Holiday Mix Coke Flavors

Tis the season for a bunch of Christmas flavors show up. And today there's 4 flavors for us to try!

Two you can find in stores pretty easily right now. Cinnamon Coca-Cola and Winter Spiced Cranberry Sprite.
Two are a little more difficult to come by. These are only at Coke Freestyle machines and I found mine at our local AMC movie theater. There's a Vanilla Frost Sprite and a Raspberry Magic Coca-Cola.

Happy Thanksgiving (celebrated on Friday)!

Happy Thanksgiving!
We were very fortunate to have my entire side of the family visiting. But in order to work it out with everyone's travel schedules, Thanksgiving for us needed to be on Friday instead of Thursday. No problem!

Tapatio Taste Test

Who likes hot sauce? I know a few people who do. There's a lot of people here visiting for Thanksgiving so I've saved a few different taste tests for them.

You've heard of Tapatío hot sauce, surely, but when I started finding different things by Tapatio, I knew there was going to be a taste test in the making.

A Wet Thanksgiving Day at Disneyland

Happy Thanksgiving Day!
It's Thursday and normally we'd be at home celebrating Thanksgiving with the family. And while some of the family is here, there's a few more that are still in transit.
Our cousin Avery is here and she's never been to Disneyland before, so everyone was excited to take her for her first visit. There were two options, either go on Thanksgiving Day or go on Sunday. Thursday would definitely be less busy and Sunday would be more crowded. As is got closer to the actual date, the forecast called for rain. Eh... that'll make it even less busy, though not ideal. We're still going to go for it.

National Cake Day - November 26th

Today is National Cake Day! We love cake! The kids especially love it, and when they heard today was Cake Day they were excited.

Anything new that's Oreos that I find, I figure we should try it. I found these individual Oreo Cake mixes from Duncan Hines, and then a short time later found this s'mores version as well. Might as well turn this into a cake sampling.

Fillows - A Crème Filled Cereal - Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme and Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll

On a recent visit to the grocery store, the kids and I found these interesting new cereals on the shelf. They're called Fillows and they come in two different flavors. A Hershey's Cookies 'N' Creme and a Pillsbury Cinnamon Roll flavor. Their claim to fame is that they're A Crème Filled Cereal. And apparently they are applying the Oreo method of stating that it is Creme instead of Cream.

National Cashew Day - November 23rd

Today is the day we celebrate that tasty nut called the Cashew. It's National Cashew Day!

Frozen II

Frozen 2 is out!
We've been waiting for this to come out for a while!

National Peanut Butter Fudge and Absurdity Day - November 20th

There's two days for us to celebrate today. The first is National Absurdity Day. It's all about being silly. I sang them the Upidee song from the Muppets and they got an idea of what kinds of things are silly.
Ian got a pickle on his pancakes.

The other National Day to celebrate is National Peanut Butter Fudge Day. Ian and I have made fudge before a long time ago, but it was chocolate fudge. Today is Peanut Butter Fudge!

National Play Monopoly Day - November 19th

It's gotten to the point that before the kids go to bed, they ask me what day we're going to be celebrating tomorrow. Both were excited to learn that today is Play Monopoly Day. They both love games.

There are literally hundreds of different versions of Monopoly that have been sold since it was created back in 1903. And so when I got home from work, I was greeted by another custom version of Monopoly that the kids have been working on. It starts with the box of course.

Happy Birthday Minnie and Mickey Mouse! - November 18th

November 18th is recognized as the birthday of both Minnie and Mickey Mouse! Today they're 91 years old! The kids were excited when I told them so they've been doing all sorts of things to celebrate today.

A Christmas Disneyland Visit Part 2

Time for part 2 of our Disneyland trip celebrating Christmas.

A Christmas Disneyland Visit Part 1

After the last few trips to Disneyland and them being super busy on Sunday, the Flowers family is mixing it up and going to Disneyland on a Saturday. T and I were hoping that might mean a reduction in crowds.
It also happens that Disneyland has already started its transformation for the holidays. It's Christmas here so that's what we're celebrating! Christmas is only 38 days away!

Halloween M&Ms

Sometimes it's better late than never. I picked up these Halloween M&Ms and we just didn't get around to trying them. Kids, we're a little late but change into your Halloween shirts, we're doing a Halloween M&M taste test.

There's 3 different fun flavors to sample. A Creepy Cocoa Crisp, White Pumpkin Pie, and White Candy Corn. And depending how good your memory is, yes, these are very similar to last years flavors. The Creepy Cocoa Crisp replaced Cookies and Screeem from last year.

National Bundt Day - November 15th

Today is National Bundt Day! This cake is delicious and even though Ian just asked for it on his birthday a few days ago, we're getting it again for Bundt Day! Nordic Ware, the largest maker of bundt pans, having sold over 60 million of them, designated this day as National Bundt Day.

National Pickle Day - November 14th

Today is National Pickle Day! And who doesn't like pickles?

National Indian Pudding Day - November 13th

Indian Pudding? When I first read that November 13th was National Indian Pudding Day I initially dismissed it. While I'm a fan of curries, I was pretty sure the kids wouldn't be, so I wasn't going to pursue it. But I read further and learned that it's not this India, but instead is meant to reference the American Indian and the corn the English colonists received from them.

Having just used the corn meal the day before for the pizza crusts, I knew we had all the ingredients to make this sweet treat. The kids were excited to help out once again in the kitchen.

National Pizza with the Works except Anchovies Day - November 12th

Another day to celebrate pizza? Perfect! I'm interpreting Pizza with the Works to mean any toppings you could possibly want on it. Not necessarily the standard green peppers, onions, olives, and sausage. Anything is fair game. Anything except Anchovies! Those are forbidden today.

Happy 6th Birthday Ian!

Happy Birthday Ian! What an adventure these last 6 years have been! I'm so proud of the smart, bold, and kind little boy you've become. When Theresa and I brought you home 6 years ago I couldn't have dreamed all the joy you would bring us.

National Sundae Day - November 11th

Today is Veterans Day (thank you veterans) and along with that it's also National Sundae Day. It's also Ian's birthday and the family out celebrating. They happen to serve an ice cream sundae on the kids menu, perfect for celebrating today.

The menu description promised vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, whipped cream and a cherry.
Our server must have really liked the kids because these sundaes were huge with three kinds of syrup on them.

National Vanilla Cupcake Day - November 10th

Today is National Vanilla Cupcake Day!

If Aubrey were here, the kids would have definitely made cupcakes with her. Instead, since it's the weekend and we're at Downtown Disney anyway, why not pay $5 for one single cupcake from Sprinkles. Yikes!

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup Lay's Chips

Lay's has a new chip for us to try. This time it's a Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup flavored chip. I remember many tasty lunches as I was growing up of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

And like so many of these taste tests, I like to taste the real thing along with what we're sampling.

A Birthday Disneyland Visit

Happy Sunday! We're very very close to Ian's actual birthday, so today we're going to the park and celebrating it a day early. I've pulled out all my different birthday hats too for everyone to wear to celebrate.

National Louisiana Day - November 9th

November 9th is National Louisiana Day. I had my own ideas how to celebrate it, and after asking two other people the first thing they thought about when I said Louisiana, it confirmed it. When I think of Louisiana I think of Hot Sauce!
And there's no better Louisiana Hot Sauce than Tabasco Pepper Sauce from the McIlhenny Company in Avery Island Louisiana.

And I just so happen to have a special Spicy Dark Chocolate from Tabasco for us to sample today.

Fun times with family in Michigan 2019/11/03

It's been a fun weekend hanging out with the family in Michigan. Besides Halloween and birthdays, there's just random goings on that happen that are fun that don't fit in with anything else.

National Sandwich Day - November 3rd

It's National Sandwich Day! Normally I don't care for sandwiches, especially cold sandwiches, but there's one place that makes a really good one. The Earl of Sandwich is one of the best sandwich shops I frequent. Normally my order would be the Holiday Turkey, consisting of turkey, mayo, cornbread stuffing, cranberries, and gravy. But this particular Earl of Sandwich was out of stuffing and you can't have a holiday turkey sandwich without stuffing. And Original it is.

Ian took care of a Ham and Cheese, which is also pretty good.

Do you like sandwiches? What's your favorite shop?

Michigan Birthday Celebrations

Since we're in Michigan, and since it's right in between the two kids' birthdays, we're going to celebrate them.

National Cinnamon Day - November 1st

Today is National Cinnamon Day! It's a brand new holiday for 2019, proposed by the McCormick spice company. Cinnamon is incredibly versatile and I was thinking of all the different things I could do to celebrate it. There's one recipe though that I think it perfect for today. Halloween is over, it's the first day of November, and here in Michigan the temperature is in the upper 30s.
It's perfect for my Grandma's special spiced tea recipe.

And one of the main ingredients is McCormick cinnamon sticks.
It's our first batch of tea this season and I know it won't be the last. This is the flavor of Christmas to me.