Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today we had a lot of fun celebrating the holiday.  My husband made scrambled green eggs and ham (topped with melted cheese) for breakfast while my girls and I did nail manicures.  We painted our finger nails neon green and a green glittery clear coat on top.  

Here are my girls wearing their green lucky charms!

Later in the afternoon, I did some visiting teaching.  It was my turn to teach the lesson this month.  I gave my visiting teaching sisters a bag of gold chocolate coins and a note that said, "We are so lucky to know you!"  

The Supplies

Lucky Shamrock St. Patrick's Day Card

White and green card-stock paper

Green ribbon

small heart shaped cookie cutter

Green paint( I used green finger paint)

Chocolate gold candies in a mesh sack

Pens or markers (green and black) 

Paper hole punch

Stamp the clover using a small heart shaped cookie cutter on white card-stock paper. Allow the green paint to dry.  Cut some green ribbon out.  Cut out a square around the dry painted clover and glue on the white paper on top of green paper. Cut around the edges so that it looks straight and uniformed.  With the hold puncher, press a hole through papers and pull the ribbon through the mesh candy sack .  Add the following text with a marker: "I'm lucky to know you!"   

After school, the girls were surprised to find out that a tiny leprechaun visited our house  today.  "He" filled the toilet tanks with green food coloring.   He left some shamrock clues for a scavenger hunt. There were (lucky seven) shamrock clues and messes around the house for the girls to find. At the end of the hunt, they found some gold coins and "I am lucky to have you" paper design from The Crafting Chicks. The clues were the following:

Front Door: Warning A Leprechaun was here!  Find his clues written on shamrock near his messes he made.  Start in the living room.  Ready set Go!!!

Clue 1. Rainbow Balloon Mess: Find #2 mess in Kitchen Ha ha ha!

Clue 2.  Homework Mess: Find #3 mess in laundry room.

Clue 3.  Toilet Paper Mess: Find #4 mess in your bedroom.

Clue 4:  Laundry Mess: Find #5 in Mom and Dad's Room

Clue 5: Bed Pillow Mess:  Find #6 mess in Mom and Dad's master bathroom.

Clue 6: Nail Polish Mess:  Find #7 in a green plant in living room.

Clue 7: Hidden in Living Room Plant: Look under the bed on the side that snores to find your surprise! (Dad's side of bed).  LOL!!!

Surprise!  I'm so LUCKY to have YOU!

They were very happy to eat chocolate coins for their after school snack!

At dinner, we talked about the history of St. Patrick Day.  As for the amazing food, we decided it would be great to try a traditional Irish meal.  We got some corned beef and cabbage on sale at Smiths.  We made Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage, which I got the recipe from Family Fun.  With our bread maker, we made a garlic and herb crusty bread.  I made a simple green fruit salad.  As for our drinks, we had apple beer (non-alcoholic of course).

Rainbow Fruit Salad

Strawberries

Peaches or mandarin oranges

Bananas or pineapple

Green grapes

Blueberries

Purple grapes 

Sweetened Whipped Cream (see below for recipe)

Small Green Jello Mix

Cut up the fruit into bite size pieces and add to a medium size bowl.  Toss together the many fruits.  Beat the sweetened whipped cream mixture.  Add cream to fruit and  pour in the green lime Jello package. Gently stir together and allow the fruit salad to chill for a couple hours before serving.

As for dessert, the kids absolutely loved helping me make the rainbow cupcakes, which we got the recipe from Family Fun.  Here is the recipe:

Taste a Rainbow Cupcakes

White cake mix

Food coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)

Baking cups

Sweetened whipping cream (for the cloud)

Rainbow sprinkles

Follow the directions on the cake package.  Divide the batter evenly among six small bowls.  Follow the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.   Line the muffin tin with baking cups.  Add purple, then blue, green, yellow, orange, and red evenly.  As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of a spoon to cover the color underneath.  Bake the cupcakes according the cake box directions.  Before severing remove the paper wrapping, and top with whipped cream "cloud" and dash some rainbow sprinkles.
 Food Coloring Drops Chart
Purple:  9 red and 6 blue drops

Blue:  12 drops

Green:  12 drops

 Yellow: 12 drops

Orange:  12 yellow and 4 red drops

Red:  18 drops

Sweetened Whipped Cream (Our Best Bites)
1 c. Whipping Cream
1/3 c. powdered sugar
Combine whipping cream and powdered sugar in a large bowl.  With an electric hand mixer, beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.
It was a busy day! We made a lot of fun memories today! The girls especially got a kick out of the leprechaun scavenger hunt!  I hope you had a wonderful Green day!  Take Luck!!!  ~Jen