You Will Be Green With Envy....

...when you see how much fun we had this weekend!! I think I have posted that my three youngest grand children could not wait to do "green"day and that grand daughter #3 had asked if she could come spend the weekend with us and help celebrate. We had soooo much fun it should be illegal!

After the obligatory picture, we were on to the fun. My photos really will be sporadic because sometimes we was just having too good a time to stop to take a photo. The first thing we did was to cut the stems off a bouquet of white carnations and stick them into a vase we filled with water and green food coloring-the teacher in me usually wins out and if I can squeeze some learning into the fun, I will. We were all anxious to see how long it would take before our flowers turned green and ran and checked the progress often during the 2 days!

Next came lunch. The kids assembled leprechaun sandwiches. They had a choice of the green bread I had made or potato bread from the store. We cut the sandwich in a circle and they drew on faces using an edible marker. Then we made a hat from a slice of Granny smith apple with a cheese band and carrot strips for beards. They also had green grapes, chips, shamrock cookies and green Gator Ade. They loved it-but then again, they are kids and pretty easy to please. Please note: my helper, Morgan, opted out of a lot of the pictures because after all, she is a teenage now. And, I was fine with that as I sure didn't want that lens turned and pointed at me either!

Then, it was off to the kitchen where we made green chocolate chip cookies and the Rolo pretzels that we made for Valentine's Day except, instead of pushing a toasted pecan down into the semi-melted Rolo, we used a green mint M&M. These things are so easy to make and everybody loves them! We bagged them up real pretty and the kids took them home as gifts to their parents.

Then, we were off on a scavenger hunt throughout the house. I simply printed up some clues and Harrison read them off as the others helped decide where each clue may lead. At the end, they each found a bag of rainbow Skittles and a Pez dispenser along with a large box of sidewalk chalk. Since it was absolutely beautiful outside, that was our next destination where we created the most incredible sidewalk art and rode scooters.

It wouldn't be a weekend at Nana & Papa' house without some Lego time, so the boys headed in to do that while we girls decided to have an impromptu tea party.

And, just when you thought the day couldn't get any better, it was time to make dinner. This is one of the most fun meals we have ever done. We made red spaghetti for Valentine's Day, but this definitely tops that! I made some fresh linguine and then gave each kid a deep bowl or pot into which I had put about a 1/4 cup of hot water and many drops of  food coloring. I added the drained pasta and they used large tongs to mix in the color. I was really amazed at how vibrant the colors turned out and how quickly they "dyed" the pasta. Then, they took it to the dining room and arranged it around the plate following the arc shape of the edge. It was just an easy process-one dyed their pasta and then while they were plating theirs, the next one was in the kitchen tinting theirs. We ran out of room on the plates. So, much to Presley's dismay, we didn't have purple on our rainbow! I simply dressed the pasta with a bit of salt and butter-just how the kids like it and it was delicious. I am wondering now if the fact that I used fresh paste would make any difference in how well it absorbs the color. I bought it simply from a cooking time stand point. If you have children or grand children, I would find an opportunity to do this-even if it isn't St. Pats, there is always the chance of a rainbow! It was fabulous fun and they could not have been more excited!

We added fresh broccoli and garlic toast pots with shredded cheese "gold" to the plate along with green milk. For dessert we had green mint chip ice-cream and had to try out our cookies and pretzels just to make sure we wouldn't poison anyone you know.

Sunday morning brought a breakfast of scrambled eggs, grits, green shamrock toast, fresh fruit and Lucky Charms. It was "the breakfast of champions" because that is what these 4 kids were. The are so good and are at the ages where talking with them is a wonderful treat in that you are never sure what they will say but you can always be sure it will be worth listening to. I love them all so much. We missed their 3 cousins, but they are getting to the ages where schedules are a bear and we will take who we can get.

They are now all on their way home and our house is so quiet. I miss them already but I know I will see them all again soon for our Easter celebration-which reminds me.... St. Pat's to take down and Easter to get up. Guess I'd better get moving! Hope everyone had as great a weekend as we did! Stay tuned.