Mr. Eleven Month Old is all over the place now. He's pulling up on things which is freaking me out because he is on the verge of bonking his iron noggin constantly. I'm trying to let him learn through experience though and he's a pretty quick study. Lord, help me! He also likes climbing into cupboards and the other day climbed a couple steps on a play structure and sent himself head first down a slide (with me ready to catch of course). He probably would have repeated this until the sun set if we didn't have to go home for lunch. He crawls behind our floor length curtains and pops out when we say peek-a-boo. He also likes putting things on his head, especially books. If you ask him, "where's your book hat?" he'll do this.

Jonathan started celebrating his birthday by going for a long run with some friends over the weekend. It ended up being very complicated and memorable, and a long story. But as he starts this next year of life, he's thankful to have good friends and be healthy. We went to the Kennedy School soaking pool Saturday with some friends and after we got in they started a wait list. The pool was packed! Who would have thought an outdoor pool would be maximum capacity in February? Sunday we brought dinner to some friends that just had a baby. They shared their amazing story of God's healing their sweet little guy. Praise the Lord! 

We celebrated Jonathan's birthday on Tuesday with dinner at our favorite restaurant and homemade cake. All in all, it was a pretty busy week with social stuff and some deadlines for Jonathan's work. We're ready for a laidback weekend with both sets of grandparents stopping by.

Today was a mixture of messy, comical, sweet, and exhausting with a sprinkle of embarrassing. A little bit memorable, but also very typical. Just another day in the life, but I know life will change so much so I want to be able to look back at this and laugh.

The alarm went off at 6am. I'm trying to get in the habit of doing some stretches before I even get out of bed. After those, I dragged myself to the kitchen to start making some waffles and eggs. Jonathan and I had a lovely chat while I nursed Archer. Thirty minutes later Quinn was awake. I had my second breakfast with the kids, which included a dance party intermission. Some playing and reading, Archer tucked in for nap, get dressed, have a third breakfast (I'm really hungry the first half of the day) while finishing up my grocery list and helping Quinn sort her animal figures by what environment they live in. Oh, and get some laundry started.

Archer wakes up and we head to the grocery store by 10:30. Last week he was wanting out of the Ergo and into the cart which Quinn loves because that means she gets to walk around and be my helper. When we arrived at the grocery store, it became very clear to me that Archer had a major diaper blow out. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal because I keep spare clothes for both kids in the car. But, Archer also had a major blow out on the way to Bible study yesterday and I forgot to put new clothes in the car. So, he is now wearing his down coat with no shirt and a pair of Quinn-sized bright pink pants sitting in the cart instead of hidden inside the Ergo. I should mention that we are recognized at this grocery store. The employees in the meat department start slicing 12 slices of pepperoni when they see me walking up because I get that every week for pizza night. The cashiers ask which character Quinn is pretending to be each time we come in. I make a little joke to each clerk that recognizes us and makes a curious expression at Archer's pants. But to take the awkwardness up a notch, Quinn declares to various strangers, "Archer is ten months!" After sharing that with a few people, she adds a bonus feature. Her first target is an unsuspecting businessman who says, "Wow." in response to the Archer statement. She then asks him, "Can you do this?" and does a ballet jump. The man says he doesn't think he can and she insists that he try. After he tries, Quinn says, "No, like this!" and does it again. The poor guy tries a couple more times before I tell Quinn that it's a new move for him so he will make sure to practice. She lets him off the hook and I give him an apologetic smile. She does this same routine on two more random people before I distract her with a cupcake sample and get us to the register to pay. The drive home consists of her asking me "why" about a million things, what happened to the cashier's finger and what color was her band-aid (I didn't know I was supposed to pay attention to that), and requesting detailed information about Queen Elizabeth. Archer is saying, "Ba ba ba" and practicing clapping.

When we get home, I hold Archer on my hip and feed him spoonfuls of lunch while I put groceries away. We all sit down for some lunch and then play Boaz, Ruth, and Obed with the markers as wheat and the Go Fish cards as fish. Archer is tucked in for nap after many kisses (he's been giving out kisses like crazy the past couple weeks) and Quinn and I do some watercolor painting. I start a second load of laundry and do some dinner prep while Quinn has quiet time. Then I set her loose and then Archer wakes up and we play and wait for Jonathan to get home. I go for a run while the frittata is in the oven. We scramble to all get cleaned up and the kids to bed. Tonight I washed Archer, Shinobi (unfortunate failed potty attempt while I'm washing Archer), Quinn, and myself in a fifteen minute span. Then Jonathan and I crash. The days just zoom by.

We had a nice holiday weekend. We took the kids to the pool for Valentine's and had a special dinner and dessert. We filled the days with lots of walks and played at the park with the neighbors every day. We also did some yard work in the beautiful weather and Jonathan built me another raised bed. I'm getting excited for gardening again. I planted some spinach seeds in September and kind of forgot, but now it's ready to eat! Good old sun and rain.

Archer was dedicated at church at the start of the month. He giggled when we got up on the stage and he saw everyone looking at him. And he didn't fuss when he was handed over to the pastor, phew! Archer, we pray every day that God will make His love clear to you in your heart and mind and that you will choose to follow, serve, and love Him. That is our greatest hope for you above anything else. 

My parents were able to come up and we went to our favorite restaurant for brunch. It was a nice weekend overall.

This past weekend, we headed to Eugene for a visit. We spent some good time with Jonathan's family Saturday. We had an indoor picnic and Quinn got to live out her Robin Hood dreams with some help from her Grandpa.

We spent Sunday with my family. Activities included lots of loud piano playing and the usual making of a huge mess.

A neighbor family hosted a zebra-themed Valentine's Day party for the kids today that was a blast. Our neighbor and her daughter are quite the creative hostesses.  Quinn's been working on Valentine's cards for days. We had a date night last week and will probably do something as a family this weekend. And Jonathan has Monday off, hooray!

Time for a Quinn update! This girl is cracking me up nonstop. She is constantly pretending, narrating, singing, dancing, all day, everyday. Current make believe scenarios on repeat are Mary Poppins, Jesus and Jairus' daughter, Boaz and Ruth, Winnie the Pooh, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, Moses and the Red Sea, Zero the Hero, swim class, cooking, camping, and ballet performances. She's not a fan of stopping any of this for photos these days, but luckily I snag some videos of the mayhem.

We are still doing twice a week preschool sessions during Archer's morning nap and she loves it. We do a calendar time, letter of the week, Bible story, and some sandpaper letter practice. I got some Bob Books from the library for her to practice some early reading and it seems like she is starting to understand the basics of how reading works. She is also starting to understand some basic addition with her fingers. We use a Voice of the Martyrs prayer calendar for her preschool calendar and she wants to pray for and talk about the people on there all the time. This is not the best picture, but she built (from right to left) Bethlehem (two buildings), Jerusalem, a stable, Pharaoh's palace and a pyramid in Egypt, and the Red Sea with people walking in it out of blocks.

We just gave up on nap with her and I'm so glad! It's so nice, I wish we'd done it sooner! Most days she would not fall asleep until right before nap was over and then it was impossible to wake her up. She'd be grouchy and groggy through dinner time and then have a hard time falling asleep at night. Not a good set-up at all. I still have her do a quiet time during Archer's afternoon nap for my sanity, and she does pretty well with it. I let her have music on and we reserve her library books for that time or she'll play Legos or something that's tough to play with Archer awake. She goes to sleep at night right away now and sleeps later in the morning so I get more one-on-one time with Archer in the morning. 

She's in swim lessons once a week and loving it. She joined right in from the start (a big deal!) and has improved with every class. She loves her teacher and talks about her class and "teammates" all the time. She really hates goodbyes and if she knows one is coming, she'll try to hide and not acknowledge the person she needs to say goodbye to as if that will make it not happen. She does this with playdates, guests, all sorts of things. I could tell she really liked her class because she wouldn't high five her coach at the end and got really sad. We talked through the issue, but I was amazed she liked the class so much. She starts ballet in February so we'll see if that's as beloved.

She chooses all her own clothes now. She still prefers hair free flowing and nothing on her feet. She has some chores like putting away silverware, feeding the dog, putting away some laundry, but we definitely need to ramp that up. She is still very into maps and declared part of our yard is the Hundred Acre Wood. 

Quinn, you are a sweet, clever, endearing, busy honey bee and we love you so!

Archer is all over the place now. The speediest caterpillar I've ever seen. If he hears water running anywhere in the house he switches to turbo speed to get there because he loves baths, showers, and splashing in water so much. He is also drawn to doors and curtains. I think it might be because his small effort can cause such a big effect on those items, he'll spend a long time swinging them open and shut. A couple days after he began this army crawling business, he started clapping too. It seems like he's been trying to say "Amen" after we pray for meals which is sweet. Sometimes when Quinn isn't in the same room as him he'll say, "Nin nin" and go looking for her, I'm suspecting that means Quinn. And he may be picking up, "no" which sounds more like "nah", from his sister...hmmm. He's a big fan of lift the flap books and likes it when I stand him up by the bookshelf so he can choose books to read. Our favorite time of day with him is in the early morning. Jonathan eats some breakfast while I nurse Archer. Archer is always extra chatty and giggly at that time and he's all cozy in his jammies. He likes trying to sip Jonathan's coffee mug and peeks out the window when Jonathan heads to the bus stop. He's still an enthusiastic eater and likes many flavors. He's starting to master drinking from a regular cup as long as I hold it.

Archer went to his first concert at a birthday party last weekend. We took him to swim at the pool and he still loves it. He also went to the children's museum for the first time when we went with some friends. I can't believe he'll be ten months tomorrow!

I've been walking with the kids and Shinobi to meet Jonathan on his walk home from the bus stop now that the sun isn't setting so early. Jonathan has been working hard to build us a shoe bench for our front door area. It just needs another coat of paint and I think it's ready - I'm so excited! I went to a friend's baby shower and we met with the fabulous Hvass family in Salem. We also watched the Duck game with some friends last week. We've been keeping busy with our home group and women's Bible study too. It's a pretty sweet season of life.