Weekly Happenings: We had a pretty fun week. As Halloween gets closer, I’m realizing how much fun it’s going to be with Joseph this year. Last year he was a bit young to fully understand what was going on. This year, he’s looking forward to dressing up and even trick-or-treating. We attended a Halloween-themed play date at a friend’s house (Joseph had a blast), went to the park, and then wrapped up the week with a trip out to the pumpkin patch. The patch was out in Bandera, which is about an hour’s drive away. It was totally worth the drive, though. We had so much fun! The weather was cool(ish) and there were a lot of things to look at and do (a maze, a barrel-train ride, a hay-ride, petting-zoo ponies, etc.).
The Weekly Weather: The weather has been nice and cool in the morning and evenings but a little warm during the afternoon. If it weren’t for the humidity (though it’s not as high as it was in the summer), I would think I was back in California. 😉
What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s chugging away at his college courses, keeping busy at work, and helping out where he can (for example, he taught the lesson in Elders’ Quorum today).
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve been keeping busy getting back to reality with my students, post-recital, as well as working with my ward choir to get ready for Christmas. The songs we are singing are so fun!
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Being cute as always. The other day, I caught him playing “rock, paper, scissors” with himself. I’m still trying to figure out where he learned about the game because Paul and I didn’t teach it to him…he is also still as social as ever. When we went to the park this week (I walked there with him in the stroller instead of driving), as I was starting to get him out of the stroller, he spotted some kids about his size. He started trying really hard to get out (even though I was working on getting him out), meanwhile yelling, “HI! I’M JOSEPH!!!!” over and over again.
This Week in Pictures: Warning! Because of our trip to the pumpkin patch, there are a LOT of pictures this week!
Stacking blocksMy little Linus.Dressing up in Daddy’s old uniform.He told me he loved me and had to go to work.Riding his bike at dusk.Paul came up with the idea of the reflective belt (it’s his old PT belt). I like it for when it’s getting dark.I love this little man!He found some of Paul’s old Halloween teeth.His mask from his Halloween play date. They also played ghost bowling with a ball and some toilet paper rolls that were decorated to look like ghosts, followed up by a lunch of hot dog mummies and fruit.Is he going to be left-handed?!Or right-handed…we can’t tell. He switches back and forth as it suits him, lol.Playing with his jack-in-the-box.He loves that thing!He’s getting pretty good…Brushing ponies at the pumpkin patch.Joseph was glad Daddy was in there…the ponies are bigger than the goats he’s used to.Going into the maze.He loved being able to just run.He kept saying, “Oh no! We’re stuck!”Running to the end…we made it! He wanted to go into the maze multiple times.Posing for a picture.Getting ready to ride the barrel train.We had to get at least one picture of him in this thing.He loved it!Not as much as he loved this hay-bale tractor, though.I mean, c’mon! It had a steering wheel!It was hard getting him off the thing.A cool effect for one picture.He wanted to go see more stuff…Close-up!A little farther away.He liked this bridge that led out to a pergola on an island in the middle of a pond (the previous two pictures were in the pergola).Hay ride.Looking at the trees that the farm grows.Adding his artwork…they had sheets of paper pinned up so that kids could draw.Dressing a scarecrow.Making sure the coat is on straight.Finishing touch!He seriously had a blast at this pumpkin patch.His first sucker, ever. After we were done at the pumpkin patch, we went to Bobby J’s (a great hamburger joint). They gave Joseph a sucker as part of the kid’s meal. I didn’t think he’d want it because he’s usually anti-sweets, but he decided that he liked it.It turned his lips an awesome shade of blue and he ate the entire thing (it was a Dum-Dum, so it wasn’t incredibly huge to begin with…perfect size for him).
Weekly Happenings: As a family, we didn’t do too much out of the ordinary last week. We did take advantage of the coolish weather and took a trip to the zoo on Saturday morning. It’s so nice to go during the “off season” because even on the weekend, it’s way less busy than in the summer.
The Weekly Weather: We’ve officially hit San Antonio fall weather: low- to mid-80s for the most part with a few 70s days and a few 90s days.
What Paul’s Been Up To: Paul had last Monday off, so he spent the majority of the day painting the chairs for our dining room. They look so good! He also painted the napkin holder I have so that it matches the chairs. Other than that, it was pretty much an average week for him with work and school.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: The only real thing of note was that I hosted my first piano recital. It wasn’t very long, since I only have 8 students (7 of which were performing) and they are all beginners, which means shorter pieces. Paul helped my set up the living room for all the family members (we borrowed some chairs from a friend) and I served refreshments afterward. Paul took Joseph to the park so that he wouldn’t want to socialize with everyone. It went really well. 🙂 I also did one Messiah rehearsal and decided that it’s going to be too much for my already full plate, so I asked them if they would be able to find another pianist. They said it would not be an issue, so I can breathe a bit more.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Cuteness as usual. He loves to sing along to songs on the radio, or on the TV, or when I’m singing (though he will sometimes tell me to stop, lol). His favorite songs right now are what he calls “Grandma’s song” (My little baby doesn’t want to go to sleep) and “Grandpa’s song” (the song my dad used to hum as he bounced Joseph on his knee; it originally came from my mom’s dad). He’s also been really into Spiderman, pretending to shoot webs at us.
This Week in Pictures:
Our table and newly painted chairs. Paul still plans on doing another coat of stain/sealer on the table just to make sure that it’s really water-resistant.Here’s a picture of the growth ruler that I made at Super Saturday. Paul was able to put it up on the wall this past week.Chomping on cheese Ritz Bits while watching a show right before bed.He was pretending my leg needed fixin’.Our friends were getting rid of their Lincoln Logs, so we took them off their hands. Joseph was pretty happy.Wearing his “conductor hat”.We took a trip to Outdoor World/Bass Pro Shops and they had this large fake tree trunk. Joseph had fun playing in it.He loved that it was just his size.He did not want to leave.Hangin’ out at the zoo.He insisted that Mickey be strapped in for safety.
Weekly Happenings: Since it’s been cooling down a bit, we spent more time outside this past week. We also went to our neighborhood party for National Night Out (a night where people are supposed to get together with their neighbors to get to know them better). The party was at our park and there were a lot of different booths set up, free food, games, petting zoo animals, etc. It was really great! Joseph and I also had a fun afternoon out when we met up with friends for lunch and then took the opportunity to walk around the temple grounds since the temple was right across the street from where we had lunch. We also had a fun family day on Friday. Paul got done with work early and we went out to eat, followed by a trip to La Cantera to walk around and to let Joseph play at the play place. The only draw-back to that was we didn’t think to put on bug spray and we got bit up pretty bad (dumb mosquitoes).
The Weekly Weather: It’s been a bit cooler than before, but still not as cool as I’d like (I’m yearning for the 60 degree temps that we probably won’t get until mid-November). We did get an awesome thunderstorm yesterday that dumped a bunch of rain. This week is supposed to be cooler. I’m looking forward to it!
What Paul’s Been Up To: Work and school as always…he got to be in charge of the discussion at his last meeting (kind of a student-led lesson). He also got to hang out with Joseph yesterday while I went to my Super Saturday Relief Society meeting. They were going to go to the zoo, but the rain messed up those plans. He took Joseph to the mall instead. Joseph got to play with the free-play Legos at the Lego store (and got his very first Lego Kit: a Lego excavator) and he got to ride on some of the quarter-rides (they are more like 75 cents now, but I still think of them as quarter-rides).
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Gearing up for my recital which is this Saturday, teaching piano students, tweaking my visiting teaching lists (we’ve always got people moving in and out of the ward, so my lists are constantly needing updating), and getting Christmas music ready for the ward choir to sing. I also got to go to a Super Saturday activity for Relief Society. This is where a bunch of crafts are offered for people to do. I decided to only do one craft: a growth ruler. It’s a large board decorated like a ruler that can be hung up on the wall so that we can measure Joseph (and future kids) as he (they) grow. I’ll post a picture once Paul gets the chance to hang it up.
This Week in Pictures:
Joseph was in love with this cart…I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to use a regular cart again. 😉When did he get so big?!Playing with chalk while I weeded the back yard.Playing in the sandbox while I weeded the back yard.Playing telephone with Daddy at the park for the neighborhood party.Petting a llama.They had people making balloon animals/items for the kids. Joseph requested a pirate sword.Showing off his pirate moves.Heading to the car toward the end of the evening.I moved the chairs from the dining room so that I could sweep and mop under the table and decided to make a fort for Joseph. It was a double blessing: he was entertained and I didn’t have to constantly remind him to stay off the wet floor. 😉It was gorgeous at the temple!Joseph loved looking at the stained glass windows and all the fountains (even though they weren’t turned on since they were doing some maintenance of the grounds).He loves to snuggle down when watching TV.For some reason, he’s fascinated with my “Ove-Glove”.My ridiculously-cute cowboy.Waiting for dinner on Friday (we went to a burger place close to home that was decorated in a kitchy-Texas theme (mixture of antiques, western-themed stuff, etc.).
