Kindergarten Performance, Garden Growth, and Some Other Stuff

Weekly Happenings: Tuesday night was Joseph’s kindergarten performance. It was super cute. They did songs that were about Dr. Seuss books and a lot of the kids (including Joseph) had little speaking parts. He didn’t seem the least bit nervous and said his line clearly. I’m so grateful for his experience in church with Primary programs. I truly believe they make him more prepared for things like this. Other things that happened this past week included marking the continued growth of our garden along with some home/decorating/organization projects.

The Weekly Weather: We’ve continued to have nice spring weather. I can hardly believe it! Last year, it was so much warmer during this time of year. I’m really trying to soak it in before the real stuff begins.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He was able to put together a storage unit that we picked up from IKEA. Abigail’s reach is getting higher, so stuff we don’t want her to get has to go higher or into a cabinet that has a baby lock on it, haha. He also helped Joseph make his shoe box float for the parade they’re having this upcoming Thursday (related to Fiesta).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Along with my normal mom stuff, I better organized the “cozy corner” (the area under the bookshelves downstairs). We ordered some foam squares that go together to make a rug of sorts (of which Abigail has only tried to take apart a few times so far, haha) and I picked up another bean bag chair, since Abigail was sort of commandeering Joseph’s. I could see that it bothered him, even though he wasn’t voicing his complaint. The new chair was a lot poofier than Joseph’s, so at Paul’s suggestion, I moved some of the pellets from the new to the old (which was quite floppy). If you ever need an exercise in patience, that just might be the task to try, haha. The result was two only-sort-of-poofy chairs, which is perfect.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: I already mentioned his performance. Other than that, he’s just been plugging along with school with the occasional play date thrown into the mix.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been her typical awesome baby-self. She is expressing the desire to get down more and walk along with one of us holding her hands (or using whatever she can push along to walk with). Sometimes I’ll walk into the dining room to find that she’s rearranged the chairs for me, haha.

This Week in Pictures:

She let me put a headband in her hair!
Joseph’s kindergarten performance. He’s just to the right (and behind a bit) of the kid in the orange shirt and yellow suspenders.
The kids did really well performing. I was quite impressed.
They did really well singing, too.
Joseph loved every second of it.
He did an awesome job saying his line.
The new storage unit. Paul put the printer up there, along with the modem, router, Roku box, server, etc. Once all of that was moved up there, it made room in the black cabinet for Joseph’s electronics as well as the Wii. Abigail-proof (for now, haha)!
The upgraded “cozy corner”.
The kids immediately put it to the test.
It passed muster, haha.
Our zucchini plant has flowered! Hopefully the pollenators do their thing, because I haven’t a clue about hand pollenation (other than that I know there are essentially male and female flowers).
Joseph’s pumpkin plant has its first real leaf!
The strawberries are ripening up (as is evident by that one I didn’t get to before something else did…grrr).
Living and dining decor a la Abigail. We’re going for that “random chair placement” look.
Working on a new LEGO kit.
The finished products! I helped him with one little thing and he did the rest. 🙂
Joseph’s finished Fiesta shoe box parade float.
 

A Fun Day Trip to Austin

Weekly Happenings: The work/school week was pretty normal. Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to Austin. We stopped for a mini-break at Buc-ee’s (a humongous gas station that has all sorts of fun stuff inside), leaving with fresh drinks, beef jerky, and two plush beavers (the “mascot” for Buc-ee’s is a beaver), haha. Once we got to Austin, we stopped at In-N-Out for lunch and then went to IKEA and Zilker Park. Zilker Park is a huge park (kind of similar to Brakenridge Park here in San Antonio) with a lot of natural areas and a really fun playground area. They also have a small train to ride around the park as well. It was a pretty fun trip.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been gorgeous. I can hardly believe that we actually have gotten a spring this year (warm, but not too warm). It’s been mostly clear. We did have one thunderstorm come through, but it was overnight Friday, so yesterday was just as clear and beautiful as the rest of the week was.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s enjoyed having a bit of a break from school. He was able to get his finals done early, so he had most of last week off and then this next week is his official break before he starts up on his final semester. I am so proud of him. He has been maintaining a pretty loaded school schedule (and getting good grades) as well as working full-time (not to mention holding down a calling at church and making time for family). I know it’s been stressful, but he’s handled it amazingly.

What Sarah’s Been Doing: I’ve mostly been doing the normal mom stuff: running errands, keeping the tiny human happy (as well as the not-so-tiny-anymore human), and the like.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been doing really well in school. He also got to have a friend come over after school one day, which he loved a lot.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been her normal cute self. She keeps us all on our toes with how mobile she’s become. We’re getting better at remembering to close doors as well as using the lock features on the fridge and dishwasher (since her reach is increasing as well).

This Week in Pictures:

Joseph pushing Abigail in her new stroller. He loves helping out!
We wanted to get something more lightweight that didn’t take up as much room in the back of the car. This Minnie Mouse umbrella stroller fit the bill (and was super cute as well).
Looking at their reflections in the oven glass.
Our garden is doing really well (and the pumpkin seed that Joseph brought home from school in October that we dried out and then poked into the ground to “see what would happen” actually sprouted).
Walking home with one of his best buds.
They had fun playing video games (and other things).
In the swings at Zilker Park.
Have I mentioned that she loves swings?
Abigail in the car.
They had this old fire truck incorporated into one of the play structures. Both kids enjoyed crawling around on it.
Momma and Abigail on the train.
More fire truck fun.
Daddy and Joseph on the train.
Paul put a bunch of Baby Einstein videos on his tablet and used that to help entertain Abigail.
Joseph on the fire truck.
Joseph upon realizing that one of the shows he had on his tablet matched a game he had for his DS: “Hey, I can play along as I watch!”
Abigail really loved this fire truck.
Joseph loved it as well.
One of the things we picked up at IKEA was a new set of baskets for my music storage. I had been using some green cardboard boxes, but they were starting to wear out. I love the look of the baskets!
 

Another Fun Week

Weekly Happenings: This past week contained the regular stuff (work, school, errand-running, etc.) but fun stuff as well: trips to the park (I think we went four times), a trip to the zoo, and tons of home fun.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been mostly warm (with cool mornings and mild evenings). Yesterday a cold front moved through, dropping the temperature about 25 degrees. It was interesting having to dig the winter stuff back out for just one day (today it’s supposed to be back up to almost 80).

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s finishing up his final projects for this semester. He’ll have a short break before diving into his final semester before getting his Bachelor’s Degree.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Taking the kids to the park, doing the back-and-forth school drop-off and pick-up, running errands, keeping the house in a {relatively} organized manner, etc.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been busy at school but has loved afternoon park visits and play dates at the house.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s starting to respond to simple phrases and commands. For example, if I ask her if she wants to give one of her stuffed animals (or one of us, or anything, really) “loves”, she’ll hug it close to her and pat it. The other day I was cleaning up the toys in the loft. She was watching me rather intently, so I handed her a car, and as I was putting other cars away, I said, “Come put your car away.” She sat for a moment (I could tell she was processing) and then crawled over and put her car in the bin (and was rewarded with a “Good job, Baby-girl!” which she loved to hear). We have to spell the word “bath” unless we’re ready to put her in the bathtub right then, or else she gets rather upset (she LOVES bath time). Oh, and while I was making dinner one night, I was letting her play with some kitchen utensils that I keep just for her in a plastic bowl. I tuned around to pick them all up (since I heard her playing with toys in the living room) to find that she’d put them all back in the bowl before crawling off to the living room. It was a rather nice surprise, haha.

This Week in Pictures:

My first attempt at an {almost} homemade pie (for convenience I used a pre-made crust) turned out pretty tasty. It’s strawberry (a favorite fruit in our house). Even Joseph, who is a somewhat picky pie eater said he liked it a lot. He did say that the whipped cream (which I did make from scratch) was his favorite part. 😄
Joseph’s model of a pill bug that he did at school as part of a research project. I love how his teacher stretches his brain in fun ways!
Paul moved the coffee table from its more traditional placement (it was rather cramped the way it had to be in order to accommodate the recliners) and moved the smaller table as well (since the coffee table is now where it once resided). I instantly loved it. The area is much more open to walk around, and now the board games (which are in the plastic bins under the coffee table) are much more accessible to bring to the table to play.
I love seeing her looking at books!
She loves this plush milk carton (yes, you read that correctly) a friend of mine got for her.
Giving it “loves”.
Miss Fiesta came to visit Joseph’s school (Fiesta is a big event in San Antonio during the month of April) and Abigail was rather enamored with her crown. When Miss Fiesta asked if we wanted to take a picture with her, I couldn’t really say no. I did have a hard time keeping Abigail from grabbing all her Fiesta medals (the things pinned to her sash), though.
She climbed into Joseph’s beanbag chair with this book and proceeded to just sit back and relax with it.
She looks so big in these pictures. I can hardly believe it!
Roaring like a bear (unlike the actual bear behind him…who, I think, is getting ready for a nap, haha).
Surfing the Komodo dragon.
Saying hello to a giraffe…I couldn’t believe how close they were this time.
I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this picture…maybe he’s making a giraffe face? Or just a silly face for the camera…either is possible.
After the zoo, we went to The Cracker Barrel for dinner. They had games at each table to play. Joseph loved this peg game. As we were paying for our meal later, we noticed they had them for sale right by the register (well played, Cracker Barrel, well played) and decided we would get him one (we decided $4 was rather reasonable).
Putting Daddy’s slippers back up on the bench after getting them down to play with.
Paul got this shot. I sense a theme starting with her, books, and this spot. We might need to get another beanbag chair eventually (since Joseph still likes to snuggle into this spot on occasion).