Family Home Evening about Happiness.
Shae being excited about Belén's first day of school.
Shae didn't start school until the week after Belén so we got some one on one time which was so nice! It's so rare to get one on one time with either kids, but when it happens, it is usually with Belén while Shae is playing at friend's houses or at Joy School, so it felt extra special to have some mommy/Shae time. We tried hard to make it special too by going to McDonald's for breakfast and brought along Sleeping Queens and Go Fish to play while we ate. It was so fun. I loved being able to talk to him by himself (without little sister trying to wrestle one of us). I asked him what he was most excited about in regards to starting preschool and he said, "Meeting my teachers." When I asked what he was most scared of he said, "The bullies." We then had a really sweet conversation about bullies and that sometimes we all have bully moments and how we should react and treat other people. Love this sweet, sensitive boy.
Primary Ninja Warrior Activity. Belén wanted daddy to do it with her.
Darin did this to try and get Belen to do it, and she still didn't after he did. What a cool dad.
Used up some of our apples in Darin's bday cake. I made this Apple Toffee Crunch Cake. My doesn't look anything like the one in the picture. This would easily be a pinterest fail if I had found the recipe on pinterest. The toffee just did not work out for me. So I tried to cover it up with some of the pecan/oatmeal/crunch on top, but those sides, haha, there was nothing to be done. It still tasted divine, but my presentation score was definitely low.
He really wanted to wear his shorts, but it was a chilly day...
Morning at the Ithaca Children's Garden
Trying to get 5 toddlers to keep there heads in these at the same time felt like playing Whack-A-Mole. One came in and one went out.
I accidently put this Disney Party Planning book on hold at the library because I thought it was something else. Shae was obsessed with it and now has his next 20 birthdays planned out, starting with the Wreck-It-Ralph party for his fifth birthday with a Pin the Wrench on the Fix-it-Felix.
We left for Paraguay on the day of Shae's half birthday, so we "celebrated" on Belén’s.
Darin was really in to gardening with the kids this summer. He had each of the kids pick out a flower they wanted to plant and then he planted cilantro, basil, and tomatoes. Shae chose a moon flower, which we didn't realize is a climbing plant (that's the official term right :)
The kids LOVED checking their plants each day. These were Belén’s:
Our cilantro did not make it. Our basil was dying when this picture was taken, but we did get to use quite a bit of it and Belén mostly just loved snacking on it.
Our tomatoes finally turning red!! Took till mid September, but it finally happened! Growing something all on your own really is a fulfilling thing (and I didn't even do much). Life is beautiful.
Darin's department's opening social has been at the bowling alley the past two years. Shae was a bit disappointed that it was just at a park this year.
It may not have been the bowling alley, but the department did rent out the Merry-Go-Round for the evening, so we got to ride on that over and over and over again.
These kids have been obsessed with the aquarium ever since going to the Baltimore Aquarium while staying with my family in August. They built their own aquarium daily for just about all of September.
We went up to Cortland one afternoon to go to Aldi since ours has been closed for so long and the prices are just SO much cheaper there than anywhere else (it was supposed to open on the 29th and didn't open! And then it was supposed to open on the 4th of October and still didn't! I'm dying over here. The new Grand Re-opening is scheduled for this Thursday and I'm praying it is for real this time).
Anyway, that was a long tangent...while up there we found this cool playground with a fun old rocket that the kids loved.
Pizza movie night (the Lego Batman movie!) with buddies.
Visit to the Cornell Botanical Gardens for playgroup one week. How have we never been here before!? So pretty!
Birthday date for burgers at Ithaca Beer Co. with the birthday boy. They had such a lovely outside patio area and we got to listen to the X Ambassador concert going on in the lawn next to us. I didn't even know who they were, at least I thought I didn't, but I have totally heard their songs on the radio before! That was a cool surprise. They were there for a music festival the next day and are apparently from Ithaca. Fun facts.
Pulled over to see the beautiful sunset before picking up the kids
These pictures probably should have been up with the cake picture, or I should have moved the cake picture down here, but I'm too lazy to move it all now...
The cake making process was pretty intense. This is easily the most intense cake I have ever made. It was really fun trying out some new things. Here I was making the frosting with a makeshift double boiler.
The delicious pecan/oatmeal crumble, the good toffee, and the burned failed toffee.
Oh man, that toffee drizzle. Did I mention that the frosting was cinnamon buttercream? Mmmmm, it was so good.
Doing our morning planks to work off all that cake.
Playing musical pillows for FHE. Belén was not all to happy when she got out.
What watching GC with little kids looks like:
And just some selfies because it's what we're good at.
I love Belén's face in this one SO much. She is just so stinkin'cute.
Poor girl after taking a hard fall at the playground. I guess this actually happened in October, but I'm posting it nonetheless.
