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Why, Hello There, March!

Weekly Happenings: Wait, what?! It’s MARCH already?! How did that happen?! We even had an extra day in February this year! Okay [insert deep breath], now that I’ve got that off my chest…on to what we actually did this past week. It was another typical laid-back week filled with a trip to the library for story time, grocery shopping, etc. We did go to the park quite a bit (I think we probably went three times, which for us is a lot) because the weather has been great. We even hung around the house yesterday because Paul was doing more yard work (and homework). Yesterday evening I got to hang out with my girlfriends at another LuLaRoe party while the boys hung out at home.

The Weekly Weather: As mentioned above, it’s been really great. Warmish, a bit breezy at times, not too humid…it’s really hard to believe that it’s not even technically spring yet (even though we have to move our clocks forward on Saturday night…what?!).

What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s been kept busy with work and school (as well as spring gardening). Yesterday, we went and bought a car jack that he used to pull up the support stakes that were next to the trees in the back yard. He already cut the support wires quite some time ago since the trees don’t really need them after the first couple of years, but the stakes were in really deep, so he was waiting until he had a good plan in place before pulling them up (especially since he’d already pulled up the ones from next to the tree in the front and knew that it was going to be difficult). He also added more soil around the bases of the trees and planted wildflower seeds in the beds so that they’ll match the tree in the front yard. Oh, and he used the tree stakes as part of the support structure for the tomatoes, so those are looking pretty great, too.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much out of the ordinary. My big focus this week was to change up our routine for when we’re at home. I found that I’ve slipped up and have let the TV become Joseph’s babysitter while I try to get stuff done around the house. Not that there’s anything wrong with using it on occasion, but I was using it way too much and it was sort of affecting his behavior. So this past week, I cut down his screen time a lot. Now, watching a show is a treat (which makes it more special) and he is playing with his toys (and outside) a lot more. His behavior has improved immensely! Also, as mentioned before, I got to go hang out with my girlfriends while we shopped for cute clothes. I have a pretty strict one-in-one-out rule (I only buy something if I know that there’s something already in my closet that I am willing to get rid of), so I only got a few things. I cannot believe how much I love the clothes that are put out by this company! Not only are they comfortable and cute, but they are modest! The dresses and skirts are long enough to cover what needs to be covered and the shirts have longer sleeves and higher necklines (and also have length at the bottom, too). I think I have replaced almost all of the shirts that I had to layer in order to make them modest enough to wear with new stuff that I don’t need to layer at all…which is really important with a Southern summer swiftly approaching.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: A lot of playing with toys, playing outside in the backyard, going to the park, etc. He does still get a bit of screen time; mostly during my piano student time when I need him to be quietly entertained. Speaking of which, something really funny happened in regards to that this past week. He was playing Final Fantasy on Paul’s old DS and came up to me (in the middle of me teaching my piano student, of course) all excited and told me that he defeated a knight and saved a princess. He was so excited that he had to tell me right away, even though the timing wasn’t the best. His two favorite games to play are Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda, and we’ve noticed that his reading is getting a lot better (there is quite a bit to read in both of those games). I guess video games don’t completely rot one’s brain. đŸ˜‰

This Week in Pictures:

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A quick craft I did for the guest room. I took a scrap piece of wood, painted it white, used a cookie cutter as a stencil, and then painted it. We have these sharpie brushes that are like markers but with a brush tip. I used the red one to outline the shape and then painted the rest. I really like how it turned out!
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Hanging out in one of the huge live oak trees that grace our park.
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Once I assured him that the ants on the tree stump were (most likely) not fire ants, he was content to sit and watch them do their work for quite a while.
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Getting his work out on….I was most impressed that he was actually able to pedal the elliptical.
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Doing crunches…
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…and “push-ups”. Can you tell he watches me work out?! I do modified push-ups (with my knees on the ground, but feet up in the air), so he thinks he needs to have his knees down to do push-ups.
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One of my favorite things to see…he loves having Daddy read to him!
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Playing with Play-Doh. He was really enjoying using the cut-outs and then embellishing them (giving his giraffe spots, for instance).
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Playing with a tractor that’s older than me (it used to belong to one of my brothers).
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You know life’s pretty great if you get to walk in Daddy’s shoes whilst munching on pretzels.
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The back yard after Paul got done with the trees.
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The tomato plants with their new support system.
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He made an obstacle course for his guy to complete. I love, love, love his imagination!!
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My new pencil skirt. I was drawn to the print when I saw it on the hanger, but wasn’t too sure it would look good on me. One of my friends assured me that I could totally get away with it, so I went ahead and bought it…and…I love it!
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Joseph letting Paul know that he beat the evil knight, Garland, on Final Fantasy (yes, that is a controller for an original NES…Paul still has the one he had when he was a teenager and was able to switch out a few parts to get it to work).