Some More April Celebrations

April 23 was National Picnic Day. We had picnic foods. Jet was feeling under the weather again so we didn't go out to a park to eat.

I completely forgot to get the potato salad out. Luckily Jeremy remembered when he got home so he was able to have some.

 

April 24 was Arbor Day. My sweetie and I enjoyed taking a picture with the tree in our front yard. I like trees. It's been fun to see the progress from buds to blossoms to leaves on the trees in the area. I don't spend as much time doing that in the Spring. It's usually just all of a sudden there are leaves on the trees.

That day was also Pigs in a Blanket Day. I often make pigs in a blanket on National Pig Day on March 1 because I like to recreate the scene from the Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford song, "Pig Island".

I didn't this year but I wanted to so I took the opportunity on Pigs in a Blanket Day. We had pigs in a blanket, peaches, and blue koolaid. We added some other things and that's okay. It's the thought that counts.

Jet wanted to help out with the pigs in a blanket. Since I was doing them in the air fryer which gets hot, he got to be my taste tester after they came out. 

 

And of course, being the ham that he is, he was very happy when I took a picture of him doing this: 

Have I mentioned I love my family?

Catching Up March 2025 part 1

March 1 was National Pig Day. We had our traditional "Pig Island" dinner. Pigs in a blanket with peaches and blue koolaid. It's based on the Sandra Boynton song, "Pig Island." "They play on the beaches the colors of peaches There by the turquoise sea, oh my, Under a blue blue sky."

 

March 2 was Dr. Seuss' birthday, also known as Read Across America Day. Let me tell you about the cuteness that is my youngest child with Dr. Seuss. Jet wanted to read "Toast and Ham" one day. Most of us know it as Green Eggs and Ham. Anyway, Jet made up his own version and "read it" to me a few times. It was a little different each time. Some here and theres and sharing with the Fox but her is the gist of it:

Hey, that guy stole my paper. Do you like toast and ham? I don't like toast and ham. Do you like it in the house? I don't like it in the house. Do you like it in the car? I don't like it in the car. Do you like it in the dark? I don't like it in the dark. Do you like it in the water? I don't like it in the water. One second. I want toast and ham. Give me it. You want it? Yeah. I want it. I like toast and ham. I like it in the house. Do you like it? I do like it. Thank you very much. The End.

On Dr. Seuss' Birthday, Jet also hopped on Pop.

 

March 3 was National Cold Cuts Day and Soup It Forward Day. Soup and Sandwiches to celebrate.

I'll do some more catching up later.

March Comes In Like a... Pig

March 1 was gentle so it didn't come in like a lion but March 2 we got hail so... draw your own conclusions.

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The Great Airplane Catastrophe

(Part 1 of Lucky's Conclusion)

People screamed from the rooftops as they jumped on the airplanes with a thud, hail scattering around them. They crawled all around the airplanes attacking the windows, throwing rocks at the windows and biting the airplanes' wings. "Those things' teeth must be really strong," said a reporter before getting hit on the head with a chunk of hail. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, I get it. Hail. Acting like pigs. Drawing his own conclusions. Thanks, Lucky. I'm interested in reading Part 2.

Now let's go back to what I was originally going to talk about. March 1 was National Pig Day. I planned a "Pig Island" dinner like we had before. We also listened to Scott Bakula singing the Sandra Boynton/Michael Ford song. 

We also watched the Doctor Who episode, "Aliens of London." That episode has a pig in it. 

March 1 was also Share a Smile Day. We did.

March 2 was Read Across America Day. There was definitely reading going on around us. It was Dr. Seuss' Birthday so we of course ate green eggs and ham.

Celebrating in January

January 4 was National Spaghetti Day. Besides eating spaghetti, we went around singing a song from the Sandra Boynton album, "Philadelphia Chickens." The Aardvarks have a part in their song where they sing, "We hope you like spaghetti." We sang that part a lot that day.

It was also National Trivia Day. I started watching a movie with characters who were good at trivia. Also that's the day I wrote the little tidbit on my blog about Ralphie from A Christmas Story being in Elf (though it wasn't posted until January 6).

 

January 5 was National Bird Day. Nichole and I thought about going birding with friends but decided not to based on the snow. Instead we had them over to play a game and eat treats. There were some bird cards in the game we played. 

Since it was National Whipped Cream Day, I made more "Fairy in a Jar Layered Gelatin Treats" from The Fablehaven Cookbook but this time I followed directions for layering it in a 9x13 pan. Those were the treats we shared with our friends. 

It was good bonding time before Nichole and the daughter both headed back to college after Christmas Break. 

Jeremy and some of the kids celebrated National Bird Day by watching The Big Year. I went to sleep because that's what I do.

We all had skillet chicken parmigiana for dinner because chickens are birds and with leftover spaghetti from Spaghetti Day.

Jr. Jr. wore his chicken legs socks he got for Christmas on National Bird Day.

 

January 8 was Elvis' birthday. It was also a relative's birthday. We asked him what kind of treats he would approve of so we could have on for FHE treat. One of the things he likes is chocolate chip cookies so that's what we had to honor him on his birthday.

And February Began

And here we are to February.

February 1 was World Read Aloud Day. Sandra Boynton has great books to read aloud.

February 2 was Groundhog Day. Since things have been chaotic lately, we didn't have our traditional imitation groundhog burgers and we didn't watch the movie, Groundhog Day. I did wake kids with, "Rise and shine, campers..." and "It's cold out there this morning. It's cold out there every morning. What is this? Miami Beach? Not hardly." We've had a lot of cold temperatures and snow lately so it was appropriate.

 

I wore a red shirt on National Wear Red Day, February 3.

Christmas Eve 2022

We made it to Christmas Eve.

Nichole built our balloon tree frame yesterday and the boys helped her put branches (balloon dogs) on it. Today the kids and Jeremy got some balloon ornaments on it while I slept through The Muppet Christmas Carol. We'll get a star up later (I say as it's bedtime on Christmas Eve).

We also had Christmas Eve dinner and a little Christmas Eve program where we filmed ourselves saying what we'd been up to this year and what we were looking forward to next year. Then we turned off the camera for our last Countdown to Christmas scripture and testimony sharing.

The kids opened pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and put them on. Jet was so excited for his dinosaur jammies. Roar. 

Then he was excited about grabbing his big brother's pajama bottoms and putting them on his head then grabbing his other pajama top and putting it on his legs. It's like the Sandra Boynton book, "Blue Hat, Green Hat," where the turkey keeps putting clothing items on the wrong places. 

So I had the kids stand in front of the tree and say, "Oops." 

Then they smiled and I got that picture. Way to go, kids.

And Merry Christmas to you.

Bonus: I made Parker House Rolls to go with Christmas Eve dinner. The dough was supposed to raise until doubled but it filled a lot of the bowl already when it started so when it finished...

Jr. said they're called Parker House Rolls because they're the size of Parker's house.

Bastille Day 2021

For Bastille Day on July 14, we watched a Sandra Boynton video of a cat singing a song in French about hoping you don't understand French and saying some silly things in that language. So funny.

Yo Yo Ma played cello for it. Michael Ford (who has collaborated with Sandra Boynton quite a bit with her music) played piano. A little bit of accordion was also thrown in by Weird Al Yankovic. Love it.

July 14 is also Mac & Cheese Day. I made some.

It is also Shark Awareness Day so of course I had to dress Jet in some shark clothes. What a cutie. It's that Sharks and Jets thing again.

Pig Island

Sandra Boynton is an author and illustrator who has done some really cute board books for children.  Years and years ago, my mom got us a book and CD of songs by Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford.  It's called "Philadelphia Chickens."  One of the songs is "Pig Island" and on the CD it is sung by Scott Bakula. 
The chorus to "Pig Island" goes like this:
"Pig Island! Pig Island! What a beautiful place to be.  They play on the beaches the color of peaches there by the turquoise sea, oh my, under a blue, blue sky."
Since March 1 is National Pig Day, I made my own culinary interpretation of the scene described in the chorus.

Cute, huh?
Jeremy pointed out that they are "pigs in a beach blanket."
Also cute.

On a related note, February 28 is National Tooth Fairy Day.  So to celebrate both holidays, last night Jeremy and I watched the movie, "Hogfather," based on the Terry Pratchett book.  It has tooth fairies in it and it takes place the night before Hogswatch.  We watched it the night before Pig Day.
Yeah, it's not just the kids that are creative in our family.