Weekly Happenings: This past week, the main attraction was definitely Halloween. Earlier in the day, we painted pumpkins which the kids really enjoyed. Paul stayed home and handed out candy (he sat 6 feet away from a table that he had set up with candy spread out so that the kids could go and pick out some candy). He also had our projector out, playing “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” using our garage door as a backdrop. I took the kids around to trick-or-treat. A lot of people did similar things as us (candy spread out, pre-packed treat bags, etc.). A few came up with some more involved plans. One house had a candy chute using a long PVC pipe. They stuck the candy in the chute and it shot out the bottom into the kids’ buckets. Another place used a remote control car to “deliver” bags of candy. We only went to four streets before the kids’ buckets were full. It was a super fun night!
The Weekly Weather: We had one day this past week that was really cold (it didn’t even get up to 50). The mornings have been rather cold, but then it’s warmed up into the 70s by the afternoon.
What Paul’s Been Up To: Working, getting stuff done for election day, getting HOA stuff done, etc. He’s been elected to the HOA board and it looks like the turnover from the builder to the homeowners is going to happen relatively soon.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: All my normal stuff! I did also host a virtual Pampered Chef party which was a lot of fun.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He loved getting to wear a costume to school on Friday. He also has decided he wants me to teach him piano. It’ll be a fun adventure!
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She insisted on wearing a costume to school drop-off on the day when Joseph got to wear his costume. 😀 Also, she cracked me up when she was playing school some time this week. She got her lunch box and backpack and then came up to me and asked me to beep her forehead. At first, I had no idea what she was referring to, but then I remembered that every morning, Joseph gets his temperature taken by a staff member before entering the school. I guess it’s another sign of 2020. 😉
This Week in Pictures:
She wanted to be “Winter Batman”.I used a dish towel as a cape and she has some fuzzy gloves that Alice sent us (they are Olympics swag from when the Olympics were in Canada a while back).“Winter Batman to the rescue!”She stole my shoes……but it’s okay, since she’s such a friendly witch.Some of my 70-some-odd tomatoes were ready to be picked. The rest need a bit more time.Getting ready to paint pumpkins.Abigail wanted “all the rainbow colors”.Joseph went for a happy monster.All our pumpkins. You can see Joseph’s finished monster.He painted a stick-man on the side……and a green monster on the other side.I went for artsy.Paul went for a Mandalorian helmet.Close-up of Abigail’s pumpkin.Masks for trick-or-treating……but smiling faces underneath!Every year we have to find the Charlie Brown house.Last night’s full moon. I know it doesn’t happen often that we get a full moon on Halloween, so I made sure to snap a picture.This morning, she told me that she wanted a “REAL necklace” to wear to church. Luckily I have a couple pieces that I don’t really wear anymore.My board for November. I liked last year’s quote so much that I just put it back up.
Bonus Video: Joseph loves making up challenges for himself. This time, it was an underhand toss followed by an overhand catch.
Weekly Happenings: This past week, I was in a bit of a funk…I suppose it was a result of getting back into real life after having partied it up with Tracie fora few days there. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in Texas, but man, there are times where I still get struck with waves of homesickness for my family and friends that knock me back a few paces. When that happens, I’ve found that I need to look around and recount my many, many blessings (my immediate family, the new friends I have made here, our beautiful home, the fact that I can stay home to raise our children, and many, many more). When I’m able to do that, I can put that grumpy gal back in her corner and feel more like myself. This was a pretty average week as far as activities go, so that has helped me get back into the groove of things, too.
The Weekly Weather: It’s kind of been all over the place. We’ve had warm days, hot days, cool days, dry days, soupy humid days…pretty typical for this time of year when we’re kind of in-between summer and winter, haha.
What Paul’s Been Up To: He worked from home this week, which was nice for when I needed to run a few errands that were easier done sans bringing the toddler with me. I’m so grateful for such a supportive spouse!
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I had a couple nights where I got together with small groups of people for some fun activities: a girls’ night where we each brought some fun items and exchanged them amongst ourselves and then a movie night with my book club friends where we watched a movie adaptation of one of the books we just read.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s battled an allergy attack this past week that he seems to be getting better from finally…and he still is enjoying going to school in-person.
What Abigail’s Been Up To: Her imaginative play has just exploded this week and she’s getting a bit better at entertaining herself (without destroying the house, haha) rather than wanting me to entertain her all of the time.
This Week in Pictures:
She told me she was all ready for Halloween. 🙂 She is also getting better at looking at the camera and smiling at me when I ask her to (this is her “Cheese!” face). When I look at pictures like this, I’m so grateful I can bottle these moments: when she loved to dress up…when she loved wearing her Christmas shirt in October…she can be challenging at times, but she really is a blessing and delight.I’m experimenting to see if I can keep a centerpiece on the table again. There was a while that Abigail would climb up and take everything down (if you notice, the salt and pepper aren’t there because I’m still burned from the time that she made it “snow” in the dining room with salt…and the napkins aren’t there because she would scatter them on a regular basis). Obviously the spiderweb fabric will only be there for Halloween, but I pulled down the wooden place mat again. I already had the plant (it had just been living on the breakfast bar before), but the candle sticks are new. When I went to Waco a couple weeks ago, we went to Clint Harp’s store (Clint was the guy who would do all of the custom woodwork on the show Fixer Upper) and I bought a couple candle sticks. So far, Abigail has done really well with them all. I told her they were special to me and they needed to stay on the table. I also let her play with the green bucket that had been up there before, so that definitely sweetened the deal, haha.She’s ready for her close-up!In order to get the nice picture……I had to promise to do a crazy one.The aftermath of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I gave it to her to eat and then walked off. A few minutes later, I hear, “Mom…Momma…Mom! I LOVE peanut butter cups.”She had dressed up like a princess (complete with magical flying horse, a magical sword, a princess crown and dress, and her favorite sparkly Anna and Elsa shoes) right before it was time to get Joseph from school. Since I’m a firm believer in picking my battles, we drove to go get him. That way, we could just wait in the car for him, haha.It was a bit chilly this morning, so she decided she needed to snuggle with her Minnie Mouse blanket and all the clubhouse pals.Paul picked up some mini pumpkins so that Abigail could decorate one. He put the others on the table to give the centerpiece a bit more of a fall look. I love it! When November hits, I’ll tuck away the spiderweb fabric, but I think I’ll leave the pumpkins as far into November as I can (before they mold). The blank spot above the dinosaur poster had been niggling at me, but I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted up there. A couple of days ago, I went to Hobby Lobby for something completely unrelated and I found the perfect thing. These two canvas prints are perfect with what I’ve already got going on. Paul hung them up today and they look great!
Weekly Happenings: On Monday, I had one last day with Tracie before she had to fly back to Utah that evening. We got up early and drove out to Fredericksburg to hike Enchanted Rock. It’s a huge rock that, if you hike up to the top of it, you get really beautiful views of the Hill Country that surrounds it. After we hiked the rock, we walked around Fredericksburg (Main Street is full of historic buildings, cute shops, and yummy restaurants) and also checked out the area around the Pacific War Museum (the inside of the museum was closed for cleaning) which also included a Garden of Peace that was donated by the Japanese people to the people of the United States. Oh, and we stumbled across one area that had an old water wheel that had been restored with the help of funds from our church (as well as a plaque that commemorated the memory of the Zodiac Colony which was a colony of pioneers from our church that apparently settled in the area in 1846). It was neat to see that bit of history that I wasn’t aware of. We grabbed lunch at a yummy Italian place and then headed home. On the way home, we stopped by a roadside stand. It’s normally only open during peach season, but they decided to stay open a little longer and sell some melons, apples, and pumpkins. We didn’t buy any produce, but I bought some homemade peach preserve and Tracie went home with some goat’s milk lotion and a really good smelling candle. After I took Tracie to the airport, life kind of returned to normal: work, school, errands, piano teaching, etc.
The Weekly Weather: Our mornings have been cool and pleasant with it warming up in the afternoons. Not much rain to mention (I think it might have sprinkled this morning). Hopefully it’ll start cooling down some more. It doesn’t feel much like fall when it’s 80-90 degrees outside.
What Paul’s Been Up To: He worked at work this past week (except Monday) and will work from home this next week. He’s also been busy with HOA stuff (trying to get ready for the annual meeting) and stuff for the Libertarian party (since election day is swiftly approaching).
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Other than playing on Monday, I didn’t do too much out of the ordinary…oh, except I did also get to go to book club, which was fun as always.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He had another good week at school. I don’t see much of him after school because he makes a bee-line for his room. I figure he probably needs a bit of time to unwind after school, so I let him be.
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been busy as usual. She still tells me on a regular basis that she’s ready to put on her costume and go get candy. 😉 She is slowly adjusting to having to leave Joseph at school (but still tries to latch onto him as soon as he gets home…maybe that’s why he heads for the hills, haha).
This Week in Pictures:
Enchanted Rock!The beginning trail was dirt, but luckily (for my footing) the rest of it was rock.The view from the top.There was a lake down there, which was really pretty. I just wish it was a little less hazy. The view got clearer as the day progressed, but it was also quickly getting hotter. We made it to the top! I want to say that the elevation change from the bottom to the top is 485 feet…and the entire hike was a little shy of two miles…so that tells you how steep the incline was at some points.Paul sent me a picture of the lunch he made for Abigail: a cheese sandwich shaped like Texas and some Pirate’s Booty (a cheesy puffed corn snack that she loves). Such a good Daddy!This is the National Museum of the Pacific War.It was first owned by Charles Nimitz and then was turned into a hotel. In the mid-60s, it was turned into the museum.One of the guns that was on display.The Japanese Garden of Peace.I loved the raked rocks.The plaque explaining the garden.One last selfie!Fredericksburg had cool things tucked around everywhere. This fountain was tucked back in an alley we walked by.This is the water wheel I was talking about earlier. There was a plaque near it that mentioned that our church helped provide funds to help restore it.This is a statue John O. Meusebach who was one of the founders of Fredericksburg and the Penatuka Comanche Chief Santanna smoking a peace pipe after making a treaty between the settlers in Fredericksburg and the Comanche. It’s believed that this treaty is the only one that has never been broken by one side or the other.I’m sure this is a replication (because it wasn’t blocked off or protected from the elements), but it was still cool to see this representation of native life.I can’t remember what building this is (I think it’s a small museum of some sort), but I thought it was a cool shape.New nails! Oh, and guess what?They glow in the dark! 😀Walking home from taking Joseph to school, I noticed the radio tower looked…different.When zooming in, I realized that there were actually a ton of birds up there. They looked too big to be hawks…I think they were vultures. :/She needed to cuddle with Minnie.This was a fun shot that I got of the two of them swinging.Never a dull moment…she was walking around, singing at the top of her lungs (some little song she made up), with this bucket on her head, haha.
