I have not taken any pictures to add to this post. I know. I am just as sad as all of you, but I wanted to post some funny little things that have been happening around here, sans the photos.
On Saturday, Sterling had a really bad head cold. Really bad. On Sunday he stayed home from church to try and sleep it off since he had to fly to a conference in the morning. That meant I had to take all three kids to church by myself. Which would be fine if it wasn't in the middle of Will's nap time. Serious business messing with that boy's nap. We got onto our bench and Ruth called over to Ben and Beth (who were sitting across the aisle from us) in a not-so-soft stage whisper "My dad is sick! We bought him meficin at the store!" Thanks for that. Then we had an hour long struggle, bless the couple sitting beside us who helped out astronomically, a tired-beyond-reason finale from Will, and then it was finally time to end. Ruth's teacher bribed her with Pringles to go to class (why does she suddenly hate primary? Any insights?) and someone miraculously volunteered to cover me in nursery so I went off in bliss (they even kept Molly, huzzah!) only to discover Ruthie had an accident, for which I had to take her home and re-dress her. I might have been irrationally jealous of the sleeping Sterling at home. The rest of church was uneventful.
After ALL of that---we were eating a nice dinner prepared by Sterling. Will was dying over cookies. Seriously. That boy WAKES UP asking for cookies and GOES DOWN asking for cookies and brings it up throughout the day at every opportunity. He was having quite the meltdown that dinner was not, in fact, cookies and I decided to give the poor, distraught boy a break and tell him we could have cookies after dinner if he ate. I stood up to make cookies. I SUDDENLY FELT INTENSELY LIKE MY MOTHER. She would have stood up and made cookies for Ethan instead of feeding herself. What am I doing here, people?!?!?!?!
All of that for this, now seemingly much less impressive, punchline: Sterling said "I always thought that no one in the world could possibly love cookies as much as me. But that boy. He creates a whole new definition for loving cookies." And we both laughed for a good, long while. Oh my gosh that boy loves cookies!!!!
On the same tangent, Will came upstairs this morning in his car pajamas, his blue crocs, carrying his 'beep' book (Little Blue Truck) and I am pretty sure his whole life was complete. That is every single item that his little life revolves around. He must wear the pajamas and the crocs at all times. The beep book must be read every single night. He basically has it memorized himself. It's quite impressive. Oh how I love little boys!
Moving on. It is officially summer in Miami. Oh I know, I know, it will get much hotter and much muggier. But it has started raining during the day (I hate rainy season) which makes it so much more HUMID and brings back the mosquitoes, nasty things. It also was ninety degrees today. That plus humidity? POOL DAYS. And that is exactly what we have been doing. Actually, today I was looking at apartments to move into. But as sweat rolled down my back and neck and head (I swear I didn't know the definition of sweating before moving here) in the five minutes we waited in the doorway to be shown an apartment, all I could think about was the pool. So. It's official. We have reached the point in Miami weather where no other activity is feasible. Miss Molly has the tan lines to prove it. The kids are getting back into their feisty swimming selves--jumping off the sides, dunking under water and touching the ground, the classic Will:floating lazily on his back with his legs crossed. We have embraced the pool for the past two days straight and it is blissful.
Sterling spent those days in Philadelphia at a medical conference he got a scholarship to go to. Thanks to my best friend Aleesha, we didn't have to pay for a hotel and pocketed most of his scholarship which means, UTAH this summer! YAY! I am still extremely jealous that Sterling got to spend two days at Aleesha's house without me. Talking to her kids. Hanging out with her hubby. Eating philly sandwiches. Sigh. He liked Philadelphia but came home talking about our sun. One time, when mom had me on speakerphone in her car with... I think Aunt Judy or Aunt Jeannette, I had a head ache and it was crazy sunny outside. They said that it must be nice to have so much sunshine and I said it was TOO much sunshine (remember headache). Everyone laughed. But, I kid you not, sometimes you get tired of squinting here! I'm starting to think things really are the shade I see them as through my sunglasses, haha. We are very glad to have Sterling back. Even if the arrival of his flight coincided with rush hour traffic and I drove through the VERY thick of it. The worst traffic I have ever driven in.
Is that horrendously horrific traffic what caused the horrible dent in our bumper, you ask? Why no. No, that was AFTER the stressful three hours were over. When I caved to the kid's frustrations and stopped for dollar menu hash browns to keep them happy on the rest of the ride home. And drove past the speaker you talk into. And reversed to go back to it. And heard a loud honk. But not until AFTER I had crunched our bumper. No worries--their vehicles was fine. I did indeed look over my left shoulder, which is where the 'entrance' was...but I did not look over my right shoulder where sneaky little small cars creep up on you. Sigh. Luckily, Sterling said it was no big deal at all. That could be because the last problem we had with a car was him running into a pole after a choir practice for General Priesthood Session. HAHA. I miss our impala. The hash browns did make the kids happy, Sterling drove the rest of the way to his school, and all was well with the world.
Random and sad tidbit, we bought Fruit Loops for our camping trip as a treat. We bought the double bag from Sam's Club so they are still floating around. Molly discovered she really likes them, so the other night when she was fussy I gave her some. She was instantly happy as a little clam, chomping away. Until, out of the calm, came a siren scream (that girl can scream, I tell ya)! Poor thing, she's getting two bottom teeth right now (to make four) and they are so close to the surface that the hard fruit loops made her gums bleed! Not a little bit, either. Her whole bottom lip and teeth area was filling up with blood. SO SAD!!!! I'm really hoping they come through soon, and I'm really hoping that helps with her a.m. sleep routine.
Last tidbit. Today Sterling was incredible and played with the kids while I stocked up on groceries. A month's worth. People always look at me like I'm crazy with my three kids. Just myself and a heaping cart with six gallons of milk? I think I got even more stares. But the point of this all--I bought chocolate covered craisins. Everyone should stop what they are doing and go buy some. SO delicious. I also bought empanadas, which is becoming a staple on those mom-doesn't-want-to-cook nights because everyone likes them so much. Oh, dear Cuban-influenced Publix, we will miss your empanadas and to-order, freshly-made sushi.
Now if you made it through all of this you are probably wondering why you did. Love you!
