Appreciate a Dragon Day 2021

For Appreciate a Dragon Day on Saturday, January 16, Nichole decided to have her dragon help out with things at home while Jeremy and I ran errands and tried to fix the car. It should have been as simple as replacing the battery but instead it took a lot of prayers and the next door neighbor who came over to see what we had been working on for hours and used his knowledge to fix the last bit for us. Thank you, neighbor. You were a huge blessing.

The kids worked on cleaning and homework (with the dragon) and watched some dragon-themed movies.

Earlier in the day, Jet and I took Jeremy to pick up his prize for reaching Gold for the UCB birding challenge for 2020. I got to chat with one of the birders from a distance while Jeremy was getting his certificate and binoculars harness. The Thursday before we had a Zoom Meeting with the club to talk about birding in 2020. It was so nice to see those birders and I was able to have all the kids there since we watched from home (and Jr. Jr. and Lucky danced around at home).

January 16 was also National Fig Newton Day but as things were so crazy, we forgot to eat our fig bars so we celebrated Fig Newton Day (Observed) the next day by eating them after our spinach lasagna that we had to celebrate Popeye's Birthday on Sunday, January 17.

Celebrating with the Menu Plan

O.K. Menu plan based on celebrations. I don't have a lot of pictures.

Monday, January 11, was National Milk Day. We had chocolate milk with our dinner.

Wednesday, January 13, was Korean American Day. I tried a new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff that my sister recommended. Korean Beef and Rice. 

It called for soy sauce and when I pulled the soy sauce out to use it, I realized I didn't have enough. The reason? I used most of it to make Chex Mix for New Year's. Sigh. Luckily, Jeremy was out shopping and was able to pick some more up. Sigh. The kids all liked it and some commented that it tasted kind of like that Chex Mix. It was the soy sauce and brown sugar, I'm sure.

January 13 was also Peach Melba Day. I didn't make peach melba but I made peach cobbler. Mmmmmm.

Thursday, January 14, was Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. Jr. made hot pastrami sandwiches for us. Thanks, Jr.

Friday, January 15, was National Bagel Day. We made breakfast sandwiches on bagels. Yummm.

Peculiar Sunday Supper

Sunday, January 10 was Peculiar People Day. It was also National Sunday Supper Day. I had my peculiar people make supper that day.

Nichole made maple-cornmeal drop biscuits from our Little Women Cookbook. Thanks, Orem Library. She and I made bacon gravy to go with it. Jr. helped Lucky steam some broccoli. Jr. made peanut brittle. We may have had some other things but I can't remember.

Old Rock Day 2021

January 7 was Old Rock Day. It was also National Bobblehead Day. To celebrate, Jet and I went for a drive since the weather was beautiful that day. We invited Jr.'s bobblehead along (with permission from Jr.) and took pictures of it with old rocks- hills and mountains. Of course I got distracted by birds for a bit. It was a nice drive.

And... the moon is an old rock.

How Did We Celebrate?

Let's see if I can remember how we celebrated on January 6. First of all, Sherlock Holmes' Birthday. I was going to watch a Sherlock Holmes movie but didn't so it's the thought that counts, right?

Next, National Bean Day. We had refried beans in some form, either as a side dish or in burritos. Who knows?

Then, National Cuddle Up Day. There were cuddles that day.

And, National Technology Day. We used technology.

Last, National Shortbread Day. I tried Funfetti Shortbread Bites, another recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Thanks again, Mel. Those shortbread bites were yummy. The boys helped make them. Yumm.

Whipped Cream Day

January 5 was National Whipped Cream Day. I thought it would be nice if we all got hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. 

 

I decided to do something else with the whipped cream as well. The children approved.

 

A Crazy Week

Man, it has been a crazy week. My phone died. The car died. Jeremy's phone got close to dying but he managed to get a new phone before losing everything on it like I did with mine. Schedules changed. We had to deal with a rash on one of the kids. I'm still too tired every night to blog. That's why I have a lot of catching up to do. We've had to deal with plenty of other things and will continue to deal with more.

You know the saying, "When it rains, it pours"? We've definitely felt that with things lately. This happens then this happens then this happens, etc. etc. etc. So much stress. But you know what? The saying also applies to blessings. "When it rains, it pours." Prayers have been answered in amazing ways. Heavenly Father has helped me to get ideas (not my own) with how to deal with certain situations. He's sent angels (neighbors and friends) to help us. I have a beautiful family and I love each member. We have a home to live in and food to eat. The older kids have been so helpful with the baby so I can deal with other things. Sure, there are plenty of stresses I'm dealing with right now (and lots of tears) and I'm not going to mention all of them but there are sooooooo many more blessings and I'm not going to mention all of those either.

Soooooo... I've got to do some catching up on my blog. You already know about some of the things we've been dealing with. I lost some pictures and didn't take pictures of all of our celebrating so I'm going to go back to lumping some together when I blog. I'm still trying to get into a routine with our new schedules so who knows how that will affect blogging. If you need you can go back to 2020 where I beat my record for amount of blog posts published in a year. Hooray! But don't worry. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say this year. Especially since Jeremy's parents sent us a new National Day calendar for this year. Thanks, Mom and Dad. 

That added to our Calendar of Celebration, which has other reasons to celebrate (like when Willy Wonka's Factory opened to the five golden ticket holders on February 1), we'll be celebrating plenty and I will share how we do some of that celebrating. Enjoy.

 

I'd love to hear how you are celebrating this year. Please share with me. If you need ideas for a certain holiday, do a search on my blog and there are a LOT of holidays we've celebrated. Some are as simple as watching a Winnie-the-Pooh movie on January 18, Winnie-the-Pooh Day. Some are more elaborate like running around like witches with cauldrons and broomsticks and concocting beverages and watching witch themed movies for Brew a Potion Day, January 19. But please, tell me how you celebrate.