Currently / 8.31.22

Cliche or not, it’s hard to believe August is already over! Our month was full and fun.

We started the month with Emma’s birthday — she is 10! Officially double digits! We had a pool party and were graced with a small birthday miracle when the morning thunderstorms cleared and the girls were able to swim. The clouds closed in again at 2:00 right when the party was wrapping up. The weather’s timing could not have been better and I was very relieved that I didn’t have to invite 10 girls over to our not-prepared-for-a-party house.

Emma also celebrated by getting her ears pierced! She started asking about this a few months ago, and I decided that 10 years old would be a good age for it. (I got my ears pieced when I was in 5th grade, so around the same time.) It’s been almost 4 weeks so we should be good to change her earrings soon and she’s excited about that.

The girls also had their first kuk sool belt test this month. It was a new experience for all of us, but they did great and were happily promoted to yellow stripe belt. At the promotion ceremony, the black belts and black-belts-in-training showed off their skills and Emma is already talking about wanting to earn her black belt! That’s a 4-5 year process for most kids and we are 3 months in, so we’ll see. I’m happy they are both enjoying it for now.

School started in the middle of the month, so we officially have 5th and 1st graders in the house! They were both thrilled to get back to school and their friends, and we were all happy with their teacher assignments for the year. Emma is with most of the same class from last year, and Charlotte has a couple good buddies in her class including our next door neighbor. It should be a good year!

This past weekend we had Charlotte’s birthday party — another pool party where we again managed to get crazy lucky with the party hours threaded between rain showers. Whew! It was fun to see the gaggle of 1st grade girls having fun, and see how excited Charlotte was to have them celebrate her. Her actual birthday is still to come later this week, so the celebrations aren’t done yet.

We also had a surprise/spontaneous visit from Jose’s brother and his family, who came up from Corpus Christi for a day. They’ve got 3 boys, ages 4, 2, and 5 months, so it’s quite the ordeal for them to take a road trip during this stage of life. It was great to have them here, and the girls were so happy to have visitors and see their cousins. It was also a vivid reminder of how hectic the little kid years can be! While I sometimes miss the baby and toddler snuggles, I am also grateful to be in this current stage with elementary aged kiddos.

Photo dump incoming…