Darr Family Blog – Page 153 – The place to follow the Darr Family

Imaginations Galore!

Weekly Happenings: Most of this past week was spent in imaginative play. Joseph pretended to be so many different things. It was really fun to see his brain working, incorporating things he has learned into something he wants to be or do. There were a few times we went to the park to play, and we also had friends over to play. Other than that, it was a pretty typical week. 🙂

The Weekly Weather: It’s been really nice, as of late. It’s been cooler (today has been downright cold…I think that we MAY be up to 60 degrees by now, but I’m not too sure). We’re supposed to get down to 34 degrees tonight. I must confess, I love it!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been busy with school and work as usual. Joseph has figured out that Daddy is a great playmate, so often times, he will be rather persuasive when asking Paul to do something with him (usually of the video game or sword fighting variety).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much on my part, either. I did go to one of my book club meetings, which was a lot of fun, as usual. Two of my friends and I ended up staying after the meeting and talking for close to two hours. It was a well-needed brain break. Most of my piano students are taking this next week off (due to the Thanksgiving break), so I will need to come up with some things to keep the man cub busy.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s done some pretty funny things, actually. One day, he told me that his mouth was like a trash can for food (considering the fact that he’s been going through one of his I-want-to-eat-all-day-every-day phases, I have to agree). He also has started talking to the bad guys in his video games…telling them to watch out because he will get them with his lava (???), telling them to leave him alone, etc. It’s pretty funny to watch, actually. Another (interesting to him, gross to me) thing he did was to walk up to me, tell me he wanted to share his germs with me, and then proceed to lick my cheek. Gross. But then there’s the flip-side where he is super sweet. He insisted on saying good morning to every. single. person we encountered at the grocery store. I’d like to think that he brightened a few people’s days.

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20151115_191828246 — Playing Wii boxing with Daddy.

IMG_20151118_134556168 — Pushing his friend on the swing.

IMG_20151118_134747524 — His friend pushing him on the swing. It was so cute how they were working together.

IMG_20151119_083624098 — Joseph wanted us to dress up as minions (those cute little yellow guys from the movie Despicable Me).

IMG_20151119_083638971 — So he gave me a pair of “minion goggles” and then put on his own pair.

IMG_20151119_083657462 — He loves seeing himself as we take pictures.

IMG_20151120_085534439 — The next day, he was a minion who was riding a horse (whose name is still definitely Catherine).

IMG_20151120_123317313 — He told me he was a fruit bat (the brown blanket is his wings) and that he was scavenging for fruit (fruit snacks, that is).

IMG_20151116_142321 — We don’t typically take a picture of Joseph throwing fits, but couldn’t resist. This is what he does: he lays face down on the floor…

IMG_20151116_142331 — …and then tells us, “No, no, no, no, no….I suppose it’s better than the alternative of screeching at the top of his lungs and pounding arms and legs.

IMG_20151121_101306 — Paul brought a giant box home from work, so Joseph decided to turn it into his ice cave (he was pretending to be Superman…it’s sort of hard to see his cape here, but it’s there).

Family Fun

Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty great. We did our normal stuff (story time, park play dates, etc.) but also had a couple of days where we got to do some fun stuff. One day was Wednesday. Because it was Veterans’ Day, Paul had the day off, so we went to the zoo as a family. We also ate at a couple of restaurants because they were having deals for veterans. The other super fun day was yesterday. We went out to eat lunch (one of the places we ate at on Veterans’ Day was not giving free food or a discount, but what they were doing was giving out vouchers for free future meals, so we cashed our vouchers in yesterday) and then went to go see the new Peanuts movie. It was really fun! We kept it a secret from Joseph and he was super excited to see it. He had been carrying his Snoopy around all day (simply because he was the animal of choice), so it was pretty great that he happened to have him for the movie.

The Weekly Weather: We’ve been having kind of flip-floppy weather. Most days have been cooler (and even rainy), but there have been a few here and there that were warm. ‘Tis how it is in South Texas in the fall…

What Paul’s Been Up To: Mainly just school and work…the fun life of an adult!

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Mainly just church stuff, choir, and teaching piano (oh, and keeping Joseph alive and happy)…I did get to attend a craft night for Relief Society. It was fun to hang out with friends and make cute stuff. 🙂 Oh, and I attended one of the two book club meetings that I have this month. I was hesitant about joining another book club, but I have found that since I now have more books to read, I waste less time on frivolous stuff.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been doing normal preschooler stuff. He really enjoys story time and playing with friends. One funny thing that happened was when I went to re-cover him after he fell asleep (he tends to kick his covers off while sleeping) and realized that he had put his slippers back on before falling asleep. I guess he’s sticking with the theory he came up with: slippers are “night shoes” and therefore should be worn while sleeping.

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20151110_141308027 — Joseph’s “J is for jellyfish” from story time.

IMG_20151112_182056291 — Building “cooties” with Daddy.

IMG_20151111_130519 — Climbing the lion statue at the zoo.

15 - 1 (55) — The spectacled bear was pretty entertaining (he was climbing all over his shade cover).

IMG_20151111_131004 — Joseph thought it was cool that he was so way high up.

IMG_20151111_131145 — This was the first time he noticed this statue.

IMG_20151111_131327 — Another statue he loves: the Komodo dragon.

IMG_20151113_104226781 — Playing at the park.

IMG_20151114_140430516 — He was so excited to go see the movie!

15 - 1 (56) — Taking “selfies” with Daddy’s phone.

15 - 2 (22) — Trying to get Snoopy into the frame.

IMG_20151114_163450683 — After we got home from the movies, he wanted to watch some of the classic Peanuts shows we have.

Making Up for Lost Time, Energy, Food-Consumption, and More…

Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty good. Joseph was finally feeling better enough to start eating again, which meant that his energy level practically skyrocketed. He seemed to be trying to make up for all that he missed while being sick. He’s been eating so much as of late! I don’t know how many times a day he comes up to one of us and says (in a very sweet voice, of course), “I need a snack!”. I can’t say that I’m annoyed by it at all, though…I’m just really grateful that he’s feeling better! As for our other weekly happenings, we took down the Halloween decorations, went to story time at the library, worked on various projects, and just enjoyed life in general.

The Weekly Weather: We had a few more rainstorms come through once again (always grateful for more moisture), and the temperature has dropped a bit. In fact, the past two days we’ve actually needed to wear long sleeves! I think it’s glorious!!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been working really hard at work and school. He just registered for his next set of classes (introduction to operation systems: Linux and security+), and is doing well there.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: The most notable thing that happened to me this past week was when I was taking apart one of the Halloween decorations (a small light-up skeleton). I popped the skeleton’s head off and a small tree frog hopped out and then starting jumping all over me. I eventually got the poor thing outside, but not before it peed all over everything, lol.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been doing great with his imaginative play (especially since the weather hasn’t been too agreeable). He’s been a spy, a ninja, Link, Mario, and Luigi…the works. It’s so great to see his mind work. One day, I was enjoying a soda when he approached me, wanting to know what I had (he’s been a bit of a mooch lately). I told him and he asked for a taste. He’s tried soda in the past and hasn’t liked the fizziness. He looked at it and then backed away, saying, “Is it fizzy? Um, no…I need to be grown up for that!” A few minutes later, he had another surge of bravery and again asked for a taste, but when I offered the cup, he again backed away, waving his hand and telling me that he needed to be grown up. He also saw what looked like a really cool toy on TV, but decided that it was most definitely meant for girls. He told me that he wanted to get that toy for me so that I could play with it. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20151101_163301672 — This was at the beginning of last week. He hasn’t taken afternoon naps for quite a while now, so I knew that when he fell asleep, he must have needed it. I just can’t believe how big he’s getting!

IMG_20151102_102324395_HDR — Joseph loves the gel clings for the various holidays that we can find in the Dollar Spot at Target. We actually found some fall ones!

IMG_20151102_102330843 — I still love the door decoration I made from stuff I had lying around. 🙂

IMG_20151102_102456686_HDR — Our table is also dressed up for fall.

IMG_20151102_103122432 — A fun sign I got this year to add to our fall decor.

IMG_20151102_103239572 — The piano set up is still my favorite, I think.

IMG_20151105_113527540 — Joseph insisted that we set up a place mat for (an invisible) Mario to eat his (invisible) food.

IMG_20151105_115808018 — Oh yeah…we also totally rearranged the furniture in the loft this past week.

15 - 1 (54) — Watch out for Link and his pet spider, Carl! They’ll get you!

15 - 2 (20) — And no, I have no idea why Joseph named his spider Carl…but that is most definitely his name. I asked Joseph three different times and received the same answer each time.

IMG_20151106_144209260 — It I fits, I sits…

IMG_20151107_081357800 — Eating breakfast with Snoopy and Woodstock.

IMG_20151107_161505206 — A little something I threw together with some wood that Paul had laying around, some glue, cardstock, and stickers (including some adhesive-backed rhinestones).

IMG_20151107_164041573 — I decided to hang it in the powder room…the owls kind of go with the hummingbird and dragonflies.

Bonus Video: This is a short video of Joseph reading to me. He’s getting pretty good!