St. Patrick's Day

I've never been too big on St. Patrick's Day.  It's not that I don't like it - it's just that I can't make a big to-do over every little holiday, and so this is one that kinda gets passed by.

But this year we got to do a little something extra.  Our friends the Shurtz's invited us to a leprechaun treasure hunt at Happy Hollow park on Saturday.  Despite the fact that it's the middle of March and the start of Spring is literally days away, it was cold.  Dang cold.  So I didn't get too many great pictures of the kids playing or searching for the treasure.

The kids all got to take turns using the GPS.   Cole was a little sad it didn't have any games on it.

When oh when will spring come to this desolate landscape?!

Eventually the kids found a big pot of treasure, full of gold coins, Rolos, Goldfish crackers, necklaces, and stickers.  They were so excited!  But obviously not excited enough for me to take a picture.  Ha.

We were supposed to have a picnic outside, but since it was so cold we decided to picnic in our basement instead.  The kids had a grand time playing and the adults chatted the afternoon away.  It was awesome.

On Sunday I decided to forgo our traditional Green Eggs and Ham dinner, mainly because we're going to have ham in a few weeks for Easter.  Instead I decided to make a green dinner. 

It started with green alfredo sauce.  This sauce was extra awesome for several reasons: 1) it's the reduced fat version from OurBestBites.com, which is super yummy, 2) I had made a double batch a while ago and froze it, meaning less work for me, 3) I turned it green with spinach and just a small touch of food coloring.

"But Maren!" you exclaim, "wouldn't frozen alfredo sauce be all clumpy because of the cheese and milk and stuff?  And wouldn't your kids (and husband) notice the little bits of spinach?" (Yes, I have conversations with you in my head.)

Ah-ha!  That's where my oh-so-wonderful Blendtech comes in.  The sauce had thawed in the fridge overnight. I dumped that in and then added a little milk, the spinach, and the food coloring.  Two cycles on the "soups and sauces" setting and the sauce was not only perfectly blended, but also the perfect temperature to put on pasta! 

Oh man, is it wrong to be so excited by a blender?  No.  No it is not.  This blender rocks.

And as for the spinach?  No one knew.  Bwahaha!

Here was my plate for dinner.  Lots of green, right?  We also had pickles, mainly because they're green and my kids love 'em, but I decided to forgo that side.  Blech.  (I like pickles. Just not with lime Jell-o, green salad, and pasta alfredo.  Thanks.)

We also had broccoli in the pasta.  Because broccoli is yummy.

Tess liked the dinner.  Then again, Tess likes to dip her pickles in lime Jell-o, so there you go.

Instead of making a dessert that would stick around the house, tempting me for days on end, we made leprachaun houses instead.

Spencer and Josh were really excited about this, although they each got pretty frustrated trying to keep their houses up.

Here's my house.  Do you like the chocolate chip window garden?

Cole didn't are so much about the construction.  He just wanted to eat the frosting.  With a spoon. Gross.

Spencer's final house.

Joshie's final house.

So I guess we did get into the St. Paddy's day spirit a bit more than usual this year.  But the effort and expense was minimal at best, which is the best way to spend a holiday like this. (At least that's my philosophy!)