Passage

Gummi, Cucumber and Sweet Pea spent the weekend with their Grandpa at his home/cabin.  It has been a long time coming that they had the opportunity to go, as normally Grandpa takes the boys along.  I can't express enough how excited the girls were - much to the boys dismay!  Spending time at the cabin has sort of been a Rite of Passage for each of the kids.  It is a trip they are told they get to take "when you get a little older."  The rule is they have to be potty trained (in order to go without mom & dad).  For a couple of them, the cabin trip has been their first night away from home without me & Monkey Toes.  It is something that all the kids look forward to doing and normally their anticipation begins to build days before they go.

Sweet Pea waiting by the door, long before it was time to leave

According to Grandpa, the girls did great.  I knew the two older ones would do well, but I was concerned about Sweet Pea.  She loved the cabin and loved her "weekend independence."  Meanwhile at home. . .

Pumpkin ruled the roost.  She roamed where she wanted, played how she wanted, and was very content.  She did ask a few times where her sisters were, but then she would find a new activity and all was well with the world once more.

Me, on the other hand, missed my Love Bugs quite a bit.  Whenever any of the kids leave for a few days, I tend to clean their rooms.  I find it soothes me.  So about 10 minutes after the girls left, I was in their room tidying up.  It was very quiet in our house without them and Pumpkin slept really well.  I feel as though we caught up on some much needed rest, but I was also excited to welcome them home yesterday afternoon.  As we sat down for our family prayer last night, it felt right to have all of us back together, under the same roof, a family united once again.