Now It Is Fall!

September 22 was Hobbit Day. Jr. played LEGO Hobbit.

I wore my bow earrings to celebrate my sister's birthday.

The Autumnal Equinox/First Day of Fall was also on September 22. We didn't do anything except mention it.

The next day, however, Jet and I went for a drive up Kyhv Peak Road to see the beautiful Fall colors.

Gorgeous.

That day, September 23, was Great American Pot Pie Day. I made chicken pot pie and for Family Home Evening on National Family Day (also on the 23rd) we played Pictionary drawing by mouse on the computer.

Guess what the word was for this picture:

 

I yelled out, "Trogdor!" then calmly said, "Dragon," to get it right.

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.

First Day of Fall

First Day of Fall on September 22 was a perfect day for apple crisp topped with ice cream.

This instant pot treat came from a Six Sisters' Stuff recipe.

Since September 22 was also Hobbit Day, we listened to music from "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" movies.

First Day of Fall

Everybody say, "First Day of Fall!"

September 22 was the Autumnal Equinox. I had Jeremy close the windows the night before... just in case.

It rained the morning of the Equinox. Ah, fresh. Jet and I went for a drive up Provo Canyon.

After school we drove up to Cascade Springs as a family, enjoying the Fall colors.

I commented to Jeremy recently how I'm not missing the Fall colors this year. I've been out so much in nature lately. I love it.

 

What a nice baby brother holding his sister's homework.

 

Jr. Jr. saw a few places where he wanted to get videos of me juggling. I love that he wanted to do that.

"You can't see me."

 

We all brought face masks and ended up using them. It wasn't too too crowded but there were enough people we passed and the paths are narrower than some places where it's easier to just keep to the side and turn your head. It worked out.

It was so pleasant. I love getting out in nature with my family.

 

We stopped at Deer Creek Overlook briefly so I could get a few pictures of a view you might imagine in a Tolkien novel. September 22 is Hobbit Day after all.

 

On the drive up, I commented to Jeremy that what I really wanted on this drive was to see moose. On the drive back down there were a few cars stopped on the road at one point and Jeremy called out that they were stopped because of the moose running along the side just down below us. They came up and crossed the road in front of us. Woohoo! We got some horrible pictures but I got to see moose like I wanted!

For a while on the drive down I kept exclaiming how excited I was to see the "meese," which sparked a little conversation about plurals of certain words. Goose geese. Moose moose. Mongoose mongooses. Octopus octopi or octopuses (either one is correct).

On the drive down Jeremy also told us a Jackerina story about the leaves on trees producing spores that make the Telford family sleepy. Jackerina called the North wind to help blow the leaves off the trees and when it got dark, the leaves couldn't photosynthesize and went to sleep. Yay! We were saved once again.

 

When we got home, we had caramel apple cider, a recipe I got from Stephanie O'Dea's slow cooker website, ayearofslowcooking.com

Mmmmm. Fall.

Catching Up on the Last Five Months- 5

Let's talk about September.

September 1 was Johann Pachelbel's birthday, so we listened to Pachelbel's Canon.

Jeremy was still out of town at his fair during Labor Day weekend so Saturday the kids and I packed up and went to Idaho to spend the weekend with him.  Since he was in the same city our friends live, the kids and I visited with them Saturday evening, stayed overnight in the motel with Jeremy, then we all went to church with our friends on Sunday.  We also spent time going on a walk with our friends and playing games.

Nichole needed to get violin practice in since she is doing a 100 days challenge (practice every day for 100 days straight) so our friends let her play at their house.

Monday, Jeremy went back to work and the kids and I drove back to Utah.  That was a nice weekend.

When Jeremy got back from his fair, we surprised him with a belated Father's Day gift since June was so crazy, we didn't do anything but go to church with him that day.
We got him a new bowl and had the kids trace around their hands to replace his old bowl from Christmas 2015.  After time the hands had faded and one day while we were doing dishes the bowl slipped and broke.  He was happy with his replacement.

September 4 was Eat an Extra Dessert Day... so we did.

September 6 was Read a Book Day.  We definitely did.
September 18 was National Cheeseburger Day.  We ate cheeseburgers.

September 19 was Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Sadly, we missed our tradition of dressing up in a balloon pirate costume and handing out balloon swords at Thanksgiving Point this year.  Sigh.  It just didn't work out.
We did eat pirate-themed food for dinner, though.  We had pirate map pizza, goldfish crackers, chocolate cannon balls, pretzel peg legs, root beer barrels, golden nuggets and chocolate coins, and orange juice to ward off scurvy.

September 20 was National Punch Day.  I made sure the kids had Tropical Punch Kool-Aid Jammers in their lunches.

September 22 was the Autumnal Equinox.  Our family got out in nature for HawkWatch migration day at Squaw Peak.  We didn't make it over to Strawberry Reservoir to see the salmon this year.  But we did make fluffernutter sandwiches to eat.  We'd been wanting to so we finally did.  The round about way to rationalize it is that in the Fablehaven series, there is a character who makes another character a fluffernutter sandwich.  Magic boundaries are changed a bit on solstices and equinoxes so... why not have fluffernutter sandwiches on the equinox.

After spending all morning at Squaw Peak with other birders, Jeremy and I took a tip from one of them and went to see a new life bird- long-eared owl.  That bird is long, not just its ears.

Earlier that morning I told Jr. Jr. that there is a myth that on the Autumnal Equinox, you can stand an egg on its end without it falling over.  Then I demonstrated.

Jr. Jr. and I decided to balance like an egg, too.

That afternoon, I tried to show the other kids but it wouldn't work.  So apparently at only certain times on the equinox can you stand an egg up on its end.  Hmm.

September 22 is also Hobbit Day, so that night, Nichole started watching the first of the Hobbit movies with Jeremy and me.

 
September 27 was Crush a Can Day.  I did.

September 29 was Happy Goose Day.  It made me a happy goose to go on a date with Jeremy to see birds up at Squaw Peak then hike a bit in the Fall colors at Big Springs.

In September, I also got to go to another girls' night and see some friends back in Pleasant Grove I hadn't seen in a while.  That was nice.

Lucky and I had some bonding time at a park then he and ZZ had some bonding time.

The Orem Library had a Chinese Moon Festival the kids and I went to.  They had activities and had a live video chat with a NASA scientist.  Lucky even got to ask a question, "Is the moon hot or cold?" which the scientist answered.  At the end when the moon came up, we each got to see it through a telescope.

And here we go again.  "Mom, may I make brownies?"  But Nichole can't just make brownies, she also has to decorate them.  She used a toothpick to draw a picture of a dragon from a book she's read.

That girl loves dragons.  Youth activity- dragons.

And when Jr. had scouts (where he received his Webelos and Arrow of Light awards), Nichole helped him with the activity where they were making superhero capes.

Nichole is not the only creative one.  This is what happens when Jr. does dishes.

I knew I had plenty to talk about September.

I'll catch up on October later.