An Irish Feast for St. Patrick's Day

"May the blessings of each day be the blessings you need most." - An Irish Blessing

 

 

I hope everyone (Irish or not) had a wonderful day celebrating everything Irish! This is one of our families' favorite holidays, so we tend to go all out for the celebration. This year was no exception. In the picture above you can see that we did not go all crazy with green, but I did have a green sweatshirt on earlier. Plus, I am wearing green earrings, green bracelets, and my awesome green gnome socks. Yes, I wore those with my high heels so that everyone could see my cool socks. The kids in Colin's class thought they were amazing! I am still cool! Haha...

 

Colin and Meli put together a trap for the leprechaun on Monday night. Sadly, once again - it failed. The sweet leprechaun, Aengus, left the kids a note. He also turned things in our fridge green and left a trail of candy around the house to see what else was turned green. The kids thought it was hilarious that he changed our toilet water green! He also left a little surprise for them at the end of the candy trail.

Colin thought he would enjoy pennies for his pot of gold

I volunteered in Colin's classroom to help out with an art project. (He had stayed home to recover from an upset stomach the day before.) They have been learning about 6 different penguins this term. Colin has become obsessed with penguin facts. He wants to go to where they live and clean their water. He is very sad that humans are on their list of predators. In class, they made life size penguins out of paper. Colin wanted to do the Emperor penguin, but I took home supplies for Little Blue (it is a lot smaller and will last longer at the house). I will post pictures after Colin and Meli finish it today after school.

 

 

I was very excited to cook dinner for the holiday. On the menu was Guinness Stew, Champ, and Traditional Irish Soda bread. Plus, Guinness or whiskey to drink!

 

Here is the recipe for Champ. It is a traditional potato dish in Ireland. The idea is it looks like a pot (or bowl) of gold (the gold is the butter). This was definitely our cheat meal. So worth it though. Traditionally, you leave the champ under a bush for the fairies.

http://homeiswheretheboatis.net/2013/03/11/if-you-see-a-fairy-ring-and-a-winner/ 

 

I also made soda bread, which ended up being super easy and delicious!

http://www.letsdishrecipes.com/2013/03/traditional-irish-soda-bread.html#sthash.GEO28DbX.qjtu 

 

 

My fave!

We were able to share the holiday with friends. I love having friends that we match up with so nicely. Colin is best friends with Jack (same age) and Meli is best friends with Annie (a year older). It makes it that much more enjoyable!

I hope everyone had a fantastic and safe holiday!

"May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go." - An Irish Blessing

 

                                                           ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

                                                                    The B Family