So You Want to Know More About August, Huh?

August 10 was Lazy Day. I tried to be lazy. In the middle of the night, however, Jeremy and I had to deal with something. Jet wanted his mommy first thing in the morning. Lucky had an appointment. I could only be so lazy.

It was also National S'mores Day so we had ice cream with crushed graham crackers, bits of marshmallow, and chocolate syrup.

 

August 14 was National Creamsicle Day. We pulled out some Orange Cream ice cream from the freezer to celebrate.

August 15 was National Relaxation Day. Ha! It was busy busy busy that day because it was the first day of school. I did get snuggles with Jet, though, saying, "Happy Relaxation Day."

Catching Up on the Last Five Months- 4

Let's talk about August.

The kids started new schools in August.  I did not do the best with first day of school pictures this year.  This is what you get.

August 9 was Book Lover's Day.  We started letting Nichole watch the Lord of the Rings movies with us.  We were partway through "The Return of the King" when school started.  Then a funny thing happened.  Nichole's history teacher mentioned a quote from the character, Aragorn.  Some of the kids in the class asked, "Who's Aragorn?"  So the teacher jokingly assigned them homework to watch all three Lord of the Rings (extended edition) movies.  So Nichole came home with a big smile on her face and was able to complete her "homework."

August 14 was National Creamsicle Day.

August 15 was National Relaxation Day.  We went to the annual juggling BBQ that day.  Mmm, that part of the day was relaxing.

August 22 was Be an Angel Day so we had alfredo with angel hair pasta.

August 24 was National Waffle Day.  We ate waffles.  I didn't take pictures.

August 30 was National Toasted Marshmallow Day.  We toasted marshmallows over the stove and made s'mores.

We went to a picnic to celebrate some friends' 50th wedding anniversary.  Way to go, friends.

We went to a couple events at the Orem Library. One was a live animal show.  The other was a birds of prey show.

 
Jeremy and I built a large shark arch for Sharktastic Saturday at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point then took the kids to the event.

Certain things are just tradition.

We went to a picnic again for HawkWatch because we volunteered and did the short-eared owl survey again earlier in the year.  We decided to bring a cheeseball... that looked like a short-eared owl.

While we were there, Nichole picked some yarn out of her pocket and just crocheted a bird to sit on her finger.  Yeah, That's what she did.

I need to start a series of posts on this blog titled, "If you give Nichole a medium."  This is what happens when Nichole says, "I want to make a cheeseball."

We celebrated Jr.'s birthday.

One evening, the young women in our ward were providing babysitting so parents could have a date night.  Jeremy was out of town at a fair so the boys and I went to drop Nichole off to help.  However, the Young Women leaders convinced me that even if Jeremy wasn't there for a date, I should leave the boys (who were already having fun running around) and treat myself to some time alone- soak in a bath or something.
So I went home and soaked my feet and polished my fingernails while finishing a movie.  Awww, it was relaxing.

While Jeremy was still out of town, the kids and I decided to have a $2 dinner.  We went to the grocery store and each had $2 to spend (not including sales tax).  Each person was assigned a food group (protein, milk/dairy, fruit, vegetable, and grain) so they had to find something that fit in that food group.  We were allowed to get creative with the pizza when some of us used less of our $2 on one item and then used the remainder to get the pizza which counted for multiple food groups.
This is what we ended up with.

Lucky and I also had some bonding time when I found a nail in our tire.  We took it to Les Schwab and had them fix it while he and I ate popcorn and watched TV.

Then we went to visit my sister and had bonding time at her house.

Phew.  I think that is it for the craziness that was August.  I started out to write this blog post thinking, "Oh, we didn't do much in August."  Then as I started going through pictures and lists of holidays I realized, "Oh, wow.  We did a lot in August."

I'll catch up on September later.

Brain Freeze

August 14 is National Creamsicle Day.  The kids and I had a discussion about what a brain freeze is while eating orange dream bars.

Nobody got one (a brain freeze, that is).

Captain Orange Veggies Fudge

June 16.
Captain Picard Day.  We didn't watch any Star Trek, but Jeremy and I joked about telling the kids to "make it so" when they wanted to help with things.

National Fudge Day.  The kids did help me make fudge.  The recipe came from the June/July 2015 issue of FamilyFun Magazine.  Creamsicle Fudge.  Yum.  Oh, and I just realized something.  The recipe says to refrigerate the fudge for the final time before eating it.  I put it in the freezer.  Maybe that's why the pieces came out of the pan like this.

Oh well.  I just put the rest of it in the fridge and maybe it will be easier to get out in the morning.  Still tastes great, though.  Also, the recipe says to take it all out of the pan before cutting it into pieces and I only wanted to take a few pieces out for pictures.  That's fine, though.

No Orange Clothes Day.  None of us wore orange clothes.  Although 3 of us wore red shirts, which is more of a nod to the classic Star Trek series than Next Generation.

Fresh Veggies Day.  I made sure we had fresh carrot sticks and celery sticks to go with dinner.

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.