Left Behind and Loved; Pics and Hikes

 Penelope just got all ready to head off with her brothers.

She got her two backpacks, stuffed them full of precious things, put on her shoes and sandals by herself...only to find they had already left!

They were doing their short runs to "neighbor's" mailboxes, and it really says something for where we live when you use your closest neighbors as decent distance markers for a run ;).  Love it!  But sadly for Penelope, that meant they were well beyond her ability to follow.

And apparently she thought they were going to the church, "to watch movies!!" she wailed in despair.

Now she is contentedly sitting up to the island counter top with applesauce, chocolate almond milk, rice porridge and vanilla Greek yogurt, all her recent favorites.

So cute.

Liesl and Drew are having "mom loves you so much!" contests while they put together one of the "Kiwi Co" boxes we're getting right now thanks to a generous State grant. (Thank you, tax payers!)  I love having Drew back and healthy.

My buddies helping get our monthly animal food supplies...

Last week we went on a fun hike, finding a trail head that started in the middle of town, right behind the Aldi that we frequent.

Here are some pics!  We caught the bluebells while they were in bloom, too.  Huzzah!

Lonely room

I've gotta say, I'm super sad that my little girls aren't sleeping near me anymore.  

Not to have Liesl wake me up with her fears.

Her quiet whisper, "Mommy, can you fix my blankets?"  Her love of snuggling.

I already miss having Penelope's soft breathing and little baby smell near me...the way she would burrow her soft hair into my face as she stirred in her sleep, seeking comfort.

We had been talking about gradually doing this for a while. I think Quinn was ready!  The impetus was that we were going to use the benches that propped Penelope's bed up in our play... but now we aren't really using them.  So....maybe I'll be bringing her back into the room?

It's funny.  We never really had our children sleep in our room until now.  I just like all the warm bodies jumbled all over me...althougb sometimes it does make for less sleep.

They're sweet.

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Side note on the little girls: they've found some great friends in the Wilson family's youngest two daughters!

Here are some sweet pictures of Sweet Pea's first playdate.  When my friend asked if she wanted to go home, she said, "No."  When my friend asked her if she wanted to see Mommy, she was amenable, lol.

We had our first dress rehearsal today and it was such a blessing to have Penelope so happy! My friends also helped us transport much of the materials over,...what a blessing!

Fun with Words and Washing and W-singing! (Warbling!)

 Liesl uses great words: “There is just a smakeral of pee on my panties!”

Penelope loves to be clean, apparently. She regularly smears hand soap onto her hair (what little she hasn’t cut off) and leaves it there.  Fun!

Yesterday we hosted a Christmas Carol fun night! We did "name that tune" to involve everyone and even had a "championship" bracket set up! Mark won, with Liesl taking a solid second place. We had Brelder over for dinner and then Mark and the missionaries joined us for the musical round. We all had naps and awoke around 5, whipped together a delicious butter chicken, rice and veggies dinner with white chocolate-covered pretzels and fresh cinnamon rolls for dessert. We were a great team, even getting the house a little cleaned in the process! I just love my family.