Rationalizing Not Taking Pictures (with some pictures thrown in)

February 23 was National Rationalization Day which is why I can rationalize not taking pictures on that day, even though the kids had chili and toast for National Chili Day and National Toast Day. I didn't have chili and toast. I went to a Relief Society dinner and had Cafe Rio food instead.

I can also rationalize not having pictures for other days. February 26 was For Pete's Sake Day. I used that phrase.

February 27 was International Polar Bear Day and National Pokemon Day. I told my son to clean up his Pokemon figures and we watched some Pokemon type videos. I learned some polar bear facts from Hogle Zoo Instagram page and we watched an episode of The Mysterious Benedict Society (which has a polar bear illustration in the opening credits).

And while I'm in the mood for rationalizing, here are some pictures I took on different days.

We've been having a real Winter. The kids had another actual snow day, which just means nowadays that they do school online at home instead of having a day off. The kids and I decided to go to the library that evening and since the red car was parked behind the van, we had to clean snow off both vehicles in order to get the van out of the driveway. Luckily it was flat surfaces all the way to the library. 

We spent maybe an hour at the library but by the time we got back to the van, it had to have snow cleared off it again.

We celebrated Jeremy's birthday.

Another Zelda Anniversary

February 21 was again the anniversary of The Legend of Zelda. It was also Pancake Day so why not combine them?

Triforce pancakes and chuchu jellos (with Runts "hearts" and "magic" inside) with some peppers on the side.

There was some Zelda game playing that happened as well.

I don't know what else to say about it. Oh yeah. We also listened to some music from The Legend of Zelda games.

That's all I have to say because I'm too tired and practically falling asleep while typing this. Good night.

Muffin Night

So... you know egg prices haven't been that good lately. Well... there's been something I've been wanting to do for a while and it worked out on National Muffin Day, February 20. 

What I wanted to do? Muffin Night! But with all eggless muffins. And we did it.

We had pizza muffins.

Blueberry muffins from a mix we had in the pantry.

Corn muffins from a recipe from safelydelish.com  

Chocolate, Oatmeal, and Peanut Butter Muffins from a recipe from egglesscooking.com

Yay. Go, us.

Catch of the Day

Cheddar and Almonds

I forgot to mention that between Superb Owl Sunday and Valentine's Day was National Cheddar Day on February 13.

I asked the kids what I should make with cheddar cheese. They wanted impossible cheeseburger pie. I figured I could do some rice as a side dish. Hmm. Cheddar Day. How about some cheese on the rice? I realized that reminded me of Hawaiian haystacks so I added some pineapple that was in the fridge. I almost got out chow mein noodles but didn't. I did get out lettuce for another side... and added cheddar cheese and salad dressing. Then I threw a piece of bread in there as well... with cheese on top.

Then after all our Valentine's fun, the kids and I celebrated National Almond Day on February 16 by watching the Studio C sketch, "West Side Snapping."

Will You Be My Valentine? Yes.

I asked Jeremy to be my Valentine. He said Yes.

He gave me the sucker.

Throughout the beginning of February leading up to Valentine's Day, I followed an idea given by Six Sisters' Stuff. I printed out little cards that they had on their website and attached them to little gifts for Jeremy. It wasn't every day but it was frequent. I also didn't buy anything specific for it. I just used things I had around home. I just happened to buy bananas earlier in the week when that one came up later in the week. I didn't spend money on this but it was a way that Jeremy knew I loved him and was thinking of him.

He expressed several times how much he liked that I did this for him. He even followed my example and made a little card to print out and attach to a present for me. He is a sweetheart.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky both designed Valentine's cards for the students in their class (with some help from Dad) and Jr. Jr. decorated a box. I got a big kick out of it.

 

On Valentine's Day, the kids and I made heart-shaped pizza. Yumm.

One of the crusts cracked in half so we made a broken heart pizza.

The day after, Jeremy and I planned to go on a date. We were going to walk a certain trail, birding, but it was so cold and windy that day, we ended up eating our Winco salads (traditional date food), while watching birds from the van. Lots of water fowl. Then we drove to another spot and spent a few minutes watching more water fowl from the van. It is interesting that you can see different birds at different spots even though they are both on the water. At the first spot we saw wigeons, Canada geese, green-wing teals, gulls, some mallards, and a few other birds like that. At the second spot we saw more mallards, but we also saw wood ducks and a goldeneye.

 

That evening, Jeremy and I took some time for ourselves again. While four of our kids were at activities, we attended a UCB meeting over Zoom, talking about birding in Yellowstone. You know we love Yellowstone. And birds.

 

Oh, yeah. One more thing. Jr. said on Valentine's Day it was Singles Awareness Day so he asked if he could put a Singles packet in his water bottle. I told him he could and anybody else who asked.

Superb Owl Sunday 2023

February 12 was the Super Bowl. We don't care about football. What we do care about are birds. So a nice relaxing walk around a cemetery is appropriate for Superb Owl Sunday. Last year it was just Jeremy and me. This year we brought along all the kids except Jr. Jet fell asleep on the drive so I stayed in the van while Jeremy, Nichole, Jr. Jr., and Lucky looked for owls and collected owl pellets.

They heard a great horned owl but weren't able to spot it. They still got to hear that superb owl.

When we got home I threw a freezer meal in the instant pot because we were running out of time.

 

Earlier in the day we went to church at my sister's ward. Her daughter is in the same ward and my niece's husband was blessing their new baby and my sister was giving a talk. During Sacrament Meeting, Jeremy, Nichole, and Lucky were all drawing a superb owl- a great gray owl. I won't show you the original picture since it's not ours but here are their "Sunday Sketches."

In order- Jeremy, Nichole, and Lucky.

I accidentally ripped Lucky's picture but you can still see it. Well done, everybody.

Beauty and the Beast

Recently, Nichole and Jr. had the opportunity to be in a pit orchestra for the play, "Beauty and the Beast." The orchestra was made up of students from two high schools since the conductor was the orchestra teacher for both high schools and invited students from both to be in it.

It was wonderful. Everybody did such a good job- actors, orchestra, behind the scenes people. Jeremy took Lucky one night to watch it and I took Jr. Jr. one afternoon to watch it.

While Jr. Jr. and I had our bonding time, we had some good discussions.

 

Jr. Jr.: It shows Lumiere's candles wax melting and he has been a candelabra for many many years so this is him when the curse was first initiated.

I laughed so much. I love that kid.

 

I'm proud of Nichole and Jr. That is a lot of playing each night and twice on Saturday for most of a week (besides all the rehearsals) because besides accompaniment to the musical numbers (which there were a lot, more than I've heard in the movies), they also played background music (and overture, entr'acte, curtain call, exit music). It really added a lot having live music. I loved it and I'm glad Nichole and Jr. had that experience.

One of Nichole's friends gave her a rose and both she and Jr. were given candygrams as well. Note the silk rose in Jr.'s pocket. Something else he was given.

Pizza and Fettucine (but not in that order)

February 7 was Fettucine Alfredo Day. We had chicken alfredo with linguine because that's what we had. #shelfcooking

 

February 9 was National Pizza Day. We made pizza.

I Live in a Beautiful Place

 

Challenge Rewarded

Because Jr. Jr. read the whole New Testament (see my post from January 29 this year), we got him a king-sized candy bar of his choice. He was happy about that.

It's a good thing we got him that reward before his teachers who gave him the challenge gave him a reward. It was worth a bit (a lot) more than a king-sized candy bar. 

I texted them to tell them he had accomplished the goal and they had Jr. Jr. call them later to talk about it and what he had learned. So he definitely earned his rewards.

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

February 4 was Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.

It was also Homemade Soup Day but I made soup the next day to go along with Nutella sandwiches (or tortillas with Nutella on them) for World Nutella Day, February 5.

 

I found out from the Orem Library that February 4 was also Take Your Child to the Library Day so I took two of my children to the Provo Library. Heh Heh Heh.