Birds and Food

One Saturday morning, Nichole, Lucky, and I got out in the cold to go birding with Utah County Birders at the Provo River Delta. It's open now. Woohoo. Jeremy and I loved going there to celebrate our anniversary back in May so I've been excited to take the kids.

It was certainly cold but fun to see the birds and spend time with those two. I love nature.

That evening we made homemade Panda Express food for National Fast Food Day, November 16. Sweetfire Chicken, white rice, and chow mein. Mmmmmm.

 

November 17 was Homemade Bread Day. I made bread with the intention of letting us tear into one loaf and slicing the rest. Jet had other ideas apparently. Ha Ha. I did get three sliced loaves out of it, though.

 

November 19 was International Men's Day, Have a Bad Day Day, and Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day. Jeremy was tired enough at work that he had to celebrate. Poor guy.

Let's Talk About More November Celebrations

Speaking of nachos- like for New Year's...

 

November 6 was National Nacho Day. This was what happened with my 13-year old.

Mom: Today is Nacho Day.

Jr. Jr.: I know. I've had a really hard day.

Mom (looks sympathetic)

Jr. Jr.: Today is not yo' day.

Mom: Groan. 

We also ate nachos.

 

November 11 was Veteran's Day. I got my selfie with the flag. It was sunny.

It was also Corduroy Day, you know, because 11/11 looks like corduroy. We were having breadsticks so had some fun with them.

It was also National Sundae Day. I made hot fudge sauce to go with ice cream and whatever else. Yumm.

 

November 12 was Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day. We had individual pizzas so everyone could choose their toppings. Some of the kids even had dessert pizzas after their main pizzas. They got the idea for s'mores pizza from the Fablehaven Cookbook.

Speaking of the Fablehaven Cookbook, for Spicy Guacamole Day on November 14, we made "Bubda's Sloppy Guac" and "Lost Mesa Corn Avocado Salsa, both from that book. They were perfect to go with taco salad for dinner and family members had fun making faces in the food (the instructions for the sloppy guac even say to make a hermit troll face). We love that cookbook! 

 

November 16 was National Fast Food Day so we pulled out chicken nuggets and fries from the freezer and soda pop from the pantry and called it good.

 

November 17 was Homemade Bread Day and National Butter Day and GWR Day. GWR stands for Guinness World Records. We had homemade bread with butter but we also had hot dogs on homemade buns as a nod to the world record Jeremy broke back in July of 2015. He built a giant balloon dog. So we had hot dogs.

For William Tell Day on November 18, I made apple crisp. Yumm.

 

November 21 was Gingerbread Cookie Day. I made gingerbread cookie people while telling Jet the story of the Gingerbread Man. There have been a few times since then that Jet will run into a room I'm in and call out, "You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." I love him so much.

That day was also National Stuffing Day so we had a bruschetta bake with chicken, stuffing, tomatoes, and seasonings. Yumm.

November 23 was Thanksgiving. That morning I took a moment for myself. I got up early to help Jeremy get ready for work- made him breakfast, made him a lunch (a snack really because he got out of work early for which I was grateful). I had Bing Crosby in my head. "I've got plenty to be thankful for." After Jeremy left for work, I decided to take a bit of time for myself before getting to work on laundry, doing dishes, hard boiling eggs for deviled eggs... so I wrapped myself up in a blanket, drank some hot chocolate, watched some TV, and felt thankful.

When Jeremy got home we celebrated with food, lots and lots of food.

He brought home a pumpkin pie from work which we put whipped topping on. I also made a vanilla pudding pie and we put pumpkin pie ice cream on top of it. Mmmmm.

 

November 24 was National Leftovers Day or Turkey Leftover Day. Yes, we ate leftovers of course.

 

November 26 was Charles Schulz' Birthday. We decided to have a Charlie Brown/Peanuts Thanksgiving to celebrate with foods the characters made in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." Toast, popcorn, jelly beans, pretzel sticks. We also threw in some "peanuts" and "Peppermint Patties." And to drink we had lemonade because Lucy sometimes sets up a lemonade stand.

I also wore my bow earrings to celebrate his birthday. When some women in choir saw me and I explained why I was wearing those earrings, they suggested we go around the table giving psychiatric advice for 5 cents. So cute. I love my choir friends.

November 30 was Mason Jar Day. You know I love excuses to use my Fablehaven Cookbook. This time it was "Fairy in a Jar Layered Gelatin Treats." 

I couldn't find any gummy butterflies or gummy fairies but I could find gummy worms. Jeremy joked that it as more like "imps in a jar."

I Do Like to Celebrate With Food

November 15 was Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. Leftovers!

It was also Raisin Bran Cereal Day. Raisin Bran!

November 16 was Fast Food Day. Fast food type food we can make from home!

November 18 was Apple Cider Day. This was not on our calendar but someone told Six Sisters' Stuff about it which is where I learned about it so it is now on the calendar for every year after this. Apple Cider!

Busy Birding Week- Day 2

A couple weeks ago I had a busy birding week.

Wednesday, October 11, was It's My Party Day.  I could cry if I wanted to, but instead I took a day off.  Dawn to dusk, starting the day on the Southeast side of the lake and ending it on the Northeast side of the lake.



I spent some time birding along River Lane with a little walking along Sandy Beach.

Then I visited Bicentennial Park in Provo.  Last time I went, the boardwalk area was closed off, but it was open this time.  Hooray.

I spent some quiet time reading at the Orem Library, stopped at home for a quick break, then treated myself to a fast food lunch.

I visited Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point to look at birds and flowers and for some personal scripture study in the Light of the World Garden.

When I left it was getting to be rush hour so I skipped the freeway and went to a park in Saratoga Springs next to the lake to finish off the evening.  The traffic wasn't nearly as heavy when I headed home.

It was a beautiful day and a well needed break.

Flip a Coin Day 2017

Jeremy:  Never flip a coin in a moving car.  Words to live by.

June 1 is Flip a Coin Day.
We went out as a family and decided what to do while we were out based on the flip of a coin.  First stop- credit union.  We flipped to decide whether Jeremy would go in by himself or the whole family would go in.  Flip.  The whole family went in.  Since the kids were well-behaved, they got suckers.  Lucky kids.

Back in the van- go birding or go to a playground?  Flip.  Go birding. 
Kids:  If we're going birding, can we watch a movie?
Flip.
Mom:  Yes, you can.

So I put in "Singin' in the Rain."  A little while later-
Nichole:  Did you choose this movie because of the guy flipping the coin?
Mom:  Yes, I did.

After we got better pictures of a savannah sparrow than we had, we flipped the coin again to decide between birding or going to a playground. 

Birding again. 

I just love how you can really see the "horns" on this horned lark.

The kids started complaining about being hungry so we flipped to decide to get fast food or not for in the van.  Fast food, it was.
The kids ate while watching the movie for the second time and Jeremy and I ate while birding.
Next, birding or playground?  Flip.  Birding.  Sigh.  Jeremy and I decided to be nice so we chose a birding spot with a playground.  The main birding spot in the park was under construction so we stuck mostly to the playground.  When we got there we decided we'd stay for about half an hour.  We stayed for more than an hour.  It was fun.  There was wind, there was rain, there was fun.

 

Aaaaaaah!  It's so windy!

Then we went home.
The End.