August Little Things

During August we...

...swam at Treman State Park. The kids and I went last summer, but Darin had never gone. It is so beautiful and a really cool experience, but the water is just SO DANG COLD. So we waited for a super hot day and went. The water was still pretty freezing, but we had a fun time playing and jumping off the diving board nonetheless.

 Darin waiting in line.

 I missed the actual jump...

 But he made a nice splash!

 One of my parenting/family things (official term) is finding little ways to celebrate each other and make sure that life always has a little bit of magic of in it. An easy way for us to celebrate each other in little ways is on half birthdays. And let me just tell you, half birthdays are a big deal for these kids. Shae has been counting down the months (like, literally telling people that he is 5 and 5/12, etc.) until his half birthday. We don't do anything crazy, just waffles with a candle and then we sing "Happy half-birthday". This year we also decided to give them the number of dollars they are in years just for fun, so Shae got 5 dollars to spend however he wanted which he thought was the coolest thing. He went and bought himself the pack of Pokemon cards he has been eyeing at Target for some time now.

  Sunday stroll to the little pond across the street.

 Playing in the "rocket ship."

 After quiet time one day, "Look mom, I did oragami!"

 We went to a youth circus performance at the library and the kids got to use some of the circus toys after the performance. 

 After an especially trying morning for me with Belén, Shae "sent" me a bunch of love letters through the "mailbox" into my room after I told them I needed a little alone time.

 The alone time didn't last long.

 The kids got free meal coupons to Texas Roadhouse through their summer reading program. We finally went and used them for my birthday dinner.

 I made the kids sit on the saddle while the employees sang to me.

 We went camping with a few friends at Green Lake State Park. It was so beautiful. The water was incredibly clear, so  different from the brownish finger lake water.

Shae jumped off the platform into the deep water of the lake for the first time! It was nice for his first time that there wasn't a big diving board like at Treman and that he was just able to go right off the platform--better for my heart anyway :). Not gonna lie, even though I totally knew he could do it, those mama bear instincts just kick in and want to say, "No! Don't! What if you get sucked under the water and don't come back up!" A little extreme, just being honest.

When we went over to the platform the lifeguard hollered down, "Do you know how to swim?" Shae had totally pumped himself up by this point and after the lifeguard said that he crumbled and whispered, "Uuuh, I think so." He backed off for a minute after that and watched the big kids do their jumps before finding his courage again and going up to the edge and saying, "I do know how to swim!" and then jumping right in. He spent the rest of our time at the lake jumping off that platform with the big kids. So proud of him.

 A little back-lit, but it's the only one we took as a family of our hike around the lakes.

Some days 5 p.m. is just too late to still be awake.

 Darin made me this Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake for my birthday this year. I love that trying out a new cheesecake recipe on my bday has become my little birthday tradition. 

 It was super yummy. I'm glad we decided not to do the ganache on top because with that big fudge layer on the bottom, it was a lot of chocolate. I need to really taste that peanut butter :). The crust was delicious too, made out of homemade chocolate cookies!

 It's always so fun listening to the kids dictate their drawings to me. I love getting a glimpse inside their little imaginative minds. 

 I was so stoked to get this game from Darin. It's the perfect two player game that we can enjoy together.

 Exploring the woods one afternoon and the new paths they are building around our house, Shae found this grasshopper and they became best friends. It was really sweet to see him take him to the playground with us and show little Dodger (the shortened version of his name, I can't remember the whole thing) all the play equipment.