Whirlwind Hardie Adventure

Since early Tuesday morning, we've gotten to watch the sweet Hardie girls while the lovely Joe and Whitney went house hunting across the country. I'm happy to say they had quick success at finding a beautiful house in a great neighborhood, and even had some time to relax.  We're so excited for the Hardies!

For the past few days, the kids and I have been busy partying. We fed this nice horse who lives by our house.  The kids were a little apprehensive when his mouth actually went for the carrots and apples, but we loved it all the same. 

Thanks to a funny package from my mom, we had a ginger bread man decorating set, and I thought they were the perfect crowd to do it! The littles mostly just ate the candies, but Ellie took hers very seriously.

I told Wren to look at me with her eyes, and this is what she did.

Just look at this face!  These girls are so sweet!

Thanks for the fun activity, Mommy! We were all covered in icing by the end, and we loved it!

Of course, we did a lot of this... vegging on the couch and watching shows.  The Hardies have Netflix at their house, which is a huge novelty for Theo.   As a large pregnant woman, I don't feel any regrets about the TV. Man, I've done a lot more bending and lifting this week than I've done in months. My belly needed rest!

Heavenly Father must have had me in mind when he ordered the week's weather.  It was beautiful and warm, and we spend a lot of time outside. These girls love sidewalk chalk, and Theo entertained himself in other ways.

Since it was so warm, we busted out the water toys.  Don't they all look cute in Theo's undies? Since we don't have a hose or anything, I filled that bucket with cold bathwater, and let them have at it.  Each one took turns climbing in and dunking, taking drinks by sticking their faces in, spraying each other with squirt bottles.  The first day we did it, Ellie got in touch with her creative side and made beautiful wet chalk art.  Each of the kids were stained blue and purple by the time we went inside.

It's interesting how different each child can be.  Putting this little Ellie lady to bed was such a strange experience.  Theo never gets out of bed once we put him down, but that first night we had them, I knew Ellie was a different animal.  At 10:15 I finally just climbed in bed to avoid having her come out every few minutes and asking me for something different.

I do want to say, though, that she was a very good helper and a good example to the littles for most of the week. Theo and I got to attend her preschool graduation party at a fancy park, and she was very magnanimous about sharing her friends and her space. And Whitney, Liz took plenty of pictures of Ellie, so you should ask her about them.

Between all our planned activities, we had a good time chilling, napping, snacking, playing at the park. The girls were such good sports about being away from their mommy and daddy for so long. What a busy, tiring week, but what a pleasure!

Corbin is in the middle of finals, and somehow he scheduled a bunch of gigs at the same time.  So he was busy.  But when he was here to help, he was a huge help.  And the girls love him.

I'm glad we got a chance to bond with these sweet ladies, but sadly, it's just in time for them to move! We will miss them, and Joe and Whitney.  How great that we've gotten our turn to be their friends!