Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Cute kiddos in their green t-shirts--said t-shirts delivered as per usual by the leprechauns who also left a box of Lucky Charms and green milk. Sophia was not feeling the St. Patrick's Day love...

...until Ryan took the camera and worked his magic.

Hope your St. Patrick's Day was great!

Lucky Leprechaun's Day

While some may scoff at the minor holidays, our family embraces any reason to celebrate and practice traditions that may be silly, yet make life a little more interesting. Our kids get so excited about St. Patrick's Day each year and always remember to leave a rainbow drawing for the leprechauns. They came again and colored our toilet water green. Our milk was green too! There were a few new shirts on the table with a box of Lucky Charms. I think our leprechauns need to think of some new fun things to shake things up a bit since they do the same old boring things each year.

But... Sophia liked the "Kiss Me I'm Irish" necklaces...

...and Coleman liked the Lucky Charms (although he requested that the Leprechauns make green Cream of Wheat next year... I think that can be arranged).

It is getting harder and harder to get a non-blurry picture of this girl. She is a quick one! And oh, so cute.

 Olivia got a rockin' t-shirt with a guitar and peace and love signs all over it. Which decade are we in again?

I couldn't resist making green food for dinner... Ryan and I agreed though that to eat the green mashed potatoes with green gravy required closing our eyes.  The chicken is Pesto Mozzarella Chicken and is super easy... frozen chicken breast pieces or tenders, cover with basil pesto (you can make it or buy it, we like the Costco brand for quality and price) and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and broil for a minute until just browned. Yum-O.  Next year the goal is to eat only foods that are naturally green (except for the Cream of Wheat... do they make a green version of that?). I think our teeth might have a green tint from all the food coloring used in our food today. No es bueno.

And finally... I was craving sugar cookies all day long. Since none showed up at my doorstep, I had to make them myself.  These are definitely NOT instant gratification treats--you have to make the dough, chill the dough, roll the cookies, bake the cookies, cool the cookies, make the frosting, frost the cookies, and then finally you get to eat them.  I realized halfway through the process that I did not have a shamrock cookie cutter and my attempts to cut them out by hand failed miserably... so we cut out circles and used the frosting (more green food coloring!) to make shamrocks and they turned out yummy and delicious and acceptable looking.

**How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

The Leprechauns Strike Again

Our annual visit from the leprechauns didn't disappoint... although one of them was almost caught red-handed (green-handed?) on the way to the bathroom to color the toilet water green. Maybe next year that leprechaun will get away with it.

Liv and Coleman were so excited about the box of Lucky Charms and the green Andes mints spread on the table.

Despite the fact that green food is not appetizing in any way, we had some green cinnamon muffins and milk. Luckily the leprechauns only got to the half gallon of milk.

Both kids love the tradition of getting a new green shirt for St. Patrick's Day.

All this green artwork is courtesy of our own artist-in-residence Coleman who has done several projects at school these last few weeks.

**Any visits from leprechauns at your house?

The Leprechauns Strike Again

St. Patrick's Day brings leprechauns to our house... the kids wanted to lure them with drawings of rainbows and pots of gold and four leaf clovers. They made sure to wear green jams so they wouldn't get pinched during the night. (Too bad for Coleman he fell into the toilet just before bed... we had to scrounge up some mis-matching pajamas, but at least we got the green on.)

They woke up to find that the leprechauns had turned their toilet water green and the milk in the fridge (copycats from last year!) and had spread the kitchen table with M&M goodness, plastic "Kiss Me I'm Irish" necklaces, some green shirts... and an iTunes gift card for Ry (those leprechauns are smart and know what we like!). The kids had even been kissed by the leprechauns and had a green mark on their noses.

We had toast made with green bread (I must have had extra time on my hands being home with sick kids) for breakfast...
...and green hot chocolate (Stephen's French Vanilla... it was tasty!).
Liv's green dot had mostly come off, but Coleman's is there is full force.

For dinner we had beef stroganoff (I can't bring myself to make or serve beef brisket or corned beef and cabbage) and we dyed the noodles green (did I mention I had some extra time on my hands at home today?).

And finally we made some green Snickerdoodles to finish off the day. Green cookies with green milk is a great way to end a holiday, if you ask me.

We love Snickerdoodles... especially my Grandma's recipe.

Here it is if you feel inclined to make them:

Grandma W.'s Snickerdoodles

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 3/4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 F. Cream together shortening, sugar, and eggs. Mix in dry ingredients. Dough should be dry and stiff. Roll dough into 1" balls (or use a cookie scoop) and roll in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!



**Did you have any leprechaun visitors at your house this year?