St. Patrick's day festivities!

Every year we have lots of fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day! We have friends come over, have a few big meals, and visit a local pub. I started this year by making a fun wreath for the front door.

My "Irish Twins" dressed and ready for school. I know that it doesn't look like L is happy, but he is in this "I don't smile for pictures anymore phase".

To decorate I also crocheted a bunch of shamrocks for us to wear, and then I made a garland with rainbow colored shamrocks. Lots of fun, and super easy to do.

Our traditional breakfast we make for friends: soda bread, thick cut bacon, scotch eggs, baked beans, fried tomatoes, fried potatoes, and a big mug of coffee.

At the pub, after we were interviewed for the news. My fish and chips came right after we took the picture!

And then our traditional dinner: slow cooked corned beef, fried cabbage, soda bread, potatoes, carrots, and onion, and of course green pop for the kids!

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St. Patrick's Party!

Sorry this is a week late, but it has been a very busy March for us over here!!! The mom's group had their party on March 15th at the library this year. We were expecting tons of kids so I made sure everything was very simple. We read just a few stories, did only 1 craft, and had tons of yummy food!  We had 25 kids age 3 and up, and then 14 kids 2 and under coming so treat bags were interesting. For the little ones I put a handful of banana puffs in a snack bag, and then added Caramel .  The older kids each got a little treat bag. Inside each bag was a themed pencil, themed ring, piece of gold chocolate coin, 2 stickers, and a handmade scratch-off. This was all placed inside a cellophane bag, tied with a piece of gold yarn. I then made a small pot of gold our of black construction paper and wrote names on them with either yellow or white crayon. They turned out very cute!

For the craft we made leprechaun men. It was inspired by this craft by AllKidsNetwork!

Supplies needed:
paper plate
orange paint
paint brush
green construction paper
black construction paper
yellow construction paper
pencil
scissors
glue stick
markers

I started by painting an orange "beard" all the way around the bottom side of the plate along the outer ring. I went ahead and did this the day before since we can't have paint inside the library. I also cut a hat shape out of the green construction paper. Next up where black strips and a yellow  buckle out of construction paper. That way, at the party, the kids just glued all their pieces together, and then drew on faces.

Waiting for story time, in all their green!

 D making her little guy. He ended up looking evil with red teeth. Very scary!

 Friends all lined up and happy to wear green!!!

St. Patrick's Day!

Again, I know I'm a bit behind.  The kids and I celebrated ourselves on the actual day, but had a party with our friends the next day.  We went as a family to the local parade last Saturday.  It was great, but freezing cold.  Adam and I were starting to worry that the kids would get frostbite on their little fingers. But they were troopers and insisted on staying to see them dye the river green.

On March 17, the kids and I dressed in our finest green!  We had made a leprechaun trap the night before. The kids designed it themselves, and Adam and I helped complete it. Inside we had a small block bed, some gold candy, and a bowl of Lucky Charms. Well that little stinker got in, upturned everything, and got away leaving glittery green tracks behind for the kids to find in the morning. We did some rainbow worksheets, and then headed out for a special lunch.  I got a Shamrock shake for the kids to share.  They LOVE it, just like I do. And then, because it was unusually warm (70's), I took them to the park to run off some of the winter blues.  We also took a trip to our local library because they had a special rainbow mobile craft for the kids to do that day. At home I had corned beef, cabbage, and carrots cooking in the slow cooker.  For dessert I made Guinness cupcakes, and shamrock sugar cookies.

For the party, I had the kids make a shamrock out of green hearts.  I gave each child a piece of white paper, 3 green hearts, and a small rectangle, and let them glue them down.  For the other craft, each child received a half sheet green piece of paper, a black pot cut out, and a bowl of Kix cereal.  They glued it all together to make a pot of gold.  For snacks we had a fruit rainbow, green jello, kiwi, cookies, Lucky Charms, and green juice.  They had a blast and because it was in the late afternoon, was a great way to end the week.

Books we read:
The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever by Teddy Slater
Hooray for St. Patrick's Day! by Joan Holub
It's St. Patrick's Day by Rebecca Gomez
St. Patrick's Day Countdown by Salina Yoon

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today's post is brought to you by the color green today!

We had a play date this morning. We snacked on Lucky Charms, green water, and green jello. The kids had a blast! I also had shamrocks for the kids to color. They did a pretty good job. Most of them knew they needed to color them green without any prompting.

While the kids napped I whipped up some green cupcakes and white frosting. They look so yummy! I can't wait until after dinner to have another one. And yes I am making a corned beef and some cabbage. I may also make some mashed potatoes so the kids will eat something. The hubby is stopping off to buy a few bottles of beer for us to dye green to go along with dinner. I love celebrating all the holidays, can you tell?

L after discovering the marshmallows in Lucky Charms

The green cupcakes and green water

I know the shamrocks look a little silly!

Look how fun!