Week 30: Leaping Lizards!

This weeks title is appropriate for two reasons.

1. Happy Leap Day, everyone. How this is not a national holiday, I just don't understand. It only happens once every four years. It's bigger than the Olympics! And you know how crazy I am about curling.

2. I am frightened every time I leave our new house. Why? Because we have these itty bitty bushes lining our front walk- and when you leave, all you hear is all kinds of lizards running for cover, and some narrowly missing your feet. Your feet that are wide open, because really why wear anything but flip flops when its 80 degrees everyday (yay for the warmest winter EVER)? Anyway, the paranoia has really set in that a lizard is going to run right over my foot. And really, its only a matter of time before one gets in the house and I have to call upon Peyton, a spatula and a large cup.

I just blogged Thursday- which I guess was almost a week ago now, time sure does fly. We got the keys to this house a month ago. Hard to believe.

Friday Asa got to work from home, and then after school the older boys went over to Casey's house, and Hayden occupied himself pretty well in the family room, so Asa and I got to have a nice quiet night at home. We're still catching up on tv from the moving process and not having the time to watch anything for a few weeks. So, Friday night was a Supernatural Marathon. After the boys got home we had American Idol catch up night and made some popcorn. FYI, I'm so over making microwave popcorn. I had no idea how easy it was to do on the stove, AND how much better it tastes.

Saturday Asa had to work from home since he switched and had Wednesday off. It's REALLY nice to have the livingroom and family room, so that Asa can easily switch days like that and still have a place to work when we're all home. Although, I've noticed at the end of his shift it looks like he's been camping in the front room for a month. I expect him to have a full grown in beard, and smell bad enough even I could smell him.

We did discover that we have a new addition to the family. Peytons fish apparently have procreated. Today I learned: I have no knowledge of how fish make babies. We're not really sure which fish had the babies, or laid the eggs- or whatever it is that they do. But, we do know we have a couple of TINY fish on our hands. Heres hoping the other fish don't eat them.

It was decided pretty early on Saturday afternoon that we would be playing hide n go seek in the dark- or really a variation of flashlight tag (where one person counts, once they find someone- by shining the light on them- that someone and the original someone go off to find the next person, and so on and so on). Anyway, I had carved out a couple of spots for myself about three hours prior to the game. I cleaned out a spot in the closet, behind some things I still had to hang up, and a spot behind the only last few boxes/suitcases I had to unpack. After dinner Justin showed up to show us he had gotten a bike (and we live close enough he rode it over here!), and stayed to watch Puss n Boots with all of us.

After the movie, we started in on flashlight tag. Asa was it first, and I ran to my hiding spot, but Calib was on his way into the closet. Against my better judgement, I figured I'd still hide in my spot. I had to tell Calib several times to be quite. After Asa found Calib, Calib got up, shined the flashlight on me- and declared I had been found. I can't believe he turned me in like that. We had to make the 'Calib Rule' after that- that you couldn't find anyone who was in the same room where you were found. The second time around, the dogs gave me up first by sniffing and scratching and whining at the stuff I was hiding behind. I was so disappointed- after all that preparation, both my spots were busts thanks to other living things. After the next couple rounds, I was hiding on my chair in the living room under a blanket. At one point I heard Peyton and Hayden come in the room, and I just heard Hayden smacking the couch really hard to see if anyone was under those blankets. I was terrified I was going to get smacked too, because I heard Peyton say 'Hayden, come here. I have something to show you'. He went on to show him the baby fish, to which Hayden responded 'There's no time for this Peyton!' and they ran out of the room again.

Hayden had some good hiding spots. He's so small, he could fit just about anywhere. He hid behind his toy buckets under the tv at one point, and behind the blinds that go out to the patio. Calib amazingly enough fit into the bathroom cabinet under the sink, and Peyton fit pretty well behind the couch on the windowsill (it's a really low window). We played for about an hour, then put the kids to bed- and tried to figure out how we should go about finding Justin a girlfriend. We know some women he might like- but they all live at least 1000 miles away, so thats not working out so well. But, we have plans. Plans that involve quests of help desk employees, and we all know how they like a good quest.

Sunday afternoon we went out to the Tampa Times Forum to see the University of South Florida Men's Basketball Team take on Cincinnati. I had gotten tickets for me and Asa for $10 (for both) on livingsocial, and kids are always free, so I figured we'd give it a go and see how much fun it was. It was so reasonably priced to go- even parking was only $5. Plus there was no bag check so you could bring in your own food and drinks. The previous night Peyton was complaining about going, but who do you think was up yelling, screaming and clapping during the last five minutes when it was a total nail biter. Hayden didn't really have the best time, but he wasn't disruptive or anything. After all, the game was only about 2 hours in total. USF ended up beating Cinci by one in the last few seconds. It was really exciting, and totally something we'd do again. I'm really hoping to see USF in the tournament- bring on the March Madness. We'll have to fill out our brackets again. Last years winner: Hayden, all thanks to what was dubbed as 'a crazy pick' of Butler to go all the way. Hayden picked it because 'it sounds like butt'. Ah, living with boys.

I spent the last two days unpacking the last few boxes of things and organizing the garage. It's a pretty usable space now. We have the foos ball table out there, and Hayden's train table. We also have a whole nice area full of all the pets stuff, and cleaning supplies. I'm so organized I love it. Last Night Calib was all 'Do we have a ruler for my homework', and I replied 'Yes, back of the closet, black drawers, second drawer down, right hand side'. He checked and was amazed at my description, as if I would be lying while being that specific.

Today I hung up the stuff in Peyton and Hayden's room and the last few things that hadn't gotten put up yet. They both have their shelves with all their little nick knacks on it, their night lights, and their hats on hooks. It's like each of their bunks are their own little space.

Calib's room got it's finishing touches this week as well. His closet has become the game closet, and I hung up all his shelves and jerseys.

Asa loves to save boxes from all the computer and video electrics and when we were moving, I tried to get him to part with them because they take up so much space- we came up with a pretty good compromise. I cut out the front of the boxes and framed them, so he can look at them, and they don't take up space- works out pretty well.

Monday night we needed some things from the store- and after much reluctance on my part, only Asa, Peyton and I went. This left Calib home alone to babysit Hayden. Granted, we were going to Target, which is like 5 minutes away, but I still was not happy about going. Hayden was in his room after not eating his dinner, so I figured Calib could just leave him there. We were in the store about half an hour when Calib called and asked if we were on our way back, because he had gotten Hayden to eat his dinner, showered him, gotten him in his pjs, fed the dogs, changed over a load of laundry and gotten everyone's pajamas out for them (including me and Asa). I don't know how he managed to get it all done that quickly. Asa spent the rest of the evening gloating. We did uncover the truth about Hayden's dinner though: Calib ate his green beans for him. So, see, everything didn't go off without a hitch!

Tuesday after school, Hayden decided he was going to make all of us 'centers' to work on. He put different stations in every room, and we all worked on our assignments. He got mad at me though, because when I finished my coloring pages- I started drawing love doodles all over it. His response: 'how irresponsible. zero love notes mom. I threw your paper away, and you're boats getting moved'. After that we watched American Idol- and the boys voted- Calib for Colton and Peyton for Eben, we'll see how they do tomorrow.

Which brings us to today which is leap day! Asa is working from home this week, so I have a lunch buddy, which is nice. He even got a full hour lunch today, so we watched price is right and had pizza and salad for lunch. When the boys got home from school, we started in on our backwards dinner. The after school snack today was desert, a strawberry icebox cake (which was AWESOME and so easy to make) then we'll be having dinner, and then we'll have our appetizer (peanut butter ball and cheese and crackers).

We also made a leap year time capsule. I don't want to say whats in it, because I kind of want to forget and then see it all again when we open it in four years. But, we did fill out our favorite tv shows, books, and games plus what we think we'll be doing in four years- who the boys best friends are, who they have crushes on, and what they want to be when they grow up. It's some pretty great stuff. We wrapped it all up and put it in the closet- with plans to bury it when we buy a house.

I leave you with some fun stuff before I depart:

Hayden's favorite new saying when his brothers ask him to do something "I'm not your maid"

Calib: "So Hayden, it's noon. Are you getting dressed today?"

Hayden: "I hadn't planned on it"

Peyton: "Hayden are you going to watch the movie?"

Hayden: "I'll see if I can make it"

Best discovery of the week: If I plug the vacuum into the end of the bar I can sweep the whole house without unplugging it once!

Props out to Peyton for doing a good job on his FCAT writes this week, though we don't have the results back yet- he has a really good feeling about it.

Next Up: The Most Magical All Nighter Ever, Drive-Ins, and Birthday Parties!