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. 😊
