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A Fun Visit, Thanksgiving, and a Few Big Weekend Projects

Weekly Happenings: This past week was nice. Joseph had the entire week off for Thanksgiving break, I gave my students the week off (since most of them were traveling for the holiday anyway), and Paul had the last part of the week off, as well. Sunday evening we were lucky enough to get a visit from our nephew Chris (Tracy’s second oldest), who was in the area for work. He came over after we got back from church, had dinner with us, and then visited/entertained Joseph (who just had an amazing time with his “big” cousin). Monday through Wednesday were pretty typical. Wednesday night we did go out to the zoo to see it all decorated for Christmas. The funny thing about that night was that when I asked Joseph what he was most excited about, he said he was most excited about seeing all the nocturnal animals. He did enjoy the rest of it as well, though. 😉 Thursday was a pretty relaxed Thanksgiving. Paul did some finishing touches on the shed office and grilled the turkey on the grill (it turned out amazing). I worked on some of the side dishes. I made sweet potato casserole and stuffing for the boys, a baked sweet potato for myself, and Paul helped out again by grilling some zucchini for all of us. There was also canned cranberry sauce and some Hawaiian sweet rolls (two more things I avoided, haha). Joseph surprised me by eating everything and even asking for seconds of sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce (two things he didn’t care for last year). When we had leftovers on another night, he cleaned his plate again, so I don’t think it was a fluke. 😉 I was proud of myself that I enjoyed dinner and had normal blood sugar numbers afterward. I did pick up some mini apple pies for the boys to enjoy so that they weren’t cheated out of dessert. Black Friday was spent decorating the house, inside and out, for Christmas. Yesterday, Paul and some people from the neighborhood put up the Christmas decorations at the entrances to the neighborhood (something that Paul is required to spearhead since he is head of the beautification committee). Thankfully, the same people volunteered to take them all down after Christmas since Miss Abigail will be here by then (hubba-what?!). He then spent the rest of the day moving his office stuff (Joseph even helped move some of the handheld stuff and was an awesome door opener/closer). It’s all moved over and he has the Internet working, so now the spare room can become Abigail’s!

The Weekly Weather: It’s been a bit cooler, we’ve had sprinkles here and there, and it’s just generally beautiful. A typical South Texas fall. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: I’ve already delved into a lot of what Paul’s been up to up in Weekly Happenings, but toss in work and school work and that’s pretty much it. He’s really excited to be able to park his car in the garage again (for a while there were supplies for finishing the shed/office and then there were neighborhood Christmas decorations). 🙂 Here’s a link to his blog post [1] that he did about his entire shed project.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much. It was nice getting a bit of extra rest this week, not having to shuttle Joseph back and forth to school and having a break from students. I think it will make it possible for this 8 months pregnant momma to make it through three more weeks before Christmas break! I survived grocery shopping the Monday before Thanksgiving (seriously crazy) and I had a doctor’s appointment with my OB. Everything looks good with Abigail…I’ve lost another pound, which puts me down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have had some trouble with my joints and ligaments started to loosen (typical for this point of pregnancy), so I just have to be sure to take it easy, rest when I can (but still do some light exercise, since that seems to help), and make sure I’m getting enough water.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He enjoyed having time off of school, but I think he’ll be ready to go back tomorrow and see his friends. He also enjoyed being Daddy’s big helper yesterday during the office move. He is showing us that he can be such a great and willing helper. I sure love that little boy!

This Week in Pictures:

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Cousin Chris made for a great video game buddy. 😉
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Joseph has been into writing “love notes” for me and Paul as of late. This one depicts him giving me a heart (I’m the one sans legs but with the baby in my tummy).
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Riding the carousel at the zoo on Wednesday night.
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They’ve redone the lion exhibit and now the lions are super close. Joseph was pretty excited.
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The bronze lions are fun to climb on.
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I sure love this little boy!
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The result of grilling the turkey. It was so good! I sure am glad there are leftovers!
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The little tree that we let Joseph call his and decorate however he wants (which was also the one we bought the first Christmas after we got married) somehow got damaged in storage, so we went out and got a new one. He was pretty happy.
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All done!
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Christmas lights under the bookcase.
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A nice festive addition to the Home sign.
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One of my favorites: a palm frond reindeer.
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Christmas village and pretties.
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The stockings are hung (we don’t have one for Abigail yet because she isn’t here yet…and even if she was, would she really need one as a newborn?).
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One of my favorite signs, a Santa craft I made when I was a teenager, and our countdown. 🙂
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The piano. I love having a flat surface to spread out my pretties.
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I ended up with the nativity set that was in my house when I was a child (and probably before that). A bit of home is nice.
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Our beautiful tree. Paul is an awesome artificial tree “fluffer”.
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The outside decorations. Paul took some red duct tape and a bow and made the garage door look like a present. It took some planning, since the panels bend as they go up and down, but he did a great job figuring out how to work around that.
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Our snowman and penguin make their appearance every year.
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Dancing with the singing/dancing snowman. I think he’s made peace with it this year. Up to this point, he hasn’t liked that it’s sort of loud.
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Paul’s desk set up in his new office.
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Plenty of room for computer stuff storage.
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Also plenty of room for storage of other stuff (those are currently empty Christmas bins).
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Paul’s going to get some foam to set on this spot to make a couch of sorts, but Joseph couldn’t wait to come for a visit. There is a window AC unit installed, but as for heat, there’s only a portable heater (which is sufficient for the space). It was a little chilly, so the sleeping bag gave him some warmth in addition to some cushioning.