What Do You Do When You Don't Have Pictures For Your Post?

April 26 was National Pretzel Day. We ate pretzels (but not homemade).

April 27 was Tell a Story Day. Jeremy celebrated it observed the next day when he told me a story. 

April 28 was Terry Pratchett's Birthday. We talked about it a lot in our family, including quotes. 

April 29 was International Dance Day. I was told that Jet has been doing a great job dancing at school (the elementary school dance festival is coming up in May). It was also National Zipper Day. Jet took the opportunity to zip the vest I was wearing all the way up to the top (to my upraised chin).

I have no pictures for any of this. 

The End. 

Another Busy Day

Saturday, April 26, was a busy day. Nichole and I got some bonding time in when we went to a Page Company Warehouse Sale together. We got some planners and I got my hug from Jordan Page. As usual she had to bend down to my level and I stood on my toes for a picture. 

You know I love her cookbooks. I've gotten some good advice from her as well. We're all just trying to make it through. I told my husband when I got home that Jordan is going through some struggles that I'm not going through and I'm going through some struggles that she's not going through but we're sisters. As sisters we support each other how we can. We can cheer each other on, give each other hugs, pray for each other.

It was nice to be able to chat with her for a bit at the warehouse sale. It was also nice to get a free gift because we got there before it opened. Tee hee.

After we got home, and after some stuff we had to deal with, Jeremy took Nichole and Lucky with him to see the play, Newsies. Jr. was in the pit orchestra for it. I'm glad he's having these experiences.

I started making Muriel's Pretzel Knots from The Fablehaven Cookbook for National Pretzel Day. When Jeremy and posse got home, Nichole made taquitos. I was not able to finish the pretzel knots before Jr. Jr. and I headed out to have our bonding time watching the play so my sweet family finished them for me. 

I enjoyed the play, loved the music, and am proud of Jr. again.

When we got home I got my taquitos and pretzel knots. Yumm.

April 26 was also National Audubon Day. Nichole and I saw a robin while waiting to go into the warehouse sale but it was too busy of a day to go birding.

More April Holidays

We ate chicken nuggets for Tuna Rights Day on April 21. Nichole likened it to cows trying to get people to eat chicken.

 

On Earth Day, April 22, Jr. and Jr. Jr. helped with the city's Spring Cleanup for our neighborhood.

I did not get a picture of Nichole and Jr. wearing their Earth Day shirts.

 

We ate some picnic foods for dinner on National Picnic Day, April 23.

 

On National Telephone Day, April 25, we ate honey "graham" ice cream because Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. And Blue"Bell" is a brand of ice cream.

Jr. Jr. brought home some pretzels to eat on National Pretzel Day, April 26.

 

The kids started watching Going Postal on April 28, Terry Pratchett's Birthday.

Cars, Water, Cars, Water

On John James Audubon's Birthday (also known as National Audubon Day) on April 26, Jet and I went out for a walk by the Provo River. We saw some ducks and I saw an American dipper. I love seeing dippers dipping in the water.

At one point we crossed a bridge where there was a barrier between the walking part of the bridge and the driving part. I lifted Jet so he could see the water in the river and he immediately got excited when he could see the cars going by. So we took some time looking back and forth between the cars and the water. Cars, water, cars, water.

A few days later, Jet and I went to the BYU botany pond. I haven't been there for many years, not since they made it the "botany pond." I used to pass it all the time when there was just a duck pond there when I was in college. 

Jet loved seeing the ducks and ducklings and the fence around the pond is the perfect height for a toddler. I saw Jet turning around at one point saying, "Cars, water, cars, water." I realized it was because we were between the pond and the street and he remembered from before. I thought that was pretty cute.

Back to Audubon Day, April 26 was also National Pretzel Day. Jeremy and I made soft pretzels after the kids went to bed (except Jr. Jr. made one pretzel because Jet kept running back to their room so Jr. Jr. kept bringing him back out). Jet of course helped with the dough. He is my baking buddy.

Some of the kids also had crunchy mini pretzels for after school snack.

The next day, April 27, was Babe Ruth Day so we had Baby Ruths after school.

Mommy, Look

 I'm squishing a pretzel.

May Day 2021

May 1 was when Bridal Veil Falls area officially opened back up. Woohoo. I'd been waiting six months for that. Jet, Nichole, and I went up the canyon that morning to visit the falls. 

We had to cut our trip short because there was a half marathon going through the area. It started out with a few people jogging by then all of a sudden... explosion of people. We finally managed to get back to the van, maneuvering the stroller through all those people. Phew. How appropriate that they were having that race on National Fitness Day.

Nichole took the time while we were waiting for runners to pass to sketch another leaf. I love it.

 

We had so much fun making pretzels for National Pretzel Day that we wanted to do it again. Lucky requested that we make the pretzels into letter shapes to spell out the words "May Day." 

This time, however, the kids weren't as enthusiastic about helping. They were distracted by a TV show. So it took a lot longer with me doing everything but in the end we got soft pretzels. Yumm.

National Pretzel Day 2021

So much catching up to do. Wish me luck. 

Homemade soft pretzels for National Pretzel Day, April 26? Yes, please. I asked the kids to help with shaping the pretzels. They did and had fun. It was really good bonding time with the kids. I made dough, kids and I shaped them, Jr. gave them a baking soda bath, I salted them, we baked them.

There was a lot of creativity going on. We didn't just stick with pretzel shapes.

At one point Jr. Jr. saw me putting salt on one of the "pretzels" and said, "Aaaagh! You're putting salt on the snail?" Yeah, my kids.

Celebrations With and Without Pictures

October 5 was Get Funky Day. One of us was in a funk that day. I said it counted.

October 6 was National Noodle Day. My plan was to make stroganoff with egg noodles. I asked Jr. Jr. and Lucky if that would be good for them after their dentist appointment. They didn't think so. They would rather have rice... with chicken cooked in gourmet sauce. 

Well, I gave them what they wanted. And I made stroganoff with egg noodles. It was just one of those days. It is not often I cook multiple entrees.

Ooh, that reminds me of something that happened recently. It was a leftovers for dinner night and I noticed there was spaghetti sauce that needed to be eaten up but no leftover spaghetti. So I cooked up a bunch of spaghetti noodles and... the kids all took the pasta but didn't touch the spaghetti sauce. Sigh. Now I know why there was leftover spaghetti sauce in the fridge but no spaghetti. Actually after I mentioned something, I think Nichole put some sauce on her pasta.

October 8 was Fluffernutter Day. Tee Hee. We did have fluffernutter sandwiches for dinner.

October 11 was International Day of the Girl Child. I put on the menu plan "boys make dinner" so Nichole and I (the girl childs) could have a break. Jeremy wasn't feeling well so he left dinner making to the boys boys. Jr. made Polish sausages with mashed potatoes and cheese. Lucky made hot chocolate. Jr. Jr.... didn't. I tried to do some catching up of my blog while they were and were not making things.

That day was also It's My Party Day so the kids and I sang that song. 

And here's another thing. For Family Home Evening treat one night, Lucky got out pretzel sticks and mini marshmallows and instructed us on how to make certain things and in what order to eat things. I think he enjoyed having that power. 

More April Celebrating... With Food

Since we're so busy with school at home right now, most of our celebrating revolves around the menu plan.
April 13 was National Peach Cobbler Day. Oh, yes. Mmmm. It turned out well. And currently I've got peaches in the freezer for two more cobblers. Jr. Jr. turned out to be the biggest fan of this peach cobbler. It made a lot (not everyone in the family is a fan) so there were a lot of leftovers and he was happy to have some whenever he could.

April 14 was National Dolphin Day. We ate tuna loaf. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We made sure to use dolphin safe tuna. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Mmm, putting this blog post together, I want tuna loaf again. I should put it on the menu plan.
April 19 was National Garlic Day. I made twisted breadsticks with butter and garlic salt and parmesan cheese on them because I was originally planning on making garlic bread but I didn't have French bread for it (I had made French bread but we were saving it for Monday's dinner) so I used a trick I learned from ourbestbites.com to season them after they come out of the oven and I used some dough we had in the fridge.

April 19 was also National Hanging Out Day. We do a lot of that at home with our family, not with friends right now.
April 20 was National Cheddar Fries Day. I made a simple cheese sauce from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner and poured it on French fries (not homemade). Jr. used the French bread I made and made apple cinnamon French toast casserole from the book, Budget Bytes. Yumm.

April 21 was Tuna Rights Day. We didn't have tuna loaf. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. We had salmon patties. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

April 22 was Earth Day. Jr. Jr. drew and colored this fun picture for a school assignment and our family got out for an Earth Day walk together.

We didn't let the kids get out the bike and scooters this time and this was my interpretation of how some of the kids reacted.

April 23 was National Picnic Day. We had picnic food for dinner.

April 24 was National Pigs in a Blanket Day. Nichole had a lot of fun wrapping the bits of hot dog into fun blanket shapes. Creativity strikes again. If you give Nichole a medium...

April 25 was East Meets West Day. We had teriyaki with angel hair pasta (recipe from hillbillyhousewife.com) and watched Big Hero 6 (San Fransokyo?)

April 25 was also National Zucchini Bread Day. My zucchini bread didn't turn out as well as it normally does- the batter anyway. It still tasted good, it was just a weird consistency this time- more like a cookie batter than zucchini bread batter. Oh, well. I've got more zucchini in the freezer waiting to become bread.

I also forgot to take a picture of it before we ate half.
April 26 was National Pretzel Day. Homemade pretzels, yumm.

I took a break in the middle of making pretzels so we could go for a Sunday evening walk as a family. This is another thing we're encouraged to do as a ward. Go out for Sunday afternoon or evening walks, say hi, but don't get too close. It was nice to chat with some people while they sat on their porches or from across the street.

Lots of celebrating with food... and walks. Gotta work off all those food calories, I guess.
P.S. April 27 was National Tell a Story Day. We didn't celebrate with food but one of Nichole's assignments was to read her short story and have it evaluated, which she did on that day.

Pretzels and Plays

April 26 is National Pretzel Day.  Lucky and I (Jeremy helped) made homemade pretzels to eat while watching The Jungle Book as a family. 

We watched it for Family Home Evening tonight since we weren't able to have FHE on Monday.  The reason?  Jeremy, Jr. Jr., Lucky, and I went to watch Nichole and Jr. in their performance of the play, The Jungle Book.  They both did such a good job.  It was fun to watch.  Tuesday, they performed again and Jeremy went to watch it again.  I stayed home with Jr. Jr. and Lucky.  Monday night, Lucky came down with something unpleasant and he was resting and recovering Tuesday evening.
Jr. played a crocodile- part of the jungle chorus.  Nichole played part of Kaa the snake.  We couldn't get a picture of her in her full costume since she's attached to 5 other people, but it was awesome.

This was Jr.'s first time doing the school play.  He did such a good job- he was very enthusiastic in his singing and dancing.  Nichole continued to do an awesome job with her second school play.  Last year she was in Aladdin.