I Won! I Won! I Won!

If Jeremy can do it, I can do it. 

I've written before about Jeremy winning swag from The Odd and Offbeat Podcast (see my blog post from August 17, 2020) and calling out, "I won! I won! I won!"

Recently, I could be heard doing the same thing. "I won! I won! I won!" after winning swag from Sarah M. Eden celebrating the release of her book, Fleur-de-Lis. Stickers and bookmarks!

I'm silly, too.

More July Holidays

Let's jump into catching up on more July holidays.

July 7 was Father Daughter Take a Walk Day. Jeremy was not available that day so I took Nichole for a walk into a store to get hair stuff and makeup. Girl time. Woohoo.

It was also Macaroni Day so we had macaroni with our dinner.

July 10 was Teddy Bear Picnic Day. We had a picnic with teddy bears and non teddy bears on the living room floor. We made sure to invite Eeyore so he wouldn't be sad. Jr. picked a lovely location for us- Ordon Village.

We ate chicken patties for Cow Appreciation Day on July 11. Reminded us of a certain chicken place's advertising.

July 13 was Embrace Your Geekness Day. I like to call it Embrace Your Geek Day. I made sure to get a picture embracing Jeremy while wearing my Jurassic Park shirt.

The kids played chess with a Legend of Zelda Chess set.

July 14 was Mac & Cheese Day so we had shells and white cheddar and added macaroni.

It was also Shark Awareness Day. I bought gummi sharks for this holiday but forgot to get them out so we had them along with gummi worms on Gummi Worm Day, July 15.

 

We celebrated Nichole's birthday in July. We quickly turned the fan off before there was any candle... situation.

Orem Library Told Us To!

In the children's section of the Orem Library, there are calendars with daily activities you can do with your youngsters, from reading to crafts to games to all sorts of fun learning experiences.

Since July 5 was Graham Cracker Day, we followed the suggestion for making edible rainbows. They were fun to make and fun to eat.

3rd and 4th of July 2023

Let's start catching up on July by talking about the 3rd and 4th of July since not much celebrating happened the first two days.

Balloon Fest happens for a few days around the 4th of July, so Monday, July 3rd, Nichole and I went for a drive to see the hot air balloons and to drive under some of them.

That evening we celebrated Eat Beans Day and Drop a Rock Day by having with our dinner jelly beans and chocolate rocks that we dropped onto our plates.

Tuesday, July 4th, Jr. Jr. and Jr. went to help set up flags in the neighborhood. Jr. Jr. and I ended up with a selfie that day like on Memorial Day and Flag Day this year. I think it might turn into a running theme. Selfies with the American Flag instead of pictures of the kids with them.

We ate Caesar salad because it was also Caesar Salad Day.

That night, some of us watched fireworks with neighbors and Jeremy made balloon animals for kids (and adults) who were out watching fireworks. It was a pleasant night.

Summer Reading!

I was going to write about all our Summer Reading adventures in one post but changed my mind. Here's the second post.

We continued to do service and received service. Made cookies for neighbors. They made us fried squash which we had with our dinner one night.

Later when someone was going through a hard time, we gave them chimichangas so they wouldn't have to worry about dinner.

We made so many chimichangas. Some to eat, some to freeze, some to give away. This picture is of the chimichangas in our stock pot. You know our stock pot- the one we used to use to make a seven times batch of taco soup? Yeah, that stock pot.

Took all of the kids to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. It was Jet's first time there. And... dinosaurs. He loved it, especially when it was time to dig for fossils.

He even got into calling out, "Oh no, it's going to eat me," for a picture in front of the megalodon. Tradition.

Nichole got some good sketching in, of course. She's been wanting to go to that museum for a while, too.

One of the reading activities was to have someone read a book you recommend. I recommended Spindle by W.R. Gingell to Nichole. It's the first book in a series and Nichole is already farther along than I am in the series now. Lucky recommended Wizard for Hire to me. I loved it. I just finished the second book in the series and will definitely read the third. After I read the first one, that meant everyone (except Jet) had read that book so Lucky put together a trivia game for us to play based on it. It was fun. Jr. Jr. and I were on a team and Nichole and Jr. were on a team. We had team names and even team handshakes. Later, Lucky was able to give the trivia questions to Jeremy so he was able to be involved. Book trivia was another Summer Reading activity.

I'm sure I can't remember all the activities we did but it was another great Summer Reading Summer.

We went to the Orem Summer Reading Finale. They had Polynesian dances including a fire dancer. I was telling one of my children about torches and fire because of my experience juggling fire. Yes, I have juggled fire. Jeremy used to juggle fire in a lot of his birthday party shows.

Jr. and Nichole both won prizes from Orem. Nichole put a lot of tickets into the one she won. Jr. put one ticket into the one he won. He has that luck when it comes to drawings.

Summer Reading!

Since I'm so far behind with catching up, I'll share all the things I'm going to post about library Summer Reading programs in one post instead of splitting them up like I do most years.

We again participated in Summer Reading programs at Orem Library and Provo Library.

Jeremy again created balloon sculptures for Orem Public Library's Summer Reading Program, "All Together Now."

Jet had fun saying Hi to the characters Jeremy made. 

While he was building, Jeremy and Lucky found some of Jet's toys lying around and decided to have a little fun. 

It was Lucky's idea to color coordinate.

 

I took a few kids to the kickoff event. They had activities and different booths to go to with free stuff and prizes. Jason Fun did another magic show.

Provo City Library had a kickoff event this year. I took all my kids to that one. The ballroom was full of games and activities to get into the swing of Summer fun.

We did a few Provo Story Trails, although after a while there were some repeats of past years so it kind of fizzled out because we were so busy with other things. 

"How the Beaver Got His Tail" at Lions Park.

"The Toothpick Warriors" at Paul Ream Wilderness Area. This is where we traditionally play "Three Bill Goats Gruff," but not this year. The river was sooooo high.

The kids and I went hiking to the Alpine Poppy Fields again. It was closed last year so we couldn't go but we got to see them again this year. And got to check things off for Summer Reading activities.

We also spent plenty of time doing activities at both libraries.

We did some take home activities from the Orem Library.

The last day of June was busy with activities we were able to count toward Summer Reading. 

I took some of the kids to the Museum of Art at BYU to do a library activity there. They had a display of quilted art. Amazing. If you look from far enough away you wouldn't be able to tell the pieces were sewn, but looking up close, you can.

 

Then we went to a Provo Story Trail. "The Goat Faced Girl" at Spring Creek Park.

 

That evening, Nichole and I went to watch Derek Banks in concert again. It was so nice to hear him playing the piano. He did an encore of Clair de Lune which is one of my favorite pieces. It always makes me think of my grandma because she used to play it on the piano.

 

When we got home from the concert, Jeremy and I headed to the tail end of a wedding reception. We had to get the bride and groom their present later because while Nichole and I were at the piano concert, my three year old got a hold of the present we were going to take and ripped the wrapping paper off of it and lost a part that went with it. Sigh. We got it to them eventually, though.

After the reception, Jeremy and I were able to do some service. We had jumper cables so we were able to jump the bride and groom's car. Sigh. We wish them a long and happy marriage (with less car trouble).

 

O.K. I changed my mind. I'm going to make this into two posts since it's long enough just talking about June Summer Reading activities. Sound good? Sounds good to me. Tell you more later.