Week 46: Debby Downer

6 years. 3 months. And 5 days.

This is how long it took after I moved to Florida before I experienced a tropical storm. (still no hurricanes for me- I'm total repellent!)  In case you missed it, this weekend we had a very large amount of rain. Somewhere around a foot here in Land O Lakes/Odessa. We were so happy today to see the sun again! Everyone was out and about in the neighborhood- kids playing, people walking dogs, mowing their lawns. It was like one of those movies where you see all those unusually happy- subdivision living- people all trimming their hedges and smelling their roses. Earlier this week was a much different story... 

Friday night I was fine with the weather, lots of rain- but we made do with some puddle hopping, as I reported in my last blog. Saturday came around and it was cloudy and gross. Peyton had a birthday party to go to from 1-4 and the pouring down rain and thunderstorms managed to hold off for it, which was good because it was a pool party. When he got home though, the rain really started in. I've gotta be honest here, I don't check the weather a lot, especially during the summer. So I didn't realize what was coming. Because our plans for the drive-in and a cookout were ruined Friday, I just figured we'd go Saturday. No such luck. Instead we all laid around whining about how their was nothing to do.

After facebook posting about being so bored, Katie asked if we wanted to hang out since she was up our way. Her and Kevin came over for awhile. I introduced her to scramble with friends, while the boys worked on some massively old computer they had gotten from someone in Katie's family. There was only a small fear of fire. Then they made second dinner out of nothing, minus the trip to Publix of course, and we played the bean game- which got a little heated at times, but in the end turned out ok.

If I wasn't prepared for all the rain Saturday night, I certainly was not prepared for all the rain Sunday. I have never, ever, in my entire life seen anything like that. There were two types of rain: heavy rain, and blinding rain. Not only that, by now it was windy. Not just gusty either- like a constant wind. I was pretty sure we were going to lose one of our baby palm trees out back. Peyton curled up in his sleeping bag and played on my kindle for awhile, but ultimately all the kids complained about boredom. It reminded me of a snow day.

The rain was the big news around Tampa on Sunday. By the evening there was a quick break so I headed out to Publix, only to find a giant lake out in front of it. Problem is: there isn't supposed to be a lake there at all. I stopped by the pool on the way home to see how high it was- it was overflowing. And a house on the main road of my subdivision was really feeling the effects.

It wasn't just my neighborhood. Tampa, and especially St. Pete were really taking a hit. The Sunshine Skyway was closed due to high winds (which isn't all that uncommon- but being closed for 2 days like it was- certainly is), and Bayshore Blvd. (a main road in Tampa that sits on the bay) was completely flooded. People were posting all kinds of crazy pictures, so I thought I'd share some with you.

I did spend my Sunday getting ready for game week, and tweaking some games I knew we'd have to move indoors. Tropical Storm Debby was moving at the pace of a snail at that point. We also had a guest host to our auction- grandma! She also kindly showed us what the sunshine looked like over skype, since we hadn't seen it for years. We watched some Olympic Trails. The boys are so into it, I'm considering changing Art week and craft week into Arts and Craft week- and adding an Olympics week. But the weather was pretty nasty at this point and I was super annoyed with the beep-beep-beep on the TV for all our warnings- including tornadoes all around us. At one point weather.com said we had 8 weather alerts at one time.

That night, the boys took their sleeping bags and I re-arranged the stuff in our closet so they could sleep in there in case we had really bad weather. I think it made them feel a lot better, since they were getting kind of freaked out with all the weather interruptions on the TV. They actually slept really well in there too, because between being in the closet, and the non-existent sun it stayed dark in there well into the morning making for a good sleeping in time.

Monday started game week. I even decided that our academics for the week would be in game form. While it wasn't too rainy out, it was cloudy overcast, and constantly windy. It was so windy, our pond had white caps on it and looked as though it was a river. Poor Porkchop would go outside and get blown around. He could hardly walk. So, it was another indoor day for us.

We played Math Twister. We basically just used flash cards coupled with cards that said left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand. I had previously written some common multiples on our twister mat, and Math Twister was born. They loved it.

Hayden happily worked on his sight word parking lot. I would call out a word, and he would have to park a car there. It went well, till there was a giant earthquake in his parking lot (aka Gracie walked over top of it).

 

Calib and Peyton had a vocab game, where they had to place the matching flag color on the words that meant the same thing. I can't believe how on-the-back-burner things like vocabulary and geography get put on at school, so I'm working on that with them this summer. I timed them and gave out points for it.

During the day we found things to keep us busy, pillow sack races and pom pom races went pretty well.

Game week is turning out to equal a ton of points week. That seemed like the easiest prizes for games. On Sunday I had made three deal or no deal boards. Asa and I were trying to figure out the dollar-to-point ratio, and Calib and Peyton convinced us it should be 1 point per $10,000. Meaning, 100 points for the million dollar case. This did not work out well for Calib, or Peyton. They both squandered some good deals and ended up with 2 points. Even worse, Peyton changed his board from the orange one to the blue one and picked case number 7. Which on his blue board contained 400 bucks. On the orange board, however, it was the million dollar case. But, then there was Hayden;. Most exciting game ever. He turned down deals of 40 points plus, and in the end his case either contained the $750,000 or the $1,000. He refused the deal, stuck with his case, and it was a big payout. 75 points for Hayden. Calib and Peyton have spent the rest of the week trying to catch up.

After deal or no deal, we lost power. I was pretty surprised we hadn't yet, because we tend to lose power here a decent amount. Unfortunately, I have an electric stove instead of a gas here so the eggs I was hardboiling ended up pretty disgusting. We decided to pull out a 750 piece puzzle and started working on it. I figured that would be a good no-power project. Luckily, the power came back on before it got dark- just after we got the frame of the puzzle set. The rain had about stopped all together by now, but the wind was something. They closed all the bridges across the bay, except for the Gandy at one point because the waves were crashing up and over- going across the highway.

Tuesday I woke up and actually caught a glimpse of light outside. Despite the lack of rain, it was still to windy to really go outside and enjoy anything. The playground was pretty flooded, and I still figured it was best not to risk the pool. Driving anywhere of distance was out too. So, we made the best of one more day cooped up in the house. We played Math Bingo. Originally I was going to make it, but Target actually had some nice boards over in the aisle by the flash cards for $2. The spinner lands on a number, and then they have to find the problem the corresponds to that answer. After that we did another round of speed vocab, and sight words parking lot. 

Since going outside to hang the pinata that we made during food week, and painted last week (to look like a strawberry), was out of the question I hung it from the ceiling fan in the play room. We had stuffed it with candy, a few cute little toys, and a couple of pieces of paper good for points. I even had to get creative with the stick, we used a beach shovel. I am resourceful, you know.

Then, I changed our outdoor scavenger hunt to an indoor one. The boys had to find things that fit into different categories: something you sleep with (pictured), something with wheels, something dad uses in the bathroom, and something you use everyday- to name a few. They had a really good time collecting items. I told them they had a minute for each, but they never really figured out I didn't have a timer. It was pretty funny seeing them run around the house though. Maybe for outdoors week we can do the one I had planned for outside.

Tuesday evening Asa also took his finale for his first college class in the form of a certification.  Of course he passed it with flying colors. One class done in less than four weeks! Thats my husband. We did start a new tradition of rootbeer float night whenever he finishes (and of course passes) a class. While we were waiting for him to get home though (since he was much later arriving home) we continued to work on the puzzle. It engaged them much longer than I thought it would.

Then we played Wheel of Fortune. I had made the spinner on Sunday out of cardboard, and push pins. Looking for a place I could attach it so it would spin- I discovered I could stick the bamboo on the kitchen table through the cardboard, and it would sit nicely on the top of the vase with the bamboo keeping it in place. Then, I used the oil and vinegar bottle holder and attached a flag to it. The best news: It even made that sound the wheel does on wheel of fortune! And, I even included the mystery slice where it could either be 10,000 or a Bankrupt.  Hayden and his reduced reading skills (compaired to his brothers) defiantly had a harder time. But, he did solve 'Katie, Kevin, and Angela' with the category of people really well. It was so funny when he got it. He was pretty proud of himself. Peyton ended up winning, and even got the bonus round (category: on the map) correct with Land O Lakes. 

Wednesday the sun was finally out, and there was only a light breeze. We were all so happy to see the improvement in the weather. We headed down to the pool and spent a good two hours there- until our hands were prune-y, and we had our fill of cannonballs, and dive sticks. The pool water wasn't overflowing- but it was very high. We had a fun game out of jumping in and seeing how much water our tidal waves poured out of the pool. 

We played Math go fish- where instead of asking for a match you ask for a number to add to 10. Easy for Calib and Peyton, but a good game for Hayden. They actually all really liked it and played about 4 times. 

Hayden played sight word swatter- where he had to swat the bugs on the sight word that I said. If he swatted the correct bug he got to keep it in the swatted pile, otherwise they buzzed away into the flew away pile. It was pretty entertaining. He also played it like four times.

I'm not sure if I filled you in last week on Peyton's writing grade, but it was less than stellar- so we're working on that. As a helpful prompt, I looked up a video (I used this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvch1UNkPSs) One of my absolute favorites! Then, they had to watch it with no sound and write a story about what was happening. Then they got to watch the video. Can I just say- hilarious! Best writing game yet.

Our games for the day were in the form of tournaments. We played connect four launchers, and guess who. We even drew for spots, and the prizes were the coveted gold medals.(piece of lamented paper taped to yarn) I won Guess Who, and still continue to wear my medal around the house. Hayden won connect four launchers, and a long with his medal asked to hang the bracket up in his bedroom declaring his victory. Peyton was not so happy about this- especially when Hayden wore his medal all day, talking about how he couldn't believe he won it.

After all that we sat down and worked on the puzzle, until we finished it just before dinner time. Everyone helped, and we decided we would frame this one, and maybe have a new tradition of doing a puzzle during every named tropical system we have to deal with. Though, if another one doesn't show up for 6 years, we'll only have two done before Calib moves out. Frightening thought for you, right there.

After dinner we played Minute to Win it- complete with bottle knocking over from a pair of nylons with a tennis ball in them on your head, transferring penne pasta from one plate to another via a spaghetti noodle, blowing all the cards from a deck off a cup except for the bottom card (the joker), and trying to eat a cookie from your forehead without touching it. Asa wasn't feeling well, so I had to be team adult. I got killed by team kid though.

Today I was so happy to see the sun, as I previously reported- though its defiantly worth repeating. We decided on another day of bingo math, though Hayden won both games and widened his point lead over his brothers (it's going to be some auction this week!) Then we started our story notebook. Every day we are going to write a couple of sentences to add to our story. Today Calib, Peyton and I all wrote a paragraph. I really can't wait to see where Fred decides to go in his time machine. Hayden happily worked on his 'magic e' list of words- you know, a list of words that are one word without the e, and a new word with it. He got the hang of the short/long vowel sound so fast.

Then we played chalk squares. It's a pretty fun game- where you draw a grid, and then each kid picks a starting corner, and can move to an adjacent square marking off the one they were just standing on with an X in their color. You're done when you can't move anymore. Most Xs in your color at the end of the game is the winner. Calib won today with 23 squares.

After chalk squares we did out Thank You Thursday Activity- where we do something nice for others. This week the boys were given Top Secret Envelopes. These envelopes contain good secret deeds they can do for each other around the house. If they complete them all by Sunday (without telling anyone what they're doing- remember it's TOP SECRET!) they'll get points. 

We even found a game for Geography (which we do on Thursdays). They kept playing until they got 2000 points. They're pretty good at labeling the states now. 

Then, I put a favorite stuffed animals of each of the kids in the back of the closet. Then, I made the super secret spy maze. (By using yarn and creating 'lasers'). Then they were sent on a mission to save their favorite stuffed animal from peril in the back of the closet without touching the laser. After everyone had been brought back to safety, we put all of Asa's pajama pants in the back of the closet- knowing he would want them when he got home. It was pretty funny seeing him retrieve them in his work clothes.

Wednesday night is usually kids cook night, but since we could finally cook out on Wednesday we had the burgers that we had been wanting to have since Friday. So we moved kids cook night to Thursday this week- I'd given their waffles an 8 out of 10. An improvement over last week.

Tonight was also the much anticipated Double Dare Night. We had questions, and physical challenges. Most were related to throwing our sponge bombs around. I was pretty disappointed they didnt get to enough physical challenges than I had planned- though Peyton has asked to play again on his birthday. (His birthday plans are turning out to be the 'best of summer vacation activities)

The obstacle course was awesome. I cut little orange 'flags' out of material, and then hid them various places: In the costume box, in a bathtub full of bubbles, in one of many balloons that needed popped, in our covers, in a shoe in a giant shoe pile, in a big bowl of cereal, in the dryer full of laundry, in the dog food, and in a giant pile of sand. They completed it in about 4 minutes. I'm pretty sure you didn't get that long on the real double dare.

After that we made a trip to the pool, and have had a relaxing evening at home. I decided blogging tonight was probably a good idea because we have a pretty jam packed birthday weekend ahead of us.

Some added notes for you:

Happy Birthday: Goes out to my dad this week. He's probably partying it up, up there.Happy Birthday, Dad! Also, to my blog who coincidentally turned one year old on the same day. I hadn't even realized it.

Congrats: Goes out to my mom this week- One day (less than 24 hours) away from retirement!! She'll be so bored after that.. what with her trips to Korea, Japan, Chicago, Florida, and England. Smash your alarm clock with a sledge hammer tomorrow, Mom!

A lost tooth: Surprisingly, not Hayden- its still hanging on by a thread- literally! Peyton lost one of his back ones this week. I even made a cute pillow with a back pocket on it for the tooth fairy. I had planned on doing it for Hayden, but Peyton humored me with it. Probably because it involved money.

Funny Overheard Conversation:
Peyton and Hayden in the bathroom
Hayden: "Oh what. I just put my pants on without my underwear"
Peyton: "Seriously Hayden?"
Hayden: "What do I do?"
Peyton: "Um.. you put some on"
Hayden: "Well, do you think anyone would notice if I didn't"
Peyton: "MOOOOOOOM!"
Hayden: "Ok, Ok."

Next Up: Double Digits for my favorite middle child!! Whoooooo!! Plus we've got fireworks, and fishing poles, and Epcot plans. Hello, Awesome weekend- I will see you tomorrow!