Weekend Review

We had another beautiful fall-like weekend. It's technically still summer, but it's feeling more fall-like outside which I love. The days start off cool and crisp and it's warm and sunny in the afternoon. I'm here for this kind of weather! Here's how we filled the time!

On Friday afternoon I met up with a former running club friend who was our realtor that helped during the 2-year process of finding our home. She became a mom last summer and has another one on the way this fall so it was fun to catch up. I do NOT miss the house-hunting process and much prefer talking about day-to-day life with her, although it was interesting to hear how nutty the housing market was recently, like waived inspection, etc. We could not have bought in that market! That night we had take-and-bake pizzas for dinner.

On Saturday morning we FaceTimed with my mom and then had our usual combo of a stop at the library + gymnastics. They changed out the toys at the library. The boys loved playing with cars and such, especially Will as he is obsessed with anything with wheels. Paul was really into little people at this stage, but Will is all about "carros" (Spanish word for cars). 

Saturday afternoon was our annual block party. It was the first "normal" block party since we moved onto the block in Nov 2019. We had block parties that last 2 years but wore masks and didn't share food. Paul was so excited for this all week! They block off the street so the kids are ride bikes and scoot. I brought out our hand-me-down strider balance bike. We introduced this too late with Paul and he did NOT like it. But Kae had mentioned that they introduced it to their boys early on and they learned to ride bike quickly. So we'll see if Will takes to it. He did enjoy walking around on it for 15 minutes which is like 4 hours in toddler time. ;) 

On Sunday morning I took the boys to a local farmer's market that is next to a park. The boys usually share a donut but Will made it clear he wanted his own donut. So I picked my battles and let him have his own to avoid a public meltdown. I know others would make a different decision and hold their ground but I figure a little extra pastry wasn't the end of the world. He ate about 2/3 of it and Paul happily finished it for him. 

The boys had a great time at the park! Paul ended up seeing 3 friends from school! We were at the park/market for over 2 hours since it was such a beautiful morning!

While we were out and about, Phil and his cousin got started on the project of replacing our front door. It took a good 5 hours from start to finish with some breaks for lunch/trips to the hardware store/Home Depot. Our house was build in 1925 so unsurprisingly, the walls are not straight which makes a project like replacing a door extra tricky. I was on kid duty while Phil worked on that project. 

The finished project. I wish we had taken a before picture. We used to have a storm door but it got taken by the wind several times so we decided to just have a front door from now on. Storm doors have been nothing but trouble for us. We had issues with our storm door in our last house, too!

On Sunday afternoon, Paul had a 1.5 hour play date with a little boy on the block. There are a couple of kids around his age on the block and they all get along really great so there will be more playdates in the future! I fit in a strength training workout during Will's nap. I tried a "Lift4" workout from beachbody and really liked it, so I will keep doing that program until I activate a Peloton trial membership later this fall. 

The rest of the afternoon was low key. We sort of watched the Vikings beat the Packers - it was on in the background. Paul worked on puzzles and Phil and I each took Will for a walk. 

I spent most of the afternoon making a bean soup from a Pioneer Woman cookbook. I thought my mom had made it for us once and remembered liking it, but overall it was pretty disappointing. Since our boys go to a Spanish Immersion daycare, they eat a lot of beans and it's something they like, but Paul basically refused to eat the soup. Will liked it the most, though, and asked for more so at least it was a hit with someone. It simmered for several hours but just didn't have a great flavor profile overall. But oh well, not all recipes can be hits and this didn't cost much to make since we had dried beans around. 

Toddler side eye.

We ended the weekend by watching the first half of the season finale of Alone and then it was off to bed! I have a busy week ahead since I fly to Charlotte tomorrow morning at 7:30am. I get back late Thursday night, like after 9pm I think! 

How was your weekend? Are you experiencing gorgeous fall weather, too?