Week 13: It's a Bucs Life For Me

My blog title this week is brought to you by the best football opening played in any stadium, anytime anywhere, ever. And pretty much sums up why I live here and not anywhere else. You can check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g9MMpnj3EY

So anyway, rather calm week around here. 

And by calm, I mean not much to report. There was of course my discovery that serving any meal that the kids have to put together instead of me and calling it a 'bar' is an instant hit. We had the pasta bar, the waffle bar, and the hot dog bar. Zero complaints. Super parental guidance low maintenance, win/win! 

The library book I had requested for our history home school finally came in. When we made our weekly library trip it was waiting for us, so that was exciting  I know, I'm a nerd, but seriously it's a great book. We're going to have to renew, renew, renew! The library is the best. 

Mapgate did occur though, and that was traumatizing  Hayden was supposed to make a neighborhood map for a school project. So Tuesday we started on it. We took a long scroll of paper, cut out cute little houses, made construction paper roads, and took pictures of Hayden around the neighborhood at key points- the playground, the pond, the bus stop, our house. It was super awesome, but we had lots more to do- like color in the park and the pond, make trees and people and mailboxes. And most importantly, write two sentences about the important places. We showed it to Asa and told him we still had work to do, but we had to put it up to let the glue dry, and then the next day when he came home and I said we had to work on it, Asa said 'what? I sent that to school for him to turn in'. Now, I know Asa was trying to be helpful. But, the project was only half finished. We emailed his teacher and sent in the sentences, but I'm still pretty bummed about it. So, it's been labeled as a scandal in this house: Mapgate of 2012. Awful. Also, because of that I don't have any pictures of the map. So sad. 

In other school related news, Calib's been working on his Science Project half heartily for like three whole weeks now. He's been watering three plants: one with regular water, one with dish soap water, and one with hand soap water. Dish soap died first, and quickly. Then, hand soap. But curiously, the water one died a few days later. So, I'm not really sure how accurate any of those results are now. 

And to round out the school news; we're still loving home schools, despite a couple of bad days this week. But, we did make a super cool poster board for the branches of government, some awesome crayon rocks (the sedimentary were by far the coolest- no pun intended), and get going on the Great Chip Ship so all in all not a bad week. Oh, and we finished our state capitols. USA map is all colored in, so I'll have to make a new daily board over Thanksgiving. I just have to figure out what to put on it. 

It has been nice this week though, with Asa working from home he's gotten everyone up for school. Next week with them on Thanksgiving break I have nobody to get up, and the week after that Asa will be work from home again. I a three week break with no alarm! And, Hayden apparently gets all the cereals for breakfast. He seemed to enjoy it. 

Game night went pretty well this week. When we played Quelf with the kids. Although, Calib's pirate accent does leave something to be desired. Game night did not go so well when we played Lifeboats with Katie and Kevin though. I tricked Kevin in to convincing him it was best to vote our boat forward, even though I knew he would lose and I would win. But, it's not MY fault if he didn't count up the score. Sadly, I don't think anyone will play lifeboats with me ever again. 

Oh, and we got to skype Brandy and Matt. That was fun. We love Brandy, so by default Matt too. Good double date skype night, we'll have to do it again sometime! 

And the highlight of my weekend: The Bucs vs. Chargers game, of course. First of all this is the first time EVER we've gotten to go to more than one game in the season. Second of all, we got to sit in the THIRD row. The THIRD row. ROW C, PEOPLE, ROW C! And Third, we got to get there super early, and stay late thanks to some of the best kid-sitters around. 

If you know Asa, you know about his love for Philip Rivers. It's close to my love for Brett Favre, but I mean not exactly, because that's pretty much as much as you can love one person you're not married to. Anyway, so we were hoping to get his autograph. We didn't, but we were still super glad to have gone early. We got some good pictures, and Eric Weddle (the Chargers safety  ended up throwing a ball to a guy sitting right next to us where his jersey. That was kind of awesome. 

So, we're in the third row, right by the endzone. Crazy close. And it is -AH-MAZ-ING! The hits and the speed, the crowd noise and just everything was so amplified . oh my gosh you guys, it was just awesome. And here's the awesome part: our endzone saw most of the game action. At one point when we re-watched part of it on redzone, you could see people in our row like a couple seats down from us when they were showing the game live. If they had been like 5 yards closer to the goal line, that totally would have been us. 

And its worth noting it was Veterans day, so we took part in a card stunt. Our side said 'thank you veterans' which was kind of nice to be a part of. Reminded me of Dad and Grandpa. And, right in front of us, after the line up was announced, one of the Bucs players walked up to the military members holding flags in the endzone and knelt down in front of him. It was a pretty awesome moment. 

The weather was awesome too. It was cloudy, and not too hot. It did rain a couple of times and we used our cards to shelter us, but it passed pretty quick. Though, I still managed to get sun burnt and now have terrible sun glass lines. 

But it was so worth it. The people around us were very confused at who Asa was rooting for. He was wearing his Rivers jersey, but pretty much clapping for every play. And then, fire the cannons, the Bucs won. And it was awesome. 

After the game we waited by the Chargers bus, still no autographs, but some good pictures of Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, and Norv Turner. So, good times. 

And that's it. I should have taken more pictures this week, but you know, I get distracted. 

Next Up: Pies, Potato Chips, and Turkey! 

Week 12: Decision 2012 Madness!

One thing I learned at a very early age: It's probably best to keep your political views to yourself. Now, I get it, this is America; You have every right to spew your opinions left and right. It doesn't mean you should, just because you can. I think I'd rather talk about religion than politics. 

Which brings me to facebook. I love facebook. It's such an awesome way for me to keep in touch with the friends and family I have all over the country, and it's helped so much involving people in home school (it takes a village, people). But lately with the election, I've not been thrilled with it. Not because people announce their opinions, but because they do it constantly, some maliciously  and always with tunnel vision. If you're going to voice your opinion, and you can't do so without attacking anyone else, then just keep those opinions to yourself. Otherwise it makes everyone around you very uncomfortable  Nobody likes when the candidates do it, so don't fuel the fire. Also, we can stop with the 'this isn't fair' attitude. Because really, democracy is the epitome of fair. 

Oh, and Florida- seriously, get it together with your vote counting! 

And thats me off of my soap box. 

Friday Morning when I woke up, I discovered Bill Clinton was going to be in Saint Pete later that day, with a rally open and free to the public. Peyton was so bummed he missed him earlier this week, and he really wanted to go. So, Friday afternoon Peyton, my mom, and I headed over to Saint Pete. We weren't too far back in line, we got there a little after 2, though the doors weren't scheduled to open until 4:45. 

This line was a lot different than the previous like at the Obama rally, people were really bad mouthing Romney, they were a lot more hostile, and a lot more self riotous  I was not a fan. But, we got some beach towels from the car and umbrellas to shade ourselves and waiting while reading our kindles.

At one point, former governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, came to greet everyone in line. Peyton got his picture taken with him. He asked Peyton about school, and thought it was great he was homeschooled. He even told Peyton to listen to me, and keep up the good work. He shook my hand and said it was great I was so involved in Peyton's education. 

When we finally got into the Coliseum, we were the first row behind the rope for the VIP's. Eventually they moved the rope even closer, and Peyton was able to go under neath it and had a good view with not too many people around him. 

Bill Clinton was a little behind, but he eventually showed up and spoke for about 45 minutes. He was very hopeful, stressing to the crowd that nobody could fix this mess in four years. (In true Clinton fashion he was even a little full of himself when he said 'Nobody, not even me, Nobody, could fix this in four years") He was very specific with dollar amounts, and why certain things would and wouldn't work. I found him to be very charismatic. 

It was a good experience, Peyton is thrilled he's seen another President, and I am happy he's taking such an interest in the Government (and history) because I think it's something VERY under-taught in the public school system. 

Also worth noting- Asa passed his Math class on Friday too, so thats another class down. Rootbeer floats for everyone! And mom was even here for it. 

Mom left Saturday Morning, we had planned on going with her but Hayden had thrown up Thursday night and still didn't seem 100 percent. Sadly, I missed out on a trip to Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, and Saint Augustine. But, being home all weekend allowed us to keep close tabs on the Candy Bar Election. The boys got really into the electoral college, and really enjoyed discussing scenarios in which Laffy Taffy would win. We even got to skype with the Cincinnati Sattlers to try and sway them. They submitted their vote in picture form. Good participation, guys! 

Sunday we watched the Bucs game, and they actually won. I was also able to work on lesson plans for the next couple weeks, so I feel ahead of the game. Asa worked extra so he had Monday and half of Tuesday off, which came in handy. 

Monday was the end of the Candy Bar Election. It all came down to the last 1/3 of Texas. Asa was that last 1/3 and the last vote to come in. He was persuaded to vote for Laffy Taffy, and the boys were pretty happy with the results. (Lets also note our 'blue' candidate won, predicting Tuesdays election perhaps)

We even held a victory rally for Laffy Taffy.  Once it was over, the losing candidates were taking away and eaten. I was kind of sad when I took down all the election stuff, but we've got some new projects coming up that I'm also pretty excited about. If you missed any of the election videos, you can check them out on my youtube account. There's some awesome stuff there.

Tuesday I made all of our home school activities Election Day related. He had worksheets, and games, and kind of had a party day. Funny enough, we've been doing a President a day since we started our daily board, and Barack Obama was our last President on Election Day. (And Bill Clinton was the President on our board the day we went to see him!) 

When Asa was done with work at 11, we went out to vote together with Peyton in tow. Our line was about 45 minutes and stretched out the building, around the corner through the door, and down the hall. Peyton went to Asa's little voting booth with him, and got a first hand look  at what it's like to vote. 

For dinner on election night we had a little party. Peyton and I had made all kinds of red, white, and blue food- and even a taco casserole that we made look like a flag. 

I attempted those red white and blue drinks you always see on pinterest, but they didn't turn out at all. Our election cocktails instead turned a yucky redish color. But, our layered jello turned out awesome.And what party is complete without cupcakes? 

 

Hayden, having not really recovered mentally from being sick (he's been whiny this week), did not stay up to see the results. Calib and Peyton sat and watched CNN with us all night. They even colored in a map to keep track of which states were going red and blue. 

They were up long enough to see the winner. They tried to hang out for the speeches, but they were asleep on the floor by 11:30, so we moved them to their rooms. Asa went to bed too, and I stayed up to see both Romney and Obama give their speeches. Both pretty good, I thought. I really think it's awesome Peyton and I went to hear them both speak and were part of the rallies. This whole election, I hope is something they won't forget. I think it's important to pay attention when history is being made. Between the Candy Election, and Rallies and Parties, they were totally into it. 

The next morning, I went out and got a paper. Four years ago, Hayden and I picked up a paper after dropping the boys at school. I took his picture with it. And so, four years later I got the same paper and took his picture. Asa put them together for me. I love it. I think it's especially awesome because those are the only elections for President in his lifetime. I'm hoping to continue tradition every four years. 

The rest of the week we've spent cleaning up the mess that was my house, and getting things back to normal. Normal, however, included six loads of laundry- BLAH! Asa and I did sneak out for a grown up only trip to the library though, that was exciting! 

Next Up: Me. Asa. Philip Rivers. The Bucs. Third Row. Oh yea.