Week 49: It's Week 49. I have Run Out Of Blog Titles

I know, I'm behind. But there wasn't much to report from last weekend- except that fact that I seem to have survived the Great Illness of 2012.Then, I just kept putting it off. Thats ok, the next couple of weeks are going to be busy, so I can surely fit in another couple before my birthday, ending happily on week 52. And to answer many of your question, yes, my new list is going to contain 'Make 52 blog entries'. I figure I'll bind them together, and they can be sort of like a Waterstraut Family Yearbook. Who wouldn't want one of those?

Since I was so sick, arts week got cut short. That was fine because last week was crafts week- so it just became arts and crafts week. Bam! No problems.

Monday we mad our falling into space drawings, which actually turned out kind of awesome. You trace hands and feet and fill in with the rest- I think the boys drawings are adorable. I kind of wish I had made one of my own.

We also mad salt dough wide mouthed sculptures. I used a simple flour salt and water recipe and then once they designed their sculptures we put them in the oven at 350 degrees until they got golden brown. Peyton made a snake, while Hayden made some sort of monster.

Tuesday we painted our sculptures. I think they turned out pretty good. Peyton put all the little tiny shells he had been collecting in his snakes mouth and put it on his shelf. Hayden doesn't have anything in his monsters mouth, but he was pretty proud of it when he was done. I was just happy it wasn't just a mess of paint and he actually had some definition of where he was painting.

We used our left over paint, and painted faces on paper bags to wear as masks. They enjoyed this much more than I thought they would.. and especially liked wearing them around the house.

After our painting, we went outside and collected some sticks, and used some string to make dream catchers. All the while making these Hayden was talking about how he didn't need his good dream spray anymore. It was very hard for Peyton not to tell Hayden that his 'Good Dream Spray' was just some homemade Fabreeze with a small drop of food coloring. So far, the dream catcher seems to be working pretty good, and we've had no requests for good dream spray.

The project I had picked out for Wednesday used watercolor paint on cupcake liners to make flowers. I was sure I had watercolors at home, but I couldn't find them anywhere- so I just googled 'how to make watercolors'.. and 10 minutes later whal-la!! Watercolors. After we painted our flowers, we poured our water colors into some soda bottle lids, and Gatorade lids- and they actually dried great. Now, we have watercolors next time too! Take note, Asa and Kevin. I made watercolors out of nothing.

We also started on a project that took a few days to dry- making newspaper beads. You take newspaper, pour some boiling water of it, and let it set. Then after an hour or so, you stir it up , wring out water and add some glue. Then you just need to form it into some balls. They were dry on Friday, but we were busy all weekend, so we'll have to finish them up this week. We're going to make some Caterpillar and an Immunity Necklace for our Survivor Games.

After all that, we did manage to make a trip to the pool. This is worth noting, because Hayden is getting really good at not using his floaties. Which was good, because with the water higher than normal due to all the rain we've had- it was too deep for him to touch most places.

Thursday we made sand paper tshirts. These were so cool, and might even make a return appearance at 'The Best Of' week. You take a piece of sandpaper, color a design on it- and then iron it on to a shirt! It totally worked, and the kids loved it. I think they even liked this better than the bleach pen tshirts- and the best part is my discovery that Walmart sells 'crafting t-shirts' for only like $2! Not too bad. I do still have to wash them, so I'm not sure yet how they hold up.

Friday after Asa got out of work, we headed out to Aquatica. I am so over tourist season, but sometimes you just have to power through. It was the most crowded I had ever seen it, but we still managed to have a good time. A couple of spins around the river, some time in the kids area, the bucket area, and some time in the wave pool and we headed out.

We had gone to Orlando on Friday because our friends daughter was in a Pageant, so we stopped by and saw the evening wear and interview portions. Angela did really well- and big congratulations to her as she placed in the top 10. Pretty awesome. I wish I had snapped a picture here, but I had left my camera in the car.

After we left the Pageant, we decided we would stop at Hollywood Studios. The good news was the sun was down, so it wasn't quite so hot at this point. The bad news: tons of stuff there is all done running/showing  by 6 pm. We did convince Hayden to go on the Star Wars Ride for the first time ever (After a bribe for points), and it didn't even make me THAT motion sick.

The good part about everything being done for the day- the crowds had really thinned. Except for Toy Story and the Rock N Roll Roller Coaster, there was no waits for anything. We got right through to see Muppets 4-D and the Little Mermaid. Eventually, even the Roller Coaster wait was only 20 minutes, and Asa and Peyton went to ride that while I hung out with Hayden, visited with Buzz Lightyear- and attempted to get the free ice cream again from the hidden mickey. To no avail though.

We didn't get home until late Friday, so after we all slept in we headed out to the Fresh Market Saturday. For all my friends in the Tampa Bay Area, I just want to say if you haven't tried the Whatever Pops food truck, you must. Seriously. Best. Popsicles. Ever. We picked up some veggies, and made it a quick trip as it was super hot outside.

Saturday was also mine and Asa's dating and engagement anniversary. We had a gift card we'd been saving, so we went out to dinner, while Justin was nice enough to watch the boys. Our original plans were to go to Busch Gardens after dinner, but the weather had other plans for us. We walked around the mall for a little while, and made a stop at whole foods for a desert (they will freshly fire a creme brulee for you at no extra cost, fyi) and a couple of things I'd been meaning to get for our trip. Who wants to spend that long in the car without some cinnamon sugar almonds after all?

Sunday I got all stressed out, which kind of sucked. We were going to go to the dog beach, but never made it. We did need to clean up the house though, so we utilized our time well. It was Katie's birthday too, so Kevin and Katie came over and we had some cheesecake and visited while the kids played. And, we even had Kevin as a guest auction host.

Last night we offered to keep Angela (since we knew Kevin had plans to pop the question to Katie- she of course said yes by the way), so today I have three kids again. It's kind of nice. Although I had things planned for us to do- and they're just happily off playing together after sleeping in until 11:00, so as Asa would say 'that's time on the clock'. Hopefully we'll at least make a trip to the pool before the rain starts up.

Thats it! I have two funny quotes I wrote down earlier in the week though.

Oh! I do have some cute puppy pictures for you this week. I love my puppies.

 

Me: 'Theres a blue turtle shell coming up, Hayden'
Hayden:  "I dont care, thats called being a man"

Peyton: "yes! mom did laundry.. I can finally stop wearing this underwear" (I did not know this was an issue, fyi)

Also, if you're keeping track.. I now haven't heard from Calib for three days. This is good news for Calib (as it seems he's having enough fun not to want to skype every night), but bad news for me.

Next Up: It's List week, in which we attempt to knock off Items from their Summer Bucket List, and Items from my '31 things to do before I turn 31' list. Plus we have lists to make for going on vacation!

Week 48: Be A Fruit Loop In A World Of Cheerios

Agh! I am sick, and it's so depressing. For four days now, I've barely spoken, hardly moved and eaten nothing but soup and toast. As if that isn't bad enough, I have that disgusting medicine taste in my mouth 99 percent of the time. Blah!

I wish when you were going to be sick, you got some sort of heads up or something. You know, a nice email from my immune stystem. Dear Corinne, An infection is currently on it's way. We will try our best to fight it, but it's going to take approximatly four days before we emerge victorious. Please take advantage of this advanced notice and stock up the fridge with dinners for the family, get all the laundry done and folded, and go to the store to buy your own soup, kleenex and medicine. Oh, and be sure to have enough toilet paper. Sincerely, Your Immune System.

Unfortunatly, I had no such advance notice. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday have been a complete wash. I'm hoping the fact that my throat feels better (though I currently have an ear ache) is a good sign. And, if I had to pick any weekend to get sick, this one isn't so bad. There's no birthdays, anniversaries, or parties. It's not Calib's last weekend here, and it's not when our vacation is scheduled. Plus it was Art week, and after Tuesday we did nada- but next week is Craft week, so I can easily work some projects in. No big deal.

I will say I do have the best husband ever. Even after a full day of work, he's come home, and taken care of all of us. He's made me all my soup, moved my stuff wherever I decide I want to lay while I die, and given me repeated pep talks about how I'm going to get out of this any minute now. I'm REALLY hoping for tomorrow, but as long as I'm totally better for next weekend, I won't complain too much. It's our dating and engagement anniversary, followed by Asa's work from home week in which I plan on taking the kids out and about to check a lot of things off our summer list.

In the meantime, I'll focus on happier times- like last Friday- when I was feeling good, Calib was home, and I could eat solid foods. (Although, get ready for a speed blog- even blogging is tiring me out)

Friday we were trying to fit things in for Calib's last couple days at home, he had requested a trip to Adventure Island's Summer Nights- so we headed out there for some water park fun. The park itself was pretty crowded, but we still had a good time at the bucket play area, on the lazy river, and in the wave pool.

Saturday we were finally able to hit the Fresh Market again. We hadn't been since May, because the weekends they hold it kept falling on Birthdays and our Anniversary. We stocked up on some salsa, coffee, and veggies- and then calib got a frozen banana sundae, while I got an awesome pear popsicle from Whatever Pops. Seriously, one of the best 'food trucks' in the area. It was SO good. I highly reccommend it.

After that we headed home and straightened up the house. We had a late fourth of July party scheduled on Saturday night, but Justin came over mid day to start grilling his wings (which are really good, but need a smidgen less spice). Kevin, Katie, and Angela came over a little early too and I took them all down to the pool so Calib could get one last pool trip in before he left. The pool water is starting to get uncomfrotably warm though. It's like getting in bath water at this point.

When we got back from the pool Katie and Kevin had brought gifts for all the boys- Birthday/belated birthday gifts- which was super nice of them. I knew they were giving Peyton their old 30 gallon tank, which is why when he wanted the gecko the week before I just had him put the gecko in the hermit crab tank and moved the hermit crabs to a plastic tub. It even came with a stand, and they got him a heat pad, and some other things to go in the cage. Peyton's pretty pleased with his set up. And, as a side note it's really funny to hear them in there when the Gecko is going after crickets.

The party was good times. Our friends are pretty awesome, and really chipped in with bringing all the food.

It was a good time. There were some lightsaber fights (inside this time though, which I'm noting I don't really approve of)

Fireworks

And of course some games.

Plus other random fun times

Sunday, was all about cleaning up the mess, and finally admitting that Calib was leaving. We hadn't packed anything yet, so we quickly gathered up his stuff, and I took him out to the airport.

Monday was the begining of art week. We had some really cool projects lined up. We made sand cast molds. Hayden did his hand while Peyton did his foot.

We melted crayons into whale shapes,

And then used our crayons to make some cool letters for their room.

We even made full body portraits of the boys- by tracing them and then coloring them.

Tuesday was one of those days when I thought 'This is my life? It's pretty sweet!' I mean, I should probably think that more often because I live with awesome people, have awesome friends, while living in an awesome place. But, Tuesday the simple things really made me happy.


 First of all, I got to sleep in. I wasn't even  up until 10:30, and then I concocted some laundry detergent. We made elaborate water fountain features (in the sink with dishes). Which really had nothing to do with the theme of the week, Peyton and Hayden just thought it was fun. 

Penned a masterpeice about Barthlolumule Wigglebottom being leader of the Platterpotters Which, Fred is now on hsi way to the library to investigate. (This is from our family writing book in which we all write a paragraph and then pass it on- super fun you should totally try it!) 


We made suncatchers by melting crayons with an iron (thanks for the iron, Tracy and JD!) 

Constructed sidewalk chalk out of basically nothing

Made my likeness out of cardboard, buttons, pipe cleaners, and rubber bands

Was a volunteer egg crime scene photogrpaher, and race car driver through 16 levels on Mario Kart.. 

And used my seamstress skills to finish a quilt in super speed (since emerson is getting here way early)
and managed to call Asa from my cell phone which A. hasn't worked for months. B. Wasn't even in the house. Pretty productive day! 

I had wanted to take the kids to the pool, but an afternoon thunderstorm dampered our plans. We'll get out there a couple times next week, hopefully. 

And then Wednesday came. And the illness came for me. At least I have hours and hours of tv to catch up on. We still have things from April on the DVR. Just haven't had time for it, but this weekend is about as low key as you can get, so maybe we'll be caught up in time to leave for a week and get behind again. 


I do want to say thanks to all the people who were concerned about Calib. He had a rough couple of days in Ohio, but is doing so much better now. We didn't even hear from him last night, which I'm taking as an awesome sign. 


And, a very happy birthday shoutout to my mom, who is out of the country. This made for a weird birthday, since it only over lapped here and Korea for about 11 hours. We had it covered though. 

Ugh. About dinner time. I'm so sick of soup and water. I feel like I'm on survor or something. Boo. See ya'll next week, with hopefully a more entertaining update.

Next Up: Feeling Better, Arts and Crafts Week, and maybe even the Amazing Spiderman!