Celebrating Selah

This year all Selah wanted to do was go swimming in a pool. The week before her birthday I called up our neighbor and asked if we could borrow her pool. She was happy to let us! BUT as we got closer to Selah's big day, the weather predicted storms. 

That morning was dark and cloudy and I just knew that Selah would be disappointed. I tried to think of an alternative, but with things being closed for COVID, I wasn't having any luck. 

Unbelievably, the rain held off - so we went ahead and went over to the neighbor's house. As we got into the pool - the clouds disappeared and the sun came out! It was beautiful!

Everyone had a great time!! We swam, we jumped, we partied!

When Daddy got home that evening Selah opened gifts. 

We went to On the Border for dinner - request of the birthday girl.Then we came home for an ice cream cake from DQ!

It was delicious!!

I think Selah had a happy birthday after all!

4th of July with Friends

Because of COVID-19, our 4th of July celebration looked a little different than usual. The parades across the nation were cancelled. Most Firework shows were also cancelled. That didn't stop us from celebrating, though! We invited the Linns over for hamburgers, water balloons and our own fireworks in the cul-de-sac. 

We started with a water balloon toss.

Then a water balloon towel toss. 

After that, the kids did a relay to fill the buckets with water. 

The winners got to throw the water on the losing team. 

Somehow Micah escaped completely dry - so he broke a water balloon over his head. 

What a good sport!

Then it was time for water balloon baseball! 

Even the parents tried this one! 

Before we knew it, it was dark enough for fireworks and sparklers!

I love the fountains! 

 See the moon peeking over the trees?

Some of our fireworks were quite large (and loud!)!

It's been a hard year for our nation. There has been sickness, hardships, and civil unrest, but I am still proud to be an American and so thankful for our freedom! 

French Macarons

With no camps or trips or vacations, our summer has been...well...a bit boring. We decided to plan at least one fun thing each week. We have made a trip to the snow cone stand, gone to the beach and are working on diamond paintings. Selah and I also decided to try to learn to make macarons. 

Macarons are tedious and a little temperamental. It is easy to over or under beat the cookie dough. Even so, we made a delightful almond flavored macaron! 

The mark of a good macaron is the "feet" they are supposed to raise upward - not out and should have porous bottoms. 

 The cookie was great - we didn't love the filling, though. The next time we will use a different recipe for the filling. 

It was super fun to learn and work on together!