Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty regular. We were mainly gearing up for the big Easter celebrations over the weekend. There was an egg hunt at church (I love that the sports field is completely fenced, by the way) which Joseph kept calling an egg search, and then family and friend time today (we had a family from the ward over for dinner tonight). One out of the ordinary thing that happened was that we ended up having to call the AC company (our house AC just wasn’t working correctly…not broken, but not up to snuff). Since we have a warranty, we thought we should call them to see if the problem was covered. This was Friday evening. We thought for sure that because of the holiday weekend, we wouldn’t get anyone out here until Monday at the earliest. Nope. They sent someone out Friday night! He noticed a valve was leaking coolant, so he tightened the valve and added quite a bit more coolant. He’s going to do a follow-up visit this weekend to make sure the coolant amount is what it’s supposed to be (and make sure that there aren’t any underlying problems). Now that’s customer service!

The Weekly Weather: We seem to have settled into our normal spring pattern of a few cooler days followed by a few warmer days, rinse and repeat. We got a good rainstorm that hopefully helped the aquifer out a bit. If it keeps dropping, we’re going to have to go into even more strict water restrictions.

What Paul’s Up To: Paul is continuing to do well at work. He deals with people from a lot of different countries. He says that it’s interesting trying to understand what some of them are saying because not only are their accents really thick, but they don’t quite have all the vocabulary needed to communicate totally clearly. One example: a student will come in and ask for a blue book; no other information. Paul has to try to explain to him that he needs to know more, because, well, there are a lot of blue books! Health-wise, he is continuing to heal from his hernia-repair surgery and is happy that the weight restrictions will be ending this week so that he can do more with Joseph (though he is going to still take it slowly to make sure he doesn’t re-injure himself). Oh, and we just discovered (while talking to another person at the egg hunt) that there is a man in our ward who was in the same ward as Paul when he lived in Temecula. Crazy small world!

What Sarah’s Up To: I am still taking care of Joseph full time which has its highs and lows. He’s starting to realize that he has an opinion and that on occasion, his opinion will influence some decisions we make with him. As a consequence, he has started to voice his opinion more and it’s not always at the most proper time or decibel. He also gets frustrated easily, which is understandable. His mind thinks he can do something, but his body hasn’t learned it yet. In spite of all this, for the most part he is loving, happy, cheerful, and entertaining. I have also started teaching piano in the afternoons. I currently have nine students who keep me on my toes. 🙂

What Joseph’s Up To: Saying funny things, such as, “What was that?!” when he hears something he can’t identify, or random words/phrases (such as “gelatin mold” which he heard from a Veggie Tales Silly Songs song). Oh, and the other day, he walked into the kitchen and said, “Hey, Mom? I need a Coke!” (for the record, we have never given him soda, let alone Coke, so I’m not sure where THAT came from). He’s also really developing his imagination as well. The other day, we were at the store and I had gotten him some new shoes (which he insisted on holding while we got the rest of the things we needed…and hey, I pick my battles). He was holding up the plastic hook part and saying (to anyone who would listen), “Arrrrrr! I’m Captain Hook!” Another instance occurred when I was letting him play with an old wire whisk that I don’t use anymore. He was “chasing” me around and saying that he was either a skeleton or an egg beater monster. 🙂 Another thing he’s started doing is singing along with things. When we’re singing at church, he’s singing right along with us, even if he can’t get in any of the right words. He also sings along when I come to get him in the morning and sing my “wake-up” song (my mom sung it to me growing up: “Good morning, good morning! You slept the whole night through. Good morning, good morning to you!”). Finally, he really wants to be independent. This includes having to be encouraged to try new foods (I finally got him to try my home made pizza, which he loves, by the way), wanting to talk to whoever I’m on the phone with (regardless of if they would be interested in hearing his chatter or not), coming up with his own way of describing things (we were driving past the base where Paul works and Joseph noticed that one of the planes they have on display there is an old Red Cross plane. He said, “Look, Momma, a doctor jet!”), and running to open the door when the doorbell rings (especially since he’s learned how to unlock the deadbolt). Luckily we have a glass storm door that has another deadbolt which keeps him in, because we have had several discussions about how Momma or Daddy need to be the ones to open the door.

This Week in Pictures: *WARNING* Since this is a post including a holiday, there are A LOT of pictures!