Even More September Catching Up

September 12 was Hug and High Five Day. Some of the teachers at the elementary school were giving high fives as students were leaving. Lucky made sure to give his dad a hug and "high five" when his dad came home from work. 

 

September 12 was also National Video Games Day. I remembered to wear my Mario shirt this time. Woohoo. I went shopping and the gal helping me to check out remarked on my shirt so I told her it was National Video Games Day. She was very happy to find that out because it gave her an excuse to play later. 

I never got to play video games that day but the kids did.

 

September 12 was also Chocolate Milkshake Day. We made woo-woo.

That evening was Lucky's elementary school Fall Festival. He volunteered to help out since he is on the student council. He got to run a booth during the second half of the festival and got to play and eat earlier. And being the sweet boy that he is, he shared his cotton candy with me.

 

September 13 was International Chocolate Day and National Peanut Day. You know what that means. Parfaits! 

 

It was also Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day. I asked the kids to take care of dinner. 

 

It was National Day of Service. I helped tie quilts and took some time to do other service that day. 
Jet had Primary Program practice then got pizza afterward. 

The next day was the Primary Program and he did a pretty good job this year. He sang some of the songs and stayed in his seat when he was supposed to and stood when he was supposed to for the most part. When it was his turn to say his part, he said it so quickly that it was unintelligible but that's okay. Still cute.

After church, Lucky came to choir with me then we decided to walk home together. I walked. Lucky somewhat walked, somewhat ran. Cute kid.

 

September 15 was Agatha Christie's birthday. Nichole and I discussed it because you know she's into mystery writing. 

 

September 16 was Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day. We had cinnamon toast with raisins on top for those that preferred it.

 

September 17 was Monte Cristo Day so of course we had Monte Cristo Sandwiches. We love celebrating that holiday that way. 

 

September 18 was National Cheeseburger Day. I didn't make cheeseburgers but I took some ground turkey and made stroganoff to go along with sauteed zucchini from our garden. And toast because toast is popular around here, especially with homemade bread.

Holidays, Shelf Cooking, and Bonding Time

September 10 was Ants on a Log Day. We had fluffernutter sandwiches and ants on a log. See my blog post for September 14, 2020 for an explanation why we celebrate with fluffernutter sandwiches on that day. We didn't have any marshmallow fluff so we used real marshmallows. #shelftember

 

Other Shelftember foods we had near that time:

Start with a box pasta meal. Add cooked pasta, some extra seasonings, and cooked bacon from the freezer. It stretches a lot farther. That's shelf cooking!

 

Sometimes I forget that something as simple as beans and rice works for a quick lunch.

 

Homemade bread, spinach before it goes bad made into a salad, casserole from the freezer (tortellini casserole from A Season of Family Meal Plans), and a banana.

 

My husband has always been better at throwing things together to make a good meal. He knows how to do shelf cooking. He took my leftover black beans and some polish sausages and veggies and made some yummy yummy food. He's awesome.

September 11, we remembered.

September 12 was National Video Games Day. I had every intention of playing video games that day but by the end of the day I was too tired. Sigh.

It was also Hug and High Five Day and National Chocolate Milkshake Day. 

Jet helped me make cornbread muffins to go with our dinner of Sausage Veggie Skillet (with extra zucchini because it was cheaper than yellow squash) and rice-n-cheese (instead of orzo-n-cheese because we have rice, not orzo). Both those recipes came from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, of course. Our chocolate milkshakes were yummy.

September 13 was the Anniversary of The Animaniacs premiere in 1993 so we listened to Animaniacs music. It was also Roald Dahl Day so I put on music from Wonka.

After after school snack of parfaits to celebrate International Chocolate Day and National Peanut Day (and quoting the movie Shrek about how ogres, onions, and parfaits all have layers), I let the kids have the kitchen for Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day and they made pizza. 

September 14 was Eat a Hoagie Day so I made hoagies/buns for people to use and it was National Parents Day Off but I really don't remember what Jeremy and I ended up doing, if anything. I did get a picture late at night of the moon and clouds.

September 15 was Double Cheeseburger Day and National Linguine Day. We had spaghetti with sauce (it had hamburger in it- well, ground turkey, tee hee) and two types of cheese (double cheese, tee hee). #shelftember

September 16 was Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day and National Play-Doh Day. I was complaining about not having time to make play doh and Jeremy pointed out that I played with dough in order to make cinnamon raisin bread which tasted so good by the way.

 

September 17 was Monte Cristo Day. Did you know there is a Count of Monte Cristo musical? I found out when I tried to get Alexa to play music from The Count of Monte Cristo while I was making food and it put on songs from a musical. Fun. I decided to do something new this year and made Monte Cristo Slider Sandwiches from sixsistersstuff.com

Yumm. I made more later to freeze so we could pull out sandwiches when we wanted them.

 

September 18 was National Cheeseburger Day. So we pulled hamburger out of the freezer (ground turkey) and made smothered beef burritos from... you guessed it... A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3.

Of course walks, snuggles, and other kinds of bonding have continued. I love my family.

My parents made a quick trip to Utah for my dad's 60th high school reunion. They stopped by to see Jet and me one day. I love my parents.

Jr.'s Birthday

We celebrated Jr.'s birthday in August.

He of course got video game time without having to do chores (he still had to do homework).

Whoever put the candles on the cake, used seven candles to make the 1 in the 10s place and ten candles to make the 7 in the 1s place. Ha Ha Ha. 

Someone joked about turning the fan on. It wasn't even in the room, thankfully.

Jr. was very pleased with his present, a cordless controller that he could use on computer games.

My Kids Crack Me Up

When I mentioned to Jr. Jr. that May 16 was Sea Monkey Day, he told me, "Mom, you should make your bread have ears because... monkey sea, monkey dough."

I laughed so much.

He didn't know that I already had on my plans for the day to make monkey bread but since his comment I just had to do it this way:

He was quite pleased when he saw them.

It was also Barbecue Day so we had BBQ chicken pizza.

May 17 was Pizza Party Day so we ate pizza and played video games. 

 

That day was also Something Other Than a Backpack Day at the high school where students are encouraged to bring something... other than a backpack to put their school supplies for the day. This year students brought such things as laundry baskets, a toy shopping cart, sports bags, and one student carried a small canoe or some sort of boat thing.

Jr. took his guitar case with guitar inside. He was able to fit all his necessary stuff for the school day in the outside pocket. He didn't need much as he was going on a field trip to the Utah Symphony that day so could leave his guitar and case in the band room at the school.

More Excuses for Video Games

I played Mario Kart for World Plumbing Day on Monday, March 11. The boys rationalized playing Minecraft because Lucky planted a tree underground for Johnny Appleseed Day. 

 

That day was also Oatmeal Nut Waffle Day.

I didn't have a recipe for oatmeal nut waffles so we had oatmeal, nuts, and waffles. Baked oatmeal, almonds in salad, and waffles.

 

March 12 was Plant a Flower Day but I don't remember if the boys got away with video games or not.

Speaking of video games, Jr. Jr. got clever. Sometimes we will put on music from The Legend of Zelda as relaxing background music. Jr. will sometimes put on sound effects videos for atmosphere/ambience, too. This is something Jr. Jr. came up with. "10 hours of video game ambience. Pressing keys and mouse clicking." He's a hoot.

Rambling Before the Brambling

Jeremy invited us to get up early on Saturday, March 9, to go see a once in a lifetime bird. Brambling. A bird you are likely to find in Europe and Asia but not in the Continental United States (they can be seen on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska).

Because I am a morning person, I talked a lot on the 1 1/2 hour drive there. Jeremy said I was rambling before the brambling.

The brambling was in someone's backyard and they gave permission for people to come see the bird. So when we got there, there were quite a few other birders who came soon after us and around the same time. It was awesome. It was cold but it was awesome. And so worth it. All of us who went (besides Jet, who would chase all the birds away if we let him out of the van so we took turns in the van with him) got to see it and Nichole got a couple good pictures. Our camera was dying and our new camera didn't come the day before like it was supposed to. Sigh.

I took my turn in the van with Jet first. I looked at juncos in the nearby bushes while the others were getting glimpses of the brambling. I was just sitting there looking out the windshield when all of a sudden a bird with a black head landed in the tree right in front of me. It had some coloring to it and I made the comment, "That's not a junco." I used my binoculars to see that it was indeed a brambling. I used my phone and got a really bad picture but I saw it. 

I did get a chance to get out of the van for a better look with binoculars later. So cool. It kind of looks like a spotted towhee but it isn't one.

Here's one of Nichole's pictures.

 

Well, that was a big deal birding trip. It was like when we went to see the Great Gray Owl in 2017. It was great.

Jet insisted he and Nichole wear the earphones but they weren't connected to anything.

 

That wasn't the end of our day, however. Oh no, it wasn't. Jr. was in the pit orchestra for "Beauty and the Beast" again this year, just at his own high school instead of another high school in town.

Jeremy took Lucky to the matinee that afternoon and I took Nichole to the evening performance. We had friends sit by us and other friends we got to chat with during intermission and after the play.

I'm proud of how hard Jr. worked again and I was happy to support him and other people in the cast (one of the dancers in the play is a neighbor).

Since March 9 was National Meatball Day and Get Over It Day, I was heard to say, "Get over it, you meatball," that day (it's tradition).

I made Mexican Meatballs from "A Season of Family Meal Plans" volume 1 along with Creamy Potato Soup (from the same book). Jet helped me make Italian Bread Bowls (not from that book but from Mel's Kitchen Cafe). Some of the bread bowls were more rounded and some were a little flatter (thanks, Jet). That's what you get from my baking buddy, though. He did help clean up the table and do dishes afterward, though.

He was such a big helper, he helped himself to one of the "big rolls" when they were done. I'd say he earned it.

March 9 was also Popcorn Lover's Day but we didn't have popcorn until the next day while we were celebrating Mario Day (MAR10) by playing Mario video games.

Before video games, we went to support my niece who just got home from her mission and gave a talk in her ward. Then we spent time at my sister's house with family. You know I love family.