Darr Family Blog – Page 170 – The place to follow the Darr Family

Brrrrr! Oh, and a Taste of Home

Weekly Happenings: This week was pretty laid back as well. I think I subconsciously plan less stuff during this time of year because I know that the holidays are going to be crazy busy. If we ever did escape the house, it was mostly local stuff (Target, the mall, etc.). Toward the end of the week, the new In-N-Out that they have been building was finished and had its grand opening. Needless to say, it was pretty busy. We’re going to wait a little while before going in order to let the crowds die down a bit.

The Weekly Weather: It started out chilly and dry, moved to chilly and wet, then went to warm and wet (yesterday we had a rip-snorter of a thunderstorm), and today was warmer (mid-70s) and clear. That’s Texas for ya’!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been busy with work and school as normal. He also had to brave the storm last night to make the stuff on our back patio more secure with the high winds and rain that happened.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I finished up my visiting teaching this week (which is a record for me, ha!) and have been working hard on getting the ward choir ready to sing in a few weeks. It’s hard to believe that this month is almost over!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He has a new obsession: tubas. Yeah, I have no idea where that came from either, but it’s there. He started out using one of my old boots to “play” as a tuba, requested a book from the library about tubas (which Paul was able to find), and was very excited about his tuba that Paul made (using toilet paper and paper towel tubes, duct tape, and parts of a 2-liter bottle). He’s also showing an increased amount of compassion. The other day, I was putting on his socks and he had his shoes on his hands, making them dance. He inadvertently clocked me in the nose, which made tears well up in my eyes. He got very concerned and practically begged me to stop crying. He then showered my face with kisses. He’s such a sweet boy! A couple of random things: last Sunday, he came up to me and told me that he was going to huff and puff my skirt. He then proceeded to “huff and puff”. When it did not garner the results he expected, he said, “Huh. That not working.” and then went back to playing with his cars. The other random thing was that I discovered that he can do somersaults. I’m not sure he knows he can do them, but I saw him do several in succession. Crazy!

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20141118_130320303 — Almost always a happy boy.

IMG_20141118_141000573 — He loves my stuffed pumpkins.

IMG_20141117_171816775 — Pretending my old boot is a tuba…

14 - 1 (51) — Showing Daddy one of his favorite stuffed animals, “Ellie” (so named after the elephant on one of his favorite shows, “Pocoyo”).

IMG_20141119_130058677 — I was cleaning and he wanted to help. After we were done, he refused to put the sweeper back. A little while later, he was ready.

IMG_20141119_170951256 — After an hour and a half of piano lessons with no break, I waled upstairs and found this. I guess he read himself to sleep? 😉 After he woke up, he was sitting there, kind of groggily as I cleaned up the mess (I wasn’t about to make him help). As I finished, he looked around, kind of surprised and said, “Oh! You cleaned up my room! Thank you, Mommy! Give me a hug!” He then gave me a very loving hug. It was classic. 🙂

IMG_20141121_152433923 — Sitting on the table to catch a show…because the open couch and chair were apparently not good enough to sit on.

IMG_20141122_121500 — Riding on the Bob the Builder ride at the mall.

IMG_20141122_121459 — His expressions are the best!

IMG_20141122_135245044 — Working with Daddy to build a helicopter out of LEGOS.

IMG_20141122_140720524 — The finished product.

IMG_20141123_072928460 — Playing with the tuba that Daddy made him.

An Early Christmas Present and Some Cold Weather To Go with It

Weekly Happenings: Not too much has happened between my last blog post which was mid week and today. After we got home from Houston, we relaxed for a bit and then headed out to eat (there are several places that give free meals to veterans on Veterans’ Day). We went out to Olive Garden since we also had a gift certificate that Jason had given us for our birthdays (thanks again, Jason) that we could use to pay for me and Joseph. After we were done eating, we headed out to Cavender’s Boot City. I was planning on just browsing, since I wanted to get a new pair of boots for Christmas (I’ve been saving my piano money), but ended up finding a really good deal on a pair right then. I love them! So I got my Christmas present a bit early, but that’s okay. 🙂 The rest of the week we pretty much stayed inside due to the weather.

The Weekly Weather: A cold front moved in Tuesday and has pretty much stayed. We have had a couple nights of below-freezing temperatures that required us to cover the tomatoes with bed sheets to protect them from potential frost. Cold temperatures during the day (with highs around the mid 40s to mid 50s) meant we needed to bundle up before going anywhere…hence why we stayed home as much as possible. 🙂

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been keeping busy with work and school as usual. He’s also keeping busy with his calling (counselor in the Sunday School presidency) and getting his home teaching taken care of. Today he helped me out a ton by watching the kids that come with their parents to choir practice. Normally we hold choir at someone else’s house, but occasionally we need to have it at our house. He always does a great job keeping the kids entertained. 🙂

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’m continuing to take care of our home and Joseph, as well as keeping up with my callings at church. Handling the visiting teaching routes is stressful at times, but our Relief Society president is such a great person to work with that it hardly feels like work. I’m also continuing to work with the ward choir. We’re having our Christmas program at church on the 14th, which will be great!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Play dates and hanging out at home, for the most part. He has gotten the idea that I can call people on the phone, so he will often ask if we can call people so that I can put them on speaker phone, making it possible for him to talk to them, as well. This week, we talked with Grandma and Grandpa, as well as Uncle Aaron. Oh, and he’s getting really good with his letter recognition. When we pulled up to Cavender’s, he looked at the store front (which was all lit up in fluorescent letters) and said, “C-A-V-E-N-D-E-R-S spells…boot store!” I guess that makes sense, since we told him we were going to the boot store. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20141113_110404221 — Playing with his fridge phonics toy. This thing is seriously my saving grace during meal prep time. He can be with me in the kitchen, but he isn’t underfoot.

IMG_20141111_221343871 — My new boots. 😀

IMG_20141113_134135694 — Pulling out the winter gear. I had to get Joseph a new hat since last year’s hat was a bit too snug to be comfortable.

IMG_20141113_135234842 — He loves his new monster hat…and the gloves that came with it, even though they are way too big.

IMG_20141114_150946718 — I experimented with cinnamon rolls this week. They turned out super yummy!

IMG_20141114_134905797 — One of Joseph’s favorite places to snuggle. He likes to have me make a nest out of my legs (a loose cross-legged style) and then sit in the middle of it. 🙂

IMG_20141115_163518026 — Crazy hat hair.

IMG_20141115_174658719_HDR — We are securely in the “I do it!” phase…so Paul let him sweep the floor with the Swiffer sweeper.

Bonus Blog Post: Trip to Houston

This past weekend, we took a trip up to Houston. We stayed with Kelli and her family (cousin time is always great) and visited NASA as well as the Houston zoo. We took a LOT of pictures, but I’m only putting the highlights on here. Enjoy!

14 - 35 — Playing with Cousin Hannah. These two seriously loved playing together!

14 - 34 — Joseph and me in front of the space shuttle.

14 - 33 — Joseph and Daddy in front of the shuttle.

14 - 10 (2) — He liked seeing all the “moon guys”.

14 - 30 — There was too much to look at to pose for pictures.

14 - 27 — Daddy and Joseph thought this was pretty cool.

14 - 26 — Joseph kept saying that it was from the “spaceship show”. Yes, he knows what Star Trek is. 😉

14 - 9 (2) — I thought it was pretty cool, too.

14 - 13 (1) — Pretending to be astronauts.

14 - 14 (1) — Joseph thought it was pretty cool to be laying down and sitting at the same time.

14 - 12 (2) — Looking at miniature replicas of the Mars rovers.

14 - 11 (2) — He called them “robots”. Sounds pretty close to me!

14 - 8 (2) — This was a chair that moved around when you sat in it and pulled some levers.

14 - 7 (4) — Joseph thought it was pretty cool that it moved around…it was like a free ride!

IMG_20141110_112959407 — Build your own alien. 🙂

IMG_20141110_114020779 — The bottom of a two story slide. He seriously has no fear. He went on this thing twice. Luckily, it was big enough for Paul to follow behind and make sure he didn’t get stuck at all.

IMG_20141110_114145403 — Playing with air currents.

14 - 25 — The landscaping and building designs were really nice.

14 - 23 (1) — We made sure to see the giraffes, since there aren’t any currently at the San Antonio zoo.

14 - 5 (7) — There was a cave with tunnels to crawl through that made it possible for him to stand up and get a really good, close-up view of the mongoose.

14 - 3 (13) — We were prompting him to make ape sounds.

14 - 2 (26) — I love the mischievous look in his eyes here.

14 - 18 (1) — A trip to the zoo wouldn’t be complete without a trip on the train. He was excited to see that there was a train at this zoo.

IMG_20141110_204633428 — Reading stories with Daddy…he found those goggles in the toy bin and wore them almost all the time that he was able to.

All in all, it was a great trip. We loved seeing family and loved having a new adventure to add to the books.