August - the EXTRA Awesome

August just had too too much fun to cram into one blog post. We had fun with Team Cohen and fun with the extended family at the beach, but we had so so so much more fun with other special friends and visitors. Here was some extra enjoyment from our month.

On their way to pick Mira up from camp, Jacob and Aunt Sandi joined us to play for a weekend in Austin.

Jacob enjoys special aunt time at fro yo.

party bus out

Spencer gets to know his first splash pad with sister, cousin, and aunt helpers.

Special cousin time:

At lunch after splash fun, how many cousins does it take to get chocolate milk in the cup?

More special fun in August included some special play dates with Erin. We didn't have swim lessons this month which freed up some afternoons!

Gabi-Erin selfie

Lunch with Nora!

Aunt Mor came to visit one weekend, which was a special plan. Then, a hurricane came to visit Houston, which was not so special. It did leave Aunt Mor stranded in Austin for a few extra days, so that turned out to be special after all.

reading together at the library

Aunt Mor and Ethan got goofy:

She enjoyed time with the Gabsters as well:

puzzle playmates

salad sisters

We took advantage of our extra time together!

Spencer snuggles

Mor read the older kiddos extra books each night, and they thought they were pretty spoiled.

I am so grateful that Mor takes time away from Houston to come visit with me and my family! In this case, she took longer away from Houston than originally anticipated, but we all enjoyed her company!

(Non-beach) August 2017

This August, as with the last several Augusts, we voyaged with many many other Kaye descendants to the land of the beach. This was Spencer's first beach, our first trip to Virginia beach, and possibly our last extended family trip to the beach. I digress. All that in another blog post. Here's the rest of what happened in August in Austin.

Ethan gets to start swim lessons at the Y when he turns 3, which is NEXT MONTH. Woah. Up until now, Gabi has gone by herself. Once a week, she goes with Daddy, and I stay home with my boys. Daddy thinks that I'm busy busy taking care of little boys while simultaneously cooking a beautiful homemade dinner. In reality, I throw Spencer down for nap, and then our time looks like this:

(forgot to take the video earlier before we got caught)

See an emerging trend here? I love my babies. :)

Go Bananas!

AND I love when my babies love my babies!

Yes, that is my daughter breastfeeding my son.

The Cohen Crazies - the newest rock sensation

(quite literally treading in dangerous waters these days...)

jumping jumperoos

bonding brothers

We went to a "Back to School Bash" complete with petting zoo, snow cones, face painting, and more!

Where was Spencer, you ask?

That time Spencer was soooo tired and just wouldn't fall asleep in his crib:

That time we had to change plans because a rainy day ruined our plans:



The theme of the next few pictures is, "Things Aunt Sandi has given us:"


Mid-month, we went to Andrew and Wesley's birthday party. Spencer went into a pool for the first time, and we had lots of fun playing, swimming, eating, and hitting the pinata!

Poor Spencer couldn't quite make it to the end.

On August 24, big Spence-man turned SIX months old! If we stop and blink, he completely changes. He started the month ALMOST sitting up independently (captured on camera) and rocking on all 4's (not able to capture on camera). By the end of the month, he was playing with his feet, getting from rocking to sitting, sitting to stomach, and...CRAWLING! Both of my sons have now learned to crawl thanks to cell phone grabbing motivation. At Spencer's 6 month check up, he measured 24.41" (29%) in length and weighed 15 lb 8 oz (12%). I was surprised to see such low weight percentile for the chunky baby, meh.

ALMOST there

showing off my skills

Look what I can do now!

This happy baby makes all sorts of sounds from screeches to coos to giggles.

oh the sounds Spencer can do

Early August skills:

Ta-Da!

moments you can't capture if you tried

Sometimes, the world needs more sleeping baby pictures.

With this baby turning 6 months old, it was time to introduce spoon feeding!

first bite

things get silly

Big brother helps out.

By the end of the month, we had a mover. Which means, he can now access whatever he wants. Help us all...

when he's motivated

when he's not-so-much motivated

The big kids went to the dentist for a cleaning, and big Ethan sat in the big chair for the first time!

legs crossed and nailing it

2 pretty cool, chillaxed kiddos

With a looming 3-year-old birthday coming, Ethan moved up to a new classroom. He left his first ever preschool class and is now in the Hummingbirds with Ms. Linda and Ms. Colleen (whom we LOVED with Gabi).

At the end of August, we began the week of Cohen birthday fun by celebrating Jon's birthday! Gabi and Ethan helped decorate a new lunchbox for Daddy to use at work. Spencer helpfully supervised.

Joey and the Gildens helped us celebrate with Daddy at a yummy restaurant.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

And to end this long, but great post, 2 random pictures of my children: