Covid Continues

After the THIRTEEN blog posts from May, this crazy full-time mom, part-time contracted employee, and not-enough-time camp director tried to chillax on the picture obsessing this month. That didn't exactly hold true for our getaways, BUT we had getaways this month (!) that were such a great break from our Austin routine. More on that later.

Despite the increasing heat, we went outside every day this month. We rode bikes, drew with chalk, played in creeks, explored hiking trails, and more.



Plenty of entertainment ensued indoors as well:

A friend inquired, "What are you up to?" So I answered.

Enjoying the fruits of their homemade mint oreo ice cream!

new domino train gave us a few minutes of distraction

Don't feel obligated to watch the entire puppet shows. Or do. The artistic puppets were certainly cute, at least.

Spencer inches closer and closer to three-and-a-half every day, and all the (not) fun that goes along with it. He's lucky he remains ever-so-cute!

This can't be good...

that time he insisted on brushing my hair...

an original riddle by Spencer

Spencer made some AMAZING progress on his upright bike (with training wheels) this month in quarantine. My prediction is he'll be riding without training wheels by the end of his 3rd year.

(You'll see the motivation for all this progress at the end of the video.)

Gabi got a desk in her room at 7. Ethan got a desk in his room at 5. Apparently, the little guy thinks he's entitled at 3. So we found a little Spencer-sized desk. And boy, is he happy!

We had some sweet family Havdalah moments this month. (And apparently, I have a Havdalah shirt.)

(We recorded a "How To Havdalah" video for our shul. If interested...)

Family love with Team Gilden:

special aunt time

super neck strength

chunky cheeks

more Gilden goodness

a typical afternoon with Spencer and Shayna - in their own little toddler world (My favorite part exists between 0:37-0:45.)

We snuck to Driftwood for some Team Cohen swimming time. We had more fun than our sunscreen could handle and didn't even take pictures besides muscle man and sugar cereal.

I've learned that "Corona Break" is all about embracing the "Sure." Like, such as, "Mommy can we make RAINBOW CHALLAH AGAIN?!?!"
"Sure."

COVID Continues. Pictures continue. You probably don't want to be a fly on our walls, but the kids seem happy.

getting alongly-like and sharing their broccoli

shopping with my bunny necklace

Gabi, the protector, using her powers for good

I leave you with these pictures and shrug them off as COVID wonders. (Although we all know they would have been just as likely at any time in Cohen history.)

'Meria magnet puzzle

just a 7-year-old napping, totally normal

Father's Day

Father's Day was really good on quality time and REALLY good on our tummies. Not so good on pictures. In my note to Jon, I acknowledged that this Father's Day looks different than in all other years because the adulting and fathering is so much more. We are hugging more, sweeping more, disciplining more, meal prepping more, laughing more, biking more, cleaning more dishes, teaching more, etc. Jon is always trying to be a better father to these 3 little monkeys, and we are all grateful for him. Happy Father's Day!

Octembruary 54th

Meanwhile, back at Chez Cohen, Mommy wanted to paint her toe nails. And yet, 3 children and a husband still needed entertainment. Whatever keeps them happy, Mommy thought to herself. Fast forward past 80 painted nails later, Mommy got the red toes she wanted.

Creektastic

If a blogger takes her family to explore a creek, but doesn't take obsessive pictures about it, did it really happen? We'll never know the answer about the first time we went in June, but I made sure to make up for it the 2nd time. Bull Creek has so many different entrance points to explore. They each look different. They each have different swimming, wading, and waterfall opportunities. They each have different levels of popularity affecting the ease or challenge of social distancing. We found a great spot one morning on a hot day and enjoyed the clear, cool water of the creek.