Balloon Trees and Choir Parties

I said we're balloon artists.

Our children built our balloon Christmas tree. The next morning, Jr. Jr. walked out to the living room and commented, "It smells like Christmas." I laughed and replied, "Because of the balloon Christmas tree?" "Yeah. The latex. It smells like Christmas."

We had a last ward choir practice the night before our Christmas Eve program then had a choir shindig afterward (families invited). Our choir director introduced us to some of his family traditions- games, treats, etc. It was nice and fun. Choir is my happy place.

 

December 23 was Radish Night so Jeremy cut up lettuce and radishes for salad because I was so busy. My hero.

 

Then the next morning we had a beautiful Christmas Eve musical program then family time at home.

We had our big Christmas Eve dinner. 

Jet decided at one point during dinner he was done eating and it was time to stand on Mommy's chair, lean on her head so it was hard for her to eat, and say over and over, "Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas." My child is so adorable. I love him. I love him so much. Everybody got a kick out of it and had fun. I love my family.

We took a video of ourselves saying what we each were up to in 2023, bore our testimonies for our last Countdown to Christmas scripture study, then the kids opened up pajamas to wear to bed (which I mentioned on my blog on Christmas Day).

Look at what a cute thing our Primary Presidency did for the kids and leaders. They put together a Nativity Snack Mix with different treats representing different parts of the Nativity. So sweet (and savory).

Orem Reads: Frankenstein

I decided to do something for myself again in October... all month long. My family was good to support me in it.

I participated in Orem Reads. This year the theme was based on the book, "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley. I got a free copy of the book, read it, participated in several library events and other activities for it, and earned my way to the finale.

The kickoff event was a one woman production of "Mary's Monster," about the life of Mary Shelley and her inspiration for the book. Jeremy was able to go to that with me.

 

I took time to be creative with my reading (and shared about it on Instagram).

I even celebrated some holidays with it. October 6 was Mad Hatter Day and National Noodle Day.

They had two events of Orem Reads: Chat and Snack and I was able to go to both. Basically bring a snack to share and have a discussion about Frankenstein. I loved it.

This is what I wrote about Orem Reads in an Instagram post:

I enjoyed participating in Orem Reads this month reading Frankenstein. The events and book discussions I went to were great. It was nice to get together with other people who love books.

The Finale tonight was a book tasting. We spent five minutes at each table getting to know a genre and seeing samples of books in that genre. 11 tables. 11 genres. There were also snacks and fun decorations. 

I want to give a shout-out to Amy Sorensen and other staff members of Orem Public Library. A lot was put into this throughout the month and that effort is appreciated. Thank you, Amy. From the kickoff to the finale, it turned out great. 

Music Video

We had an exciting family activity tonight. We ate snacks and watched my niece's music video premiere on YouTube. Jr. Jr. especially liked the "popcorn" part in the video. We ate popcorn as one of our snacks.

"Give Me Something to Talk About" by Carina Hodson

Check it out. She is a talented singer/songwriter.

Sunday Rainday

Hiding out in the van during a thunder storm after church.

Lucky joined me and later, Jr. did.

We ate snacks and Jr. got creative with the fogged up window. 

It was nice to listen to the rain on the windshield and relax for a little bit. And some of the thunder was loud especially when there was a flash of lightning right before the crack of thunder.

What a beautiful Sunday Rainday.

Old Rock Day 2022

January 7 was Awesome Jr. Old Rock Day.

Let's try that again now that Jr. is no longer at the computer. Jeremy's comment when he saw what Jr. did, "Sometimes I take my son's humor for granite."

Let's try that again now that Jeremy is done making jokes.

January 7 was Old Rock Day. It was also National Bobblehead Day. Like last year, Jet and I went for a drive and took pictures of Jr.'s bobblehead (with permission) with mountains.

While we were out, we did a little birding.

 

I love that we went to different places than last year so we got different pictures and angles.

After school I told Nichole it was Old Rock Day.

Me: Mountains are old rocks.

Nichole: So are dinosaurs.

Me (yelling out): We should watch Jurassic Park.

Me (after a bit): The Beatles did music in the 60s and 70s so that was "old rock." We should watch "Yesterday."

For after school snack we ate chocolate rocks.

For dinner we did pizza and a movie. We started watching, "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Definitely an old rock movie.

Shh, Don't Tell The Kids

 

Sometimes you want a little snack all to yourself.

Bonding Time

July 16 was Ginger Rogers' Birthday. We didn't watch a Ginger Rogers movie that day but the kids were so funny and put on a quick puppet show based on the song, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie, Shall We Dance? I put the video of them doing it on YouTube.

July 16 was also Personal Chef's Day so we had personal pizzas on tortillas just like last year.

Both Jr. Jr. and Lucky got bonding time with parents that night. Jr. Jr. and Jeremy went owling and ate "chuckles." They didn't see any owls but Jr. Jr. told me when they got home about seeing mice and deer and I could tell he had a great time.

Lucky and I played video games while wearing our bathrobes and Jet looked on. Lucky's choice. By the end I had to take my bathrobe off, though, because it's Summertime and soooo hot. Also by the end, Lucky decided that even though we were on the same team playing Mario Kart, he would try to defeat me. Bwah ha ha ha. Jr. made us all some popcorn to snack on as well. During a pause in the game, Lucky brought out a surprise. He got us each a can of pop (himself and me, not Jet). So cute. Jr. had ginger ale because of Ginger Rogers' birthday. Because Jr. was so helpful, he and Nichole got to watch a show in another room while Lucky and I had our bonding time.

National Gumdrop Day 2021

For National Gumdrop Day this year on February 15, Nichole made more cookie candy flowers (with heart shaped gumdrops left over from Valentine's Day and with gumdrops Jeremy got for this holiday) and put them in a vase for us to enjoy for after school snack.

Thanks, Nichole.

National Peanut Butter Day 2021

Sunday, January 24, was National Peanut Butter Day. So what did I suggest every time someone said they were hungry? Something with peanut butter. People ate tortillas with peanut butter, peanut butter sandwiches, etc. The kids asked for Chuckles but I never got around to making that (I forgot). Jr. did make peanut butter cookies, though. Thanks, Jr.

P.S. We had Chuckles for After School Snack the next day.

Busy Like Grandma

Jeremy and I had some phone calls to make this morning then Jet and I headed to Antelope Island for the afternoon. At first I thought we wouldn't stay too long but then there was so much to see. 

At one point, I decided to head home to make dinner so on the way back I stopped by a spot where I had seen a porcupine in a tree earlier (I love seeing porcupines on Antelope Island). I looked and saw there were actually two porcupines. The second one was moving around eating from the branches. After a bit of watching I noticed there was yet another porcupine moving around in the tree (well, it was a group of trees all together). Three porcupines. 

I watched them for a while then Jet woke up so we stayed a while longer. He snacked like the porcupines while I continued to watch both him and the porcupines. 

Finally, I realized we really needed to go home so I put an unhappy to be going back in his car seat baby back in his car seat and we headed home.

As soon as I got home, I immediately got to work making dinner and helping with various other things my family had need of. Sigh. It was exhausting. As I was unclogging a toilet, I thought about my grandma who was an amazing woman. She was just a tiny thing, smaller than me (and I'm not big), and she did so much. She took care of two grown men (much larger than her) later on in life- my grandpa and my uncle. Both had medical needs, both needed help getting around. I am amazed that she was able to help them up from beds or chairs to wheelchairs or walkers. She had that love for them and was willing to sacrifice for them. What a great example.

Grandma was always happy to welcome (and feed) anyone around, whether it was her own relatives or friends of relatives (some of which later became relatives). When we made those pumpkin cookies last Friday, Jeremy and I told the kids some of our memories about their great grandma. Tonight as we made dinner of burger bundles and twice baked potatoes, both recipes I got from grandma, we shared even more stories. We even had some frozen berries and yogurt with dinner since Grandma had berry bushes.

My grandma was amazing. I'm so glad Jeremy had a chance to know her and be a part of her family and I'm so glad we took the chance to LightTheWorld by sharing some family history stories with our children.