Feeling Lucky

We had a fabulous St. Patrick's Day yesterday, and I have the pictures to prove it! Well, the first half of that is true anyway. I did have the pictures to prove it, but somehow they got deleted since taking them yesterday. Thankfully, Derek took a couple of pictures on his phone, so we have a few photos to commemorate the day, although not as many as I'd hoped for!

We started off a "Top O' the Mornin" Breakfast inspired by this post over at eighteen25. They have some beautiful free printable tags for each breakfast item. Our "Top O' the Mornin" Breakfast Menu included:

St. Patty's Pancakes - green pancakes

 with

Shamrock Syrup - maple syrup  

Chocolate O' Hersheys - chocolate syrup  

Lucky Charms - Lucky Charms cereal

Magic Clover Dust - green sprinkles

& Clouds in a Bottle - whipped cream (in a can)

Pot O' Gold Eggs - scrambled eggs

Rainbow Fruit Salad - colorful fruit salad

Pinch-proof Potion - green milk

  

We had leftover pizza for lunch (not very glamorous, but it's true). However, we did have a special leprechaun treat waiting when we got home from church. They left a card saying "THE LEPRECHAUNS WERE HERE!" and an assortment of green treats.

Emma enjoyed feeding her new green duck some leftover green pancakes (yes, we do try to eat up all of our leftovers!) while the pizza reheated in the oven.

For dinner we had some fun Shamrock Toasties! All you need is a green pepper, some cheese, and a few English muffins. 

To make one, slice a green pepper crosswise near the pointed end to get a small, three-lobed shamrock shape. (If your pepper has four lobes, you've got a lucky clover instead!) Cut another small slice for a stem.

Toast half an English muffin, then top it with a slice of cheese and the pepper shamrock. Place the muffin on a tray and broil it in the oven until the cheese is melted.

What new St. Patrick's Day treats did you make with your family this year?

Toddler Activities: 19 Months Old

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Toothpicks in a Jar: One of my new favorite activities to keep Emma entertained in the kitchen is to give her the task of putting toothpicks into an empty spice jar or sprinkles container. It's good for developing fine motor skills and also keeps her occupied for a few minutes without making too big of a mess!

Ziplock Painting: This is another great creative mess-free activity I saw here at The Hippy Housewife. All you have to do is squirt a bit of paint into a large Ziplock bag, put a white piece of paper underneath, and tape the whole thing down to the table with masking tape. I have also seen these taped to a window. It went well (and stayed contained within the bag) so we will probably try it again on the window in the future.

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma's current favorites are:

• Hush, Little Baby by Marla Frazee
• Snow by Uri Shulevitz
• Click, Clack, 123 by Doreen Cronin

My 3 good things for today are:

1. Although we still have AT LEAST a foot of snow on the ground, it's beginning to feel more like spring outside.
2. We survived the Daylight Savings Time transition!!
3. I made some of these cookies today. They were very simple and delicious!