Let's Talk About More November Celebrations

Speaking of nachos- like for New Year's...

 

November 6 was National Nacho Day. This was what happened with my 13-year old.

Mom: Today is Nacho Day.

Jr. Jr.: I know. I've had a really hard day.

Mom (looks sympathetic)

Jr. Jr.: Today is not yo' day.

Mom: Groan. 

We also ate nachos.

 

November 11 was Veteran's Day. I got my selfie with the flag. It was sunny.

It was also Corduroy Day, you know, because 11/11 looks like corduroy. We were having breadsticks so had some fun with them.

It was also National Sundae Day. I made hot fudge sauce to go with ice cream and whatever else. Yumm.

 

November 12 was Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day. We had individual pizzas so everyone could choose their toppings. Some of the kids even had dessert pizzas after their main pizzas. They got the idea for s'mores pizza from the Fablehaven Cookbook.

Speaking of the Fablehaven Cookbook, for Spicy Guacamole Day on November 14, we made "Bubda's Sloppy Guac" and "Lost Mesa Corn Avocado Salsa, both from that book. They were perfect to go with taco salad for dinner and family members had fun making faces in the food (the instructions for the sloppy guac even say to make a hermit troll face). We love that cookbook! 

 

November 16 was National Fast Food Day so we pulled out chicken nuggets and fries from the freezer and soda pop from the pantry and called it good.

 

November 17 was Homemade Bread Day and National Butter Day and GWR Day. GWR stands for Guinness World Records. We had homemade bread with butter but we also had hot dogs on homemade buns as a nod to the world record Jeremy broke back in July of 2015. He built a giant balloon dog. So we had hot dogs.

For William Tell Day on November 18, I made apple crisp. Yumm.

 

November 21 was Gingerbread Cookie Day. I made gingerbread cookie people while telling Jet the story of the Gingerbread Man. There have been a few times since then that Jet will run into a room I'm in and call out, "You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." I love him so much.

That day was also National Stuffing Day so we had a bruschetta bake with chicken, stuffing, tomatoes, and seasonings. Yumm.

November 23 was Thanksgiving. That morning I took a moment for myself. I got up early to help Jeremy get ready for work- made him breakfast, made him a lunch (a snack really because he got out of work early for which I was grateful). I had Bing Crosby in my head. "I've got plenty to be thankful for." After Jeremy left for work, I decided to take a bit of time for myself before getting to work on laundry, doing dishes, hard boiling eggs for deviled eggs... so I wrapped myself up in a blanket, drank some hot chocolate, watched some TV, and felt thankful.

When Jeremy got home we celebrated with food, lots and lots of food.

He brought home a pumpkin pie from work which we put whipped topping on. I also made a vanilla pudding pie and we put pumpkin pie ice cream on top of it. Mmmmm.

 

November 24 was National Leftovers Day or Turkey Leftover Day. Yes, we ate leftovers of course.

 

November 26 was Charles Schulz' Birthday. We decided to have a Charlie Brown/Peanuts Thanksgiving to celebrate with foods the characters made in "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." Toast, popcorn, jelly beans, pretzel sticks. We also threw in some "peanuts" and "Peppermint Patties." And to drink we had lemonade because Lucy sometimes sets up a lemonade stand.

I also wore my bow earrings to celebrate his birthday. When some women in choir saw me and I explained why I was wearing those earrings, they suggested we go around the table giving psychiatric advice for 5 cents. So cute. I love my choir friends.

November 30 was Mason Jar Day. You know I love excuses to use my Fablehaven Cookbook. This time it was "Fairy in a Jar Layered Gelatin Treats." 

I couldn't find any gummy butterflies or gummy fairies but I could find gummy worms. Jeremy joked that it as more like "imps in a jar."

Turkeys and Veterans and Pizza, Oh My

Jeremy was out of town at a fair convention so the kids and I celebrated a few things without him.

 

Jr. Jr. and Lucky went to a little Thanksgiving Dinner where they got to do crafts and eat food.

The next day, November 11, was Veterans Day.

It was also National Sundae Day so we had Chinese Sundaes, also known as Hawaiian Haystacks.

The next day, November 12 was Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day. Sadly there have been a few years when we've missed this holiday. Can you believe it? I made sure to celebrate it this year. Individual pizzas with lots of choices for sauces and toppings including dessert pizzas.

That day, Jr. also entered a Fablehaven trivia contest at school because the newest Dragonwatch book came out in October and they had a couple copies to check out. The two people with the most points would get to check out the book first and the top 10 scorers would get a metal bookmark. 

When Nichole and Jet and I picked him up from school, I asked how it went because he'd been studying/reading books to prepare. He let me know he got 11th place. Oh, no. That's too bad. Barely missed it. We gave him sympathy.

Mom: Oh, man. Seriously, you got 11th place?

Jr.: Just kidding. I got 10th.

Mom: Really? So you did get a bookmark. Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Jr.: Yeah. 1+0=10, right?

Mom: No. It equals 1.

Jr.: Oh, so I guess I got 1st place.

That made me laugh because he totally had us going. Thinking how sad that he didn't even get a bookmark, to happy to find out he did, to ecstatic to find out he got to check out the new book first. Yay! Nice one, Jr. He also got to check out another book and besides the bookmark, he also got some stickers.

Way to go, Jr.

I keep telling you we're Brandon Mull fans.

S'More Time

Well it's Summer vacation, right?  That means time to play outdoors, build a fire, and cook s'mores.
Jr.'s scout group invited their families to come around a campfire and watch some skits.  Great job, kids.
Then they cooked s'mores.

Jr. needs to learn that the place for the marshmallow is between the graham cracker and the chocolate.

Heh Heh.
Still not exactly sure how that happened to his hair and ears.  I don't think he did it to himself (but maybe).  It's possible someone bumped against him with their marshmallow on a stick (maybe Lucky?).  Heh Heh.

I don't have any pictures but earlier in the day Nichole's activity days group had ice cream sundaes and the girls could each have as many toppings as they had Articles of Faith memorized.  Nichole got all 13 toppings.

Later that day, I also had an ice cream sundae, but I didn't have to pass off Articles of Faith to earn mine.  I had to play fun games with Relief Society sisters and Young Women.  It was enjoyable.  The Young Women put together the activity and they did a great job.

World Record

Today was a long day.

But it was worth it.

Jeremy broke the world record for largest modelling balloon sculpture by an individual.  He made a huge long balloon dog out of thousands of balloons.

He worked on it all week.  15 hour days, Monday through Friday, and a few hours today before the measuring and official announcement of getting the record.
After it was all over, we went home and had our own long hot dogs for dinner.

And since July 25 is National Hot Fudge Sundae Day, we also celebrated with hot fudge sundaes with homemade hot fudge sauce and sprinkles for the kids (I had walnuts on mine).
The kids deserved to be rewarded after the long day.

At one point, Jeremy called me into the kitchen saying, "Lucky has a huge pile of sprinkles in front of him and two spoons in his hand.  Bring the camera."  Ha Ha Ha Ha.
It was a good day.  I am so proud of my husband.