St. Patty's Day Recap

I keep getting things done and yet the to-do list keeps getting longer. Anyone else feel that way? So finally, here's a quick recap of our St. Patrick's Day fun. It never really occurred to me to celebrate St. Patrick's Day before, but when you have young kids in the house, even the smallest holiday is worthy of a celebration! I put together a few fun ideas and came up with this...

We started the morning with a little gift left by a leprechaun. Sugar cereal isn't a common breakfast item around here, so this was a special treat!I tried to get a few pictures of my kids in green, with the usual result--Lauren modeled beautifully for me and Jon would have none of it. I finally just took a picture of him watching Elmo, because at least he was standing still. :)Next up: treasure hunt! Lauren's response when I told her it was time to hunt:I hid these clues around the house, and Lauren had a blast hunting them down. We tried to keep Jonathan involved, although he wasn't quite ready to follow the game yet.I love this next picture, taken when they found the treasure at the end of the hunt. It pretty much sums up our morning perfectly: Lauren having fun, Jonathan not so much. He was having a whiny day (who knows why?) but we persevered regardless. :)I didn't want this to become yet another holiday about presents (since they have way too many toys already), so I made the "treasure" bags of craft supplies, with a few different activities for us to do through out the day. We set up a craft table out in the backyard and went to work.First, we decorated shamrocks using potato stamps and green ink. I also found green glitter glue at the dollar store, so Lauren added some of that. Jonathan was mostly confused as to why he couldn't eat the potato.Next up, we used Fruit Loops and glue to make rainbows. I've decided that Fruit Loops are much more useful for craft projects than breakfast!We also had a green lunch that day, of course! Green goldfish, fruit in green jello, and mac and cheese that I dyed green with food coloring. It looked pretty gross, so I was amazed when they gobbled it up anyway! To drink, I made green Kool-Aid--yuck! I think Lauren had one sip and the rest of it has been sitting in the refrigerator ever since.We spent the afternoon baking green cupcakes--finally something that Jonathan could enjoy! They both loved this activity, and I love baking with them, in their cute little aprons.We also had corned beef and cabbage for dinner, but somehow forgot to take any pictures of that. Gary has been asking for this dinner for years, so I finally gave in--and then remembered why I never make it. (Yuck!) I don't think that will be making a reappearance next year...

I'll leave you with one last picture of my cuties, as Lauren tried to hold down Jon for the photo. Ah, never a dull moment around here!