Darr Family Blog

Weekly Happenings: This past week ushered in the month of December. It’s hard to believe that we’re already at this point. In just a few short weeks it will be Abigail’s birthday (what?!) and then Christmas. One fun thing we did was to take the kids to Bass Pro’s Shops to see Santa and to let Joseph play with the fun things they had set up for the kids. I also took both kids to the monthly market day in Old Town Helotes to look around at all the craft booths.

The Weekly Weather: We’ve had cool mornings, warmer afternoons, and then cool evenings. It sort of reminds me of California.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s busy with work and school (the semester is going to be wrapping up relatively soon). He also spends a lot of time with Joseph, playing games together (which Joseph absolutely loves). Oh, and he did a bit of maintenance on the neighborhood Christmas decorations (a never-ending task, it seems).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much on my front. Mainly just doing my thing. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s settled back into the school groove after his week off and also loves having his free time in the afternoons to play with Abigail as well as his toys and games. Have I mentioned that I love, love, love the fact that they aren’t giving them homework?!

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She loves exploring parts of the house now that she’s scooting along at a good pace. She’s also starting to try to get up onto hands and knees for a full-on crawl and has even hinted at trying to pull herself up onto other stuff. This has resulted in turning into a very squirmy baby when I try to hold her on my lap…she wants to go, go, go!

This Week in Pictures:

Weekly Happenings: We enjoyed a relatively relaxed week this past week. Joseph had the week off, we had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with just our little family, and we tucked away the fall decorations to make way for Christmas stuff. I love this time of year!

The Weekly Weather: It’s been warm-ish…mid- to upper-70s with a couple days in the low 80s.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been really busy with school work (and his day job, of course). He also pounded out a lot of Christmas trees made out of wood pallets to use as decorations for the entrances to the neighborhood and he (with the help of some others in the neighborhood) spent yesterday morning decorating each entrance.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much out of the ordinary for me. While Paul tackled the outside house decorations, Joseph and I tackled the inside. So much fun!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He enjoyed his week off (5:30 tomorrow morning might be a shock). He’s been excited about getting Christmas stuff out, so Friday was a lot of fun for him.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: Ever since the Christmas tree went up, her crawling efforts have increased, ten-fold, haha. She is a super-busy baby and also likes to play peek-a-boo with me by putting the burp cloth over my face and then pulling it off. She also has figured out that feeding herself is rather fun and loves to sit with us at dinner, shoveling puff snacks into her mouth as fast as is safely possible, haha. She hit her 11 month mark mid-week last week, which just blows my mind. I can’t believe she’s so big!

This Week in Pictures:

Weekly Happenings: This past week held a fun family outing: on Friday, we were able to go to the zoo to see the Zoo Lights. It’s something they’ve started to do for Christmas. Yes, I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but they were letting zoo members get in before they opened it up to the general public. We decided to go early and beat the crowds that seem to get bigger and bigger the closer it gets to Christmas itself (in other words, any time after Thanksgiving). The zoo was decorated with lights, there was music…plus the novelty of being able to go at night. It made for a fun night.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been rather warm, actually. We even had it get into the 80s a couple times. A cold front did move in last night, though, so we should have some cooler weather for a bit.

What Paul’s Been Up To: Mainly work and school. He has worked some more on the baby gates for the stairs and has spent quite a bit of time with Joseph, doing what Joseph likes to call “Dad and son time” (video games, playing in the yard, etc.).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Mainly just my main deal right now: keeping the kiddos happy and healthy!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He enjoyed his last week of school before the Thanksgiving break (they have this next week off), and has been a continual help with Abigail. I’m so grateful for my big helper!

What Abigail’s Been Up To: We’ve been trying to give her more “floor time” so that she can continue to work on scooting around. I’ve already seen an increase in just this past week. She’s also been better at accepting being laid down for an actual in-the-crib nap during the morning. Afternoon naps have never been an issue, but she’s always struggled with morning naps. Most up to this point have been in the car, on the floor, on my bed, etc.. I’ve noticed that her demeanor is even better than normal with a little bit of extra sleep. Oh, and she has decided that completely pureed food is for the birds, and will only eat food with little chunks of food in it (as well as little puffs and bites of her teething wafers). Such a big girl!

This Week in Pictures: