National Cooler Day

May 22 I was too busy getting ready for a trip to celebrate well so I told people this is what you get. I didn't even have time to cut up the watermelon. Nichole did. Happy National Cooler Day.

Jeremy did suggest while he was still at work that one of the kids take a frozen Costco lasagna and cook it in the oven. Oh yeah. That was a good idea. So they did. Happy Don't Fry Day.

The kids did help in some ways with getting ready for the trip. Besides taking care of food because I wasn't up to it, and gathering things, some of them also helped clean out the van so we could travel more comfortably the next day. Happy National Road Trip Day. 

Catching Up on July Holidays

OK. Here we go. Sigh.

July 25 was National Chili Dog Day and National Refreshment Day. We had chili dogs (with homemade chili) and refreshments. Done. Blogged.

July 26 was Talk in an Elevator Day. A few of us got a picture of us talking in an elevator the day before. So we celebrated it observed. Done. Blogged.

 

July 27 was National Sleepyhead Day (in Finland). I totally missed it this year even though I was thinking about it just the day before. Sigh. Told you we were busy. Check out how we've celebrated that one in the past, though (starting with last year's celebration while we were in Washington). Done. Blogged.

July 28 was Milk Chocolate Day. We had chocolate milk. Done. Blogged.

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. We had lasagna. And I learned how to do "baked" mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3. Done. Blogged.

July 30 there were a lot of holidays I didn't celebrate but I should have. Paperback Book Day. International Day of Friendship. Father-in-Law Day. National Cheesecake Day. Sigh. I must not have been feeling well that day because someone made me breakfast and Jr. helped make dinner that night. 

He decided to gather all the ingredients needed for the dish in a bowl before making it. Heh Heh. Done. Blogged.

July 31 was National Avocado Day. We had avocados in our salad (yet another recipe from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, by Jordan Page) as well as cucumbers. 

Jr. took the bowl of cucumbers I had just cut up and made this comment:

"Man, this cereal's the best."

He doesn't particularly care for cucumbers so we talked about other ways to use cucumbers besides eating them like cereal (though I love eating cucumbers). Done. Blogged.

And just like that, I'm caught up on the rest of July holidays. Go me.

Done. Blogged.

More Celebrating in January

January 16 was Fig Newton Day. We ate fig newtons. Do you remember the commercial way back that said, "It's not a cookie. It's a newton"? I looked at the packaging for fig newtons and it calls them cookies. Ha.

It was also Appreciate a Dragon Day. Dad did some writing about dragons.

January 17 was Museum Selfie Day. Jeremy had some stuff to do at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point so he made sure to celebrate the holiday while there.

It was also Popeye Day. I sang Popeye cartoon theme music over and over to the kids while we ate Popeye spinach.

It was also Hot Heads Chili Day. Let me tell you how I did some shelf cooking those two days, following "A Season of Family Meal Plans" volume 1.

I was thinking of making some spicy chili on Hot Heads Chili Day and the day before I was going to make lasagna soup with garlic bruschetta. Well, Jr. wasn't feeling the greatest that first day and said Ogre Stew sounded good to him. Ogre Stew is kind of like a white bean chili and it was a bit spicy so we had it for Hot Heads Chili Day Observed. 

The garlic bruschetta was supposed to use fresh tomatoes but we were out so I took a can of diced tomatoes, added the other ingredients, and cooked them up to make a sauce. Then I took my homemade baguettes (The Food Nanny recipe), cut them in rounds, and made them into garlic bread to put the sauce on top. It worked.

So the next day I made the lasagna soup to go with spinach salad. I also made cornbread muffins which were suggested in the book but I used a recipe I always use instead of the one from the book. That's another thing about shelf cooking. If I have a tried and true recipe why look for something else?

 

Lucky very nicely took pictures then edited them to make me green like spinach.

Pacific Northwest Trip- Part 3

Jet got his first haircut while we were in Oregon. Mostly to get the hair out of his eyes (and there's only so much you can do with a wiggly three year old). His curls stayed. Phew.

 

The day we left was Gorgeous Grandma Day, July 23. 

We got pictures with my children's gorgeous grandma in Oregon then we drove to Washington to see my children's other gorgeous grandma who gave us ice cream for Vanilla Ice Cream Day. I love that we have relatives who like to help us celebrate.

 

July 24 was National Cousins Day but we celebrated that later in the week when Jeremy's sister and brother who live in Washington came for a visit and brought their kids. We visited Jeremy's other brother and his family in Idaho back in March.

July 25 was National Hot Fudge Sundae Day. Guess what Grandma gave us. More ice cream!

 

Jeremy flew to Washington. He brought me flowers. Awww. Although I'd take my husband over flowers any day, I still enjoyed them. It helped me celebrate Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day on July 27.

After taking pictures for that holiday, we put the flowers back and Jeremy and I went on a nice walk around the neighborhood, just the two of us. Sigh. That's a contented sigh. I was so happy to have my husband with me again.

July 27 was also National Sleepyhead Day in Finland. Thanks for the use of the squirt bottle, Mom.

I didn't actually squirt him. It just makes for a good picture. 

It was also National Chili Dog Day. And Refreshment Day.

 

July 28 was Beatrix Potter's Birthday. We watched the movie, Miss Potter, after a long day of seeing animals like you might in Beatrix Potter books. There was a rabbit and a squirrel in the yard and lots and lots of wildlife at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge where we took all the kids this trip.

I must admit I am amazed at the different colors of the tree frogs we saw. We spent I don't know how much time looking at them.

My brain must have been working just right that day because we played an impromptu game as we were walking where someone would call out a date on the calendar and I would say off the top of my head what holiday or "reason to celebrate" was on that day. Some would take a bit longer to remember than others but I was getting them all. I couldn't believe it. My family couldn't either. I've just been calendaring celebrations for so many years that a lot of them stick with me. Maybe the exercise of running around Nisqually helped get the oxygen to my brain and helped me think better. It was fun.

While we were there, Lucky did activities in a workbook so he could become a Junior Refuge Manager. He was "sworn in" and got a badge.

It was like the Junior Ranger patches the three oldest earned at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge way back in 2016 (we had to buy their patches then). There are Junior Ranger programs you can do all over the place.

July 28 was also Milk Chocolate Day. Again we had chocolate milk.

 

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. Mmmmm, do I love lasagna.

 

Our Pacific Northwest trip was awesome and well needed for all of us.