Darr Family Blog

Weekly Happenings: I finally feel like I’m almost back to our routine. All I need to do is add back in exercising and housework…wee, fun. 😉 We were homebodies for the first part of last week due to the weather, but once the sun came back out we did more things outside of the house. I even took Joseph to the park on Friday, which he thoroughly enjoyed (especially since kids he knew happened to be there also).

The Weekly Weather: The first part of last week was sort of miserable. It was overcast, rainy, and cold. There were several days where the sun did not show its face. Those days were hard on me because it made it hard to be motivated to do anything (other than snuggle under a blanket and nap or read). I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to handle living someplace like Seattle or Portland. When the sun came back out, my mood changed almost instantly. It felt so good!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s immersed in his current classes as well as work. He also did some maintenance work on his car. It was putting off an exhaust-like smell, so he changed the air filter, added some brake fluid, and washed it off really well…he thought there might be some residue left over from when he was cleaning up and changing the battery. It seems to have done the trick!

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much out of the ordinary. I need to get going on picking some choir music for the next few months at least. Hopefully I’ll do that this week! I did get to host my book club, which was fun (I love being able to stay in my comfy clothes at home) and I did get to go out for dessert with friends on Friday, which was also nice.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been pretty awesome this week. There were daily struggles with boundary-pushing, but who doesn’t deal with that with a three-year-old?! He really enjoyed when we met up with friends at In-N-Out for lunch one day…and his friend next door was getting rid of his motorized Mater ride-on toy (he got a motorized car for Christmas), so his parents passed it along to us. That just happened last night, so I don’t have any pictures of him riding it yet, but Joseph was over the moon. Lastly, he had a bit of a rocky day going to Sunbeams today. I think it finally hit him that this was the new reality for church (no more nursery) and he was bummed. He seemed happier later when I went to change his diaper (at his request) and said that next time he would be happy in Primary. Hopefully that will be the case. It just about broke my heart to leave him crying in there (not a loud, distracting cry…more of a resigned, silent cry, which actually made it worse on me).

This Week in Pictures:

 

 

Weekly Happenings: I kept this past week as lazy as possible, while still trying to work in our normal routine as much as I could. As Joseph gets older, keeping our routine while on vacation is not as easy (which is fine…that’s why it’s vacation, after all), and neither is getting back to the routine. The first night back, I went to put him to bed at his normal time and he just about had a melt down (well, he was probably still on CA time). It has been getting better, but he still has had his extremely fussy moments (which I’m sure will get better as we get back into our routine…or not…he is three, after all, lol). The majorly big thing that we’ve started is getting him more used to using the toilet. A few times a day, we sit him on there and tell him to try and go. He has had several successes, so I know that he’s pretty ready. He’s no longer scared of the toilet, which is a great thing. 🙂

The Weekly Weather: Brrrrrr, cold! It’s been cold and rainy off and on throughout the past week. Yesterday was the coldest, with temperatures not making it above 38 degrees. It’s supposed to get a bit warmer, but not by much. I love it, though. I can always put more layers on to stay warm. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been doing stuff around the house as always, but he also started his second semester of the Pathway Program. He’s taking a math class this time around, as well as a religion class.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I did some yard work this past week (mainly weeding and cutting down dead tomato plants that didn’t survive the last frost), and got back on schedule with my piano students. I’m also getting ready to start choir back up pretty soon, so there’s music to order and look through.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been decidedly three as of late (demanding, opinionated, melt-downy, etc.), but it hasn’t been anything that we haven’t been able to handle. The sweet moments definitely still outweigh the hard ones, though. The other day I was getting him dressed and had him by the hand. He said to me, “You’re holding my hand, Chuck…you ‘slide’ (sly) dog!” It’s a direct quote from Charlie Brown. 🙂 I laughed so hard! He definitely keeps us on our toes!

This Week in Pictures:

 

So the big thing that I have been leading up to was our trip to California for Christmas. I didn’t mention it before, since I don’t like to advertise when we are not going to be home. We had a wonderful trip! Alice (along with Miles and Cadence) and Dave (and Jolee) were also there, as well as Aaron and his family (Aaron and Tara also stopped by with their family as well). It was such a wonderful trip! We left on the evening of the 23rd, drove straight through, and got to CA on Christmas Eve. We had fun hanging out with family, seeing old friends, and going to Knott’s Berry Farm. We left on the 2nd and took the trip home in two days, staying at a motel in Deming, New Mexico, and getting home last night. Joseph got to see a sunrise (he said, “Look! It’s glowing up! It’s the day!”) and Grandpa got a taste of how much Joseph likes soft things (namely the rug in their bathroom. He was watching Dad comb his hair and when he stepped on the bath mat, he said, “Oh, it’s soft!” and proceeded to lay down on it, lol). As for the rest, well, I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking. I was going to try to keep them in chronological order, but I’m not sure how successful I’ll be.

This TRIP in pictures: