July

July was summer done right. 

Swimming lessons at the pool, playdates with friends, keeping cool at the ice rink . . .

pretty much whatever kept us out of the 100 degree weather!

Just a typical day at the Tack house, right here:

Seriously, though, I love these two right now. Lilly will be starting Pre-K in a couple weeks and Henry will turn two next month, and they seem so grown up all of a sudden.

They play really well together, and are the best of friends. (When they aren't pushing each other's buttons!)

And Henry is actually old enough now to have playdates of his own!

It's so much fun seeing his little personality come out as he learns how to interact and communicate.

 

"Come on, man! Give me a high five!"

And Lilly is still her little prematurely mature self. A little woman.

She loves to help out around the house, watch over Henry, and read as many fairy books as she can get her hands on. 

She teaches her brother all the most important things, for instance, how to give a proper wink.

She also has a love for fantasy and an imagination that can't be tamed. 

So glad I captured this little magical moment at the children's museum:

Speaking of magic, she's been dying to learn how to ice skate like a certain magical ice queen, so we signed her up for a 4 week skating class. Along with the class, she got passes to skate for free during the week, and she loved it! She would skate around and around and never want to leave!

I took a little class of my own, and got to try out the aerial hammock. I'd been wanting to try it out for awhile, and it did not disappoint. So much fun!

Every summer in Austin, there is a musical performed at an outdoor theater at Zilker Park, and Drew and I couldn't wait to check out their production of Hairspray this year.

We kept putting it off, and then just decided to go spur of the moment and take the kids with us.

And we were SO glad we did! They absolutely loved it. Lilly was totally enthralled, and Henry put on a show of his own, dancing along to every song. This kid just might have a future on Broadway. He garnered the adoration of all our hillside neighbors with his big smiles and sweet moves.

Family Date Night!

And we finished out the month with two weeks of swim lessons. Lilly  made great progress this summer, and can finally swim short distances on her own. Henry and I did a parent/child swim class, and his favorite part was playing with the the superhero and princess figurines they took out at the end of each lesson.