St. Patrick's Day

For the last few years our St. Patrick's Day festivities have been growing. The first year we just made Corned Beef and Cabbage and got an Irish folk music cd and that all went over so well that we've added some to it each year since then. This year the kids we up and decked from head to foot in green before I ever even got out of bed. I have still forgotten to ask who dressed Lennon because he still has no interest in dressing himself.

They also dressed Mia's two American Girl dolls in the most green they could get them in which consisted mostly of the Girl Scout outfit Mia has for her doll.

We then had a humongous breakfast inspired by an Irish cookbook we ran across at the library. It turned out to be a pretty handy book. I also got the soda bread recipe out of it and that turned out great. For breakfast we had eggs, toast with butter and jam, bacon, bangers and sauteed tomatoes and mushrooms. To top it off we had Irish Breakfast tea with cream. It was yummy, but sooo much food!

For lunch Mia had green mac and cheese at Claire's house while Lennon had his nap. Then for dinner we ended up having a little outdoor feast with the Lima's. Claire made Dublin Coddle and some soda bread also and I made Corned Beef and Cabbage. The kids took a bunch of decorations outside that we had used to decorate Claire's table for a mid morning green themed tea party. We found everything green we could and displayed them on the table along with zucchini muffins frosted and sprinkled with green sprinkles.

Lennon finishing up his breakfast while Mia cuts out clovers for the pin the clover on the Leprechaun game she made for the day.

Decked in green and showing off our cookbook.

snapshot of the tea party

Lennon loved his muffin but was not such a fan of the tea

Mia changed into different green clothes midway through the day. Here she is in front of the food for dinner.

I forgot to get a shot of the bread whole, but here's what it looked like half gone.

Getting into the green bath

We also got a bunch of books on Ireland and Irish folklore a couple of weeks ago. One book we got called Fair, Brown and Trembling was an Irish cinderella story. It was strange and in one picture even depicted a girl cutting off part of her foot to try to get it to fit into the glass slipper. It was a pretty fun day and the weather was so nice for an outdoor dinner. A really nice introduction to spring. Almost all the snow is finally melted and we are beginning to see little sprouts of green coming up in the backyard!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

New Look, New Room

In the last week Mia got a new haircut, a new desk and rearranged her room. She is also VERY into ancient Egypt and Greece and in this first picture is dressed up as Cleopatra. She says if anyone wants to get her an official Cleopatra costume you are welcome to. I'm sure you are all relieved to hear that. I know many of you have been toiling over whether or not she would grant you permission to buy her something. :)

Unfortunately, her hair wasn't quite long enough to donate again, but she was tired of me brushing it all the time so we hacked it all off. She's very happy with the new "do."

Claire got this desk off of Craigslist for Bianca and then realized she had no space for it and offered it to us. It goes perfectly with all the rest of the stuff in Mia's room and was perfect for her. Her precious little vanity had gotten much too small for her, sadly. She now has a place to write in her journal, do schoolwork and display her fairies as well as admire herself and her new hair do.

End Of Year Show Off Times

Mia's end of year ballet demonstration is Sunday, May 22.

Her piano recital is Sunday, June 12.

Lennon's end of year gymnastics show is Sunday, June 19.

I realize being so far away makes it pretty close to impossible for anyone to come to any of these. Granmommy is already booked to be here for the piano recital and we are SO EXCITED about that. Gaga is hoping to make it for the recital and possibly stay through Lennon's gymnastics demonstration. We are crossing our fingers that she can find a reasonably priced ticket.

One More Thing

I knew I was forgetting something cool. We also made some super cool green nail polish for St. Patrick's Day. Our family celebration of this holiday has been growing steadily over the past few years. This year Mia has already made several decorations around the house and we got lots of books from the library to study up on Ireland and the holiday before the big day next week. We always eat Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner and it's always delicioius!

'Twas A Good Day Indeed

Some days are just so seamless.

Just a list of some of the things I can remember doing with the kids today:

*Breakfast: sweet potato infused pancakes

*organizing gems and rocks with a chart

*reading about the formation of rocks and caves in our Earth and Space book

* Started a science experiment to help us understand how acid from rainwater starts to deteriorate rocks

*Mia wrote a song and some piano accompaniment

*Lennon made play doh burgers and served them to us

* We finally filled out an order form we'd had for ages for some tadpoles

*We actually went to the post office to mail the order form along with a book Mia wanted to send to Emma, a letter Mia wrote to her cousin Morgan in Hawaii and some other stuff

*The kids were awesome and sweet together in the car. Lennon has recently started referring to Mia as "his princess" but he always makes sure we know that he is NOT a prince, just a brother.

*Mia did her daily piano practice

*More reading, reading, reading with Lennon

*Made yummy yogurt smoothies for lunch and topped them with sliced almonds and granola (I even let Mia put a few chocolate chips on hers)_

*While Lennon napped Mia did some work in her English book and we worked on some History

*We made Mia's favorite crackers

*The kids helped me prepare lasagna for dinner. We had ground beef from the Amish farm, fresh ricotta cheese and some leftover tortellini that made it really delicious.

*Lennon and I had a sword fight while Mia took a shower

*We jammed out to some Alicia Keys and practiced ballet moves with Mia

*We stretched the way we stretch at Lennon's gymnastics class while listening to some of Shelby and Dusty's music. Then we danced like maniacs together to The Enchanted soundtrack.

It was a super fun, easy day and I'm sure we did other cool stuff that I can't remember.

I think we are finally starting to get in a good groove with school. She is starting to accept that some work has to be done and that it is far more fun than being at school. We just ordered a science curriculum that I am really excited about and Mia is taking an end of year assessment with some other home schoolers in a couple of weeks. I am more nervous about that than she is for sure. She is excited!

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Below is the exact same information as above in paragraph form because I couldn't decide how to post it. No need to read it if you already read the list. I know - I'm a little crazy.

This morning while the kids were eating their delicious sweet potato infused pancakes they decided to start sorting the gems they mined for at the home school putt putt social last night. They had a chart and got to work over breakfast while I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher. This reminded them that we had more rocks/gems in our science kit in the pantry with information and experiments. After reading a little about how pumice stones and sedimentary rocks are formed we started an experiment to show how the acid from rain water over time starts to dissolve rocks.

All this talk of rocks made Lennon curious about how exactly rocks are made and what they are so we pulled out our Earth and Space book and started looking for some answers. Meanwhile Mia went upstairs to her room and wrote a new song which she then sang for us and wrote a little piano accompaniment for.

While Mia was doing a little bit of math Lennon made some play doh food and served it to us all. Then we filled out our order form for some tadpoles that we had been intending to do for a year and a half. Better late than never, right? We quickly ran out to the post office and mailed a letter to Mia's cousin Morgan in Hawaii that Mia wrote, a book for Emma about being a big sister, the tadpole order form and another piece of mail that had been waiting to go out. The kids were so funny together in the car and really got along well. Lennon has recently started referring to Mia as his princess, but he is always quick to point out that he is absolutely not a prince, just a brother.

At home we made a super yummy yogurt smoothie for lunch and topped it with sliced almonds and granola. I even let Mia put a couple of grain sweetened chocolate chips in hers!

Lennon took a nap and Mia finished up her English for the day and then we worked on History for a while. I think we are finally starting to get in a good groove with school. She is starting to accept that some work has to be done and that it is far more fun than being at school. We just ordered a science curriculum that I am really excited about and Mia is taking an end of year assessment with some other home schoolers in a couple of weeks. I am more nervous about that than she is for sure. She is excited!

Once Lennon was up we made some crackers and started on dinner. We had fresh ricotta and ground beef from the Amish farm and threw in some spinach and leftover tortellini and ended up with some super delicious lasagna. After dinner

Early Birthday Gift for Mia?

Just wanted to put my feelers out there. Mia wants to attend an intensive summer program at her dance school. It is 2 hours twice a week for 4 weeks and they will be studying ballet, jazz and composition. The cost of the program is $225. Her teacher told her the program fills up, so we have to make a decision by saturday I guess. She just told me about it. So...if anyone is interested in helping out a little dance queen just let me know.

Thanks!