I'm Thankful for Balloon Animals

Friday the 13th of November was World Kindness Day. Jet shared balloon animals with his school class. How kind.

Let me share a few examples of how Friday the 13th went.

When Jeremy called for family prayer that morning, I hung up on him instead of answering the call. 

High school let out early for a sports game that afternoon so I made sure to set my alarm to get to the high school early only to realize that, though I set it earlier than I normally set it, I still set it an hour later than I meant to. Sigh.

Oh, and all the planes in the U.S. were grounded for a few hours. 

I'm Thankful for Creativity with Personal Pizzas

November 12 was Pizza With The Works Except Anchovies Day.

We did personal pizzas. Jet decided to make his a scary monster. Yay for creativity. 

He also wanted to help roll out the dough. What a helper he is.

I don't have pictures but Jr. decided to go for a meat lover's pizza (we had a variety of meats to choose from). Nichole really went with the works with all the toppings we had set out (though not both sauces. I could have prepared more toppings but I didn't want to be up all night doing that). Jr. Jr. had a lot of cheese on his and Lucky didn't have much.

 

Have I mentioned I love my children and their own individual personalities?

I'm Thankful for Fall Leaves

November 11 was Veterans Day. I'm thankful for people who care about our country.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky got up early and went out in the cold to help put up flags before school.

I raked a lot of leaves and filled a lot of bags. 

Because he had so much fun playing in the leaves the day before, I promised Jet before he went to school that I would make a pile for him to jump in. He enjoyed that after school.

That night, he and I went to take some books back to the library. When we went outside, Jet ran to the leaves and called out, "Hi, leaves. I missed you!"

Have I mentioned he's adorable? 

I'm Thankful for Trying New Recipes

Michelle Wright, who wrote Whisk Me Away, had another cookbook come out recently. It is called The Great American Table. It has recipes inspired by all 50 states... and then some.

Since November 9 was National Louisiana Day, I tried out a new recipe. Slow Cooker Jambalaya is in the Louisiana section of the cookbook.

I decided to double the recipe because I figured if it was anything like the red beans and rice that I like, I would be eating quite a bit of it. I don't know that doubling it was the best idea, though. It filled, literally filled, the slow cooker. Heh Heh Heh. 

Next time I make it (because it's worth making again), I think I'll drain the beans first. 

I'm Thankful for our Fablehaven Cookbook

November 8 was Brandon Mull's birthday. 

We made Ogre Stew and Rio Branco Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips.

Have I mentioned I love our Fablehaven Cookbook? 

 

November 8 was also Bram Stoker's Birthday and Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day. The Ogre Stew did have garlic in it. 

I'm Thankful for Bison

Road Trip! 

Besides Hug a Bear Day, November 7 was also Play Outside Day and National Bison Day so of course we did our annual tradition of going to Antelope Island to see the bison. 

Before that, though, we headed to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge so we could get Box Elder county for our birding challenge. 

At Antelope Island, we got our Davis county birds. Yay.

At this point now, Jeremy and I both got what we needed to get Bronze for this year's birding challenge and Lucky and Nichole still need some more because Nichole wasn't able to make this trip with us and Lucky missed some birding excursions earlier in the year.

We'll all get there, though.

We brought along "Otter the Bison" as usual and Jeremy wore a bison shirt.

We checked out a scope and tripod from the Orem Library so we got to try that out.

Libraries are awesome.

Jet insisted on getting a family picture with his camera. He's so cute. 

We got some far away bison pictures and some up close bison pictures. I love it.

We were close enough, Jet was able to get bison pictures with his camera. Nice. 

While we were stopped at a pullout to look at bison, we saw a burrowing owl. I'm not sure we've seen burrowing owls on Antelope Island before, though we know they're there.

The boys played their game of catch the falling leaves. As I was taking pictures of them trying to catch the leaves, a leaf fell on my sleeve, no chasing required. I thought that was pretty fun.

I love Bison Day! 

I'm Thankful for Winnie-the-Pooh

November 7 was National Hug a Bear Day. 

I made sure to celebrate with a Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed animal.

Then Jr. Jr. decided to "celebrate." 

Ha Ha. We're so cute.