Sunday, March 17, 2013

Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
We had such a fun day (or I should say week, really)! It is the first time I have ever truly celebrated Saint Patty's & it will definitely not be the last!
I am already so excited for next year. To add & continue traditions that we started this year. :)

It started last week. My daughter & I decorated our front window with some shamrock gel clings & put a few other decorations around the house. I was telling her about leprechauns & how if you catch one they will have to give you their pot of gold. She was Very excited about this & decided that we should try to catch one so we could be rich & buy anything we want. I took some tips from Pinterest (seriously can't get enough of that site) & helped her make a leprechaun hat trap.


It turned out so well! It was so cute to see her so excited about this. We set out some Lucky Charms marshmallows, since those are leprechaun's favorites. She went to bed talking about how rich we were going to be & that she couldn't wait to actually see a leprechaun.
However, when she woke up she discovered that the trap had failed to catch a leprechaun. I forgot to take a picture of it, but the little guy had somehow managed to get out of the trap. He left a note saying how clever her trap was, but that he was too smart to be trapped by it. And since she had tried to catch him, he was going to play a trick on her every day. He signed it "Seamus the Little Leprechaun" & left her a gold coin.

Later that morning we discovered that our milk had been turned green! That tricky little Seamus!

The green milk turned my cream of wheat green. I couldn't get past the color at first. I had to eat several bites with my eyes closed before it tasted normal. The mind is a powerful thing! Lol.

I didn't get pictures of the next couple of tricks, but the next day our toilet water was green.
The day after that she found her shoes in the freezer. That one was her favorite. She was cracking up. She said, "His tricks are getting better! The green milk & toilet water were a little funny, but not that great. But the shoes in the freezer is so clever!" Then she commented on how he can only turn things green.

In her room she has a string of pink twinkle lights to use as a night light, but half the strand broke a couple of weeks ago. I have been meaning to replace it, but Seamus did it for me! That kind little guy. He switched them out with a string of blue lights & a note on her mirror that said, "So you think I can only change things to green, do ya? Well green is, in fact, my favorite color, but it's not the only color I have up me sleeve!"
She searched all day for the trick & couldn't find it. Then at bedtime, she plugged in her lights & her jaw dropped. I think that is the one that made it all seem magical. She was just blown away.

The next day (Saturday, the 16th) there was no note to be found. She was So disappointed that she couldn't find it. When we got to the car to leave for the St. Patrick's Day Festival, she noticed that her booster seat & her brother's car seat had switched places. And she finally found the note from her little leprechaun friend in her seat with another gold coin. She loved this trick too.

The festival was a lot of fun, though I think we missed the majority of it. If we go next year, we will make sure to go earlier. We only really caught the carnival rides, by the last ride we were so hungry & exhausted from the heat that we had to leave.

We went to Red Robin! Yum!

Seriously, why is the sun so exhausting?? I was just really glad that we all put sunblock on, because it was hot & not a lot of shade.
We all slept like babies that night though.

This morning when she woke up she found this:


Her bedroom door had been sealed & she was trapped inside her room!
I didn't get a picture of her behind it, because she realized she could just tear it down before I could take a picture. 


She made her own little bow out of the ribbon & said that she was going to keep it forever. :)



 Then we discovered that all our shoes were missing & we found them on the ceiling fan!



And some of them were on the coat hangers! And our coats were on the shoe rack!




Brushing her teeth was hard since the toothpaste had been replaced with mustard!
She found the toothpaste in the fridge where the mustard was supposed to be.
"Mustard for toothpaste?? Gross, Seamus!"




Then there was the note.. The note wishing her a happy Saint Pat's. The note telling her that he had fun tricking her. The note bidding her farewell. And the note telling her about the clovers he brought her from his home.

She almost cried.


Dinner was a blast & super delicous!


We usually eat as a family, but it's normally on the floor or around the coffee table. So family dinner around the table is a nice treat for everyone. I think I want us to do it more often. :)


My son loves his big sister so so much. He would not take his eyes off of her.


She was making him laugh, it was adorable!



Green Garlic Orzo with Sausage
Gold Nugget Biscuits
 The orzo was so easy. I just melted one stick of butter, added one can of evaporated milk, garlic powder, white pepper & salt. Then I poured it over the cooked orzo noodles & added a ton of green food coloring. You can not tell from the picture, but it was pretty green. And it was absolutely yummy!
The biscuits were just bisquik biscuits (because I have yet to find ones that my family likes more) with a little bit of garlic powder in it & a LOT of yellow food coloring. Again, the picture couldn't capture the pretty gold color they turned into.
We had green sherbet ice cream with 7up (Irish Floats) for our drinks & sugar cookies with green frosting for dessert.

Oh, by the way! If you have not seen Secret of the Kells, you need to watch it. It will be on our St. Pat's watch list every year. It's an Irish cartoon that is kind of based on a true story about the church they're trying to build. It just has a bit more magic thrown in. Plus the animation is just beautiful! And it'll have you speaking in an Irish accent all day! :)

Honestly this was one of my favorite holidays that we have celebrated. I can't wait until Seamus comes back next year! Now to start getting ready for Easter. :)

How did you guys celebrate Saint Patrick's Day?? 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

My Complaint Free World

Have any of you heard of the complaint free purple bracelet? I remember seeing it a few years ago on TV & I thought about getting one, but I just never did. It has been in the back of my mind ever since & I decided that there is no point in not trying to accomplish this. I do not have a purple bracelet, but I do have a bracelet from my church & I am just going to use that. The concept is this: Go 21 consecutive days without complaining. Every time you let a complaint slip (no matter how small) you switch the bracelet to your other arm. I am proud to say that I have only complained once since putting it on. I told my husband, daughter & brother (who is over here quite often) to let me know if they catch me complaining.
I'm pleasantly surprised that it isn't as difficult to give up as I thought it would be. Though it's only been two days & two of least favorite things are joining my life again very soon... Las Vegas heat & seasonal nasal allergies. Lol, quite a time to attempt this, but I think I'll manage. ;)
All part of my attempt to make a better me. :)


We're going to celebrate St. Patrick's Day this year. I have never in my life celebrated St. Patrick's other than wearing green & threatening to pinch those who don't. But a couple of weeks ago I decided that I was going to pick one or two minor/silly Holidays & make big traditions out of them. My first two thoughts were "National Flip Flop Day" & St. Patrick's Day. I haven't thought much about the former because as soon as the latter popped into my head I got too excited. I hopped onto Google to do a little research about the Holidays origin & found out that not only is it a religious Holiday, but that a lot of people recognize it in their own ways. I discovered the idea of leprechaun traps through Google/Pinterest & got a lot of good ideas. I had never heard of a leprechaun trap before & my daughter is beyond excited to set one (and let's be honest.. I am too). She already has a list of things she is going to spend her gold on, lol.
I saw that there is an Irish Festival in Henderson (about 30 minutes from us) that we will hopefully be able to attend. I bought some lime sherbet ice cream & 7up to make "Irish Floats", which were a huge hit. The sherbet turns the 7up a pretty shade of green, which matched the straws I put in the glasses. And to top it off they're delicious! I have sugar cookie dough in my fridge to make some shamrock cookies with my daughter, but the poor thing got sick yesterday & is still not up for much today. So I guess I'm on my own when it comes to the cookies.
All I have to do now is decorate the house a little, figure out what I'm going to make for St. Patrick's Day dinner & see if there are any good movies/books about the holiday that we can watch/read every year.
I was going to make a traditional Irish dish, since I found a lot of them on the internet, but... I really don't think my daughter would eat any of them. So I figured I would make a dish I know she will like & just add green food coloring or something. Hamburgers with green homemade buns, green pasta, chicken with green potatoes, etc... I think this is going to be fun. :-)

Have you ever celebrated St. Patrick's Day? What were your traditions?
What is your favorite non-major holiday?