Weekly Happenings: Summer is swiftly coming to an end. At first it seemed like it would never get here, and all of a sudden, it’s here. We tried to squeeze in some more playing and a zoo trip when it wasn’t too hot.
The Weekly Weather: It’s been downright gross, haha. We’re having a heat wave, so temps have been over 100 degrees and it’s been humid and yucky. It’s supposed to cool down a little by the middle of next week, but I would belying if I said I’m not looking forward to cooler weather…so…November? 😉
What Paul’s Been Up To: This was a work-from-home week, so he also had some time to work on Joseph’s loft bed some more. He’s currently painting it. Once it dries, he’ll take the legs off so that we can get it upstairs and then he’ll reassemble it in Joseph’s room. Yay!
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve mainly been just doing what I can to keep the kids healthy, fed, and (relatively) happy.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He starts school on the 24th (virtually) and will hopefully be able to go back to school itself after Labor Day. He’s soaking in as much sleeping in, backyard playing, video game playing, LEGO building, etc. as he can until then.
What Abigail’s Been Up To: Her imagination is exploding right now. The other night, I overheard her playing in the bathtub. She was pretending that her washcloth had kidnapped one of her toys, who was the mom of another one of her toys. I heard her say, Hey? Where’s my mom?” and then in a slightly different voice, “I have her! Ha ha ha!” (that’s her villainous laugh). Then, I heard her say, “Hey! Give her back!”, “Oh, okay. Sorry!”, and “That’s okay.” At least things were resolved peacefully. 😉
She’s too cool for bedtime. 😉“Mom! I have your boots on!”She was so stinkin’ proud of herself for getting them on her feet.Playing with the letters on the magnet board.I realized Abigail needed bigger shoes. When I figured out what size she was going to need, I remembered I had set aside Joseph’s old cowboy boots from when he was about this age.It doesn’t get much more “San Antonio” than Texas flag boots and a Spurs shirt.Her little sister game is on point. All those empty chairs to choose from…and she chose the one that Joseph was already sitting in.Another attempt at applesauce since I was able to get the correct amount of apples.The finished product! It’s pretty tasty!There was one night this week that I decided I needed to be in my comfy, stay-at-home clothes a bit early. Abigail was excited to see Jack on my clothes. She kept saying, “Oooooh! So spooky! I love it!”I decided to switch up the homemade pizza that I normally do by making a calzone instead. It was pretty tasty!Abigail asked me to give her a hairstyle, so I did two ponytails.She told me she wanted the narwhal clips because they had horns just like the unicorn on her shirt.He was running laps. He also got new shoes (that he said made him feel like he could run faster than before).Getting some swinging in before the swings got too hot.She knew Paul was in there working…so she ran up and knocked on the door. She loves getting into his office because there are so many things for her to explore, haha.Playing with the frisbee.We need to work on Abigail’s form just a bit. 😉Checking out a black bear. I was pretty excited that I got Abigail’s hair to stay in a full ponytail!Hanging out with some pachyderms.Saying hello to the okapi.They both love looking at this fun guy (or gal).Taking a break in the AC (inside the hippo enclosure).She had been bringing down one block at a time…until she decided to bring down the entire bin.Once she brought the bin down, she plunked it it down and then said to me, “Look Mom! I found a bin of blocks!” almost as if she had just happened upon it, instead of having purposefully brought it downstairs.He’s got Joseph’s bed all built. Now all that’s left to do is paint! Once that’s all done and dry, he’ll take the legs off so that we can take it upstairs and then he’ll reassemble it in Joseph’s room.Google Photos did this then-and-now photo. I forgot how squishy his cheeks were.
Weekly Happenings: August has shown up, and is welcome (anything to make this crazy year go by faster, in my opinion). We’ve found out a little more about how Joseph will be starting school at least. He’ll be starting out fully virtual on the 24th of this month. The school hopes to be able to have any students who are comfortable with in-person schooling to start with that after Labor Day. After discussing what the two models would be like (virtual vs. in-person), we decided that it would be best for Joseph to go back as soon as they deem it safe. We feel that school will prove to be a better learning environment (less distractions) and home can continue to be the place to go to escape the stress of school. We did squeeze in some fun things this week: playing in the back yard (this is note-worthy simply because it’s usually too hot for them to stay outside for too long) and going to the zoo.
The Weekly Weather: We did have a couple of random rainstorms come through right at the beginning of the week. By random, I mean they weren’t even on the weather forecast. I would hear the thunder rumbling, check my app, see nothing mentioning rain, see rain start to fall, check app again, and finally see it updated to show rain. Silly weather! After that, though, it was clear and warm for the rest of the week. I have to admit that summer in San Antonio is not my favorite. I think late fall through mid-spring is my favorite time. 😉
What Paul’s Been Up To: I forget if I mentioned it before, but last weekend he went up to Big Spring, TX for the State Libertarian Convention. He left on Friday and got back on Monday. He then went in to work for the rest of the week. Today, he’s been working on another big wood-working project: building a loft bed for Joseph. We feel it’ll make Joseph’s room feel less crowded if we can put his desk and bookcase UNDER his bed.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve been mainly keeping the kids happy, fed, and entertained. 😀
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Not much different for the boy, either. He did use some of his allowance money that he’s saved up to buy a new game for his Switch, so he’s been excited about that.
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s basically been doing her same thing as well. She’s currently on a Lion King jag…so she’s been asking (a LOT) to watch the original Lion King, Lion King 1 1/2, Lion King 2 (Simba’s Pride), and The Lion Guard (Disney Jr. series about Simba’s kids). Hoo-boy.
This Week in Pictures:
I made this pasta (with chicken and fresh green beans) in a peanut butter sauce (it had peanut butter, soy sauce, coconut milk, and lime juice in it). Here it is all dished up with chopped peanuts on top and some extra lime wedges. It was pretty yummy!I had some apples that were on their last leg that I knew would be rather mealy if I tried to just eat them by themselves, so I decided to make apple sauce in my cooking blender.I found that I needed to move the blender because in the other spot, the steam was leaving a residue on my cabinet door (luckily I was able to scrub it off without damaging the cabinet door). This was the first time I had actually used the cooking setting on my blender, so it wasn’t something I had realized would happen.The maple syrup and cinnamon I added for flavor really made the applesauce dark (I also didn’t peel my apples, so their red skin also darkened things a bit). The blender made it really smooth and creamy, though. Man, if I had had this thing when my babies were little, I would have seriously considered making my own baby food. It was sooooooo good!Another dinnertime, another meal: I take a refrigerated crescent roll, spread some marinara sauce on it, put a few pieces of pepperoni along the widest part, half of a cheese stick on top of that, and roll the whole thing up, sealing the sides as best as possible. Then I just bake them up like regular rolls (making sure to use the longest suggested baking time because of the added filling). Add a Caesar salad on the side, and it’s a meal the kids gobble down.Backyard fun: tossing the ball back and forth.Abigail could do this ALL DAY.Swing set and slide shenanigans.He quickly found out that the swings were a little toasty. We’ll have to change when we go out there so that they aren’t so warm next time.I pulled out the bubble gun for extra fun.She absolutely loved getting to be in charge of it for a bit.This is something we must stop and do every time we go to the zoo now.Being photo-bombed by brother. 😉Another one of Abigail’s favorite spots: the waterfall in the bird enclosure.One of those then-and-now photos. They are a teeny bit bigger than they were back then.Y’all. This bird. I was taking the picture of the kids and it landed on the handrail and started hopping towards us, rather curious-like. It had some sort of seed in its mouth. I pulled Abigail back just a little and reminded her to just look with her eyes. I told her we could talk to it in quiet voices, so she kept saying, “Hi birdie!”. We talked to it for a couple of minutes while it just sat there, cocking its head in different directions. As we moved to walk away, it munched down its seed and continued to sit there.She told me she was holding Baby Simba up like in the movie. This one is ALWAYS one step ahead of me.He’s almost done! It just needs a couple more things and then a coat of paint. 😊
Weekly Happenings: This week has been pretty average, with one highlight for the kids: Paul was able to finish up the swing set in the back yard, so the kids have been enjoying playing on it in the evenings, when it has cooled down a smidge. Oh, and today I took the kids to the zoo to help chase away the cabin fever.
The Weekly Weather: It’s been a little cooler, thanks to a tropical storm that was off the coast (which gave us some rain). We also got a good thunderstorm that came through last night.
What Paul’s Been Up To: He got the swing set done, which was a huge project. He was working from home this week, so that helped him to be able to squeeze in working on it.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve mainly been keeping the kids happy, healthy. and the like. I did host book club, though, which was fun. I had a few of my friends in the house and then we had more friends join via Zoom, which is a computer program that allows for people to “meet up” virtually using computers, phones, tablets, etc.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Pretty much a rinse-and-repeat from last week: summer vacation fun. 🙂
What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s also been pretty much doing the same stuff. She did learn (the hard way) not to walk in front of the swings while Joseph is swinging. 🙁 I was across the yard, so I couldn’t stop her from walking where she wasn’t supposed to. Luckily, even though she got knocked over (poor Joseph tried so hard not to hit her, but it really was unavoidable), she didn’t get hurt too badly. I’m kind of hoping it was enough of a traumatic experience to help her remember not to do it in the future, though.
This Week in Pictures:
She told me she was having a stair picnic.On Monday, Paul put up two of the swings. He needed to get more hardware and chains for the rest of the stuff. He had enough for two swings, but needed more for the other regular swing and for the swinging bar.Spot the toad! I’ll give you a hint: he’s kind of close to the stone border.All finished! Paul moved Abigail’s bucket swing over so that both of the regular swings would be next to each other.Trying out the swinging bar. He was twisting it up so that he could spin around.Always wanting to do what her brother does. 🙂My quote for August. It’s actually a Beetles quote. 😀It’s never boring when Chef Abigail is in the kitchen.Joseph wanted me to take a picture of him and the bell tower he made from Mega Bloks. Abigail wanted to be included, so she was showing me her flowers. 😀She loves standing by this wall, pretending to be a butterfly.He wanted to see how close he was to the height of a whooping crane.This is my favorite animal at the zoo. The okapi!
