We enjoyed a few more Christmas activities the past couple weeks. Quinn saw Pirate Santa at a waffle party we went to - a long, strange story - but she thought he was pretty cool. Jonathan's parents took Quinn to Storybook Land and she enjoyed all the treats and sights. Our neighbor girl planned a Frosty the Snowman party that was quite a hit. Quinn had her last music class. I think taking the sports class was good practice because she had no worries about joining in with this class. Some highlights were playing drums and testing out a trumpet, french horn, and flute. We went with some friends to visit Santa on Friday. Archer was not a fan.

Yesterday, Quinn and I joined the neighbor moms and kids for a performance of Mary Poppins. Quinn insisted on wearing her costume. She was completely mesmerized the whole two hours. She would mouth the words to the songs she knew and clap at all the right times. She would shout out characters' names when they first appeared on stage. It was pretty special. 

Jonathan got some man-time with Archer while we were out, which was nice. Archer Man will be nine months on Christmas Eve and it's boggling my mind. He's seeming a lot less baby-ish these days which is breaking my heart. I swear he's signed "more" a couple times during meals and I think he's really trying to communicate with us in other ways too. Today we've been cooking up gifts in the kitchen and putting final touches on presents. Jonathan has the whole week off and we are all looking forward to it.

It's been a full, blessed couple of weeks. We had a lovely Thanksgiving in Eugene. We've still been running a lot. It was such a gorgeous November! Quinn's been joining Jonathan for about 1/3 mile of his Saturday morning run - so precious! It was all her idea too.

Quinn helped me plan a cookie exchange party. I've hosted a few over the years for my friends to attend, but since Quinn is always throwing parties for her stuffed animals, I decided this year's should be a mother-child party. She picked half a dozen buddies and helped me make paper invitations, scrubbed my great great aunt's tea set, made bracelets for party favors, and helped bake the cookies. I had guests bring a dozen cookies to donate (our church hosts a foster care Christmas party that needs cookies) and a dozen to trade. The kids decorated the cookies Quinn and I made while the moms sipped hot drinks. It was a pleasant little event.

Quinn and Jonathan went to a father-daughter dance at our church. They had a blast and she came home with wide eyes and lots of singing and twirling. Such a formative occasion for these two.

We got our Christmas tree this past weekend. Jonathan and I can laugh about the experience now, but it wasn't our favorite in the moment for various reasons (love you, hubs!). The kids seemed to enjoy themselves though and it's so nice having our cute little tree set up. Both kids are enjoying playing with the nativity set and Quinn was eager to get the Jesse tree Advent routine going again and the Christmas decorations up.

Today, we played Trash the House. Quinn won.

This is the title I give to those wild days when we stay in pajamas a long time. When I don't suggest important life skills like putting things away before starting something new, we just go from make believe activity to baking to game to painting nails and leave chaos in our wake. The whole day blurs into a seven hour stretch of noise and imagination. 

This week has consisted of a lot of time away from our home and a lot of people in our home. When both kids woke up early and the clouds were drizzling, I knew it would be a Trash the House day. Quinn started the day grumbling and headed to nap time with a full love tank and heavy eyelids. 

I'm mostly recording this in the hopes that I will reread this some day in the future when I need to be reminded that God gave us this house to enjoy it, to use it, and to share it. This house serves us, we don't serve the house. The glory of a homemaker is to watch loved ones fully immersed in the home-y-ness of a home.

Mr. Bright Eyes Archer Man. This cheery guy has three teeth now! His bottom two just came in and his top right is working its way through. He's been a real trooper. He is full of da-da, ma-ma, dee-dee, ba-ba sounds these days and baby lion roars. He giggles constantly, even when he's alone. He has the most munchable cheeks and the softest, feathery fluff hair. He is still loving solid foods and seems disappointed if he notices something different on his plate than we are having. There have been a handful of times when I have given him a piece of fruit or vegetable because whatever we are eating would be tough for him to eat and he'll grunt and groan until I give him some of my food. Jonathan and I constantly find ourselves just watching him and then looking at eachother and chuckling because he's just so cute and goofy. 

A lot of fun memories the past couple weeks. The kids dressed up in Halloween costumes four times this year. It was starting to feel a little ridiculous, but they had fun. Quinn's top two choices for costumes this year were Mary Poppins or a midwife. It was close, but she ended up going for Mary Poppins. She really wanted Archer to be Bert with her and we just happened to have all the elements needed to throw together a chimney sweep outfit for him thanks to hand-me-downs. We went to our church harvest party, a pumpkin carving party, the library's dress up day, and trick or treating with our neighbor kids. Jonathan carved a perfect Mary Poppins pumpkin too, but we forgot to take a photo. Probably because our power was out for 30 hours. Fun times.

Archer got his first tooth and turned seven months old. He is such a lovable little guy and full of laughter and funny faces. I feel like he has really strong legs. I guess he has since the womb, really. We finally broke out the jumperoo because of his love for jumping and I think he might pound a hole through our floor. And beware of the splash zone when he is in any water, yikes. This dude is a little power house. But also so sweet and mild the vast majority of the time.

My parents took Quinn to Disney on Ice and that was quite a magical experience for her. There has been much skating around our living room with her Cinderella doll ever since. I took the kids to Salem to meet up with my sister and nephew. I'm so glad they live close!

Quinn and I went on a shoe shopping date courtesy of my grandpa's birthday gift card. It was love at first sight with these gold beauties.

Jonathan has been busting his hiney at work and around the house. He is an awesome husband and great with our kids and we seriously would not function at all if it weren't for him. He also bench pressed 205 the other day. What a man!

I also need to brag about my girlie. She had been talking about wanting to learn sports for a while so I had my parents sign her up for a sports class at the community center for a birthday gift. First thing, the morning of her class, she wanted to get into her sports clothes and was asking when class was every five minutes. She was wearing every single color of the rainbow even down to her socks. Seriously, she mentioned it in the car ride there. You would think based on appearances that she was going to be running the class.

But when we arrived, she suddenly became extremely overwhelmed and refused to leave the bench. It was soccer, which she was most excited about too. If there was any suggestion that she leave my side, she would wimper and cling on to me. I definitely questioned whether this class was a good idea. But I remembered that even when she was a little baby she had this tendency to want to observe at my side for 20-30 minutes before being held by someone else or exploring near other kids. So, the next week, I dragged her to the class again. It was rock climbing day and she insisted that I stand right next to her while she watched the other kids at the wall the whole time. She actually touched the rock wall for a total of about three minutes which I felt like was a small victory. Week three was basketball. She plopped on the bench immediately and when I or the coach would ask her to try for the first couple minutes, her response was, "Not yet, not yet." I got the idea to play up on her recent interest in echos and told her that bouncing a basketball in a gym was really fun because it made a loud echo. I plopped a basketball in her lap and told her to try. She dropped the ball and it made a loud sound and she smiled. I smiled back and told her to go get her ball, she hopped down, and joined in the class. Such a huge relief! I had misty eyes watching her try to dribble and shoot. Her physique isn't the typical basketball build, but she was so cute! 

After class, there was a froyo reward and proud smiles. The following classes were lacrosse and tee-ball and she joined the other kids immediately. It was so moving watching my baby girl overcome her fears.

Quinn keeps sitting behind Archer to "watch over him" and I had to snag this photo the other day.
She told me, "Archer is my best friend and I'm his best friend and I'm singing because I'm happy about it."