Mornings are cooler and leaves of all shades are beginning to litter the ground – sure signs that October has arrived in the Boro. Enjoy the month with time spent outdoors, parade-watching and fair-going, visits to football games, and candy-searches at fall festivals. Incorporate the following celebrations and make every day a holiday.
National Newspaper Week This year’s celebration, officially October 1-7 boasts the theme, “Newspapers: We cover your life.” Newspapers really do cover our lives, from birth to death. Teach your children at an early age to enjoy and appreciate the value of newspapers. Have a family, newspaper scavenger hunt. Search through a week’s worth of papers to find birth announcements, wedding announcements, obituaries, and a story about each of the following: a baby, a young child, a home, a vacation, an important event, a job, a local event, an international event, and an elderly person. Then, mix up words from the headlines of one paper to create a new, silly headline. Read the datelines of each article and locate the places on a map or globe.
Caramel Month
Try this recipe for a yummy celebration: Melt one and one-half packages of miniature marshmallows and one-half cup of butter. Pour mixture over nine cups of Rice Krispies cereal. Stir. Put half of mixture on the bottom of a lightly greased cookie sheet. Melt together one-half package of miniature marshmallows, one-fourth cup butter and one can of sweetened condensed milk. Pour melted mixture on top of Rice Krispies layer. Spoon remaining Rice Krispies mixture on top, using a buttered spatula to spread and flatten. Store in refrigerator.
National Mole Day
Nope, this is not the furry kind. I promised a favorite chemistry professor that I’d celebrate this holiday. Mole Day commemorates Avogadro’s Number – a basic measuring unit in chemistry – and was established as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Get your whole family interested in chemistry with a fun experiment involving Mentos and Diet Coke. (Go to www.stevespanglerscience.com and click on experiments for directions.)
Watch a Squirrel Day
Enjoy the beautiful sights and coolness of fall with a hike in the woods or neighborhood walk. Walk until you find squirrels, then sit and watch. Bring them to your back yard by tossing stale bread pieces on the ground.
Make a Difference Day
Sponsored by the USA Weekend supplement, this celebration is a national day of helping others. As a family, make a difference in someone’s life today. You can even share your project with the folks at USA Weekend by visiting them online and filling out a form with project details.
Statesboro native Julie Bland Lavender is married to David Lavender and enjoys celebrating with children Jeremy, Jenifer, Jeb Daniel, and Jessica.