St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was a bit more exciting than normal this year, mainly because we had a child who believed in leprechauns. I'm not sure how or why, but Tess completely believes in leprechauns and was bound and determined to have one visit our house.

I tried to talk her into making the traditional leprechaun trap, but she would have none of it. She made a house instead. That girl sure likes to craft!

She even made him a couch that was painted gold - fancy!

On Wednesday she got a small package in the mail - a fancy St. Patrick's Day necklace that lit up and a cute card from "Larry the Leprechaun". She was So. Excited. (When Spencer kept bringing up the fact that the package was post marked from UT, I had to tell him to zip his lips. Several times. Punk teenager.)

Well, the night before St. Patrick's Day Tess put her house on the floor in the hallway. And Larry visited! He left some gold candy and a little gift for Tess.

And a note. She was so very, very pleased.

Especially with the gift. It was this little necklace she has seen at Charming Charlie's a few weeks earlier. Perfect gift from Larry, right?

Our story should end there. But no.

For some reason, Josh kept laying on the floor by the leprechaun house and crying. Me asking what was wrong just made him sob all the harder. What in the world?

Finally I got it out of him - he had left a note for the leprechaun and was DEVASTATED that Larry had only left a note and gift for Tess.

Dang. Dang dang dang. I felt so bad!

In my defense, I had no clue he had written the note. The inside of the leprechaun house was dark and I had no reason to look inside. Plus, in all honesty, I didn't think he believed in leprechauns. In fact, I was 99% sure he didn't. But I tried to play it off. "Maybe it was under the gold couch and Larry didn't see it!"

This did not go over well.

So I tried a different approach. An honest approach. "Josh, I am so sorry. I didn't know you had written a note. I didn't see it. I'm sorry." He sniffled and hiccuped and was still very sad, but this seemed to appease him a bit.

So while the kids got ready for school I quickly typed up a couple more notes and hid them where I knew they'd be found.

Not bad, right? Staying up late and eating candy privileges? That's pretty awesome.

Cole was very excited. Josh proclaimed he didn't care and that he didn't even want to stay up late. And then he threw the note away.

I kicked him out the door to get on the bus.

And then whole-heartedly agreed to let him spend the night at a friend's house.

Punk kid.

St. Patrick's Day fell on a Friday this year, and Friday is pizza night in the Madsen household. (I would love to make something traditionally Irish, or corned beef and cabbage, but I would be the only one to eat it. So not worth it.)

So I made green pizza dough. It was awesome and so very, very green!

Tess really liked it. But she was even more interested in the green mint Oreos. (Because why waste my time making some fancy green dessert when everyone would be happy with green Oreos? And boy, were they happy!)

They look kinda weird, but tasted great!

So. That was St. Patrick's Day this year. I really hope I don't have to escalate and make next year even grander. Perhaps Larry will take a year off. While it's really quite sweet how much Tess still believes in magic and such (and, most of the time, so does Cole), it's also a lot of work! (And heartache, when it comes to that Josh!)