Nichole's Birthday

We celebrated Nichole's Birthday in July.

For her birthday dinner she requested the really good mac and cheese that Jeremy makes. Since we weren't going to make him do that right after he got home from work on her birthday, she got two birthday dinners. One simple on her actual birthday and her requested birthday dinner later. It feels like this has become a thing.

So on her actual birthday she asked for alfredo pizza (we put fresh basil from our garden on it)

and when we celebrated her birthday with Dad around, we had that good mac and cheese, tater tot casserole (which she requested after Grandpa made it in Oregon and gave me the recipe), watermelon, and carrots.

And cake and ice cream, of course.

Jet insisted on helping wrap her presents. He's so cute. 

She got art books... of course.  

 

Happy Birthday, Nichole. 

Catching Up February 2025 part 1

Saturday, February 1, was World Read Aloud Day and Take Your Child to the Library Day so what a great day to go to the Orem Library's event, "Bring Your Child to the Library Day." Jet and I went to do some activities and get little stamps (stickers) in his "passport." 

His favorite was the dragon sticker. He noticed that it matched the dragon in the junior fiction area of the library and was excited to see it.

That day was also Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Sometimes I keep this holiday to myself. This year, we had some fun with it as a family. We all had ice cream in waffle cone bowls.

Sunday, February 2, was Groundhog Day and Tater Tot Day. We had our traditional imitation groundhog burgers but this year they were black bean burgers based on "Buckbean Burgers." We had tater tots on the side.

Monday, February 3, was Feed the Birds Day. How appropriate that that was closing night of Lucky's play, Mary Poppins Jr. For Christmas Lucky got a shirt based on a line in the play. Mary Poppins uses a measuring tape to find out that Michael is a "noisy, mischievous, troublesome little boy." Lucky's shirt shows a measuring tape and the shirt says, "I'm not really a '...noisy, mischievous, troublesome little boy.' I just act that way."

Tuesday, February 4, was Homemade Soup Day. I made Bowtie Minestrone Soup from "A Season of Family Meal Plans," volume 1, by Jordan Page.

Wednesday, February 5, was World Nutella Day. We had Nutella sandwiches. 

Friday, February 7, was Fettuccine Alfredo Day. We ate fettuccine alfredo with the yummy alfredo sauce we always make from ourbestbites.com, "Guiltless Alfredo Sauce."

Sunday, February 9, was National Pizza Day. Since it was also Superb Owl Sunday (we're not really sports fans but we are fans of birds), we started with pizza and ended with a big spread of appetizers and snacks. Yumm. I, of course, also wore the owl earrings I got as a prize from the UCB challenge.

Monday, February 10, was Cream Cheese Brownie Day. We made cheesecake brownie bites from "A Season of Family Meal Plans," volume 1.

That's enough catching up for now. More later.

Bye. 

Groundhog Day 2024

Okay. The last three posts? I couldn't help it. We were quoting the Bill Murray movie throughout the day on Groundhog Day. Jeremy and I listened to "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher.

It all started Thursday, February 1, when Jeremy sent me a link to a commercial with Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Ned in the movie Groundhog Day.

Happy Groundhog Lay's.

As February 2 was also Tater Tot Day, Jeremy went to look for Tater Tots on his way home from work Thursday. He walked in our door and said, "Tater tots were not a good price. But these were on sale and I thought, 'Groundhog Lay's,'" and set down a bag of Lay's potato chips. He then went outside and came back in with another package of Lay's potato chips and said the same thing. Then he went outside again and came in with one more package saying the same words. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We all got a kick out of it. 

So on Friday, February 2, we ate a bag of those chips. Then Saturday, February 3, we ate another bag since it was "Groundhog Day" again. See previous three posts.

Friday morning I also mentioned it was World Wetlands Day. I'd have loved to go to a wetlands area but it was raining so I was driving on wet lands.

That evening was a funeral or celebration of life for my aunt who passed away recently. Jeremy, Nichole, and I went. It was so good to see so many relatives- so many cousins. I haven't seen most of them in years. Even though we don't get together as often as when we were kids (yearly family reunions at Grandma's), the love in our family is still there and always will be. 

My sister brought one of her kids so we got to represent my parents' family since the weather was not such that my parents could travel from Oregon.

I am grateful that my aunt doesn't have to worry about any of her health troubles any more. She is missed but she gets to be with her parents, one of her daughters, and two of her brothers again. I am grateful for the Plan of Salvation. Life continues after death and we do get to see loved ones again.

2-2-22

Happy Groundhog Day. Phil saw his shadow so this is what we got:

 

We also got tater tots along with our traditional imitation groundhog burgers because February 2 is also Tater Tot Day.

 

I wanted to make sure not to miss the fun date of 2-2-22. Since I have a wiggly 2 year old, I wanted him to hold a sign just like Jr. Jr. did on 12-12-12. This is what I got:

 

We didn't miss it, though.

Happy 2-2-22, everyone.

It was also World Wetlands Day. We didn't go out to any wetlands but the world was definitely wet.

Groundhog Day!

It's February. It's cold in the mornings when I take Nichole to school. I often say, "It's cold out there this morning. It's cold out there every morning. What is this? Miami Beach? Not hardly." So when I woke up on February 2nd, I had the great idea of how to wake the boys for family prayer. Jeremy and I found the words used in the radio broadcast in the first waking up scene from Groundhog Day and read that scene for the kids. "Okay, campers, rise and shine," and "It's Groundhog Day!" Some of the boys were not that enthusiastic. But it woke them up. Tee Hee.

Nichole brought home a book from school that had a Groundhog Day type thing going on where it kept repeating. 

Since February 2nd is also National Tater Tot Day, we ate a quick dinner of tater tots and some hamburger (imitation groundhog), so I could go watch Nichole perform in an orchestra recital. Good job, Nichole.

And good job me for braving my separation anxiety being away from my baby that long.

The boys watched Groundhog Day while we were gone.

And that's how we celebrated February 2nd this year.