Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty average. I got the oil in the van changed, taught piano, got visiting teaching stuff figured out, etc. Saturday was my combined recital (my piano students and my friend Aili’s voice students). It went really well. Many people came up to us afterward and said they really liked hearing both types of music. I think we’ll do it that way again! 🙂
Weekly Weather: It seems that with the commencement of the month of June, we’re done with the rain for a while at least, and the warm weather is here for good. Having said that, it’s been a pretty mild June. I think the warmest we’ve been temperature-wise is in the low 90s. Not bad, at all!
What Paul’s Been Up To: Work and school (he just finished midterms) as usual. He’s also working with the Sunday School presidency (of which he is the first counselor) to plan the 4th of July ward party.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Now that my recital is finished and my visiting teaching organizing is taken care of for the month, I can devote more time to getting my choir stuff learned (singing and directing are two WAY different things, I am learning). There are times when I feel stretched a bit thin, but I know Heavenly Father will not give me anything that I can’t handle, so I need to remember to put my trust in Him, and it will all get done. 🙂
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Showing me love…in his own way: the other night before I left him in his bed to go to sleep, he told me, in a very sweet voice, that he loved me…and then in that same sweet voice, he said “fist bump” and held up a little fist that I could bump and do the “Bah-la-la-la-la” sound from that move, Big Hero 6.
This Week in Pictures: I’m also throwing in a couple of pictures that Paul’s boss’s husband got of us at the work picnic two weeks ago.
Walking along at the picnic. People got a kick out of the boys’ “matching” shirts. 🙂Our little man is full of silliness, as usual. 😉Joseph’s first taste of watermelon. Believe it or not, he hadn’t had it before (he always declined when we offered). He really liked it (it was a really good watermelon) and said, “this is the best watermelon night, ever!”My four o’ clocks. They only open in the late afternoon (hence their name), so if you aren’t there at the right time, you miss it.We were able to pick some blackberries!!Joseph’s first “family portrait”. We’re the orange blobs. 😀Playing preschool games on Paul’s nook. He loves to snuggle down in the pillows on our bed to do so.Pool time!I love everything about this picture. It’s more than a little boy having fun. It reminds me a lot of my childhood, actually. It also shows the effort that (mostly) Paul and (occasionally) I put into the back yard to have a nice place for Joseph to play and grow up. I feel so blessed to have Paul’s help to be able to provide Joseph with such a great childhood!We stopped by a yard sale and found this little table (the legs are folded up in this picture) that Joseph can use to build with his Mega Bloks. Best $3.00, ever!
Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty fun. Paul had Monday off (since it was Memorial Day), so we headed to the zoo. It was surprisingly not crowded. The weather also cooperated with us (it didn’t start raining until we were heading to the car), so it was a fun trip. We then went to eat at Bobby J’s (one of our favorite hamburger places) before heading home to relax. The middle of the week was normal as usual and then Friday we went to Paul’s annual work family lunch. They had really good food, fun things to do (there was a dunk tank, some games, face painting, etc.), and we had a great time. After we left there, we decided to hit up the zoo again (the major benefit of having passes). We got there right before closing and it was awesome! It was practically deserted, so it was quiet and peaceful. We then grabbed a bite to eat on the way home. Yesterday we went and cleaned up our park (as part of the monthly clean-up that we try to do), ran to the store to get a few things, and then headed home so that Paul could have some much needed time to devote to homework. After dinner we went out for a special treat and got some frozen yogurt (Joseph says that Orange Leaf is his favorite restaurant). 🙂
The Weekly Weather: As the title of this post alludes to, we are finally starting to dry out. Texas has received an insane amount of rain this spring. A week ago, there were flash floods, tornado warnings, the works…luckily in our part of town, with the exception of torrential rain fall (and crazy thunder and lightning), we stayed pretty high and dry, considering. This past week has been quite a bit better. A few rainstorms have come through, but nothing like what we were getting. I even took Joseph to the park a few times!
What Paul’s Been Up To: We finally got word that he will be starting his new job…sort of. He will still be in the library until they can essentially figure out how to get someone to replace him, but starting tomorrow he will be getting the amount of money that he is supposed to get with the new job (and start the timetable ticking for the year-mark where he will get another raise). Once they have someone in to replace him in the library, he’ll move over to the IT department.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: My recital is this coming Saturday, so I have been getting my students ready for it. I have also been working hard to get my visiting teaching numbers collected since tomorrow starts a new month. This year is just flying by!
What Joseph’s Been Up To: His imaginative play is getting quite involved. There was one day that I was on the elliptical, and he ran into the room with his pool noodle. An intense sword fight with an invisible foe ensued, followed by him running triumphantly out of the room. Not a sound was uttered during the entire experience. I can only guess that he saved me from a horde of invisible ninjas or something…
This Week in Pictures:
On the bronze elephant.Momma decided to hop on…I love his face in the picture!I sure do love being his momma!Hanging out with his best buddy…of the plush variety, of course. There are days when these two are inseparable.He wanted to try one my dark chocolate Hershey’s kisses. I didn’t think he’d like it (since dark chocolate has a slight bitter taste to it), but I was wrong! He actually asked for another one after he finished the first one.We have so many blackberries on our bushes!They are finally starting to darken…we have to watch the ants, though…they will ruthlessly attack them as they start to ripen.Family “selfie” while waiting in line for food at Paul’s work party. People thought that Paul and Joseph’s matching shirts were awesome.Getting his face painted. I was surprised that he held still for it (it helps that he chose something small that was completed quickly).He loved his turtle!Hanging out in front of the Nile crocodile…this captures his personality so well, I think.There’s a good smile for the camera…we get them, on occasion.My sweet and handsome men…Feeding the lorikeets.This was the first time Joseph was brave enough to hold the cup of nectar.He fashioned his own light sabers out of portions of a pool noodle and cylindrical wood blocks. He and Paul had quite a few “battles” yesterday.
Paul took Friday off and we had decided ahead of time that we were going to drive down to Padre Island (about 3 hours away) and do an overnight camp out at the beach. We gathered our supplies ahead of time, purchased a few new ones (Joseph was excited about getting his own sleeping bag and sand toys; I was excited about getting a new air mattress), packed everything up Friday morning and headed out. We got there just in time to snag the last camp site that had a BBQ, so we were grateful for that! We set up camp, sunscreened up, and hit the beach. Gulf beaches are totally different than the beaches I experienced growing up. The sand is way softer, the water is way warmer, and the waves are way smaller and gentler. I loved it! We could let Joseph go and not worry about him getting knocked over every time a wave came in (even though it still happened a couple of times). The water also stays shallow for a LONG ways out. After playing at the beach for a while, we walked back to our camp site and had dinner (foil dinners). We then went back to the shore for a bit more fun. Finally, we headed back to roast marshmallows and get ready for bed. Sleeping was pretty interesting. Joseph moved around A LOT (one reason we never co-slept, lol). He was next to me, crawled over to be between us, alternated snuggling up to one or the other of us, flipped around so that his head was by our feet, ended up perpendicular with us, etc. Needless to say, with that experience (along with the crazy wind and bugs getting us), we didn’t sleep much. In the morning, we made breakfast (breakfast tacos) and let Joseph play around the camp site while we packed up. The people next to us had collected a bunch of shells and as we were leaving, had Joseph pick one out (he chose a sand dollar). They were pretty cool! We drove home and relaxed, did laundry (and Paul did homework), had dinner at Jim’s, and went to bed early. Other than being pretty tired the next day (and bit up from the mosquitos and ants who were ignoring the bug spray we put on), it was overall a pretty great trip!
This Trip in Pictures (not necessarily in chronological order):
Making a sand castle.He kept flinging sand over his shoulder.SunRISE over the ocean (something I have never seen in person, growing up on the west coast).Roasting marshmallows in very serious business.He had a great time holding it all by himself.Weird creature? Nope. It was actually a pen cap that had stuff growing on it, lol.This seagull is pretty chill…others? Not so much. We had to chase them off a lot when they were going after our food.Joseph is “battling” a stick and Paul…is probably smacking a mosquito. Even with bug spray, they were ruthless!Foil dinner time!The mastermind behind the entire trip.The entertainer for the trip.Joseph got this picture. My hair is crazy (thanks to the wind), but I had to include it because I’m impressed that he didn’t cut my head off in the shot.It was quite bright out……but so pretty and calming.Yes, that is a jellyfish (pretty sure it’s a Portuguese Man-of-War). I noticed one in the water not too far away from us and hauled Joseph out of the water. We found this one on the shore. I made sure Joseph knew it would give BIG ouchies.Another type of jellyfish (also on the shoreline).Playing in the water.This log had barnacles and seaweed growing all over it.Our finished product…the sand was so soft and moist (from the humidity) that it was really easy to make a sand castle.The building process…We really loved being there!“Jumping” over waves.I could not get over how soft the sand was on my feet!
