Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Let’s celebrate our Irish Heritage with some St. Patty’s Day fun! Jonathan and I asked Gabe and Eden to pick ‘Blarney Stones’ from the backyard and bring them inside for a bath.

How about we paint those green?

Being silly with daddy – Jonathan is going to kill me for posting this picture!

OK! OK! I meant let’s paint the rocks green…not your hands!

Ladies and Gentleman doing her best impression…I am proud to introduce Eden as The Incredible Hulk!

After much scrubbing in the bath the kids made a patchwork Leprechaun trap with glue, a box and scraps of paper they cut up. 

We told the kids that if they were good listeners a leprechaun would stop by the house while they were sleeping, sneak in the window and leave them little bits of the rainbow (better known as Skittles).
The Legend of the real Blarney Stone says that whomever kisses the Stone will be blessed with the ‘gift of gab’ and that sneaky little leprechaun has been trying to get his lips on one for centuries. So before bed, we set up the leprechaun trap and placed the kid’s fake Blarney Stones underneath. The kids were so excited about the possibility of seeing a real leprechaun and asked if we could keep him. I explained that if we woke up and found him in the trap that he could stay and eat breakfast with us but we’d have to let him go afterwards.

The kids woke up before the sun to check their trap!

But wait! What’s that? A trail of glitter all the way to the restroom! Looks like our little friend went potty before heading back home to Ireland.

Eden thought it was hilarious that his potty was green. (I put some green food coloring in the toilet after the kids were asleep – although I can promise you our toilet was just cleaned…I figured I’d spare you and not post any pictures of what the leprechaun left in the potty – You’re Welcome)

YAY! Looks like the kids were good listeners because they opened their four leaf clover boxes to find little edible bits of the rainbow inside!

Breakfast of champions…Lucky Charms and green milk!

Or just skittles in Eden’s case…I can’t say that I blame her. Who would want to eat cereal when you could eat a rainbow for breakfast!

The kids loved their finger puppets! With Daddy’s help they named them Shamus and Rory.

Now here’s a little note from us to you….

We are so LUCKY to have such amazing family and friends and we hope that you all had a fantastic St Patty’s! Cheers and as the old Irish blessing says ‘may the road rise to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your face, may the rains fall softly upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand’.

I love this picture…you can tell the sugar high was wearing off…

Linus goes to the Doctor!

Jonathan and I thought it would be fun to take the kids along for Linus’ first vet appointment (well not his first…but his first since he’s come home with us). Oh boy was that a bad idea! But we’ll get into that a little later.

While Jonathan went to pick up the kids from school I left work and ran home to go pick up our boy. Look at that face!

‘No pictures please.’

I attempted to get Linus to use the restroom before we went inside but he refused to go. He was definitely having an issue with sensory overload. There were too many new smells and sights to behold – he didn’t have time for things like – you know…doing his business.

The vet tech gives Linus the once over before the doctor comes in. Which includes (but is not limited to) a stool sample. Now! If you have never had a pet let me tell you…this is not a painful process for your pup…but it’s not a good thing if he or she was too stubborn or preoccupied to use the restroom before their check-up. It’s like checking the oil in a car and it kind of gets things moving if you know what I mean.

After the tech left the room sweet little Linus wanted mommy to hold him. (Can’t say that I blame him…who wouldn’t want to be held after being mildly violated). That being said – I scooped up the little stinker…LITERALLY! The room already smelt of number two but the odor became somewhat overwhelming as I held my adorable puppy. I look down to find…YES! Wait for it…poop smears all over my arms and clothes! GAG!

To make matters worse…our other little boy decides to repeatedly pass gas! Thanks Gabe! The room, at this point, smells like a straight up porta potty!

I’m thinking ‘OH MY GOSH! I am mortified! The doctor should be in soon. She’s used to this right? I mean it IS a vet’s office. I’m sure she won’t even notice. Oh Dear God, please don’t let her notice!’

‘PFFFTTT’ - That’s when it happened…Gabe let out the loudest flatulent I’ve ever heard. And Jonathan and Eden break out in a synchronization of ‘ewws’ and ‘ughs’ mixed with laughter. Great! This only further motivates Gabe to continue his smelly antics.

He looks so proud – and Eden looks like she’s about to pass out. Doesn’t she know by lying on the seat, it only gets her closer to the root, or should I say boot, of the problem!

Thank goodness the vet didn’t say anything about the stench when she walked in and that Gabe had the manners and sense to hold in any further offenses until she was finished checking Linus.

So our puppy got a clean bill of health, Gabe got a good laugh out of everyone and I got an outfit covered in poop and a $100 vet bill. Time to call it a night!

Unless.

To pick up where we left off in the National Pancake Day blog post…

Time to soak the seeds the kids got from IHOP. The instructions said the seeds needed to soak in water for 24 hours before planting so waited a day before we were taking the kids to see The Lorax movie and let them submerge their seeds. We also read them The Lorax every night a couple days before the movie. They already like the story so I knew they were going to LOVE the movie!

About a year ago I stumbled across a website for The Lorax Project and used some of the tools on their site so I revisited a few days before the movie and actually printed off Lorax Certificates for the kids and laminated them. They read:

The Lorax Project – I pledge to protect the environment and to do all I can do to help The Lorax and his friends. (Insert your child’s name here) I speak for the trees!

Super cool right? If you’d like to check it out here is the web address: http://www.seussville.com/loraxproject/

Here are the kids with their I Speak For The Trees Certificates!

The kids really enjoyed the movie – they even left the theater singing ‘Let it Grow, Let it Grow, Let it Grow’. The weather didn’t really cooperate with our seed planting plans so we brought some planting soil inside and let the kids plant their ‘Truffula’ tree seeds. According to several posts online the seeds are actually Blue Spruce and Canadian White Pine which could grow 20 to 40 feet wide – yes WIDE – not tall! Now obviously that is not how wide the trunk will get but still…WHAT IN THE WORLD IHOP?!?

The kids are hopeful for a little bit of growth from these seeds – and it would be cool to get some results from this project…but I’m not sure what we’ll do with a 20 foot wide tree.

Time to plant. (Hey Daddy! We’re going to need some bigger pots for those seeds! In fact – we’re going to need a bigger yard!)

Regardless of whether these seeds produce a tree the kids learned a lot from The Lorax and really enjoyed lessons from Daddy about planting and soil. I would recommend this movie to any family – and it’s a great opportunity to talk to your kids about environmental issues and the importance of being a good steward to the earth.

Now a little classic prose from the movie/book:

‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not’

Happy Birthday Brendan! Let's go Bowling!

Happy Birthday Brendan! Okay, stay with me for a minute. Jonathan’s cousin Erica (on his mom’s side of the family) has a son Brendan who just recently celebrated a birthday. So that makes Gabe, Eden and Brendan…second cousins? Yeah I think that’s right. Anyway, the kids received an invitation to Brendan’s birthday at the Yorktown Weapon’s Station Twin Pin Bowling Alley (say that five times fast why don’t you). The kids were very excited – they’ve never been bowling and they look up to their older cousins. I believe their reaction was ‘we get to go to a big boy birthday’?

How cute is this!?

Who knew that they even made bowling shoes this small?

Daddy explains the rules…

Nice picture!

Ok so they are still a little young for granny bowling. Time to break out the bowling ball rollie thingy…I have no idea what that thing is called.

Turns out the kids are pretty good bowlers (a skill they must have inherited from Daddy). They need a little assistance with etiquette every once in a while but all in all I was very proud. They even hugged and high-fived when they had a decent frame. I tried to get a picture of these celebratory embraces…but my camera was too slow.

The kids stuffed themselves with pizza and pink lemonade but, of course, still had room for cake! This was possibly one of the coolest cakes I’ve ever seen – an Xbox console with controller…and all edible!

Happy Birthday Brendan!

I’ve talked about this in a previous post…you know…the Ice Cream and Cake song by the Buckwheat Boyz…well guess who found a singing birthday card with our favorite birthday jam…YEP! Yours truly!

I think Eden wanted to take it home – I’ll have to remember that for her birthday. The card also caused a little fight between Eden and another little girl at the party. She doesn’t look happy at the fact that Eden isn’t sharing.

Ahh…birthday kazoos! Kids love them – Parents hate them. Thanks Erica! HA!

We left around 8:00 so we could get the kids home and in bed since it was a school night. We told them they could go to town on their kazoos all the way to the car but once we were buckled they’d have to hand them to us. They didn’t whine as much as I thought they would at this deal. A quick exchange of kazoo for some glow in the dark bracelets and we were on the road headed home. (Parents – you’ll be happy to know I trashed the kazoos once the kids were in bed. Sorry Gabe and Eden).