Life on March 21st, 2016

Okay, and some of life on March 20th, because I had the camera out yesterday, too.

Life is good. It's been HOT. 90's all week. Then suddenly yesterday it rained and today it was SEVENTY-TWO! I know, I can't get over it either. I went to the gym and then a friend called so we headed straight to the park and Molly and I were turning purple. Purple, I tell ya, in 70 degree weather. We have lived here TOO LONG, hahaha!

Because when it rains, ya gotta pull out those shades! 

I actually pulled my camera out to take a picture of Molly in this outfit so I could compare mommy/daughter wearing the same clothes! But, I lost focus and never actually took one of just her. THEN she got into the ONE TUBE OF LIPSTICK THAT I OWN and we might never get that mother/daughter comparison photo. Sigh. Seriously though, that girl has a KNACK for mischievousness.

I LOVE how Molly's eyes look ginormous behind those glasses!!!!!

HAAHAAHAA pug nose!

Diva daughter! 

Ruth is a redhead who has NEVER had freckles in her life. Nope, milky white skin her entire existence. Until NOW! Look at those ADORABLE freckles! I can't get over them! I kiss them on her nose ALL of the time, until she is really sick of me, haha. 

This was supposed to be of her freckles, but that GORGEOUS light coming in, right? I love it. 

Will likes to snuggle when he wakes up from a nap. It is definitely one of my very, very favorite parts of the day. Is it weird that I like his slightly/morning breath/breathing on me smell? It's like a baby sweaty head smell. Perfection. Also his warm cheeks. You just sink right into them. Oh, how I love that boy of mine!

Nothing sweeter than a dad and his boy. I love those two!!!

K. This next photo. Lets talk about this. Once upon a time I had a baby boy, a teensy, weensy, tiny, six pound baby ball of fluff that looked like a monkey with hair all over him. 

AND NOW LOOK AT HIM!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?

I'm not ready for him to be that big! He does puzzles and sings songs and figures out how to stay in the lines and....interrupted this message by sneaking out of bed and trying to stand in front of the fridge all unobtrusively...I mean he is just getting OLD! And how did I let this happen???

Now this girl, this girl is just cracking me UP lately. She whips out that cheese face in an instant and it is BIG and FAKE and HILARIOUS! She also does this incredibly funny fake laugh now, too. She started it when we checked I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems out from the library. Ruth and Will get a kick out of that book and laugh and laugh. So, of course she has to join in, and she does this fake laugh with the intake of breath so it is all high pitched and throaty. Oh. My. It is just the greatest thing.

Those eyes. They don't even fit her face. But they are SO GORGEOUS! 

This next picture is her newest trick. She does it ALL THE TIME and she KNOWS she is hilarious. She'll grab my chin and force me to look at her, make the face, and then fake laugh. It's this whole routine. You can't help but laugh, which makes her very smug, haha.

Peaking out to make sure you're paying attention.

After a sneeze. This picture was just too much fun to not post.

Handsome boy.

His eyes are exactly like his daddy's. Perfection.

Molly is a tyrant these days. She is in charge, no doubt about it. She pulls those five gallon buckets all around our kitchen and gets into EVERYTHING! I was laughing at Sterling tonight because I got a little annoyed she was pulling her bucket up and he says "she just wants to watch" so I let it go and then I hear him say "No Molly, don't touch that. No Molly, get out of the batteries. No Molly, that's not for you." as he scrambled to grab everything from her sneaky little fingers. Yup, that is life with Molly. 24/7. 

This afternoon she pulled her bucket up to watch the macaroni. I told her it was hot and then I started doing dishes. I could hear her saying "hot" "mmm" "hot" "mmm" and then when I turned around she was very proudly stirring the macaroni. And she was awesome---it all stayed in the pan! She would dip the spoon in, turn up a spoonful of macaroni, put the spoon back on the holder, exclaim that it was hot, and then restart the process all over again. I was so impressed! She was pretty happy about helping:

Oh that girl, I just love her to pieces!!!!!! That has to be the cutest grin and craziest pig tails. Miss Molly, we love you.

Life has been pretty normal. So, so busy. But with all the best things. :)

Shark Valley-Everglades

We are officially Everglades National Park season pass holders! (It costs $20 to get in, $40 for a pass...so if we go twice. Ya know, real big spenders here, haha.)

Last year in January we biked Shark Valley (here). It was awesome.  We wanted to do it again. Only this year with our OWN bikes and our OWN bike rack on our van, and no nursing baby to stop and feed. It was so much fun.

14 miles was a LOT longer than I remember it being. Still fun.

At the tower, mile 7. No gators, but lots of ravens and vultures.

Molly showing me her skinned knee. I ADORE this picture.

Will called this the 'ding dong tower' all day. Not sure why.

Hello beautiful Everglades!

We ate lunch at the tower, which is the half-way point. I was seriously doubting my ability to make it back. Somehow, I am more out of shape than four months postpartum last year. Sigh. Although, I do have to say it probably had a LOT to do with the headwind for the first seven miles. Hitting us directly on. I felt like a cartoon that was madly pedaling away and...not going anywhere. HAHA!

This girl. Oh how I love you!

He got new shorts and won't let me roll them up. Still adorable.

Last year we saw tons and tons of gators. This year, less so, but still quite a few. We also saw a ton of anhingas, grey herons, and tons of other REALLY BIG birds. And a lot of blooming purple thistles that came up a LOT in our eye spy game. :)

Sterling holding my bike while I took a picture of the biggest gator.

The girls took off their shoes for the ride back. I don't blame them. It was 90 degrees and HOT. It was cute to see their little toes poking out of the trailer.

Cutest kids ever. With a gator.

Sterling did a lily pad for one of his eye spy objects. Then Will kept exclaiming "LILY PAD" the rest of the trip. Which, as you can see in the photo, was not really that exciting. But hilarious.

Sterling worked like crazy the past two weeks to hit an audit deadline that had increased workload due to a lame VP that was fired. He basically worked 16 hour days plus Saturday. So on Friday when the audit was completed they said "Don't come in on Monday!" and we all cheered!!!! The Everglades was a great place to spend the day. The kids did really well in the trailer/behind me on my bike and Sterling and I had a great time getting back on our bikes. 

We ended it all with dollar cones at McD's. Life doesn't get much better than that!