National Peanut Butter Day 2021

Sunday, January 24, was National Peanut Butter Day. So what did I suggest every time someone said they were hungry? Something with peanut butter. People ate tortillas with peanut butter, peanut butter sandwiches, etc. The kids asked for Chuckles but I never got around to making that (I forgot). Jr. did make peanut butter cookies, though. Thanks, Jr.

P.S. We had Chuckles for After School Snack the next day.

Pie Day 2021

January 23 is National Pie Day. We also celebrate Pi Day on March 14. Any excuse for pie, right? I like pie so we had impossible cheeseburger pie and apple pie to celebrate Pie Day this year. Yummm.

It was also National Handwriting Day so Nichole got out her calligraphy stuff again for a little bit at the end of the day.

Itsa Gooooood!

I love my brother, Paco. In a lot of ways growing up I wanted to be like him, to do things he was doing. I got into drama because he was doing drama. I learned some balloon animals because he was learning balloon animals. I got into juggling because he was juggling. I'm sure glad I did that because I got to know my husband through a juggling club in college. I've mentioned before that I've videoed myself juggling in different places because I copied my brother with that.

My brother and I definitely have differences and I don't follow him in everything (I don't build skateboards or walking sticks for example). My brother is fun, though, and my kids and my husband also think he is fun. Since we don't see him in person very often, living in different states, we enjoy watching "Paco videos." Every year he puts up a New Year's video on YouTube and we get a kick out of watching those as a family. He has a lot of other random videos and we get a kick out of those, too. Sometimes we even celebrate Paco's birthday... two states away. Sometimes we eat cake, sometimes we put together a little video for him. This year I contacted him while I was working on the menu plan and asked what he would suggest we eat for a Paco-themed birthday dinner. He suggested eating a "Confuso" while wearing fake mustaches. Of course! I told the kids the idea and Jr. Jr. told me we should also get cans of lemonade to "shake gently before opening."

So that's what we did. I spent the day before and the day of preparing ingredients and on Paco's birthday, we followed his instructions to assemble the "Confuso." Then we turned on the "Shake Gently" video and copied Paco's movements while shaking our lemonade.

It was a fun evening and all the kids actually ate the food. "Itsa gooooood!"

I love my brother. It's fun to celebrate his birthday since he is such a fun person.

Celebrating with Food Again

Wednesday, January 20, was Penguin Awareness Day. We usually do more to celebrate but didn't this year. We just ate fish sticks and there was just a little talk about penguins.

Thursday, January 21, was National Granola Bar Day. The kids ate granola bars for after school snack.

Friday, January 22, was Blonde Brownie Day. I made blondies for my family.

Since January 22 is also National Polka Dot Day, the kids and I watched the episode of Animaniacs based on the Marx Brothers movie, Duck Soup. In "King Yacko," there is a running joke with Dot bringing out outfits that all have polka dots on them. The characters look and say, "Polka dot?" Dot then says, "If you insist," and begins to polka with that character.

My dad pointed out to me that the 20th was a palindrome day. 1-20-2021. The kids pointed out that the next several day were palindrome days as well. 1-21-21. 1-22-21. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Popcorn and Potions

Jr. Jr. and I took some bonding time while doing service. For Brew a Potion Day, January 19, we made hot chocolate for the kids and me while we chatted about tunnel dragons. He told me lots of interesting things about these fantasy creatures that live underground. Very interesting. Did you know they eat worms but sometimes they come to the surface to eat humans as a snack? They also don't like iron and they are solitary creatures except they call out when they find iron so others join to destroy the iron in a frenzy. They do like gold, though.
While Jr. Jr. and I made the hot chocolate, Jr. made popcorn for everyone to celebrate National Popcorn Day.

Then the kids and I sat down to play a card game while drinking our hot chocolate and eating our popcorn.
 

Ah, bonding time.

Winnie-the-Pooh Day 2021

This year for Winnie-the-Pooh Day on January 18, I tried out some new foods with honey in them.

Ginger Ale Ham from my slow cooker cookbook and German Brown Bread from The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner and salad with honey mustard dressing (which isn't something new but the other two were).

We only mentioned Winnie-the-Pooh this year along with the food. We didn't play any games or with any toys or watch any Winnie-the-Pooh themed movies or shows. Oh well.

Catch of the Day