Spring Break

Let's talk about Spring Break... for three of our kids. Last week was Spring Break... for three of our kids. Here are some of the holidays we celebrated (besides what I already mentioned in my April 9, 2026 post).

April 7 was National No Housework Day. I didn't tell the kids that was the holiday and asked them to clean. Bwah ha ha ha. But I celebrated.

 

April 8 was Draw a Picture of a Bird Day. This is what Nichole created.

She's awesome. I love that I could immediately tell it was a red-tailed hawk. Gorgeous.

 

April 10 was National Siblings Day. I encouraged a couple of my kids to wish each other a Happy that holiday but forgot to wish it to any of my own siblings even though I planned to.

It was also National Farm Animals Day. For dinner the night before, I made red beans and rice and hush puppies and garlic parmesan asparagus. On April 10, we had leftovers (including the beans and rice that had Polish sausage made out of what? Farm animals!) and I made more hush puppies.

This exchange happened while I was making them.

 

Jet: What are the dog things you are making called?

Mom: Hush puppies. 

 

He's so adorable.

 

Lion Dances and Fireworks and Food, Oh My!

Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year was February 17.

Jr. Jr., Jet, and I had already celebrated at the library earlier in the month but on the day, Jet and I went to the mall to see the Lion Dance parade.

Then we watched the fireworks there (usually when we watch them, we watch them from home because it's so close, but this was fun watching them by the fountain in the mall's courtyard). 

We went home and ate Chinese food and remembered to actually do fortune cookies this time. Woohoo.

It was National Cabbage Day on the 17th. Perfect.

 

It was also Random Acts of Kindness Day and the next day, my son found this clip on his backpack.

It says, "Ur Amazing." Awwww. 

I Like Celebrating with Food

January 11 was International Thank You Day. There was plenty of thanking going on.

It was National Milk Day. Milk was used in mashed potatoes that Jeremy made for our at-home potluck to celebrate Sunday Supper Day.

Here are the contributions, from oldest to youngest:

Cheesy garlic mashed potatoes, potato chips, grilled cheese sandwiches, cookies (not pictured), chicken pot pie, Koolaid, grilled cheese sandwiches. 

 

January 12 was National Curried Chicken Day. I made curry chicken with rice and aloo gobi. Mmmm, Indian food is comfort food.

 

January 13 was Korean American Day. We had Korean Beef and Rice.

 

January 15 was National Bagel Day. I made homemade bagels which made everybody happy. We all like bagels. 

Other October Holidays

October 24 was National Food Day. We ate leftovers. It was also World Kangaroo Day. Jet and I hopped like kangaroos.

October 25 was Greasy Food Day. It was also World Pasta Day. We ate kind of greasy pasta.

October 26 was Mother-in-Law Day. I wished several people Happy Mother-in-Law Day including my mother-in-law. I love her. It was also National Pumpkin Day. I know several people who carved pumpkins that day.

October 27 was National Black Cat Day. I often see black cats running around our neighborhood. Murphy's Law says on Black Cat Day, I wouldn't see one. At the end of the day, Jeremy reminded me that the neighbors had a glow in the dark black cat skeleton decoration. That worked for celebrating.

October 28 was the Anniversary of when the Statue of Liberty was dedicated and it was also Matt Smith's birthday so I really wanted to watch The Angels Take Manhattan (which has both the Statue of Liberty and Matt Smith) while working on a Halloween costume but that's an episode of Doctor Who we don't have. So I watched Daleks in Manhattan which also has the Statue of Liberty in it. For dinner we had fish sticks and vanilla pudding in honor of Matt Smith's Doctor. We didn't have enough fish sticks so I pulled some curry chicken from the freezer and cooked up some rice. #shelfcooking

It was also National Chocolate Day so Lucky made woo-woo for us. 

 

Foods Without Jeremy

While Jeremy was gone to South Carolina, I let the kids request foods they wanted to eat since normally I care more about fixing food Jeremy likes (I do take into consideration my kids, don't get me wrong, but if I think Jeremy will like it, I'm more likely to fix it when he's around).

Nichole loves chicken drumsticks so I made sure to make some for her. 

We had Copycat Crunchwrap Supreme (I had been wanting to make it for weeks but hadn't gotten around to it) from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, by Jordan Page.

Lucky loves Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps so we had some, of course, along with woo-woo for FHE treat.

Jr. Jr. helped me with menu planning for October (including using A Season of Family Meal Plans) and one of the things we planned and made was French Dip Sandwiches. Mmmm. I made this last year and liked it and I liked it again this year. 

 

Late night baking. I had some bananas that needed to be used so I made Calico Bread from The Fablehaven Cookbook. The neighbors upstairs texted that it smelled good. The next morning I brought some up to them.  

Also from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 4, I made apple cider muffins. It did not take long for them to get gobbled up.

Fall Break 2025

When Jeremy is on trips (quite a few this year), he misses a lot (including us and we miss him, too). One thing we've made sure to do as a family, though, is when Jeremy is traveling, he calls in the morning and night for family prayer over the phone. Sometimes he joins in for family scripture study as well. It's important to keep that gospel foundation strong for our family even when we're separated.

 

Since Jeremy was gone so long on this last trip to South Carolina, he also missed Fall Break.

 

Slumber Party!

When our older children were little we had a tradition of having a slumber party the night before Fall Break or Spring Break. We'd watch movies or play video games then all sleep out in the living room together. Over time, we had less people sleep in the living room after our "party" and eventually the tradition kind of fizzled out.

After many years we brought it back this Fall Break with watching a movie and playing MarioKart while eating muffins. Only a few opted to sleep out in the living room but we did have good bonding time while we were up.

October 15 was National Mushroom Day so I wore my pajamas that have mushrooms on them and Jr. Jr. commented: That's why Jet didn't want me to have mush room on the couch. 

P.S. For dinner earlier we made shawarma for Shawarma Day.

 

The next day, we had leftovers for dinner for World Food Day on October 16.

We got some snuggles in before Nichole and I went to a Relief Society activity to paint pumpkins. 

Normally I'm hands on involved in the activities (remember the sourdough?) but this time I was content to just sit and socialize. I also was able to praise Nichole's pumpkin painting. 

 

I got Kiki's Delivery Service vibes from it and not necessarily the movie. Isn't it so cute?

 

Fall Break Fun!

I hiked up Big Springs area with the kiddos. We'd been wanting to for a while and finally got the chance. We even had sun that day. 

A couple times, Jet and I took pictures of each other. This is how they turned out. 

Jr. Jr. pointed out to me how in Jet's picture the first time, Jr. Jr. was standing by me. In the other picture that I took, Jr. Jr. was standing by Jet. Ha Ha. Clever noticing. 

When we got home we had pasta to celebrate... National Pasta Day.

The mountains were gorgeous at sunset.

I love nature and I love living here and I especially love my children. 

 

The two oldest and I had some bonding time watching a movie one evening. While we watched, Jet watched Kiki's Delivery Service in a different room. I think he heard our conversation about Nichole's pumpkin.

 

Jet requested going to the library during Fall Break so on October 20, he and I went together. He was so well behaved. He followed directions. He stayed with me. We did a children's activity in the children's wing with pumpkin emotions. He got to play in the children's area and when it was time to move on to gather books on my list, he didn't put up a stink about it. He was quiet in the quiet areas, even when we had to get a book from the quietest area in the library. He was very good at whispering. We watched construction on the new courtyard/greenhouse area. He helped me check out our books and did a good job. I am so proud of him.

He did not yell, "Tractor!" in the middle of the library. Once we got out to the van, he was able to. "Tractor! Burninating the countryside..." For those that get the reference, he yells, "Trogdor!" but thinks it's "Tractor!" If you listen to Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, it does kind of sound like "Tractor."

Since October 20 was International Sloth Day, Jet requested a book about koalas. Why not?

I love bonding time with my children. And I love how this Fall Break went.

See You Later, Alligator

Jeremy left on another trip the beginning of October. It was a quick trip. He had a one day balloon build in Wyoming, but he missed a few things while traveling and building.

There was the Grand Lunch at the elementary school. It is supposed to be like a grandparents sort of lunch but not everybody has grandparents near enough so the elementary school invites anyone "grand" in your life to come. I think that's sweet.

I noticed a while back that when Lucky brings a lunch from home, he writes part of "The Jabberwocky" on the outside of his lunch bag. He went through the whole poem and finished it the day of the Grand Lunch. 

Since I want to be like my kids, I thought I'd join in and wrote part of a poem (from my elementary school days) on my lunch bag that day. Tee Hee.

(I did miss celebrating Shel Silverstein's Birthday on September 25 due to being sick.) 

When it was time for Jet's lunch, I came over to join him and he got so excited to see me there, he was giggling. Awwww. I like that reaction. It makes me feel good when my children want to see and be with me. He asked if Daddy was there but I had to remind him that Daddy was on his trip.

That evening was Lucky's parent teacher conference with his teacher. Jeremy joined in on speakerphone as he was not physically able to be with us.

October 1 was Fire Pup Day so Lucky helped me make squid pups which we had with hot sauce.

When Jeremy got back from his trip, he made it home before the kids went to school, so he went when Jet asked him to take him to school. 

After school, Jeremy was busy getting ready for another trip, so when Jet came out of school, the first thing he did when he gave me a big hug, because that's our ritual after school, was ask, "Where is my Dad?" What a sweetie. He wants both parents.

That night I made curry because... comfort food. I wanted something welcoming for Jeremy. We had homemade sourdough on the side because... I'm learning.