Hello, September!

Oh my gosh, we're so excited around here that it's September! Low crowds, football is back, and eventually it won't be 800 degree's outside! 

Tomorrow we're FINALLY getting to LBJ's birthday. Computer issues, and vacation have pushed that way back. I'm excited to finish up August's birthdays and move on to the one lone September birthday. Plus, I hate feeling behind. So, before I post that blog tomorrow (or the next day), I wanted to post with the other odds and ends we've been up to since being home from vacation. 

Usually, things are pretty low key here the week after we get back, but our next door neighbor, Madison, who is also home schooled turned 13 this week, so we've been included in lots of fun things. We were over to swim twice, but I never brought my camera, so I'm stealing Natasha's from Facebook. (Don't worry, I totally asked). 

The nice part about being home schooled is you can totally have a pool party for your 13th birthday on a Wednesday in September at noon. There was water balloon fights and lots of swimming, and we got lucky with lovely weather. 

We had lunch, but there were also these AMAZING cupcakes from a place called Gigi's cupcakes. Apparently, it's a chain, so you might be lucky enough to find them around you. Calib will not stop talking about them. He says when he gets his check from the fair, I need to take him to get some. 

Hayden also made Madison a card. He was very excited about it, and had it made before I even got out of bed. He's used to making president's birthday cards, so he told Madison "I wasn't sure if you were Democrat or Republican, so I used purple." Ha! 

And of course, our neighbors, who are just the sweetest people in the world, sent home one of those amazing cupcakes for Asa, since he was in the office that day. I had to try very hard to make sure Calib didn't eat it though. 

A few days later was Madison's actual birthday, and we had been invited to Disney to spend the day with her. The boys are not usually completely thrilled about Disney this time of year (it's still super hot, but the crowds are low!), but they were all totally on board. Since we were there early enough for breakfast hours (just barely!) we stopped by Captain Cooks for one Tonga Toast to split. 

Then we met up with Shawn, Natasha and Madison. 

We coordinated fast passes, and really didn't have to wait too long for anything that we didn't have the fast passes for. 

Fun fact: I rode Space Ranger Spin with Madison and got the highest score I've ever gotten. She must be good luck. 

The boys were happy to be there mid-day too, because it meant we could make a trip to Tom Sawyers Island, which they love. 

We did our usual picnic lunch. I should have packed two meals, because by the time we got home everyone was starving, plus then we could have stayed longer. Next time! 

The boys aren't usually on board for Philharmagic either, but it's my favorite. And, they were under strict instructions to do whatever Madison wanted to do. (Even though she just kept saying "Oh, I don't know, whatever you want to do".)

We had a summer downpour, and some of us got wetter than others. But, it was lots of fun, and we'll have to do another neighborly trip sometime soon. 

On the way out, I treated the boys to a Dole Whip float. 

Saturday college football was back. Usually taco bars are reserved for NFL Sunday's, but I couldn't resist. I also was a little bummed because a friend offered me free gator's tickets, but Asa had to work and Calib didn't want to do the drive, so I had to turn them down. Still, thanks for the offer Jacquelynn! 

I've been a little down lately. (Asa says it takes a few days to adjust from Ohio Corinne back to Florida Corinne!) My husband sure knows how to cheer a girl up. So far we are loving the Inside Out playset for Disney Infinity. It's one of my favorites already. 

Sunday Asa and I went out to run errands, and he took me out for lunch. We had to go over to Saint Pete to pick James up from the airport to take him to the bus station. Apparently it was way cheaper to fly into Tampa and take the bus to Miami for his cruise. I neglected to take a picture of the three of us, but he'll be back Friday to spend a little time with us before he heads back on Sunday. 

Also worth noting, this week we got three new family members. Sadly, about a month ago, we lost Simpson. She was nearly three, and the boys were pretty upset about it, but I told them we needed to wait until we got back to get some new rats. The boys decided to once again go with feeder rats, because they felt so good about what they did for Ulysses, Simpson, and Grant. These are our new girls: Rutherford, Birchard, and Hayes. 

They'll be spending some time in the smaller cage while they get adjusted to life as pets. 

The boys have been spending lots of time with the new girls trying to tame them down. (In the bathroom, so it's a nice safe place and nobody can really get lost anywhere). 

We do still have Buchanan with us. We got her after Ulysses and Grant passed away (they only lived about a year), and she was excited about her new friends. But oh my goodness, she looks like a giant compared to the little girls. 

Of course we also had labor day, and so we took that opportunity to play True American: Labor Day Edition. You might remember we played True American: Memorial Day Edition, True American: Asa's Birthday Edition, and the very first True American: President's Day Edition. You can go back and read exactly how it works in the President's Day Edition, but I'll give you a bit of a rundown. Basically, True American is a drinking game, yes. But, we turned it into a family friendly presidential review game instead. Because, we're awesome like that. 

Each time we play the boys pick a president we've covered since the last time we played. They make sure to study that president, but they also get a cheat sheet of sorts. This time, Calib suggested they wear their cheat sheets, in the form of t-shirts. (Hayden cleverly called them cheat-shirts). 

Luckily, Joanne's had the 4 for $10 sale, so we picked one up for each kid to sharpie decorate however they want. 

Hayden picked Benjamin Harrison. 

Calib picked President Obama. 

Peyton picked my personal favorite, Herbert Hoover!

And Asa went with LBJ, even though we hadn't gotten to his birthday timeline yet. He did, however, read the entire file I have on LBJ to prepare. 

The boys stand on chairs in the four corners of the room and answer questions to get to the middle, each time earning a patriotic/presidential snack. 

 If they make it all the way to the top, they get a rootbeer. I even personalize them. 

I liked Calib's Obama rootbeer. 

In addition to their cheat-shirts, they also had the vocabulary sheet for their president taped to their chair. 

You get to the middle by using deductive reasoning and asking questions of your fellow True Americans to guess each one of your categories. (You wear them headbandz style). When you think you have it, you buzz in and yell "JFK, FDR, (and then the answer). If you get it correct you get your drink. For the kids, those are "prohibition cocktails" (7up and cherry juice)... 

If you're Asa you get either rum and coke or 7up and tequila. 

Everyone stands on their chair with their first card on their forehead. 

It's very important to know the floor is hot lava, so if you fall, you're out. But, each person has two stones (pillows) to step on to get to the middle for their snack. You can only take a step if you answer a question about your specific president. (I make a list of 25 questions for each president to choose from). 

Hilarity and madness ensues. You just continue this process until you make it to your rootbeer. 

Peyton got there first, but Calib got there on the same turn. So technically, they tied. 

Then Asa won (mostly because Hayden kept getting stopped in his tracks for getting questions wrong). 

But eventually, Hayden made his way to the middle. He did lose his jello for buzzing in and answering incorrectly though. 

Today we were off to use some more of our free bowling games. This is apparently what the bowling alley looks like on Tuesday at 1 pm in September. We were the ONLY. ONES. THERE. 

It was lots of fun to have the place all to ourselves, and we bowled two games. 

Oh hey, and for all my friends who have fourth graders, be sure to get your free national park pass for the whole year. We got ours! 

That's all I've got for today. We're doing some things this week to set us up for starting on our new "school year" next week. We've got some new and exciting theme weeks coming up, we're giving the Life of Fred a try, and we've got some new projects in the works. I know you were all pretty familiar with Flat Peyton. He ran his course, and Peyton lost interest, which is fine, everything has a time and place. It was a good project, and now Hayden really wants to send Flat Hayden out on some adventures, so I will be looking for some takers soon. 

Next Up: Sorry for the delay LBJ!