Nine years ago today, we were in the middle of what I have labeled “the BIG move” (from California to Texas). We broke up the drive into three days. Paul drove our U-Haul and I followed behind in our car with Joseph (who wasn’t quite one yet). We knew we wouldn’t have very good cell phone reception during a lot of the trip, so we literally used a set of walkie-talkies to communicate. 😂 When we got to San Antonio, we settled into an extended-stay hotel and started our house-hunt. Three days into it, we found our house and started the escrow process. Less than a month later, we were moving into our home. It really was a whirlwind of a time (especially since we also bought our station wagon two days after we moved into our house). It simultaneously feels like just yesterday and forever ago (every time I look at how big Joseph has gotten). It was really hard moving so far away from family and everything I’d known my whole life, but we settled in relatively quickly and love it here. I just make sure to call my momma once a week to help ward off any pangs of homesickness. 😁
As for the other part of my title for this post, Abigail has been really into helping me with pretty much everything this week…whether I needed the help or not. 😂 I’ll let the pictures explain.
All dressed up for church. Abigail insisted on wearing the crocheted dress that a good friend of mine made for her…almost two years ago now (I think). It was a little short, so I made sure she had shorts underneath ( as well as a shirt since the top of the dress was a little spread out).The first installment of “I’ll help you, Mom!”: helping take out the trash.The second installment of “I’ll help you, Mom!”: loading the dishwasher. She did this while I wasn’t looking. I had to take stuff out to rinse off and rearrange a few things, but she was so stinkin’ proud of herself for helping. 😁“Just because it’s Thursday” flowers. 😍The final installment of “I’ll help you, Mom!”: watering the plants. You might wonder why she’s so…soaked. Well, I was watering, pruning, weeding, etc. outside and she was with me, playing. I was using the sprinkler for a bit to get some of the dry parts of the lawn and well, you can probably see where this is going. 😂 I didn’t notice until she was already soaked, so I just rolled with it. Then she wanted to help me water my geraniums. Never a dull moment with this child!I gave her a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar and ran upstairs to put away a few things. I came downstairs to find her making “ice cream soup”. Hoo-boy. She sure knows how to make a mess. Luckily, it was all on her plate (and face and hands, of course), so it wasn’t really that bad to clean up. Baby steps, I suppose. 😂You might live in Texas if you’re drinking a shake from Whataburger while wearing a Buc-ee’s shirt. 😂The only one in our family that is a “born-in-Texas” Texan is totally fine with her parents’ California roots. I think Abigail is wishing for cooler weather…either that or she just likes to push buttons and flip switches. 😜 Thankfully our little fireplace has separate switches: one for light and one for heat. Abigail knows she’s only allowed to flip the light one. Frankly, the sight of it is making me wish for cooler temps, too! A little picture swapping: I moved my driftwood photo over next to my flower photo. There had been just a stock photo of the moon there before (to go along with the book quote above), but I like that I now have both of the nature photos that I took at the Gulf grouped together.I had an updated family photo printed and I put that in the spot where my driftwood photo was previously. Now that wall is all family-related, which I like as well. 😊
This week was pretty chill. We pretty much just bounced around the house. We did do a few mini projects, but I think I’ll just describe those in the corresponding pictures. 🙂
Playing “Lemonade Shop”. Abigail had put a piece of fruit (from her play kitchen) in each cup and was using her tablet as a checkout screen.This set-up can only mean one thing: roll baking!The nerd in me loves to see yeast reacting to sugar and warm water!I love when they come out this scrumptious-looking!I made my rolls bigger than usual so that I could use them for meatball sandwiches.She wanted to play…so he gave her a controller. He left out the little detail that it wasn’t on…and she didn’t notice. 😂I wanted to have something on top of this cabinet in our living room to make it feel more…finished. Paul mentioned wanting to bring more of Abigail’s books downstairs, so he suggested a book case of some sort. I couldn’t find a book case that I liked that fit the space, but I did find a metal basket that I just turned on its side. I added a decorative milk jug with some faux greens in it (I have a few others just like it in other parts of the living and dining rooms, so I feel it ties in nicely).The farther off shot.She was pretty excited to have more books downstairs.I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this sight. 😍 It doesn’t hurt that they’re reading one of my favorite books, either. 😁What a difference {almost} nine years makes. Also, I finally realized just why I don’t mind watering the plants in the front: I’m pretty much in the shade the entire time. 😂Pretty flowers make me smile. These snapdragons are some of my favorites.It’s hard to see, but I added some mesh over the tomatoes in hopes that the birds will finally have to leave them alone.Paul added a cord cover to cover up the cords that were going down from the TV. I love how neat it looks now!I added some more flowers to the front of our flower bed in the front yard (there used to be wildflowers there, but they have died off for the year).Paul hung up the pantry sign that I bought (it matches the one I got for the powder room).I have a brownie pan that is a pan that makes twelve individual brownies…and I tried a new recipe: butterscotch pecan. I used my cooking blender to make pecan butter and then mixed that into a boxed brownie mix (along with the other ingredients needed for the brownies). Then while they were baking, I used my blender to make a butterscotch sauce to go on top (that’s where the butterscotch element from the recipe title comes in).
I’m still trying to figure out how time passes so quickly. I was looking at the calendar and realized that we’re already halfway through July. Before I know it, it’ll be the end of August and the kids will be headed to school. It’s going to be crazy to have both of them at school during the day (well, Abigail will only be half day, but there will still be a chunk of time where they’re both gone). As far as what we’ve done this week, we’ve been pretty chill. Abigail had a dental check-up (no cavities, yay!) and we took a trip to the zoo. They’re currently playing “The Ground is Lava”, which is fun to listen to (when they aren’t fighting, haha).
This is what it looks like when you eat your sundae cone backwards (and by that I mean cone-first).They love these hippos!We took a detour off of our regular route and found the frogs and other amphibians. 🙂Salamanders!We decided to visit the Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Abigail loves this boat. She spent most of her time there.Slooooooooth seeeeeeaaaat.Purple is fun……but polka dots are even better!Play-doh fun!
Abigail has a book of nursery rhymes/songs. She was looking at the pictures and singing the songs that went along with them. It took a little bit of time for me to realize what was going on, so I didn’t quite get all of it, but I got most of it! I want to remember her little cute voice.
