Celebrating Amongst Chaos

Here's another example of how life is chaos. I mentioned that the Summer Solstice was coming up. Then it came and went without me even thinking about it. Usually we at least acknowledge it. Sigh.

 

We did make pizza on Detroit Style Pizza Day, June 23. We didn't make Detroit style pizza but pizza nonetheless.
Jet has developed a little quirk when it comes to pizza. He doesn't finish his pieces. He will eat most of a piece then put the crust back then take another piece. Heh Heh Heh.

We checked out Eric Carle books from the library since his birthday was on June 25.

 

For Paul Bunyan Day on June 28, we read a tall tale about Paul Bunyan and ate pancakes while I said, "How about some flapjacks?" like in Groundhog Day. 

 

On June 29 we celebrated National Camera Day and National Handshake Shake Day by using my phone camera to take a picture of a handshake between Nichole and I.

It was also National Waffle Iron Day so we had waffles.

Father's Day 2023

Jeremy wanted Hungarian food for Father's Day and sauteed zucchini with mushrooms so he had to do most of the shopping and cooking for it. He did request french bread which I was happy to contribute.

Jeremy also wore his tie that Jr. decorated for him for Father's Day 13 years ago. He's worn it most years on Father's Day since then.

Shelf Cooking

Another shelf cooking win. We had Hawaiian Haystacks toppings and pizza crust so I made Hawaiian Haystacks pizza. And added mushrooms for Jeremy since he likes mushrooms.

Yumm.

Since it was Eat Your Vegetables Day on June 17, it was a good way of getting vegetables in (and some fruit).

And those that didn't like pineapple on their pizza picked it off and gave it to me. I didn't complain.

How We Celebrated Some of June

June 1 was Flip a Coin Day. I needed to inventory my fridge and freezer anyway so I used a coin flip to decide which to do. 

We flipped a coin to decide plenty of other things as well.

 

June 2 was the anniversary of when Babe Ruth retired. We had macaroni and cheese with polish sausage in it in honor of "Babe" (you know what the movie, "Babe," is about, right?) "Ruth" retiring.

Someone made the comment, "Talk about retiring."

 

June 5 was Veggie Burger Day. I would have liked to have made black bean burgers but didn't menu plan far enough in advance and didn't have any black beans to make them. Sigh. So I was looking through cookbooks and websites trying to decide what to make but Jet just wanted snuggles so... 

Priorities, right?

 

June 9 was National Movie Night and Johnny Depp's Birthday. We watched Alice in Wonderland and ate popcorn. Jr. made crepes that we ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

June 11 was King Kamehameha I Day. We had Hawaiian Haystacks leftovers from a family reunion we went to the night before. It was a family reunion for people we're not related to. I like to say, "We're family by association." This is a family Jeremy was home teacher to many years ago. He's done balloons for them many times and we've gone to wedding receptions and concerts to support them. We were able to get Nichole's first violin from them when she was learning to play. They watched over our older kids when Lucky was born in the middle of the night. We've had a good relationship with them for many years and they feel like family. 

They invited us to their family luau. Jeremy did balloon animals and we all ate, played, and enjoyed ourselves. 

We got to try Dole Whip for the first time. Yumm. 

I had plenty of people to talk to that I knew. I'm a chatty person anyway. I got to stand up high and take their family reunion photo.

It was a nice evening and it was sweet of them to send us home with some leftovers.

June 11 was also Corn on the Cob Day so besides the Hawaiian Haystacks, we had corn on the cob and plenty of other food for an at-home potluck.

Jr. Jr. made apple pie for the first time (with some help) and did a great job.

June 14 was Flag Day. I took another selfie with the flag.

 

June 15 was World Tapas Day. We made bean dip and enjoyed it.

May Cuteness

I can't really say Baby Cuteness anymore because he's really not a baby anymore, so here are some cute things from Jet in May.

Wanting to be like his brothers. Maybe not as successfully.

"Hot Dog Hot Dog Hot Diggety Dog" (doing the "Hot Dog Dance" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Whee! Playing on swings at the park.

Going for walks with Mommy

C'mon, Nichole. It's time to go. Get your shoes tied already.

Being a big helper. "Cutting" onions.

Planned Power Outage... Again

We knew the electricity was going to be off again one day so we had some fun. Instead of going out that day, we stayed in and played games and made shadow puppets on the wall.

 

Lucky is pretty good with his shapes. Jet absolutely loved seeing them and interacting with them.

 

Even when the power came back on we kept playing and enjoyed ourselves.

Family time! Woohoo!

Cuteness and Creativity

I was going to work on laundry after I finished what I was working on in the kitchen so I had a basket of clean towels sitting in the living room.

I heard Jet in the other room saying something. When I listened carefully, I could tell he was saying, "I'm a turtle." I came in to see he had knocked over the basket of towels and picked one to make a shell on his back. "I'm a turtle."

After a while he started using the towel in other ways.

"I'm a bat. Flap Flap Flap Flap." "I'm a T. rex." "I'm a shark monster." 

And finally, "I'm a mouse. Squeak Squeak Squeak."

Oh, the cuteness and the creativity.

My Birthday

I keep telling you. Life has been chaos. I didn't even know if there would be time to celebrate my birthday in May this year. Jeremy asked, "If you were to get what you wanted for your birthday dinner, what would it be?" My answer? "Pizza with the works except anchovies." Jeremy made it happen. We made pizza crust early and Jeremy chopped up and prepared toppings and we had several pizzas to choose from for my birthday dinner. I love pizza.

Oh, and that morning, he made me an omelette. I love when he makes me omelettes. It's a bit of a family history thing I share with our kids. An omelette was the first food Jeremy ever made for me when we were getting to know each other. It was so good. His omelettes are still so good.

I got a little time for myself that day to listen to an audio book or read an ebook (I don't remember which) while waiting to pick kids up from a school activity.

I got plenty of love from my family that day and when I dropped kids off for youth activities that night, a friend of mine pulled several of the young women over and had them sing, "Happy Birthday," to me. I am loved.

It was a nice birthday.