- Lucky Lasses -

This momma has ALL. THE. SHAMROCK. EYE. EMOJIS. in all of Ireland...

 

...for her little trio of pinch proof leprechaun babies!!! 

Lesssss'go, you lucky lasses!  It's time to shamrock and ROLL!

Happy St. Paddy's Day; I love this holiday so much!

 

- St. Pat's 2022 -

When these little leprechaun babies jump, click their heels, and shout, "KISS ME, I'M IRISH!" you betta' believe it that you won't have to ask me twice!   My momma heart pumped green blood today for these adorable [somewhat]Irish lasses!

 

The holiday was actually much more anti-climactic this year than usual: a) because 3/17 fell on a Thursday when Brian and I both had to work, Harper and Scarlett were at school, and Juliette was at daycare; and b) because the weather was cold and crappy; and c) because Brian hit the road for Indianpolis Supercross on St. Pat's weekend and I wasn't brave enough to take all 3 kids to a parade in the city by myself!  So long.story.short:  St. Pat's 2022, you were just alright... And St. Pat's 2023, we're already dreamin' big for ya!

But!  I did love Harper's pot o' gold where she elaborated that she's "lucky to be a girl, lucky to have a family, lucky to have a houes [house], and lucky to have a school to lraen [learn]" ...and Scarlett's orange name beard and leprechaun trap and St. Patrick masterpiece.  Plus, not pictured: Juliette eating a large bowl of peas to celebrate the primary color of her heritage. :)

 

Lastly! A little shamrock shoutout for these adorable Cecilia Clare & Co. sister shirts, tutu, bows, and more!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our crew to yours!

- St. Patrick's Day -

Feelin' lucky in love, how 'bout you? :)

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day from one [very green] mama and two of the cutest little leprechauns I ever did see!  Hope you had a great St. Patty's 2021!

- COVID Diaries: Week 1 -

[A bellowing]  H E L L O  from the other side!  

We're a full ONE week deep into social distancing over here, and holy whoa:  on every level possible, WHAT an unbelievable week it's been!  Here we were 2 weeks ago thinking we wouldn't make it out alive after Daylight Savings Time, a full moon, and Friday the 13th; then, coronavirus reared its ugly head and blew all of that out of the water.  Reacting and adjusting to this has been insane; I honestly can't wrap my mind around the magnitude of all of it and what it means for our country, but with each day that passes I do grow more fearful for "healthcare" as we know it and also anxious for my beloved co-workers and all healthcare workers and first responders across the country.  Oyyyyy vey, these are not good times.

On a more positive note, things at home have been better than ever!  I'm notorious for getting a little stir crazy if I'm stuck inside the house too long, but [so far] I've been very even-keeled and pleasantly surprised with the smooth transition that all 4 of us have made to "sheltering in."  While it's been hard to explain to the kids why school and daycare are closed and we have to stay at home .e.v.e.r.y...s.i.n.g.l.e...d.a.y., I have to commend Harper's teachers for guiding us through this confusing and unprecedented time.  Literally two days after the governor shut down all Illinois schools, I had 2 weeks worth of home learning materials in my e-mail inbox from Harper's teacher.  Between e-mails and Facebook posts and videos, the school teachers and administrators have been so present, caring, and steadfast through all of this.  We definitely feel their love and compassion for the kiddos and can't wait to see them all again soon!  *fingers crossed*

So!  The last week in [not] a nutshell...

Last weekend, we barely squeaked [half of] Harper's birthday festivities in before COVID-19 sh*t hit the fan...

...and Monday was "business as normal" for 3/4 of us with me to work, Brian to work, and Scarlett to daycare.  Harper stayed with Grammy Ann since the schools closed. 

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, and we made the best of spending it at home this year [which was a TOTAL BUMMER, because we are Dogtown parade patrons through and through!].  We got festive with green eggs and pancakes for lunch!

Tuesday was also Brian's first day working from home, and the kids loved having him here even though he was "off limits" most of the time! 

Many neighbors hung shamrocks in their windows so individual families could walk around the subdivision on a shamrock hunt. So fun!  Have I mentioned lately that I love our neighborhood?!  We hung a few in our front windows for other families to find!

Again, thanks to Harper's teachers for the home learning packet and craft materials!

Tuesday evening, we had to take a roadtrip to the rentsies' house to get Brian's large computer monitors so he could set up a better/more practical workspace to actually work from home.  In hindsight, the kids and I probably should've stayed home and sent Brian up solo, but my heart knew this would be one of our last "outings" for a while and it was actually a little sad knowing this was also the last time we'd see all of the grandparents for several weeks, so off we went...  We have stayed connected via FaceTime as the week progressed, but it's definitely not the same as seeing our parents love on our babies in the flesh! :(

On Wednesday, we buckled down on the home learning and Harper worked on color sight words...

...while Scarlett colored her Easter craft from Grammy Ann!  We also constructed an EXTRA large fort to read books in [all 4 of us could get in, yet all 4 of us could not get out without breaking the mold, lol]!

On Friday, we learned about caterpillars and butterflies.  After hearing the word "metamorphosis" [or "mor-fa-meth-a-sis" as Harper called it] for the first time since age 18, I became a little concerned that my home-teaching abilities may max out after the Pre-K level!

^^ After finishing the school worksheets, we made all sorts/shapes of butterfly artwork...

...and also listened to The Very Hungry Caterpillar on YouTube and colored a paper of all the things we thought a veryyyyy hungry caterpillar could eat through.  Here's mine! ;) :)

All of this caterpillar/butterfly schoolwork inspired me to impulse-buy a butterfly farm/growing kit on Amazon.  I think the kids will really enjoy it, though, especially since we're homebound indefinitely and there aren't any other living/growing/metamorphosis-ing activities going on around the house!  If it turns out as I hope, we will be sure to keep you posted with our results!

Saturday was my birthday, so I'll cap it off here and add those photos to COVID Diaries: Week 2.  Stay tuned! 

...Also stay healthy.  

...ALSO...STAY HOME!!! :) 

To be continued...

- Irish[ish] -

OY VEY, IT'S ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! Things have changed a bitty bit since the good 'ole days when I inhabited an apartment on the hottest corner of the St. Pat's Day parade:

But! Even though our life with kids has changed our green-beer-drinking habits juuuuust a bitty bit, ain't nobody gonna tell us that we can't still don everything GREEN and boast our Irish[ish]ness! 

This is green...

...that is green...

...green is green is everything!  ...Even down to the poor little fading bruise on Sissy's cheek. :(

We spent the holiday hanging with lots of our favorite people while Daddy worked hard at the new house!

Harper was extra anxious to dish out a few giant PINCHES, but after scouring everyone up and down there were no green-less grinches to be found!

We especially loved having dinner with our favorite [full-blooded] Irish matriarch!

Happy St. Pat's!!!

- St. Pat's ...#ftw ...again! -

I'm only actually 25% Irish [or maybe more like 29%, because #meltingpot], but everyone who knows me knows St. Patrick's Day is easily one of my favorite days of the year as evidenced by: 

- 2013!
- 2014! 
- 2015!  [Haha...]
- 2016!
- annnnd 2017!

Phew! 

I've been having mild anxiety about St. Pat's twenty-eighteen since the day [long ago, btw] that Brian added "St. Louis Supercross: all-day" to March 17th on our shared iCalendar ...because anyone who knows my husband knows NOTHING stands in the way of him and Supercross/motorcycles/all things racing. So pardon my French Irish attitude, but WHAT THE FAK? Marriage may be all about compromise, but I was 99.9% sure I wasn't about to win this one. Humph. 

However! Long story made short and to my very happy surprise, the Dogtown parade was bumped up to 10am this year and so! Party emoji! Party emoji! Party emoji! Brian didn't go down without a small fight but eventually agreed to join Harp and me at the parade [.....IF he could be dropped off at the Dome by 12:30pm sharp], so we packed up the car and didn't look back! 

Hello, Dogtown!

The weather was a cloudy and windy 48-degrees, so we left Scarlett home to snuggle Grammy for a couple hours.

It was pretty chilly, but Harper absolutely loved watching the floats ...and clapping to the Irish music ...and catching bead necklaces ...and staring/pointing at all the green-haired old men and drunk leprechauns side-kicking through the streets. This girl is her momma's daughter!

At 12:20pm [with ten bonus minutes gained!], we dropped Daddy off to salivate over Supercross practice and headed home to check on Grammy and Scarlett. They seemed to be getting along just fine... ;)

Papa met up with us after he finished the St. Patrick's Day run downtown ...just in time for Mass followed by Mexican! [Who cares if we're Irish, we still love a good margarita!]

It turns out that I mayyyybe fretted over Supercross for no reason, because St. Pat's 2018 definitely did not disappoint!!!

Slainte! 

- #kishme - I'M IRISH! -

...But even if we weren't Irish [which I guess we sort of aren't], we'd still be kickin' it at the party of all parties; because when another March 17 rolls around, DOGTOWN is the place to BE!  We were suckered into this parade/celebration mostly by default when my bachelorette pad [so very conveniently!!] happened to be on the corner of the two main streets of the festival.  Not gonna lie: I/we threw down some kick@$$ St. Pat's Day parties back in the day, and the rest? Welp, it's history.  ;) :)

We decided to let our littlest leprechaun in on the fun, too... Matching hats with Grammy!

Oh March 2018....... You're already so anxiously awaited! :)))