St. Patrick's Day Shenanigans

Sometimes I decorate my house and front door for St. Patrick's Day and sometimes (okay, a lot of times) we wear green, but always on special days I decorate the table and make my boys a fun breakfast! I love surprising them when they wake up in the morning! (Although, after 12 years of breakfasts, it's hardly a surprise anymore! lol)

This year I used the 'Top O' the Morning' printables from My Sister's Suitcase. I actually wasn't sure what I was going to use this year, but then I got mailed my local neighborhood magazine and inside came ALL the 'Top O' the Morning' printables, in color, ready to be cut out and used! How could I refuse? So, I didn't! lol

Here are some photos from our morning:

                  

I also made them personalized fortune cookies. I took out the original fortune and put in my own message. {Tutorial here}

I'm pretty sure they liked it, because my little one made this on his plate with his chocolate gold coins:

And then we ate!

After breakfast my kids said they were happy and FULL. Two things important in their little lives right now! I think of their needs often - and when I am behind in my blog posts, Facebook updates or unable to comment on my favorite blogs, I feel bad, but I never regret it. I never regret spending my time and energy on my boys. They deserve the first of my time, not the leftovers of my time and it is so encouraging to read some of your posts knowing you feel the same. You get it. And I know you get me too. :)

I feel so lucky blessed to be their mom and to have you here reading our ramblings.

I leave you with one of my favorite parts of our breakfast...

Yes, this is a green clover pancake! {Quick tutorial here} Did you get creative with food this St. Patrick's Day? Decorate with green? Cause some shenanegans? Where do you feel blessed in your life right now?


"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose." ~Romans 8:28

St. Patrick's Day ~ Clover Pancake

I've seen lots of clover pancake versions around the web recently, but none, *I think* have been made this way before.

I was going through my cupboards gettin all my St. Patrick's Day 'stuff' out of the pantry when I came across my flexible heart ice cube mold:

Originally, this tray made fun heart shaped ice cubes:

But as I looked at it, I thought it also had the potential to make a really cool clover pancake. So, operation pancake experiment began. I filled the ice tray with pancake mix:

I let them set overnight in the freezer and then popped them out for breakfast in the morning. I placed the frozen hearts (in the preheated pan) in the shape of a clover:

Frozen batter makes pancakes just as well as fresh batter, it just takes a minute or two more on each side. (Depending on your oven.) The nice thing about the batter being frozen is that I didn't have to worry about the shape changing as I poured and I could be very specific in placement. As the batter heats and cooks, the hearts molded into an adorably festive clover! My kids and I were very happy with the result!

 



 

 

 

I now want to mold pancakes into every imagineable shape! And since there are all kinds of ice shaped molds - the possibilities are endless! Have you tried this technique before? What shapes do you think would make fun pancakes?

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Over the Rainbow Dinner

We're not Irish, but I imagine that my boys must think that if you ARE Irish, you must wear green a lot, clean up after leprechauns ALL the time, eat green food daily, {last year we had green spaghetti, green milk, broccoli... you get the idea.} OR, if they're not eating green food, they must eat everything in the shape of a rainbow! :) Because that's what we did tonight! My boys are visiting their dad for the weekend, so we got to celebrate our St. Patrick's Day supper a little early. {Lucky them!} Here is what we enjoyed:

I had seen some of the fruit rainbows out there, but I wanted one with mostly dinner food! Soooo...

This rainbow is made of:

RED: Corned Beef {of course!}

ORANGE: Carrots

YELLOW: Pineapple

GREEN: Peas

BLUE/PURPLE: Grapes

{Yeah, I cheated and skipped blue because we don't eat blueberries plain. But the grapes looked like both colors on our BLUE plate.} ;o)

CLOUDS: Mashed Potatoes

My boys loved it! And I must admit, I did too! 

You know what else I loved? Using PicMonkey for the first time for that photo above! I'm still playing around on the site, but so far I'm liking how quick and easy it is to use! {Have you tried it yet?}

Well, that's it! We aren't doing much more for St. Patty's Day, other than having Lucky Charms for breakfast tomorrow! And maybe a leprechaun will mess up their room... ;-) 

What fun things do you do for St. Patty's Day?

Linking up at TidyMom, Toys in the Dryer; tatertots and jello

We're Going Green!

Top of the morning blogging friends!

Things have been busy around here lately!
First, have you entered the giveaway over at The Foley Fam - {unedited} yet? If you do, you could win a pom pom ring hand made by me and a bunch of other goodies!! Don't miss out! Hurry up and enter and then come right back! {I'll wait}...

...

... AND Welcome back!! {Good luck! And if you really just entered - I hope you win!!} :-D

Next, I thought I'd share a few ways I decorate this time of year! Because life has been so full of fun, I didn't even get to post Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd do a little 'before and after' because we're already seeing GREEN over here!

I just do little touches around my house for these in between holiday's, but even the little things can make a big difference! And I know my kids enjoy seeing our house change too!

During February my side table looks like this:

{The large printable is from Tattered & Inked, the candlestick jars were inspired by eighteen25; the birdcage I bought last spring at Michael's for $1! Woot woot!}

Now my table looks like this!

{The printable I've had since last year - before I started blogging and didn't even think to track where I found it. So bummed! If you know where it came from, let me know!}


My kids got their Valentine's Day table decorated that morning too-

 {Hot chocolate with whipped cream and heart sprinkles!}

{Treats & little prizes set at their table with a heart shaped straw! 

Which of course sipped up strawberry milk!}

I can't wait to surprise them on St. Patrick's Day morning! And I always try a green food theme! :) Hmmm, green grapes, green eggs, kiwi's, can you think of any other  green foods?

I also change out my apothecary jar in my kitchen...

From Valentine's Day red...

To a lucky green!

And my 'mantel' {since I don't really have one yet} went from this...

To this!!

{That Lucky printable is from the TomKat Studio! I added the "Us"}

And finally, my wreath was also decked out for Valentine's Day,

...but I still haven't figured out how I want to decorate her for St. Patrick's Day. I have some shamrocks, another little bunting and I might try to do something with these straws--

How about it? Do you have any creative ideas for my wreath? {If I know you, and I think I do, I'm pretty sure you're creative!}

But for now, my door will have this little chalkboard sign!

I made it out of a $1 chalkboard sign I bought at Michaels, I cut out the frame shape {by hand, by the way. This girl needs to win a silhouette!} from sticky-backed foam and glued that little decal on from one of those straws shown above! What do you think? This little frame is quickly becoming one of my favorite green decor items! :) Thanks for reading and indulging in my decor today!

How 'bout you? What is your favorite St. Patrick's Day decoration you like in your home?



Linking up at Tatertots and Jello

{This is My entry into Show Me Extraordinary sponsored by Appliances Online and Bosch Washing Machines.}