Weekly Happenings: Okay, so I know that it isn’t officially spring, but it’s practically here in San Antonio. The freezing temps seem to be behind us (Hallelujah to that) and there is a warmth in the breeze. This past week, we didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary. We’re looking forward to this next week which will be Joseph’s spring break (yay for getting to sleep in a bit)!
The Weekly Weather: As I’ve mentioned already, the freezing temps have left and we’re in the wonderful in-between time that is spring in San Antonio. It isn’t cold, but it isn’t melt-your-skin hot, either. Every once in a while, a cold front will move through, but that just means it’ll be in the low 60s instead of the upper 70s-low 80s.
What Paul’s Been Up To: He was rather busy this weekend. He built himself a new workbench, planted some new plants for the side yard (more about that in a bit), and spread composted manure in the yards to help them wake up (they were already mostly dormant, but the snow made them go completely dormant).
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Pretty much the normal stuff: taxi-driving, piano teaching, feeding our brood, etc.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He had a good week of school and liked that they got to have pajama day this past week.
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She has been getting better at playing on her own, using her own imagination (instead of wanting me to play with her all of the time). It’s fun to see what she comes up with. It also provides me a glimpse into what things she might be worried about, scared of, etc. (since she’ll often act out those scenarios with her animals and felt dolls).
This Week in Pictures:
Playing with her felt dolls. They had fun playing with their pets, had sleepovers, and fought over clothes. 😀We took advantage of the beautiful weather to go to the park.Oh, to be that limber again!He used to be really scared to do this. Now he scampers right across.She’s a big fan of slides.One of the reasons we went to the park. 😉 We knew it would be there (they have an agreement with our HOA to be there once a month) and pre-ordered. I had a brisket grilled cheese sandwich that was…amazing.This conglomeration of toothbrushes, toothpaste, and cups was kind of driving me crazy.All it took was a couple of new containers to make it better. Luckily, Target still had the same stuff they had when I redid the kids’ bathroom, so I was even able to find matching stuff.I also got Abigail some new shirts, since she really needs to be moved up a size. I was so happy with all the cute options that seemed to cater to her rather spread out tastes. There’s flowers, a llama, Frozen, Grogu (a.k.a. Baby Yoda or “the Child” from The Mandalorian), and Pikachu from Pokemon.Showing me her Buc-ee shirt (Paul went through New Braunfels on his way to a convention and stopped by Buc-ee’s, so he grabbed shirts for the kids).Playing with her animals.Abigail was excited that they “matched”.They both have Grogu on their shirts (this was when Joseph had pajama day for school).She loves it when her brother pushes her!Swing fun.Getting ready to go down the slide.Getting their spin on.Somehow they never bonked heads (thankfully). I thought for sure that they would.Dinner a few nights ago: roast and veggies (carrots and onion) done in my pressure cooker and fresh rolls (which I made that morning) with homemade honey butter. It was so yummy!Playing with Play-doh…wearing an old marching band booster club shirt that used to belong to either my mom or dad (from my marching band days).Paul’s work bench. He was able to get it together in just a couple of hours.My new side yard plants!I love looking through the window and seeing green.They’ll be even prettier when they bloom (they have little yellow flowers).This year’s tomato plant!I decided it was probably a good idea to have more than one pair of glasses. That way, if something happened to one pair of glasses, I would have a back-up pair to wear until I could order new ones. I decided to stick with exactly the same frame shape, but get the tortoiseshell version. Since my black pair is older, it’ll be my back-up pair now.
This past week, we pretty much recovered from our spontaneous trip to California, put our house back together (we had left it in a rather disorganized state when we left because we were trying to beat roads icing over and another storm headed our way), and got back into our routine. The weather has been warmer (it is almost March, after all), for which we are all grateful. I’ve had a taste of what a real winter is like and I don’t care for it much, haha. Bring on spring with its warmer temps, wildflowers, sunshine, and warm breezes!
Our local weather station posted this graphic. It’s crazy!Sometimes humor helps when dealing with a crazy situation. I found this on Facebook and had to laugh.This was another one that made me laugh…but the extended power outages really did test us!See now, this is what I’m used to for winter. 😉Warm sunshine…no snow…I’m okay with this.We even went to the park one day.She loves it when her brother reads to her.With it being almost March, I updated our house with St. Patrick’s Day stuff. I made this shamrock banner a couple years ago using string and some scrapbook paper (I traced around a wooden shamrock I have so that all three of the paper shamrocks would be the same size and shape).I updated my board for March with a portion of one of my favorite Gaelic blessings: “May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”My other St. Patrick’s Day decorations. The larger shamrock says: “May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.” Cute story: Abigail spotted the leprechaun and asked me why we had a clown sitting inside a witch’s pot. 😂Our door decoration.Someone decided to give herself a Greek yogurt facial. As I was getting her ready to get into the tub (because, really…there was no other choice) she admonished me to be careful because she didn’t want to get yogurt on her shirt. 😂🤔😂
Not long after I posted all my snow pictures, the power went out. And stayed out. It went out a little after 1:00 in the afternoon and stayed out overnight and well into the next day. We managed to get dinner cooked on the propane camping stove we have and got some light from a propane lantern we have (we were sure to have proper ventilation for the short time we used both of those things, so don’t worry). We also got some light from some solar lights that had been outside that Paul brought in. After we got dinner stuff taken care of (using bleach to sanitize the dishes we used since we had no hot water), we got ready for bed. We put both kids in Abigail’s room so that their body heat could keep each other warm. The next morning, we went to a friend’s house to warm up, charge our devices, and make a big decision. We were facing no knowledge of when the power was going to come back on, potentially no water (the water towers couldn’t refill because of the power outage), a boil water notice for the water we did have, and another storm (that we came to find out dropped four more inches of snow). I called my mom, asked if we could come (she, of course, said yes without hesitation), and we packed up and headed to California. We drove straight through, which was tiring, but necessary in order to beat the storm. We found out our power came on about 12 hours after we left, but we still felt we made the right decision because even with the power restored, we were still facing all the other things (including a gas shortage and a shortage of finding food) I already mentioned. We stayed for a few days until the situation at home improved and then we drove home Saturday and Sunday. Whew!
This was Tuesday morning (before we lost power).Crazy icicles!We made sure to properly ventilate before using this……and this. We also made sure to only have them on when we were using them, and then they went back on the back patio!Playing by the light of a solar light.Sleepover!Brrrrr! It was cold when we woke up!Grandma’s toys are the best!The trip wore her out.Sunset. 🙂Joseph and Abigail made sure their stuffed animals were nice and cozy.Loving the 70= degree weather.The little amusement park near my mom’s house had their mini golf open.Paul took Joseph for some Dad-and-son time. Joseph got a hole-in-one!At the park by my mom’s house.Swinging with one of his cousins.Snuggling with Grandma.Reading with her cousin.She kept bringing him books to read. He was very patient.Seeing what Uncle Aaron was up to.I was amazed she got herself in here.Trying to get out.The morning we left to go home.Watching a show in the hotel.Yesterday morning. We were so glad to sleep in our own beds last night!
One funny story from the trip. I was in the bathroom with Abigail at a gas station and she happened to see my reflection in a mirror that was across the bathroom. She said, “Mom! There’s a momma over there that has the EXACT. SAME. BACKPACK. AS. YOU!!!” I said, “Oh? What else do you see?” She looked again, saw herself, and said, “Oh, wait. That’s me. Never mind!!” 😀
After we got home, we were grateful to find that the boil water notice was lifted, none of our pipes froze (we had left a faucet dripping), and everything looked good. We are so grateful to friends who let us come to their house and for other friends who went to check on our house while we were gone. Also, we are more than grateful to my sweet momma for taking us literally at a moment’s notice. We are truly blessed!
