Darr Family Blog – Page 110 – The place to follow the Darr Family

Hello, Summer Vacation!

Weekly Happenings: This past week contained some fun things: Joseph’s end-of-the-year awards ceremony, another trip to the zoo, the last few days of school, and the start of summer vacation.

The Weekly Weather: Sort of a rinse-and-repeat of the week before: hot, humid, and sunny.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He rearranged the furniture in the loft, moving the couch away from the ledge (since Abigail is showing signs of crawling). He’s also been busy with work and school (he was able to take the day off on Monday to attend Joseph’s awards ceremony, which was really nice).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I got to go hang out with friends one night, which was a nice break from the mundane. Other than that, it was the regular routine.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He had a fun time at his awards ceremony as well as at the zoo (since they let us take him out of school early, we decided on a spontaneous zoo trip). He also had a ton of fun at a friend’s birthday party today (a lot of friends, a bounce house…yeah, I totally get why he had a blast).

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She has started pointing to things and saying, “That?” so that I can tell her what it is. She also is taking more tentative steps on her own. Oh, and she really likes to try to put her clothes on. She also likes to pick her clothes. I’ll hold up two options of something and she’ll either shake her head “no” when I offer one or she’ll take both and then give me the one she doesn’t want. She’s actually getting really good at shaking her head “no”. She’ll do it if I offer her more food and she’s full, or if I offer a toy and she doesn’t want it, etc. It’s hard to believe that in just three Sundays she’ll be old enough to go to nursery at church.

This Week in Pictures:

Our new loft set-up. I would have never thought to arrange it this way, but I love it!

The couch is moved away from the ledge which also creates a playing area right here…

…and then another playing area over here.

My zucchini sort of grew…a lot…when I wasn’t looking. I used it to make two loaves of zucchini bread, which turned out delicious (I knew it wouldn’t be good to eat in normal form since it was so big).

I love it when birds visit our yard. This particular time was two cardinals (male and female) and a finch. I watched as the male cardinal found a large bug (I think it was a beetle) and immediately hopped over and gave it to the female. Chivalry at its finest. I also watched as the finch tried to take the beetle from the female cardinal and got pecked by her for its attempt. She showed that she could hold her own, haha.

Joseph’s class sung a song for the parents before the awards (the awards ceremony was camping themed, which is why the room is decorated the way it is).

The song they were singing talked about being strong.

He got the Most Inquisitive Award. Very fitting!

Y’all. His teacher was amazing. She pushed him just enough that he improved without getting frustrated, made sure he was always engaged in what they were doing, and made learning so much fun. We struck gold with Ms. Adams! And can I just point out her dress: those are pictures that each of the students drew on pieces of cloth with fabric markers that she then ironed onto her dress.That made me cry a bit. I love that he had a teacher that truly loved and cared for him for those many hours that he was away from my love and care.

This bear had the right idea. He was just chillin’ in his pool.

With some more of the animatronic dinos that are all over the zoo.

We discovered this part of the zoo that had metal musical installations. Abigail liked using this mallet to hit the flower petals.

Joseph liked this one the best, I think.

They were sitting there, watching the fish swim by, and then all of a sudden one of the hippos just walked by (I find it fascinating that they don’t actually swim; they walk along the bottom).

She decided she wanted to put on her headband by herself…for about thirty seconds, haha

Bonus Video: Abigail drumming (you can also hear Joseph playing a different instrument in the background)

More Zoo Fun and a Couple of Sickies

Weekly Happenings: Since Joseph and Paul both had Monday off, we got an early start and headed to the zoo before it got too hot. It was surprisingly not busy (I suppose more people were hitting up Sea World/Aquatica, Six Flags, and the like). We had a great time and then headed home to just rest and relax in the air conditioning. The rest of the week that followed was pretty average. Friday, I started feeling sick again (pretty much the same symptoms I had a couple weeks ago), so I asked Paul if he could come home early. I went into urgent care and found out I had strep. Again. Two days after I finished the antibiotics for my first bout with it. I got my new antibiotics and headed home. A couple hours later, Abigail popped a high temperature, so (with my diagnosis in mind) Paul and I agreed that he should probably take HER into urgent care as well. She also had strep. Boo. So she got set up with antibiotics, too. Here’s to praying the boys don’t get it!

The Weekly Weather: Hot. Humid. We’re just going to leave it at that, haha. Pardon me while I go make sure all the curtains and blinds are closed, haha.

What Paul’s Been Up To: School and work have been keeping him rather busy. He’s also had to once again take on the role of “disinfector” as we try to cleanse the house of germs.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: My pretty normal stuff. Luckily I didn’t wait to see if I would get worse before I went back in to urgent care, so I’m already starting to feel better.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: School, a play date with one of his buddies, and being his normal happy self.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been pretty happy even though she’s had her grumpy moments (she doesn’t understand why she doesn’t feel good…she just knows she doesn’t…that would make me grumpy, too). Hopefully we caught it early enough with her, too, so that she won’t be uncomfortable for much longer. It hurts my heart a bit when my babies are sick.

This Week in Pictures:

Posing on the hippos before they got too hot!

His choice this time was the hummingbird because “they can fly really fast!”

Joseph really wanted to feed the lories. He sort of changed his mind when they started getting close, though.

Brushing a sweet little goat in the petting zoo area.

Munching on some popcorn while checking out one of the many dinosaurs scattered around the zoo.

Checking out the miniature mongoose…and the camera.

A friend of mine gave Abigail a bunch of those little square board books. Those are probably her favorite size because she can hold them in her hands better than bigger books.

Joseph teaching his friend how to play Pokémon…while Abigail tries to figure out how to get up to all of their stuff.

Summer is Coming!

Weekly Happenings: This past week was a pretty typical one. We didn’t really go anywhere out of the ordinary or do anything out of the ordinary, either. I don’t mind when that happens, though. It makes the “more fun” weeks more special. Paul did assemble our pool, though…which provided some relief from the heat and humidity.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been rather warm and humid (typical late spring weather), but it’s supposed to be triple digits all this next week. I’m sure glad Paul got the pool put together!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been busy with work, school, and home life. He did go see the new movie, Solo (about Han Solo) with a friend, which he enjoyed.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: The antibiotics worked rather quickly to clear up my strep throat (yay!). I had a wonderful meeting with our Relief Society presidency (as well as some of the stake Relief Society presidency). It’s so good to meet with them and find out more about my new calling and how I can best assist my presidency. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: The fun end of the year stuff at school continues. He has been enjoying playing with Abigail (and helping her walk). He also has procured a new Yo-Yo Ball which he has been making up tricks with.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She has been battling a small cold which she seems to over, finally. She also decided a couple nights ago that she didn’t want to go back to sleep after waking up in the middle of the night. She seemed fine as long as either Paul or I were holding her (or letting her crawl all over us), she just didn’t want to be in her bed. We finally got her to go into her crib so that we could go back to bed. I’m not sure if she ever fell back to sleep, though (she was quiet and not crying, at least). Luckily that was Friday night, so we all got to catch up on sleep the next day. She’s also gotten more brave with walking and will walk between two people (usually me and Paul) rather readily. There was one night that she turned from where she was standing (by the couch) and started walking towards the recliner. It seemed like she did it without thinking, almost automatically. She realized what she was doing after about 3 steps and then dropped down to her knees to crawl the rest of the way, haha. So…progress. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

This is what happens when you refuse to nap. You fall asleep on the two minute drive to your brother’s school.

Paul took the previous picture as well as this one and put his shoe there for scale. He was trying to come back in the house after being in his office finishing homework and had to wait until this guy had his fill of the beetles that would just walk past him.

She didn’t want to let go of her jingly ball, so she had to figure out how to walk and hold it at the same time. 🙂

Bonus Videos (yes, two!):

Joseph showing off his new Yo-Yo Ball tricks:

Abigail walking a bit: