We Made It Another Year!

Weekly Happenings: We made it through another school year! Joseph had a great year this year. He enjoyed getting to be in class with several of his friends, learned a ton, and loved GT. He’s excited to get a break though, too. Abigail and I filled up the first part of the week (when Joseph was still in school) by running errands, going to the library for story time, and going for a play date. She is excited to have her playmate back, though. In other news, the baby bird that was in the nest in our bird feeder survived long enough to fly away. We’ve been trying to give the birds as much space as possible, but it had been a couple of days since I’d seen the parents or any movement. Paul checked inside and found the nest, of course, but no baby bird. I’m relieved, because I was worried it wouldn’t be able to get out. Now we can have our patio back, haha. If we get another bird feeder (we tossed the other one because it would have been too much work to clean it out), we’ll make sure to get one that’s less tempting for birds to nest in, haha.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been overcast, warm, and humid. We’ve also had several thunderstorms move through. The next few days are supposed to be sunny and very warm (breaking 100). I guess summer is officially here.

What Paul’s Been Up To: Work, yard work, lots of Daddy-Joseph time, and relaxing when he gets the chance.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Keeping Abigail entertained, house work, teaching piano, and making sure Joseph got to and from school (I’m not going to miss that over the next 2.5 months).

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He enjoyed the last week of school (especially the last day when his teacher let them bring in electronics). Now he’s soaking up the beginnings of vacation.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She really enjoyed going to story time at the library. It’s designed specifically for young toddlers, so there was a lot of singing and dancing with one short story. Then they got to play with toys like blocks and Duplos. I’d like to try and take her each time (it’s once a week) so that she gets used to a little structure (aside from what she gets with nursery at church).

This Week in Pictures:

Dinner prep in our house can be…interesting at times.
Playing with scarves during story time.
She kept putting it over her face and letting it fall.
There were a lot of songs with hand movements, which she loved.
Building a tower with Mega Bloks.
She emptied out her books so she would have a rocket ship (she sat down and said, “One, two, three…bast off!”)
We used to have a play tent in the corner, but Abigail knocked it over, stepped on it, and managed to snap two of the tent poles in the process. I piled the pillows and blankets that had been in the tent into the corner and now the kids have a cozy spot to read.
Last day of school!
I love this kid!
Rockin’ out.
While the temperature isn’t too high in comparison to other parts of the country, the humidity and dew point is what gets me. Every time.
Pile on Momma! Abigail was super-excited because I let her push the button to take the picture…and she likes seeing herself in the picture.
Oreos are delicious.

Some Bad, but Mostly Good

Weekly Happenings: This week was really a mixed bag. It consisted of Joseph getting sick, recovering, a trip to the Kiddie Park (a cool kids’ amusement park downtown that’s from the 1920s), Joseph’s awards ceremony, Paul getting sick, a trip to the zoo, Abigail getting sick, and finally ended with me getting sick. Let’s just say that stomach bugs will take their toll on EVERYBODY. Luckily we all seem to be better (I’m still quite weak, but recovering).

The Weekly Weather: warm, humid, breezy, and the like. Pretty typical for late May.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He has been busy with his normal stuff. The aforementioned stomach bug attacked him right as we got to Joseph’s awards ceremony. He was able to hold it together long enough to see Joseph get his award, but then went home. He got better just in time to take care of me a few days later.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I spent most of the week taking care of the sickies before I got sick myself. At least the bug had the decency to kind of stagger itself so that there was at least one of the adults well at a time.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He was the first to get sick (a week ago). He enjoyed our trip to the Kiddie Park, liked hanging out with his friends at his awards ceremony, and enjoyed getting to leave early that day to go to the zoo.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She got sick the same day as Paul, but later (after we got back from the zoo). I mostly cuddled her for two days and then just waited for it to hit me, haha.

This Week in Pictures:

For a while now, I’ve wanted to print up some snapshots of the kids and frame them. I finally got around to doing it and I love how it turned out. Our life is not formal, so it’s only fitting the pictures represent that. 🙂
She crashed while watching a show.
I moved her around, thinking I’d wake her up, but no dice.
When she finally woke up, she almost immediately asked for “the shark”. This is a very popular cartoon song with toddlers right now, but I didn’t realize she would remember it well enough to ask for it. I think she’s seen it two times.
Okay, this beats all. I was standing on our back porch and noticed movement coming from inside the bird feeder. My first thought was that wasps or bees had moved in and made a nest.
Well, while it was a nest, it wasn’t for insects. It’s a bird’s nest. INSIDE my bird feeder. The movement I saw was a gaping baby bird’s beak. Pretty soon, the momma flew up and I watched her wedge herself down to feed her baby the bug she had brought back. Our current plan is to leave them be since we don’t really know what else to do.
Kiddie Park fun.
This was the first time Abigail has been able to go on the rides (the last time we went she was still a baby).
She had so much fun!
Riding the Ferris wheel.
They both really enjoyed these planes.
I love that all the rides are original.
Joseph was shooting pretend enemies out of the air.
I think this one was probably their favorite.
Riding the school bus.
Joseph had just gotten over his stomach bug, so we were watching him closely to make sure the spinny rides weren’t too much for his tummy.
Rockin’ the boat.
Abigail liked it whenever there was a steering wheel of any type.
She also kept trying to reach over to touch the water…luckily she didn’t actually touch it.
Her face says it all in this one.
These metal cars were a favorite, too.
Joseph loved seeing how much Abigail loved the rides.
On the carousel.
Hey! I got him to smile!
Can you spot the baby? She thought she had hidden so well, haha.
At his awards ceremony.
One of his new friends.
These two were happy to be in the same class this year (they had been in pre-k together but were in different kinder classes last year).
He’s going to miss this guy, who will be moving soon. They’ve been friends since we moved here.
Another of his new friends.
I couldn’t help but snap a picture of him and his cupcake-loving pal.
Another fun friend.
Checking out the kangaroos.
Yet another shot of my favorite animal at the zoo: the okapi.
Abigail loves elephants.
Checking out the Nile crocodile.
The miniature mongoose were super curious.
They both really loved checking them out.
Zebras!
Checking out the lions.
Learning about feline bone structure.
Checking out the giraffes.
The ostrich was rather curious about us.
After such a fun morning at the zoo, I was not expecting a sick baby.
She was better enough the next day to ask for noodles for lunch.
The day after that, she was asking me to put onion rings on her fingers.
This was from this morning. After I was down for the count all of yesterday, Abigail was a bit clingy this morning.
I love how much she loves to play with this thing.
And last, but not least: we’re officially into June!

Bubble Fun

Weekly Happenings: This past week was a blessedly slow one. I was still recovering from a cold, so I was grateful for the extra opportunity to rest. The title for this post comes from literally one evening where I brought the bubbles out and turned the kids loose in the back yard to chase them. Luckily, I’m almost all better, since Paul now has it. The kids so far have seemed to dodged the bullet (fingers crossed it stays that way).

The Weekly Weather: It’s been off-and-on rainy with mostly overcast skies in-between. We’re right on the edge of all the severe weather that is hitting parts of the country directly around us, so we’re getting cooler temps, humidity, wind, and occasional rain showers, but no crazy thunderstorms or tornadoes (thank goodness)!

What Paul’s Been Up To: Work and yardwork, haha…those two keep him pretty busy.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Survival! Dealing with a rambunctious 2YO while dealing with a bad cold is exhausting!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s working his way through these last few weeks of school (we have just two weeks left ahead of us now). He’s also a huge help with Abigail while I teach piano.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: Ev.er.y.thing, haha. She is so, so busy! Luckily, she’s also super cute and sweet, so that makes up for the busy-ness.

This Week in Pictures:

Buying this bubble gun was probably one of my best decisions. Joseph loves to blow bubbles for Abigail to chase and she loves to chase them!
She loooooves bubbles.
The joy on her face in this picture makes me so happy!
She also loves that she has figured out how to slide on her own.
He was blowing the bubbles so that she would run into them as she slid down.
She was actually pushing him to make him go faster so that she could have her turn.
The only other picture from this week: She grabbed this box, sat down in it, and said, “One, two, three…blast off!” She then started scooting forward and said, “I in rocket!”
Paul got this shot. This girl sure loves empty boxes!
Bonus video: the video that Joseph worked on throughout the year in GT (the gifted & talented program). His video was about Mars.