Darr Family Blog – Page 34 – The place to follow the Darr Family

A Bit of a Jumble

This past week was kind of a mixed bag. We had a challenging day or two (Abigail had a bit of the stomach flu) but luckily some fun things as well (crazy hair day at school, Paul’s birthday, and fun nature-y things).

Abigail came home from school with some fake cactus pieces. She wanted to get a container to put them in, so we went to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a mini watering can and some Styrofoam disks. I stacked the disks in the can to create a little bit of height (luckily they were exactly the right size, so I didn’t have to cut them down at all), cut out a circle of brown construction paper to look like dirt, and popped the pieces in.

One of my favorite things about getting to walk the kids to school is that I get to see pretty sunrises.

This is the tiniest anole I’ve ever seen. He (or she) was probably three inches long from tip of nose to tip of tail.

It was fun to watch it change from green to brown!

We were stuck in a bit of traffic and I had a moment to marvel at how much of a leap technology in cars has come in the last little bit. If I plug my phone into my car, I have access to everything I need from my phone on my car screen…which means that I don’t need my phone out at all to access my maps or anything else (and a bonus perk is that I can also listen to my commercial-free music). Plus, a lot of it is voice activated, so I don’t even have to mess with the screen that much. This is just one of many ways this new car has been a blessing!

Joseph opted not to do crazy hair day (there isn’t much to do with buzzed hair), but I think Abigail did enough for both of them! I spent probably ten minutes trying to convince her that she didn’t need a doll in her hair, but she was pretty determined. I was pretty sure she would not make it the entire day like this.

The back of her hair was a bit too short to make it into the ponytail, but a bunch of clips solved that problem…and added to the craziness.

I was amazed at school pick-up to see that her hair made it the entire day! She asked me to take it out as soon as we got into the car, though, she wanted everything out. I totally understood! It couldn’t have been comfortable for her to lean her head back with all that stuff in her hair.

This is the place Paul went to eat with his coworkers on Thursday.

Let’s just say that it isn’t in the best part of town, haha. Don’t worry…this didn’t happen during their visit.

Sayonara, Summer…well, Unofficially

This past week started off with Labor Day. It was nice to have a day off. We went to the zoo and then after we got back, I got out the fall decorations. I know it isn’t officially fall until towards the end of the month, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. Maybe the decorations will bring cooler temps? One can only hope! The rest of the week was pretty typical. I did spend a decent chunk of time today removing the broom plants from their pots at the side of the house. They got really damaged during February’s frost and just weren’t doing well all-around. I think they would have been happier if they had been planted in the ground where the roots had more room to spread out. Or maybe there was too much sun where they were…who knows? Regardless, I went to Lowe’s for replacement plants and ended up with blue salvia plants. They should be able to withstand the heat…we’ll see what happens when the cold winter temps hit. It’s hard finding plants that can withstand both our baking summers and our frigid Februaries. Paul also mentioned that he could see the beginnings of baby pumpkins at the base of some of the flowers on the pumpkin plant…so we might actually get a pumpkin or two from it!

Abigail was excited that this photo spot was still at the zoo.

She wanted me and Joseph to join her for a picture.

Joseph vetoed taking a picture with the flowers…so it was just the girls.

It was Abigail’s idea to stick the mini scarecrows in the plants.

This is where I normally hang stockings during Christmas, so the hooks are already there…I love the checkered pumpkins and garland. Abigail likes to play with the acorns. It’s supposed to be a door hanger and the acorns are bells.

A bandana pumpkin and a pumpkin candle that I got at a baby shower…do you sense a theme here? 😉

You guessed it! Another pumpkin. 🙂 That fall sign is one of my favorites, too.

More checkered garland. I actually leave it out for Christmas, too. It seems to fit both seasons.

I love the cut out letters on this sign. I also love the silver pumpkin on the bottom that goes with the silver pumpkins I have on the piano.

A friend of mine got me a mini pinata for my birthday. On Monday night, we let the kids get after it.

He was using the stick as a probe to find the pinata before taking a swing.

Dressed up as a cowgirl…watching a cartoon about…a cowgirl (Sheriff Callie’s Wild West).

Twice we were surprised by rainstorms that weren’t on the forecast. The fist one happened right as I was picking up the kids from school…let’s just say everybody needed dry clothes after that, haha. The next day, another storm rolled in (luckily after we got home from school). The funny thing about this one was that my weather app on my phone insisted that it was sunny with a 0% chance of rain…even when I refreshed it!

This is the HVAC vent in the kids’ bathroom. Can you see the opening to the duct, with the flaps that are all along the outside of the duct? I was brushing Abigail’s teeth and she starting freaking out. She saw the pattern that the flaps make and was CONVINCED that it was actually a black and white striped snake. It did make me do a double-take when I first glanced up there as well.

*Slightly* cooler temps (as well as the fact that we’re heading into fall) mean I don’t mind when I need to turn some overripe bananas into banana bread. I love my mini loaf pan that bakes eight mini loaves at once! This recipe calls for cinnamon and sugar to be sprinkled across the top before baking, which adds a nice little crunch.

Look at our pumpkin plant! Paul has been carefully moving it so that it curls back on itself instead of trailing all the way into our neighbor’s yard, haha.

Do you see what I see at the base of the blossom?!

Here’s another one…the beginnings of a baby pumpkin!

Some Birthdays and Some Birds

This past week was pretty fun. Not only did we kick off September, but we celebrated both my birthday and Joseph’s birthday. On my birthday, we did presents, went out to eat, and then came home for cake and ice cream. For Joseph’s birthday, he had a couple friends come along with us to go to Main Event. We ate pizza and then the boys went off to do Laser Tag and play games (Paul hung out with them while I played games with Abigail). We came home for cupcakes and ice cream, along with presents. After that, we went out to eat as a family (and had a fun time getting back into the car in a torrential downpour). It was a long but fun day.