Weekly Happenings: Usually I’m not so excited for the warm weather to return, but after being so, so cold in February, I’m ready for it! As far as activities go, we didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary. With Joseph in school, Paul working, and me teaching piano most afternoons, it’s a rather busy time for us.
The Weekly Weather: It has been so nice lately. I really do think that March is my favorite.
What Paul’s Been Up To: The new swings for the park were delivered, so he went and put those on. I sure hope people in our neighborhood realize just how much money our HOA is saving by having a president that is handy. 😉 He did have to go into work this morning for a couple of hours to take care of some things (sometimes they need to come in on a Saturday because that way they can take the whole system down without interrupting the schedules of the staff and students), but luckily it didn’t take too long.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much out of the ordinary for me this week. 🙂
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He had a good week at school. Other than that, not too much to report about him, either. 🙂
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She got a haircut this week, which will make it much easier to brush her hair (she doesn’t like to slow down long enough for me to do a really good job). She has also showed just how independent she can be. The other day she changed herself. She took off her shorts and wet Pull-up, used one of her chairs to reach the shelf where the other Pull-ups were, got one, put it on, and then put her shorts back on. She decided to do this while I was teaching piano, or I would have encouraged her to wait for me, haha. I think we’re one step closer to potty training…oh, one funny story: she decided to use the stick from her balloon (that she got when she got her hair cut) to flip the switch and turn on the fan in the living room. I said, “Hey, now that’s using your noggin!”. She said (with kind of a forced, good-natured laugh), “No, Mom! I didn’t use my NOggin…I used my balloon stick!”
This Week in Pictures:
Playing out in the back yard on a nice, spring afternoon.She requested a Daniel Tiger puppet. Mom did her best, haha.I jokingly tossed her blanket over her when she was sitting on the couch. She left it there and called out, asking for her tablet. She stayed under there for a good twenty minutes.He told me, “Mom! I came up with the best way to handle my sweatshirt!” He hates when it comes untied from around his waist, but he’s also afraid that he’ll forget it if he sets it down at school. It might be hard to see, but he has the arms pulled through his belt loops. Seems legit to me.Trying to teach Abigail to play Wii sports. Right now she’s kind of a button-masher.I love seeing the new leaves and the fresh, green grass poking through!The tomato plant is growing so fast!So is the mint!The nice warm weather made me want to put out my spring decorations.Abigail absolutely loves the bunnies. She did ask me about the “dirty” eggs…but accepted my explanation that they were fake eggs that were meant to look like birds’ eggs.My quote for spring.Before her haircut……and after.The stylist always does something after the haircut. This time, it was a mini French braid with a sparkly dragonfly clip. We made it roughly an hour before Abigail wanted it all taken out (another reason I wanted to have her hair shorter…she doesn’t really like anything done with it).Picnicking on top of the play set. This boy loves to swing! I realized my utensil jars were rather sticky/greasy. After a 409/dish soap bath, they’re all shiny again! I didn’t realize at the time I purchased them that the green ones were limited edition (I don’t even remember how long ago I got them). I went to find more one day (probably about a year ago) and realized there weren’t any in the stores and the few I found online were being sold for probably 2-3 times more than what I paid for them (I guess that happens with limited edition stuff 😂), so I’ve just opted for any glass jars I happen to procure if I need more storage space.
Weekly Happenings: Last weekend ushered in Daylight Savings Time, so we’ve spent the week trying to adjust. Don’t get me wrong. I love the longer days because during the spring and summer we like to do more things in the evening because it’s just a smidge cooler. I just don’t like the change itself. I used to think that it would be good to stay on standard time (because I like the coziness that I associate with it getting dark early), but the more I think about it, the more I think I wouldn’t mind if we stayed on DST. I wouldn’t mind having slightly longer days during our nicer, cooler months, either. I mean, the Earth does its thing, so fall and winter days are already going to be shorter than spring and summer days, so why do we need to mess with the clocks? Bah. Consequently, not much got done during the week that wasn’t out of the norm.
The Weekly Weather: We’ve continued to enjoy our cool mornings, warm afternoons, and cool evenings. It’s been so nice!
What Paul’s Been Up To: The big thing he took care of this week actually happened yesterday and today. He was able to use some of the HOA’s budget to get some more mulch for the playground at the park. It’s needed it for quite some time. He found a company that was able to deliver the mulch right to the park, so nobody had to haul it there. He was able to get help from other people in the neighborhood to come and help him spread it out. In other news, because of his job, he was able to get the first round of his COVID vaccination. Yay!
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I mainly did my regular taxi service to-and-from school, entertained the four-year-old, and taught my piano students. My back is finally starting to feel pretty close to normal (I was even able to put my socks on normally the other day). I’m still scared to let myself sneeze, though…just in case that’s all it takes to set me back again. I did get to go to book club…and I took advantage of a sale at Hobby Lobby to get some cute things for the house. 🙂
What Joseph’s Been Up To: The funny thing is, I haven’t seen much of him lately. He’s at school during the day and then when he gets home, he spends a lot of time in his room (he does have a lot of things in there to entertain him)…I feel like I’m getting a glimpse into what the teen years are going to be like. 😉
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been enjoying getting to play outside. There was once where she decided to get her sandals on and go out on her own. I came downstairs after folding laundry and found her outside. I thought Paul was out with her, but soon I realized he wasn’t, so I stepped out with her (I thought he might have just stepped into his office for something) and had her put on her tennis shoes. A little bit later, Paul stepped out of his office and said, “Oh, she convinced you to take her out, huh?” or something like that. I then said, “Oh, I thought you took her out.”. Then we looked at each other for a beat and realized we’d been hoodwinked! Another time, she asked me for her tablet and I told her she needed to wait until my piano student came, since I let her play on her tablet while I teach. About 20 minutes later, she came up and told me that she thought my student wasn’t feeling well…so she could go ahead and have her tablet now. Oh, and another day, she knocked on Joseph’s door and asked to go into his room. When he said no (because, well, older brothers), she went and got her stuffed Pikachu and knocked on his door again. This time, she used a different voice and said she was Pikachu, and she needed her friend…she then elaborated by saying that her Pikachu was looking for Joseph’s Pikachu (he does have one). Hoo-boy. She’s gonna be way smarter than me before I know it (she probably already is).
Our tomato plant is happily growing! This was at the beginning of the week. It’s grown even more since then (I just haven’t taken another picture).Playing with her animals and dinosaurs.She was quite happy to find a starfish.Roaring like Beast from X-Men. 😀She told me that wrapping up in her blanket would make her (pretend) hiccups go away. Walking around in Daddy’s boots.She asked me to take her picture so that she could see it. Kids these days don’t know how easy they’ve got it with digital photography, haha.I added this metal milk jug and fake plants to this corner of the dining room.I think it’s perfect!I also added this windmill decoration and more milk jugs with fake plants.I think it looks great right here. This cabinet is on the wall behind the couch.We had a smaller bin sitting on our breakfast bar that was for stuff we use everyday (medicines, vitamins, sunglasses, etc.), but it wasn’t quite big enough, so I got something bigger. It also has compartments in it, which I think will help us stay better organized with it (and not have to take everything out to find something that might have gotten buried at the bottom).It fits in perfectly with everything else I have going on.My shamrocks are happy with the warm (but not too hot) weather. I also have new growth on my rose bush.Collecting rocks and enjoying the breeze.The mint has grown like crazy! Last week, it was barely starting to poke through the dirt.I think “new baby leaf” green is my favorite color.Enjoying a rare quiet moment.I love everything about this picture. My sweet girl, the green tree, the play set, and the blue, blue sky.This is the big pile of mulch that got delivered to the park. It was ten yards worth.They were able to spread it all out under the swings (which really needed it)……under this equipment (especially under the slide to provide a bit of a softer landing for the kiddos)……and a little under this equipment (again focusing on the area under the slide). Paul wasn’t able to get as much as he would have liked (the budget was rather limited), but I think he did a great job spreading it out the way that he did. I’m also glad that other people in the neighborhood volunteered to help, since we didn’t have it in the budget at all to hire out the job.
Weekly Happenings: Many people tend to fill their spring breaks with a ton of different activities while we tend to just…chill at home. Our normal routine is usually rather busy, so it’s nice to be able to just relax a bit. I did take the kids to the zoo one day, but other than that, we just hung around the house.
The Weekly Weather: We’ve had cool mornings and warm (but not too warm) afternoons. It’s been nice that it’s been warm enough to not need warm clothes but not so warm that we were uncomfortable being outside. I know that will happen soon enough. 😉
What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s still working from home and has been squeezing in some yard work to try to get the yards ready for spring and summer.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: It’s been nice getting to sleep in a little bit this past week. I had a good time at the zoo with the kids as well. Oh, and I experimented with my cooking blender and made some yummy strawberry jam (more details in the pictures). I did have a set-back with my back. I was doing really good (not even needing Aleve to get through the day), but then yesterday I…sneezed. That was it. For some reason, it made my back seize up. I’m not sure why that happened, but I have some leftover medicine from when I originally hurt it, so I decided to take some to see if I could get ahead of it enough to avoid landing in urgent care again. It’s still rather sore today and I don’t have my full range of motion, but I think that if I’m careful, I’ll be doing better in a few days.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been soaking up spring break to its fullest. Sleeping in, playing video games, hanging out in his room…typical 9YO boy stuff. 🙂
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s loved having Joseph home. It’ll probably be a little hard for her when he goes back to school on Monday. She’ll adjust, though. 🙂
This Week in Pictures:
She loves it when he reads to her.In San Antonio, “fall” comes in the spring (when all the old leaves on our live oak trees fall off as the new ones grow in). Paul was raking up the leaves and Abigail was loving jumping in the pile. 🙂The snow pretty much killed off the exposed mint. Paul trimmed it all back after we got back from California. It’s already growing back (yay!). We had brought the Mexican heather inside. It got quite a bit of frost damage (hence the lighter colored leaves) before we brought it inside, but at some point, it had put a runner down, so some new growth is happening there in the corner. It’s also got some darker green leaves underneath the lighter leaves, so I’m hoping it’ll come back okay.Making jam. All it called for was strawberries, pectin, and sugar.I put the strawberries and pectin in, set it to the jam setting, and hit start.It ground up the strawberries as it started cooking them.Getting all cooked up and ground up.My blender stopped and told me when to add the sugar.Getting the sugar mixed in as it started to cool down.All done! It took a little less than an hour, I think.It’s a freezer/fridge jam as opposed to a shelf-stable jam, so I didn’t need to sterilize the jars at all. I just poured in the jam and let it cool.All done! I let them come to room temperature before putting the lids on. Then I chilled them in the fridge overnight before putting them into the freezer (except for one that I kept for the fridge).The blender really, really blended it…so it ended up with the consistency of jelly. It still qualifies as jam, though, because it was made with fruit as opposed to with fruit juice.This picture makes me happy. The beautiful benches that Paul built, the fun pillows, the warm light over the piano, the windows open to let in a cool breeze, and the glimpse of pretty plants out the window. I love being at home!She’s been asking to play some video games, so Paul found some toddler-friendly ones for her.Teaching her how to use the correct buttons.Sometimes a challenging day (she’s cute, but she’s got a fair amount of sass, haha) is made better with a Dr. Pepper shake.The zoo had a bunch of animatronic dinosaurs (complete with speakers that played roaring noises). The kids were pretty excited.She was trying to get the bear to turn around and say hello to her. He wasn’t having anything to do with that, though.For a while, now, all the climb-on statues have been roped off. They’ve taken the ropes off and the kiddos were pretty excited to be able to crawl around on them again.Joseph using the komodo dragon to “surf”.Sitting on the hippos before they got too hot.The African porcupines were actually out and about. Abigail really liked their cute fuzzy faces.The elephants were also out and about.The kids both really love this little elephant.These miniature mongoose are another favorite. They were really curious during this visit…they kept sniffing at the kids.There is a bird enclosure near the hippos. The birds are really used to humans, so they aren’t very skittish. I still made sure to keep my distance, though, and just used the zoom on my camera.She was excited that she could see both the hippo and the giant fish.One of her favorite parts of the zoo.Climbing on the lion statues.This is a definite zoo favorite.
Seems legit to me.
