Walk, worm, watch out and wet

Friday 30th: Ruth had gone to a party on Thursday afternoon and slept over. So on the way to pick her up today, Brendon took Hannah and Hezekiah for a joined parent-child outing. The plan was originally for Hannah to go with him to "Hippo rock" when they dropped Ruth yesterday, and then do the trip today with Hezekiah. With Brendon having such a bad headache yesterday though - they combined them. They managed to get to the rock Hannah has called "Hippo rock" and then walked down to Frog Rock.

They then had to walk all the way back to where the car was parked. So they had a much longer (and harder) outing than expected. Lovely memories made though.
And the fields in the background give you a bit of an idea of how hot and dry our January has been. There have been a lot more fired this year because of how dry it is.

Tickle time with Dad in the afternoon. Asher dancing to one of her Wiggles movies.

And then they all enjoyed a bit of time playing with the cars. Asher just loves the ones that are wound up and holds the car or truck upside down so that she can watch the wheels spinning. She does also play with the others, pushing cars around and making sounds. So cute.
And I made another batch of gluten free chocolate chip cookies this evening. These ones worked even better than the first batch.
I took this recipe and just used xylitol instead of honey. In this batch I accidentally used baking powder rather than baking soda - but will keep that a permanent change too.

Saturday 31st. The children were SO excited when they found this caterpillar. It was only about 2 cm long - but lovely to be able to see all the little details.

You can very clearly see the difference between the front 6 legs (which will be it's legs when an adult) and the back legs.

Having fun with Dad outside.

Asher just loves balls and plays the same types of games with them over and over and over again. Today I got some photos of her.
She gets all the balls lined up. They have to be off the carpet. Then she throws the smaller ones and take the two bigger ones, places them in exactly the same spot (every single time, over and over again), dribbles them a bit and then kicks them with a nice solid kick. Once all the balls are on the other side, she will ask they get sent back. Sometimes she tries to just grunt at us, but then we request that she at least say "ta" or "ball" or "more", which she then does. "Ta" being the only one anyone outside the family would recognise. We are pleased she is at least trying to say the other words though.

On Saturday evening Ruth and I headed into town to fetch Rachel. We first did some shopping and Ruth convinced me to buy this HUGE box of chocolates for Brendon for valentines day. Sure - it's still 2 weeks away, but with us away that weekend and the box being so big, there was no way I was going to worry about trying to hide it. So we all got to enjoy the lovely chocolates through the next week.
Rachel arrived safely and although tired, chatted loads on the way home as we expected. Ruth was disappointed to have forgotten Rachel's present at home. She had wanted to give it to her as soon as we picked her up. Ruth really missed Rachel through these last 3 weeks and has been counting down the days till her return.

So on Sunday morning, 1st of Feb, I could take another monthly children's photo with all of them present.
And just look at this sweet one of Asher.
A bit of a dangerous game was played just before lunch. Asher was having so much fun throwing these bowling balls (which are really heavy) and so the other three lined up and jumped over the balls as they came flying past.
Thankfully I stopped the game before any feet were hurt. As in this picture, she would most often pick up the two matching colours, one from each hand. She throws really well with both hands.
After lunch Brendon took Hezekiah, Hannah and Ruth to the pool. With all our looking into wetsuits, we had managed to get this size 2-4 one new at a really good price. As it turns out, a wetsuit won't help stop Asher's pool seizures, and this would have been too big for her anyway. Hezekiah was thrilled that it fitted him though and it has actually helped boost his confidence even more. He just loves going to the pool and keeps asking to go again. As you can see - he got totally wet today. He had been playing on Brendon's back and had fallen off, and gone under. They were in the small pool though, so all he had to do was stand up. Which he did. And he did't get upset about it at all. We have had 2 children petrified of getting their heads wet - so this is such a relief for Brendon and I.