More Bonding Time

Tuesday I got more bonding time.

In the morning, my friend Stephanie came over to help wrap presents and sign her book, "Timmy Termite It Was This Big." She wrote and illustrated it. We had hot chocolate with peppermint ice cream in it and watched the movie, "Stalking Santa." 

That evening, Nichole and I went caroling with some friends in the neighborhood then had more hot chocolate and cookies and had a great time chatting. We talked about all sorts of things including it being Jane Austen's 250th birthday, December 16. 

Good bonding time with friends and family.

 

Catching Up April 2025 part 1

April 6 was National Carbonara Day but because we were having our Conference nachos that day, we celebrated "observed" on Monday, the 7th. 

 

Since April 7 was National Coffee Cake Day, I did make carrot cake coffee cake from a recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I really liked it. Thanks again, Mel.

This was Jeremy's thought about it. "It has that texture of coffee cake but it has that carrot cake flavor in it and it's just a really nice combination. You can quote me on that." 

 

April 8 is Draw a Picture of a Bird Day. Nichole celebrated this of course.

Purple throated mountain gem

 

It was also Library Worker's Day. This is what I said on Instagram and Facebook about the holiday:

I love the library workers at Orem Public Library (both past and present workers because I have many years of interacting with workers at that library and have seen people come and go). From those that are right there when there when you walk in the door to those that help you fin a book to those that invite you to join in on programs to those that feed the tarantula and so many other jobs, I appreciate them.

This is Molly, on of my favorite children's librarians. She always has a bright smile and a friendly "Hello." She's always willing to help whether it's pointing out a book or getting my child started on an activity. Ad I appreciate that she's willing to bend down for a picture with me because I'm so short.

I encourage you to celebrate with me and thank a library worker today. 

Of course right after my picture with Molly, I went up and chatted with another librarian who was able to help me find some books for Lucky for reading challenges at school.

 

April 9 was National Unicorn Day and Name Yourself Day. Jet had a little wand with a unicorn on it. He would wave it and call out, "Magical Unicorn!" then you had to neigh like a unicorn. I got to the point during the day when I was saying, "And I shall call name myself Magical Unicorn."

We also went to the library (said Hi to Molly and thank you to the librarian who suggested books for Lucky who liked what I brought home) and picked up a unicorn book.

 

April 10 was National Siblings Day. I wished Happy Siblings Day to most of my siblings (my mom passed on my wishes to one) and wished my soon to be new sister-in-law Happy Siblings Day. More on that later.

That evening, I took two of my children for a bird walk with Utah County Birders on the West side of the lake. 

Remember what I said about Lucky making silly faces?

 

There weren't as many birds as there could have been because of humans recreating. Oh, well.

Gorgeous evening, though.

 

April 10 was also Encourage a Young Writer Day. You know I do.

 

April 11 was National Submarine Day. I went for a walk along the lake and had this thought: What do you think it would be like to be in a small submarine in a lake?

That afternoon, I helped Jeremy set up Cosmo Cougar that he made out of balloons for BYU's Grad Bash.

We work well together.

 

That night, Nichole and I went to a girls' night. We went to our friend's home theater to watch Sense and Sensibility. Since I read the book this year, I wanted to watch the movie again so we got together with several ladies to watch it. I love the Emma Thompson version. 

Wow. April 11 was busy.

Chocolate Ice Cream Day 2024

Two of our kids got wisdom teeth pulled so we had to figure out soft things for them to eat. Well, June 7 was Chocolate Ice Cream Day. Ice cream is soft food. We had vanilla ice cream, we had chocolate syrup. I told everyone they could celebrate whatever way worked for them. I personally made my treat into a banana split.

June 8 was Name Your Poison Day. We missed it but Nichole celebrated it observed the next day. She started listing different types of poisons she's studied. Polonium, foxglove, hemlock, strychnine, cyanide, arsenic, aconite (also known as monkshood or wolfsbane- you can learn that from Harry Potter). Interestingly, Nichole can name more actual poisons than alcoholic beverages which is where the saying, "Name your poison," came from. I'm okay with that as long as she doesn't put either to use in real life.

You may be wondering why Nichole would know so many poisons. Well... you know we are a family of readers. We are also a family of writers. Nichole is interested in learning about writing mysteries. Many mysteries deal with murder and one way to kill someone is with poison. So... she had been learning about poisons and lately she's been learning about forensics because mysteries should also be solved. It's interesting to look at the books we check out from the public libraries. Anything from Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to A Guide to Forensics.

Palindrome Days

It's always fun when there are interesting dates on the calendar. Remember 2-22-22?

Or 12-31-23?

 

I recently told my brother of an experience I had.

Me: Happy 04-14-24

Paco: That's a good one! Happy sequential day to you, too!

Me: Thanks. It was funny how I realized it. I was putting away dinner leftovers and as I was putting the date on the label, I saw 4-14-24, thought it was cool, and quickly added a 0 to the front.

Palindrome dates are fun, too. We had fun in January of 2021 with 1-21-21 and 1-22-21, etc.

 

My brother and I texted each other a few times during recent "palindrome days." 4-20-24 through 4-29-24 or 42024 through 42924. Palindrome days!

 

4-20-24 I'll blog about later. But here's a hint.

 

4-21-24 Tuna Rights Day. Lucky ate tuna. Bwah ha ha ha!

I walked home after choir after church.

4-22-24 Jelly Bean Day. I had a handful of jelly beans.

 

4-23-24 Cherry Cheesecake Day. I made Cherry Cheesecake from a box. Jr. Jr. loved it. He ate more than anyone else.

4-24-24 Pigs in a Blanket Day. I made Lil' Smokies in a Blanket.

We also got Nichole home from BYU!

My brother texted me: Happy 42424! Not as cool as the last one, but is a palindrome for Life, the Universe, and Everything. 

 

Speaking of Life, the Universe, and Everything, Jeremy and Nichole went to that writing conference in February. During these Palindrome Days, they watched some videos online from another writing conference for fantasy. And Nichole shaped a cheeseball that looked like a dragon for them to snack on while watching classes.

4-25-24 Telephone Day. Nichole used a cell phone in a video game. 

Zucchini Bread Day. I made zucchini bread (and the next day I took some to a friend who I knew liked zucchini bread). 

World Penguin Day. We had fish sticks (and zucchini bread). 

National Plumbers Day. Jr. played Mario music on guitar. 

Perfect Date Day. It was nice weather until it rained. My sister and brother-in-law went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I didn't but here's a picture of tulips.

4-26-24 I text my brother again to wish him Happy 4-26-24

 

4-27-24 I made baked donuts but... filled the batter too much so they had muffin tops. So Lucky and I pulled off around the outside parts to make them a little bit more donut shaped.

4-28-24 Terry Pratchett's birthday. Look for a blog post about that soon. 

4-29-24 We had family home evening while I was making dinner so the kids colored pictures while sharing the table with ingredients.

 

Those were our recent Palindrome Days.

LTUE

Jeremy decided to use birthday money last year to register for Life, The Universe, and Everything symposium. He and Nichole went to it in February of this year. They took classes on writing and art and learned lots.

They made sure to get selfies of themselves every day showing them at the conference. They had an extra in their picture on the last day. Our friend, Kels Goodman, was on some panels (he's a filmmaker) and Jeremy and Nichole went to one of them. His wife, our friend, Stephanie, was also there at the conference so Nichole and Jeremy got to visit with both of them. Good people.

I'm glad Jeremy and Nichole got to have that bonding time and they've already registered next year.

Some More Holidays

November 17 was National Homemade Bread Day and National Butter Day. 

Easy to combine holidays that day.

 

November 18 was National Apple Cider Day.

I figured after working for hours on Jeremy's book that day and the day before, I earned some nice apple cider in the composition mug.

 

November 19 was Have a Bad Day Day. Some of us took turns being grumpy for a bit. It never lasted too long. I kept commenting that it was just to celebrate the holiday. Both Nichole and Jr. fell that day. Sigh. You don't always have to celebrate, kids. Sigh.

November 20 was National Absurdity Day and World Children's Day. We talked about that in Nursery on Sunday. The adults did. The children were just absurd at times.

November 21 was National Gingerbread Cookie Day. I've been wanting to make gingerbread men again for years. My father-in-law gave me a recipe for gingerbread cookies so we made gingerbread men for the holiday. Hooray. 

Some of them came out in interesting shapes because they stuck so much to the cookie cutters. This is one that looks different depending on the angle you look at it. What do you think it looks like? 

Lucky and Jr. Jr. had fun with the end of the dough adding embellishments to the last cookies. I didn't make icing so we didn't have gingerbread zombies this time.

The day before, Nichole got a gingerbread man from a teacher at church. Sweetheart that she is, she shared with Jet. Then when she didn't have more to share, she made a gingerbread man out of cardboard for him, and we talked about the story of the gingerbread man. Lucky shared a story he made up about the Antarctic gingerbread man.