Summer Solstice, Midsummer's Eve, and Midsummer's Day (aka more excuses for Fablehaven food)

You know we like celebrating solstices and equinoxes with nods to Fablehaven and sometimes with Fablehaven type food. We did even before the official Fablehaven Cookbook came out. Now we really like celebrating with nods to Fablehaven... through food. Anyway... we were unfortunately really busy around the Summer Solstice and around Midsummer (which are apparently not the same thing?) getting ready for a trip so even though I had good ideas for celebrating and had a menu planned out, I had to simplify last minute. So I didn't get to make Midsummer Strawberry Salsa with Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips but I did make Jack-o'-Lantern Pumpkin Pie Bars which are in the "Midsummer's Eve" section of the cookbook.

There is a recipe for Lena's Loaded Crepes in the cookbook but Jr. has a recipe he always uses for crepes so he made us crepes for the solstice on June 20.

There are quite a few fairy related recipes in the cookbook but again, we were too busy to make any on International Fairy Day on June 24. Oh well. There's always next year. You know we'll be using this book for a long time.

Ooh, speaking of the Solstice, that evening (thanks for taking care of dinner, Jr.), Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity where our good friend, Stephanie, gave us a little art lesson while also sharing her testimony. 

Even in the hard or dark times, the Lord is always there and if we look, we can see the good, the beautiful. Stephanie is a beautiful person (who has gone through some pretty hard times in her own life) and she brings so much light to so many people. I've always appreciated her example and her testimony and am so happy to call her friend.

Stephanie and Nichole have gotten together several times to do art in the past. I love that.

 

Even when we have the Lord, there are still rough days. On National Selfie Day, June 21, I planned to take selfies while doing things- weeding, dishes, etc. It turned out I had a hard day so the only selfies I took were of me sad.  

Oh well. I still celebrated.

 

On a better day, June 25 was Eric Carle's birthday. We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

 

On a different but related note, June 23 (that was Midsummer's Eve and the 24th was Midsummer's Day) was National Hydration Day. It's important to stay hydrated.

How We Celebrated Some of June

June 1 was Flip a Coin Day. I needed to inventory my fridge and freezer anyway so I used a coin flip to decide which to do. 

We flipped a coin to decide plenty of other things as well.

 

June 2 was the anniversary of when Babe Ruth retired. We had macaroni and cheese with polish sausage in it in honor of "Babe" (you know what the movie, "Babe," is about, right?) "Ruth" retiring.

Someone made the comment, "Talk about retiring."

 

June 5 was Veggie Burger Day. I would have liked to have made black bean burgers but didn't menu plan far enough in advance and didn't have any black beans to make them. Sigh. So I was looking through cookbooks and websites trying to decide what to make but Jet just wanted snuggles so... 

Priorities, right?

 

June 9 was National Movie Night and Johnny Depp's Birthday. We watched Alice in Wonderland and ate popcorn. Jr. made crepes that we ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

June 11 was King Kamehameha I Day. We had Hawaiian Haystacks leftovers from a family reunion we went to the night before. It was a family reunion for people we're not related to. I like to say, "We're family by association." This is a family Jeremy was home teacher to many years ago. He's done balloons for them many times and we've gone to wedding receptions and concerts to support them. We were able to get Nichole's first violin from them when she was learning to play. They watched over our older kids when Lucky was born in the middle of the night. We've had a good relationship with them for many years and they feel like family. 

They invited us to their family luau. Jeremy did balloon animals and we all ate, played, and enjoyed ourselves. 

We got to try Dole Whip for the first time. Yumm. 

I had plenty of people to talk to that I knew. I'm a chatty person anyway. I got to stand up high and take their family reunion photo.

It was a nice evening and it was sweet of them to send us home with some leftovers.

June 11 was also Corn on the Cob Day so besides the Hawaiian Haystacks, we had corn on the cob and plenty of other food for an at-home potluck.

Jr. Jr. made apple pie for the first time (with some help) and did a great job.

June 14 was Flag Day. I took another selfie with the flag.

 

June 15 was World Tapas Day. We made bean dip and enjoyed it.

International Mountain Day 2022

International Mountain Day was December 11. We had our at-home potluck that day. I, of course, made mashed potatoes that could be made into mountains. This is what everyone contributed.

Jeremy: lasagna, Me: mashed potatoes, Nichole: mandarin oranges, Jr.: crepes (most with Nutella and bananas), Jr. Jr.: lemonade, Lucky: cheese puffs, Jet: apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.

The kids remarked that it was a very orange dinner. But it was a decent dinner. Plenty to eat and a variety.

Jr. Is So Cool

Jr. is so cool. He's been wanting to make crepes in his crepe pan he got or his birthday last year. He finally got to. They turned out so well. Yummmmmm.

Another cool thing about Jr. is his ability to play the cello. Jr. and Nichole had their Christmas Concert recently. Jeremy and I were both able to make it to watch the concert. It wasn't just an orchestra concert, though.

Those that performed were Symphonic Orchestra, Saxophone Quintet, Jazz Band, Concert Orchestra with Symphonic Band, Jazz Quartet, and the Symphonic Orchestra played with the Wind Symphony.

It was so nice to listen to the musical pieces.

I'm proud of both my strings players. I'm impressed with Jr. who was one of only two cellists performing in his orchestra (and the other cello had a solo so Jr. was holding the background on his own). The other two cellists were out sick.

Once again, it was a wonderful evening.

I also love how much Jet loves Jr.

Jr. and Nichole have been reading classics from Les Miserables to Shakespeare.

Most recently he was reading to Jet Moby Dick.

 

I just love that boy. Jr. is so cool.