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