Catch of the Day

Father's Day 2020

Father's Day morning I asked Jeremy what he wanted for breakfast. Biscuits and gravy. I finally got it to him around 5 or 6pm and made him dinner right after. Actually, Nichole and Jr. did most of the work on dinner. Everybody just kind of ate whatever earlier with sleeping in and church at home. Sigh. We really need to get on a better schedule.

The boys put together a puppet show for Jeremy, Lucky filled out a questionnaire and colored some pictures for him, and Jeremy and I both called our dads to wish them Happy Father's Day.  
This is what Lucky had to say about his dad:

My Daddy

My Daddy's Name is Jereme
My Daddy is 42 years old
Dad's favourite thing to do is snugel wieth me [snuggle with me]
Dad is really good at sleeping
I love it when Dad dose joekcs [does jokes]
I like to do qussles with Daddy [do puzzles]
My Dad's favourite food is pikcels [pickles]
My Daddy loves me because i'm small
Dad is funny when he ets bugs [eats bugs]
My Dad is as strong as a bug
I love Daddy because hees dady [he's Daddy]

Summer Solstice

Back in April, I blogged about the Spring Equinox that happened in March and an open window and the book series, Fablehaven. Go check out my blog post from April 9, 2020.
This month we knew the Summer Solstice was coming up. We looked it up in the book and found out it's the night before the Solstice to be most wary or Midsummer's Eve. So we decided to make sure the windows were closed the night before and I told the kids they needed to get in their beds and stay there until morning. As often happens, we forgot about the windows until dark when I made Nichole close all of them. Some of the kids refused to listen to me about staying in their beds. You know what? We all made it through the night. Huh. I guess we don't live on a magical preserve.

For the first day of Summer itself, the kids and I had plans to have some fun outside time together. Since people stayed up too late and got up too late, we finally got out to enjoy the sunshine around 5pm. By that time, the clouds had rolled in (it was sunny earlier in the day) and we celebrated with the overcast sky. Oh, well. It was still warm and we had some nice discussion time and acted out stories and some other things to earn Summer reading badges.

Since June 20 was also National Vanilla Milkshake Day, I made vanilla milkshakes for the family. I expressed my thoughts on plain vanilla on this blog before so I added some nutmeg and cinnamon to my milkshake.

Family Home Midday

For Family Home Evening we had a lesson from the June 2020 Ensign (Family Study Fun) about King Lamoni's flocks being scattered and Ammon and the other servants gathering them. We scattered and gathered cotton balls as we talked about service and how Ammon knew that when he served King Lamoni, he was serving God. It's the same as when we serve others. We talked about ways we can serve others over the next week or so and that when we do those acts of service, we can feel the Spirit more in our home.

For our activity, we played video/computer games, one person at a time but everyone joined in with watching and giving advice. When it was my turn, I decided to play "Blogger" (get it?) and ask the family for advice.
One of the kids didn't like my idea. Nichole made a sculpture out of cotton balls then it was destroyed before she could show anyone.
Jr. Jr.: Oh, no. He goes flying the... something something(?)
Nichole: We love you, Mom.
Mom: They're not making a lot of suggestions.
What if I started a story? Once upon a time, there was a... mushroom. This mushroom was four feet tall and had a stalk as thick as... pea soup. (Now they're laughing). One day, a handsome... frog came along and ate a bagel. Then he tried to... eat a bagel again. (Now even the one who was upset is laughing and joining in- he does love bagels). Suddenly, there appeared a... second mushroom spider and then he ate it and then the frog ate it. He's the one that ate it.  Unfortunately, it didn't sit well and soon he was... laughing. (Phew. I'm so glad they suggested that verb instead of another one- though one child did suggest laughing out his guts, which is still not that bad).
You never know what is going to happen when you let the kids be involved with blogging. See some of the former blog posts which I will now find links to.
Here's Nichole's post from November 10, 2009
Lucky: What about Lucky's turn? There's no Lucky's turn.
Jr. Jr. (singing): Lucky's turn. Lucky's turn. Lucky's turn. Lucky's turn.
Lucky (laughing): What about Lucky's turn?
While looking for one for Jr., Jr. suggested several. What about that one? Or that one? Or that one? What did we finally pick? This one from November 1, 2015
Jr.: That was five years ago. I was like 7 then.
Jr. Jr. says he's never done a post. Hmmmm. I'm sure he must have somewhere but while searching, we haven't found one that says, "Jr. Jr.'s Turn." Hmmm.
Lucky has a couple we found, like this one from February 17, 2016
Hmmm. I'm sure Jr. Jr.'s had a turn. I'll keep looking.
Lucky: Penguin! What was that penguin? Why was there a penguin?
Mommy: Well, I'll tell you, Lucky. Look at my blog post from January 25, 2012 about Penguin Awareness Day.
Oops. Time's up.
Thanks, Nichole.
Lucky (whine): Mom, I thought you were going to play.
I'll look for a blog post from Jr. Jr. later.

Mommy, Look

Smiley face.

Salad and Donuts and Lasagna, Oh My

June 17 was National Eat Your Vegetables Day. Salad time! Yumm.

June 18 was National Splurge Day. We weren't going to celebrate this one but Jeremy had to pick up something from the store and found donuts on sale at a reasonable price so he splurged on those... you know... to celebrate.

June 19 was Garfield the Cat Day. Of course I'd want to make lasagna. I didn't have everything I needed so I made some adjustments and made lasagna pasta casserole. It was still so yummy. Nichole and Jr. helped and both also thought it was yummy.

National Electricity Day 2020

June 15 was National Electricity Day. We went around that day reminding people to turn lights off when leaving a room (and getting credit for a Summer reading activity). Lucky had fun running around turning off all the lights, even in rooms where there were other people.

After the kids went to bed, Jeremy and I watched the movie, The Current War, about Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse competing about DC (direct current) or AC (alternating current).

On a separate but related note we laughed when we realized that in a matter of days we watched three different movies with Tom Holland (who played Spider-man) and actors who were also in Marvel movies with him. Dolittle with Robert Downey Jr. who played Iron Man. The Current War with Benedict Cumberbatch who played Doctor Strange. Spies in Disguise with Karen Gillan who played Nebula. What made it even funnier was we then watched Avengers: Infinity War which had all those people in it. And then we watched Onward with Tom Holland and Chris Pratt who played Star Lord.
Man, Tom Holland has been busy.

Catch of the Day

This turtle has all its ducks in a row.

French Dining Experience

Back in March, Jr. was supposed to go on a field trip with other French students to a French restaurant in Sandy. Unfortunately, it was postponed and later canceled altogether as things in the state were shut down and the students completed the school year online. Jr. of course was disappointed. He put in some of his own money to go on this field trip (luckily it was refunded) and he really wanted to try escargot.
Jeremy and I really wanted to let him have a French dining experience, even if it ended up being in our own home. We contacted his French teacher even before school was out and she was so helpful in giving us ideas of what we could do for that experience. She suggested decorations, phrases we could say in French to him, food ideas including recipes for a four or five course meal. It took us some time to plan it all out and find a day when we could do it, but it eventually came together and was a nice surprise for him.
We got the other kids involved because it's always a fun idea to do service like this for a family member. We gave Nichole some sheet music for "La Vie en Rose" so she could serenade him on the violin while he ate. She and Jr. Jr. and Lucky all colored papers to look like French flags which we hung up along with Christmas lights. We also added to the atmosphere with a YouTube video of Paris ambience. There was a carousel with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Jr. didn't realize what we were doing cooking in the kitchen all day (Jeremy did most of the work. My hero). It was June 13, Kitchen Klutzes of America Day. Good thing we were making French food.
The other kids knew what was happening but only let on that we were doing something for the library Summer Reading Program (not a lie- we were able to use what we did for one or two of the library activities, even if it wasn't specifically the reason we did it). The boys stayed back in their room playing on Jr.'s device while we finished up preparations. Then we told everyone to get dressed up in their church clothes, Jr. thinking we were still just doing something for a library activity. Bwah ha ha.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky brought Jr. out to where we greeted him and brought him to his seat. Nichole was right there playing "La Vie en Rose" and various other pieces for him.

And he got his five course meal. He ate just a little bit of each (Jeremy commented how he had given him American size portions so it wasn't surprising that he didn't eat everything) with the boys running in to check on him every few minutes to take away one plate and bring him another. They were having a blast. Jet did well, too, not being the center of attention for once. Jr. Jr. did entertain him and I think he was also entertained just watching everyone run around.

Here's how the meal went:
Appetizer: Escargot. Yes, we did. Jeremy found canned snails at Walmart and learned how to prepare them (with a lot of butter and garlic and herbs). We decided not to order shells to put them in, which worked fine because of the brioche bread that turned into a crouton with each snail.

Soup or salad: Salade niçoise with lettuce, egg, tuna, potatoes, green beans, and olives (Jeremy forgot to put the tomatoes on. Shhh. Jr. didn't know).

Main course: Poulet au cidre. Chicken with onions and apples in apple cider with rice pilaf on the side.

Bread and cheese: Homemade french bread/baguette with Boursin cheese.

Dessert: Chocolate mousse.

It turned out well. Jr. appreciated it and was definitely surprised when we served him escargot. He had to ask a couple times if we were serious when we told him they were actual snails.
He also had to deal with us doing things a little more informally (just a little) with the boys running around and me snapping pictures all over the place. "Souvenir photo, monsieur?"
We may have been informal, but Jr. took it pretty seriously and he was so polite. He knew so much more than we did. They had gone over etiquette in his class and so he knew how the place setting should have been. He also let his brothers know how to tell if he was done with a course or if he was just pausing. He also knew how to eat his bread with a fork (I had no idea. My son is so cool).

At the end, I also wanted to get a picture of "the staff."

It was a really good evening. There were plenty of leftovers (including escargot- go figure. Some of us did eat a whole snail each. Not bad. Just don't think too much about what it really is).

 This is me thinking too much about it even before I took a bite.

Thanks to all the family members who helped to make this a neat experience for Jr.
And thanks to his teacher who helped us figure out how to put something like this together. "Merci, Madame Snell."

Who?

Fireflies!

Mom: Everybody say "Fireflies!"

Most of the kids: Fireflies!

Lucky: Where?

Years ago we heard that there are fireflies in Utah! Being a Western states girl, I'd never seen fireflies because I assumed you only found them farther East. We found out that every year for a short period of time there are places in Utah that have fireflies. BYU has even done studies on fireflies in Utah. Look it up.
So for years we've been wanting to see fireflies. Well, this year, it worked out. As a family we went down to a little place where we were able to stand next to a field with fireflies. Hooray! That was a cool experience.

To me, their lights going on and off look like sparks from a campfire. No wonder they are called fireflies. It was sooooo cool.

You may or may not be able to see the tiny little lights in these pictures. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

We couldn't stop singing songs from Ray the firefly in The Princess and the Frog.
The kids also had fun watching bats flying around eating mosquitoes.
It was a neat family experience. And we were able to count the experience for a Summer Reading badge.

Summer Reading

Library Summer reading programs are underway.
Orem Library had a virtual kickoff event this year (obviously). We were able to watch the event on Facebook that introduced the theme of "Around the World in 8 Weeks," including the traditional puppet show. Jet loves puppets.

Provo Library is doing their program virtually and their theme is "Imagine Your Story" so there has been a lot of fairy tale and folk tale type activities such as #provostorytrails where we go out for walks at local parks where they have parts of a story on signs along the trail. That way we get exercise and a story at the same time. So far we've read "The Elves and the Shoemaker," "The Nightingale," and a local story called "The Story of Utahna and Red Eagle."

Here are some of the other things we've done so far:
Make up your own recipe. Jeremy made enchiladas with his own sauce for himself and me.

Bake a treat for someone. Jr. and Nichole made cinnamon rolls for the family. I made chocolate depression cake, a recipe from Budget Bytes, and added fresh cut strawberries on top of mine.

Build a castle out of LEGOs. Lucky's had hidden gold inside.

Take home activities. We made a hot air balloon and passport.

We celebrated Australia Picnic Day (a couple months early) with a water balloon fight and egg on spoon races.

We've also had plenty of fun singing songs and reading books. We even listened to a Hungarian song about Winnie-the-Pooh or Micimackó as they call him in Hungary. And we do more fun things every day.