Today marks two months of homeschooling and one month of Quinn being five. Both have exceeded my expectations and been a lot of fun. 

Our homeschool routine is broken into two parts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I initially had an agenda planned out for tidying up, eating breakfast, starting school early, etc. but the reality is that my two cuties wake up wanting to play for an hour before doing anything and they play so very well together first thing in the morning that I feel like it's vital to just give them this time. So, we get our "morning meeting" done before noon, so it's technically still morning. But I've relaxed the schedule. The morning meeting consists of prayer, Bible story, calendar/weather discussion, and Math lesson. Probably the most meaningful part of our day is the prayer time. We are praying with the Voice of the Martyrs prayer calendar with the map right behind us so we talk about the country and what hardships the people there might experience. Quinn also asks what words like discipleship, persecution, and church plant mean from the prayers listed. Pretty deep stuff and so satisfying to my soul to discuss this with her. For the calendar, I whipped up some laminated weather cards, a thermometer card, and a person to draw weather-appropriate clothes for each day and we're working our way through the Saxon Math Kindergarten curriculum. So far, it's honestly a bit too easy, but Archer is enjoying learning the days of the week. He joins us for morning meeting with a little white board and pen and seems to enjoy it. We do a Math lesson from Saxon too that Archer joins. The lessons have also been too easy for Quinn, but luckily I can find ways to extend and deepen the concepts. Quinn is really into graphs and fractions so I usually go that route or make a story problem. I also have Archer do a small letter of the week activity and he's remembering lots of letters.

The second part of the day happens five days a week. During Archer's nap, Quinn and I work on language arts. She just finished "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" on October 18 and her reading is progressing rapidly. When we wrapped up that book, we started "Cursive First" which will lead into "Spell to Write and Read". We spend about 15 minutes on this, then I have her read a book to me, and then 15-30 on a fun read-aloud together all cozied up. We are about to start the last book in the Little House series. 

One day a week, we are at Bible study all morning. The kids really like their classmates and are learning a lot. Another day each week we are part of a homeschool group that has been such a rich time for all of us. Both kids are singing history sentences, Latin, skip counting, and all sorts of surprising facts. 

We also make sure to fit in playdates, ballet and swimming (just graduated up another level last week), art projects, and outdoor time. 

For Quinn's fifth birthday, we had a laid back "drop-off" party. Six little five year old buddies came over to play Lego games, make Lego art, and eat a Lego cake. It was very sweet. We also had a nice family breakfast and special dinner that day. Quinn is such a bright, bubbly, capable, glittery little lady. It's been a joy to watch her discover reading and to see her excitement for learning. She is still on the petite side at 40 inches and 36 pounds and I just love her tiny, delicate hands. She has a heart for truth and goodness and so much love in her heart. We couldn't be prouder of our girlie!

We just finished our biggest project so far - the hall bathroom. It was quite a learning experience, but also very satisfying. I finally had some time to make a list of all we've completed since December.

Exterior
- changed trim from butterscotch to cream
- painted front door red
- customized some house numbers to replace old ones
- replaced entry way exterior light with more welcoming one
- pulled out tons of dead or overgrown plants, mountains of bricks and pavers, a broken water feature, a concrete crocodile and sold a broken hot tub
- replaced above items with Archer's birthday apple tree, three blueberry bushes, a raspberry bush, five strawberry plants, Quinn's wildflower garden, Quinn's birthday maple tree, my great-grandmother's hostas, Jonathan's grandmother's calla lilies, pale pink peonies from our old house, and some other little plants
- took apart 20+ year old deck and put it back together to fill in the hole where the hot tub was
- re-purposed stones from water feature into a little area for our fire pit
- repaired gutters
- de-thatched and reseeded front and back lawns
- had a tree removed and some trees pruned

Family Room
- added giant bookshelf, armoire for tv storage, large couch with hidden bed, and a matching chair
- painted fireplace brass details black

Kids Rooms
- added full closet organization system
- added curtains and art

Kitchen/Dining
- bought 1960's chandelier on Craigslist for $25 and cleaned it up, painted it, and hung it over dining table to replace one (of three) ceiling fans
- fixed refrigerator
- replaced dishwasher
- replaced kitchen faucet
- removed two sets of cabinets for more open feel and natural light
- added curtains

Sitting Room/Office
- replaced ceiling fans with drum lights
- hung a giant map on the wall and built a frame for it
- added curtains and a loveseat to sitting room
- added a used school table and school chairs, some storage, and a magnetic whiteboard easel with calendar to office
- created a chicken wire bulletin board

Mudroom
- removed old pantry cupboard
- added some cleaning supply storage and a coat rack/shelf

Garage
- took some old things down and built a new large work bench with storage on lockable wheels

Hall Bathroom
- removed everything from walls - wallpaper, shelves, lights, mirror, towel racks, base molding, 
- re-textured and painted walls
- added new vanity, toilet, mirror, molding and lights, made a towel rack, scrubbed the floor for hours, recaulked some spaces 
- all we have left is some built-in shelving to build

Master bedroom/bathroom
- added curtains and art

Throughout house
- spray painted multiple light fixtures white and replaced most outlets and light switches with clean white ones

These pictures are from Christmastime after we had made some big changes to the family room. Compare them to the listing photos from the last post.

This next photo was taken yesterday of our sitting room/office. Not the same angle, but it can be compared to the second to last photo from the last post.

And now, for some bathroom before and afters!

It has been so fun to work on all of these projects with Jonathan! Quinn has contributed her wonderful color opinions and Archer has actually helped quite a bit. He makes sure to have the same tool as Jonathan at all times. "I go get mine hammer just like mine daddy!"

Time to share the story behind our move before I forget the details.

Starting last February, we began the process of researching an addition to our old house. We were just feeling a little cramped when we'd have guests over and our master bedroom (that was originally a den) was bigger than we needed. We were wanting to add on a master bedroom and turn our room back into a den. Well, it took until September to get a real idea from contractors what would be involved and how much it would cost and we decided it would not be worth it to us. We were so sad because we had naively dreamed that our first house would be our only house.

We had been discussing priorities during the summer while we were wondering if we would be needing to move. We contacted our realtors and let them know that we would be casually looking with the goal of buying and selling in a year or two. The next day we visited three houses on a whim after church. The first one had very dreary pictures and was for sale by owner. I convinced Jonathan to check it out because one of the rooms had a large exposed beam in the vaulted ceiling and it was two doors down from a 6 acre forest park. Well, the owner was home and ushered us in with fresh made cupcakes. She told us that she had been praying for the right family to find her house and that it had been a house of love and she hoped it would stay that way. We contacted our realtors again with the update, made an offer and hurriedly put our house on the market. 

Our house went live online Thursday on Quinn's birthday and we instantly got calls to see it. Fortunately, we were going out for dinner and then ate her birthday cupcakes at the park. Friday, people were coming and going all day so we just hid at parks and coffee shops. On Saturday, we hosted her birthday party in the morning and there were showings the rest of the day. Sunday was an open house. We got a good offer after a week of craziness and were so thankful to God. 

A notable memory from the house-selling experience involved me not being warned that the inspection was going to happen. Fortunately, I was leaving with the kids for three hours for Bible study. Unfortunately, the kitchen was covered in dirty dishes, a jar of beans soaking and fermenting kombucha on the counter, and Quinn had just spilled a whole bottle of bubbles on the carpet and I pointed a fan at it before leaving. Awesome. At least they knew I wasn't hiding anything. Then we came back before the inspection was done and Quinn was being so sweet to the buyer's baby. And then she told her that Archer was born in our house. Yes, I'm serious.

October and November were so challenging, waiting and planning, timelines changing, packing with two little ones. We got our keys at the start of December and our first treat to ourselves was to have every inch of the house (except the kitchen and bathrooms, because we have plans for those down the road) professionally painted. The painters filled in a lot of holes and almost everything is SW Alabaster now. Here are some of the listing photos before we moved in:

Next time I can find a free moment, I will write about all the projects we have completed. There have been many changes.

Another month of fun! 
- Date nights
- friends over for meals and playing
- Nancy's birthday party
- brunch and good discussions with some friends we haven't seen in a very long time
- meetings for my new role as treasurer of our neighborhood citizens involvement group (such a random story)
- a wonderful and much needed five day trip to San Juan Island with Jonathan to celebrate our upcoming TENTH anniversary. Sea kayaking, hiking, running, reading, eating, massages, perfect! My parents wore the kids out every day with baseball, volleyball, bike riding, ice skating, basketball, and all sort of other craziness.
- lots of time outside enjoying the sun. 

Today was a very significant day for Quinn. Five weeks ago, she wanted to quit swimming. She didn't like getting water in her nose and would cry leading up to class and be full of dread. We tried our best to encourage her and we had her practice all that she was learning in the bath tub over and over. Her skills improved and her confidence grew. Today was her last class of the session and she graduated from level 1 and was bumped up to level 3!! Her hard work and courage paid off and she was so excited about it. It was truly amazing to watch her conquer a fear and improve in such a short amount of time.

Another two month update. I need to get back into my blogging groove. I guess I'm a little busy...

Some highlights of the past months:
- gymnastics, ballet, and swimming lessons
- continued Bible study and growth group
- getting involved in our neighborhood and city through neighborhood meetings and attending events
- attending park playdates for the homeschool community we'll be joining in the fall
- sharing meals with different families from growth group and church
- hosted an Easter egg hunt for five families in the little forest by our house with over 100 eggs
- date nights
- playdates with past neighbors
- spent time with the Changs visiting from Amsterdam
- Jonathan went to the church men's retreat
- I went to the coast with my mom and sister, so nice!!
- there's a robin's nest outside our family room window that we've been spying on, there are five chicks and they are getting so big! We are hoping we'll get to see the flying lessons.
- the kids are obsessed with Legos, rocks, and squirrels lately. Quinn requested a way to keep track of all the squirrels in our yard so I made her a Squirrel Journal. Naturally Archer wanted one too and they've been recording their discoveries.
- lots of time outside, the kids wear super hero capes to meet Jonathan when he gets off the bus
- we sold our broken hot tub, reconfigured the 20+ year old deck boards to fill the hole it left behind, got a new picnic table, planted strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, hauled tons of bricks, pavers, and other weird stuff out of our yard, built a little fire pit patio, and reseeded and planted grass. Our backyard is really close to being just how we want it.
- Jonathan and Dennis pulled down some unnecessary cabinets in our kitchen and there is so much beautiful natural light now! I'm so overdue for a house project post with before and afters, but I will definitely be doing that soon.
- last night Quinn and I went to our church mother daughter pajama party

A "lowlight" of the past month happened during a work trip for Jonathan. I went to Eugene with the kids for a short visit and a haircut. While we were at a trampoline gym, Archer stepped down wrong and hurt his ankle. After an xray he was put in the tiniest walking boot for a fractured fibula and I extended my stay for some extra help. He was such a tough little dude through it all. When we got home he had some follow up appointments. There was concern that a growth plate was involved. Well, it turns out it was just the most xrayed sprained ankle in history. Goodness. We are just glad he's ok. 

We are in such a sweet season of life right now. Both kids make us laugh so much and they are playing so well together. We are healthy and thankful.

 Smores made with a stroopwafel from the Netherlands, thanks Amber!