I'm back! I know I was blogging everyday during Harry Potter Week, and I needed just a bit of a break. But, I'm back with just a few things to report (compared to last week, it's been a slow around here). The boys woke up Sunday morning to their Hogwarts diplomas in their owl mail. I just found one I liked online, copied the picture, added a text box over the name and ta da! I did laminate them for added protection.
Since Sunday was Championship Sunday, we made our NFL inspired pizzas, just like last year. (Another link! I'm getting good at that!)
Just like last year, we made the Seattle "Showboating" Shrimp Alfredo Pizza. Once again, it got good reviews all around.
And since the Packers were playing Seattle in the NFC Championship, we had the Green Bay "4th and 1" Mac & Cheese Pizza
Our Pizza Winner: Green Bay Mac & Cheese
NFC Championship Winner: Seattle Seahawks
But, just like the game (did you see it? It was amazing!) it was very close on our favorites. They were both so good. And probably because we had eaten the Seattle one last year, it made it slightly less impressive. We do like the Seahawks in this house though, and will totally be rooting for them and their best-in-the-NLF shoes, with the hopes of a Russel Wilson MVP so we can see him at Disney!
Next Up, the New England "Clam Bake" Pizza, but with a twist. It wasn't a favorite last year (clams- yuck!), and we were so hoping Baltimore would win so we could make the Baltimore Crab pizza. But when the Raven's lost, I said I was going to change the New England Pizza a bit to make it more appealing. So, instead of clams, I put crab meat on it.
And since the Patriots were playing the Colts in the AFC Championship Game, we made the Indianapolis "Interception" Breaded Pork Tenderloin Pizza. I wasn't too sure about this one (there's no sauce!), but you top it like a sandwich. We did mayo on half, and spicy brown mustard on the other half. And it was SOOOOO good. It might be my new favorite (The Bronco's one is really, really good too though!)
Our Pizza Winner: Indy Pork Tenderloin Pizza
AFC Championship Winner: New England Patriots
While the crab was a huge, huge, HUGE improvement on the clams, it wasn't better than this new Indy pizza. I'll be rooting for the Colts next year for sure.
I also made a peanut butter ball to go along with it, since this year we were lacking a dessert pizza.
I had a slice of each. (Calib and Asa had TWO slices of each! And then leftovers!)
We're not thrilled with the Patriots headed to the Super Bowl, but without anyone having "their" team in the big game, we can have a party. That means a snackadium on a larger scale! And, it's worth noting that every August we write down our predictions for who will go to (and win the Super Bowl). Peyton and I both had a re-match, so we got one team right. But, Asa predicted a Seahawks vs. Patriots Super Bowl. He's pretty impressed with himself. For the record, he picked the Patriots to win (lets hope he's wrong)
Monday, Asa was in the office. It was just a normal day around here. This week and part of next is a lot of workbook work for the boys so I can get a jump on our next few presidential birthdays, our next theme week, and some other events we've got going on. I also spent way longer than necessary investigating options for our 5 year anniversary in June. (Rumor has it mom is coming to watch the boys so Asa and I can go away!)
Tuesday, Asa and I ran some errands together. I don't know why everyone seems to think we're super cute when we shop together, but we always get comments. This week it was some lady telling Asa how nice he was for letting me pick the kind of pudding we were getting. Then she complained about her husband of 30 years.
Tuesday was 50 cent corn dog day at Sonic, so we went out for lunch, and then to the library for some books.
We had a little State of the Union lesson (fun facts like FDR was the first to call it the "State of the Union" before that it was the Annual Message; Thomas Jefferson changed it from a speech before Congress to a letter which continued until Woodrow Wilson decided to go back to a speech), then we had festive patriotic jello for dessert, and played some State of the Union Bingo. Calib and Peyton won at the same time, about 1/2 of the way through the Speech. They all lost interest after they had won bingo, but I was pretty pleased with them keeping their focus for that long.
Wednesday we finally had a Disney day. We hadn't been since November! We packed our sandwich packs for dinner and picked up some Publix subs for lunch. Since there's a special this week, we all ended up with whole instead of half subs, so we had half for an early lunch before we headed in. Our first stop for the day was the Animal Kingdom.
You might remember last time we were there, we picked up our Junior Wilderness Explorer Books to earn some badges. We continued on with them this time.
We learned about spiders and dinosaurs, and located some flags in which we had to identify their signals.
We also put together some fossils.
We learned about the legend of the Yeti in Nepal, and had to locate some climbing supplies.
And while we waited for the other boys to go on Expedition Everest, Hayden read me a lot of fun tid bits from his book. (Who says Disney isn't educational?)
Speaking of rides, the lines were sort of long (at least by mid-January weekday Animal Kingdom standards), but we did hit quite a few rides and shows and playgrounds.
We had a really nice weather day too. I hear it's supposed to get cold this week, and that won't be awesome. We headed out around 3 and went over to the Polynesian. The boys were hungry and asked for their other half a sub. I agreed, figuring since the Magic Kingdom was only open to 8, they could have their sandwich packs on the way home and I wouldn't have to bring them all into the Magic Kingdom in my backpack. It worked out pretty well, actually.
We picked a nice table at the Polynesian. There is still a ton of construction, but the lobby is finished. It's really pretty and bright.
We took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom, and it really wasn't crowded, which was lovely.
We climbed the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, and tried to hit Pirates, but it ended up being down.
But, we happened to be in the Magic Kingdom before it got dark (which almost never happens!) so the boys asked to go to Tom Sawyers island. The island closes at 5, so we hardly ever make it, but the boys LOVE it. So we headed on over and had about an hour to explore and play.
A favorite of the boys: hide-and-go-seek in the Fort.
Peyton stole my sunglasses and Asa's hat, so he could be incognito Peyton.
A little cave exploring, and running over the barrel bridge, playing some checkers and it was time to head off the island.
We had fast passes all right in a row (you have an hour window for each), so we started with the first of them: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
To fill time until our next one, we sharedd a Fruit and Nutella Waffle.
And made it just in time for a show at the Hall of Presidents. The boys are totally into this, since we're celebrating presidents this year. We talked about the Presidential Seal (you know, 13 of everything, the olive branch to symbolizing serving in time of peace, and arrows for times of war-- I told you Disney can be educational!)
They also have some presidential artifacts on display that we got to check out.
They had both a walking stick and a hat that belonged to Hayes. It's on loan from the Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio! (Literally a couple of blocks from where I grew up)
We watched the show, and then headed out for some more rides.
Pros of going to the Magic Kingdom on a Wednesday in January : No Wait!
After some more rides, we headed back to the Polynesian.
No more self-serve Dole Whips, but there is a whole new window JUST for Dole Whips and now you can get the float version!
Thursday we had an "Unplugged Day", where nobody uses any electronics. (So if you've been looking for the Waterstraut Weekly, now you know why it hasn't been out yet- plus there's been some technical difficulties, but we'll get it today or tomorrow)
But, we also had a lessons by dad featuring Cave Men and the Agricultural Revolution. Asa teaches the lesson, and I try and come up with some activities to go along with it. We decided to go with Cave drawings.
And how would they "sign" a drawing?
With a hand print of course!
We crinkled the paper to give it a cave wall type of appearence, and the boys used chalk pastels.
The also colored some rocks and tried to carve in some designs.
Unplugged days are great. We're trying to do one once a month. While we limit game time around here, it's nice to just take a day off from games, and TV. They find plenty of things to keep them busy and usually it carries over for awhile.
We also finally got to Axis and Allies. (Calib and I were the Axis powers, and we won!)
Hayden, meanwhile, worked on a board game for all of us to play.
Asa showed the boys his Magic cards (which they seem totally into)
And we had one of the best games of Spy Alley yet.
Asa was in the office today (which I just hate!), but the boys have been excellent. They helped with me chores (I am a laundry folding machine!), did all their school work with wonderful attitudes, and have been getting along fabulously all day. I did their work with them, and I'm trying to get William McKinley's day all done.
But, today was Who, What, Where, When, Why day (another once a month event), with the focus on Inventors. Subsequent months are focused on national monthly celebrations. The boys did a good job on these, all on their own. I especially like Hayden's coloring page of Alexander Graham Bell
Next Up: Workbook work for the next few days so I can plan some other fun activities, and then Tuesday Calib and I are off to Miami for the Heat game!
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