the luck o' the irish!

We love St. Patrick's Day around here!  It's one of those holidays that I'm embarrassed to say I don't know the real meaning behind, but I love the excuse to start family traditions and make memories with my children. Plus, I get to say, "the luck o' the Irish" in my fabulously realistic Irish accent dozens of times in one day! We started the night before by setting our leprechaun trap.  We put fake gold in this pot hoping one would mistake it for real gold and we'd be able to catch him, and he would grant us wishes that would make us ridiculously wealthy/powerful/happy.  Or something like that.

In the morning, we saw that while we hadn't caught any leprechauns, one did visit and bring us some Lucky Charms and some gold candy.

He also used our toilet, and forgot to flush, gross!
Since St. Paddy's day was also the first day of Spring Break this year, I decided to have some fun with it.  I made a treasure hunt where I hid 19 numbered shamrocks all over the house, and the three boys had to find them.

When they did, they could bring them to be and redeem them for a prize with the same number.  All the prizes were, of course, green!

For lunch, my friend Greta and her kids came over and we had a very yummy, very green lunch.

I don't know why, but there is something about eating food, usually for a holiday or a party, that all follows a color code, that makes me giddy.

Of course we all wore green, so as to not get pinched, and I had all my boys pose in front of this green wall, for a very festive photo!

For dinner we, of course, ate more green food.  The only thing not naturally green was the rice.  Oh, and the frosting on the brownies.  It was such a great St. Paddy's day, and a great start to spring break!
Also, I was glad that I had the energy to put this all together.  I have had morning sickness/all day sickness all day every day since the very beginning of January.  I have neglected my kids and my husband and my house, and I was happy to be able to help my kids have a fun holiday, and make fun memories for them, instead of giving them more memories of mommy laying on the couch, sipping Gatorade.  Again.
I'm happy to report that I am now having some good days mixed in with the bad days, or at least plenty of good parts-of-days, which makes everything so much easier.  Not that I feel like complaining at all.  We are all so thrilled about this baby, and having done this before, I know how worth it all of this is.  I know I won't care one bit about how sick or tired I have been, the moment I get to hold this baby in my arms for the first time, it will have all been worth it!