Orem Library Told Us To!

In the children's section of the Orem Library, there are calendars with daily activities you can do with your youngsters, from reading to crafts to games to all sorts of fun learning experiences.

Since July 5 was Graham Cracker Day, we followed the suggestion for making edible rainbows. They were fun to make and fun to eat.

International Women's Day 2022

There was so much potential for a fun picture last year on International Women's Day, March 8.

This year, I made sure we got that picture even if it was 11 o'clock at night when we finally did.

International Women. I have Jeremy's whip from Hungary on my lap. I'm reading a book by Carola Dunn, originally from England who later moved to Oregon (It was also National Oregon Day- note one of the books on my lap is "On to Oregon," and of course I'm originally from Oregon, not far from where Carola Dunn moved). Nichole is reading "The Reluctant Dragon" and I'm holding "The Wind in the Willows" both by Kenneth Grahame who was from Great Britain. Now he's not an International woman but March 8 is his birthday. Note the "reluctant" dragon trying to climb off Nichole's shoulder. Of course it's fun to throw in eating "graham" crackers on Kenneth Grahame's birthday. Then Nichole is "proofreading" her book for National Proofreading Day.

Oh, yes. I'm quite pleased with how this picture turned out this year.

Action Packed 4th of July Weekend

Joshua had Friday and Monday off of UVU Prep for the 4th of July weekend. That meant four days for Jr. to fit in as much family fun as possible. Jeremy had to work all weekend so it was mostly the kids and me but he was around on Sunday.

Friday, July 2. Balloon Fest was happening throughout the weekend. That's where a bunch of hot air balloons are together and they do different activities. It is part of the Freedom Festival in Provo. I got up early to sit outside to see if I could see the balloons from home. I couldn't see anything. I found out later the balloons didn't lift off the ground that day because of the weather. I did get a little wet while I was waiting. Oh, well.

Later that day, I took the kids for a picnic and Provo Story Trail at Rock Canyon Park. After the story, we continued walking around the park and Jr. asked to use the camera. He climbed a hill and brought this picture back to me.

"Crop Circles! Today is World UFO Day." 

"It kind of looks like a face which also goes along with the UFO thing."

We also looked at "mashed potato clouds" while we were there.

That night we drove by Balloon Glow as part of Balloon Fest. They had several hot air balloons on the ground and shined lights on them to go along with music. The kids and I decided that we'd get up and drive by the next morning to see the hot air balloons in the daylight.

 

Saturday, July 3. Surprise. Surprise. When we got out that morning, we could see hot air balloons from home. They were able to lift off! 

We drove anyway and were able to see them much closer. As we got closer to where they were launched, they were all over the place, some even over the road where we were driving. 

We drove to Carterville Park and everyone was able to get out and get a good view. We were even able to see some where they landed in nearby parking lots. That was a fun morning. I love hot air balloons.

 

 

Before we left, we found a little friend who decided to crawl to a place where it would get squished if we closed the door. I tell you, snails are faster than you think. Jr. nicely moved it so it would be okay. Good kid.

That evening to celebrate Eat Beans Day and Chocolate Wafer Day, we had burritos and chocolate wafer cookies.

Definitely click on this picture to see Jet and Lucky's faces.

Sunday, July 4. It was National Caesar Salad Day so we had chicken Caesar salad wraps with 4th of July type food- potato chips, potato salad.

Monday, July 5. The kids and I went to see the giant flag hanging over Grove Creek Canyon. We hadn't gone to see it since we lived in Pleasant Grove. I blogged about it in July of 2017. It's definitely become a bigger thing- not the flag itself, but the event with it flying. There were flags lining the trail up to a spot to get good pictures. There was lots of informational stuff in the parking lot. Yeah, it's become a bigger deal just in the last few years.

That evening, the kids and I went to pick up Jeremy from work and we had Family Home Evening lesson and treat in the van. Then we did our activity at home. As it was National Graham Cracker Day, our treat was graham crackers with frosting in the middle. Homemade frosting. I got the recipe from The Food Nanny. It is frosting they use on brownies but I think it works great on cake (or on graham crackers).

We were also able to see the giant flag from the freeway. Yeah. It's huge.

So that was Jr.'s action packed 4th of July weekend before he went back to UVU Prep to finish out the last couple weeks. I hope he enjoyed it.

Even though Tuesday, July 6, wasn't part of our weekend, it was International Kissing Day. I got lots of kisses from and gave lots of kisses to my baby and I mentioned later to Jeremy how he and I didn't kiss at all that day. Huh.

Self Discovery

I realized something about myself on National Vanilla Pudding Day, May 22. I don't like vanilla pudding on its own. I need something to dip in it, whether it be fish sticks (but I didn't feel like digging them out of the back of the freezer) or graham crackers (which I did feel like digging out of the pantry). Jr. Jr. made the pudding.

I think it's vanilla flavored things in general. I must have toppings on vanilla ice cream and while a couple of my children are happy with plain vanilla yogurt, I would rather dress mine up with frozen berries mixed in and a granola bar crumbled up on top.

May 22 was also National Solitaire Day. Nichole took the opportunity to get out a deck of cards and play a game of Solitaire. For some reason she didn't go for my idea that we all play a nice big family game of Solitaire together.

Jazzy Pie

March 8 is Kenneth Grahame's birthday.  Lucky and ZZ got together with graham crackers (get it? heh heh heh) and made a pudding pie with graham cracker crust.

This evening, the kids and I went to the Orem Library.  We didn't check out any Kenneth Grahame books.  We did check out plenty of others.  We went to the library to watch a concert of New Orleans Jazz music with a couple of musicians from New Orleans and a jazz ensemble from BYU.  Ah, such great music.  Great for toe tapping and clapping.  It was awesome.  I loved it.

Pack Meeting

"Jesus saw potential in others and so can you."  We got to go to pack meeting for cub scouts this evening where Jr. received a belt loop for his Bear.  He was able to share some of the things he had done in order to earn it.  Way to go, Jr.
The kids got to make graham cracker houses for the activity.  The leaders were so patient with those kids.  Way to go, leaders.

I got to watch a friend's child today.  Lucky was asleep when he got here and the other kids were at school so we had a bit of one on one time, playing Hungry Hungry Hippos together part of the time and part of the time I worked on a project I needed to work on while he played Hungry Hungry Hippos or with other toys.  While he played, though, it was fun to praise his hippos or the animals he was making make their sounds.  It's these little things I need to work on with my own kids, too.  Taking that one on one time to be involved in what they're doing and praising their efforts.  I've got really good kids and I'm blessed to see how they're growing in so many areas.
Nichole's teaching kids from school how to juggle for a science project.  Nichole, who a year ago couldn't really juggle herself.  Nor could she sew and now she helps me sew juggling balls.

As I mentioned, Jr. is doing well with cub scouts. 
Jr. Jr. has a wonderful imagination and the things he comes up with are terrific.
Lucky just wants to be like all the big people.  He volunteers to help with things when someone asks for help.  Sometimes it's things he's too little to do, but he wants to anyway.
These are really good kids and I love to see how they LIGHTtheWORLD.