I last left you about two weeks ago, when we said goodbye to February. The first two weeks in March have flown by, and now, for the next six weeks we're down a kid!
But before I get to that, we did celebrate Fat Tuesday with the appropriate Paczki. And, I made a trip out to Costco, where I swung by Chipotle to pick up Calib's backpack he left there after school. I sent him that picture with a ransom note, but he didn't get my message until I after I came home and gave him his bag. He told me I was really bad at ransoming.
Hayden and I are still working on our Black History heroes. Next up we're doing Denmark Vesey, and I needed someway to make the hair on his peg doll a little less flat. Someone on Pinterest had used hot glue to give the illusion of more hair, and I decided to give it a go. Google him. I think my peg doll is pretty spot on. I even gave him a little AME Church patch on his jacket with mod podge.
Denmark Vesey, however, is my lesson for this week (we've decided to nix the idea of 100 people- since Hayden has other stuff to do now, and instead do one lesson a week). Last week we did the due of Isaac Granger and Sally Hemings.
The weather has been nice lately (although we did have a cold snap the last two days which put me in a bit of a funk). But, nice weather = walking weather! So, I've been taking a few trips around the loop each day. There's been some gators out- and lots of cranes. Though Asa said he saw a baby crane the other day, I've yet to spot one. (I love baby cranes!)
Calib comes along sometimes- but he usually just catches up to us on his long board. Then he tries to convince us to ride on it. Asa is much better at it than me.
My mom will be here on Thursday night- I think for real this time (she missed coming at Christmas because she was in quarantine, and then missed a trip in February because of snow, and a friends funeral). In an effort to prepare for her visit, we've been eating out of the freezer. I'm hoping to defrost it before she gets here. So, we've had some interesting meals. There was the taco pizza on crescent rolls.
And then, when I discovered a giant bag of french fries way down at the bottom, we had a poutine-like dinner. Everyone was confused when I told them fries were for dinner, but they didn't complain.
We made animal style (In-N-Out copycat) fries, and chili cheese.
But we also did a basil pesto with tomatoes and peppers, and my personal favorite- garlic Parmesan shrimp fries! Those shrimp ones were a winner for sure.
We did have breakfast tacos this week too. Asa is convinced we can get into soccer, and we've watched the Brentford games two weeks in a row now. But this week, he enticed me to watch with him with some breakfast tacos, so I obliged.
I've been crafting some too. I decided to see if I could pull of the copycat Minnie Ears that are all over Pintrest, so I pulled a bunch of stuff to see what I had on hand to make them. I still had lots of leftover Disney material from making masks, and of course random trims and such. I did, however, buy the headbands on Amazon (a $10 for like 10 bucks didn't seem to bad)
And then I got to work. You basically cover some cardboard with your fabric with some hot glue, and then stuff it. You do this twice and glue the cardboard back to back, making one ear. Make two ears and a bow, and you are good to go. It does help if you have an official pair of Mickey Ears from the parks to see how to space the ears and the bow and everything.
Once I made the Jack ears, and I knew I could do it, I decided to see if I could make something with my cricut on the ears. I designed the Dole Whip and the Aloha Isle on Gravit, and then found a simple Orange Bird image and cleaned it up in Cricut Design Space. I tried the felt cutting option, and only part of it worked- but still enough I could jimmy something up with the rest of it. I pulled it all together with some pineapple material for the bow.
And just like that I had two new pairs of Minnie Ears.
So I thought what if I got even fancier. I decided to try my hand at an elaborate pair of Moana ears. I made one ear with my Cricut, designing for Maui, and then I made the Heart of Te Fiti out of hot glue. Pretty easy to do, you just put the shape of what you want, draw it on some parchment paper and fill in with hot glue. After I pealed it off, I made the swirl so it would be raised- and then I painted it all in.
And I decided for this one, I'd try my hand at covering the headband with material, instead of leaving it plain. It turned out alright. I could have done better- but not too bad for my first try.
The bow I made out of the same pinkish material, and then I added a burlap flower I made. But, if you notice, tucked inside the bow is Moana's paddle- complete with Maui's "autograph" The paddle is made with a wooden dowel, and then the end is the same hot glue situation I used for the necklace.
All in all, some cool ears, right?
Dipper was pleased to keep an eye on things for me while I worked.
Asa has had a little free time lately, on Tuesday he had a long enough lunch for us to bike ride down to the dock for a picnic.
And we've also been taking our weekend picnic bike rides too.
There's been a whole other season of Madden again- and Calib and Asa met in the Super Bowl. Asa, of course won- I'm not sure he's ever lost to Calib except that one time there was a glitch and Calib ended up winning because of it. He also then locked himself in the bathroom because he knew it was BS.
Cases are low too, so that's exciting. I'm hoping this is kind of the "end", and that now it's just living with covid at very low levels. We're at 7.2 cases per 100,000. So, even the CDC says I don't need a mask anymore! (Although I didn't ditch it until Peyton left, I didn't want to catch something and give it to him and make him cancel his trip).
Hayden went to an event at the library on Mario Day, and Asa and I had planned on walking the trail at Starkey Ranch while he was there- but it literally rained ALL day, so instead we swung by the Starkey Market for some ice cream and iced coffee.
Later that night, we celebrated Mario Day with some Mario Kart.
Speaking of celebrating, Asa's just under two weeks away from his birthday, so he's starting to get his free birthday stuff. We went out to Wiregrass for his free birthday burger from Red Robin and ate outside.
Now Peyton, I think you gathered, is FINALLY on his trip to the UK. He has had to cancel and reschedule this trip no less than four times. And that's if you don't count all the times British Airways canceled his flight, and then he'd reschedule one for three weeks later, only for them to cancel it AGAIN. Anyway, he's going to be gone for the next six weeks, off adventuring, so I decided to cram in all the stuff he was going to miss in the last couple days Peyton was home.
Of course, there was Pi Day. We had our traditional Pi Day Naan Bread pizzas.
And a mini pie from Publix, of course. I also grabbed some cookies for Saint Patrick's Day, since he'll miss that too.
He'll be gone for the first day of Spring (and fun fact- he has to deal with the time change twice. England doesn't do Daylight Saving Time until next Sunday, so he was here for ours- and he'll be there for theirs). But, I always make dirt for dessert for the first day of Spring- so I made a small batch a bit early.
Obviously, he's missing Asa's birthday, too. So, we celebrated with dinner of Chinese Food and Pizza, and cake.
We also had a movie night and watched Free Guy (it was surprisingly really pretty good, too!)
He'll also be gone for Easter, so we had mini Easter where we just hid some smaller baskets.
Hayden and Calib had real tiny baskets, because they'll get another one on actual Easter.
But Peyton's was a little more substantial, and full of snacks for the airplane.
The morning he left we also had our traditional bunny pancakes we usually have for Easter.
Then we zoomed with grandma one more time, and I helped him pack up, before we headed for the airport. At his request, we stopped for dinner at PDQ, which fullfilled the Florida Anniversary celebration which he'll also be missing. (We usually eat at a FL specific place and do something very Florida-ish for it). As a bonus, Asa also got to cash in his free PDQ birthday meal, too.
And then we were off to the airport. We helped him check his bag, and make sure his flight was on time...
And then we said our goodbyes. Funfact: Peyton the non-hugger, gave both me and Asa a hug before he left. But, mostly, Calib just hugged him.
And just like that, passport in hand, he was off! I'm sure he'll have an awesome time, but we'll miss him around here for the next six weeks. I have requested proof of life pictures/texts every few days, however.
So today, we're down to four. USF is on Spring Break this week, so Calib doesn't have any classes. But, Hayden is starting his college classes this week. This is apparently what the first day of college looks like- complete with a Pokemon Blanket. Calib knows all about PHSC and Canvas and everything, so he was kind enough to show Hayden around it this morning.
And since Calib closes tonight, we celebrated Pi Day once again at lunch with more naan bread pizzas and a couple of Publix mini pies (Calib and Hayden made it clear all those mini celebrations with Peyton didn't count as the real thing- they're still expecting dirt on the actual first day of spring).
That's it from here. Peyton did text around 5 am our time this morning to let us know he had arrived. So he is safe and sound across the pond. I'd post the picture he sent, but as the kids have gotten to be adults, I try and be a little more discreet about their lives, in case they don't want it all out there.
So we're down to four for the next couple days, before my mom arrives on Thursday night, then we'll be back up to five for two weeks!
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