This past week yielded some warmer, sunnier weather. I’m so grateful! I do not do well with cloudy, overcast, rainy weather. It makes me grumpy! This past week also contained a fun time for the kids (Field Day at school, which was full of fun outdoor activities; I couldn’t go, but a friend of mine went and was able to snap some pictures of Joseph) and a fun time for me and Paul (we actually got a babysitter and went on a date)! One funny story: Now that Abigail is in a booster seat, she can reach the control for her window. On the way home from school one day, she told me she wanted to put her window down so she could “feel the breeze”. Well, once that window was down, she proceeded to stick her head out of the window and squawk like a parrot at a huge group of parents and kids walking home from school. Seeing the looks on their faces (surprise turned into confusion which then quickly turned into laughing) made me laugh so hard I cried. I couldn’t even properly parent (tell her that something like that wasn’t exactly a polite thing to do). In fact, I was having a hard time catching my breath and I even wondered if I ought to pull over because I was laughing so hard. It was just so unexpected (for everyone involved), that it caught me completely off guard. She had been pretending to be a parrot earlier in the day, but I had no idea it had extended to the afternoon. That crazy kid! I love her so much.
When I got this soup pot, I had no idea that I would use it more often for things like holding a turkey while it’s sitting in its brine or (even more often): making rice crispy treats. The enamel coating makes it so much easier to deal with the sticky, marshmallow-y, buttery mixture, though. I was out watering my plants and couldn’t help but pause and think about how grateful I am for blue skies, warm temperatures, and shade from trees. 🙂One of my favorite sights: kids home from school (Abigail almost always changes back into pajamas as soon as she can) and snacking while the warm afternoon sunshine comes in through the windows. 🙂Her hair was still sopping wet after her bath, so I decided to attempt to wrap it up in a towel (it’s way harder to do that to someone else’s head than it is to your own, by the way). She was excited and kept saying, “I look just like you, Mom!” 🙂Field Day Fun 1: chalk. They both had chalk for the kids to play with as well as a part of the blacktop where teachers had ketchup bottles full of colored chalk dust that they would squirt at the kids. Field Day Fun 2: squirt bottle battles.Field Day Fun 3: He loves whenever they bring these things out.Movie time! We went to go see The Batman. I didn’t care for the language, but aside from that, the movie was really good. It was also really nice to be able to be out, just the two of us. My friend’s daughter babysat the kids and Abigail really loved her. In fact, she was a bit sad this morning when she got up and Molly wasn’t here.Paul was able to make the cross-pieces for the table and attach them. The table already looked great, but now it looks even better!Paul took these boards from where they were in the back area of the yard and made a bit of a bridge. This area has always been a bit of a tripping hazard because of the water lines, but now they run under the bridge, which is much better. It looks nice, too. 🙂
This past week was a mixed bag when it came to the weather. The beginning of the week was typical end of February weather: warmer, sunny, and dry. It even got up to the upper 80s on Monday and Tuesdays. Then on Wednesday, there was an almost-fifty degree drop and all of a sudden, it was ridiculously cold. We’re still cold today, but thankfully today is the last really cold day. I’m ready for the mild warm spring weather! We had a holiday at the beginning of the week, which was nice. Joseph also had a great time at his GT field trip to the San Antonio Museum of Art. He said his favorite part was the Egyptian exhibit with the various sarcophagi. I did a bit of stuff around the house (reorganizing and decorating), and Paul kept himself really busy. On top of various meetings and work, he squeezed in the time to make a console table to sit under the bookshelves. It matches our built-in window seats and table, which is fun.
I mentioned to Paul that it was hard finding dresses for Abigail that were long enough (because she’s rather tall for her age). Amazon to the rescue! Not only are they long enough, but they also have pockets! We got her this one (which she was excited to pair with her sparkly unicorn jelly shoes) and another one that is rainbow stripes.Seeing them play together is one of my favorite sights.I went to move one thing around in the pantry and ended up tidying the entire thing (that’s usually how it works every time, haha). I also added labels to my bulk pantry items. No more needing to remember which one has the bread flour vs which one has the regular flour (and long grain vs medium grain rice and so on).They went walking with me on Monday, which turned out to be rather warm and breezy. We were all glad to get home and back into the AC!Paul’s table! All that’s left to do is add some supports to the legs to stabilize them a bit more.On Tuesday, it was 2/22/22, so Abigail’s class dressed up in things that started with the letter T. She chose a tie-dye shirt and a tutu. 🙂Can you spot the hawk? Paul was headed out to his office on Thursday (he teleworks on Thursdays) and spotted it sitting on the edge of the swing set. The tree trunk is directly behind it, so it’s hard to see at first…but if you look really closely, you can see it.I decided to tuck away Valentine’s Day stuff a few days early. It might still be cold outside, but at least it’s warm and spring-y inside! I love the rainbow garland that I found at Hobby Lobby. I made the paper shamrocks (I traced around one of my smaller wooden shamrocks) several years ago and I can’t remember how long I’ve had the one that has the Irish blessing on it. I used to put it on the piano, but I decided to hang it up this year.I love the Irish blessing on this shamrock.This is a portion of another longer Irish blessing. I thought it was fitting for both St. Patrick’s Day and spring. I’ll probably leave it up through April, too.My piano set up.I added the truck this year. The large shamrock was a welcome sign that I bought a few years ago, but I took the welcome bit off as well as the hanger so that I could use it on the piano. I already had the leprechaun and one of the smaller wood shamrocks. When I saw that Hobby Lobby still had the shamrocks (it’s been a couple of years, so I was pleasantly surprised), I grabbed another for a better grouping.One of my friends went along on the field trip and got this picture of Joseph. 🙂Abigail found Joseph’s old sock puppet book and wanted me to make her a dragon sock puppet. Luckily, I still had some of the supplies that had come with the book!She was pretty happy with the outcome.
This past week contained Valentines Day. The kids had fun parties, Paul and I were able to go out for lunch, and then Paul also made dinner (he used his smoker to make chicken, baked potatoes, and corn), which was delicious! The rest of the week flew by (it seems like that is a repeating theme, haha). Last night, we had friends over to play games, which was a lot of fun as always.
I couldn’t help but get a close-up of her current smile. I always want to remember all those gaps!He called me over excitedly because he finally was able to balance his spoon on his bowl. I love this kid!Paul got me flowers and chocolate for Valentines Day. He’s also going to be building me a console table that will sit in the space under the bookshelves in the living room. 🙂I got Paul this game. It’s one that he played a long time ago. He was pretty pleased with it. 🙂Kid valentines bags. 🙂Our yummy chicken!Paul also trimmed the trees in the back yard. I’m so grateful for all the hard work he does!She loves to look at the pictures in the lighthouse book.She’s been begging to switch to a booster seat, but we weren’t sure if she’d be responsible enough to not just get it into her head to unbuckle herself while the car was going. We had an in depth talk about how she can have the booster if she stays buckled (we also talked about safety and what could happen in a car accident if she didn’t have her seat belt on).One of my favorite things to do, when I can squeeze it in, is to sit in the recliner and read…I love the cozy view that I have while doing so. I love the sunshine coming into the house.After I looked more closely at the first picture I had taken of Abigail in her booster, I realized the back was too high. I also remembered that it was adjustable, so when I picked the kids up from school, I made sure to adjust it while she was sitting in it so that I could get the correct height.I happened to glance out the back door on Thursday evening and could see the sunset reflecting onto the fence boards. I knew it would be a good one, so I grabbed my phone and hopped outside to snap a few pictures.I’m so glad I did…it was breathtaking! Yesterday, Abigail asked me to play restaurant with her. She prepared quite the meal for me: salad, tomato soup, and four different kinds of juice: tomato, carrot, mushroom, and garlic. Those last two were a bit of a surprise, but she insisted they would be good. 😉 I love her imagination!
