Luck o' the Irish

Why are my kids so excited about superfluous holidays? I guess I was once too. They have been talking about wearing green for over a week now. Up until this year, I have tried to instil the idea that when someone is not wearing green on St. Patty's that you 'tickle' them instead of pinching...because I think it's nicer and less likely to get out of hand. It's worked. Until this year. This year, they are influenced by their friends at school who all talk about pinching and therefore they pinch. I tried.

We decided to spend this wonderful holiday wearing green, going swimming, and doing St. Patty's crafts. They kids had a great time swimming. It was a pretty generic pool that we went to. No slides or diving boards. No kiddie pool, no hot tub. But it was good to get them feeling comfortable in the water again before we leave for Mexico next week. I'm super excited to be swimming in WARM water next week.

We came home from swimming an chad a stellar lunch of grilled cheese. I think I could appease my family on grilled-cheese any day of the week. Logan went to bed, and the kids and I headed downstairs for some crafting.

Painting rainbows

Coloring

And gluing Fruit Loop rainbows. It was fun. Plus, my kids love it when I let them paint.

Then I headed upstairs to make our "green" dinner while they made more decorations...and apparently snacked heartily on fruit loops.

Green pancakes and Green Apples for dinner. With Green Whip-cream (leftover from dessert). I tried to find lime aid, but I couldn't...so we went with Mountain Dew.

For dessert - chocolate brownie, mint icecream cupcakes - with oreo cookies.

I even made a pancake in the shape of a Shamrock. Because I'm that awesome.

Since my kid's diet that afternoon consisted of fruit loops, whip cream, pancakes, and ice-cream/chocolate desserts at about 6:30 everyone went a little nuts-o. Sugar shock! It was loud and busy and a bit cranky in our house for about an hour...and then it all came down. Phew! That's why my kids don't eat a lot of sugar!

I feel like I do a pretty good job celebrating Christmas and Santa with my kids, without the emphasis being too much on Santa. And at Easter, we celebrate the bunny and the sacrifice. I did something special at Valentines, and focused on green for St. Patty's, but I never grew up making a big deal out of St. Patty's...so I didn't think it was a big deal. As the kids were getting ready for bed, Lucy asked me why we didn't set a leprechaun trap, and why didn't the leprechaun leave candy for them. I told them that it wasn't real and parents just make that up (is that cruel? how many holiday do mythical creatures have to come and give my kids candy? For real!) She disagreed and cited numerous friends (and cousins) who had visits from the leprechaun in the past...hmm. Well, fail on that one. And here I was thinking how grateful I am that my kids don't make a big deal out of it. Apparently it was just unspoken. And only voiced in disappointment at the end of the day.

Oh well. We had a good time. And my dinning room window shows it