Christmas was very memorable this year. Outside of the added stress of moving during Christmastime, it was pretty nice. Nothing like stockings and a Christmas tree to make a place feel like home. From the day we moved in, Quinn kept asking about a Christmas tree. Knowing we wouldn't be able to easily make it to a Christmas tree farm this year, we picked one up at Home Depot while we were getting other project necessities. It was actually a decent tree too. We did our Jesse Tree activities again this year. I took Quinn to Grand Central for our annual gingerbread girl cookies and we went to the church Christmas musical. Quinn went to an indoor Christmas doll display with Jonathan's parents. Quinn requested to celebrate St. Luica day so she delivered cinnamon rolls to us all. Jonathan traveled for work, but we made it fun with an old neighborhood friend coming over to decorate gingerbread houses, Charlie Brown Christmas with popcorn,baking cookies for new neighbors, and painting our nails festive colors. We had a growth group Christmas party and went to Reagan's hot cocoa and cookie decorating birthday party. Archer sneakily ate his weight in frosting. 

Christmas Eve we went to our church service and had some cookie and storytime by the fire in new Christmas jammies. There was some last minute sewing after the kids went to bed because I made the kids bean bag chairs this year. I made the decision and bought the supplies before we decided to move - oops! 

Christmas morning, Quinn woke us up for some snuggles. Then Archer woke up and the present opening began. I was really excited to give Jonathan the surprise painting of our old house by Lindsay Gilmore. It turned out so beautifully sentimental and he loves it. 

I was also really excited to give Quinn my old Samantha doll. She was equally excited. 

Archer got a special lion stuffed animal that has received many kisses and hugs. He also got a tool set that he is obsessed with.

Jonathan got me the perfect mug. It has the phrase "I pledge to lead by example, to be true and brave." on it. I saw it on a soap dish and loved it, but I don't need an expensive soap dish. Luckily, my genius husband printed it on a mug for me to see each morning. 

There were many other fun treats from our generous relatives. Seriously, so generous. This was the year of Star Wars and Doc Mcstuffins for Quinn. The kids have also been enjoying their new musical instruments and Archer is often busy with his trains and key toys.

We went to Jonathan's parents' house after breakfast on Christmas for some celebrating. We went to my parents' that night for more celebrating the next morning. It was nice to take a break from house projects and hang out with family. We went to the new Star Wars movie which was a lot of fun. After we returned to Portland, my sister's family came up and we took the kids to the zoo. Jonathan had the rest of the week off so we just tried to keep a slow pace and enjoy some time as a family.

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!