Darr Family Blog – Page 154 – The place to follow the Darr Family

Is That a Bit of Crispness I Feel in the Air?

Weekly Happenings: Since the weather was actually cooperative, we spent quite a bit of this last week outdoors. Basically, if we didn’t have any other commitments (bread baking, story time, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc.), we were either in the back yard or at the park in or subdivision. I’m one lucky momma in that Joseph is just as appeased to have me as a playmate as he is having playmates closer to his own age. Monday we did go to the zoo since Paul had the day off.

The Weekly Weather: It has been quite pleasant as of late. It’s actually been cooling down a bit at night (a phenomenon that is not typical of Texas) so that the mornings have been cooler before heating up in the afternoon. Plus, when it did heat up, it was in the low 90s, so that was not too bad, either. Today, however, has been the best of the days…I don’t think it’s even 80 yet. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been keeping busy at work and has been up to his elbows in homework. One neat thing about his new job is that they allow him to take some time during the week to do PT. It’s good that he’ll get some time to work out during the week, because I know it’s something that he’s been missing due to going to school, working, church callings, etc.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve mainly just been plugging along, doing my normal stuff. I did rejoice in the fact that on Thursday I decided to weed the yard and made it through both yards with about half the normal weeds (which means they might be slowing down for the year finally) and the weather was cool enough that I didn’t even break a sweat (as opposed to breaking into a sweat by simply walking outside).

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Joseph really loved going to the zoo last Monday, especially since we rode the carousel. He had a really great time at story time (and is really looking forward to the costume parade that will be happening towards the end of the month), and is super-excited about Halloween. He asks just about everyone he sees what they are going to dress up as for Halloween. 🙂 He also loved all of the outdoor time that we’ve been enjoying. There was one funny thing that happened while he was helping me water the plants in the back. I was having him move the hose around to the different planters/raised beds, etc. After the last one, I turned the water off. He was fascinated with the fact that there was still a bit of water that was trying to escape from the hose after I turned off the spigot. I looked over just in time to see him, with lips firmly planted, trying to slurp the last bit of water out of the hose, hahaha. So now I can say that he’s drunk out of the garden hose and survived. 😉 It’s kind of funny the way his mind works, too. Today he noticed that the baby girl in the bench in front of us at church had painted toenails. He asked me if all girls’ toenails came “that way”. I asked him in what way and he answered “Purple…is that what happens to all baby girl toes?” He seemed relieved when I told him that her momma painted her toenails, just like I paint my toenails, and not that they just randomly changed colors. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20151012_140251 — He was really excited to get to ride the gorilla. He kept saying, “Wee! Thanks for the ride, Mr. Gorilla!”

IMG_20151013_142226494 — He wanted a Play Doh garden (it was an idea that he got from one of the activities that was happening at story time at the library). I quickly made some flowers out of construction paper and pipe cleaners and we used the brown Play Doh as “soil”.

IMG_20151013_150615322_HDR — My “flower child”. After we “picked” all the flowers, he decided to open a flower shop. He gave me a flower and when I thanked him, he said, “You’re welcome…that’ll be $100, please.” Man, inflation has gotten out of hand! 😉

IMG_20151015_103744206 — Walking around the “forest”. Our park has a large area where it’s just a path through a bunch of trees. Joseph loves to explore around there.

IMG_20151015_102346958_HDR — He loves the “big boy swings” but was a bit surprised at their height (we’re working on asking the HOA about lowering the seat height a bit) since they are quite a bit higher than the swings in our back yard.

IMG_20151015_102411921_HDR — He has discovered the meaning of “Underdog!” (me pushing him forward, going under him, and then letting him go back), so that’s all he wants me to do. I’m a bit afraid to do a true “Underdog!” because a) it makes him go a bit higher than I’m comfortable with, since he’s just getting used to regular swings and b) I’m a bit afraid he’s going to kick me in the face, hahaha. I do a bit of a modified version, which he’s still okay with. 🙂

IMG_20151016_110357820 — Climbing on one of the structures.

IMG_20151016_105750560 — Exploring the “forest” on a different day. I really, really love our park.

IMG_20151016_211312060 — “Box fighting” (aka boxing) with Daddy. I’m glad that Paul rough houses with Joseph so that I don’t have to. 😉

Fall Fun

Weekly Happenings: This past week held some pretty fun events. On Tuesday, we had our National Night Out neighborhood party at the park. It was pretty crowded, so we ended up not staying very long. We did stay long enough for Joseph to get to sit in a fire truck and get a balloon animal, though. He was pretty sad when we left, but Paul and I don’t really like big crowds in small places, so we made our exit a bit early. Wednesday we went to the park (because they weather was amazing), Friday we had some of Joseph’s friends over to watch The Great Pumpkin and have lunch, and yesterday we went out to the pumpkin patch at Love Creek Orchards (in Medina, which is out in the Hill Country). Last night also provided an opportunity for me to see a friend from high school that I hadn’t seen for probably 5 years or more. She was in town for a photography conference and we were able to meet up at the Riverwalk for dinner.

The Weekly Weather: The start of last week was cooler (almost fall-like), but it’s starting to heat up again. *sigh* I’m really looking forward to when it starts to cool down again! We did get a couple of storms, though, so that was nice.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been kept really busy with work, school, and his callings (as well as pulling awesome Daddy-duty when Joseph just NEEDS Daddy and when I’ve gone out with friends).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve been keeping busy as well. The beginning of each month is always hectic because I have to work on visiting teaching stuff. I’m also working with the ward choir getting music ready for the next few months. Finally, I’ve started attending another book club. I love to read, but found that I’ve been not reading very much because I’ve been allowing myself to be sucked too much into the vortex that is social media. I’m hoping that if I am attending two book clubs, I will devote more time to the reading of good books. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He loved going to story time this past week (especially since they are starting to focus on Halloween). He was also really excited about the fact that his Halloween costume arrived (he’s going to be Link). We had him try it on to make sure everything fit and it was really hard getting him to take it off, hahaha.

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20151005_100445447 — Hanging out with his Android (this was a Christmas present from Jason almost 3 years ago).

IMG_20151005_100449089 — Apparently he wasn’t very happy that I was taking his picture.

IMG_20151009_154145662_HDR — He recently acquired a Super Mario Brothers shirt and hat…that he wants to wear all of the time.

IMG_20151006_180355 — At National Night Out. This is as close as he would get to HEBuddy…mascots of any kind sort of freak him out.

IMG_20151006_174512 — He really liked the fire truck, though.

IMG_20151006_174709 — Especially since they let him ride in the front seat.

IMG_20151010_112842 — Dressing a scarecrow at the pumpkin patch.

IMG_20151010_113058 — Winding his way through the hay bale maze.

IMG_20151010_113303 — He loves cut outs.

IMG_20151010_113349 — I had to hold him up for this one. It was a bit hard because he didn’t want to stick his head through.

IMG_20151010_113542 — My “Texas” outfit.

IMG_20151010_113601 — Me and my sweet boy. 🙂

IMG_20151010_131456 — He liked this one, a lot.

IMG_20151010_114103 — Paul and I were ecstatic that Joseph was big enough to ride the barrel train by himself this year (it’s a rather bumpy ride).

IMG_20151010_125648 — We took a tour of the orchard (with dwarf apple trees that begin producing fruit in 18 months as opposed to 10 years), learned how apple trees are grafted, and learned about the orchard’s environmentally safe pest plan. They use bugs, bats, and birds (apparently kites will eat smaller birds who eat the apples) to get rid of the pests that eat the apples. We also learned how they make cider, and all the kids got to help put apples up to be cleaned.

IMG_20151010_125653 — Joseph felt pretty important getting to “help the farmer”.

IMG_20151010_125945 — They had the hay bale tractor again this year.

IMG_20151010_125922 — Joseph loved it every bit as much as last year.

IMG_20151010_130310488 — Doing a bean bag toss.

IMG_20151010_115539296 — First time in a tire swing.

IMG_20151010_130740414 — Going on the hay ride. Joseph just about lost his mind until Paul made room for him to actually sit ON THE HAY (it was rather crowded) because in his mind, it was NOT a hay ride unless you were sitting ON THE HAY. It was rather bumpy, though, so I was kind of glad when it was over, hahaha.

15 - 1 (51) — My friend Crystal and me after dinner last night. It was so great to catch up with her after so many years!

Bonus Video: Joseph riding on the barrel train.

A Fun Week

Weekly Happenings: We had a relatively fun week, last week. We had friends over for dinner (and playing afterwards), we went to Story Time, we had an adventure at the grocery store (more about that later), we played at the park, we decorated for Halloween, we introduced Joseph even further to the wonderful world that is LEGOS, and we have enjoyed (and are still enjoying) General Conference.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been relatively nice. The weather (especially the last few days) is slowly becoming milder. I think we’re only supposed to be getting into the very low 90s over the next little bit. I’m hoping that it will cool down even more before Halloween because it will just feel more…Halloween-y. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: His first week with the IT department at work has gone well. We’re grateful that the government did not shut down, because that means that he’ll still be working and also still be getting paid. He also is doing well with his college classes. We did go and find him a used computer monitor so that he could have the benefit of two monitors (making it possible for him to have multiple programs open and visible at the same time). We think that it will be a good thing that will make things much easier for him.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Now more about my grocery store adventure. I had been noticing that the Mazda had been acting a little rough when starting, but I had not had the chance to think about possibilities of why it was doing so. Well, on Wednesday morning, Joseph and I loaded up, got to the store, got our groceries, paid for them, loaded them into the car…and then the car wouldn’t start. To its credit, it gave a few valiant efforts, which led me to believe it was the battery, and not the starter (especially since we just surpassed the three year mark with it and batteries usually last between two and five years). I called Paul at work to, more than anything, see if he could come rescue the groceries (and us, since I always feel better when he’s with me in those situations). I then called the roadside assistance for our insurance (since I was pretty sure that jumps were covered and would not be an additional cost). The guy got there pretty quick (which was good since Joseph and I were already kind of sweltering in the Texas sun) and was able to start it right away, so I had Paul meet me at home. We unloaded the groceries and headed over to Walmart to get a new battery installed. Luckily, they were able to do so quickly (about thirty minutes), so Paul didn’t have to lose too much of his work time (he mainly followed me to Walmart to ensure that the car made it there). After that adventure, the rest of the week was pretty tame.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He enjoyed playing with friends and going to Story Time, but he really enjoyed putting up Halloween decorations. While we were hanging up lights, he was out with us, wearing a witch’s hat, swinging around a plastic jack o’lantern bucket, hollering at the top of his lungs that Halloween was here. 🙂 He also really enjoyed getting some more LEGOS to play with. The LEGO store was having a deal where you could fill up a cup with an assortment of random LEGOS for a certain amount of money. We’ve been wanting to get him random LEGOS that weren’t part of a certain kit so that he could use his imagination to build stuff (instead of an instruction booklet…especially since those are still a bit out of his comprehension). He has been playing with them for the majority of the weekend. It’s been great! He also enjoyed watching the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during conference today. He noted that “the guys are singing the low notes and the girls are singing the high notes.” Smart cookie. 😉

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20150927_191021129 — Playing dress-up in old uniforms.

15 - 2 (17) — When on the construction site, one must always be wearing the correct head gear.

IMG_20150928_155718907 — Jason and Saira got me an Amazon gift card for my birthday, so I used it to get a hand held grater/zester (not pictured, obviously) and this cool contraption, a salt cellar. It makes it easier for me to use kosher salt and besides, it’s just plain fun. 🙂

IMG_20150929_101852651 — Joseph dancing to the “days of the week” song at Story Time.

IMG_20150929_102040265 — The spinning part is his favorite.

IMG_20150929_102131265 — Doing the “months of the year” song. It has hand movements that are similar to the Macarena, lol.

IMG_20150930_080751009-2 — A sign I made for our downstairs powder room (making it easier for guests to find it without needing to ask). I really like how it turned out. 🙂

IMG_20151003_091508731_HDR — Wearing his witch’s hat and some “scary” teeth that Paul got out of a coin machine years ago.

IMG_20151003_122022400 — Momma and Daddy splurged and let him ride one of the coin-operated rides at the mall.

IMG_20151003_122103791 — The fact that this one was interactive kind of made it worth the $1.00 that we spent.

IMG_20151003_141214069 — Playing with his LEGOS.

IMG_20151003_143149928 — Showing off some of his creations.

IMG_20151003_143154171 — Momma and Daddy helped a bit with design, but Joseph showed quite a bit of his imagination…especially with the robot that he made (the one that is mainly blue, in the center of the picture) all on his own.

IMG_20151003_170414074 — Pretty soon, walls were erected, guns were mounted to cars, and a massive battle ensued (if you look closely, Joseph’s Kinex Mario figure joined the fight…Joseph was pretty happy to see that it fit on his LEGOS, which makes sense, since Kinex is part of the LEGO family).

15 - 1 (50) — I tried a new recipe: chocolate chip blondie bars. I basically wanted chocolate chip cookies without having to scoop them out individually, so I decided to Google it and this was the first recipe that was suggested. As for how they turned out…well, let me quote Joseph: “I like it…it’s delicious! Can I have some milk to dip it in?” I doubled the amount of chocolate chips since we like chocolate in our house…but I’m not sure if I added too much. Milk was definitely a necessity, hahaha.

IMG_20151004_160218871 — He made a Play Doh cake and was in the process of pretending to eat it. I’m glad that I had Paul give me one of his old shirts to put on Joseph, since we don’t really have any “messy” clothes for him to wear when playing with stuff like this (mental note to hit up the thrift stores for some junky shirts). It was nice that the shirt was able to go all the way past Joseph’s waist, though.