Screen Free Week 2024

I did a good job again this year and scheduled posts to be published during Screen Free Week.

Now it's time to tell you what we did during Screen Free Week, May 6-12.

 

May 6 was International No Diet Day and National Beverage Day so we had chicken nuggets, fries, and root beer floats. Lucky and Jet had fun blowing bubbles in their drinks. We gave Jet water in a cup like we used. 

It was also No Homework Day but shhh, the kids didn't need to know that.

The kids did use computers for school work. It's kind of necessary nowadays. And Jeremy and I had some work stuff to do as well. But it was nice not having the TV on and no video games. Jet didn't even ask for TV all week.   

 

Jr. Jr. had his last orchestra concert. Good job, Jr. Jr.

May 8 was Have a Coke Day. We learned that any soft drink in the South is called Coke. So we all got to pick our soda pop (I picked Caffeine Free Coca Cola) and had them in our Coca Cola cups.

 

Lucky helped out with a service project with other children in the stake. They also decorated Mother's Day cards. Awwwww.

We celebrated our anniversary. On our actual anniversary we had our traditional anniversary dinner with the kids. Another day that week, Jeremy and I celebrated our anniversary with the two of us. We didn't even have to wait three months like last year. I'll tell you about the way we celebrated in a separate post.

We love each other.

 

And the random:

Who needs screens when Bluey and Bingo can go for a ride on a dinosaur?

Making faces with Daddy.

Just a duck walking down the sidewalk at the high school. I took Jr. early one day for an AP test and there it was just waddling along.

Dinos with Daddy.

It's tradition. Jeremy has his little things he does with his kids. Jet and Daddy share a big cup each using their own straw. That's their thing. 

Spontaneous dance party.

Big helper Jet. He saw me cleaning off the table so he poured water out from his water bottle then wiped it up to help.

He also helped make buns to go with Classic Meatball Subs (with homemade meatballs) and Addictive Veggie Dip. We're still getting use out of A Season of Family Meal Plans by Jordan Page.

I also took a moment one day to drive down to the river and just relax. As soon as I turned off the van, I could hear yellow warblers. There were several and it was so nice to hear them. 

Several people saw the Northern Lights Friday of that week. We didn't realize because... Screen Free Week. We tried going out Saturday night but didn't see anything. It was cloudy but had some clear spots so we did get to see some constellations since we drove out to Bridal Veil Falls then Deer Creek Reservoir. Ah, nature.

It's the Big Dipper (try clicking on the picture to make it bigger).

We explained this trip out in the middle of the night was like birding. Sometimes you go looking for a specific bird (or atmospheric condition or celestial event) and you don't see it but you enjoy the adventure.

And family history- we were able to tell the kids about the time Jeremy and I saw the Northern Lights when we were visiting my sister in Idaho (like 20 years ago).

O.K. That's all I'm going to say about Screen Free Week in this post. I'll talk about celebrating our anniversary and Mother's Day later.

Cars, Water, Cars, Water

On John James Audubon's Birthday (also known as National Audubon Day) on April 26, Jet and I went out for a walk by the Provo River. We saw some ducks and I saw an American dipper. I love seeing dippers dipping in the water.

At one point we crossed a bridge where there was a barrier between the walking part of the bridge and the driving part. I lifted Jet so he could see the water in the river and he immediately got excited when he could see the cars going by. So we took some time looking back and forth between the cars and the water. Cars, water, cars, water.

A few days later, Jet and I went to the BYU botany pond. I haven't been there for many years, not since they made it the "botany pond." I used to pass it all the time when there was just a duck pond there when I was in college. 

Jet loved seeing the ducks and ducklings and the fence around the pond is the perfect height for a toddler. I saw Jet turning around at one point saying, "Cars, water, cars, water." I realized it was because we were between the pond and the street and he remembered from before. I thought that was pretty cute.

Back to Audubon Day, April 26 was also National Pretzel Day. Jeremy and I made soft pretzels after the kids went to bed (except Jr. Jr. made one pretzel because Jet kept running back to their room so Jr. Jr. kept bringing him back out). Jet of course helped with the dough. He is my baking buddy.

Some of the kids also had crunchy mini pretzels for after school snack.

The next day, April 27, was Babe Ruth Day so we had Baby Ruths after school.