Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

The gingham gang...

The kids are at such a fun age right now for celebrating holidays. I'm trying to make the most of it as I know the magic will end all too soon. It's funny because I keep feeling like we're still hitting Kaitlin's "first" milestones, but we're already on to her SECOND St. Patrick's Day.

We had a great day today. The boys woke up to discover that Leprechauns had visited our house in the middle of the night! Those silly Leprechauns are always doing the craziest things. They're so naughty! This time they made a pyramid out of the boys' drinking cups in their bathroom....even leaving the cupboard open and the empty box on the floor!

We knew it was the leprechauns because they left their shamrocks behind...

And they left green M&Ms on the boys' chairs in the kitchen!!

And then they left a trail of shamrocks that led to the van and the boys found this inside!

At pre-school we brought the special "green" snack for day...Mommy's sugar cookies and green grapes. The leprechauns even visited the boys' classrooms while they were at the gym! When I picked them up they were literally talking over each other with excitement telling me about the "BIG MESS!" the leprechaun made!

After school we had Shannon, Claire and Grace over for lunch and some St. Patrick's Day fun. This was a little treat at lunch which was just made from refrigerated bread stick dough w/green sprinkles and cinnamon on it.

Then the kids decorated some cupcakes with "rainbows" and "pots of gold"...(I love Andrew's chubby little hands. They still look so babyish to me. Precious).

I got the idea for the cupcakes and the little clover bread sticks here. (The thing I like about this website is that they have many ideas for different age groups and also just some really simple, easy things to do to make a day fun. Things that are manageable for the children without an overwhelming list of supplies. Simple.)
Our little gang, minus Hannah, whom (who? I never know--grammar advice, anyone?) to Matthew's dismay was at school "all day!! AGAIN!!!" He missed his friend.

Two friends...This morning at Pre-School the teacher was remarking at how cute Kaitlin and Grace are when they see one another. It really is so sweet--they smile, kick their feet, hold out their hands--they really identify one another as a friend. It's so sweet to watch.

Anyway, as I was looking through my photos I just had to laugh to myself at this little grouping...

Here's Matthew carefully sorting the confetti and M&Ms into 2 piles before eating his treats.

Here's Matthew showing off his cupcakes. He's holding the rainbow up that wasn't standing perfectly straight.

Here he is noting that his shirt matches the place mat "but one is just a little lighter"...

And a few for fun...

(I didn't get many good photos of Andrew today that I could post...He was so animated when he saw the cups in the bathroom and I had fun taking some great photos of him, but little matthew was standing in the background in his undershirt/underwear and I think he'd old enough I need to be respectful of his privacy...he would have been embarassed if I posted the photos, so they'll stay in the family collection. :)But I have a cute post about Andrew that I'm hoping to put together this week. It's hard to fit in my blogging while I'm on my restricted computer time! How many days left in Lent? :) )

We ended the day with the traditional corned beef and cabbage and potatoes for dinner, which I knew the kids would not eat but felt obligated to make anyway. Matthew choked down his corned beef on top of a chicken nugget. Does that still count?

It was a really fun day.

Hope you had a fun St. Patrick's Day too!