Week 30: Leaping Lizards!

This weeks title is appropriate for two reasons.

1. Happy Leap Day, everyone. How this is not a national holiday, I just don't understand. It only happens once every four years. It's bigger than the Olympics! And you know how crazy I am about curling.

2. I am frightened every time I leave our new house. Why? Because we have these itty bitty bushes lining our front walk- and when you leave, all you hear is all kinds of lizards running for cover, and some narrowly missing your feet. Your feet that are wide open, because really why wear anything but flip flops when its 80 degrees everyday (yay for the warmest winter EVER)? Anyway, the paranoia has really set in that a lizard is going to run right over my foot. And really, its only a matter of time before one gets in the house and I have to call upon Peyton, a spatula and a large cup.

I just blogged Thursday- which I guess was almost a week ago now, time sure does fly. We got the keys to this house a month ago. Hard to believe.

Friday Asa got to work from home, and then after school the older boys went over to Casey's house, and Hayden occupied himself pretty well in the family room, so Asa and I got to have a nice quiet night at home. We're still catching up on tv from the moving process and not having the time to watch anything for a few weeks. So, Friday night was a Supernatural Marathon. After the boys got home we had American Idol catch up night and made some popcorn. FYI, I'm so over making microwave popcorn. I had no idea how easy it was to do on the stove, AND how much better it tastes.

Saturday Asa had to work from home since he switched and had Wednesday off. It's REALLY nice to have the livingroom and family room, so that Asa can easily switch days like that and still have a place to work when we're all home. Although, I've noticed at the end of his shift it looks like he's been camping in the front room for a month. I expect him to have a full grown in beard, and smell bad enough even I could smell him.

We did discover that we have a new addition to the family. Peytons fish apparently have procreated. Today I learned: I have no knowledge of how fish make babies. We're not really sure which fish had the babies, or laid the eggs- or whatever it is that they do. But, we do know we have a couple of TINY fish on our hands. Heres hoping the other fish don't eat them.

It was decided pretty early on Saturday afternoon that we would be playing hide n go seek in the dark- or really a variation of flashlight tag (where one person counts, once they find someone- by shining the light on them- that someone and the original someone go off to find the next person, and so on and so on). Anyway, I had carved out a couple of spots for myself about three hours prior to the game. I cleaned out a spot in the closet, behind some things I still had to hang up, and a spot behind the only last few boxes/suitcases I had to unpack. After dinner Justin showed up to show us he had gotten a bike (and we live close enough he rode it over here!), and stayed to watch Puss n Boots with all of us.

After the movie, we started in on flashlight tag. Asa was it first, and I ran to my hiding spot, but Calib was on his way into the closet. Against my better judgement, I figured I'd still hide in my spot. I had to tell Calib several times to be quite. After Asa found Calib, Calib got up, shined the flashlight on me- and declared I had been found. I can't believe he turned me in like that. We had to make the 'Calib Rule' after that- that you couldn't find anyone who was in the same room where you were found. The second time around, the dogs gave me up first by sniffing and scratching and whining at the stuff I was hiding behind. I was so disappointed- after all that preparation, both my spots were busts thanks to other living things. After the next couple rounds, I was hiding on my chair in the living room under a blanket. At one point I heard Peyton and Hayden come in the room, and I just heard Hayden smacking the couch really hard to see if anyone was under those blankets. I was terrified I was going to get smacked too, because I heard Peyton say 'Hayden, come here. I have something to show you'. He went on to show him the baby fish, to which Hayden responded 'There's no time for this Peyton!' and they ran out of the room again.

Hayden had some good hiding spots. He's so small, he could fit just about anywhere. He hid behind his toy buckets under the tv at one point, and behind the blinds that go out to the patio. Calib amazingly enough fit into the bathroom cabinet under the sink, and Peyton fit pretty well behind the couch on the windowsill (it's a really low window). We played for about an hour, then put the kids to bed- and tried to figure out how we should go about finding Justin a girlfriend. We know some women he might like- but they all live at least 1000 miles away, so thats not working out so well. But, we have plans. Plans that involve quests of help desk employees, and we all know how they like a good quest.

Sunday afternoon we went out to the Tampa Times Forum to see the University of South Florida Men's Basketball Team take on Cincinnati. I had gotten tickets for me and Asa for $10 (for both) on livingsocial, and kids are always free, so I figured we'd give it a go and see how much fun it was. It was so reasonably priced to go- even parking was only $5. Plus there was no bag check so you could bring in your own food and drinks. The previous night Peyton was complaining about going, but who do you think was up yelling, screaming and clapping during the last five minutes when it was a total nail biter. Hayden didn't really have the best time, but he wasn't disruptive or anything. After all, the game was only about 2 hours in total. USF ended up beating Cinci by one in the last few seconds. It was really exciting, and totally something we'd do again. I'm really hoping to see USF in the tournament- bring on the March Madness. We'll have to fill out our brackets again. Last years winner: Hayden, all thanks to what was dubbed as 'a crazy pick' of Butler to go all the way. Hayden picked it because 'it sounds like butt'. Ah, living with boys.

I spent the last two days unpacking the last few boxes of things and organizing the garage. It's a pretty usable space now. We have the foos ball table out there, and Hayden's train table. We also have a whole nice area full of all the pets stuff, and cleaning supplies. I'm so organized I love it. Last Night Calib was all 'Do we have a ruler for my homework', and I replied 'Yes, back of the closet, black drawers, second drawer down, right hand side'. He checked and was amazed at my description, as if I would be lying while being that specific.

Today I hung up the stuff in Peyton and Hayden's room and the last few things that hadn't gotten put up yet. They both have their shelves with all their little nick knacks on it, their night lights, and their hats on hooks. It's like each of their bunks are their own little space.

Calib's room got it's finishing touches this week as well. His closet has become the game closet, and I hung up all his shelves and jerseys.

Asa loves to save boxes from all the computer and video electrics and when we were moving, I tried to get him to part with them because they take up so much space- we came up with a pretty good compromise. I cut out the front of the boxes and framed them, so he can look at them, and they don't take up space- works out pretty well.

Monday night we needed some things from the store- and after much reluctance on my part, only Asa, Peyton and I went. This left Calib home alone to babysit Hayden. Granted, we were going to Target, which is like 5 minutes away, but I still was not happy about going. Hayden was in his room after not eating his dinner, so I figured Calib could just leave him there. We were in the store about half an hour when Calib called and asked if we were on our way back, because he had gotten Hayden to eat his dinner, showered him, gotten him in his pjs, fed the dogs, changed over a load of laundry and gotten everyone's pajamas out for them (including me and Asa). I don't know how he managed to get it all done that quickly. Asa spent the rest of the evening gloating. We did uncover the truth about Hayden's dinner though: Calib ate his green beans for him. So, see, everything didn't go off without a hitch!

Tuesday after school, Hayden decided he was going to make all of us 'centers' to work on. He put different stations in every room, and we all worked on our assignments. He got mad at me though, because when I finished my coloring pages- I started drawing love doodles all over it. His response: 'how irresponsible. zero love notes mom. I threw your paper away, and you're boats getting moved'. After that we watched American Idol- and the boys voted- Calib for Colton and Peyton for Eben, we'll see how they do tomorrow.

Which brings us to today which is leap day! Asa is working from home this week, so I have a lunch buddy, which is nice. He even got a full hour lunch today, so we watched price is right and had pizza and salad for lunch. When the boys got home from school, we started in on our backwards dinner. The after school snack today was desert, a strawberry icebox cake (which was AWESOME and so easy to make) then we'll be having dinner, and then we'll have our appetizer (peanut butter ball and cheese and crackers).

We also made a leap year time capsule. I don't want to say whats in it, because I kind of want to forget and then see it all again when we open it in four years. But, we did fill out our favorite tv shows, books, and games plus what we think we'll be doing in four years- who the boys best friends are, who they have crushes on, and what they want to be when they grow up. It's some pretty great stuff. We wrapped it all up and put it in the closet- with plans to bury it when we buy a house.

I leave you with some fun stuff before I depart:

Hayden's favorite new saying when his brothers ask him to do something "I'm not your maid"

Calib: "So Hayden, it's noon. Are you getting dressed today?"

Hayden: "I hadn't planned on it"

Peyton: "Hayden are you going to watch the movie?"

Hayden: "I'll see if I can make it"

Best discovery of the week: If I plug the vacuum into the end of the bar I can sweep the whole house without unplugging it once!

Props out to Peyton for doing a good job on his FCAT writes this week, though we don't have the results back yet- he has a really good feeling about it.

Next Up: The Most Magical All Nighter Ever, Drive-Ins, and Birthday Parties!

Week 29: What'd You Want Me To Do? Dress In Drag And Do The Hula?

Oh the Lion King. Hayden has become OBSESSED. It started about a week and a half ago, and he hasn't let up. I'm pretty impressed that without having seen it for years, I can still recite most of the movie by heart. This impresses Hayden to no end. I'm suddenly the coolest mom ever. I'm pretty sure he thinks I created/wrote/produced the Lion King. Clearly, theres no explanation. He came home from school every day and asked to watch it. It's like me and Mary Poppins all over again.

The only real fun thing we got to do this week, was a trip to IKEA and Home Depot on Saturday to get some things for the house, and a trip to the Florida State Fair on Monday. Yes, we have our state fair in February. It's really not that awesome though. When I think fair I think lots of animals to pet, incredibly amateur flower arrangements (sans those kids who have their moms do them), dish pan towns, random teddy bear collections, lego wanna-be models, 4-H Milkshakes, and the 'Beef it's what's for dinner' tent with $1.25 lemon shake ups. This fair has none of that. It's mostly rides and food, but we always skip the rides, because it's ridiculously expensive- something like $30 for an all you can ride wrist band. So, we have food and a couple of random animals. We went the last day of the fair- because I was still sick this weekend- and because it was free admission after 4. The downside was that things were really winding down, and most of the animals were already on their way home.

We did get to go in the tent that has a sampling of all kinds of different animals- and some nice people on their way out handed us a cup of free food. By day 16 of the fair though, the goats, sheep and chickens are about as fat and happy as they can be. We could only get one or two goats not to turn their noses up at the food. We skipped most the food, but Asa couldn't resist the bacon dipped in chocolate, and we all got an order of fried cookie dough and split it. Hayden spent a little birthday money and got a balloon, and we bought a slice of fudge to bring home. Overall, it was a fun trip to the fair.

The boys were off school Monday- thanks to Presidents Day, and the younger two are in dire need of new tennis shoes- so we headed off to Kohls. I'm not sure about the Kohls here though, they hardly ever have anything in the boys sizes. Yet, theres like 18 rows of girls shoes. I get it, little girls like shoe shopping- but you gotta give me something! This time there were zero shoes in Haydens size, and only 1 in Peyton's, and he didn't like the bright orange (and I didn't blame him), so were still on the hunt- maybe hitting the outlet mall this weekend. I did notice though, all the inventory slips taped to the aisles, and all I could think about was how happy I didn't have to do that crap anymore. Ugh, retail.

Wednesday Asa had the day off- he switched out a regular work day for a work from home day on Saturday. He got up and let me sleep and took the boys to school. After lunch we went thrift store shopping. I have never had so much fun. We went to the Salvation Army looking for a dresser, and possibly some bar stools. We didn't find any, but clothing was half off so we headed over to the polo shirt section and discovered people turn in the funniest shirts. Asa decided he was going to get random logos, wear them to work and make up stories about where they came from.

Heres the rundown: (as contributed by Asa)

Spark: Yea, I worked here for a couple of months. After the first year of Baker but before Corinne and I were a 'thing'. They make mostly transistors that are outside the standard specifications that any major manufacturers use for CPU and on-die motherboard development. Not sure why the name 'Spark' but it's a general electronic term, plus to be fair - there was a lot of sparks in the factory. Both in the physical manufacturing and between this dude Rick and a chick in the front office, turns out they had like EVERYTHING in common, pretty sure they're still together. Beat the odds, Rick.

Intel: Had a summer internship here just after my first year of college. They had a little party at the end of the summer, around the time everybody's summer contracts were ending. One of the bosses made really good chili and they had all this Intel swag, I used to have a coffee mug and water bottle with the logos on it too.

Balboa Yacht Club of Panama: I actually worked here for a couple months, the summer before my one at Cedar Point because I couldn't afford to live at college after my first year there. It's like how Cedar Point has a bunch of foreign people come work there for the summer, except I'm in Panama so I'm playing the role of a culturally uneducated young woman from Yugoslavia. Anyways, you're basically a waiter on the deck of a boat. Pros: plenty of sunshine, tips, and scenery when you have a minute to look around. Cons: you're somehow less respected than your standard foreign Cedar Point employee.

U.S Space and Rocket Center: The summer before I moved down to Florida, before Corinne and I were together, I ended up getting a job here. Nothing fancy or professional, just running a gift shop, I didn't even have a degree yet with only 1 year of college under my belt. Occasionally someone would walk through surrounded by dudes in suits, and I was also pretty sure that 'someone' was an astronaut. Always kept a lookout for Men in Black, fairly certain I saw them multiple times but always got my memory flashed immediately afterwords.

He relayed all these stories to me in the aisles of the Salvation Army. I nearly peed my pants from laughter.

On the way home we stopped by a local thrift store and had better luck. We picked up a dresser for $11. It's currently white with purple drawers, and missing knobs. Plus it has some dragon flies glued to it. When Calib got home from school, we told him we got him a new dresser. He didn't want to look ungrateful, so he just told me thanks- before I even told him I had big makeover plans for it. I'm hoping to get it done this week and show you the before and after pictures in the next blog- so stay tuned!

Other than that, this week was just more unpacking, and more unpacking, and even more unpacking. Later, we unpacked some things. When we were done with that we started unpacking, and followed up with some unpacking. Then, we finished all that up with some unpacking. Yes, I know. But, I felt that was best to get my point across.

In an effort to tell you about the rest of the time I've spent this week, I took some pictures. I got a lot of these ideas from pinterest, some from reddit, and some I just adapted with stuff I had around the house.

So, this is my very cute laundry room. If this wasn't a quick stop rental house I would have probably wall papered either the back wall, or the ceiling something awesome. Instead, it's staying white. But, here we have the kids backpacks, hanging off of some IKEA S hooks (awesome and SUPER cheap at 99 cents for 10), I also got the blue top case for all the nails, screws, hooks, and random wrenches, and the other little tubs you see that house things like batteries. I took an old pot and put all our screwdrivers and hammers in it, and found the adorable little whale guy on clearance from target at a whopping $3.25. I guess he's somehow Valentines related- so I got him 75% off. He eats all the change I find in the laundry. I used an old lysol wipes container for plastic bags (although I'm going to eventually cover it in some cute paper), and and old jar to collect pocket finds. The basket up top holds the old towels and cloths and such for washing the dogs, or cleaning up messes.

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This is the wall next to the washer- those bars are $1.99 at Ikea, though I already had those on hand- along with the 'cups' that hang off of them. I do have a lot of spray bottles that contain my homemade concoctions- FYI, a combination of vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and a tiny bit of dishsoap cleans ANYTHING. Plus, these nifty little bars are great for hanging scrub brushes, lint brushes- or anything else you need to store without taking up precious drawer space. (Oh, and I have since tackled that giant pile of laundry you see at the bottom)

So, here's part of my kitchen. We got the chair pads at Ikea for $3 a piece. I had the paint, but in order to make it a chalk board wall I had to get some unsanded tile grout. You can only get that in rather large doses though, and you only need one tablespoon per cup of paint, so I have quite a bit left. It is relatively inexpensive though, $4 a tub or so. I then took another one of those VERY handing Ikea bars and cups for chalk, and hanging a bottle of water and a towel for cleaning off the wall. Hayden LOVES this wall, he draws on it every day, fills up the whole thing and tells me about the 'story' he drew. The only problem is we're currently using sidewalk chalk because normal old chalk is way harder to find now than back in the olden days when I was a kid.

We also made this neat little wall hangings to hang up the boys good grades and art work. I had chalkboard paint left over, so I quickly rolled some on to these fence boards we picked up at home depot for around $1 a piece. I already had the clothespins to glue to them, so this project also cost next to nothing. I like that it's chalk board paint too- so we can write on those as well. I also hung one vertically in the laundry room for cards and reminders and things- I try to keep things off the fridge, as they tend to just end up on the floor with something spilled on them. I live with a lot of messy boys, you know.

And finally, here we have the playroom. We previously had ALMOST everything you see here. The blue and red shelves on the angle were separated in the boys rooms- but since they matched the buckets we had so well, I pulled them out. The big bucket of Dinosaurs in the corner we also had, but I spruced it up with a bit of the remaining chalk board paint. I purchased the basket on top of the shelf for video games and controllers at Walmart on the clearance rack for $2.50. Also purchased were the gutters. Yes, gutters- that is what the books are displayed on. Gutters are SO inexpensive- about $6 each. We bought two 10 foot long sections (they don't come any shorter so be prepared to cut them in the parking lot or get creative on the way home- Asa chose the latter) The fourth section is in the kitchen, above the cabinets with my cookbooks in it.

This is our office area. It's technically a diningroom, but we have our only table in the kitchen- so we thought this would make a good space for our desktop, and Asa's work from home computer. The ikea cups at the bottom hold pencils, pens, markers, and crayons, with some cute little reminder clothespins clipped to the bar. The next shelf up has a basket full of electronic chargers, our Hershey's bucket with glue and scissors, mason jars full of my sewing buttons from my grandma, and a mason jar full of my thread (I even got so OCD I spray painted the lids black to match everything), plus all our paper, and the boys school stuff sorted in the magazine holders. The next shelf up has random office items like rubber bands, erasers, thumb tacks separated into glass votives I had from the wedding, and some cute decorative items. The last self finishes up with our wedding date picture frame, the fraggles, and my framed mini gold pro certificate. I even made one of those 'I love you because.." dry erase frames and hung it up. And, if your wondering where all the cords are- I put them all up neatly in this cute little $3 wire rack from Ikea and some screw hooks from target. Keeps them off the floor- no more dogs laying on the power strip turning off the computers- yay!

Also worth noting: Asa set a mozzarella cheese bag on fire while making us salads for dinner. And yes, you read that correctly.

I have all kinds of other projects in the works, so I'll share those with you next week.

Up Next: More crafty/organization/unpacking to do- and more excitingly, USF vs. Cincinnati men's basketball game!

Week 27 (and 28): My Train Of Thought Derailed. There Are No Survivors.

Yea, so you're getting a two fer this week. I've been SO busy with packing, dealing with crap, and unpacking that I seem to have skipped a week. However, since we celebrated my half birthday this week, and I was already past half way in my weeks, somewhere along the line, I gained a week. So, it all evens out.

Lets go back a very very long time ago, in a land far away- otherwise known as the first week of February. In a quick recap, this saw us getting the keys to the new house, and celebrating everyones favorite rodent- the Groundhog. People in Florida don't pay too much attention to the best holiday in February (in my opinion), because well, who cares how long winter lasts. I keep notes all week about whats going on so I later remember to put them in my blog- and I had noted how warm this winter has been. It's been in the 70s or 80s and sunshiny everyday for a month. I spoke to soon. We hit a cold snap, and froze our toes off a couple of days this week. Anyway, we celebrated Groundhog Day in style- something my brother Cort would be quite proud of me for- and watched the movie 'Groundhog Day'. Calib on the first five minutes: "Wait- did you rewind this?" Hayden was uninterested, but did enjoy the 'don't drive angry' part.

The next couple of days we spent moving things back and forth, I'll not bore you with the details. Frankly, it wasn't that exciting. Car load after car load, after car load. But let me tell you, that little Honda Fit sure does live up to it's name.

On the third, the boys celebrated their hundredth day of school. I feel gyped, as I never got to celebrate such an event when I was growing up. There was no party for me. Hayden was instructed to bring 100 of something to school. Had we not been mid move with nearly everything we owned being impossible to find, I may have been more creative than counting out 100 goldfish crackers and putting them in a baggie. He seemed pleased with this, but when I took him to school, I caught him in the back eating a few- so, 100 didn't actually make it to his classroom. I also am insulted by the theme of the day: "100 days smarter", implying I teach my kids nothing on the weekends.

Superbowl Sunday was awesome. We went over to Justin's house with some of our friends- including two Giants fans. I really wanted the Giants to win, mostly because I didn't want the Patriots to. I have four teams I cannot stand in the NFL. The last three super bowls, those teams have won. The only team left was the Patriots. I was sure I would jinx it by watching, but it looks like the curse is lifted! I made a peanut butter ball, and everyone else brought some food, so we all sat around watching the game while our kids, and a couple of our friends kids played. I suspect it wouldn't be as much fun if we weren't all rooting for the same team. Perhaps if we had any Patriots fans they would have been offended at us screaming, laughing, and pointing at the screen when Tom Brady was looking quite dejected. There was a celebratory toast at the end of the night, yay for a team I don't hate winning the super bowl! Also, lame commercials this year. Boo.

Monday the boys skipped school and we went out to Disney. Every year the day after the super bowl, the MVP shows up at Disney and is in the parade. The Magic Kingdom was packed with Giants fans, so we sat down on Main Street about an hour before the parade, and had a pretty good spot. We ate our peanut butter and jelly, and were entertained by people dancing in the street, an awesome barbershop quartet singing, kids jump roping, and chants from Giants fans- even a whole group of girls Tebowing in the street. We also cheered a guy sporting a packers shirt (after he was booed of course) for being the bravest man in all of Disney.

After we saw Eli, we headed off to redeem our fast passes Asa had run to get while we were waiting. Asa, Calib, and Peyton took off to Magic Mountain, and Hayden and I ran over to Space Ranger Spin. We took an out of the way route to avoid the crowds, and all of a sudden, I notice an entourage of people coming from a restricted area, and Eli Manning was with them- you couldn't miss him, he was head and shoulders above everyone else. Hayden and I stopped, and I told Hayden to wave, and then I said 'Hi Eli', as Hayden and I were the only two standing there. He replied with a 'Hi, how ya doin'" and gave Hayden a little wave. It was pretty awesome, but it was only a few seconds before everyone seemed to notice he was there, and wanted to ask him to stop for pictures, which the entourage wouldn't let him do. I managed to snap a picture as he was walking away, but I was so shocked to see him, I didn't get my camera out in time to get a good one.

After we used our fast passes, we left the Magic Kingdom, mostly due to the large crowd, but also because we had other plans. Long ago we had planned on spending the night before Hayden's birthday at the All Star Movies Resort. If you pay attention, you can get a room for $50 a night. It's a no frills resort as far as Disney is concerned- no water slide, bus as the only transportation, smaller rooms- but for the boys, it's pretty awesome. They have different themes in different wings- and huge sculpture type things of Toy Story, 101 Dalmatians, Mighty Ducks, Fantasia, and Herbie. If you have kids, it's a good option for visiting Disney on a budget.

We spent our evening at the hotel. It was a warm enough to swim, and the pool temperature was pretty good. We played on the playground, and walked around the hotel taking pictures in the giant sized Andy's Room. Then we stopped by the pool area, and the boys played in the Wii Mario Kart Tournament they had going on the giant inflatable screen.

After that we went to play putt putt. I really like how at Disney they give you a time to start putt putt, instead of just letting you go as soon as you get there, and waiting behind people. We got our time and played with the complimentary hula hoops they had. I showed off my flag corps skills from high school, and was even able to throw one, spin and catch it. Oh yea. Then, we went on to putt putt, Asa and I were getting holes in one left and right. It was a VERY forgiving course. Up until hole 12 we were tied, but in true Asa fashion he really started to fall apart, while I kept getting holes in one. As we were leaving, Asa noticed they had a board with the low score of the day.... and my score was better! I putted a 34, and as a result, got my name on the board, a master putter certificate that I will be framing and hanging in my house, and what I like to refer to as the golden putter. Although, it's actually just a green kids putter. But still, I'm pretty awesome. We finished the night with a late night swim in the bigger pool which was a farther walk- on the way back I jumped in the smaller pool just outside our room to warm up, and found it very peaceful to be the only one swimming in the late night pool. Asa took the boys to put on their PJs, while I swam for a little while. I got back and the boys fell asleep faster than I've ever seen. We sure tired them out.

The next morning we all got up, and wished Hayden a very happy sixth birthday. Though it was cold and cloudy, Hayden demanded we go swimming, so swimming we shall! (should?) After swimming, we let Hayden play a few games in the arcade, and the boys and I played ping pong out by the pool. When we got back to the room, Hayden waited outside, while we all took our earlier pointed out hiding spots, so he could walk in and we could all jump out and yell 'surprise'. He'd been asking us to do this for weeks, so we had to make it happen.

We packed up our room and headed out to the Magic Kingdom, per Hayden's request. He also wanted a Hayden birthday button, and Mickey Ears with his name on them. He always asks for them- but we haven't shelled out the 10 bucks for them until it was his birthday.

We rode everything Hayden wanted to- including a couple of rides on Space Ranger Spin, a trip on the people mover, and a spin on the teacups. We did get stuck on It's a Small World for an abnormally long time, so maybe next time we could skip that ride. Or, maybe the next couple times. The lines were so short we were even able to get in a ride on the magic carpets, which never happens. We were disappointed to find that the dumbo ride is officially gone until the new section opens, but Asa lifted the boys up to see over the wall to peek at the construction- it's really coming along. By the time we had ridden most everything Hayden wanted to it was midafternoon- and we headed home. I drove, and Asa constructed a game of deal or no deal on the magna doodle to play with the boys. Hayden was the winner, taking a deal of 119,000. Calib, ever the gambler, only had 1,000.

Hayden had requested to have cake and ice cream at the new house, so we went to Butterfly Landing for cake, ice cream, and presents. I made a four layer chocolate and yellow cake for him, which he happily gobbled down. He also got some awesome color change toy story bath toys, and one more wall track from hotwheels- which we still have to put up. We went back to the old house, watched Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension- and even let him have a sleepover on the couch with his brothers on a school night. Overall, Hayden says it's the best birthday he's ever had. I contend that it's probably the only birthday he remembers, but with all the chaos of moving, I'll take it.

The rest of the week was spent moving, moving, moving. I'd like to take a minute to thank Justin for all the work he did. He took so many trips to and from the house, put all kinds of stuff back together, and hung a dog gate to corral them wherever we need them to be. I mean, I fed him dinner, but he was seriously underpaid for his efforts.

Friday was my half-birthday, which is usually celebrated with half a cake, but we still had half of Hayden's birthday cake left, so we called it even. I did request a half day without questions, picking noon to midnight. The boys were terrible at it. They need to get better at it before my actual birthday, because well, it's going to be a whole day without questions. No 'where's my (insert random item here)' or 'when are we (insert random activity here)'. Nope, nothing. NO questions. I can't wait.

Friday night we were all at the new house, with almost all the furniture that could be moved without a truck. The kids wanted to stay here, because having an xbox and the Internet here trumped sleeping in their beds. I, on the otherhand, wanted my bed, so somehow Asa managed to get everyone's top mattress in the fit. We all slept out in the livingroom, watched some tv- and had our first night in our new house. Saturday we spent moving the rest of the little items that fit in the car- and Sunday we rented the truck to move the rest of the big stuff.

By the time Monday came around, I was nervous about a new morning routine. It was more disastrous than I thought it would be. Not having a fenced in back yard and all, I couldn't just let all the dogs out at once, so I had to let them all out one at a time. This resulted in a dog not being able to hold it and literally pooping on my foot. This trend continued, not literally, but figuratively all morning. The boys flooded the bathroom, without having that stand up shower and having to deal with a shower curtain instead, the boys ended up with some questionable milk on their cereal, and the timeline was all screwy because it now takes about 10-15 minutes to get to school. I did get a lot of stuff put away on Monday though, and the house seems to be coming a long pretty well. Justin even stopped by after work to help Asa fix the ice maker- because, while I had to give up my big bathtub (rest in peace awesome garden tub), I was not about to give up my ice maker. At least I gained an actual working dishwasher in the process. I forgot what it was like to have a dishwasher actually clean your dishes.

Today Asa took the day off to help me with my morning, since it was so bad yesterday. He went over to the old house to clean it out, only to find the realtor there demanding the keys, and saying to forget it. We were supposed to have until tomorrow to finish up anything there, but apparently he didn't get that memo. The landlord said forget it, and since I highly doubt I'm getting any deposit back since our landlord was in such financial disarray, we just cut our losses, and gave the realtor the keys. He will be getting a bad review from us, such a terrible experience with that realtor company. The boys had their Valentines Party at school, in which Hayden came home and promptly gave me all the 'girly' Valentines he got- Hello Kitty for the win! We had breakfast for dinner night and I made heart pancakes, and heart bacon for everyone, and watched the American Idol we missed from last week. I'm hoping for a smooth rest of the week. Asa has tomorrow off again, because his back is killing him- and he deserves a day off after all the work he did moving us. Thanks, Babe!

So there you have it, the last two weeks.

Con's of the New House:

No Garden Tub or separate shower in the Master Bath. So Disappointing

No Fenced in Yard- and to make matters worse everyone has dogs- so my dogs go crazy with all the other smells!

Less Kitchen Cabinet Space- although I've gotten pretty creative, and it's not a huge issue

Smaller Pantry- the shelves are deeper, but not nearly as long- it's hard to see what you have.

Farther from school- no bike riding for us :(

Pro's of the New House:

We live on Butterfly Landing- how cute is my street name?

Carpet. Thought I'd hate it, but I totally love it. The boys are keeping it clean, taking off their shoes, only eating in the kitchen and it's SO nice to lay on the floor.

Less than a week in- and I already know our next house MUST have a livingroom and family room. Two living spaces for the win!

Laundry Room. Gone are the days of going out to the garage to do laundry! yippy!

Working, newer, matching appliances!

Eat In Kitchen- so easy to set/clear the table!

The Park right down the street- so close in fact, you can stand out the front door and yell for the boys to come home and they can hear you!

Closet Space- oh the storage! While I have less kitchen space- I have what seems like an infinite amount of closets compared to the old house.

Funny quotes of the week:

Me" whose my favorite 5 year old"

Hayden" me for a few more days, then you have to find a new one"

Asa "Man, I can't believe you guys sleep this late everyday. No wonder nobody wants to go to sleep at 9:30"

Asa: "I know you've been stressed out. So, I shaved, and cut my nose hair for you"

Funny Hayden Birthday-isms:

He gave his brothers X's all day. Peyton got up to like 40.

He referred to himself all day in the third person as 'The Birthday Boy'

Next Up: Besides continuing to unpack we're missing a trip to TN (which makes me very sad)-I'll have to drown my sorrows in fair food, baby goats, and cracker country because it's the Florida State Fair week!

Oh, and now that it was my half birthday, lets take a look at how my list is coming (I think I need to get to work, I feel behind):

1. Swim with manatees- 1/26. This was as cool as I thought it would be- and a total must do again!

2. Crochet an afgahan

3. Make at least 24 new recipes- 11 of 24 complete

4. Go to Key West (and stop in the Everglades)

5. Go Camping at least 3 different places- 1 of 3 complete (11/11 Fort McAllister State Park)

6. Get at least 5 new stadium pictures- 1 of 5 complete (11/13 Jags)

7. Make 12 sewing projects- 10 of 12 complete

8. Read 12 new books- 5 of 12 complete

9. Make a Calendar Journal- 6 of 12 months complete

10. Go Canoeing or Kyaking

11. Do at least 6 new things in the Tampa Bay Area I have not done before- 5 of 6 complete (parasailing 10/11, hillsborough county fair 10/12, Mosi Ropes Course 10/12, Clearwater Aquarium 1/16, Dinosaur World 1/22)

12. Learn how to cook on a grill

13. Learn how to play two songs on the keyboard

14. Go Ice Skating

15. Get to level 75 on tetris attack- Check. 8/20. Made it to level 76. 8/22 Made it to 99.

16. Go on the Shiekra

17. Learn how to eat with chop sticks

18. Eat at the Taco Bus- Food Truck Rally 10/22

19. Teach Calib how to do the laundry

20. Teach Peyton how to cook lasagna

21. Teach Hayden how to ride a bike (without training wheels)

22. Make a scrapbook from the Epic Vacation

23. Organize the stuff in the Closet (papers, pictures)- Half done? It's all isolated in one place after the move

24. Watch 24 new movies- 12 of 24 complete

25. Blog one entry per week- 26 of 52 complete

26. Fix the laptop hole in the door- 10/26 It's not pretty, but it isn't a hole anymore.

27. Learn at least two songs on the guitar

28. Make Homemade Pasta

29. Go Puddle Hopping after a rain storm

30. Go to Caldesi Island

31. On our one year anniversary, take a picture of us holding a picture of anniversary #1

Week 26:Marriage: Betting Someone Half Your Crap You'll Love Them Forever

Man, I kind of wish someone would take half my stuff and chuck it out the window. I have learned this week that we sure do have a lot of it. This is why it's good to move every couple of years, out with the old- in with the new. Unfortunately, I think I'll be keeping my husband- so I have to sort through it all. (It's unfortunate that I have to sort through all our stuff, not that I'm keeping Asa, of course)

I know this is a short week, as I posted a blog Thursday, but I'm going to be rather busy the rest of the week, and have fun things to report, so here we are. However, I'm slightly confused why I'm at week 26. I know I'm not the best at helping Calib with his fraction homework, evident by his waiting for Asa to get off the phone with the Fios people about switching over internet and TV to the new house without a lag (because God forbid we live without either!), instead of just asking me. What was my point? Oh right, 26 is half of 52- and it's not my half birthday yet. So, how did this occur? Have I been labeling wrong? Am I just ahead of the game? I'll have to research I suppose.

Well, since you just heard from me Thursday, I pretty much just have my weekend to share. It was a groupon-fabulous weekend. If you don't use Groupon, you totally should. It's a great way to do things in your area you may not have even known existed, at a hugely reduced cost. This weekend we went to the Xtreme Fun Center, and Swam with Manatees. Neither of these things are usually in our Entertainment Budget price range, but Groupon makes it work.

Friday, Calib came home with his run club t-shirt. Every kid gets a run card, with a punch each time they do a lap. Once they get to 125 laps, they get a t-shirt. Calib gets one every year, but it seems earlier and earlier each year. He was the first one in his class to get it this year, he said he knew of one other 5th grader who also got it on Friday, so he's on track for the coveted speedy otter award at the end of the year! I think he's going to pick up cross country the second he can in middle school. He's quite the awesome runner. I have no idea where he gets it from.

Friday was also Pirate Day for Hayden at school. I couldn't find my camera, so I have no picture, but he was pretty excited about wearing an eye patch and a bandanna to school. I guess they were celebrating Gasparilla at school. We are yet to get on the Gasparilla train (it's celebrated every year here in Tampa), but I keep thinking 'maybe next year.' It draws quite the crowd. Either way, it's a Pirate Festival- and apparently worthy of being celebrated in kindergarten classes.

Also, just a quick note to acknowledge the passing of a great TV Show. For five years, Asa and I faithfully watched Chuck together- Mondays, Sundays, Fridays- whatever random day NBC decided to stick this gem of a show. Friday night was the series finale, and oh boy did it ever deliver. If you've never seen the show, you are missing out. I'm choosing to believe Sarah got her memory back, her and Chuck lived happily ever after, and had lots of spy babies. The End.

Saturday Morning we got up and had breakfast before heading up to Crystal River. It is about an hour north from here. And, shout to to my mom and grandma for my gps because it would have been REALLY hard to find without it. We went to the end of this little tiny road, and there, on the river, was a tiny cute little shack with a dock and a bunch of wet suits and flippers hanging from some outside racks. We had to get the swim in before Hayden turned 6, because 5 and under were free for this excursion. The guy happily took our groupon, which didn't include the tax, so we did have to shell out $3.49 cents. Pretty awesome. The groupon included our rental gear, so he hooked us all up with wet suits, googles, snorkels and flippers. We went to put on our wet suits, and usually I wouldn't be seen in anything that snug, but they are actually more forgiving than you would imagine. Not that I let anyone take a full body picture of me in mine though. The boys were ADORABLE in there's though. We were assigned to Mick's boat, with another family of four- but their kids were teenagers. Mick started off the boat and off we went.

So, anyone in Florida knows about the Manatees coming in to warmer water when the gulf gets too cold for them. This is why we had to wait so long to use the groupon. (I bought it before we went to Alaska) The rivers/springs up in Crystal River stay 72 degrees year round, and so the manatees swam to this area to survive. 72 degrees may sound warm, but I assure you, it doesn't feel that warm. On the way out to the river, Mick told us about some encounters people on his boat had with manatees. They are VERY people friendly animals. Moms will swim up with babies, and once they introduce the baby to everyone, the moms will take off for a nap, and leave the baby with you to play. They often like to play/take people's snorkels and masks. They also like to give hugs, and LOVE to have their bellies scratched. He even told a story about how one kid refused to wear the wet suit, and the manatee really liked his swim trunks. So much so, the manatee took them.

Hayden was very unsure of this whole process. He wasn't thrilled with the wet suit, the snorkels seemed over whelming, and his fear was pretty evident when Mick talked about how many pounds manatees weigh. But, we assured him the manatees wouldn't hurt him, and he did not have to swim with them if he didn't want to. Mick even said he could stay on the boat with him until he decided if he wanted to go or not. We rode the boat for about 10 minutes, out to an area where there were a couple manatees. Because so many people want to swim with the manatees up at Crystal River, there are roped off area's humans are not to go, manatee safe havens if you will. We stopped and the other family got off the boat along with Calib and Peyton trying to get a lone manatee to play, but the manatee seemed uninterested, so we boarded the boat and went a few more minutes down the river.

We stopped over by a roped off area, where about 5 other boats had stopped. I think one was another tour group, and the other boats were just some random people. There were also a lot of kayaks going by. You could see at least two dozen manatees hanging out in the roped off area, and a few swimming around outside. We got into the water, being as quiet as we can be. Manatees do not like noise and splashing, so we had some pool noodles to just kind of float around on. Hayden actually got right off the boat and into the water. Asa headed off with Peyton and Hayden, and I stayed behind and just floated with Calib. The water was very clear, and probably no more than 4 feet deep. There were two sleeping in the water, but you can't pet or disturb a sleeping manatee. Just being in the water with them was very cool though, and you could stick your mask under the water to see them close up.

Calib and I decided we would just float, and see if anyone would come up to us. Sure enough, in a few minutes, Mick quietly called out "Just behind you". Calib turned around, saw the manatee, and then turned back to me, and I could see the terrified look on his face. He just yelled out "I'm scared!" and then he quickly composed himself, all tween like, and said "I mean, I'm cold, I'm cold". He missed out on petting the first one, as it swam by. Eventually, another one came up to him, and he got it together, and began to scratch the underside of it's belly. The Manatee rolled over, with his tummy sticking out of the water to get a nice belly rub.

After Peyton and Asa had pet a few manatees, they decided to take a swim down an offshoot of the river down to a spring where it was crystal clear, about 40 feet deep, and swarming with fish. I stayed behind with Hayden, and Calib who quickly decided after his experiences with the manatees he was done, and he got out of the water, and onto the boat where Mick supplied him with some hot chocolate. Calib then got out my camera and took a couple pictures of me and Hayden in the water.

A few more swam around us, and I would get to pet a few. But Hayden never made it over to one in time to pet it. Here's the problem, you had to be really quiet, and float (Not Kick!!) for the manatees to want to come up to you. Hayden was neither of these things. He kept saying how badly he wanted to pet one, but eventually his lips were chattering so much that I had to make the executive decision to get out of the water. I know he was disappointed, but the manatee swim does come up on groupon a lot, and after this experience, I would certainly purchase it agian. Although, I would do it not on a weekend, when there is less people around, and early in the morning, when the manatees are more active. We got back on the boat, got ourselves some hot chocolate, and then Asa and Peyton came back and boarded the boat. We saw a few more on our trip back to the docks, along with a whole lot of pelicans. Also, fyi, wet suits are actually easier to take off than they are to put on. I had no idea this was the case, but I was quite pleasantly surprised.

We got back around dinner time, and hung out with popcorn, sofa beds and watched Moneyball together. (Well, Hayden sat closely by and watched Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension and had to be reminded not to sing 'I've got a brand new best friend and it's me' song too loud) Good Movie, I totally recommend it. Also, super cool the kids watch more than just kids stuff these days. Gear Up Groundhog day for February second, because that's totally happening.

Sunday after boring stuff like cleaning up the house and doing homework, we went out to the Xtreme fun center in Largo. Included in our groupon was 4 games of laser tag (we had to add one for Hayden), 8 batting cage rounds, and 200 arcade tokens. We got there right when they opened at one to minimize the birthday parties, and whiny kids trying to cut in line for deal or no deal. Laser tag was super fun. We all strapped on our laser tag backpacks, and spent our 12 minutes decimating the red and blue teams. Hayden LOVED it, and started cackling quite the evil laugh every time he got someone. Look out for that one. Calib and Peyton kept trying to shoot me, which they thought was funny- but didn't really do anything since we were on the same team. Afterwards, all of us minus Hayden took two rounds in the batting cage, while Hayden made friends with a little girl, and paid for their date to the air hockey table. She was cute, but too much of a sore loser to be Hayden's type. I guess it's not going to work out for those two crazy kids

.

Then we started in on spending our tokens. Today I learned : 200 arcade tokens is A LOT of tokens. He originally had plans to divide them up, but that idea was quickly deemed unnecessary, as we'd play more and more games, and it didn't seem like the pile was getting any smaller. I did learn not to move back up north, because if crazy taxi is any indication, if I slipped on black ice, I would surely over correct and end up in a ditch. We played basketball, and air hockey, and pretty much every game, until we started in with the ticket games. Deal or no Deal was super fun, and yielded us a lot of tickets- but then, Calib hit the jackpot on one of those spin to see how many tickets you get. While Calib was still celebrating his windfall, Hayden played the same game getting the jackpot of 100 tickets AGAIN. Someone needs to take these kids to Vegas, stat! Peyton then inserted his token and won 1 ticket. He was pretty bummed about this, and we moved on. With two tokens left Peyton decided he wanted to play the game where the timer moves up quickly, and if you hit the button and get it to stop on 1000, you win 300 tickets. He wanted to try it- and he hit it ending on 998, getting 10 tickets. So, he put the last token in- hit the button- and landed on 1000. A 300 ticket windfall for Peyton.

The guy at the ticket counter was super nice too. He wasn't the usual annoyed at kids for trying to add up their tickets and decide what they wanted. He took one look at our 1200 tickets, and told each of the boys they could have 550, and then didn't even care when Hayden went over by 50. I really need to go give them a good review. The boys ended up with all kinds of random things- but Peyton got this really big stuffed snake. He's pretty impressed with himself because he got a stuffed animal from an arcade, which to a kid seems like an impossible feat.

Today I started getting some things packed. The closet is turning out to be quite the daunting task, and Asa and I are now taking bets on how many trips we'll have to take to the new house before we're all moved in. He settled on 26, I'm thinking 30. It's like that 'how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop' question. Except, I am going to keep a tally. I did mapquest it today- it's 2.98 miles from here. We also played flashlight tag. I so would have won that last round, but Asa was making a racket in Calib's closet which made the kids open the toilet room door (because they back up to each other), and they found me first!

And the Award for..

Best Impression: Hayden with the tall laundry basket on his head " I. AM. A. RO-BOT. BEEP. BEEP. BOOP"

Caught Red Handed: Calib Skyping Grandma way past his bedtime

Best Idea: Hide-n-go-seek in the dark, in the new house, before anything is in it. New Waterstraut tradition forming right there.

Next Up: Keys, Birthday Cake, 100 Goldfish, and Mickey Ears!