I Can't Think of a Good Title for This Post

October 27 was Emily Post's Birthday. I wore my bow earrings.

October 28 was National Chocolate Day. I had some chocolate myself.

It was also Matt Smith's Birthday and the anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty so Jeremy and I started to watch the Doctor Who episode, "Angels in Manhattan," with both Matt Smith and the Statue of Liberty but Jet came to sit down with me and lately he's been starting to show fear in movies. 

This was him while watching Monsters Inc. one day.

So we watched enough to see the Statue of Liberty and Matt Smith and called it good.

The End.

Balloons and Birds

Jeremy built balloon puppets and skulls for Dia de Muertos at Thanksgiving Point again. We delivered the puppets the morning of the event then headed out to do some birding. We finished one site for our birding challenge and tried out a new birding spot.

We got our selfie. "Agh! The sun's in our eyes." We thought we'd get a better picture under the trees. We got distracted by a late season osprey, though. We weren't expecting to see one toward the end of October. We thought they'd all moved on.

For dinner that night we tried yet another new recipe from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 4, by Jordan Page. White Chicken Chili with Cheesy Garlic Rolls. Mmmm.

Since October 26 was National Pumpkin Day, we had pumpkin bars in the freezer that we finished off for this holiday.

Kangaroos and Greasy Foods

October 24 was National Kangaroo Day. I hopped like a kangaroo in the morning when I went to wake the boys. Jet and I watched The Rescuers Down Under that night.

It was also National Food Day. For dinner, I was going to do Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Parmesan Broccoli from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 4. Rice would be good to go with those. I thought I could easily do another Indian food to go along so I made chana. Then I realized we had plain yogurt left from the tikka masala marinade, and I had a cucumber left over from when I made cucumber sandwiches, plus other ingredients to make a yogurt sauce to combat the heat of the food. I didn't have time to make a flatbread, though.

That Garlic Parmesan Broccoli was so good and I was able to make it from frozen broccoli. Thank you, Jordan Page and The Page Company. Yummy meal.

 

October 25 was... are you ready for this?... Pablo Picasso's Birthday, World Pasta Day, Greasy Food Day, and National Breadstick Day. We celebrated with abstract art made from Spooky Spaghetti & Meatballs (from the same cookbook) and Focaccia Breadsticks (from Shelf Cooking 101). It was also Frankenstein Friday so anything spooky counts for that.

Halloween Drive

October 21 was Reptile Awareness Day. Jet watched some Wild Kratts that day.

It was also International Day of the Nacho so we had nachos.

That evening for Family Home Evening we went for a drive to look at Halloween decorations. You know Jet loves Halloween decorations.

We decided to follow a list of houses put together by the city of Orem. By the second and third house on the route, we realized that another vehicle was doing the same thing as us. The same vehicle stopped at the same houses as us. They got ahead of us at one point so we were stopping at the same houses as them. After a while we didn't keep up because we were looking at other houses that weren't on the list and we needed to head home anyway. I thought it was funny, though, that both of us decided to do the same thing on the same night at the same time.

While we were looking at Halloween decorations, Jet said a few cute things:

"Oh no. That one's not scary. Let's try again." 

"Ooh, that's a scary ghost. It scared me."

 

October 22 was National Color Day. Jet and I looked at different colors as we drove around. Leaves on trees. Traffic lights. We sang the traffic light song. We also looked at the different colors on the American flag.

I have to mention dinner that night because... c'mon... I love A Season of Family Meal Plans (by Jordan Page) and am getting so much use out of those books.

We had Salsa Sweet Pork with Cilantro Lime Rice Bowls. The pork was soooo good. Jeremy said it would be good for nachos so I'll keep that in mind for the future because we just had our nachos the day before.

Bonding Time

October 18 was Alaska Day. Throughout the day I kept thinking, "If I need to check with Nichole about something, Alaska (I'll ask her)." Tee Hee.

We made plans with Nichole for the next day. She finally got her movie theater trip with Mom and Dad like the other boys did a couple years ago. We of course got Little Caesar's pizza (and some free crazy bread) then watched The Wild Robot. It wasn't a surprise like with the boys because she let us know what movie she did want to watch and she helped with the surprise with the other boys but it was still fun.

Earlier in the day, Lucky got some bonding time with Mom and Dad when the three of us went out birding and got enough birds at two other sites for the UCB challenge.

Can you tell it was a sunny day?

I love bonding time with my family members.

Orem Reads: Fahrenheit 451

I enjoyed Orem Reads so much last year when we read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I enjoyed the kickoff, the Chat & Snacks, the finale. 

This year I looked forward to participating again. This year's book? Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I had never read it before this program. It's not one I would have just picked up on my own. I'm glad I was able to read it for Orem Reads. It was interesting and definitely made me think.

The kickoff had a presentation by Shannon Hale. Before it started, they were playing music that had to do with fire or books. "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. "Girl on Fire" by Alicia Keys. "Paperback Writer" by The Beatles. I got a kick out of that. I also enjoyed what Shannon Hale had to say about book banning.

This year they had something new during Orem Reads. A murder mystery date night. Stephanie Blanchard wrote a murder mystery for the library to use for this event. It was a potluck so Jeremy and I brought rolls and got to enjoy some yummy food while trying to figure out whodunnit. It was my first murder mystery dinner and I enjoyed it.

Before we left, we made sure to feed the boys. What they ate? Dino nuggets because October 16 was National Fossil Day. Teehee. It was also World Food Day so that fit with both chicken nuggets and potluck.

The next day I went to the only Chat & Snack I was able to go to for Fahrenheit 451 because of other commitments. It was another good discussion with mostly librarians and a few others. Since it was a lunchtime Chat & Snack, I brought cucumber sandwiches... and Peppermint Patties because I know Amy Sorenson (in charge of programming) likes them.

Speaking of Amy, she once again did a great job with this program, along with the other librarians who helped. Have I mentioned I love the librarians at Orem Library?

The day I went to the Chat & Snack, October 17, was also National Pasta Day. Nichole made cheeseburger pasta and sent me a picture, then she and I met at the Bean Museum for a UCB meeting about Boreal Owls. Jeremy watched most of it online when he got home from work. 

Nichole drew these while we were there. "If you give Nichole a medium." This medium was... "Inktober"... sort of.

The Orem Reads Finale was a Titles & Treats Gala. It was like trick or treating but with books. Tables were set up with librarians to give recommendations of books. We were also given a little treat bag to get candy at each table. So not just trick or treating with books but with candy, too.

I loved chatting with the librarians (some of it wasn't even book related). Costumes were welcomed so I dressed up as a birder with camera, binoculars, hat, and field guide. 

I also made sure to get a picture with Amy and her fun "book fairy" costume.

Besides the book recommendation tables, there was also a book craft and Fall treats. 

Mmmm, hot chocolate.

I am again grateful I got to participate in Orem Reads this year. I let the kids know this is my October thing and I appreciate them helping with their little brother so I can go to these events.

Once again it was a great program from kickoff to finale and I'm grateful for my participation in it.

Cheese

Jet: I want a piece of cheese.

Daddy: Okay.

Jet: