Valentines+a Date+20 weeks

 

We have playgroup for our ward/stake every Tuesday at 10am. Some weeks no one shows up. Most weeks about 4-6 people show up. But for a Valentine's exchange? I think every single member of the facebook group came! It was fun to see everyone, but kind of crazy too--it's not like you can sit and chat with that many moms running after that many kids! But it was sooo fun--Will and Molly were so excited about giving out Valentine's because we had to get Ruth some for her class at school, so they were happy that they were not excluded. We have one little boy with allergies so most people tried to steer away from food Valentine's--which meant they were AWESOME. (I did suckers--I mean, its a dairy allergy, so I figured I was safe with suckers.) The kids got little playdoughs, bubbles, matchbox cars (Will's was blue--he was over the moon!), and even adorable little clementine oranges and stickers and things. Talk about spoiled!

 So a couple of weeks ago Molly got her pictures taken because Will was getting his 4 yr old pictures taken and I usually do more often than every year until they get a little older, so it was exactly 2 1/2 years for Molly. I had her hair in these adorable half pigtail buns. Adorable, that is, until she pulled them out. WITH ALL OF HER HAIR!!!! I'm not joking. It was almost sickening to hold that amount of hair not attached to a head. I don't even know how she did it--she was in her car seat and she didn't even cry. So after that her hair in front was SIGNIFICANTLY shorter and so much more thin. It was really sad. I looked at her awful mullet for a couple of weeks, and then I couldn't handle it and chopped off the back all the way to the base of her hairline. And added a few layers (thank you youtube) and it looks a million times better. Why do kids do weird things like this?

All from the back of her head, I didn't cut her sides at all.

In all reality, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner. She has such whispy hair that every single morning I had to tackle the rats nest in the back with detangling spray, and now she just wakes up like the above picture--perfectly laying under. It's so nice.

 Seven years. Sterling and I have been married for SEVEN years! It's kind of hard to believe it's been that long, but it's nice too. Being married is really, really nice. And it's also really, really nice to have come such a long ways and be so much more comfortable and settled with each other. I liked being newlyweds--but I really like right now. On top of that, of course, was Valentine's Day and my birthday. We have a tradition (we've done it six out of seven years now) to go to a play/show in February to celebrate the three events. It was a Hale Center Theater tradition, but that got interrupted when we moved to Florida, haha. Last year was the Florida Symphony Pop Concert--which was awesome. This year Sterling surprised me with....The Piano Guys!!! I love their music, but even if you didn't you would enjoy their concert. They were SUCH GREAT entertainers!!!! Some of their music made me cry, but then their little skits/jingles inbetween songs would have me laughing out loud. They put on one great show. We went out to dinner beforehand and it was supposed to have American food (I was all geared up for steak and potatoes) but...everything was served with rice and beans. Sigh. But you did get to park there for free if you paid for dinner, which saved us lots of $$ on parking for the concert, so it was worth it right there. They also had really delicious guac and lemonade. Sterling and I played the newlywed game on the way there (rush hour traffic so it took an hour and forty five minutes) and it was hilarious. You'd think after seven years we'd have the basic answers covered. Like dream vacation. Nope. I think we managed to get each others favorite movies and colors. HAHA--we had a ton of fun with it though and the discussions that the questions brought up. Such good times.

 It's been 85 degrees lately, perfect for a morning at the splash pad at the zoo! It was actually an incredibly beautiful zoo day, lots of animals were out that are normally lying in the shade--like the pygmy hippo and the porcupine and the spider monkeys and the antelope. We were ALL for skipping the crowds (on Friday mornings it seems to be field trip day) so we hit up the little splash pad that we don't normally go to. There are three splash pads there now with the new Everglades exhibit, which is really nice. No one else was there until right as we were leaving. It was one of those pristine and magical mornings--quiet, beautiful, calm, and just really really nice. I don't know what I'm going to do when we move and I don't have Tricia anymore. Luckily, she's moving as well, so at least I don't feel bad about moving, just bad that it's not to the same place as her!!!

We got something from Amazon the other day and Ruth and Molly played all afternoon with that box. Molly was supposed to be sick and they were taking her to the hospital. So they dragged her around in the box to get her there. It was hilarious.

 I was SOOOOOOO happy that two men stopped and helped me change this flat to our spare. Because it was hot. And I really needed help. And Sterling was really busy and it would have been stressful for him to make time. What a blessing.

I have to post this because of Ruth's massive gap where she is missing two teeth. It's soooo cute!

 And this last one is at 20 weeks. I wrote on facebook that my nausea level was much improved. It definitely is. But then I threw up all my birthday cake tonight, so that was sad. I still throw up about every three days, but that is a vast improvement, and I usually feel good throughout the day and feel like I have energy to run around and play with my kids---so it's definitely a much happier place around here! 

Half way! This baby kicks enough that even daddy can feel and moves so much I've had to reschedule two ultrasounds cause they can't get the measurements. :) I feel much bigger than that pic haha but I have been *much* less nauseated, so it's a good trade-off. We have a list of six names and continually change them around-boys names are soooo hard! We are getting more and more excited for this baby brother!