#69 Senior Citizen's Day

#69 Senior Citizen's Day
August 21, 2013

Apparently, we are close enough to being senior citizens that we were given some anti-aging moisturizer! haha. So kind and thoughtful! We were also given the movie, Up, to watch and, y'all, that movie is just so sad...especially in the beginning. Although I'm not sure I've ever been able to watch it all the way through...I'm too old to watch a movie without falling asleep. ;) 

#70 See ya tomorrow Day

#70 See ya tomorrow Day
August 22, 2013

Surprisingly enough, out of all the celebrations we enjoyed this summer - this was the only "made up" one! And it's probably one of my favorite because it meant that our amazing friends returned! We are so glad to have them back and to be able to live life with them again!

And speaking of our dear friends, here's a picture of us with them (compliments of Jordan's camera) This will also serve as a sneak peek from next week's topic: local weddings. Stay tuned.

#67 National Potato Day

#67 National Potato Day
August 19, 2013

Who doesn't love a good potato? Baked, fried the French way, or if you're like my mom and sister, just sliced and salted will do! Luckily, we had already planned a "Potato Bar" for our meal.

It looks like I'm about to lose some potato here, but believe me, no potato was lost. ;)

#60 Middle Child's Day

#60 Middle Child's Day
August 12, 2013

A day to celebrate the "forgotten or overlooked"middle children. Since I'm and oldest child and Beth's a youngest, we got to make the day special for the middle kids we knew. So we took our friends twins out for ice cream. It took us forever to find a place, but judging by the size of the ice cream scoops, it was well worth the wait.

I think Sammy was mostly excited about going "bye-bye"

I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

#57 National Book Lover's Day

#57 National Book Lover's Day
August 9, 2013

No special pictures or anything on this fabulous holiday, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to share a few "funny because it's true" sayings.

1. The Inspirational Reading Quote:

2. The Oddity of a Young Reader:

Ok, I didn't have any cats growing up, but I'm expecting my Mom and sister to laugh at the reality of this cartoon. ;)

3. The Sad Reality of a Devoted Book Reader:

Admittedly, I have to stop myself from starting "a good book" when I know I don't have the time...

4. The Way I Should Respond to the Uneducated (but seldom do):

In other book-related news, I just started reading Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief ( That's right J and H, get ready for a project). It's a great read! Everybody loves an easy, first person book. But I'm currently in the market for "must reads" to add to my reading list. Please let a comment and give me you favorite book titles and why you love them!

#48 National Cheesecake Day

#48 National Cheesecake Day
July 30, 2013

Another holiday that's hard not to love. ;) Our friends gave us an easy Oreo (something that's hard to find here) cheesecake box mix. It was quite delicious...it looks like even Chess is crouching the background, waiting on a slice.

#46 National Milk Chocolate Day

#46 National Milk Chocolate Day
July 28, 2013

To celebrate such a tasty holiday, we cooled down with homemade milkshakes!

#44 Aunt and Uncle's Day

#44 Aunt and Uncle's Day
July 26, 2013

A few weeks ago our friend told us that her 3 year old daughter was trying to ask if we were coming to their house that day, but she got a little tongue tied and instead of calling us friends or family she's says, "Mom is our framily coming to our house today?" It's surprising how accurate that expression is, because we are friends yet a lot like surrogate family - so framily is actually the perfect term for it.

For Aunt and Uncle's day, we gave our friend's a night out while we babysat. However, since the fasting holiday was in full swing over here, we also prepared a dinner and movie night at our house for them to enjoy.
Beth make crockpot chicken tacos and a cheesecake!

A night complete with popcorn making kit and everything. ;)

And we got to hang out with these cuties (and one more not pictured):

#39 National Hammock Day

#39 National Hammock Day

July 22, 2013

This has to be one of my favorite holidays ever! I love hammocking! Here's a shameless plug for a favorite hammock that my sister and the friend got me a few birthdays ago: http://www.eaglesnestoutfittersinc.com/ love their hammocks!

This holiday also reminds me of a time years ago when I spent nearly a month sleeping every night in a hammock along the Amazon. Those were hot, yet life changing, good times.

Beth had her hammock set up in her room for a while, so I took advantage!

LIKE the hammock!

Throwback: a view from my hammock in Colorado

#28 Teddy Bear Picnic Day

**Yes, the summer got the best of me and I've certainly slacked on the blogging of our fun summer activities. All the envelopes have ended by now because our awesome friends are finally back home!! However, I'll take this week to showcase some of the highlights of our summer extension pack. Hope you enjoy!



#27 Teddy Bear Picnic Day
July 10, 2013

This holiday was based on the book, "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" by Blake Whatley.

So our challenge was to have a picnic with some other expat friends of ours who have 4 small children. For this event our friends have made bears for all of us! It was really sweet! She must have spent hours upon hours making those! And they are so cute!

The kids loved the bears that Cheryl made for them!

The weather was quite hot, making an outdoor picnic illogical, so we had a tent picnic in the den.

Immi-girl's teddy bear almost doubled her in size!

It's a good sandwich!

Sammy's bear came decked out with a tie and hat to match his beloved Cardinals attire! He's showing it off here.

It's a teddy bear picnic!

M loved playing with her teddy bear!

V's teddy bear came with a hat, too!

The crew with all our teddy bears!

My teddy bear had fuzzy slippers, and a cozy blanket...I like comfortable things!
Jordan's bear was a miniature Harry Potter and Beth had a cooking bear with a chef's hat, apron, and spatula! We really enjoyed all the thought and effort that went into making this happen! We have some special friends!

#52 Sisters Day

#52 Sisters Day
August 4, 2013

A day to celebrate those girls that are closest to your heart! I'm so blessed to have so many sisters!

Lil' sisters who are married...

Sisters who let me dress them up like dolls...

Sisters who can own me in sledding...

and sisters of the heart, who see it all...

I love all my sisters more than words can say!

#41 National Cousins' Day

#41 National Cousins' Day
July 24, 2013

Say a quick hello to all your cousins today. I think we'll celebrate by watching one of these extended family movies:

Which would you choose? Or do you have another suggestion?

#40 National Hotdog Day

#40 National Hot Dog Day
July 23, 2013

Yum, Yum! We've got to plan to find some of those to enjoy! I heard Sonic was giving them away for cheap yesterday! ;)

#37 National Lollipop Day

#37 National Lollipop Day
July 20, 2013

I'm really loving how most of these holidays involve delicious food! ;) That's something I can always celebrate!

Interesting fact: George Smith, the owner of a small American candy store, came up with the sweet's name. In the early 1900's, he called the candy a "lollipop" after his favorite racehorse, Lolly Pop.

Growing up, I always remember calling such sweet candies suckers, seldomly referring to them as lollipops. So now, I'm just plain curious to find out - is there a difference between a sucker and a lollipop? Or is it the same thing, with different titles depending on where you grew up?

ps- don't worry we enjoyed some lollipops before we even thought to take a picture!

#36 Cow Appreciation Day

#36 Cow Appreciation Day
July 18, 2013

A few jokes to help us celebrate and appreciate the cows:

WARNING: This page is utterly ridiculous! 

Knock, knock!
Who's there?
Interrupting cow
Interrupting cow - MOO!!

I'm going to college.
What for?
To learn cow-culus!
With what?
A cow-culator!

What do you get when you throw a cow in the air?
A milk shake

What did one cow cut in half say to the other?
I feel like I'm calf the animal I used to be!

My favorite cows to appreciate!

#35 Wrong Way Corrigan Day

#35 Wrong Way Corrigan Day
        Yellow Pig Day
        National Peach Ice Cream Day
July 17, 2013

The 17th of July is quite an eclectic summer holiday, ranging from misguided pilots or colored pigs.
My favorite story of the day:
Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan became an American folk icon during the Great Depression when, during a July 17 flight that was supposed to take him from Brooklyn to Long Beach, Caliofornia, he flew to Dublin, Ireland, instead. The accomplished Irish-American aviator had previously been denied a flight route from New York to Ireland due to poor conditions and age of his Curtis Robin monoplane. 

Many still speculate that Wrong Way Corrigan went the "wrong way" on purpose, but if that was so, he took his secret to the grave; he passed away in 1995. Today we celebrate "Wrong Way Corrigan Day" to either pay tribute to his rebellious spirit or chuckle at his directional dyslexia. 

It's also Yellow Pig Day, which has something to do with math, so I immediately wrote it off. ;) But we can't avoid National Peach Ice Cream day! We're hoping to try this new recipe sometime soon.

#34 Penguin Awareness Day

#34 Penguin Awareness Day
July 16, 2013

3...2...1...PENGUINS!!!

#33 Be a Dork Day

#33 Be a Dork Day
July 15, 2013

One doesn't have to look far to find plenty of evidence of my dorkiness (it's a good thing I have a partner in crime, too!):

#32 Bastille Day

#32 Bastille Day
July 14, 2013

A French holiday to celebrate the beginning of the French revolution. We took some time to day to celebrate the strongholds that have been removed from our lives!

#31 Barbershop Quartet Celebration Day

#31 Barbershop Quartet Celebration Day
July 13, 2013

Today's letter was accompanied by a CD of quartet tunes and red bow ties! As we donned our lovely apparel, we listened to some fine tunes. We had a silly time posing with our bow ties as well!

We look so innocent, don't we?