlie continues to be a bookworm, love it!

The past week and a half has been crazy. We started potty training Quinn on Memorial Day weekend...and that's all I'm going to say about that at this time.

Jonathan finished our fence that weekend and we've done a ton of yard work lately. Archer turned two months old (my baby is growing up too fast!) and we went to a neighborhood BBQ on Memorial Day.

We spent a ton of time outdoors last week and went to some parks for play dates. This weekend Quinn had her first smore. Some friends of ours just put in a new fire pit so we went to test it out Saturday night, so fun! Their property is amazing for kids to run wild on.

We had our first Sundae Sunday party of the summer. It was a good turnout and the homemade flavor of the month was a simple chocolate.

A highlight of last week is that Quinn and Archer are starting to really interact. He loves watching her and smiling at her and she likes helping him play and talking to him. It completely melts my heart seeing these two begin their friendship.