St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Here's a little limerick to get things started:

On St. Patrick's day people wear green.

Not to show that they're jealous or mean,

but that they are a sport

of the good and kind sort.

And to avoid getting pinched if they're seen.

I love St. Patrick's day. I always have. It's not a huge holiday, but there are still so many fun things you can do to make it an extra special day, and to help break up the monotony of regular day to day life.

We already watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People a few days ago, so I don't think we'll watch it again tonight. But it's a great movie! I highly suggest it if you've never seen it.

Yesterday we made a leprechaun trap. It's an improved model from last year's because we spent a little longer on it (meaning I remembered I wanted to do it more than 5 minutes before Emma's bedtime). I saw the idea for it online, and loved it. The leprechaun will climb the ladder to get the nugget of gold only to find the hat's top is only a thin piece of paper which he'll easily collapse, falling inside where he'll be trapped. The sign says: Do not climb the ladder! Since leprechauns are naturally mischievous and love ignoring rules, it will help encourage them to climb up. It seems to have worked. We caught a leprechaun, but he used his magic to escape (which, of course, he can only do if he leaves us some gold or something). Emma might be happier with her chocolate gold coins than a real leprechaun anyway!

Setting it up last night

The air was heavy with anticipation

This is what we found this morning.

This is what Emma started doing when we brought it inside.

I had to interrupt her chocolate eating so that she could have breakfast. She had some Lucky Charms cereal. This is actually the only time of year we buy it. We get it just for St. Patrick's Day. It seems appropriate.

Last night I made some rainbow cupcakes. They turned out great! Eric took most of them to work with him to give out, but I kept a few here for Emma to snack on. I told her this morning that I had a surprise for her, and she promptly asked me, "Is it the cupcakes?" I guess I was too noisy last night while I made them. Next time I'll wait until I know she's asleep.

Dinner was corned beef with cabbage and other vegetables. I am not a corned beef fan (and neither is Emma), but Eric likes it, so I made it for him. Emma and I ate some chicken along with some of the vegetables. For dessert I made some shamrock shakes. Mmmmm.

Emma really wanted to share her shake with Eric, hence the two straws. See below:

It has been a fun day (even though I'm Scottish, not Irish). I always love seeing these holidays through Emma's eyes. Her excitement is contagious.

Peanuts Anyone?

We have always had magnet letters on our fridge. Recently Emma has been spelling words with them. She's really good, but sometimes can't spell a word just right because we are missing a couple of the letters. Yesterday I thought I was going to die laughing when I saw what she had spelled. She showed me and told me she spelled peanuts. Here's the problem: T is one of the letters we are missing, and I guess she says it more with an I than a U. She also of course, didn't know about the A. After seeing the word I clarified with her a couple times what word she was trying to spell. Sure enough (and to my great relief) she was indeed trying to spell peanuts. Below is a picture of her spelling job. Do you see it?

Dress-Ups

Emma loves dressing up. Her toy box is full of costumes and accessories that help her dress up like anything from a witch to a cheerleader to a doctor to a hula dancer. Lately she's been dressing up like a princess and a super hero. She told me one day her super hero name was "Snow White Superhero Princess Holly Meadows Princess Pea". Sometimes she'll wear wigs and sometimes she won't. Here are two examples of what she's been looking like lately. One is with a wig (and isn't a very good one, but it's all we have from that day) and the other is without. I just adore how her imagination works and love seeing her act out all her many ideas.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations are in order. No, not for me (at least, not for anything other than being my normal awesome self!). It's for my sister. She is now a published author!! Her book is available as of this past Monday. Hooray! So, if you are so inclined, go check it out! It's available at Deseret Book stores among others. And if you know Jill, definitely send her your congrats!