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.

Scholastic Pursuits

 Recently the 4th grade classes at the elementary school put on their program.  They were all supposed to dress as a pioneer, native american, or trapper (or a modern 4th grader ;)).  It was a fun short program where each student had a speaking part (many of them in pairs) and they sang several songs.

Kate borrowed some costume pieces from Grandma Jensen, including an apron which Grandma's two grandma's made together for her not long before her wedding.  (Did I remember that right, Mom?).  So it was made by Kate's Great-Great-Grandmothers then.  Wow!

One handy thing about Kate being so short is that she usually is placed at the front and/or side of a group so it's easy to find her.

 

 After taking pictures / video I worked on untangling the pre-cambrian period and wrapping it around a soda bottle.  (I'll explain later).

Life's Collage

I cannot think of any single thing that has happened lately that is worth of its own post.  So here are some snippets of life.

 Sabrina with a cut out mustache from her Valentine's loot from school.

Here the girls were playing with the self-portrait setting on my phone:

All three girls got to attend a birthday party recently and came home with some really fun homemade playdoh.  It smelled lovely (made using kool aid powder) and even had glitter in it!  Here is a pair of birds nests complete with eggs and worms.

This one is a sunflower.  A very happy sunflower :)

Sabrina and her cousin Joey playing games on Daddy's iPad at a family birthday party.  Oh to be young enough to share a recliner with your cousin with room to spare!

This is a fabulous dish I discovered: Pavlova.  It's similar to meringues but with a bit of cornstarch added so the outside is crisp but the inside is marshmallow-y.  It was incredible served with lightly sweetened whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries.

One morning recently I got up and made my usual rounds: wake up Lizzie, close Sabrina's door so she will sleep a little longer, then go downstairs and wake Kate.  This particular morning I found Sabrina's room empty, so I double checked my bed and found she had slipped into Daddy's side after he had left early in the morning.  Somehow she got herself upside down though -- head under the blankets with her chilly little legs poking out by the pillow!

I though I'd try an idea I read this week.  The idea is to fill a lidded vegi tray with prepared vegetables and keep it in the fridge.  I don't have a nicely divided lidded tray, so I thought I'd give it a shot with what I did have on hand: this holder that comfortably fits a 9x13 pan with extra room to spare.  It was packed full to the top!  I set these out after school and again at dinner time.  Within 2 days this is all that was left.  That's a lot of good fresh vegis!!!  I do keep the carrots in a separate bag so they don't "contaminate" the other vegis ;)  Today (4 days after filling this tray) there is half a bag of carrots, half-dozen celery sticks, and a handful of broccoli florettes left.  This is a plan to keep up!  The cucumber spears do go bad a lot faster than the other things (there were two left this morning and they had gone mushy.).  For this reason I intend to keep an eye out for a good segregated container so if something turns before the rest it doesn't make it all gross.  Next up: try out the recipe for a good looking low-fat ranch dip I found.

That pretty much wraps it up!  I have our kefir going again and we're enjoying smoothies made with fresh kefir and frozen bananas and berries.  I even have made a couple of batches of homemade bread.  I intend to make some with part of the flour replaced with fresh ground wheat flour.  Looking at the vegi tray, kefir smoothies, and bread including whole wheat I feel downright healthy! ;)

Basketball

The elementary school choir (including Kate) performed the national anthem at a college basketball game.  I managed to go as a chaperone.  The kids sang wonderfully, the game was fun, the right team won, and I even managed to catch a ball for Kate.  The game lasted this long:

Valentine's Celebration

Last night we celebrated love in the most rational manner: with chocolate.  We ate pieces of fruit dipped in chocolate after dinner and had a really relaxing evening.  this is Kate's artfully arranged dipping plate.

Happy Valentines day!

"happy Valentines day! With love and KISSES" (Hershey's kisses)

This morning for breakfast I even made pink heart shaped chocolate-chip pancakes :-)

Valentines, day 9

"you are Marvelous ; Magnificent" (m&m's)