Darr Family Blog

Weekly Happenings: We are full on into spring, with summer approaching quickly. After the bustle that comes with vacation, I was kind of ready to have a low-key week. Luckily, so was Joseph. 🙂 We didn’t do too much this past week besides hang out at home and relax. One exciting development is that there are baby birds in the nest that is on our back patio. Momma-bird is always bustling back and forth bringing food for the hungry little mouths that are waiting. Paul mentioned that we need to keep our eyes open for grackles (a scavenger-type bird that is similar to a crow) since they are the type that would go after baby birds. I’m not too worried about cats because of where the nest is. It will be fun watching them grow up!

The Weekly Weather: It has mostly been cooler and raining off and on. It’s the typical Texas weather. One day will be warmer and sunny and the next will be cooler and rainy. I can’t really complain, though. I’m grateful for each drop of rain that falls!

What Paul’s Been Up To: The main thing that happened this past weekend was that Paul headed up our second neighborhood park clean-up. We had another good turnout (and the weather cooperated), and some of the neighbors even brought snow cones that were left over from a school festival that they had worked at that morning. It’s nice to band together as a neighborhood for something that is for the good of the community. Other than that, he enjoyed his brief “spring break” from school (he starts back up this week) and has been Joseph’s best buddy (if he’s not around, I will do, but Daddy is definitely Joseph’s favorite right now…I love it!).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much. I need to get some more music for my choir picked out since we sung the last two pieces that I had pulled today as part of our ward conference (oh yeah, a new bishop was called today…our current bishop, Bishop Doty, is moving out of state, so Bishop Jenks was called to replace him…I’m guessing we’re going to be getting a new Primary president next week, since the current one is married to the bishop and that is usually something they try to avoid to keep too much stress from coming onto one family). I am also going to be collaborating with my friend who teaches voice lessons to see if we can have a joint recital (with my piano students and her voice students) at the end of May. So I am currently helping my students pick out pieces that they can have ready in a month. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Cuteness as usual. He has decided sometime during the past few days that he needs to go potty standing up, which has made things (surprisingly) a bit easier…especially since he has better aim than what I anticipated. 😉 He’s also been showing us just how much he picks up from watching some of his favorite shows, one being Doc McStuffins (an animated show about a little girl who is a “doctor” to stuffed animals and toys). In the show, Doc often will make up words to go with diagnoses since stuffed animals and toys obviously have different ailments than humans. Well, one afternoon, I was laying on the couch, resting. I heard Joseph come up to me. He put his hand on my forehead and then whispered, “Hmmmm…must be a case of ‘Momatosis’.” He then patted my arm and ran off to play. Hysterical, kid…just hysterical. I wonder if I can claim I have “Momatosis” every time I want a nap? 😉 He also made sure to thank Heavenly Father during the lunch prayer today that “Daddy was better from his ‘Daditis’.” I think that came from an experience yesterday when Paul was sitting with Joseph on the couch. Paul was trying to rest, while Joseph was peeling his eyes open, telling him to wake up. Paul said that he had “Daditis”…Joseph didn’t buy it, lol.

This Week in Pictures: After last weeks huge picture haul, I didn’t take too many this week…

 

 

I’m going to deviate from my typical blog post format for this post. About a week and a half ago, we went to California to see Jason and his fiance Saira get married. We stayed at Mom and Dad’s for a few days, drove up to Central CA for Jason’s wedding (and saw the Sequoias while we were out there), spent a few more days at Mom and Dad’s (and went to the beach), and then traveled home. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but we took a lot of pictures. Consequently, this post is going to be mostly pictures and captions. I will try to stay in chronological order (or maybe not…we’ll see).

A Notable Thing that Happened This Week: Paul went to our HOA meeting and was elected as chairman for the Beautification Committee. I suppose the fact that he has organized our monthly park clean-ups played a big part in that. One of the first things he did was to rescue some trees that are planted along one of the streets. They still had their wire supports even though they have been planted for quite some time. Several of the trees had the wires cutting into the trunks (and one had even started growing over the wire and rubber). Hopefully now they will be able to heal and be strengthened.

A Funny Primary Moment or Two: Joseph took part in the Primary singing for Sacrament meeting today. He was able to get right up to the front this time, but Paul and I couldn’t help but laugh at his “performance”. He knew some of the words to the song (like most Sunbeams), but spent most of the time swinging his arms back and forth and draped over the stand, resting his head, lol. Later, during his class, his teachers told us that they were talking about the animals on Noah’s Ark. They mentioned horses and asked the kids what horses did (probably wanting the kids to make horse sounds). Joseph said that horses teach us to pray. ?! He started laughing afterward, so I think he was probably making one of his “jokes”. Either that, or he has already figured out that “prayer” in general is a good answer for a typical question in Primary, lol. 😉

Alright, onto the pictures!

This VACATION in Pictures:

Why this last picture? Well, see…

That time that I left my phone in a Tucson gas station restroom: I didn’t notice it missing until we stopped for the night a couple of hours later, in Deming, NM. I was frantic! We practically tore the motel room apart trying to find it. Trying to resign myself to the idea of it being gone forever, I heated up Joseph’s supper and set it before him, telling him to eat up. He reminded me we needed to bless the food, so I told him to go ahead. He said his normal things, paused, and then asked for help to find my phone. After he finished, Paul went out to look in the car one more time. As he was looking, a call came into his phone, from mine. He answered it. Apparently someone found it and was calling to see if there was a way to get it back to us. They were a few hours ahead of us on the road, but when finding that we were traveling the same route, they said they would leave it at the front desk at their motel (giving us all the information) and we could pick it up there. We did so the next morning. There are good people in the world! I’m also grateful for a Heavenly Father who answers prayers and for a little boy who was prompted to ask for help!

 

 

 

Weekly Happenings: We played outside as much as we could, since the weather has been beautiful. There have been playdates at the park, playing in the backyard, Joseph has been riding his bike around the block as we walk along beside him (as much as changing times messes with my head, I do love that it is light longer in the evenings during the spring and summer), and we have just generally enjoyed being outside. Having said that, my allergies have been out of control! I have to make sure that I remember to take my allergy medicine (and use my nasal spray) every day to keep ahead of them. The one major thing that happened this past week was that I took Joseph to get his hair cut. I took him to the same place as last time (with the car seat that he can sit in and watch a TV show while he gets his hair cut). Last time, he was really unhappy the entire time (he does NOT like clippers), so I didn’t take any pictures. This time around, it was much better. He only got a little giggly when the stylist was trimming his neck and around his ears. No crying, wailing, or flailing. 🙂

The Weekly Weather: As mentioned before, it was so pretty this past week! It’s been warm (but not too warm), sunny, and breezy. I hope it lasts a bit longer before summer hits!

What Paul’s Been Up To: Aside from school and work (he got stuck at work on Friday for an extra couple of hours because he had to help fix a huge computer problem with the library), he spent a lot of time on Saturday making our yard pretty. He transplanted our tomato seedlings (they looked a little shocked with the transplant, so we’re hoping they will make it, but if they don’t, I will probably go to Lowe’s to get replacement ones tomorrow). He also put down fresh cardboard, newspaper, and mulch in the garden bed (to help keep away weeds), and mowed both yards. I know it was a lot of hard work, but it pays off because the yards look great!

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I have been plugging away at teaching piano (I had one student drop, but another started up), working on my visiting teaching stuff, and getting my choir prepared for the Easter fireside our stake is putting on tonight (our choir is singing a piece). There will be musical contributions from each ward in the stake, a combined Primary choir piece, and a combined stake choir piece at the end. I think it’s going to be beautiful! I will also be glad when it’s over because I get very nervous leading in front of big groups.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: In addition to conquering his fear of the clippers, he has had a great time playing outside and with his friends. He has also made great strides in potty-training (due in part to me and Paul reminding him every couple of hours that he needs to go potty). I think it’s been four days now that the only Pull-ups I need to change are stinky ones. Yay! There was one funny thing that happened as he was racing me up the stairs one evening. He realized that I was kind of close, so he threw his socks down the stairs. When I told him he had dropped them, he told me I needed to get them. Pretty soon, I heard him triumphantly crowing that he had won. I think we may need to talk to him about ethics, lol. 😉

This Week in Pictures: