My Outside Time Has Changed a Bit

Now that the kids are back in school, I'm not able to get out in the dark with the Christmas lights at the park as easily so morning walks are a bit different.

Yesterday morning after dropping kids off at school, I went for a short walk around Riverview Park. The sun was shining nicely on the river so I of course had to go take a look (and a couple of pictures).

I got this picture then all of a sudden I saw a great blue heron flying along the river and into the trees farther downstream. How cool. I didn't even realize it was there but when I looked very closely and zoomed in a lot on my picture, I could see it toward the left side of the river. How fun.

I'm glad I chose that park and visited the river while I was there.

 

Since that day, January 6, was National Cuddle Up Day, Jet and I got to cuddle up to read together.

Since it was also National Bean Day, I made black beans and rice for dinner. Then I made cornbread to go with it. Then I threw together some fruits and vegetables and we had a balanced dinner. Woohoo.

 

This morning instead of going for a walk in a park, I decided to celebrate National Bobblehead Day and Old Rock Day, January 7, in a similar manner to how I used to celebrate. I used to go for drives and take pictures of Jr.'s bobblehead with mountains in the background because mountains are old rocks. Since we've had such a mild Winter so far, I just drove right up into the hills and went for a short walk on a hiking trail. The bobblehead went hiking with me.

I got distracted, of course, when I heard scritch-scratching in the brush. It was most likely a spotted towhee based on location and what I know of behavior. I heard one call later. I didn't bring binoculars or the good camera so I didn't get a look at it. That's okay. It was still fun celebrating actually being among the old rocks.

Have I mentioned that I live in a beautiful place? 

Catching Up January 2025 part 1

We toasted in the New Year at midnight and had New Year's Nachos.

January 2 was National Buffet Day. I made dinner Fend For Yourself that night.

We also finally got out to donate to the Giving Machine right before it closed for the season. We donated "piglets," "art classes," "five visits and meals to a senior," and "empower through play."

We did not get a good family picture like we did in 2022 but that's not the point so... who cares?

 

I got out for morning walks before school started up again.

January 4 National Spaghetti Day. We ate spaghetti. It was also National Trivia Day and Utah's Birthday so we did some Utah trivia. It was also Play Outside Day (which is every first Saturday of the month). A few of us went out to see barn owls (and some other birds but we went specifically for the owls). When we got home we warmed up with hot chocolate.

We celebrated National Bird Day, January 5, a day early with the owl search, although we did eat chicken for dinner on the 5th. We watched The Big Year on Saturday as a family.

 

January 6 was Sherlock Holmes' Birthday. Lucky celebrated by going to "elementary" school the first day back after Christmas Break. I watched a TV show with a Sherlock Holmes character.

It was also National Cuddle Up Day and National Bean Day so you better believe we cuddled up while eating chocolate (which comes from beans). 

 

January 7 was Old Rock Day and National Bobblehead Day so I got out to take pictures of Jr.'s bobblehead with mountains (old rocks). I haven't done that for a few years so it was fun to do it again.

 

January 8 was Elvis' Birthday. We watched Lilo and Stitch.

We started over with "A Season of Family Meal Plans," volume 1, by Jordan Page.

That's enough catch up for now.

Then More Happened

We had that nice break in the weather then we had more storms.

Besides the storms, plenty of other things happened.

 

On National Bird Day, January 5, I watched The Big Year while folding laundry. I did not go out birding.

 

On National Cuddle Up Day, January 6, I got to cuddle up with a couple of my kids. Jet fell asleep while we cuddled up on the couch earlier in the day and took a nice nap. 

Lucky cuddled up with me that night and fell asleep on my bed.

 

Jeremy brought home French bread and we made it into French bread taco pizza with taco meat and refried beans for National Bean Day that same day.

National Whipped Cream Day 2022

I had so much more to say about yesterday like we also ate chicken for National Bird Day.

The potatoes were from the recipe, "Oven Steak Fries," from ourbestbites.com

The french bread was again "Easy Homemade French Bread" from melskitchencafe.com which I make so often.

 

Unfortunately I was soooooo tired, I couldn't even stay awake to write what I did write. Jeremy kept waking me up so I could finish my blog post. Sigh.

So I'll take some time now to share more about yesterday.

Besides Bird Day, January 5 was also National Whipped Cream Day so for after school snack I told the kids they could have hot chocolate with whipped topping. Lucky got a penguin mug in his Christmas stocking so he had some fun with it for the holiday.

Lucky: This is his brains.

Oh, no. His brains are melting. Mom, look at this. He's getting less smarter. Less smart.

I love my kids and their creativity.

Jet helped me scrub potatoes again. This time I didn't soak them. At dinner time I broke french bread into little pieces for him but he was able to reach the piece I was breaking it off from and decided to just help himself to that instead. After dinner, he helped clear the table (without being asked). He saw me taking things off and decided to do it, too. Awww. He definitely received praise for that... which makes up for how much of a handful he was later on and earlier on while getting into things. He's still a two-year old.

Since Jr. Jr. is old enough now to start going to youth activities with Jr., that means Lucky gets Mom and Dad to himself (and Jet) while the older kids are gone. So last night he got to finish off the apple juice from the container and he got to eat popcorn while watching a movie with us, "Mr. Popper's Penguins." Lucky loves penguins. He enjoyed that bonding time and it was good to do that with him.

So there we have it. That is the rest of the stuff I should have written about yesterday.

P.S. Today, January 6, was National Cuddle Up Day. Jet and I did.

It was also National Bean Day so besides beans and rice at dinner, the kids ate vanilla melties (vanilla bean, right?) and chocolate melties and drank hot chocolate (cocoa bean). I had some jelly beans (and I drank hot chocolate).

So there you go, yesterday and today.

How Did We Celebrate?

Let's see if I can remember how we celebrated on January 6. First of all, Sherlock Holmes' Birthday. I was going to watch a Sherlock Holmes movie but didn't so it's the thought that counts, right?

Next, National Bean Day. We had refried beans in some form, either as a side dish or in burritos. Who knows?

Then, National Cuddle Up Day. There were cuddles that day.

And, National Technology Day. We used technology.

Last, National Shortbread Day. I tried Funfetti Shortbread Bites, another recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Thanks again, Mel. Those shortbread bites were yummy. The boys helped make them. Yumm.

Beans and Birds

July 3 is Eat Beans Day.  I forgot to take a picture of refried beans we ate at dinner.
Here are some much cooler pictures, however.

Jeremy was able to be out with a hummingbird feeder this afternoon and captured (with pictures) two different kinds of hummingbirds.
I was looking through a window and their throats just looked black, but Jeremy was at an angle where the sun shown on their throats showing the beautiful colors.
Beautiful.

Eat Beans Day 2012

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans or cacao beans.  Yeah, July 3, Eat Beans Day, is a great excuse to eat chocolate.

And if you're gluten/soy/meat intolerant, my brother figured out a good way to eat black beans or pinto beans.  Check out his YouTube video about BuckBean Cookin'.  Yum.