St. Patrick's Day

We went all out this year to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Here's a picture of the trap that Kelsie and Brandon made to try and catch the pesky little leprechaun we had hanging around our house! We all wore green of course. Brandon had to be convinced to wear it and also coached that it is "pinch" not "punch" someone if they're not wearing green. (Which was quickly followed by not really pinching anyone at all.) The leprechauns put green sprinkles in our chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast and then left us alone for most of the day.

We had corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes for dinner, along with Irish soda bread and freshly squeezed limeade. It turned out pretty good, except for the soggy cabbage. Everyone liked the corned beef, even though none of us really knew what it was! We ended the day eating green cupcakes with green frosting and sprinkles and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Next year I think we'll skip the corned beef and instead have a dinner that is all green. Hmmm. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Oh, and we set the leprechaun trap out before we went to bed in our last attempt to catch our friend. There was a note and 5 lucky bucks the next morning telling us better luck next year!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Celebrating Irish Style

We were so excited this year to go down to the city to be part of the St. Patrick's Day celebrations! We rode the train down, which is always a big hit for the kids. We first went to the Chicago River to watch the river turn a bright green. We found a great spot on the bridge across from State Street where we were sure to be able to see. We waited a little longer than we wanted to, and lucky for us there was a group of kayakers on the river entertaining the crowds. Finally, after almost an hour later, the boat zoomed by with the green dye and the crowds cheered! We hung around for the dye to spread out through the river and tried to get some good pictures to share.

We also tried to get down to the parade, but there were so many people downtown, that we decided to head home after lunch. We had a fun time down in the city and it sure got us ready to celebrate on the 17th!

Tricky

Strange things have been happening around here lately. We have had a little visitor at our house the last few days. And I'm not talking about the small furry kind we had a few months ago. We think we've got a leprechaun on our hands. We first noticed it last week when somehow the lunchboxes were switched in backpacks. It's a good thing we always double check we have everything before we go to school in the morning. The next day, we came home from school and all the chairs around the table had been knocked over and upside down. Then, last night, a couple drawers in the kitchen were switched and the utensils were all messed up (we needed spoons for dessert, that's when we noticed). When we got out the milk and Lucky Charms yesterday morning for breakfast, it happened again. The milk was green. And it was still fresh. He must have been thirsty or something. Then, tonight, we went to the computer to turn on the family night song, and the monitor was tinted green.

You may be wondering how we know it's a leprechaun. Each time these strange things happened, we noticed some green glitter left behind. Yep, that's right. The mark of a leprechaun. We've never had problems with leprechauns before and we clearly don't have any gold. So we're not exactly sure why we're getting these unexpected visits.

We decided that we have had enough. Kelsie and Brandon spent all Sunday morning first researching and then building the most clever trap for our little friend. Hopefully, we won't have any more incidents...but we've heard that they can be pretty tricky!

Wish us luck!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This weekend, Chicago had it's big parade celebrating St. Patrick's Day and dyed the Chicago River a bright emerald green. They have been dying the river green for the last 40 years and is supposed to be a really fun thing to watch.

I was really sad that we didn't make it this year (you know how much I hate to miss out on things), but next year we will be there front and center for the festivities! I just think it's such a fun way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!