This little imp is potty trained! That includes both numbers, and also using the potty at the library and the park. And I have now potty trained five children and am expecting my trophy to arrive in the mail any day. Time to partay!  

Our sweet Emmeline turned 2 in July! This girl brings energy and fun into our family. She loves berries and noodles and baby dolls and being outside. She gets away with way more than we'd care to admit. For example, instead of sitting in her own chair at supper time these days, she insists on sharing Leah's chair. And we just all go with it. Also she loves to sneak into bathrooms and cover her head in shampoo and conditioner when no one's looking. And because of her we use so. much. hand soap. Ahh the joys of being the youngest.  We love to watch Emmie learn and grow. Just this week she learned to pedal her trike and do somersaults. She really loves jumping on the tramp and swinging. Also swimming and baths. She likes to pick cherry tomatoes from the garden and watch for hummingbirds at our feeder. And she is a reader. She loves books and the library. She also loves to sing and be sung to. Happy birthday, sweet Emmie! Snuggled in Mom and Dad's bed with "Baby Jane....

We are living during a pretty remarkable time in history. The global coronavirus pandemic has affected every part of our day-to-day business. School, work, church, stores, travel, regular socialization; the list goes on. There have even been months-long food and supply shortages (tp, flour, hand sanitizer, dish soap, I'm looking at you). It hasn't been the most serene time for our family either. We've had multiple earthquakes, which was really bizarre. But they've left enough of an impression that whenever Nate gets up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I wake up a little panicked when he returns to the bed and tosses and turns to get comfortable, thinking that we're having another one.  A couple weeks ago a huge water pipe burst on our street and blew a hole in the asphalt and shot up in a 30 foot geyser until they got it shut off. We were without water all day long and were sure grateful that we'd stored a little in our basement! Also o...

 Here's just a smattering of what we've been up to since the entire world has shut down. As the photos show, Emmie and I spend lots of time together. I think overall, we're loving all being home together. We're still adjusting and trying to work out a schedule, but life is good. We have Grandma in town and may never send her home! Also, we had an earthquake yesterday morning. At 5.7 on the Richter scale, it woke me up from my early-morning dozing and sent Nate running out of his office, our closet. Everyone else slept through it! It felt like sitting on a pot of boiling water. Kind of wavy instead of just shaky. Pretty wild. There were several aftershocks through the rest of the morning and early afternoon. Overall, we're grateful to be alive, we're grateful to know who and whose we are, and we're grateful to have each other!   Schools are closed! This girl loves veggie soup! Addison, Asa, and Dayson flying a kite on a super wi...