Hobbit Days

September 22 was Hobbit Day. But the fun began before that day.

Nichole and Jr. did a program with the Orem Library where they read the book, "The Hobbit," which earned them a hobbit button and entries into prize drawings. They got to go to a "Party in the Shire" where they played games and did other activities to earn rings. Jr. won a prize drawing- a pack of Lord of the Rings playing cards.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky went to a similar event for their age group where they played games, did crafts, ate snacks, and also got rings.

 

On Hobbit Day itself, I shared some pictures on Instagram of an art project Nichole did out of one of The Lord of the Rings books. It is the journey of the fellowship of the ring.

By the way, this year is the 10th anniversary of Balloon Bag End, when Jeremy built Bilbo Baggins' hobbit hole out of balloons in our living room. Wow. A lot has happened with balloons since then. Balloon Bag End itself got a lot of notice. Jeremy did lots of interviews from places around the world. Ripley's Believe It or Not showed a picture of Balloon Bag End as a two-page spread in the book, "Dare to Believe." Lots of neat things.

Grand Lunch and Weather

The elementary school hadn't done their "Grand Lunch" for a couple years for obvious reasons but they started it up again this year.

Jeremy and Jet dropped me off at the school before picking up the older kids from school. I ate half my lunch with Lucky then the other half with Jr. Jr. That meant half my sandwich, half my chips, half my pudding cup, etc. 

After saying goodbye to Jr. Jr. I decided to walk home. It was a pleasant sunny day.

That did not last. By the time I picked up the boys from the bus, it had been thundering and some of the clouds were pretty dark. 

Jeremy, Jr. Jr., Lucky, and I went back to the elementary school for parent teacher conferences and afterward we got to see a beautiful rainbow as we went to get gas in the van.

Fun times. Crazy weather.

Quadruple Celebration Again

Like last year, we were able to celebrate four holidays in one meal on September 20. National Pepperoni Pizza Day, National String Cheese Day, National Fried Rice Day, and National Punch Day.

We had pepperoni pizza with string cheese baked into the crust. We had more of the fried rice from our pirate dinner the night before. We also had "jitter juice" made with Sprite, Tiki Punch, sherbet, and sprinkles. It was what Lucky's teacher gave the students in his class one time to help them with jitters at the beginning of the school year (with Hawaiian Punch, but we had Tiki Punch). Perfect for National Punch Day.

 

That day was also National Care for Kids Day. We didn't incorporate that into our dinner, but Jet and I went down to the Provo Library to get him another prize for reading. 

After we left the library, we just kept driving... all the way to Bridal Veil Falls to go for a walk and get some exercise. Love that bonding time with my littlest. He sort of posed for pictures this time.

He also went around saying, "Hi, waterfatl. How are you today?" And that's not a typo. He really calls it "waterfatl." So cute.

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2022

September 19 was Slimey the Worm's Birthday (from Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch's pet). I celebrated by listening to the song, "I Love Trash."

 

But more excitingly (no offense, Slimey), September 19 was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Hurray!

I did talk like a pirate and met the boys at the bus, dressed up and with balloon swords for a battle. 

I made sure to wear my "Black Pearl" necklace and skeleton earrings.

 

The kids found gold doubloons and ate the chocolate inside.

Jr. Jr. didn't want anyone stealing his treasure.

 

Oh, and earlier in the day, Jeremy forgot his electric balloon pump for a big build so Jet and I delivered it to him. He apologized for taking up our time, but I told him it was okay since it was Talk Like a Pirate Day. He plundered our time.

 

We had a pirate dinner centered around the letters "R" and "C." Arrrr and Sea

We had Roast pork on Rolls, fried Rice- Cantonese style, Carrots and Celery with Ranch, Red apples, a drink with vitamin C, and butterscotch pudding which we called Custard. September 19 is also Butterscotch Pudding Day and one of my children really likes butterscotch pudding.

For family home evening treat, we had cinnamon sugar doughnut muffins which has become our new tradition instead of actual donuts.

Celebrating During Shelftember

I can celebrate with food even during Shelftember.

September 15 was Double Cheeseburger Day.

It was also Agatha Christie's Birthday so I had some fun chatting on Orem Public Library's Instagram about loving Agatha Christie and book recommendations. (Have I mentioned I love the library and the people who work there?)

 

September 16 was Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day.

Some of our family members don't like raisins so I made one loaf with raisins and one without.

To go along with the bread we had homemade pizza (chicken alfredo pizza with artichoke hearts from the fridge and homemade alfredo sauce and pepperoni and olive pizza), salad that needed to be eaten up, and zucchini brownies (recipe from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner Again) using shredded zucchini that's been in the freezer for a while.

 

September 17 was Monte Cristo Day.

I will admit, I did spend money on the raspberry jam for the Monte Cristo Sandwiches. I could have used strawberry jam from the fridge, but it just had to be raspberry. We've been saving money on other groceries this month, though.

Jr.'s been reading The Count of Monte Cristo lately. My oldest two have a thing about thick books.

Parents Day Off

September 14 was National Parents Day Off. My sweetheart and I went on a date... to get gas in the van... and to go bowling. 

That was fun. I don't know that we'd ever gone bowling together before and it had been years since either of us had. 

This is me trying to ask the magic eight bowling ball if I'll knock down the last two pins.

 

And of course for this real date, I wore my Jurassic Park shirt.

I love spending time with my husband.

 

Since it was also National Eat a Hoagie Day, the kids made dinner since it was our day off. They made Chilly Pheesesteaks (because I can't pronounce Philly Cheesesteaks correctly) using some provolone cheese we had in the fridge and some canned roast beef from the pantry (and other seasonings, etc. that we have). I made homemade buns/hoagies the day before so they would have those to work with and we didn't have to buy hoagies. 

Planned Power Outage Adventure

Remember that power outage we had a couple years ago where we all headed out in the van and had some fun throwing rocks in the river and stuff? I do.

Recently we were told of a planned power outage. It could last up to all morning and afternoon (or less). The kids would be gone to school most of the time and Jeremy would be at work the whole time. So that left Jet and me to make plans. He had an appointment at the pediatrician's office that morning so after he played Peek-a-boo with another toddler in the waiting room (it was so cute), we went to the Orem Library for a little while and read several books.

After our library trip, I figured a drive to Bridal Veil Falls would be good. You know I love Bridal Veil Falls. As we were driving in Provo Canyon, we found there was an accident on the other side of the road. I hope everyone was okay. Since the traffic was getting backed up on that side, I didn't want to contend with that so Jet and I stopped briefly at the viewpoint for Bridal Veil Falls then continued up the canyon. 

We turned on the road that goes up to Sundance then just continued on and drove Alpine Loop coming out of American Fork Canyon. I like driving up in the hills. As I drove, Jet and I sang, "I love the mountains. I love the rolling hills. I love the flowers. I love the daffodils..." It's fun to sing with Jet. We sang a few songs, saw some turkeys cross the road in front of us, looked at the trees with their green leaves, enjoyed that the air was cleaner up there than in some places down in the valley, and eventually Jet fell asleep after I continued driving around a little more. The power was back on by the time we got home so it was on when the kids got home.

That day was September 12, Hug and High 5 Day. There was a lot of hugging and high five-ing going on in our family that day.

That day was also Boss/Employee Exchange Day so Jr. suggested he and I trade jobs that evening. So I did his chore while he made dinner.

Wonderful Weirdos, That's Us

September 9 was International Sudoku Day. Good job, Nichole, celebrating.

It was also Wonderful Weirdos Day, which you know we celebrate just by being us.

After the kids got home from school, I took them up with me to a carnival where my wonderful weirdo of a husband was making balloon animals. We ate some food (free is great for Shelftember), the boys played some carnival games, and we closed Jeremy's line so he could go home and sleep before he had another show the next day.

I wanted to get a picture of Jeremy doing balloons so I said, "Happy Wonderful Weirdos Day," and he gave me that look.

Read a Book Day 2022

September 6 was National Read a Book Day. Jet and I went to the Provo Library to pick up another reading prize for him. He picked a pink bear this time. We checked out several books and as soon as we got home we got right into reading books, more than just one.

Family Activity

So while I was being "lazy," Jeremy was working hard at a fair in Twin Falls, Idaho- for several days that first week, then also on Labor Day. He didn't start first thing in the morning, though, so that Saturday, September 3, we did something fun as a family together. We already are in the habit of having prayers and sometimes scripture study over the phone when Jeremy is traveling. So why not do a little something more? Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was on Prime Video and we actually had the DVD checked out from the library as well. So the kids and I turned on the DVD, Jeremy started the movie on Prime, and we watched it "together." Then as we were watching, we texted comments back and forth. That was fun. We didn't get to finish the movie, though. Jeremy had to go work on his balloon sculpture and a little later kids were fighting enough I told them to turn it off.

We had Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps to celebrate International Bacon Day on the 3rd.

Lucky's loose tooth finally came out as he was eating his wrap. He'd been working on that tooth for a while.

 

Here is how Jeremy's fair sculpture turned out by the end of the fair (he added to it each day, except for Sunday. He doesn't work on Sunday. Instead, he went to church with our friends and visited with them, playing board games and such). I like how this sculpture turned out: