Darr Family Blog – Page 45 – The place to follow the Darr Family

A Cold Snap and a Bum Back

This past week started out normal…and then the weather literally dropped almost 40 degrees over night. They cancelled school on both Thursday and Friday because of freezing rain and cold temperatures. Luckily, Paul was able to telework both of those days as well, so we were able to stay home where it was nice and warm and dry. I did go outside twice…once to bring the trash cans back in (I found that I needed to break a thin layer of ice off of both the combination lock and the latch for our gate in order to get the gate open to put the cans back in the back yard) and once to drive down the street to grab a few groceries. It was during this grocery trip that my back decided it didn’t like the cold. So…the last few days I’ve been forced to slow down and be careful to avoid having it seize up on me as much as possible. I’m feeling quite a bit better today (it really was a blessing that school was cancelled on Friday as well, because that meant I was able to spend the majority of yesterday resting. I think that was a game-changer because I feel like I might be on the flip-side. Also, we have Stake Conference this weekend, which we can watch remotely, so we don’t need to leave the house for church. Hopefully that means that by Monday I can start back with some of my normal stuff.

Abigail had a “make your own monster” Play-Doh kit that she got back in October. Paul found it in the closet and got it out for her to play with. Nothing’s going to get past that guy…he’s got eyes on you at all times!

We also welcomed the first day of February this past week. That meant pulling out the Valentines’ Day decorations! The pink and navy hearts are ones that I made years ago (along with the burlap and pipe cleaner hearts). I did add this Valentines’ felt garland (which I found at Hobby Lobby) this year. It was just what this section of the wall needed to add just a little more color.

I also found the red hearts with the burlap bow at Hobby Lobby. I think they compliment the decorations that I already had.

Normally she loves the idea of getting to walk Joseph to school…apparently that wasn’t the case on Tuesday.

She basically told me that she was going to stay right there, thank-you-very-much.

She did eventually come around to the idea, though…and then didn’t want to turn around when we normally do. We did a round trip of 3.5 miles that day!

…”Mom is trying to get a normal picture…

Abigail asked me where I was going, since I had make-up and earrings on. I was getting ready to go to music rehearsal (I’m part of a trio that is going to sing at the adult session of Stake Conference tonight), but I thought it was funny that she associated those two things with me leaving the house. 🙂

Wednesday was the 100th day of school. Joseph’s class did a few things, but not any crafts. Abigail’s class did a few more interactive things and her teacher sent me this picture. 🙂

Thursday brought us freezing rain throughout most of the day.

Those are the neighbor’s trees, coated in ice.

The extra wire fencing we keep between Paul’s office and the house also had ice on it.

I took this picture (Paul took the previous two). I thought the ice on the tips of the tree branches and leaves was so pretty!

She was pretending to be a queen. She had me make her a crown and she made sure to get a throne and a scepter. 😁 When she found out that not all of her subjects were going to bend to her every whim (namely the 10-year-old one), she gave up the monarchy pretty quickly. 😂

A Chill Week

This past week was a pretty typical week for the end of January. It’s hard to believe that we’re only a couple of days away from February. We didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary (it’s kind of hard to squeeze in fun stuff when we’ve got school, work, church stuff, and the like to work around). The kids did have a minimum day this past week, which was nice. It made it possible for me to take both kids on a nice, long walk in the afternoon. I love getting outside and being active…and we love how beautiful it is in our little corner of San Antonio. Today we’re just doing stuff around the house. I’ve got loads of laundry to catch up on and Paul is currently trimming the trees. The joys of home ownership! I joke, but I really am grateful for our home (and for my sweet husband who does such a great job maintaining it as well as the yards and trees). 🙂

We got this key chain in Relief Society. It’s a slightly simplified version (I imagine it was tricky to get the exact wording and still have it all on there in a font that was still readable) of one of my favorite scriptures: Philippians 4:13 reads: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” It’s a nice daily reminder. 🙂

On one of our daily walks, we found this spider web (grass spiders will build their webs in the grass overnight and wait for prey) covered in dew. As we were walking, we found a ton more. It was really cool!

I loved seeing the dew dripping off the edges of the leaves. With the sun shining on them, the dewdrops looked like glass.

I was so excited when I found out this shirt fit again. My exercising is beginning to pay off!

Now that the kids are bigger and understand about fragile things, I’m able to put more of Beth’s shells out. It’s nice to be able to see them and think of her. 🙂

More of Beth’s shells…and my favorite lighthouse book. I got this a long time ago on clearance at Barnes & Noble. I think I paid $5 for it and the pictures are so beautiful!

Some of Abigail’s recent school artwork: Sneezy the Snowman and an igloo.

On our mid-week walk. We walked three miles!

Creamy chicken and tortellini soup was the perfect dinner for a chilly night.

She loves Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. She especially loves the episode about pets and always has to go and get her big puppy. She asked me to take her picture. 🙂

Paul was trimming some of the branches on our front tree. Abigail ran and got steps and her plastic saw so that she could also “climb a ladder and trim branches.” 🙂

An Interesting Week

This past week was rather interesting. We had Monday off (for Martin Luther King Jr. Day), which was nice. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday were normal days. Thursday, however, was interesting in the fact that school was canceled because of super-low temperatures and predicted bad weather. The bad weather missed us (thank goodness…I really don’t like sleet) but the temps were still low. Paul was able to telework, so at least he didn’t have to drive in. Friday, the kids were back to school and Paul took the day off so that he could put the neighborhood Christmas decorations away (he needed to wait until someone with a truck could help him). One great thing happened: we got a new bed! Our old bed was almost twenty years old, so it was past time. The mattress store didn’t do haul-away, but luckily we found a company that could come get the old mattress and box springs (so they were only out on our front porch for a couple of days, haha.