Dee's 18th St. Patty's Day Party

This year we celebrated Dee's birthday on St. Patty's Day! What a fun holiday to celebrate a birthday on. I am mostly all Irish and growing up St. Patrick's Day was almost as big as Christmas.
I absolutely LOVE how pinterest makes it possible to find such amazingly cute ideas to plan a party. We made Shamrock Jello,

A Pot of Gold Leprechaun sign,

Irish Beef Stew, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Veggie Shepherd's Pie, a Baked Potato Bar and had SO much fun decorating the house in Green, Orange and White.

I still cannot believe I have an 18 year old daughter. If I think back to the day I gave birth, it all still seems so near. I remember how I felt, what the room looked like, who was with me.... I remember holding Dee for the very first time in awe. I can still remember her as a little baby with her 'sucky' and how absolutely beautiful she was (and still is).

And now she is an adult. Our family is 'growing up' and it makes it all so real how very short life is and how much we need to cherish the people in our lives and be good to them. My grandmother who is no longer here taught me that family is the most important thing about living... because our families are the first place that we have the ability to help change the world and I cherish mine.

I surprised Dee by having a few of her closest friends show up.

The party was a lot of work. The day before I prepped and cleaned for hours and then the event itself kept me in the kitchen most of the day. But it was so worth it.

Making memories is always worth it.

Happy St. Patty's!

To Catch a Leprechaun

We tried to catch a leprechaun with tricks and traps,

We set it up so carefully with sticks and maps.

We tiptoed to our beds and listened for a peep,

Waiting for the sound of little leprechaun feet.

The night came on so suddenly, the next we knew

The morning sun was rising bigger as it grew.

We ran downstairs to see if we had caught the man,

We'd love him an we'd feed him as often as we can.

But as we opened up to see what he would do -

The trick was ours, he left a mess and candy too!

~ E. Straiton

Simple Shamrock Crown

We are getting into the St. Patty's Day spirit at Little Acorn Playgarden and today we made these Simple Shamrock Crowns.

We went on a simple leaf hunt and found whatever type of green leaves we could... some were big and some were little. We didn't have much to choose from yet as our Spring hasn't entirely sprung here in CT.

So, after bringing our various shaped leaves inside, we actually used scissors to cut them into a more Shamrock Shape. Then we sewed them together to make one big Shamrock. In retrospect, I think the sewing could have been skipped and the leaves could have all be simply glued or stapled on which we did later with the rest of the crown.

We added our Shamrocks to strips of cardstock that were cut pretty :)

And spent the afternoon playing Queen of the Shamrocks and other such games!
Happy St. Patty's!