Mardi Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras!



Since Mardi Gras seems to be such a fun holiday in New Orleans, I thought that it'd be perfect to celebrate with Lily. We could have jambalaya and make a King cake. After all, if the recipes are a fail, you can get Zatarain's jambalaya mix or a boxed cake mix. Hey, I'm a Mommy, always gotta have a back up plan!



I found this recipe for Jiffy Jambalaya. One of the variations added shrimp, the other orzo. I added kidney beans, okra, and changed some of the seasonings to fit what we had or was easily available. It was so good and Lily are really well, which surprised me because it was rather spicy.





For the King Cake, I took this recipe for Country Cinnamon Swirl Bread and this recipe for Mardi Gras King Cake and combine them. I also used this bread braiding technique to make it more whimsical. Lily loved the King Cake and ate 2 pieces!



Since Lily has been begging me to do a craft, we did one. Using form board and whatever I could find on the craft table, we made our own masks for a masquerade ball! She had fun gluing the feathers, ribbon, googly eyes, foam letters and hand, and the flower to her mask.

I had really wanted to get beads for us to wear, but with making the bread together and making masks together, we both had a good time. I didn't feel rushed to get it all put together and she didn't feel overwhelmed with me pushing her from one thing to the next.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!

Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd, which is also the biggest reading holiday for the National Education Association.

Lily celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday the day before with her preschool class. She made a Cat in the Hat hat and Thing 1 with her hand print and paint. They also read Dr. Seuss stories at the end of class. One of the older classes actually make Cat in the Hats. So cute!



The previous Saturday, Target held a 2-hour story time event. For 2 hours straight, they had someone there reading a pile of Dr. Seuss books to anyone who would listen. The children received a goody bag with snacks, stickers, crayons, and an activity book. Lily sat there for an hour coloring and listening to the stories. From what I was told, Target holds this event every year, the Saturday before Dr. Seuss' birthday.

For our little home celebration, we picked out a couple (of the many) Dr. Seuss books we have to read. I love the "Party Editions" because they have shiny covers. One of my favorites is "Green Eggs & Ham," but it's such a long book.



I started reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" to Lily and Navy. About half way through the book, Lily wanted to be the reader. After a couple of pages, she just started making the story up as she went along. Then, she just stopped telling a story and was flipping through the pages looking at the pictures.

We also played on Seussville for a little bit. Lily really seemed to like the animation and links that were available. It's weird to think that Dr. Seuss was called "Ted" by most of the people that knew him and he was quite a ornery guy.

How I wish we would have had Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook to make something out of. It would have been a lot of fun. Of course, I didn't find it until we were at the library today.

Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!



Valentine's Day was 3 days for us this year. Normally, it's just one day. There are plenty of other "holidays" in February to celebrate if we get the time.



Day 1: February 10th - Lily had her Valentine's Day party at school. She wrote her name on all of her valentines and took take-home treat bags in for her classmates.



Day 2: February 14th - NAVY'S 1ST VALENTINE'S DAY!!
We didn't have plans. It would have been crazy to try to go anywhere for dinner. Dad did come over with candy. He brought Navy some chocolate. Lily got a heart of chocolates and an Easter basket. He brought me a heart-shaped box of chocolates. Other than that, the day passed without much fanfare.



Day 3: February 16th - We'd gotten each other cards, but I had completely forgot to hand them out on Valentine's Day. Lily and I each got Navy a card because it was his first Valentine's Day. Lily got a Dora card and some My Little Pony stickers. I got a card from the kids.

It was a nice, sedate Valentine's Day.

Happy Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day!

HAPPY BUBBLE WRAP APPRECIATION DAY!!

I've been saving this piece of bubble wrap for a couple of weeks now, just waiting for this holiday to come so Lily could enjoy popping it.

She popped it with her fingers.



She jumped on it.

She laid down on it.



And, she stomped on it.

Most important of all, she had fun.

National Puzzle Day

HAPPY NATIONAL PUZZLE DAY!!!

Lily loves to do puzzles, so this was an easy holiday for us to celebrate. She received a My Little Pony puzzle for Christmas (pictured above) and we haven't really taken the time to do it together.

We did it the first time together. I put several pieces together and let her fill in the blanks. The second time, I just helped her get it started and coached her the rest of the way.



I try to always let her do "the last piece" so she gets the sense of being the one that completed the project, even if we did it together.

Looks like we don't have any special holidays written down for tomorrow, but she asked it we could fix one of the Nick Jr. crafts that we made this past summer. So, tomorrow will probably just be a fun day with light cleaning and lots of playing!

Sources: Brownielocks, Teacher Planet, Life 123, Reach Every Child

Happy Rubber Ducky Day!

This holiday is based off of "Sesame Street." Ernie has a rubber ducky. The duck's birthday is January 13th. Rubber Ducky Song.



To celebrate, we just splashed around in the sink (with red water) with Police Duck. Lily had fun pushing him around and tipping him over.

Tomorrow is Organize Your Home Day!

Happy Cut Your Energy Costs Day!

Who isn't looking for ways to save money?

One of the ways that we celebrated the day was by opening the blinds on the windows to let the lovely sunlight in. We were able to keep the lights off for most of the day.

When we first moved into our house, I replaced most of the lightbulbs with CFLs. Yes, they are more expensive, but I've only had to replace one that broke in a freak accident in the last year.



The United States Department of Energy has lots of tools and tips for cutting your energy costs, too.

Happy Positively Penguins Day!

We celebrated this exciting holiday by playing The Penguins of Madagascar: Pop-Up Penguin Game that Lily got for Christmas from her Uncle Tig & Aunt Jodie.



It's a lot like a kiddie version of Trouble. Lily is learning to follow the rules of games and to take turns. This game is good for that, but it's difficult for her to grasp the concept of having multiple game pieces to keep track of.

Happy Three Kings Day!

Happy Three Kings Day!

No, it's not related to the restaurant in Hoagland, Indiana. Though, that was initially the reason that spurred me to buy the DVD for Lily.

Three Kings Day is a holiday celebrated in various parts of the world in conjuction with Epiphany. We first learned about this holiday from "Dora the Explorer: Dora Celebrates Three Kings Day!" The DVD showed some Latin American traditions related to Three Kings Day, such as the Three Kings cake (which I thought was a lot like the Kings cake of Mardi Gras) and the wise men bringing gifts and candy for the children.

We didn't do much to celebrate. We already had a busy day, so we just got a pizza and watched the DVD at home. We talked about the wise men because Lily knows them from school and her nativity set. Maybe next year, we'll have a Three Kings cake.

Happy Bean Day!

HAPPY BEAN DAY!!

To celebrate Bean Day, we celebrated by having a simple ham and bean soup for dinner.

One of the reasons that we stopped celebrating all of these silly and whimsical holidays is that I really put too much effort into them. I was overdoing it and overwhelming myself in the process. So, we're gonna be pretty simple with them and see how that goes.

For a list of "holidays" in January, visit Brownielocks.

Tomorrow: Three Kings Day!

My New Years' Resolution...NO Resolutions!

Each year, I make New Years' resolutions that I think are practical and something I really want to do or improve on.

For several years, it was to send out birthday and anniversary cards. I bought an organizer and cards, filled the date lines with everyone's birthdays and anniversaries, and addressed the envelopes. All I had to do was sign, seal, and stamp.

After about February or March, I'd forget a card. Then, a whole week would go by and I wouldn't have sent out any cards. After a couple of weeks, I'd just give up and vow to do better...NEXT year.

This year, I've decided that I'm not going to set myself up for failure. I'm not making any resolutions for the New Year. There are plenty of changes coming in my life that I have little control over.

This year, I'm just going to go with the flow and enjoy my life. Can't be disappointed with that!

Merry Christmas

Yes, yes, I know that Christmas was 2 days ago, but things are just now starting to settle down a wee bit before we have yet another holiday that makes our schedule chaos for a couple of days.

On Christmas Eve, we opened presents with my Dad. We always get him a gift card to his favorite restaurant because he says that he really doesn't need anything. Well, that's something that he can always use!!

He got us an antenna. I know that doesn't mean much to anyone else, but I've been putting off getting one since I turned our cable off. Now that I didn't want one or we didn't need one, I just didn't want an ugly one. This one is nice looking. It's got a |0| type design and is small enough to fit behind the TV.

Christmas morning was fun! I was up an hour earlier than Lily. Pregnancy insomnia and excitement. She got up and the crazy present opening started. She got the scooter that she asked Santa for and has been riding it in the dining room.

Even though we had decided to stay home, I still wanted a traditional Christmas dinner. While Lily played with her new toys, I started the ham (the smallest one I could find was a little over 6 pounds). Then, on to mixing up the side dishes: green bean casserole, stuffing, parmesan garlic mashed potatoes, and yams. We also had a small salad (that Lily refers to as "seaweed salad") and fresh crescent rolls (which Lily loved).

Yesterday, we did a bit of shopping. Scored a headed massaging chair pad, gingerbread house pan, Christmas Play-Doh and an ornament.

Today, easing back into our normal routine and trying to make the house resemble the less cluttered/trashed mess that it was before the holidays.

Tomorrow, back to real life...

Happy Garfield the Cat Day!

Happy Garfield Day!



Garfield on Facebook.
Garfield on Twitter.

The Indiana connections with Garfield are that Jim Davis, the cartoonist who created Garfield was born Marion, Indiana and grew up in nearby Fairmont. The Fairmount Historical Museum has a tribute to Jim Davis and Garfield. However, most of the museum is dedicated to James Dean, who was also from Fairmount.

Mike suggested eating lasagna today, which is Garfield's favorite food.

Happy World Environment Day!!

World Environment Day

We started off reading Earth Smart (DK READERS) and Save the Tree!: Little Green Nickelodeon (The Big Green Help: Wonder Pets!).

I showed Lily the MSNBC Live Video of the Leak and the pictures of the sad, dirty animals in the Gulf of Mexico. I showed her one of the brown pelicans taking a bath.

Recycling is another great way to help the environment! Lily and I got some of our old clothes together to donate to the American Legion Clothing Bank.

Nick Jr. Creative Recycling Crafts.

Happy National Donut Day!!

Happy National Donut Day!!

To celebrate, Lily and I had donuts for dinner. We used Grands® Jr. Refrigerated Biscuits. I poked a hole in eat biscuit and stretched them out. We fried the biscuits, then dipped them in powdered sugar.

Donut Day Recipe
Free Pillsbury Food Coupons from General Mills

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

We didn't do a lot to celebrate. Wanted to make it to the Memorial Day parade, but it was noon before we knew it and the parade was over. Commented on the walls of several FB friends who are in, or where in, the military. So grateful for you all, and the service men and women that proceeded you.

Lily and I made a Foofa Flower Sun Visor, but the day didn't end as sunny as it started out. So humid, too. So, we stayed inside.

We also baked Pillsbury German Chocolate cupcakes. When we were at Michael's getting some crafting supplies, we also picked up the Wilton Patriotic Cupcake Party Pack.

We also worked in our little Victory garden. Our sweet bell papers and "Juliet" tomatoes already have little bits of yumminess starting to grow on them. While working on our garden, we also looked for bugs for our "Bug Journal". We did find a slug bug, who we took a picture of and let him crawl in the garden.

Happy World No Tobacco Day!

To celebrate, we congratulated our friends and family who have kicked the tobacco habit. Lily and I are so incredibly proud of you all!!

Tomorrow is Stand for Children Day. It is also June 1st, which starts a new month for National Health Observances.

Support World No Tobacco Day

Happy Indy 500 Day!

Happy Indianapolis 500 Day! And, congratulations to Dario Franchitti on his 2nd Indy 500 WIN!!!

We went to the Krauss Haus for their annual Memorial Day bash, so we missed the race. However, I kept up with some of the major developments via Twitter. I had been following Danica Patrick on Twitter, but she just started to annoy me. If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch little girl!

Anyway, yes, Haus de Krauss. Lily wanted to go the Jake's party. She was thinking there would be cake, like his birthday. When we got there, she forgot. Lorie got Jake a sweet swing set and that had her attention most of the afternoon, as did the sand box.

Brats, burgers, dogs. Yum! Every time someone grills brats, I think that I have to have one. I don't like brats, but I always think that this time will be different. This time, I will like bratwurst. Each time, I'm disappointed. I still don't like them. It makes me sad because I want to like them so much. They're like a sophisticated, though still unhealthy, hot dog.

Five minutes after we left, Lily was starting to doze. Made a quick stop...that cost me $18 because I found preschool workbooks...to get XS white t-shirts for her Dora the Explorer iron-on to make a "Lily the Explorer" shirt.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day, so I have the day off. YAY!!

Happy Victoria Day!

Happy Victoria Day!!

One of the websites I came across said that one of the ways people in Canada celebrate is by lighting fireworks. I don't have any. Neither did Dad, which is weird because he always has some fireworks at the house.

The only thing that I could really think of that was "Canadian" were maple leaves, which we happen to have in our backyard. So, we made a little Canadian flag with a maple leaf rubbing.

May 24.

Other Holidays
Morse Code Day
Brothers Day

Happy World Turtle Day

Happy World Turtle Day!!

Lily and I started off our celebration by playing Diego's Tuga the Sea Turtle game on the computer. This was Lily's first time playing a computer game (which was streamed through the TV...love the HDMI connection).

**insert grocery shopping followed by naptime here**

For a fun activity, we printed off the Wonder Pets! Puzzle of Tuck the Turtle.

Turtle also starts with the letter T, so we practiced writing uppercase T's (Momma T's, as Lily calls them) and lowercase T's (baby T's, according to Lily). We used page 3 of A to Z with Moose and Zee: Letter T, and a sheet from her Crayola Writing Tablet. (A similar part, minus the pictures can be printed from HERE.)

How did I Celebrate?
On the way home from Dad's house, I thought there was some roadkill in the middle of the road. Normally, I would pass over it without incident. It wasn't until I was up on it that I realized it was a turtle! Yes, TURTLE!!! What are the odds?! So, on World Turtle Day, I hit a turtle. That's got bad karma written all over it. I turned around to see if it was okay. Slowed down when I saw it. It was moving. Turned around again and pulled over. I had nothing in my car to move him, but he was just chillin' on the warm pavement.

Other Holidays & Observances
World IBD Day
Pentecost
National Taffy Day
Declaration of the Bab