I am not Irish. Scott is not Irish. It doesn't matter. I LOVE St. Patrick's Day!
The first St. Patrick's Day I remember was when I was about four. My family was in Utah visiting family and we wanted to go to ZCMI. (When do you not want to go to ZCMI?) I didn't know about leprechauns yet but I knew all about the pinching. If you aren't wearing green, you get pinched - it's a universal St. Patrick's Day truth, right?
Well, the lady ringing us up was NOT wearing green! I couldn't wait to pinch her! Luckily my mom realized what I was about to do and stopped me. It was discouraging, yes, but also so empowering! There were people who didn't know the St. Patrick's Day rules and it has been my mission every since to make sure St. Patrick's Day is celebrated the right way.
Of course my kids know all about St. Patrick's Day. OK, not the real stuff like Christianity in Ireland, etc, etc. They know all the about the wearing of the green and best of all - THE LEPRECHAUNS!
The leprechauns are so tricky. They've been at our house all month dying the milk green, dying the mashed potatoes green, buying Lucky Charms for us and sneaking around the house making sure the girls turned off the lights and made their beds. I'm not quite sure how they did that last part except that if someone forgot to do a job I'd just yell, "LEPRECHAUNS!" and suddenly the kid would remember to do their job. It's bee nice.
For the last two weeks they've been making leprechaun traps on the dining room table. Last night they moved the traps into the living room to try to catch our leprechaun Lucky or his assistant Molly. (Can you believe we have a leprechaun with the same name as one of our kids? I know, craaaazy!) The girls also thought they'd lure the leprechauns to the taps with green bananas, markers, shiny shoes and t-shirts in the leprechauns' favorite colors. Did you know leprechauns love pink and white Paul Frank shirts?
Molly's trap was connected together by green toilet paper rolls. Perhaps she thought they might be Zhu Zhu leprechauns.
In the morning the girls came down and saw something nuts! (Do you like their jammies? Green underwear too, by the way. No one was getting pinched at our house!) The leprechauns, who escaped from the traps because they can get through tape - rats - left some gold in the traps and then stacked them. Next they let the garden gnome inside who cleaned up everything and even vacuumed.
The girls and the gnome then had a little tasty gold as part of a very complete breakfast. They can't wait until next year because Molly has moved up to be a head leprechaun now since Lucky has decided to retire and move to Hawaii.
Emily's trap. I like that she made it so welcoming.
Heidi's trap was very fancy.
Molly's trap was connected together by green toilet paper rolls. Perhaps she thought they might be Zhu Zhu leprechauns.
In the morning the girls came down and saw something nuts! (Do you like their jammies? Green underwear too, by the way. No one was getting pinched at our house!) The leprechauns, who escaped from the traps because they can get through tape - rats - left some gold in the traps and then stacked them. Next they let the garden gnome inside who cleaned up everything and even vacuumed. 
The girls and the gnome then had a little tasty gold as part of a very complete breakfast. They can't wait until next year because Molly has moved up to be a head leprechaun now since Lucky has decided to retire and move to Hawaii. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
5 comments:
I think I'd like that store lady story better if you HAD pinched her....not as a mom though.
Your leprechauns are awesome! Even green underwear! Wow! I'm so impressed. I looked into my closet this morning to get dressed and realized that I didn't have ANY shirts that were green. Lucky for me, I still had one in a box of clothes that aren't flattering. I'm wearing it anyway.
Have a fun day!
I have loved reading this post! You are a great story-teller! I bet you give a good pinch too! Ouch!
You are such a fun Mom...love the fun traditions! I need to make a bigger deal of St. Patrick's Day. I was asked today after school why Lucky did not visit our house...so sad!
Wow! Can I come to your house next St. Patrick's Day? I can't figure out HOW those leprechauns could have escaped from those amazing traps...
You are so clever, I love it!! I can't wait until Bentley is old enough to get that kind of stuff, I try to tell him all about leprechauns and santa and what not but he doesn't really get it yet :) I think I'll still always be more excited than him about holidays like this anyway, they're my favorite!
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