Carrots

Google informed us this morning that November 30 is Lucy Maud Montgomery's birthday.
She was the author of the Anne of Green Gables books.  In Anne of Green Gables, the character Gilbert called Anne "Carrots" because of her red hair.
So to celebrate, we had carrot cake.

Thanks again, Google, for helping us find a reason to celebrate.

Catch of the Day

I'm ready for church.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Kristin:  O.K., everybody.  Freeze for the picture.

Jeremy:  Do you want to be in the picture?
Kristin:  Sure.

Can you be a ham and a turkey at the same time?

Happy Thanksgiving, Charles Schultz

How did we celebrate Charles Schultz's birthday on November 26 this year?
Well, after eating our Thanksgiving dinner,

we sat down to watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."

Earlier in the day we did our traditional kids and mom hiding in the parents' room watching movies while Daddy smokes out and freezes the apartment with the oily turkey in the oven and the windows open.
In order for all the kids to see the portable DVD screen, we needed to hang it on something. 

Daddy, sweetly offered to throw together a quick PVC frame for it.  Isn't he nice?

How did you celebrate... either Charles Schultz's birthday or Thanksgiving?

Catch of the Day- Root Beer Float

Well, I was just going to have root beer, then I thought, "Who has root beer for breakfast?" so I put ice cream in it.

Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day 2015

November 24 is Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day.  What a great day for a school talent show.  Nichole was chosen to be in the school talent show to show her whistling.

It was great to watch.  There were several unique talents including a boy who played the bagpipes and a girl who demonstrated different ways of whistling (oh, I already mentioned that one).
Nichole demonstrated a shrill whistle.  She whistled like a cricket and a bird.  She demonstrated the wailing of the wind.  She impersonated R2-D2 and made a sound like a UFO.  She whistled some tunes from The Legend of Zelda, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.  She also demonstrated how you can use a piece of paper to make different whistling sounds.
I appreciate my children and their talents.  I'm glad we got to support Nichole today and her unique whistling talent.
I made a YouTube video of her talent.

Fingernail Polish

Saturday night we all did our nails.  We'd been meaning to for a while and finally got around to it.

Jeremy told the kids he was going to take his nail polish off before going to church.  He said to some people it might be distracting.

Jeremy:  It's the same reason I wouldn't wear a dress to church.
Jr.:  That would be distracting.
Jr. Jr.:  And embarrassing. 

Stickers

What happens when the five-year old finds a sheet of stickers... and his little brother?

Cuteness!

Assurances

I always take my glasses off before I fall asleep.

Silly Lucky

Older Child:  Mom, Lucky dumped salt out on the floor.
Lucky:  Yumm.

Older Child:  Mom, Lucky's drinking the orange juice.
Lucky:  Yumm.

Blast from the Past

I've been busy sorting through and organizing things in our home.  This includes papers- which is one of my least favorite things to go through.  But I have been diligent.  I have been strong.  I have been wearing myself out.  So not as many blog posts when I'm so tired at night I can't even function.
From time to time, though, little treasures do come up while going through papers.  Some of these treasures are little notes we've written on pieces of paper of things our children have said or conversations we've had.  Very KAT's Meow-worthy.  I don't know how old all of these are, but they're fun anyway.  Enjoy.

Jr.:  I like Iron Man.  He shoots irons out.


Jr. (March 6, 2012):  What if I really had a bug-beedle that could pick up boots... from a leprechaun?!


Mom was checking to see who already used the bathroom before going somewhere.
Child:  I have, too, Mom.
Mommy (copying):  I have, too, Mom.
Daddy:  You have two moms?  I wonder who the other one is.
Mommy (pointing to Jeremy):  Your mom.
Jr.:  No, you're Daddy.

Field Trip

Last month I got to go on a field trip with Jr.  It was to the same place I went with him for a kindergarten field trip.  My, how things change.  He's not as little as he used to be.

Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day 2015

November 12 was Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day.
I mentioned last month how I hoped we wouldn't miss this holiday this year.  Well, we didn't.  I made sure to celebrate even though it was a busy day.  Jeremy mentioned to me yesterday morning when I was listing all the things that I had going on that day, that the day was just like pizza with the works except anchovies- so much to it.
I got up early to make pizza dough then made egg and sausage pizza for breakfast.  As I was finishing up the food, we did scripture study with the family. 

After dropping the kids off at school, the little boys and I came home for just a few minutes before heading back to the school to watch Jr. juggle two balls for his class talent show.  Then we went home for a little while before heading back again to watch Nichole whistle for her grade talent show.  While at home, before and after her talent show, I worked on baking pizza dough and adding toppings.  Because it was a crazy day, I had to simplify.  We didn't have the works, but after picking up the kids from school, we had pepperoni and olive pizza.

Then we took Nichole to dance class where I helped Jr. do some homework.  When we got home from dance, we had pepperoni pizza then I tried to help Jr. with a report he was writing, but I couldn't stay awake. 

I forgot to get a picture before there was only one piece left, but you know what pepperoni pizza looks like.

As I mentioned before, I got up early to make pizza dough and that was after I stayed up late the night before checking kids' homework so they could fix any mistakes.  I managed to get Lucky to bed last night before I crashed on the couch.  Jr. continued to work on his report before he went to bed.  So when I woke up in the middle of the night, I looked all over for his report so I could read through it to know what kind of help I could give him when I got him up early this morning.  I looked and looked and looked.  I was finally about to give up when I saw that he had hung it up on the wall.  It was actually a really good spot for it.  If I'd only thought to look for it there.  So I was able to look through it before I went back to sleep in my own bed this time instead of on the couch.
I got up really early again this morning to clean off the table for Jr. to have a place to work when I woke him up early.  His report turned out really well, by the way.  He did a great job on it and he worked so hard.  Poor little guy.  He was so tired.  But I'm proud of him.
So yeah, yesterday was like pizza with the works except anchovies with how much was going on.  And now I'm up late again writing this blog post.  But at least the kids and I can all sleep in tomorrow morning (heh heh, we'll see) since we don't have anything scheduled until the afternoon.  I am not setting the alarm.

Nichole's Fall Poem

Everything's falling,
Falling, falling.
Dead.

Pirate Zombie

 Do you think it still fits me?

Hug A Bear Day 2015

November 7 is Hug A Bear Day.  So hug those teddy bears or other plushy friends.

Wonder-ful Celebrating

After our crazy Summer with the 7 Wonders of the World Balloon Art Exhibit at Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Ancient Life (you have no idea how many times I said that while making YouTube videos this Summer), and after things calmed down a bit, we got together with the other balloon artists and had a celebration to thank everyone for their hard work.

And of course we couldn't do this sort of celebration without themed food.  So I would like to share with you the foods we had based on the ancient wonders of the world and the modern wonders of the world.

 Hanging Garden Salad with Lite House Dressing

(the salad even had flowers on it)

Golden Apples (because of the Greek myth where Atalanta chooses to follow Artemis but later has to get married because during a footrace she slows down to pick up golden apples her suitor throws in front of her)- for the Temple of Artemis

Zeus Juice (we forgot to get a picture of the pitcher of orange juice we made up for the party- sorry)

Mousse-aleum Cake (okay, so it was chocolate pudding cake, but close enough- we did not feel up to making chocolate mousse with all the other things we were doing)

Colossus of Rhodes Rolls

 Great Pickle Pyramid

 Chichen Itza Pizza (you can even see the shape of the step pyramid on the left pizza)

 Petra Floats

 Colosseum of Croutons

 Egg Roll of China

 Taj Mahal Cheeseball

We wanted to be respectful of the statue of Christ the Redeemer, so we didn't have themed food for that Wonder, but we made sure to say a prayer before we ate.

It was so nice to celebrate with our friends in a relaxed atmosphere where nobody had to be pumping up and twisting balloons.  We just got to eat and chat and play a little Phase 10 toward the end of the evening.

Our family also had it's own little celebration at a different time.  The kids were real troopers this Summer with me dragging them to Thanksgiving Point every week, sometimes multiple times a week.  They were awesome.  So we took them out to the Olive Garden to say Thank you.  Great kids.
It was fun.

Oh, no.  Jr. Jr. says drinking Sprite turns him into a Daddy-eating piranha. 

During the process of preparing this blog post, I realized that with the ancient wonders of the world I blogged about in July, I forgot to put a picture of the balloon Lighthouse of Alexandria.  It should have been between the Colossus of Rhodes and the Great Pyramid of Giza.  Oh, silly me.  So here is that picture of the Lighthouse of Alexandria for your balloon viewing enjoyment.

Finding Balance at Balanced Rock

Modern Wonders of the World

November 4 is King Tut Day, the anniversary of when King Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered.
When I think of King Tut, I think of Egypt.  Well, I think of the old Batman show with Adam West, but I also think of Egypt.  When I think of Egypt, I think of pyramids.  When I think of pyramids, I think of balloons.  Well, the 7 Wonders of the World Balloon Art Exhibit from this Summer.  Then I think that I showed finished pictures of all of the ancient wonders in July, but I never put up finished pictures of the modern wonders.  So I am going to do that now.

 Great Pyramid of Giza

 Chichen Itza

 Petra

 Colosseum

 Great Wall of China

 Statue of Christ the Redeemer

Taj Mahal

I'll also tell you what was said to our children this morning.

Me:  It's King Tut Day.

Jeremy:  You know what that means.  It means you have to be nice to your Mummy.