Week 39: We'll Be Friends Till We're Old and Senile..Then We'll Be New Friends!

16 days. Sixteen meesley days of this school year left. Some day I'll look back fondly on the days when all my kids went to the same school. And, by someday, I mean August. Things are about to get really, really hectic. Until then the summer bucket list keeps growing. This week's fun editions include building a card house as tall as Hayden, and building the longest slip n slide ever.

Oh so hey, my weekend- It was SO super cool! Friday Night we dropped the boys over to Justins and headed out to the movie theater to see the Avengers with Gerald McCoy. I'm not sure if you heard: but I totally won tickets! When we got there it was about half an hour before we were supposed to, but it was already packed. They checked us in, and we went to the back of the line. It stretched all the way through the hallways past numerous theaters. At the front of the line was Gerald McCoy signing autographs, and taking pictures. I thought there was no way we would ever get to the front of the line before it was time for the movie, and I was right. The Bucs mascot and cheerleaders were walking up and down the line taking pictures, and entertaining everyone.

After we'd been standing there for about half an hour, Gerald McCoy rounded the corner, and ran all the way to the back of the line giving out high fives. When he got to the back of the line (where we were it had rounded the back and come back around to make kind of a U shape) he stopped and said "Man, they're all telling me not to come back here and see the fans- but they can kiss my butt". Then he started taking pictures with anyone who wanted them, and signing autographs. The poor people going into the theaters we were standing outside of were so confused by the crowd. One guy, clearly being dragged into the theater for 'The Lucky One' by his girlfriend, looked in total awe. He clearly didn't know what to do so he just offered Gerald McCoy some popcorn.

Then, rounding the corner, was a bunch of other Buccaneers: Adam Hayward, Moses Madu, and Adrian Clayborn. They were all joking around- it was so hot in the theater that Adam Hayward declared: 'Hey guys, blame McCoy. He paid for the movie but forgot to pay for the air conditioning'. When Gerald McCoy got up to our spot in line, we asked him to sign our ticket. He congratulated me for winning (Asa yelled at me for correcting him when he pronounced my name wrong), and gladly signed it and took a picture with us.


After he made his way to the end of the line, they let us all in the theater. The theater was all decorated with Buccaneers flags, including one on each seat for all of us to have. We all got popcorn and a pop, and after we all got settled Gerald McCoy gave a very little heartfelt speech about how he loved Tampa, and the fans and how he was so excited he got to do this. They Bucs all sat in the middle of the theater, like two rows behind me and Asa. The movie was pretty awesome. It's not necessarily my favorite kind of movie, but for an action movie I was pretty entertained. Afterwards, when we were leaving, all the players were down by the exits shaking hands thanking everyone for coming, taking more pictures, and signing more autographs. They were so friendly and personable. Even after we got home, Gerald McCoy was tweeting out pictures from the event. Adrain Clayborn and Moses Madu even tweeted Asa back and thanked him for coming. It was a super cool event. I still can't believe I won the tickets. It. Was. Awesome.

He also sent out a tweet a couple of days later linking to the article about it. Here it is if you want to check it out: http://www.buccaneers.com/multimedia/videos/Movie-Night-with-Gerald-McCoy-The-Avengers/55dfdebb-9367-460f-8e65-6243d12b1495 Seriously, so awesome.

Saturday we went out to the fresh market, as our usual every other Saturday activity. Justin ditched us because he didn't want them to run out of the $1 broccoli. We did run into Ann and Fico though. We had planned on picking blueberries too, but we didn't get up and around early enough for that. Hopefully we can squeeze it in while U-pick is still going on. I was starting to come down with something too, so we went home to rest for the afternoon.

Saturday night we had gotten tickets from Chris, a guy Asa works with, to the Florida Orchestra Symphony Under the Stars at Raymond James Stadium. The tickets were free, which was awesome because I was all about going: but the boys weren't so sure. (translation: not something you want to spend money on) It was a really casual event: You got to bring lawn chairs and blankets and sit out on the field while the Orchestra played. When we arrived there were already a lot of people there, a couple of Calib's friends from school were there, so we sat near them. Calib spent half the night running around off with his friend Thomas, and we hardly saw him at all. But it was nice for all kinds of kids to just be running around the field in bare feet, having a good time. When Chris and his family arrived, they sat next to us, and Kevin and Katie had also gotten tickets.

They had the concessions open at a really reasonable price. (It was $2.50 for a bucket of popcorn) The boys climbed around on the pirate ship, and they were even giving out free pictures of whoever wanted one with the cheerleaders. Hayden was the only one of my kids who happily got his picture.

They played some great stuff too: Phantom of the Opera, Superman, and as a finale: the 1812 Overture. If you've ever been to the Bucs stadium: you know it contains a pirate ship, and they fire the cannons whenever the Bucs score. So, when it was time for the cannons in the 1812 Overture, they fired the cannons of the pirate ship. My kids (playing nicely with Chris's son) were so unsuspecting, and Chris was taking video at the time. It's pretty amusing. Here's the link if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LvB_Nz9GIE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

After we got in the car I really started to feel my cold coming on.  By Sunday morning, I had REALLY come down with a cold. This is about to get graphic people: The amount of snot coming out of my nose is amazing. Seriously, I must have lost like 8 pounds in snot. It's terrible. Those pesky kids bringing pesky germs home to me. I spent most of my week sick and in bed.

On the upside: Porkchop was thrilled. He spent 99 percent of the time I was in bed in bed with me, under my covers, laying over my feet. It's kind of like when the kids are sick. Of course I don't want them to be sick. But it's awfully nice just to lay on the couch with them and hang out when they are. I also enjoyed daily naps, while Asa held down the fort. I also finished three books, and played a bunch of game of words with friends.

On the downside: My plants were neglected, and I'm sorry to say, after four days of fighting the relentless sun and heat without a drop of water- they died.  Guess I'm going to have to replant- and probably something a little heartier. Asa had also worked overnight on Sunday to get half days Monday and Tuesday: but I was too sick to go do anything. We're hoping this wasn't the last chance we get for a date afternoon before school is out!

By Wednesday I was able to replace my nap time with some housework, which was good because Justin had taken a half day to go see the Avengers with Calib, Peyton, and Asa (since they didn't get to go previously). Hayden and I stayed home, and played the longest game of chutes and ladders ever. The last row every third space is a fricken chute. Ridiculous.

Today was the much anticipated Mothers Day Tea with Hayden at school. I was under strict instructions to behave myself. There were to be no kisses, and only one hug when I left. Even the hug wasn't allowed to be for very long. Calib and Peyton's lunch fell just prior to tea time, so I brought lunch to them. After all, pretty soon I'm not going to be able to bring them both lunch and eat with them at school. We sat outside at the picnic tables and enjoyed the nice weather before it gets unbearably hot. I know that's coming.

Then I headed over to Hayden's Mother's Day Tea. We had cookies, and tea- and all the kids sang songs and had a flower and some drawings to give to their mom's. Hayden had even drawn a picture of me, that Ms. Bazin said he worked very hard on. I feel as though my ears my be a bit off scale, but otherwise, it looks just like me.

After tea was over, we were told we could sign the kids out if we wanted to. I think Ms. Bazin wanted us to since she said 'We're really not doing much the rest of the day so feel free to take them home'. Hayden begged, so I caved. He's currently pretty bored as I sit here and blog. He did play for awhile in his fort him and Peyton built last night, but now He's playing a game on my kindle waiting patiently for me to finish up. A few picture uploads and we can rematch chutes and ladders.

Congratulations for the week:
My brother, Clint who became an illustrated author. http://www.amazon.com/Reflections-and-Tails-ebook/dp/B00826BCX8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336735615&sr=8-1 (And I even shelled out the $2.99 to put it on my kindle!)
And my sister in law, Jessica, who is going to be an Elementary Principal!

So close yet so far away:
The Rays had a contest to see who had the worst sunglasses, and therefore needed tickets to the games and free Joe Madden sunglasses. We got a retweet- but no tickets. Boo!

We also went to Cinco De Moes and we're one order past getting a free tshirt. Boo!

Best Weather Ever:
Saturday Night at Raymond James Stadium- on the field with the breeze it was super duper comfortable!

Happy Birthday:

My sister in law, Carly- who's still in Paraguay for another year. We sent a picture to her, and when the boys say me writing the sign they complained with "Ohhhh.. whose birthday is it this time?" When I told them Aunt Carly they were happy to take the picture for once.

Finally:

My hair is now officially long enough to donate it. Too bad I won't be having it cut for another two months until I can see Vikki!

Next Up: A Bush Garden's and Adventure Island Party! And, the day that's even better than my birthday because I don't feel any older: Mother's Day!

Week 38: Lettuce Turnip The Beet

It was brought to my attention this week, that comments were disabled unless you were logged in. I think I fixed that, so feel free to add your two cents into my daily life. Only if it's nice of course, otherwise, well, didn't you're mother ever tell you if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

So last week I had this crazy idea. It's getting warmer out, and pretty soon we won't want to hit the amusement parks anymore- because when it gets to be 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity anything you do outside needs to involve a beach, a pool, or a waterpark. Which is fine because I live in Florida, and I'm surrounded by those things. But we do miss walking comfortably around all the parks. So anyway, I thought we should squeeze as many as we could into one day, without going overboard of course. Four parks, one day- pretty epic, right? Except, theres no way the kids would go for that. They hate the whole parking, walking, tram ride, walking, bag check, entry line. Doing it once is fine, twice I can even get away with- but four times in one day, no way. So, I came up with a genius plan. We would tell them it was Asa's plan, not mine. Because everytime Asa 'has a plan', the boys think it's the best idea ever. So, we're sitting on the couch last week and I prompt Asa:
Me: "So, what do you want to do this weekend?"
Asa: "I've got the best idea, ever. We should go to FOUR parks in one day"
Calib: "That could be fun."
Me: "Yea, but four in one day. That seems like overkill"
Peyton: "Come on Mom, it'll be so much fun.. pleasssssse! We can do it!"
Mission Accomplished.

So, I spent most of last Friday packing for being gone all day Saturday. Picnic meals, snacks, breakfast for the car ride, backpacks for the parks, the beach bag for the water park, a change of clothes and shoes for everyone. (Because you want to wear flip flops to the water park, and not wear your swimsuit all day.)I even got out everyones clothes the night before. I went to the store, I made uncrustables, and cookies, cleaned all kinds of fruit, and packed the car.

We got up at 7 on Saturday morning and headed out. We all ate breakfast in the car. Our frist stop was the Animal Kingdom. We got there right at 9 when they opened. It was seemingly crowded: but Asa ran off to get fast passes to Expedition Everest and the rest of us headed straight back to Kilimonjaro Safari's. It had been a long time since we had been to the Animal Kingdom, so Hayden didn't even really remember it. This was by far the best trip I've ever had on the Safari though. For those of you who haven't been on it: It's a jeep that drives you around while animals are roaming all around. We saw TONS of animals. I think it had something to do with the early morning trip, as opposed to late afternoon when all the animals are hiding in the shade taking naps. A couple of baby elephants, warthogs, and hippos later- we split up to maximize our time. We were on a strict schedule. The Animal Kingdom is the only park with a Lion King show, and since Hayden is all about the Lion King, I took him over to see it while Asa, Calib and Peyton headed off to the roller coaster. I've gotta say, as far as amusement park shows go: this has to be one of the best. Hayden LOVED it. He was happy to tell Asa all about it: "There was a guy who swallowed fire, and he didn't even die!" After all of that we headed over to Dino World. Sadly, Hayden was too scared to go on Prime Evil Whirl, but he was happy to take a spin on the dinosaurs (which is the animal kingdom equivelent to dumbo/flying carpets). A quick stop at the playground, and our carefully planned 3 hours at Animal Kingdom was up, so we headed out notcing the flood of people still coming in. It was clearly going to be a very crowded day. Luckily, we never waited more than 15 minutes for anything.

1 park down. 2 to go.

We ate lunch in the Animal Kingdom parking lot. I was so prepared with bottles of lemonade, uncrustables, applesauce, goldfish and freshly baked peanut butter cookies (who knew 1 cup of peanut butter, 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 egg and some vanilla made such easy delicious cookies!) By this time it was getting pretty warm, so we decided Aquatica (Seaworld's waterpark) would be our next stop. The parking lot had only one row left before it was full, but it's at least one of those parks where the people disperse well. At this point there was talk of adding a park #5 to the list and trying to squueze in Hollywood Studios. We changed into our swimsuits and found a nice spot to drop all our stuff over by the kids area. We took a trip down the crazy river, played in the giant bucket area, and went down the family slide. Hayden absolutely loves the kids area there, and I can't say I blame him. They have small slides for the kids, but not tiny slides. One even has a tube you use to go down. It's like a kids his age area as opposed to a baby area, so that's nice for him. Plus he's easilly occupied while Asa, Peyton and Calib go off to do bigger kid stuff. I got to just park it sitting in the water underneith a palm tree. It was pretty relaxing. Around 4 we decided it was time to head out, took a quick spin around the lazy river, stopped to see the dolphins- and walked back to the car.

2 parks down. 2 to go.

Our next stop was Seaworld, which is right next door to Aquatica. The second we took the corner though- we knew it was uber busy at Seaworld. The overflow parking lot across the street was even full. We did find a spot where someone had left closer to the gate, so we parked there- repacked some more snacks in the backpack, applied sunscreen application number 4, and headed in. We stopped by and pet the sting rays, and attempted to pet the dolphins. (They however are much less exctied about the guests who don't have food for them) Then our next stop was the brand new Turtle Trek. It's a 3D show in a dome. They basically recreate the life of a sea turtle from hatching in it's egg to returning to the same beach to lay her eggs. You get to see it from the turtles point of view. And, IT. IS. AWESOME. Our only issue with it was they tried to claim it was a '30 minute experience'. Well, the show itself was 10- but then there were two holding rooms you had to stay in each for 10 minutes. While there was a cool aquarium of manatees, and rescued sea turtles, I'd hardly count those rooms as part of the 'experience'. Because of the crowds, and the fact that Turtle Trek had opened the day before that took up almost an hour of our time. Seaworld closes early, so we only had about an hour left.

Peyton was finally tall enough to go on the coaster they have there, the Manta. I would go on this thing, but it looks terrifying. Not because of it's height or anything, but because of the way you sit in the seat. Ok, people who don't know what this is: think raptor. Then think about them tipping all those seats forward so that you're hanging there, looking straight down at the ground. Yes. Terrifying. But, Peyton went on it and loved it. I gladly took Hayden to the aquarium section to look at the fish, where he told the string ray keeper to 'look out for those deadly things', and happily took some pictures. We headed back to feed the sealions, which we were both super excited about it. (That and a dole whip was all I really wanted out of the day) But, with the park closing in under an hour feeding time was over. We were both so bummed, but on the way up we walked past a game. Usually we don't ever play games, but this one was a guarenteed prize, so for $3 I let Hayden play. All he had to do was pick up a floating sting ray and got whatever color sting ray it said to pick. He ended up with a small blue one, but was pretty happy with that. We meant up with the braver 3/5 of our group and headed out.

3 parks down. 1 to go.

By the time we got out of the Seaworld parking lot it was nearing 7. We had ruled out going to a 5th park, and I was really starting to rethink number 4. It wasn't because of the kid's behavior or anything. Just being in the sun all day had drained me, and the thought of serving up another picnic meal wasn't appealing to me. Plus the fact that when we went through the parking gate, we realized somewhere along the way Asa had lost his pass. I'm thinking back when he turned in the fast passes for Expedition Everest. Then we saw the parking lot: just as crowded as all the others, all the way to the back. At this point we were having serious misgivings about going to the Magic Kingdom. (And I was also amazed the sheer volume of people at all the amusement parks- thats alot of people!) Asa and I thought maybe we could park at the Polynesian Resort instead of the Magic Kingdom parking lot, stop by and get a self serve dole whip as a little pick me up before heading over to the park. So, we went through the gate, told the man at the little parking station our plan and he happily let us through. Except, we drove around for 10 minutes and couldn't find a parking spot there either. It was at this point Asa and I were pretty set on calling it a night. If we left now, we'd be home in our jammies, after a long day by 8:30. The boys were not whiney about this, but they were clearly upset. We told them: by the time we park, eat our picnic dinner, and take the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom it's going to be like an hour from now. They understood, but they wanted to go anyway. So, because they had been so well behaved all day, we found a parking spot close to the front, parked, and I pulled out my thermos of sloppy joes. I served up some grapes, chips, and peanut butter cookies along side it, and they happily ate it. Even Peyton who usually hates sloppy joes. Asa finished ahead of us, and went up to get a new pass. They replaced it quickly, with no problems at all and we met Asa up at the monorail.

Just as the sun was setting, we got into the park. It was evident it was going to be crowded, but after dinner I had my second wind- so we hopped on the train and headed back to Fantasy Land. The new area is starting to open in phases: We hopped on the barnstormer, a kiddy coaster. Hayden was scared at first, but he rode it. Then we walked over and went on Snow White, and Winnie the Pooh. Pooh had recently been refurbished with all kinds of fun things to do while you waited in line. Think popping balls basketball, bees like those bead things that run along crazy wires you see in pediatricians offices, and a touch screen with dripping honey that moved when you wrote on it. Those lines had gotten pretty short because it was parade time, so everyone was off watching that. The boys all managed to get on the teacups without waiting at all, and when they got off there we noticed the cars had the smallest line I'd ever seen for them. We quickly all ran over to them. I called not riding with Hayden: and Asa found out why. Although, apparently Hayden has realized what an awful driver he is, because he told Asa after he had given him whiplash: "I don't think I'm very good at that driving thing".

When we had gotten off the ride the line was about 10 times longer than when we had gotten on. That semeed to be how it was working for us. We'd hit the rides at the right time. Besides the barnstormer, I don't think we waited more than 10 minutes for anything that night. We got on the people mover, and as we were going around past the castle, we got to see tinkerbell fly down from the castle and the fireworks begin. It was pretty good timing. We ran over to Space Ranger Spin, because it's always a must stop for us, and the ride stopped when Asa and I were right on a target. (If you don't know, it's a video game type ride where you shoot targets and try and get a high score) Usually the lazers turn off if the ride stops, but this time they stayed on, prompting shoot after shoot of 5,000 points. Asa's response: 'This is the best day EVER'.

I had considered leaving after this point, but the boys really wanted to go to the Laugh Floor to see the Monsters from Monster's Inc. tell their jokes. There still had been no whining up to this point, so we went to see the show. Afterwards Asa and Calib went on stiches great escape, and I took the other two on Space Ranger spin one more time. Then we headed out. It was 11:30. We decided to take the boat back over to the parking lot. On the boat the boys were so exhausted Hayden nearly feel asleep. It was evident to me at that point that we probably should have left before the Laugh Floor. Hayden did manage to walk to the car under his own power though. Everyone's getting a bit too big to be carried.

Peyton and Hayden were asleep before we even got out of the parking lot. Asa ravenously ate a bunch of leftover donut holes for breakfast, and when I called him out on eating like eight of them he responded with "psh. I've had at least double that". I guess we did walk a ton though, so it all evens out. We tried to talk to Calib for a little bit, but his brain was so tired he lacked any sort of comprehension. Asa would say something totally normal to him, and his response was "What? I don't understand. You're talking too fast". He fell asleep shortly there after and Asa and I had a nice peaceful ride home. We got back around 1 am.

4 parks down. We used a whole bottle of sunscreen, only spent $3, and refilled our water bottle about a million times. Sad news though: I never did get my dole whip.

Sunday was quite the recovery day. I felt like I had been hit by a bus the next morning. Plus, I had a blister on the bottom of each of my feet. Apparently I need some new tennis shoes. Asa had volunteered to work a few hours to shave off some time on Wednesday, and the boys and I worked on some homework and things. Pretty boring.

So, fun Monday story for you. The last two weeks, Gerald McCoy from the Bucs had been running a contest. He rented out a movie theater for the Avengers the day it came out (Friday May 4th). 200 people would win, and each would be allowed a guest. Asa, being more of an Avengers fan (and much more optimistic than me) religiously entered every single day. I entered twice: both times when he made me, even when I said 'this is stupid. You know how many people are going to enter this? Theres only 200 tickets' So Monday Night I'm being a nerd watching Dancing with the Stars, playing words with friends, and wandering around on my laptop- I see Gerald McCoy tweet 'Congratulations to the winners, emails should be sent'. I continue on my aimless wandering around twitter- and then, just for the heck of it, go check my email. And there it was:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You and a guest have been selected to view The Avengers with Tampa Bay Buccaneer Gerald McCoy on Friday, May 4!  Gerald McCoy is excited to see The Avengers with 400 of our most diehard Buccaneers fans this coming Friday night! 

Yes, I had won. I could hardly believe it! I'd never won a drawing like that before, ever. I thought, surely hardly anyone must have entered. I yelled for Asa showed him the email and he flipped out. Apparently he had previously seen the tweet and checked his email. Nothing for him. Mr. 'I applied everyday for two weeks' got nothing. And I won! I teased him mercilessly all week about it. Contemplating out loud who my one guest should be. He was not amused. 

Tuesday we had Middle School Orientation for Calib. Here's the situation. I felt super old going to MIDDLE SCHOOL Parent Orientation, right? I mean, how am I old enough to have a kid in middle school? Well, let me tell you: going to middle school orientation had the complete opposite effect on me. 1. I do not own a pant suit. 2. I do not wear my cell phone attached to my belt loop as if I'm some important business person. 3. I do not have grey hair. 4. Nor am I balding. I'm pretty sure Asa and I were like 10 years younger than any other parent there. 

In keeping with that theme, we were also the only ones snickering to each other. We decided next time we have to go to one of those things we're going to make bingo cards with all the obvious phrases: be kind to others, keep up with your homework, follow the rules. Blah, Blah, Blah. However we got some good Harry Potter jokes in when we realized he's going to be a 'Raven Claw'. If only he got sorted into Gryffindor. Everyone knows all the cool kids go there. 

Wednesday Asa only worked until 11, so we got to have date day. I pulled out my stack of groupons I had been collecting, and we decided to use them to go to the Bayshore Market, Eats! American Grill and finish up with a trip to Adventure Island. I really would like to go do something besides Adventure Island, but I can't even tell you how non-crowded it is on the week days. It's too hard to resist 4 trips around the lazy river without seeing anyone but life guards. Eats! was great too. Lunch ended up costing $1.31 (they had delicious homemade potato chips by the way if you ever happen to be on South Dale Mabry it's worth a stop) and the Market had some awesome jams, bread, and fruit which was all under the groupon price. 

Plus on Wednesday, when we got home, I had this waiting in the mail for me: 

Yesterday, Calib collected on his personal day. Each semester the boys get one personal day earned if they are doing well in school, and haven't otherwise missed a lot of days. I asked him what he had wanted to do with it and he decided just to stay home and play video games. That was fine by me, so Asa worked from home, he played his video games, and I finished another book on my kindle. 

Funny Hayden-isms: 

Asa : "I just taught Hayden a new skill.. are you ready for this?'

 *pulls milk jug out from behind him, gives it to Hayden and Hayden drinks out of it* 

Hayden: 'TaDa!' 

Then, they both put their arms in their air as if they just conqured a mountain

How I know Asa Waterstraut and Hayden were talking about throwing blue turtle shells and banana's while on their way back from the store: (door flings open) 

Hayden: "Guys! I have the best idea ever! We need to build a Mario Kart track."

Academic Update:

I'm happy to say everyone had stellar progress reports! 

Next Up: The Avengers with Gerald McCoy, Blueberry Picking, and Symphonies! 

Week 37: Lets Begin By Taking a Smallish Nap Or Two

I've been putting off writing my blog today, because I knew the second I sat down to write it today my motivation for the day would tank, and my biggest aspiration for the day would become putting on my pj's and catching up on my DVR before round two of the draft starts tonight. I'm pretty pleased with the amount of work I got done with up until this point, so it's ok to ease off the pedal now. We are all so very tired around here today. Yesterday we had a party at our house for the first round of the NFL draft. By the time the draft wrapped up it was 11- but it was after midnight by the time everyone left. By the time I was actually in bed it was 1:30 and I still couldn't fall asleep.The kids were pretty exhausted this morning, which I knew would happen, but it's Friday- the FCAT is over, and it's Otter Store Day, where they get to spend their Otter Dollars they've been earning all year. At least this was incentive for them to get up and get to school. Although Hayden did crawl into bed after he was dressed and tried to go back to bed.

So, lets talk the NFL Draft: Asa was not pleased about the Bucs pick, but he seems to be coming around this morning. This is how Asa looked after we picked Mark Barron:

Later we picked up Doug Martin with a second first round pick. He was much happier about that one:

It was super exciting when the Bucs traded back into the first round to have two picks, which made me glad I let the kids stay up and didn't send them to bed. Calib especially would have been really disappointed had he missed that- and nobody would have been able to sleep with all the shouting going on. The party was super fun though. We ordered pizza, and yelled a lot. Rex brought Alabama inflatables which the boys happily used to beat up Fico. The house wasn't that much of a disaster this morning either, just a bunch of toys in the living room- that Hayden happily blamed on Rex- and a stain on the carpet that mostly came up from some hot wings. It was nice to have everyone here: Katie, Kevin, Ann, Noah, Fico, Rex, Temps , and Justin were all here at one point. And shout out to Ann, Katie and Justin for sitting through 3 and a half hours of something they couldn't have cared less about.

Thursday was also Take Your Child to Work Day. Peyton went with Asa. Calib stayed home with me and Hayden went to school. At first Calib was really excited about it. We dropped Hayden off at school and went out to the store to pick up a few things. We even got a Subway footlong to split for lunch. (more points for me!) But once we got home and it was laundry, dishes, toilet scrubbing, vacuuming, and baking- I think he was wishing he went to school. He kept saying things like 'Do you always do this much? Are we done yet?' We did take a break to watch the Price is Right, but he wasn't even into bidding. It rubbed a little salt in the wound when Asa and I started sending pictures back and forth on our phones about what the boys were doing. It went something like this.

Here's Calib finishing off the cake we made for Noah's Birthday:

And here's the alligator Peyton and Asa saw while at Lettuce Lake Park for lunch:

Here's Calib scrubbing the toilet:

And then he sent Peyton sitting in the chair eating Oreos (which I'm not including as to not get in trouble)

Here's Calib vacuuming the floor:

And he sent Peyton playing 'football' with Rex. By the way, when I asked Peyton what he did all day he ratted some people out about not working too hard.

It was really nice to spend the day with Calib though, and he said he had a good time. He also told me several times how awesome it is that I do this for everyone on a daily basis. Which was nice. He did ask me if everyone would be excited to see all we had done. I told him "Well, I mean when everyone gets home you'll get a 'the house looks nice'" When Peyton, Hayden, and Asa walked in after school and work they said exactly that and when on with their evening. Poor Calib, he was so disappointed. I'm just glad they noticed.

This week at school was pretty eventful for everyone: Hayden went on his field trip to Legoland. He was really excited about it, but I feel I didn't get too many accurate details about the trip since what he told me was 'You had to be 20 inches to ride the 374 foot tall coaster.', and 'It took 5 hours to get there'. Note to self: Things Hayden needs to work on this summer: measurement. We also finally got Calib's fifth grade field trip info (the 5th graders always take a really big field trip at the end of the year to the Animal Kingdom). The bad news is that it is on his birthday, and he'll be gone from 8-8. But, he really wants to go, so we'll just celebrate that weekend. Plus he got his invite to the sunshine state party, and he finished up the FCAT this week with two days of the Science FCAT. Peyton finally bought his recorder and has been playing it non-stop. (Think squeaky, 4th grade  band concerts only worse because it's a recorder), and was happy to be done with his Tropicana Speech.

Last weekend we had kind of crappy weather around here: cold windy and sometimes rainy. This did allow us to pile on the movies. The boys really liked the Back to the Futures, and Asa and I just got depressed because 'the future' when the movie was made is 2015. All I can say: There better be high tops like that in three years. And hover boards. We did manage to salvage part of Saturday. It was a fresh market morning, so we made a trip over there. The boys went in Justin's car and were pretty excited to have made it there before Asa, Hayden and I. Hayden told us we should have used our blue turtle shell. Next time, for sure. We ran into Fico and Ann and Rich and Casey too, which was all of their first fresh market experiences. I'm loving that the fresh market is getting more popular. I'm hoping for it to get a little bigger. The weather defiantly kept some vendors away this week, but the salsa guy, the banana bread guy, the snow cone guy, and the farmers market were all there and fully stocked so I was happy.

 Afterwards, we went over to Busch Gardens. Trying to beat the rain that was imminent at that point, I took Hayden to look at the animals while everyone else went on some rides. We did all catch up just in time ride on the train, which we never ever do. I think we need to more often though: it was cool to see the animals close up like that. Unfortunately the weather didn't hold out, and just as we were getting in line for the Grover coaster everything shut down due to weather. We did manage to make it to the car before we got soaked though, so that was a bonus. Our day might have been cut short, but it was so worth the trip due to the absolute lack of crowds.

Friday night we had plans to go to Disney: but there were severe weather warnings out so we had to come up with something else to do last minute. My bright idea was to camp: in the play room. I thought for sure the tent would fit just fine. We ended up having to move the couch out: even then we couldn't have the screen part of our tent up, and it covered the entire room. It was a good camping trip. The proximity of our campsite to the bathrooms was wonderful. At the facilities were just like being at home. They even had Klondike bars at the camp store. It was really dark out there in the forest, good thing we brought our headlamps. Hayden tried to complain that he was sleeping on a rock, but we assured him it was all his head, as we had a nice burber spot picked out.

That was our week around here. We're starting the summer countdown: 26 days of school left!

Best New arrival:
Though theres not a lot of pictures this week, I did get a new camera (it just didn't get here until the end of the week) I took some ADORABLE doggie pictures while I was trying it out. I love all my puppies SO much!

Best Video:
In case you haven't seen it, you should check out my cousin Tim purposing to his now fiancee, Emily (sorry to spoil the ending) Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZqsVk4XYKk&sns=fb Happy for the both of them, they're pretty awesome people.

Biggest Feat EVER:
I did five loads of laundry and matched EVERY SINGLE PAIR OF SOCKS! This. Is. Amazing.

Best Surprise:
Asa got me tickets to the Florida Orchestra playing at Raymond James. They are complimentary tickets, but you have to know a guy. Asa knows a guy. Yay!

Getting too Big:
Yes, thats Hayden. Yes, he's 48 inches now. Boo for having to buy an adult ticket to Cedar Point this summer for him.

Stupidest Comment:

Peytons: (insert big story about random fish he learned about while watching River Monsters on Animal Planet)
Me: Is it ocean fish or river fish
Asa: Really Corinne?
Me: Its like ncaa and madden I pretend to listen and engage even when I have no interest.

Next Up: FOUR amusement/water parks in one day. Yup, it's happening. Also, wait for it:I'm going to MIDDLE SCHOOL Parent Orientation!

Week 36: A Monkey Riding a Unicorn Eating a Kiwi

Well, crap! I was just complaining about what awful weather we're in for this weekend, thus ruining my awesome weekend plans of Disney World, the USF Spring Game, Cookouts, and the Fresh Market, that I decided to blog about my week to make me feel better. And now google went and changed the blog all around. Ugh. SO lame. I don't like it, google. It's all weird, and dumb, and stupid- just like my weekend getting ruined. BOOOOOOOO!! I have already not had the best of weeks, as my laptop charger has stopped doing it's one and only function I require out of it- and is no longer charging my laptop. Plus I lost my camera, and Calib broke Porkchop's bowl I painted for him. It is not a good week to be any of my possessions.

And, theres my complaining for the week. I promise to get much more cheery for the rest of the blog. *forces smile*

Friday was field day at school. It's basically like a mini run for fun, that I had when I was in grade school. Calib was put in charge of a team, which he was pretty excited about. He does seem to be getting slightly sad this is the last time he'll be doing fun things like field day, the spring fling, and otter splash. Only six and a half weeks left.

Saturday we had a play date day with Katie, Kevin, and Angela. We met them at five guys, which quickly got out of control with flying peanuts, and Hayden thinking karate chopping them was a thing. Then we went over to adventure island. I've been having a rough time with my allergies lately, so I really was in no mood to have water dumped all over me, or really do much of anything. Hayden still isn't into too many slides, so that's not so much an issue. I just stayed behind with him and everyone's stuff for most of the time. It was still better than laying in bed overdosing on Claratin whining about pollen and the likes.

Justin came over Saturday night for a game of Munchkin. Here's the problem with playing games with Justin: Asa has poisoned him against me. Now, I get it, I do win a lot of games. And yes, yes I am cut throat about them (But seriously if I don't build my settlements on the best spot possible how can I expect to win?) But I don't win ALL the time. So when Justin won Munchkin after Asa foolishly used his annihilation card on one of my ITEMS (Seriously, who uses Annihilation on a stupid item!?) out of pure spite, Justin ran away with the game. Now, I must admit, perhaps my husbands sore loser-ness is rubbing off on me. Nobody congratulated Justin, and he commented on how unfun it was to win. Welcome to my world, buddy. (Although to be fair, I'd still rather win and not be congratulated than lose).

Saturday night it's worth noting, Peyton had begged to stay up until 2 am for the exact 100th anniversary for the sinking of the Titanic. We had explained to him that it was earlier due to time zones. So, while he did check out the live tweeting as if it was the titanic sinking today, he seemed slightly less interested when he realized he didn't have a good reason to stay up until 2 am.

Sunday the boys had a friend over, and played rather loudly all day. I don't mind so much when it's just me and the four boys, but anything over that and I feel terribly outnumbered. Then there's just chaos, and loudness, and light sabers everywhere it seems. Then they went down to the park, which was a welcome change on the noise meter: but they came back all sweaty boys. It is starting to get a little hotter around here. Pretty soon it's going to be green-house like.

Sunday night we got a phone call about making sure the kids had a good breakfast, and got to school on time because Monday was the start of the dreaded FCAT (although they didn't use the word 'dreaded'). I overslept Monday morning though. In 25 minutes I got everything done and they were to school on time, because I'm just that awesome. Ugh, the FCAT. I think it's a pretty awful way to gauge how much a child has learned, I think it's even crappier teachers jobs/pay depend on it more than ever now. It stresses Peyton out every year. We tried to make it a very non-stressful week for him. I made him good breakfasts (Love my new waffle maker, btw), packed him lunch when he was particularly thrilled about what they were having, and made the evenings as fun as possible with board games, and movies, and video games.

Asa is working overnight on Saturday, and therefore took two half days this week. He was all done with work by 11, so we got to have two date days in a row. Unfortunately, I have no pictures from these days, as Wednesday I had my camera in the front pocket of my purse, and at some point it feel out and was gone forever. Please, a moment of silence for it. So sad.

I know were getting old because Tuesday we went to the meat market, and whole foods- and were thrilled without having kids whining about when we were going (they aren't so much whole foods fans). We did squeeze in a trip to Pin Chasers for a game of bowling. Who was aware they hand out socks for free? Asa said he's just going to collect bowling ally socks (I mean to be fair, they were pretty nice socks).  Bowling mid-day on a Tuesday if you're under the age of 75 is apparently unheard of. It was me and Asa, and four for sure senior citizens in the bowling ally. As for bowling, Swisks beat Alarm by 5 in a battle of the bumpers vs. mph. Thats all you need to know.

Wednesday we headed out to Ikea (geez, Ikea and whole foods in two days- if only I had hit costco too) to pick up some more glass bottles for Asa's awesome coffee station. We also came across some pretty awesome hats: a lion and a jester, and some cool puppets: an owl and a clown. I would have pictures, but well, we discussed that already. Get off my back, I feel bad enough about it. Throw in some Swedish meatballs, and that at least makes the pain a little bit less. Then we headed over to adventure island, which we also discovered is not in high demand mid-day on a weekday. We took a couple spins around the lazy river (which was actually pretty lazy sans ANY kids- not just ours), rode some water slides without waiting once, and swam around the cliff's pool without being splashed once, because there was only like two other people in it.

By Thursday the house was in disarray and I had to spend my afternoon cleaning it up, doing laundry, and getting things situated. I would just like to say, when the boys were asked if anyone wanted to be a stay at home mom for a day for 'take your child to work day', everyone refused. They said they didn't want to 'cook and clean all day'.  I suppose I should be grateful they don't think I just sit around all day, but I also don't cook and clean all day. So to show them, I have big plans to go enjoy the day next Thursday- so there. Asa's work finally approved it, so Peyton will be going with him. Calib has some mask he has to finish up in art, so he can't go at all.

That's it for the week. But, I have some added bonus's for you for the week.

Best drawing:
Hayden: "Mom, what should I draw?"
Me: "How bout.... A Monkey riding a Unicorn, eating a Kiwi"

Worst Mystery Solver:
Calib: "Where could that recorder be?"
Hayden: "It's a Mystery. Calib, where were on the night the recorder went missing?"
Calib: "No seriously Hayden."

Jealousy Alert:
Chris Kluwe, the coolest punter in the NFL, tweeted Asa. Totally unprompted. SO UNFAIR.

In Need of a Babysitter Alert:
November 11. Bucs vs. Chargers. Asa and I are there. As close to the field as we can possibly get.

Worst Self Defense:
Hayden. He got pushed down the slide by a girl less than half his size. He even has the battle scars to prove it: a bruise on his chin, and a messed up fingernail.

Worst Picture:
Hayden: "Is this a good picture mom?"
Me: "It's great Hayden"
Hayden: "Oh good, you can make it your Facebook picture then"

Sneak Peek Flashbacks:
And, in case your wondering why Hayden gets the most pictures, I rest my case.
Me: "Hey Peyton, can I get a picture"

Next Up: Crappy Weather (*sad face*), Field Trips,  Draft Day Parties, and Kids at Work (but not in a sweat shop kind of way)