Celebrating with Food Again

February 3 was National Carrot Cake Day. I made carrot cake. I like carrot cake.

It was also Feed the Birds Day so Lucky and I reminisced last year when he was doing the Mary Poppins play on Feed the Birds Day. 

February 4 was National Homemade Soup Day. I made Ogre Stew. Yumm.

February 5 was World Nutella Day. We had hazelnut spread on tortillas with baby carrots and apple slices. 

My Husband is So Nice (and So Am I)

January 27 National Chocolate Cake Day. I didn't make chocolate cake that day but I made some recently. Mmmm. Thinking about it, now I want to make chocolate cake again.

 

January 28 was National Blueberry Pancake Day and even though my husband had a cold, he still made blueberry (and plain and chocolate chip) pancakes, omelettes, and hashbrowns.

 

January 29 was National Corn Chip Day and I made chicken soup (you know, for colds) and we put Fritos in our bowls of soup. Actually, it was turkey meat in the chicken broth with veggies and some pasta so it was turkey soup?

 

January 30 was National Croissant Day. We didn't have any croissants so we just had Asian Chicken Salad Sandwiches (from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 1) on rolls. Still yumm even without the croissants. 

 

National Bird Day 2026

Yesterday, January 5, was National Bird Day.

I got out for my morning walk... with more lights than last time. Instead of listening to music, I listened to and looked at some birds.

I watched the movie, "The Big Year," while washing dishes and making dinner. I love that movie. For dinner we had chicken tortilla soup because chickens are birds and I have no problem eating them.

Jet wanted to get a picture of his food, too. Love him.

Nichole drew a barn swallow to celebrate. I just love to see her use art to celebrate holidays. 

Oh, and funny thing. I was looking up info about birding in certain counties in Utah (getting ready for this year's UCB challenge) and I clicked on a question to be answered, "What is the rarest bird in Utah?"

The AI Overview talked about how rarity can vary but it mentioned the brambling that we saw in March of 2024. It mentioned a couple other rare birds that I have not seen. Then it said this:

"Rarity depends on location and timing, with birds like the Yellow-billed Loon or Black-capped Chickadee also making rare appearances in specific counties."

I laughed so much when I saw that. While it's true that I've only seen a Yellow-billed Loon once (December of 2020), I don't think I would EVER call Black-capped Chickadees rare. In fact, I was hearing them on my walk yesterday morning and easily recognized their sound because I've heard them sooooo many times.

Let this be a lesson to you. AI Overview isn't always correct. Also... birds are cool. 

 

Catching Up March 2025 part 1

March 1 was National Pig Day. We had our traditional "Pig Island" dinner. Pigs in a blanket with peaches and blue koolaid. It's based on the Sandra Boynton song, "Pig Island." "They play on the beaches the colors of peaches There by the turquoise sea, oh my, Under a blue blue sky."

 

March 2 was Dr. Seuss' birthday, also known as Read Across America Day. Let me tell you about the cuteness that is my youngest child with Dr. Seuss. Jet wanted to read "Toast and Ham" one day. Most of us know it as Green Eggs and Ham. Anyway, Jet made up his own version and "read it" to me a few times. It was a little different each time. Some here and theres and sharing with the Fox but her is the gist of it:

Hey, that guy stole my paper. Do you like toast and ham? I don't like toast and ham. Do you like it in the house? I don't like it in the house. Do you like it in the car? I don't like it in the car. Do you like it in the dark? I don't like it in the dark. Do you like it in the water? I don't like it in the water. One second. I want toast and ham. Give me it. You want it? Yeah. I want it. I like toast and ham. I like it in the house. Do you like it? I do like it. Thank you very much. The End.

On Dr. Seuss' Birthday, Jet also hopped on Pop.

 

March 3 was National Cold Cuts Day and Soup It Forward Day. Soup and Sandwiches to celebrate.

I'll do some more catching up later.

Catching Up February 2025 part 1

Saturday, February 1, was World Read Aloud Day and Take Your Child to the Library Day so what a great day to go to the Orem Library's event, "Bring Your Child to the Library Day." Jet and I went to do some activities and get little stamps (stickers) in his "passport." 

His favorite was the dragon sticker. He noticed that it matched the dragon in the junior fiction area of the library and was excited to see it.

That day was also Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Sometimes I keep this holiday to myself. This year, we had some fun with it as a family. We all had ice cream in waffle cone bowls.

Sunday, February 2, was Groundhog Day and Tater Tot Day. We had our traditional imitation groundhog burgers but this year they were black bean burgers based on "Buckbean Burgers." We had tater tots on the side.

Monday, February 3, was Feed the Birds Day. How appropriate that that was closing night of Lucky's play, Mary Poppins Jr. For Christmas Lucky got a shirt based on a line in the play. Mary Poppins uses a measuring tape to find out that Michael is a "noisy, mischievous, troublesome little boy." Lucky's shirt shows a measuring tape and the shirt says, "I'm not really a '...noisy, mischievous, troublesome little boy.' I just act that way."

Tuesday, February 4, was Homemade Soup Day. I made Bowtie Minestrone Soup from "A Season of Family Meal Plans," volume 1, by Jordan Page.

Wednesday, February 5, was World Nutella Day. We had Nutella sandwiches. 

Friday, February 7, was Fettuccine Alfredo Day. We ate fettuccine alfredo with the yummy alfredo sauce we always make from ourbestbites.com, "Guiltless Alfredo Sauce."

Sunday, February 9, was National Pizza Day. Since it was also Superb Owl Sunday (we're not really sports fans but we are fans of birds), we started with pizza and ended with a big spread of appetizers and snacks. Yumm. I, of course, also wore the owl earrings I got as a prize from the UCB challenge.

Monday, February 10, was Cream Cheese Brownie Day. We made cheesecake brownie bites from "A Season of Family Meal Plans," volume 1.

That's enough catching up for now. More later.

Bye. 

Let's Get To This Catching Up

February 4 was Homemade Soup Day. I wasn't going to do Butternut Squash Soup even though it was in "A Season of Family Meal Plans" by Jordan Page because it was Fast Sunday and sometimes I don't do so well with my energy making dinner on Fast Sunday. But I asked Jeremy and he said he was interested in trying a new taste (we've had a lot of new tastes with these books and we're only on volume 1) so I made the Viral, No Knead Rustic Bread in advance and made the soup that day. It was worth it. Jeremy really liked it.

 

We had some rolls in the freezer that I was able to get out for the next night's dinner, Smoky BBQ Beef Sandwiches. We used pork.

Here's what I've been doing as far as shelf cooking. First, pork roast is cheaper than beef roast so I sub pork for beef. Second, I usually only need about half a roast for these recipes so I use what I need for the current recipe (which often is used for more recipes in the same week) and look at another recipe in the future that would use the other half. I cook it up according the future recipe and freeze it until it's needed. Handy.

 

Another thing I'm doing with shelf cooking with these books, whatever I want. Combine recipes from one meal with recipes from another meal.

I made Sour Cream & Bacon Skillet Chicken but instead of the Classic Creamy Mashed Potatoes that is paired with it in the book, I made Crispy Mashed Potatoes again like Week 1 except with a different type of potatoes this time. I can do what I want.

Then of course there are the tried and true recipes I use. February 7 was Fettuccine Alfredo Day. I made spaghetti alfredo (#shelfcooking) because we didn't have fettuccine. I used the Guiltless Alfredo Sauce recipe from ourbestbites.com and it was so good. We've been using this recipe for years and it's our favorite alfredo recipe. Better than the jarred stuff Jeremy says.

 

February 7 was also Ballet Day. Nichole made this cute picture to celebrate.

 

We used more pork for more sandwiches, this time with hamburger buns I made, with sides of Adirondack Beans and Jojo Potatoes. Yumm.

OK. That's enough catching up for this post.

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

February 4 was Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.

It was also Homemade Soup Day but I made soup the next day to go along with Nutella sandwiches (or tortillas with Nutella on them) for World Nutella Day, February 5.

 

I found out from the Orem Library that February 4 was also Take Your Child to the Library Day so I took two of my children to the Provo Library. Heh Heh Heh.

Grandma and Grandpa Came to Visit

Jeremy's parents came to visit again. I love my in-laws.

They were able to go to Nichole's Honors Orchestra performance. That was something Nichole did in junior high and she got to do it again this year in high school.

They went with us to the zoo. 

I wanted the obligatory family picture with the gorilla statue. None of the pictures got everyone looking at the camera and/or smiling at the same time. Sigh. This is my family.

The funny thing is Joshua stayed the same the whole time and I would have been perfectly happy with that if everything else was smoother.

Flap your ears like an elephant.

The red pandas were out and about this time.

Grandparents ate with us, including bread bowls with soup. Yumm. 

Jr. Jr. helped by punching down the dough... his way. He didn't take his fist out right away and it left a fist print.

Grandma and Grandpa went to church with us.

They did the grandparents thing and brought gifts. 

It was just nice having them come for a visit. They were glad they came.

March Comes In Like a Lion

Mmm, not so much. Beautiful first day of March we had.

A few days later it did rain, but by the evening, it was nice again.

morning and afternoon pictures

 

The first day of March brought us Share a Smile Day. We smiled. It brought us Peanut Butter Lover's Day. People ate peanut butter sandwiches. It also brought us National Pig Day. I decided to create another version of my "Pig Island" picture from 2015. I went around singing the song as well.

 The second day of March brought us Dr. Seuss' birthday. "Do you like green eggs and ham?"

The third day of March brought us I Want You to Be Happy Day. Double Chocolate Chunk Muffins make us happy. It brought us National Cold Cuts Day. People ate ham sandwiches. It also brought us National Soup It Forward Day. I took that opportunity to try a new soup recipe, Easy Chicken Parmesan Soup, from sixsistersstuff.com and it was so yummy. Jeremy, Nichole, Jet, and I all loved it.

The fourth day of March brought us National Sons Day. I let the boys pick what we'd have for dinner so we had pepperoni pizza, BBQ chicken pizza, and Pineapple Fanta. It brought us Grammar Day. I corrected people's grammar from time to time. It also brought us National Dance the Waltz Day and National Marching Music Day. Like last year, Jet and I danced the waltz to "Stars and Stripes Forever" in 3/4 time.

 

The next day we had enough ingredients to make more pepperoni and BBQ chicken pizzas so the kids made more pizzas. Thanks, kids.