St. Patrick's Day

We always have fun on St. Patrick's day. It's how I was raised. There's no real Irish in me (well I'm sure there is, but close enough to be cultural), so it's nothing more than just a fun celebration for us. This year I had some free time the day before (Sunday) so I baked some green bread. The girls spent the afternoon making a Rainbow to entice a certain leprechaun to come for a visit. Then when they woke up they were surprised (ok, not at all because this happens every year) to see green footprints all over our kitchen AND a pile of chocolate coins at the bottom of their rainbow. We had a nutritious breakfast of Lucky Charms. Hailey devoured it, Cait only ate the Marshmallows, and Paige of course thought it was too sweet - so she had Granola. We all got dressed in our green clothes, put green bows in our hair and then got ready to eat lunch with our green bread. After school we made a green dinner - shepards pie with green mashed potatoes. And to top it all off we had GREEN milkshakes with whipped cream clouds and rainbow candy strips. The days was a success. I loved it.

p.s.  I know there's this big internet rant about people overdoing Holidays and how some moms need to cut it back a bit to level the playing field. Well too bad for them. I don't think any of what I did was crazy - the bread was really the most time consuming thing and it only happened because I had a lazy Sunday afternoon. My kids did get some chocolate coins, but it's not like they laid out stockings and expected them to be filled with loot. This day would be just as much fun if all we did was wear green...or not, and tried to pinch each other! My kids don't expect it, but nothing makes me happier than to create some fun memories for them. And if that means we eat a few green foods and imagine a world where leprechauns CAN be caught - and will share their loot, well then that's what we'll do! I certainly don't judge other moms for not doing what I do. And trust me, there are great things THEY do that I don't. Who cares!!