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Longer Days: Hooray!

Weekly Happenings: Last weekend ushered in Daylight Savings Time, so we’ve spent the week trying to adjust. Don’t get me wrong. I love the longer days because during the spring and summer we like to do more things in the evening because it’s just a smidge cooler. I just don’t like the change itself. I used to think that it would be good to stay on standard time (because I like the coziness that I associate with it getting dark early), but the more I think about it, the more I think I wouldn’t mind if we stayed on DST. I wouldn’t mind having slightly longer days during our nicer, cooler months, either. I mean, the Earth does its thing, so fall and winter days are already going to be shorter than spring and summer days, so why do we need to mess with the clocks? Bah. Consequently, not much got done during the week that wasn’t out of the norm.

The Weekly Weather: We’ve continued to enjoy our cool mornings, warm afternoons, and cool evenings. It’s been so nice!

What Paul’s Been Up To: The big thing he took care of this week actually happened yesterday and today. He was able to use some of the HOA’s budget to get some more mulch for the playground at the park. It’s needed it for quite some time. He found a company that was able to deliver the mulch right to the park, so nobody had to haul it there. He was able to get help from other people in the neighborhood to come and help him spread it out. In other news, because of his job, he was able to get the first round of his COVID vaccination. Yay!

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I mainly did my regular taxi service to-and-from school, entertained the four-year-old, and taught my piano students. My back is finally starting to feel pretty close to normal (I was even able to put my socks on normally the other day). I’m still scared to let myself sneeze, though…just in case that’s all it takes to set me back again. I did get to go to book club…and I took advantage of a sale at Hobby Lobby to get some cute things for the house. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: The funny thing is, I haven’t seen much of him lately. He’s at school during the day and then when he gets home, he spends a lot of time in his room (he does have a lot of things in there to entertain him)…I feel like I’m getting a glimpse into what the teen years are going to be like. 😉

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been enjoying getting to play outside. There was once where she decided to get her sandals on and go out on her own. I came downstairs after folding laundry and found her outside. I thought Paul was out with her, but soon I realized he wasn’t, so I stepped out with her (I thought he might have just stepped into his office for something) and had her put on her tennis shoes. A little bit later, Paul stepped out of his office and said, “Oh, she convinced you to take her out, huh?” or something like that. I then said, “Oh, I thought you took her out.”. Then we looked at each other for a beat and realized we’d been hoodwinked! Another time, she asked me for her tablet and I told her she needed to wait until my piano student came, since I let her play on her tablet while I teach. About 20 minutes later, she came up and told me that she thought my student wasn’t feeling well…so she could go ahead and have her tablet now. 😂 Oh, and another day, she knocked on Joseph’s door and asked to go into his room. When he said no (because, well, older brothers), she went and got her stuffed Pikachu and knocked on his door again. This time, she used a different voice and said she was Pikachu, and she needed her friend…she then elaborated by saying that her Pikachu was looking for Joseph’s Pikachu (he does have one). 😂 Hoo-boy. She’s gonna be way smarter than me before I know it (she probably already is). 🤦

Our tomato plant is happily growing! This was at the beginning of the week. It’s grown even more since then (I just haven’t taken another picture).
Playing with her animals and dinosaurs.
She was quite happy to find a starfish.
Roaring like Beast from X-Men. 😀
She told me that wrapping up in her blanket would make her (pretend) hiccups go away.
Walking around in Daddy’s boots.
She asked me to take her picture so that she could see it. Kids these days don’t know how easy they’ve got it with digital photography, haha.
I added this metal milk jug and fake plants to this corner of the dining room.
I think it’s perfect!
I also added this windmill decoration and more milk jugs with fake plants.
I think it looks great right here. This cabinet is on the wall behind the couch.
We had a smaller bin sitting on our breakfast bar that was for stuff we use everyday (medicines, vitamins, sunglasses, etc.), but it wasn’t quite big enough, so I got something bigger. It also has compartments in it, which I think will help us stay better organized with it (and not have to take everything out to find something that might have gotten buried at the bottom).
It fits in perfectly with everything else I have going on.
My shamrocks are happy with the warm (but not too hot) weather. I also have new growth on my rose bush.
Collecting rocks and enjoying the breeze.
The mint has grown like crazy! Last week, it was barely starting to poke through the dirt.
I think “new baby leaf” green is my favorite color.
Enjoying a rare quiet moment.
I love everything about this picture. My sweet girl, the green tree, the play set, and the blue, blue sky.
This is the big pile of mulch that got delivered to the park. It was ten yards worth.
They were able to spread it all out under the swings (which really needed it)…
…under this equipment (especially under the slide to provide a bit of a softer landing for the kiddos)…
…and a little under this equipment (again focusing on the area under the slide). Paul wasn’t able to get as much as he would have liked (the budget was rather limited), but I think he did a great job spreading it out the way that he did. I’m also glad that other people in the neighborhood volunteered to help, since we didn’t have it in the budget at all to hire out the job.