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.
January in San Antonio is pretty nice. 🙂Bye-bye old bed! Thanks for your service! 🙂The kids went grocery shopping with me on Monday (since they were home from school). Abigail spotted a display of Care Bears and well, she DID have Christmas money to use to buy one. She had a hard time choosing between Share Bear and Wish Bear, so she got Share Bear. A few days later, I was back at the store for some other things and went ahead and got her Wish Bear (she still had some Christmas money left over and I knew she would be happy with the decision).This was Wednesday. It was overcast, but warm (I want to say it was almost 70 degrees when I snapped this picture of Abigail trying to find birds in the trees while on our walk).I found a little waffle maker that makes Texas-shaped waffles. 🙂 This was our dinner on Wednesday night.Thursday, the temperature dropped 40 degrees. Since school was canceled, I was able to have the time to bake a fresh batch of rolls.The rolls went perfectly with some chili. I just used canned chili, but I added extra ground beef and a bit of rib eye to it to make it meatier. It was really yummy!
The majority of this week was pretty typical. One funny thing: on occasion, if Abigail is finally sitting still and doing something quietly, Joseph will walk up to her and see if he can get her to do something fun or silly with him. This is normally not a problem until he recognizes the correct time to stop being silly…and she doesn’t. Then I’m stuck trying to get her to calm down, which is no easy feat (and usually ends in tears). Since I don’t want Joseph to think he’s in trouble when I ask him to stop before he starts, I’ve started using the phrase, “Don’t rock the boat” with him. Well, there was one time, when Abigail was playing on her tablet, and he came up to her, trying to start a tickle match. Apparently she wasn’t in the mood (which is kind of surprising, actually) because she said, “Mom! Joseph’s rockin’ the boat!” Hahaha!
It was really cold on one of our walks this week. I sure love my mini-me!The sky was beautiful, at least!I love how blue the sky is out here. A leaf-footed bug that randomly landed on my car while I was waiting for the kids to get out of school. It startled me when it thumped down!Pretending to be a zookeeper.She wanted a giraffe shirt (which she doesn’t have), but luckily her llama shirt was good enough, haha.Fun project #1: Paul picked up a toy kit for Joseph to put together.Getting to use the mini hammer that my mom gave him (along with the little black and yellow tool chest).Working together.Almost done…can you tell what it’s going to be?Giving it a coat of paint.It’s a castle for Abigail to play with! He was so excited to be able to build something for his little sister!Fun project #2: This is a doll cradle that my dad built (we think, at least…at first we thought my brother Dave built it, but he said he thinks Dad built it). Mom said we could take it home for Abigail to play with. Paul carefully disassembled it so that we could take it home (flat is always easier) and then reassembled it when we got home. It’s so pretty!
This past week was our first full week back after vacation. I kind of feel like we were cheated by Mother Nature a bit, though…while we were in California, the weather at home was gorgeous (sunny, warm) and the weather in California was cold and rainy (luckily there were some sunny days mixed in, but it was still kind of chilly). Then, when we got home, the weather took a turn (we even had a couple of nights where the low dipped below freezing) while the weather in California changed back to warm and sunny. Dangit! 😉 As far as what we did this week, it was kind of a recovery week. I got the kids back into their school routine, Paul jumped back into work with both feet, I got back into my working out and walking routine, and we worked together to get Christmas tucked away (and I also added a couple of small new household items). Here’s to a brand new year!
I love my holiday decorations (fall, Halloween, and Christmas), but I equally love my “rest of the year” decor. Santa put this in my stocking this year and I’ve been playing it in the car quite a bit. Abigail thinks it’s great music for dancing…Joseph thinks it’s…”Mom’s music” (I think the jury is still out on whether or not he will admit to liking it or not, haha).When I tucked away my Christmas lantern, the space felt so…empty. I scooted over to Hobby Lobby and took advantage of the fact that all of their tabletop decor was half-off to get this little decorative lantern. It doesn’t light up, but I love its look! It fits into my farmhouse style perfectly.I also did a mini revamp to this area. I bought the birdhouse and I also relocated some of Abigail’s books so that I could move some of my favorites down from the big shelves.It’s always fun to see all of my “circles” completed. That’s how I know I’ve gotten decent movement during the day. 🙂I was getting home from my walk and noticed this butterfly just chilling on one of my snapdragons. I didn’t want to startle it, so I kept my distance and zoomed waaaaaay in to get a close-up. 🙂This is what the weather was like the day after I took that pretty butterfly picture, haha.It was literally a thirty degree difference between the two days…I took this picture at noon! It didn’t get much warmer.Last night, I even pulled out the big, heavy blanket I got while I was on a cruise down to Mexico with my college choir. This trip was the spring before Paul and I got married, so this blanket is now twenty years old. When Paul found out we’d be going on-shore in Ensenada, he told me I should make sure and grab one of these blankets. Best. decision. ever. I’m glad I remembered to take his advice (I even left a bit of room in my luggage in anticipation of getting one, haha).The first fresh rolls of the new year…I made them different sizes to better suit differently-sized tummies for……meatball sandwiches!!
