Other September thins

Other things we did in September:

 

More Walks-

alone (or with the birds)

with Jet (he still really likes to ride in the stroller)

 

Can I just say what a gorgeous place we live in? It is a treat just to walk outside and look at our mountains.

 

FHE fun-

Jeremy's been trying to come up with ideas that are not the usual ideas for Family Home Evening activities. We did the glow stick story back in August. In September, we played "Keepy Uppy." We even put on the accompanying music and had fun. If you don't know, "Keepy Uppy" is a game the family played in an episode of Bluey. We even turned on a fan and added more and more balloons to our game. It was fun.

 

Creativity continues to happen.

I thought I was being nice one morning and made scrambled eggs and got out cheese and tortillas for making breakfast burritos. I even made a sign that said, "Go for it. Enjoy! (Love) Mom," with an arrow pointing toward the burrito fixings. 

Someone thought it would be funny to move the sign so it was pointing at the chocolate chip banana muffins that were in a different spot on the table. "Go for it? Enjoy? Oh, thanks, Mom." 

I agree it was funny. Points for creativity. Of course I was fine with them eating some muffins with their breakfast burritos. I love this family! 

 

One evening I was having a rough time and I needed to take my young men to a fireside at the stake center. I decided to stay for the fireside instead of just dropping them off and I'm glad I did. I needed the extra little spiritual uplift that night and sharing it with my boys was nice. I love my children so much.

Lots of reading. Jet likes it when Daddy reads to him.

 

Dress Up! 

Looking like Mommy? Or a ghost? Boo!

The Next Few Days

The day after our van and we had issues in Southern Utah, we went to church when a sister came up to me before church started and asked, "What's the holiday today?" I love that we're known for that. I let her know that September 21 was the anniversary of when Joseph Smith saw Angel Moroni who told him about the Book of Mormon. And it is also H.G. Wells' birthday. Then we chatted about Fall (since September 22 was the first day of Fall) and the Fall colors.

At home after church, I went around singing, "Do you remember the 21st night of September?" 

Jeremy and I took a big nap after our long day the day before.

Besides being the Autumnal Equinox, September 22 was Hobbit Day so I listened to Hobbit music.

We didn't have time to go out for a drive to look at Fall colors so there was a lot of just hanging out.

 

 Then as you know, I got sick a few days later, so that was the end of celebrating September.

A Little September Catching Up

September!

September 1 was Johann Pachelbel's Birthday. I watched something with Pachelbel's Canon playing in the background.

It was also Labor Day so I got a selfie with the American flag. 

September 3 was Skyscraper Day. Nichole very obligingly took a picture of a 10 story building near where she was for me because I wasn't going to get out to see anything taller. 

 

September 4 was National Wildlife Day. I took some time for myself to go for a drive and a little walk to see some Fall colors starting to turn and to look for birds. I saw some birds (nothing exciting), a squirrel, and lots of yellow jackets.

 

September 5 was Lazy Mom's Day. I tried to be lazy. I only succeeded a little. I decided to let myself sit down and watch a movie but of course I fell asleep during it. This was in the morning after the boys were off to school. I'm usually awake in the morning. Then again, I'm usually moving around and not being lazy in the morning.

Friends Helping Friends

September 19 was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Often we'll do pirate themed food but we didn't this year. Instead my friend, Stephanie, and I got together to make a meal. I supplied ingredients for making an Instant Pot dish, my go to honey garlic chicken from sixsistersstuff.com because she wasn't as familiar with using the Instant Pot as I am so I wanted to teach her. She supplied ingredients for making cauliflower rice. 

So we each learned a new recipe, had great bonding time together, and each went away with a meal for our families.

 

I did celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day by putting on some Monkey Island music.

 

September 19 was also Slimey the Worm's Birthday. This is how Jr. celebrated when I reminded him who Slimey the Worm was. 

Jr.: Oh, I love trash. I love you, Mom.

Then he realized what he said and corrected himself.

Jr.: AND I love you, Mom. AND I love you.

 

September 20 was Pepperoni Pizza Day, String Cheese Day, and Fried Rice Day. We didn't have string cheese but had shredded mozzarella cheese (string cheese is usually made of mozzarella cheese) which we put in the pizza crust. For the fried rice, I threw together whatever stuff in it. We had lots of frozen corn that needed to be used, etc. #shelftember

Do you remember... the 21st night of September? I went around singing that song that day.

Shelftember

As has become tradition the last few years, each September I join with Jordan Page and many others to participate in Shelftember. Shopping with a limited grocery budget, more shelf cooking, saving money.

The question for me this year was:

Kristin, can you celebrate September holidays AND follow A Season of Family Meal Plans AND still do Shelftember?

The answer:

Yes. Yes, I can. And I did. The whole point of shelf cooking is using what you have which is what Shelftember is also about. Start with what you have. Those cookbooks give ideas for substitutes and I can change things around to have it work for me.

For example, September 2 was Blueberry Popsicle Day. We didn't have blueberry popsicles. We pulled blueberries out of the freezer to have with dinner (with yogurt) then had Otter Pops after dinner. Blueberries and popsicles. We like creativity in celebrating. Shelf cooking is the same way.

The meal for that day in A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, was Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken and Crispy Italian Potatoes. We had meat from a Costco rotisserie chicken that we got a few days before (no need to cook our own), used russet potatoes instead of red potatoes, and rounded out the meal by making garlic bread out of a homemade baguette that had been sitting in the fridge for a while, cutting up apples, and having that yogurt and blueberries I mentioned earlier. 

Jet was once again my kitchen helper. He liked shaking up the bag in order to season the potatoes.

Success. I did this all month long, getting things like produce and milk from the store, but saving a lot of money because I also stuck to my list. My mantra going through the store: Not on the list. Not gonna get it.

I absolutely skipped out on things I normally would have gotten. I did have to buy a 25 pound bag of flour toward the end because we were making so much bread, rolls, buns, cookies, brownies, instead of buying them. A 25 pound bag of flour doesn't cost too much, though, so we still saved money.

I really do like participating in Shelftember every year.

On a different note, September 2 was also Labor Day so I made sure to grab a selfie with the American flag which has also become tradition.

Some More September Catching Up

September 17 was Monte Cristo Day. Of course we made Monte Cristo sandwiches. 

Jeremy even decided to "count the Monte Cristo." Get it?

Twice now we've done Monte Cristo Day during Shelftember where I have gone out and bought raspberry jam (you have to have raspberry jam for Monte Cristo sandwiches). One of these years I'm going to buy it in August so I can say I'm really keeping to Shelftember by already having it on my shelf. Tee Hee.

 

September 19 was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Lucky and I went over to the Orem Library and picked up some pirate themed movies and books. For dinner we had squid pups, carrot hooks, carrot pieces of eight, something red and sticky, oranges to avoid scurvy, some bread, and ocean blue colored flavored sugar water.

 

The 21st night of September, Jeremy and the boys watched videos with Earth, Wind & Fire's music, "September." 

 

September 23 was the first day of Fall this year. I love Fall.

On National Family Day, September 25, we went to another event at the Orem Library. We saw friends there that we had dinner at their house the night before. Jeremy came in a bit late (work) then he and I took turns listening to the music and wrangling Jet out in the hall. Love that kid.

 

September 26 was National Pancake Day. It was also Johnny Appleseed Day (one of a couple in the year) so we had pancakes and apple cider.

 

September 27 was National Chocolate Milk Day so we had chocolate milk with our dinner.

 

Lucky had a presentation about Sevier County in Utah. I told him I went to that county specifically for birding last year. He told me that the inventor of the frisbee was from that county.

Another time, he made a salt dough map of Utah. Way to go, Lucky.

 

Jr. Jr. had his first public performance for orchestra. At parent teacher conferences the beginning orchestra showed some things they'd been working on then afterward, the students were able to teach those that came to support them how to hold a bow correctly. Way to go, Jr. Jr.

Some September Catching Up

September 1 was Lazy Mom's Day. I was sick so I kinda took the day off, lying on the couch all day except when I had to take or pick up kids from busses. We missed a wedding reception that night and I missed out on a birding field trip the next morning. Jeremy went on the field trip at least.

 

Nichole came home for Labor Day, September 4, so I had her help with the American flag selfie that day.

Jr. and Jr. Jr. got up early with other young men to help set up flags in the neighborhood. It was cold and wet that morning so they warmed themselves up with hot chocolate when they got home.

The next night, Nichole went with some of us to watch a storyteller at the Orem Library. I love library events.

September 6 was National Read a Book Day. I started reading Fleur-de-Lis by Sarah M. Eden that day with swag I won in that contest a few months before. Good book.

Nichole celebrated National Read a Book Day not as happily by reading Animal Farm for a class.

I also combined National Read a Book Day and Shelftember with my Shelf Cooking 101 book by Jordan Page.

Going along with the book theme, I mentioned that Lucky's teacher has a Harry Potter themed classroom. Lucky brought home a Harry Potter snow globe he earned.

On 9/9 it was President Russell M. Nelson's 99th birthday. I went to a Stake Relief Society National Day of Service. 

Besides service activities, they had a luncheon. The bottle of water with the food made me think of Elder Allen D. Haynie's talk from April 2023 General Conference, "A Living Prophet for the Latter Days." Read or listen to the talk to understand the water bottle reference and why I squished the water bottle as I did before recycling it. 

On a more serious note, I am grateful to have a living prophet who helps us know what the Lord wants us to know. I have gained so many blessings from following the prophet and of course still have so many things to work on. I know the Lord is pleased that I am trying and that I sustain His prophets and apostles.

 

On a not so serious note, September 11 was Make Your Bed Day. When I told Jr. Jr. to make his bed this was his response. "But Mom, I did. I made it a complete mess." Jet has a habit of taking my made bed and unmaking it. So yes, I did make my bed. It didn't stay made.

We had pigs in a blanket to go along with Make Your Bed Day.

September 11 was also Hot Cross Bun Day. I used a recipe from The Fiction Kitchen Trio Cookbook to make Hot Cross Buns. I was maybe the only one in the family who liked the spice in the buns and I definitely liked them. I keep thinking I need to make them and just freeze some for myself.

And of course since it was 9/11, Jr. Jr. and I got our selfie with the American flag. I also took time to share with Lucky some of my memories of that day in 2001.

 

September 12 was National Chocolate Milkshake Day and Ants on a Log Day.

 

September 13 was the 30th anniversary of when The Animaniacs premiered. Seriously. 30 years. I remember afternoon cartoons. I remember anticipating that new show and then getting a kick out of it when it did premiere. My mom thought it was fun because she got a lot of the references that we didn't get as kids at the time. I got a lot more of the references as the years went on. Great for the whole family. I love that 30 years later, my kids enjoy that show as well. Jet will even ask for it by name. Jeremy and I did some reminiscing about those days on that anniversary.

September 13 was also Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day. I honestly can't remember how much they took over the kitchen that day. I made homemade tortilla chips from corn tortillas. We also made bean dip to go with those chips. It wasn't seven layers because we were shelf cooking for Shelftember- using what we had.

 

September 14 was Eat a Hoagie Day. Homemade buns for Chilly Pheesesteak sandwiches and homemade chili with corn chips we had in our pantry. Yumm.

It was also Parents Day Off but I didn't have time for that. Sigh. I actually took a couple of my boys with a neighbor kid out to practice bike riding.

I'd say that's enough catching up for now.