An Active August

August was awesome. So is the cortisone shot in my foot.  It really ended on a high note with Oma's official arrival (not visit…arrival) and throwing a house party that we had an absolute blast at.   I just loved having so many of our favorite friends and neighbors together in our home...and with so many kids running around smiling….while their parents eat and drink at a non-shoveling food in mouth pace while socializing much of the time….awesome!  Oma is here and already working on making our now vacant first floor apartment their alternate home.  My Dad is coming in a couple weeks.  The kids and the improvements being made to the apartment before their container arrives will keep her very busy.

Here are some of the moments from August in pics.

Lily's best friend from Munich was here with her family for a week.  Introduced them to the concept of having very friendly fire fighters willing to give tours and answer questions whenever they are there. Not so in Munich.

 Lily is swimming more and more like a fish.  Lots of pool time.

 Lily designed and made her first fashion outfit with her friend….a paper dress with matching hat.  She made it one block on her walk home before it broke…back to the drawing board.

 Paul and Elise enjoying the secret garden at our neighbor's house.

 All my kids painting together and acting eerily nice and polite with each other….had to snap a photo of that moment.

 Tractor Ride with Jim at their Zig Zag retreat.

 Playdate fun at good friend Katie's house.  Lots of happy moments there.

 Lily's first joint business venture with her friends Nora and Etta selling bags of water for free.

 Lily and Liana's sleepover.

 Nate finished his anniversary gift to me.  He did this by hand.  These are the stairs that lead to the kids floor. love.

 Kids waiting at the airport like it's a race for Oma to show up so they can all give her a running hug. And yes they did.

 House Party snapshot

 Another project by Nate - building an over sized outdoor chalkboard.  This was the first picture drawn on it by Lily.

 Nate brought out his drums for the first time.  Kids LOVED it.

 Oma is here.

I had to post one video that you should watch if you are a big Paul fan and want to see a side of him he is usually too shy to show around others.  These are the lyrics he made up to the song he's singing….. Music started today…daddy wants to wear that shirt cause he wants me to sing louder…what is daddy doing with that big thingy…..i like these leaves….like the chairs…like the chairs by me….like that chair….clap….for the first time in forever…take this to guitar class…