This past week was really laid back. We pretty much just puttered along. The kids went to school, Paul went to work, and I kept the house running while doing some volunteer work at the school (for picture day: I helped keep the classes that were coming in and made sure everyone looked their best for their pictures). Joseph had his annual physical at the doctor and Abigail kept me on my toes (that’s nothing new, though).
This picture cracks me up. Abigail had called Joseph over to help her with something on the game she was playing (she loves the educational games on PBS Kids, but sometimes gets hitched up because she isn’t reading yet). I was making dinner, so I was only partially aware of what was going on. Pretty soon I heard Joseph mildly protest, ask Abigail what she was doing, and then start laughing. I turned around and saw this going on. Right as I went to take the picture, she leaned over to try to grab at the mouse to continue the game since Joseph had finished the tricky bit. At that point, I called for Paul to come rescue Joseph. Such a patient big brother!Paul’s brother (Jason) got us this portable cornhole set. It’s really easy to set up and breaks down rather compactly. Abigail was really excited to get it outside and play with it. She’s pretty good at it…especially when she gets really close. 😉One of the perks of walking the kids to school in the mornings is that we get to see some pretty stellar sunrises. I love it when there are a lot of big poofy clouds involved.I got Paul a cast iron dutch oven for his birthday. One day this past week, he decided to make stew in the smoker, which turned out super delicious!Abigail’s teacher has one of the newer Polaroid cameras. She was letting Abigail play with her Woodstock right before they needed to go get pictures taken. Abigail was convinced that Woodstock needed to get his picture taken, too (oh, boy). Abigail’s teacher took this picture in the gym, so that Woodstock wouldn’t need to be with her when she had HER picture taken (thank you, Mrs. Moreno). A friend of mine was helping Abigail’s class go through (this was right before I got there) and Abigail was more than willing to let my friend hold Woodstock while she had her picture taken. Thank goodness, haha.Mrs. Moreno also let Abigail take Woodstock home so that he could meet her Woodstock. Abigail really lucked out in the teacher category this year!When Paul left to take Joseph to Primary activities, Abigail wanted to go do something fun, too. I told her we could go to Target and look at the Halloween decorations. We ended up picking up one of these pajama sets. She was ridiculously excited to get to pick out this Sonic the Hedgehog set. It’s rather lightweight as far as this type of thing goes, so she might even be able to get away with wearing it as a Halloween costume if it doesn’t end up completely trashed before then, haha.We got the pajama set on Thursday night and this is Friday morning. As soon as she got up, she wanted it on. I didn’t let her sleep in it because I needed to wash it…plus I didn’t want her to get too hot (we’re still having some pretty warm weather) AND I didn’t want her having to deal with a big long zipper (even though it’s in the front) if she woke up in the middle of the night needing to use the restroom. When it was time to get dressed for school, she protested until I said to myself (but loud enough for her to hear, obviously) that I thought I would be able to win a race up the stairs against Sonic. It was on, then. She got upstairs and I was able to get her dressed in less than five minutes, haha. I did also promise to let her put it back on as soon as she got home from school (which she did). In fact, she wore it for the majority of today, as well. 🙂We took the kids to a BBQ place that had a playground out back. We ate and then let them play for a bit.Abigail really liked the slide.Joseph felt a little big for the play structure itself (it did look like it was designed with younger kids in mind), but he did really enjoy the tire swing.He could get it going pretty good.
This past week was kind of a mixed bag. We had a challenging day or two (Abigail had a bit of the stomach flu) but luckily some fun things as well (crazy hair day at school, Paul’s birthday, and fun nature-y things).
Abigail came home from school with some fake cactus pieces. She wanted to get a container to put them in, so we went to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a mini watering can and some Styrofoam disks. I stacked the disks in the can to create a little bit of height (luckily they were exactly the right size, so I didn’t have to cut them down at all), cut out a circle of brown construction paper to look like dirt, and popped the pieces in. One of my favorite things about getting to walk the kids to school is that I get to see pretty sunrises.This is the tiniest anole I’ve ever seen. He (or she) was probably three inches long from tip of nose to tip of tail.It was fun to watch it change from green to brown!We were stuck in a bit of traffic and I had a moment to marvel at how much of a leap technology in cars has come in the last little bit. If I plug my phone into my car, I have access to everything I need from my phone on my car screen…which means that I don’t need my phone out at all to access my maps or anything else (and a bonus perk is that I can also listen to my commercial-free music). Plus, a lot of it is voice activated, so I don’t even have to mess with the screen that much. This is just one of many ways this new car has been a blessing!Joseph opted not to do crazy hair day (there isn’t much to do with buzzed hair), but I think Abigail did enough for both of them! I spent probably ten minutes trying to convince her that she didn’t need a doll in her hair, but she was pretty determined. I was pretty sure she would not make it the entire day like this.The back of her hair was a bit too short to make it into the ponytail, but a bunch of clips solved that problem…and added to the craziness.I was amazed at school pick-up to see that her hair made it the entire day! She asked me to take it out as soon as we got into the car, though, she wanted everything out. I totally understood! It couldn’t have been comfortable for her to lean her head back with all that stuff in her hair.This is the place Paul went to eat with his coworkers on Thursday.Let’s just say that it isn’t in the best part of town, haha. Don’t worry…this didn’t happen during their visit.
This past week started off with Labor Day. It was nice to have a day off. We went to the zoo and then after we got back, I got out the fall decorations. I know it isn’t officially fall until towards the end of the month, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. Maybe the decorations will bring cooler temps? One can only hope! The rest of the week was pretty typical. I did spend a decent chunk of time today removing the broom plants from their pots at the side of the house. They got really damaged during February’s frost and just weren’t doing well all-around. I think they would have been happier if they had been planted in the ground where the roots had more room to spread out. Or maybe there was too much sun where they were…who knows? Regardless, I went to Lowe’s for replacement plants and ended up with blue salvia plants. They should be able to withstand the heat…we’ll see what happens when the cold winter temps hit. It’s hard finding plants that can withstand both our baking summers and our frigid Februaries. Paul also mentioned that he could see the beginnings of baby pumpkins at the base of some of the flowers on the pumpkin plant…so we might actually get a pumpkin or two from it!
Abigail was excited that this photo spot was still at the zoo.She wanted me and Joseph to join her for a picture.Joseph vetoed taking a picture with the flowers…so it was just the girls.I love dressing up the piano for fall!It was Abigail’s idea to stick the mini scarecrows in the plants.This is where I normally hang stockings during Christmas, so the hooks are already there…I love the checkered pumpkins and garland. Abigail likes to play with the acorns. It’s supposed to be a door hanger and the acorns are bells.A bandana pumpkin and a pumpkin candle that I got at a baby shower…do you sense a theme here? 😉You guessed it! Another pumpkin. 🙂 That fall sign is one of my favorites, too.More checkered garland. I actually leave it out for Christmas, too. It seems to fit both seasons.I love the cut out letters on this sign. I also love the silver pumpkin on the bottom that goes with the silver pumpkins I have on the piano.A friend of mine got me a mini pinata for my birthday. On Monday night, we let the kids get after it.He was using the stick as a probe to find the pinata before taking a swing.Dressed up as a cowgirl…watching a cartoon about…a cowgirl (Sheriff Callie’s Wild West).Twice we were surprised by rainstorms that weren’t on the forecast. The fist one happened right as I was picking up the kids from school…let’s just say everybody needed dry clothes after that, haha. The next day, another storm rolled in (luckily after we got home from school). The funny thing about this one was that my weather app on my phone insisted that it was sunny with a 0% chance of rain…even when I refreshed it!This is the HVAC vent in the kids’ bathroom. Can you see the opening to the duct, with the flaps that are all along the outside of the duct? I was brushing Abigail’s teeth and she starting freaking out. She saw the pattern that the flaps make and was CONVINCED that it was actually a black and white striped snake. It did make me do a double-take when I first glanced up there as well.*Slightly* cooler temps (as well as the fact that we’re heading into fall) mean I don’t mind when I need to turn some overripe bananas into banana bread. I love my mini loaf pan that bakes eight mini loaves at once! This recipe calls for cinnamon and sugar to be sprinkled across the top before baking, which adds a nice little crunch.Look at our pumpkin plant! Paul has been carefully moving it so that it curls back on itself instead of trailing all the way into our neighbor’s yard, haha.Do you see what I see at the base of the blossom?!Here’s another one…the beginnings of a baby pumpkin!My new blue salvia plants.:)
