Darr Family Blog – Page 73 – The place to follow the Darr Family

An Almost-All-Text Post

Weekly Happenings: I almost didn’t have any pictures for this post. We haven’t really gone anywhere or done anything out of the ordinary. I jokingly say that we’re basically in survival mode when we have weeks like this one, but in reality, it isn’t far from the truth: we’re just trying to survive the summer, haha.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been hot and humid. We are supposed to get a bit of rain over the next few days, though (there’s a tropical storm coming in from the Gulf), that is also dropping the temps a bit. Yay!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He worked…at work…this week (as opposed to working from home). He also spent this morning starting on a big project in the backyard. Joseph is starting to get too big for the swing set that we have (it would actually rock back and forth when he was on it it), so Paul got some lumber and is in the process of building a bigger swing set. He got the frame assembled and stood up today (which was a BIG job, because he’s using pressure-treated wood, which is heavy) with a little bit of help from our neighbor (he’s a bit taller than Paul, so he was able to help lift one of the ends of the center beam up high enough for Paul to be able to get the other set of legs onto it). All he has left to do is to trim off some excess wood from some supports and then install the swings themselves. He’s going to do that another day, though, because he’s understandably beat.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve pretty much just kept the kids alive and relatively happy. It’s definitely a full-time job!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s mainly been soaking up as much of his free time as possible. 🙂 Ah, summer vacation is the best when you’re a kid!

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been soaking in extra play time with Joseph. She’s also been enjoying playing hide-and-seek with anyone who will play, and just about loses her mind any time anyone comes to the door because she’s figured out it’s either going to be some sort of delivery (with a slim chance of it being something for her) or will be someone who just might say hello to her (my poor social butterfly of a child has really been struggling with having to stay home more than usual).

This Week in Pictures:

Living in San Antonio means being able to get freshly-made tortillas (I mean, the package was still warm when I picked it up, y’all) from the grocery store for tacos. I was also able to make homemade horchata in my new blender. The first batch turned out okay, but I tweaked the recipe a bit and it was a lot better the second time (for when we had taco salad to be able to use up the leftover taco fillings).

She was dressed up as Link (from Legend of Zelda). This is an old Halloween costume of Joseph’s.

We’ve made a few small changes in our decor. I had two Texas-themed pillows for the one window bench that Paul built a few years back, but when I went to find some more after he built the matching bench, I couldn’t find any that were similar. I found some plain black pillows that I thought would work, but once I got them home, they didn’t really look as good as I thought they would. After a bit of thinking, I figured out what I would do. I had noticed that the covers for my couch throw pillows (when we replaced the previous throw pillows, we opted to get throw pillow inserts with zip-on covers) were getting all pill-y (and were more often in the way than not for actual couch-sitting). So, we decided to put the black throw pillows upstairs for the kids to use to lounge with and put the original Texas-themed throw pillows on the couches (one on each couch is way better than the two pillows on each couch that we had before).

Then, we ordered new covers for the throw pillow inserts that match better with the colors and design that we have downstairs. We got two Texas star covers and two “home” covers.

I realized I hadn’t gotten any pictures of Joseph this week…so last night as we were chilling on the couch, I swooped in for a selfie. I love this kid!

The start of the new swing set. Paul put the old one underneath to give you an idea of scale…the new one is going to be quite a bit bigger. 😀

Summer Fun

Weekly Happenings: Most of this week, we pretty much just stayed home. It was rather hot (100+ degrees), so I didn’t really feel like doing anything outside. I joke that Texans are opposite of bears: we party during the winter and hibernate during the summer. 😉 Towards the end of the week, though, we did get to meet up with a small group of friends and go swimming at their pool. I also took the kids to the zoo yesterday morning before it got too hot.

The Weekly Weather: As I already mentioned, it’s been rather hot and humid. Luckily we should be dipping back down into the 90s, which is more normal for us.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He worked from home this past week. He also managed to squeeze in mowing both of the yards (he’s understandably not a fan of doing this task in the extreme heat and humidity).

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I got a fun delivery this week. I’ve “attended” a few Pampered Chef parties over the last little bit (they’ve been online) and I got some of my items in the mail! Most of the items I’ve ordered are to replace other kitchen items that have worn out over the years or are better quality than the things I already had (mixing bowls, storage bowls, a few utensils, etc.), but I did order a couple fun things: a breakfast sandwich maker (you can put all the components of a breakfast sandwich into separate compartments, heat them up in the microwave, and then assemble the sandwiches when it’s all heated up…you can even cook the eggs in the microwave) and a new cooking blender (since I “hosted” one of the parties, I was able to get a substantial discount on it). I’m excited to try it out! Oh, and I got a special bowl that can take regular popcorn kernels and pop them in the microwave. It even has a little spot in the lid where you can put butter so that it will drizzle over the kernels as they’re popping. I’m still expecting one more delivery (biscuit cutters, a pastry mat, and some new cooling racks), but those aren’t due to come until next month some time.

This Week in Pictures:

Some days she’s feeling extra fancy and wants to wear a dress and a bow in her hair.

Homemade pizza was on the menu, but I felt like mixing it up a bit with the toppings. I knew the boys would want the regular toppings, but I really wanted Canadian bacon and pineapple (and I thought Abigail would want to try it, too…she liked the Canadian bacon, but wasn’t a huge fan of the pineapple).

My friend got this shot of Abigail (and Joseph in the background) while we were swimming.

A friend of mine was looking to rehome some stuffies that her girls no longer play with. Abigail loves Moana, so when my friend brought out Pua (the pig) and Hei Hei (the rooster), Abigail was pretty excited.

Joseph was excited that there were some Pokemon stuffies for him.

Here’s my cooking blender. I’m ridiculously excited about this thing. It does normal blender stuff (smoothies, milkshakes, etc.) but also can make soups (think pureed types), jam, peanut butter (and other nut butters), alternative milks, sauces, and can even ground wheat to make flour. Oh, and it also has a heated clean setting, so it’ll clean itself!

Racing around the house with Pua and Hei Hei.

Checking out the rhinos (well, Abigail was checking out her popcorn, haha).

One of those then-and-now pictures that Google photos does. Tiny Joseph vs. Current Joseph.

The rhino statue at the zoo. This thing is huge!

Checking out the elephants. Abigail was apparently really thirsty after finishing off her popcorn. 😉

Another then-and-now photo. An even Tinier Joseph vs. Current Joseph.

We ran into some friends while cooling off in the hippo enclosure. One of them had a professional camera, and Abigail asked him to take her picture. This was the result. 😊

Someone decided to pull a funny face for our zoo train selfie.

I barely managed to get a smile from her before the tongue came back out (what looks like her bottom lip is actually the tip of her tongue).

She woke up at 5:00 this morning, for some reason. I could hear her playing with her stuffed animals, so I turned the monitor off, haha. I turned it back on a couple hours later and it was all quiet. I tried to let her sleep as long as possible, but I walked into her room at about 9:30 to find this and decided I might need to wake her, even though she looked so peaceful.

Reading to Pua and Hei Hei under the table.

Abigail decided Joseph needed to be buried under stuffed animals.

Are We in Survival Mode Yet?

Weekly Happenings: We were kind of in survival mode this week. The weather was hot, there wasn’t much to do (pandemic rules kind of limit outings), and we had some…strong personalities clashing a bit. However, we persevered and ended up having a pretty good week. Paul had Monday off, which was nice. He did have to go in to work the rest of the week, though, which meant it was up to me and the kids to entertain each other. 😉 A trip to the zoo was helpful, as was playing with Play-doh, toys, and some extra screen time. 😉

The Weekly Weather: Mother Nature finally figured out it was summer. It’s been hot and humid all week. It was a bit better at the start of the week (which is when we went to the zoo, since we could go in the morning before it got insufferable. I really am grateful for air conditioning!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been quite busy with work. He’s also gotten the chance to attend (virtually) part of the national Libertarian convention, which is good.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve mainly been keeping up with my chores and trying to keep the kids happy, healthy, and not too much on each others’ nerves. 😉

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s still very much in vacation mode. He is also getting more and more independent. I was able to reorganize the pantry so that the cereal is within his reach. I was also able to reorganize some of the cabinets so that he can reach the plastic bowls easier. This makes it so he can get his own breakfast (and if the milk jug is light enough, he can even pour his own milk). I’ve also taught him how to rinse out his dishes and put them into the dishwasher. We’re making progress, people!

What Abigail’s Been Up To: The sass has definitely been strong with her this week, but she’s also been fun. We’ve also played enough games of hide-and-seek that she can now count to twenty without help (other than me covering her eyes so she doesn’t peek, haha).

This Week in Pictures:

This is her favorite dress and I really like it, too. She loves that it’s “soooo spoooooky”.

They got these Play-doh toys from Burger King. It’s basically a tube (that holds the Play-doh). One end of the tube has a textured wheel that makes it so they can roll it across the dough to make designs. The lid has a mold they can press into the dough. It’s pretty cool!

They played together pretty well for some time. Then Abigail decided she was going to be a monster and smash Joseph’s creation and started throwing her dough everywhere. *sigh* They worked through it, though (and the Play-doh got put on time-out, haha).

I love Texas skies! I took this while still on our street (luckily there weren’t any cars behind me which afforded enough time for me to grab my phone, take a picture, and then put my phone away again). That big cloud was such a cool shape (and absolutely huge).

This is Abigail’s favorite part of the zoo. There are a couple of different spots with mini-waterfalls, but this one is definitely her favorite one.

Bonus Video: Joseph’s take on this whole pandemic situation.