December

It's December. It's December?!!?! Since when did that happen? I can't decide whether to be astounded and woeful at the rate my babies are growing up and that another year has passed or dancing with excitement for Christmas---I am seriously SO EXCITED for Santa to come and to watch Ruth and Will! I think we'll make a countdown today. Or ornaments. If Molly will stay happy--she's had a good run for about two days now. She is currently sleeping--so you can thank this post for taking up my shower time. Haha!

Yeah, this was the best we got. At least Will looks absolutely adorable sporting his new do! 

Again, I had to post this one just because Will is such a stud. 

Sweet kisses...kind of.  

The undergrad campus is pretty close to our house (I've posted about it before) and for finals week they put up hammocks. HAMMOCKS. Have you ever been in a hammock before? I had not. Until now. It blew my mind. Having a hammock in our future house is now on our bucket list. I had no idea what I was missing, these things are the real deal!

Appropriately orange and green. 

Pretty fountain.

We fit all five of us in one. Yup. You bet we did. And we liked it, too.

Well, most of us did. Molly looks a bit unsure about the whole spectacle. 

When your hair flips up and out, I'm a big fan of going with it. In retrospect---it looks a little crazy. oh well.

I really wanted to document this event, so I conned a passing student into taking our picture. She thought Ruth's hair was amazing, of course. 

Ruth and Will just enjoying the view. 

Of course, our enjoyment was cut short due to the fact that toddlers cannot sit still for longer than two seconds, even in such divine seating as a hammock offers. So we explored the fountain.

Then we commenced on our walk around the lake. No crocodiles this time, either, but I'm determined to see one since the sign says they are there! Haha.

They light up the fountain in the lake at night, it's gorgeous.

Pro dad. Two babies and both of them happy!

Prepare yourself for the CUTEST BABY ALIVE!

If you can pick yourself up off the floor, we now present the cutest redheaded 3 yr old there ever was! How is she big enough to go to Sunbeams next month?!?!?!!?!?!

She REALLY wanted this pink sweater. She doesn't have a sweater (or jacket, or coat for that matter) that currently fits her and since we had a ten dollar coupon (for buying two boxes of diapers) and it was only five bucks, I, obviously, could not say no. We bought it extra big (the sleeves are rolled up) so that it will take us through this winter and next fall as well. Although, the only time she'll probably REALLY need it is if we make it to Utah this summer and it cools down in the evenings. Haha. 

Oh my. Is that not the cutest child you have ever ever ever seen?

Sad face.

Crazy face. 

Oh I love that spaz.

And just so that it is noted. Ruth is not the only one with a shoe fetish around this house. He wears everyone's shoes all the time. Poor kid is stuck with pink and purple choices though, since he comes after Ruthie!

We're just enjoying this first part of December. Sterling has a conference this weekend and I am not looking forward to an entire weekend all by myself. But after that he takes tests and then its CHRISTMAS! YAY!

Saturday

We finally made it to the Ft. Lauderdale temple! This has been the longest span we have ever gone without a temple trip. With moving, starting med school, having a baby, and then the normal wait to get your baby on a nursing schedule that you can leave her long enough to do a session--it's been a while. This was top on our list of things to do this weekend and it was certainly a testimony builder to me that temples are so important and we need to make a much greater effort to get there more often! I loved every minute of it.

This random site-seeing lady from Las Vegas was kind enough to take our picture. Look at those blue skies! Such a pretty temple!

 

There is a massive park right beside the temple. It costs 1.50 to get in on weekends and holidays, but it is totally worth it. We got up at 5:30am to get everything ready so I could make the 8am session while Sterling played at the park with the kids and then we switched and he did the 11am session while we played.

They look so much alike to me. Their chins and cheeks and face shape. Such beautiful girls.

Ruth discovered that she is almost big enough to do the monkey bars so I spent a LOT of time holding her while she crossed. She can go from one to the next and then she drops. It is quite impressive actually, she's getting there!

I can't decide if my kids need a second pair of pants here or not. They both only have one pair that still fits from our Utah spring and there have been a couple of days chilly enough for long pants.

After Sterling finished his session we all came back to the park for lunch and more playing.

This is the most countrified I've felt since moving here. The area around the temple is really beautiful. We chatted about how we could maybe live in Florida forever if we lived here instead of Miami. Then I remembered the cockroaches.

That night we took the kids to see some lights and meet Santa Claus. Ruth saw him when he was standing in the middle of a room, ran right up to him, threw her arms around his middle and gave him a big hug. The entire crowd went "awww!". I think the night was worth it just for that one moment. My camera died before we met Santa, unfortunately, but it was a great time.

Awesome banyan trees. Such a different Christmas light experience.

Christmas lights and cacti--haha!

Our Sunday was also nice and relaxed. Sterling let me sleep in (kind of, I had gotten a huge mosquito bite during the night that kept me awake, rude) and made a gourmet breakfast for us and then went to his meetings while I got everyone ready. We came home and napped and relaxed and Sterling made dinner (I know, he's amazing!) and then did the dishes while I played with the kids--and held a fussy Molly. Then the kids went to bed and we watched You've Got Mail (its on netflix right now)---the internet! Hilarious! 

Today it's back to the real world. December 1st. A screaming baby with no one to hand her off to. She has literally screamed the entire day. Why oh why do I have such a fussy baby? The weekend was perfect though. We accomplished the things I can't do by myself, we played, we relaxed, we ENJOYED having Sterling around so much. Three kids is cake when you have another arm to help you! It was some wonderful family time and I am so grateful!