Week Something Or Other: Getting You Up To Speed, Waterstraut Style

Look. I know, ya'll love my blog. You've been thinking to yourself for months now "I wonder what happened to Corinne and her AMAZING updates about all the FABULOUS things those AWESOME Waterstrauts do in BEAUTIFUL Florida." Well, here's the thing. I am a procrastinator. And the 'I'll update next week' has turned into three months. And while I also have OCD and would love to go back and write all the weekly updates I missed, I'm coming to terms with the fact that if I want to keep on keeping on with the Waterstraut Waterspout, I'm going to need to be a little less OCD about having all those weeks, and just get you all up to speed. So, here we go. Buckle your seatbelts, folks. It's about to get crazy up in here.

I last left you in December. Specifically, the weekend we hit Ohio for our Christmas time visit. It's probably better I write about this now, as opposed to when it first happened because you probably would have gotten 1,800 paragraphs on how I ended up with a flight delay, sicker than I've ever been, puking in the airport bathroom, arriving home at 2 am, with two kids in tow. But, instead, you just get to look at happy pictures of the trip. Calib went to Jeffs, Hayden stayed with Asa, and Peyton and I got to be around for cookie day, and some visits with some of my favorite people. (But you know what, I'm going to be even less OCD about the pictures, and not even make it look all pretty- insert image is all you're getting here, people)

Then it was Christmas time! Short story: The boys got stuff, they were happy. Hayden got a kindle, he was ecstatic.

A couple of days after Christmas, we went with our neighbor to pick some oranges. We've picked strawberries and blueberries before in Florida, but never citrus. The boys loved using the grabbes to get the fruit down.

After Christmas was the annual mom visit. And my favorite: New Years Eve at Sharkys. Complete with watching the sunset for the last time in 2012.

We had our usual New Years Day cookout, and later that week Mom babysat our kids and Angela so that we could have our much anticipated Waterstraut/Crandall double date night. Also fyi; new fun game, trying to match the speed of your ball as close to the random person in the lane next to you as possible. Other variations: see how fast and slow you can send your ball down the lane.

We did fit in a Disney trip with mom while she was here. We made it Epcot and Magic Kingdom and didn't have too many crowds to deal with. And, my mom bought me a Lady pillow pet. Plus we got to watch the electrical light parade which is amazing EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. 

January saw a very busy weekend: Clint and Jess were in Florida the same weekend of Katie and Kevins wedding. Both good times, despite the fact Justin went missing and was presumed dead, and Clint brought crappy cold rainy weather with him. 

We also finally made it to the new fantasyland at Disney- including the Enchanted Tales with Belle. The boys were not thrilled with the prospect, but Asa got to play a knight, and Hayden got to play Chip. He still talks about it. Awesome stop if you're at Disney, even if you just have boys. Other things we learned that disney trip: The grassy area in Epcot's parking lot makes for a great picnic area, School bread in Norway is amazing, and there is one horse on the carousel that has a ribbon on it's tail- that's Cinderella's horse! 

February was very busy around here. It started with the super bowl, and while I was heart broken the Falcons didn't make it in, I was glad I had someone to root for in the Ravens. Our super bowl party was a success, but we learned the prop bet board is going to have to be more specific next year; especially when it comes to straight or curly hair.

The day after the superbowl, I let Calib skip school and we headed out to Disney for the day after the superbowl MVP parade. We were there last year for Eli Manning, and this year we knew we'd want to be there for Joe Flacco. If you recall last year, we accidentally ran into Eli and Hayden got to talk to him. We figured they'd take the same behind the scenes route with Joe, so we headed over to a certain gate and waited. Calib totally got a Joe Flacco high five, I stunk at getting a picture of it though.

That same week was Hayden's birthday. We used a groupon for putt putt, went to play some games at Chuck E Cheese (which I hate any other day of the year, but he REALLY wanted to go), and went bowling.

Hayden also requested his presents be found via a pirate map. Peyton and I made it during home school, and Asa added authenticity by burning the edges. It was a total success, and he loved it. We had the ever popular Pasta Bar for dinner, and cake for dessert. A total successful 7th birthday.

One more family addition on Hayden's birthday: The boys all got pet rats. Rats are awesome, and make way better pets than say hamsters. Their names: Ulysses, Simpson, Grant. (You know, like the 18th President.) 

The next weekend we hit the Florida State Fair. (A fair in February! How great is that?) There was lots of goat/cow/sheep petting, and everyone (minus 'I'm too cool for that' Calib) milked a cow. We went light on the fair food (talk about expensive!) and got an elephant ear.

In late January it was announced Live with Kelly and Michael would be taping at Disney. I watch them most mornings, so I was all about going. Calib was all about seeing Michael Strahan (a former NFL player), so I signed up in the hopes of being picked to get tickets-- and I did. So, on the 18th, I let Calib skip school again (I know, bad parenting-- but come on! It's not everyday things like this happen, and his grades are awesome anyway!) and we went out to see the taping. It was a super fun day, we got up early and had Tonga Toast (AMAZING Disney food, btw) at the Polynesian. We were the second taping, so we were there for the park opening, but then had a little time before we needed to wait in line, so we hit space mountain with hardly any wait.

Then we lined up for the taping. Our seats were decent (but we were never actually on tv- boo), and then after the show, Calib waited hoping to get a high five from Michael. He ended up getting Kelly instead (he had his hand out yelling for Michael, and she just came out from nowhere), he was unimpressed.

The end of February, Asa's cousin Zac came to visit. I had never had another guy come stay with us, so I wasn't anticipating just how loud y house would be. But it was a good time. We hit the beach and the pool despite it being way too cold for us Floridians, went to the Mosi ropes course, the boys went to Airheads for some trampoline jumping- but mostly there was just lots and lots of nerf gun fights, rock band, and messes to clean up.

And so, here we are just finishing up the first week in March.The biggest March news: Asa got his bonus check. We used it mostly to pay off bills and boring stuff, but it was a really good bonus and I wanted Asa to get something he wanted, because he did get a really good bonus for working so hard all year. His decision: Buccaneers season tickets. When you buy season tickets, per game cost is ridiculously low and they even have kids prices, making it super affordable. And, he is so excited. Calib and him are even getting to go to One Buc Place (the Buccaneers training facility) on Saturday. You get a lot of perks with the season tickets, and everyone is pretty excited about them. Plus he got an awesome Bucs flag sent to him.

 Last weekend, we went out to Angela's birthday party. Lets hope next year we get some warmer temperatures. It was really, really cold. I'm hoping things warm up, because I am pairing entirely too many socks.

And there you go. That's it in a nut shell. I'm hoping to return next week with your weekly updates back on track. But, lets face it, I'm a procrastinator, and I make no promises. Absence makes the heart grow fonder though, right?

Up Next: One Buc Place, and Adventure Island Opening Weekend (please please please warm up, Florida)!