This week was jam packed with trainings, meetings, errands, and visiting with friends and family. I’m certainly thankful for my reduced schedule, because I’m not sure how I’d get it all done otherwise (I even managed a couple of runs outside of my Wednesday commute, albeit short ones). The great thing about the lengthening days is that we have more time to be outside during the week, but it also means that the inside chores have been a bit neglected.
1. We spent multiple afternoons this past week at the local park behind our house. We lucked out with the weather and had some nice, somewhat sunny days, so we took full advantage. One afternoon was mainly just walking the trails and then hanging out while our son tired himself out at the playground. I’m so proud to report that he can now recognize huckleberry bushes even without the telltale berries. They’re his favorites, so he’s watching them closely for when the berries finally arrive. Sure makes his former park ranger mama’s heart happy to know he’s already identifying local plants.
We spent a second afternoon/evening watching little league baseball and softball games. We might have another two springs to go before he can play on a team, but our kiddo is enthralled with the game. He especially likes to watch softball “like mama played.” It was a lovely sunny day, and we stuck around until 7pm before we finally headed home for a quick dinner and bedtime.
2. My son left his wagon too near the driveway and I accidentally ran over the end of the handle a couple of weeks ago. My husband patched it back together with marine grade epoxy and some electrical tape, and it seems to be working fine again. The wagon may have been just $2.99 at Goodwill, but our son loves to play with it, and now it can be continued to be enjoyed instead of heading to the landfill with the other broken and discarded toys.
3. While I’m focused on decluttering our house the best I can, there are some things offered to us that I can’t turn down. Friends of ours are moving out of stage and gave us a Lincoln Logs set, which I gladly accepted. Our son spotted it right away once we got home the next day and got right down to playing with it. Now the goal will to be to keep up with having the whole set put away each time he’s done playing with it. So far, so good.
Eventually, I will pare down his toys to just the great ones like this building set, but I’m still a ways away. There are so many little things floating around our house, but I have big dreams of only having the very best toys stick around. We’ll see if this ever fully happens. If you’ve managed to do it, please let me in on your secret, because this is a struggle area for us.
4. I stopped into the drug store to pick up a new battery for my car key fob, and there was a basket at the register filled with S’mores Luna bars (my favorite flavor!) for 25¢! I haven’t been buying them lately because they aren’t cheap ($1.25/ea), so when they were on super sale, I bought out their supply, which meant I got 7 Luna bars for $1.75. Score. These will go to live in my office drawer as backup food for when I inevitably forget / am too lazy to pack a lunch for the day. The bars do technically “expire” this month, but you know how I feel about recently expired food 😉
5. I had a friend over for dinner Tuesday night and made us tacos with cilantro lime rice. I lucked out and our discount produce bin had a whole bag of limes for 99¢, versus just one for 99¢ in the regular section (again, food around here is not cheap). I’ll need to figure out something to do with the remaining limes this week, so let me know if you have any suggestions. We may have tacos for dinner a lot, but they’re quick, easy, cheap, and satisfying. And they’re easy to make in bulk to have enough for friends and for me to take the leftovers to work the next day.
Before dinner, we spent some time out in our front yard garden as our son pointed out to her where “his flowers” and “his potatoes” were growing. I love that he is so proud of the garden, and that he will have a real understanding of where his food comes from as he gets older. Plus, he just can’t help to be outside whenever the weather isn’t terrible (and even when it is, if mama or daddy is willing to hang out in the rain with him).
What are your favorite ways to spend weeknights as the weather is better?