St. Pat's at Nana & Papa's

Another St. Pat's weekend is in the history book...and what a whirlwind it was!

We started Saturday with 4-count them, 4- football games. The weather was beautiful and the boys played well, so it was a nice morning and early afternoon. We got back to our house in time for a quick lunch-not themed this year because I didn't really have any idea of when we would get home or if we would even be eating lunch!

Once bellies were full, we started the celebration. We always start with our silly photos.

Then we got started on a recipe that I found for Rainbow Cookies. It was quick and simple-just what we needed if we were going to get everything accomplished today!

No project is ever complete without a little "annoy your sibling" activity-lol.

While the cookies were in the oven, we got started on our craft of the day-a simple shamrock painted on canvas. Again, since I really had no idea what our timing would be like today because of football, I traced a shamrock onto the canvases and the kids only had to paint and embellish.

Hudson made his shamrock for Nana and Papa.

I "hinted" that I like gold so he took me at my word. Presley made hers for Mom and Dad. She got extra creative with swirls inside of her shamrock.

And Harrison made his for Uncle Joel and Aunt Cyndi.

A MUST-have for every holiday weekend is a chance to play a few Minute-To-Win-It games and holiday Bingo-always with candy markers. This time we used Rainbow Skittles and green mint M&Ms...yummy. One for the Bingo card, one for the mouth! lol

Since the day was so beautiful, we spent some time enjoying the outdoors as well and, before we knew it, it was time to eat once again-and this time it was green. We have done some really time consuming meals in the past:

Leprechaun sandwiches

Rainbow quesadillas and rainbow fruit kabobs

Rainbow pasta

And, our oh so cute and oh so delicious leprechaun cake....the order of this weekend was simple but it turned out to be so delicious as well. Even Presley-who usually only puts butter on her pasta-ate two helpings with alfredo sauce and then even put more of the sauce on her garlic bread.

I wish I could take credit for the sauces that we served (alfredo and pesto), but all that I did was to put in a few drops of food coloring. It wasn't the most appetizing color but it sure didn't deter the kids from eating it. We stretched it a bit with "trees of Ireland" (broccoli) and then just added some parsley dusted garlic bread.

Dessert was also simple-their rainbow cookies with mint moose track ice cream.

I love how the kids love tradition as much as I do. Everyone always tells me it isn't necessary to always work in the traditions-that it won't matter to the kids. Yet, every time I even allude to changing, they are upset. By the time we finished dinner tonight, it was DARK. We always do a rainbow scavenger hunt but this year I mentioned to the kids that I might just give them their "treasure" and call it a day. Wow, they were having none of that. So, being the good nana leprechaun that I am, I headed out into the darkness to distribute some clues and then had to lay down some safety rules because, as much as they would probably have loved it, I didn't want anyone taking a header into the pool or stepping on any creepy crawlies!

I ran them around the back yard a good bit (they should sleep well even with the 20 pounds of sugar they consumed) and then the clues eventually led them to the "LUCKY" sign on our front porch where they found their treasures!

So another Nana and Papa weekend is officially in the record books. All of the rest of our family will be on spring break this week so hubby and I will be celebrating the "real" day by ourselves. Maybe we'll think of something fun to do. No matter what, I know green clothes and rainbows will be involved. Stay tuned.