3 Months (Russ) and 30th (daddy!)

This little guy loves baths lately and it's sooo cute.

Sometimes I catch the afternoon sun just right to get decent pictures inside our house.And this boy is just toooooo cute!

 He was really three months old a couple of weeks ago while we were in Pittsburgh for Hurricane Irma. But it's been busy. :) So at three months old Russ is an absolute angel baby. He smiles and smiles and smiles at everyone, you just have to notice him and catch his eye to get a big smile. He had been sleeping through the night, then he caught a cold in Pittsburgh and now he's back to getting up 1-2 times. Which is still blissful and wonderful. He eats like a champ and is totally fine just sitting on his own and watching everyone else scurry about him. He withstands a multitude of kisses and head rubs every single day. His cheeks are so kissable that this is what Sterling said the other day, and I quote "I just have to set you down on the couch right now, for you are in great peril of getting squished right to death from kisses! I just have to put you down or that is exactly what might happen!" To say we are all smitten is an understatement. And he's just so good-natured, it's not hard to see why. Today our Delray Beach granny Mikey held him all through Relief Society while I taught. She just LOVES his chunk and they're so cute together. Mikey is pretty squat and chunky herself HAHAAHA.

Every time Molly comes around Russ's eyebrows go down haha.

Those cheeks. I DIE!

I mean, look at those hanging cheeks!!!

Those blue eyes. And yes, every time the light hits his hair it looks red.

Blissful sleep.

Daddy has baby sleeping magic.

Before our Pittsburgh trip I posted about the surprise birthday party I threw for Sterling. But on his real birthday I made green chile enchiladas (I don't like them at all, but his mom made them a lot and he loves them) and he was in HEAVEN. Literally he has eaten the leftovers every single night for the rest of the week by himself. He LOVED it. Which made me very happy. I also got him a mini cheesecake and a mini pie. Poor guy, the rest of the kids got my genes and aren't huge fans of cheesecake or cherry pie. But, since we already made a delicious chocolate cake for the surprise party, I figured this time we should indulge Sterling's palate. He was, again, so happy. Happy 30th babe!

This is him pretending to pour tabasco all over the desserts and laughing at Ruth's horror. It was pretty hilarious.

Sandoway Discovery Center

 

The kids didn't have school on Thursday, I don't know why, but since Sterling has been using his extra week to work on his capstone but doesn't *actually* have to be at the library, we declared it a family holiday. I have a list of about 25 things to explore in our area. Preferably in the next three weeks before family visits (HAHA) so we can show them around--but due to the Hurricane about 90% of my list was closed. So we headed to the Sandoway Discovery Center at the perfect time to watch them feed the sharks.

A nurse shark.

 There were three nurse sharks in the pool of the oldest standing house in Delray Beach (1927...everything else has been destroyed by hurricanes throughout the years). They are pretty cool. The weirdest thing was the noise they make while eating. They suck in their food instead of biting into it. Honestly--go youtube it, because I took video but am too lazy to load it, haha.

There was also a pool with three manta rays and you could touch them. But the water was quite deep so Ruth couldn't reach that far unless they came close and then she got nervous--as did all the rest, haha.

The puffer fish that lives with the sharks.

Doesn't Will look so cute peering into that microscope?

 So the whole house was pretty neat. They had a big turtle area out front with four or five of them. Inside they had a little gift shop in the entrance and then some frogs and snakes and a little scary alligator and then of course the sharks and fish and manta rays in the back. There was the microscope room with a few more snakes and fish. Then a room with a little aquarium full of nemo fish that our kids loved and all sorts of others. Upstairs they had a little preschool room with books and coloring. And then they had a nocturnal room with an owl and opposum. The last room upstairs had one of the largest shell collections in the world. It was pretty amazing actually--there were so many cool shells!

This is an 800 pound sea turtle someone pulled onto their yacht. CRAZY!

We spent about two and a half hours there and it was the quaintest, cutest little house museum. We loved it. The kids loved watching them feed the sharks. 

We planned on going swimming the rest of the afternoon but of course it rained, so we headed out to the playmobil store and spent FOUR HOURS playing there. All in all, a really wonderful day and it was fun to drive around and see more of the little nooks and crannies of Delray. I really love Delray so much!

Phone pics of the Trip

We were so happy to be able to have a place to sleep along our route to PA. Thanks so much Tricia! Stop here anytime! We really felt so much gratitude to our friends who reached out to visit or invited us to stay. We have the best friends out there!

This is when we got to Kayli's! Of course, selfies are first priority!

Will learning how to ride without training wheels!

Kayli made grape jam/syrup while we were there and it smelled delicious.

I could only grab half his head with how he was sleeping on me, but isn't it sooooo angelic looking?!?!

Because it is perfectly normal to read books in a laundry basket on Kayli's living room floor.

The first thing upon arriving home she found the pinkest and sparliest dress-up and the pile of library books.

Yesterday we headed to the beach. See that giant conch slug in the middle of the above photo? It was longer than my hand. Due to the hurricane the ocean is much lower and there are SOOOO many sea shells! We found several conch, but the crabs were still living inside, so we threw them back.

Kind of dirty looking after the storm. But still a gorgeous day!

Kami, I see your rocks and raise you one. Sea shells. And that is not all that we have tucked away in our garage. Fist palm.