Dang Leprechaun

When Kate was probably 4 years old I decided that I really ought to do something fun to celebrate St. Patrick's day.  Mostly it was because by mid-March we're desperate for something different to do to break up the monotony, especially if the weather has stayed gloomy.  So the night before St. Patty's day I took a skein of variegated rainbow colored yarn and strung it through our small apartment.  The yarn path began in Kate's room and at the end of it was a little treat.  I felt like such a good mommy.

Twelve months later it was St. Patty's Day again and Kate asked me when the leprechaun was going to come.  Dang.  I'd totally forgotten that we'd been "visited" the previous year!  I thought a little green food coloring in our pancakes was adequate, but I was clearly wrong.  So now every year we get some sort of visit from The Leprechaun.

One year he did a clever scavenger hunt with rhyming clues, one time he left a little pot of goodies wrapped with gold cellophane... that sort of thing.  This year, thanks to Pinterest, I have a board dedicated to St. Patrick's Day.  It includes clever food ideas (some are even healthy!), decorations, etc.  Still, last night one of the girls mentioned "I can't wait for the leprechaun to come tomorrow!" and I had that sinking feeling of  'oh shoot, I forgot!'.  So I grabbed a standard sized bag of skittles and a small bag of mini marshmallows.  Last night after the girls were asleep (okay, I admit -- around midnight when I was about to go to bed, because I'd forgotten AGAIN) I got out 5 cute pint jars.  I filled each about half full of mini marshmallows.  Then I let my CDO loose and sorted the whole bag of skittles.  Each jar got an equal number of purple skittles sprinkled on the marshmallows.  Another handful of marshmallows followed, then an even portion of green skittles, and so on with yellow, orange, and finally red skittles.  I put the lids on the bottles and put the jars on (or next to) each person's bed.

This morning the girls were excited to find their own "bottled rainbow".  They then set to eating a pint of artificially colored and flavored sugar.  Thank goodness marshmallows are mostly air!  I confess to feeling a little smug about running out the door for the rest of the morning to go to orchestra and leaving the sugar laden girls to Daddy's care.