March Celebrations Catchup

March 1 was Share a Smile Day. I texted a picture of Jet smiling to several people.

It was also Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, National Pig Day, and Dadgum That’s Good Day. I had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Jr. made pigs in a blanket for dinner and after taking a bite, Jeremy exclaimed, “Dadgum, that’s good!”

March 2 was Dr. Seuss’ Birthday. Green eggs and ham for dinner. I also wanted to try out a new recipe- homemade English muffins. I got the recipe from budgetbytes.com While in the middle of preparing the dough, Jet wanted to be held so I had to get creative.

We also had several Dr. Seuss books checked out from the library and a few days before, Jeremy built Dr. Seuss characters for the Fillmore Library.

March 3 was National Cold Cuts Day. We ate ham sandwiches. We also had soup and "slow cooker stuffed apples" from Budget Bytes.

 
March 4 was National Dance the Waltz Day. It was also National Marching Music Day. So I hummed “Stars and Stripes Forever” in 3/4 time and waltzed with Jet to it. 

Nichole and Jr. had another concert. Jeremy went to this one. I was saying how nice Nichole got all her concerts and festivals out of the way before the schools were closed down. Well, most of them. They are supposed to have their last concert in May. I'm guessing that won't happen.

March 6 was Oreo Day and National Frozen Food Day. We made pizza and used pepperoni and mozzarella cheese from the freezer. Then we had Oreos for dessert and sang the Weird Al song, “The White Stuff.”

 
March 7 was National Cereal Day. I don’t have pictures but we made sure to eat cheese and pickle sandwiches to celebrate.
March 9 was National Meatball Day. I tried Swedish Meatball Pasta.
March 14 was Pi Day. We ate impossible cheeseburger pie and chocolate pudding pie. It was also National Children’s Craft Day so I made sure to take a picture of Nichole working on her latest craft- a latch hook rug.

March 15 was the Ides of March. Jr. made us orange juliuses.

March 16 was National Artichoke Hearts Day. We made chicken alfredo pizza with artichoke hearts and spinach. Yumm.

March 17 was St. Patrick’s Day. Apparently the leprechaun got an early start on mischief the day before. Lucky and Jr. Jr. kept going around to different places in the house and noticed items being out of place and talked about how it must have been the leprechaun who did it. The next morning, they noticed even more points of mischief. The leprechaun got out a bunch of green items- fabric, dishes, seasoning containers, a ball. And turned our milk green again.

For dinner, I tried a couple new recipes from websites I’d been looking at. I made Cheesy Cottage Pie from budgetbytes.com and Irish Brown Soda Bread from ourbestbites.com. To celebrate his first St. Patrick’s Day, Jet leaked out of every green outfit I put him in.

 
March 18 was Sloppy Joe Day. Nichole directed me to a sloppy joe recipe in a book we have checked out of the library, The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner. That’s what we used.
March 19 was the first day of Spring. That evening as we were sitting around as a family, Nichole asked when the Equinox was. I told her it was "today." All of a sudden the kids started calling out that the kitchen window was open. Oh no! Nichole quickly went and closed it. Now, if you don't know, that is a reference to the Fablehaven series. There is a part in the first book when it's the Summer Solstice and the kids in the book are told not to open or even look out the window. All the solstices and equinoxes are like that when the boundaries of the magical preserve are weakened and let the things of the night roam free.
March 20 was National Snowman Burning Day. We made snowman sandwiches. We hadn't had those in a long time.

We had different levels of raisin likers and that was reflected in the sandwich decorating.

March 21 was National Corn Dog Day. I made corn bread muffins and put pieces of hot dogs in them before baking them. 

March 21 was also National French Bread Day. I tried out a new recipe (as I do) for making french bread using The Food Nanny's french baguette recipe from thefoodnanny.com.
March 22 was National Goof Off Day. 'Nuff said.
March 23 was National Chip and Dip Day. I made bean dip (not 7 layers) and homemade tortilla chips (tortilla chips idea from Budget Bytes). Yumm.

March 24 was International Waffle Day. We had waffles (of course) with a new recipe- chocolate gravy from hillbillyhousewife.com We also listened to Weird Al's song, "Waffle King."

March 26 was National Spinach Day. We ate salad with spinach in it.
March 27 was the anniversary of the premiere of Singin' in the Rain. Since it was Friday and the kids didn't have school the next morning, you better believe we watched that movie.  

March 28 was Black Forest Cake Day. I tend to save candy for special occasions like this.

Woohoo. March celebrations. See how much you can celebrate even while social distancing?

Joy Is...

Listening to your children burst into song at the dinner table.

Joy is also recognizing that they know all the words to "Moses supposes his toeses are roses..." from Singin' in the Rain.

Singin' and Dancin' in the Rain

March 27 was the anniversary of the New York premiere of the movie, Singin' in the Rain.
Appropriately, it rained that day.  There was singing in the rain, there was dancing in the rain, there was hot chocolate drinking while watching the movie, Singin' in the Rain.

After taking several pictures of Lucky making cute faces while bundled up in the comforter after coming in from the rain, he informed me that he would like to just watch the movie so he wanted me to stop taking pictures.  So cute.

A Celebration-Filled Rough Week

It's been a rough week.  A celebration-filled rough week.
Yes, we've celebrated.  No, I haven't blogged.  I've been taking care of a sick baby all week and I'm exhausted and haven't felt up to blogging. 
I'm also feeling over-emotional, so much so that I broke down in tears in the middle of teaching Sharing Time in Primary today.  Yeah, those poor kids.  I certainly got their attention, though, even from the ones who weren't paying attention before.
It's been a rough week.
On the happy side, after we celebrated International Waffle Day, Thursday, March 26 was Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.  The kids made up holidays, but we didn't have time to celebrate much.  Nichole's was "Make a YouTube Video Day."  Sorry we didn't get to that, Nichole.  We'll try another time.
Jr.'s was "Minecraft Day."  They did play that.
I don't remember what Jr. Jr.'s was or if he really had one.
Mine was "Celebration of the Baby Not Throwing Up The Whole Day."  I picked that one in the morning and was really hoping I'd get to celebrate it.  Fortunately I did.  Unfortunately he had other troubles instead of throwing up that day.
Friday, March 27, was the anniversary of when Singin' in the Rain premiered.  I thought that after the again rough day, we'd all get to sit down and relax watching that movie together.  The kids watched it but I didn't get a chance to relax and watch it.  I listened to it in the other room as I made dinner.  Sigh.  I'm glad the kids enjoyed it, though.
Saturday, March 28, was Something on a Stick Day.  Skipping our traditional homemade corn dogs because I had a baptism to go to, we had different food when I got home because the family of the girl who was baptized sent me home with a bunch.  They knew I had sick kids at home and that my husband was home taking care of them.  Such sweet people. 
Then Nichole and I went to the church building to watch the General Women's Meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was the first time that Nichole and I were able to go together.  Last time we watched on the computer at home and the time before that, Nichole had a dance show the same evening.  There's something special about that mother-daughter time watching an important broadcast together at the church building away from the distractions of home.  The theme of this broadcast was all about family.  I loved it.

Since I also didn't get around to making a treat for when we got home, Nichole and I stopped by the grocery store (it was fun to see so many women at the grocery store wearing dresses or skirts).  Nichole got to pick out our treat, something on a stick.  She picked orange dream bars and there were enough in the box to share with the family when we got home.

I'm so grateful for so many things.  I'm grateful for that one on one time with my daughter.  I'm grateful that Lucky is feeling better today.  I'm grateful for my testimony of family.  I'm grateful for my calling in Church.  I'm grateful that through all the trouble this week, I have a Savior who knows what I'm going through, and who can give the comfort I need through the Holy Ghost and other people.  I'm grateful for the 11-year old girl who came up to me after my meltdown on her way to class this morning and told me that she appreciated my testimony.  I'm grateful that our family was able to do some celebrating this week.  I'm grateful that the weather wasn't cold, so the baby could get away with just wearing a diaper for four days straight (a tiny bit less laundry that way).  And I'm grateful that Lucky, who was sick all week, still kept his sense of humor.

I am grateful for so much more that I'm thinking about but not listing right now. 
I have so much to be grateful for and I am grateful.

Do Me A Favor

Mommy:  Do me a favor today, o.k.?
Nichole and Jr.:  What?
Mommy:  While you're outside or going to and from school, do some singing and dancing in the rain for me... since today is the anniversary of when "Singing in the Rain" premiered.
Nichole and Jr.:  O.K.

And they did.  Jeremy and Jr. really got into it on the way to school.  Nichole informed me as soon as she came home that she had done some singing and dancing in the rain.

What great kids.

And of course we thought ahead and checked the movie out of the library this year so the kids could watch it.  Since we only had one small umbrella which Jr. used, Jeremy made a couple more out of balloons for Jr. Jr. and Nichole to dance with.  And they danced.  They all jumped up to dance during that particular dance sequence.

What great kids.

I'm so glad it rained today.

I Finally Opened an Umbrella Indoors

I mentioned on National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day that I might open an umbrella on the anniversary of when Singing in the Rain premiered in New York.  That's what today is, March 27.
And that's what I did this morning before the kids went to school.  I pranced around our living room singing and dancing in the... well, singing that song anyway.

I didn't plan well enough ahead and we didn't have time to go to the library today to check out the movie so we didn't watch Singing in the Rain.  But I sang the song.  I did.
Then Jeremy and the older kids and I had a tickle fight.  That was fun.
It was a good start to the day.