Hobbit Days

September 22 was Hobbit Day. But the fun began before that day.

Nichole and Jr. did a program with the Orem Library where they read the book, "The Hobbit," which earned them a hobbit button and entries into prize drawings. They got to go to a "Party in the Shire" where they played games and did other activities to earn rings. Jr. won a prize drawing- a pack of Lord of the Rings playing cards.

Jr. Jr. and Lucky went to a similar event for their age group where they played games, did crafts, ate snacks, and also got rings.

 

On Hobbit Day itself, I shared some pictures on Instagram of an art project Nichole did out of one of The Lord of the Rings books. It is the journey of the fellowship of the ring.

By the way, this year is the 10th anniversary of Balloon Bag End, when Jeremy built Bilbo Baggins' hobbit hole out of balloons in our living room. Wow. A lot has happened with balloons since then. Balloon Bag End itself got a lot of notice. Jeremy did lots of interviews from places around the world. Ripley's Believe It or Not showed a picture of Balloon Bag End as a two-page spread in the book, "Dare to Believe." Lots of neat things.

When Balloon Twisters Get Angry

Remember this guy?

I mentioned back in May that Jeremy made this costume and wore it while chasing our son around the Spanish Fork Library.
Well, in honor of Stan Lee's birthday, December 28, you can now see him chasing Jr. Jr. around in a new youtube video on Balloon Guy Entertainment's channel. 
And while you're there, watch "Balloon Bag End" again.  Did you know pictures of Balloon Bag End made it into Ripley's Believe It or Not book, "Dare to Look"?  Yep.  You should "dare to look."

Why Are You Crying?

Jeremy:  Do you want me to run over to the grocery store and get some more french bread?

Kristin:  No.  I can use the picture for a blog post.

November 8th has two holidays to combine.  It is Bram Stoker's birthday and it is Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day.  Like last year, I decided to celebrate by making garlic bread to go with our dinner.

While the garlic bread was in the oven, I decided to drain the spaghetti noodles I'd been cooking.  Unfortunately, I placed my finger in the wrong spot while holding the colander so when I poured the noodles and water in, the hot water went right through the holes onto my finger.  So as I tried to hold the pot and the colander with one hand and run cold water from the sink on the finger of my other hand and call Jeremy in to take the pot and colander, the garlic bread spent too much time in the oven and burned. 
When I opened the oven, smoke was coming out so I tried to call Jeremy to push the mute button on the smoke detector so it wouldn't beep beep beep at us, but I couldn't remember what the smoke detector was called so I burst into tears.
To go along with all of this, I have a cold, and there has been some excitement going on around here with the attention Balloon Bag End has been getting lately.  It's good stress.
So when the kids came in and asked, "Why are you crying?" I explained everything that was going on to them then summarized, "Hormones, pain, illness, and stress.  It can all be categorized into stress."

And guess what.  Nobody complained about the burnt garlic bread.

Balloon Bag End

No more sneak peeks.  It is done.  Balloon Bag End. 
Jeremy built a room from Bag End from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" out of balloons.  It took up most of our living room and took 3 days to build.  It stayed up for a couple days then was demolished by our family in a couple more.
Jeremy and I had been working on putting together a time lapse video of it, and we finally finished.  Phew.
So here you go.

I Did Miss It

Well, I missed it.  Yesterday was my first day not posting something on this blog since the end of August (that's right.  Every day in September.  And half of October.  Woohoo).  But I had good reason.

This was me yesterday.

 
All day long.

Except for a few breaks, in the morning getting the kids ready for school, and Jr. Jr. had a pediatrician appointment.  I did get to sit down with the family for dinner.  I also needed adult conversation every once in a while.

It's just another sneak peek for you.

Last night after the older kids went to bed, we found Jr. Jr. like this.

Yep, children do learn by watching adults.

Sneak Peek

I mentioned Jeremy had BIG plans for celebrating this week.  This is why we didn't celebrate much for Hobbit Day.

Out of balloons, Jeremy built a room from Bag End (Bilbo Baggins' home from The Hobbit) in our living room.  It took him about three days to build and was displayed for about two after that.
Above is a sneak peek picture.
You can find another on my post about Happy Goose Day 2012.
More will be revealed later.  Bwah ha ha ha.