Ruthie is FOUR

Once upon a time I had a tiny, tiny, PERFECT little, tiny soft ball of chub. Then I had two more. And I continued to tell myself I had three babies forever after.

OH MY GOSH! Was she ever just a teeny, tiny one week old?! 

Oh those eyes. I just love her.

But SOMEHOW Ruthie turned FOUR?!?!?!?!

I'm in denial.

It just can't be true. 

Somehow, four just seems much, much, much too old. 

Yet, here we are. Sob.

So here's all about Ruthie:

She LOVES pink. Which is the understatement of the year. Despite all the tomboy-ness I tried to train into her, she wants anything frilly, fluffy, pink, and sparkly with bows and flowers. Dresses only. It is better if it fulfills all of those requirements. On this same vein, she loves crowns and princesses and singing and dancing and ballet and BALLERINAS. Those are on the pedestal of everything else. 

Oh gosh, she just knows so much. She knows everyone's favorite color. She knows where everyone's clothes are and picks out everyone's outfit each morning. She knows how to pick out a movie and start it by herself when I'm putting the other kids down for a nap. She knows how to put the key into the mailbox and turn it out. She knows how to push the stroller on the way to the pool. She knows how to make Molly and Will happy. She knows where everything is in the house. She knows songs. She remembers books. She understands games. She is my BIGGEST helper. The other day she emptied all the garbages into the kitchen garbage for me. Then put them all back and put a new bag in them. She carried everyone's Sunday shoes upstairs. She folded a batch of laundry (and she is GOOD! minus the articles of clothing that are too big for her to hold onto). She helped set the table. She carries all the condiments and drinks from the fridge to the table. She even begs to do the dishes all of the time (I'm just mean and only let her help occasionally.) She knows how to put on her own seatbelt as well as Will's, which is such a huge help. She knows how to color inside the lines (and is getting pretty great at it, too!). She knows how to go potty all by herself and wash her hands afterwards. She can eat without a bib on now, and I only regret it once in a great while. She knows which feet her shoes should go on, and generally what direction her panties go. She knows how to brush her hair and brush her teeth (although I help...kids don't have the right amount of dexterity until age seven...haha!). She knows SOOOO much that she obviously is not my baby anymore. Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. I just can't quite believe how fast she learns and how much she knows! 

More about Ruthie. She DANCES everywhere. It's elegant and beautiful and with incredible grace. She SINGS constantly. Her own compositions. They are the greatest. She is generally so happy and so much fun. She does have an independent streak a mile long, which can turn sassy real quick, but she wouldn't be our Ruthie without it!

Oh, I just love her SOOOO much! She will be my baby forever. And I am forever grateful. Happy 4th Ruthie!

We were lucky enough to party all day long on her birthday. I think she had a pretty great day.

We saw a peacock in the parking lot!

 We also some five or six big iguanas while walking from the parking lot to the beach. It was pretty sweet. We went to Crandon Beach (specifically for the carousel) and we have never been there before. But it is on the same island, Key Biscayne, as the light house beach we went to when we first moved here. The water was really murky, but there was a MASSIVE storm all last night, so I think that made a lot more waves and kicked up all the seaweed. By the time we were leaving the water was already clearing and looking much, much prettier. The beach itself was quieter than I expected (it was overcast, maybe it was a down day for them?) and therefore, AWESOME for us!

Gorgeous. When we get a day at the beach, I always wonder why we don't make it happen more frequently.

Four years old! 

Tractors come and clear up all the big beaches around here. We saw the tractor leave and Will was SO excited!

Mornings in the ocean. Nothing better.

 I was actually really happy that the storm last night cooled everything down. It was only hitting 80 when we got there, and barely touching 90 when we left. A perfect day at the beach.

Molly thought she could just walk all over the place. Including straight into the waves. It was hilarious!

Sterling thought this contraption was pretty cool. It seemed self-created.

We have new friends! Jeff and Diana just moved here for Jeff to start the MD/MPH program (the same as Sterling's) so we have been very excited to feel like veteran 2nd years and have some new friends! They really are the greatest--they play DOMINION like no one's business (they added four expansions to the sets we have) and they spent all morning digging in the sand with our kids. Welcome to Miami!

This trench was serious.

Grave digging. 

Look at Ruth's face! She got SUCH a kick out of it! 

It took a bit of coaxing, but she thought it was great!

This handsome husband spent a good portion of the time holding a sleeping baby. I love it when he does that.

Mermaid fins.

I wanted Sterling to take a picture of me with Will. Will resisted. 

This is how the struggle ended. Sigh.

Will wanted to join in!

He was a dinosaur with wings.

After we played until our kids were ready to drop (nap time) we headed over to the sand showers and then to the carousel. It was restored a few years back and it was absolutely enchanting. I love carousels. Ruth was so excited she got to ride one for her birthday! She hopped right on and of course picked the pink horse right off!

 

 

Then we headed home for some homemade pizza (that, after some rough mishaps, turned out surprisingly delicious and now I am wondering if I can recreate the mess, haha), per Ruthie's request, and 'white cake with pink icing'. Mom fail on the candles. Oops. But Ruthie didn't mind one bit, she blew that candle out and loved every bit of that cake!

Watching the gift-opening excitement. 

I am especially pleased with this purchase. We read it three times tonight and Ruth laughed out loud every single time. We have checked out several Mo Willems books from the library, but I thought Ruthie would like this one, I'm so glad she does! 

Thank you Grandma Cindy! She is in LOVE!

Thanks Grandma Rasmussen!

  We got her an art set from Ikea, which she promptly put in her pack-pack. I think she was a tad bit disappointed it wasn't a princess/sparkly/pink thing, but she LOVES painting, so as soon as we get a chance to use it, I'm sure she will love it.

I still can't believe she is four. I feel like this makes me a mom-mom. Instead of a young mom, or a mom of babies. Crazy stuff. But I wouldn't change it at all. We just love her so much! I love her eskimo kisses and her big hugs and how much she loves to show me that she can do things. I love her gorgeous smile and her fetish for shoes and how happy she is. We love you Ruthie!