So … if you haven't guessed … Saint Patrick's Day is a pretty big deal in the Wells' household. We are Irish, my mother's birthday is on St. Paddys, and uh … we are IRISH! ;-)
I started a lil' tradition with my eldest for our favorite holiday. A leprechaun visits him and leave a lil' mischief … along with his pot of golf (or at least something valuable to my son). ;-) The night before, i stayed up past 1 a.m. getting everything ready 1) because we had just got home from a Carolina Hurricane's game in Ralieigh and 2) because I had NOTHING ready. LOL I was slacking this year.
As much as I wish the boy had the day off from school due to this awesome holiday … he did not. He had to go to school. So I packed him a nifty lunch. I used cookie cutters to make his sandwich and cheesy extra "lucky" and dyed his milk green. I also found print outs and
lunchbox jokes to put inside as well. I also made a telescope with the help of
THIS blog and found a
lucky penny printout. And of course, I HAD to have the leprechaun "pee" in the toilet. I made green foot prints using washable paint and my hand from
THIS idea and used green food dye to turn the water green. My son gets a kick out of this every time. You should follow my Pinterest board on
Saint Patrick's Day. :-)
The "loot" is simply Skittles and Rolos. I tried to find gold coins … but like I said, I waited till the last minute and Walmart (during my 10 p.m. mad dash) didn't have them.
The leprechaun left a little message to describe what my eldest had to do with the telescope. (I later added a name, so it was more personal. The leprechaun's name is Lucky) ;-)
In the morning, once I woke him up. My son ran to the bathroom to see if the leprechaun used his bathroom again … "Yup, he sure did," my son said to me walking out into the living room.
He found the goodies and the note. And he was sooooo cute looking for his pot of gold. I hope he never loses this innocence and imagination! <3
Jackpot! He found it too easy … I forget he's getting older and I have to find better hiding places … hmmm… the Easter Bunny may just hide his basket this year …
He was super happy about the candy and his shamrock glow wand thingy. He couldn't wait to light it up later that night.
After school, we did a few projects (more photos with my iPhone -- don't be ashamed, you need to live in the moment and not be behind that camera every moment of the day)
First we did the project Lucky left behind. Then we did the project that we got for Gramma's birthday … we just never sent it out. SO, she'll be in town soon, and we will give to her then.
THEN it was dinner time … uh, my husband's awesome corned beef shepherd's pie and soda bread. I CANNOT tell you how awesome it is! He slow cooks the corned beef over night in Guinness (10 hours!) and then puts together the pie .. OMG. Amazing. The soda bread is merely flour (I used wheat), buttermilk, salt and baking soda. We put parmesan cheese on top. YUM!
And what's an Irish meal without the Guinness?!
Dessert was a mint shake. Double yum!
Next year, I plan to follow on with the tradition but bought a book called
"The Naughty Leprechaun Story." It's cute and tells the story of two leprechauns, a good one and a naughty one. It comes with a two sided coin and the child reads the book and then gets to pick which leprechaun will get to visit and either leave goodies or mischief. I cannot wait to try it out on the boys!
Hope y'all had as much fun as we did this Saint Patrick's Day! And may the Irish Luck Be Sent Your Way!
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