Monday, March 17, 2014

St. Patty's Day

I love holidays! St. Patrick's Day is a lot of fun because the kids get so excited. Just like Easter and Christmas, they can't sleep at night because they know some magical creature/person is going to come through the house and leave treats.

In our house, the kids set up leprechaun traps. They leave a shiny, metal object as bait. If the leprechaun get's caught in the trap he can't keep the bait and the only way he can get out is by leaving a treat in the trap. He doesn't want to get caught because then he has to take the child to where his treasure is hidden and hand it over. After he escapes the trap he is so angry that he was outsmarted by a child, had to forfeit the bait and had to leave a treat that he storms through the house causing mayhem and playing tricks on the kids. Usually there is more than one leprechaun that visits in the night.

The kids worked really hard to make traps that would work. To their surprise the next morning all but one trap had caught a leprechaun. The treats in the traps were popsicles of every color. The chairs were tipped over, pillows everywhere and the milk was turned green. On the table were chocolate coins, skittles and Lucky Charms cereal. I gave a gift to each of the kids - a green cup and straw full of rainbow colored candy and rainbow stickers. They had the Lucky Charms for breakfast with the green milk and they all wore green to school.Gabe even slept in green underwear so that he wouldn't get pinched by a leprechaun.

The night before I went to a Joseph Smith fireside at my stake center. It was the second in a series of five or six. It was so good and I learned so much! The brother who speaks, is a Joseph Smith historian for the church and he is a BYU professor. He is a great speaker who creates quite a laughter with his humor but also has a strong spirit that he brings into the room. On my way out to the car when it was over, there was a beautiful full moon in the sky. I took a picture. It was so warm it felt like a summer night.

Then today we had 60 mile per hour winds and snow. Unbelievable.

DAILY QUESTION - What are your favorite St. Patrick's Day traditions?

I love to watch her sleep
My little sister gave me this cute headband for my birthday.
"Moms and Munchies" at the kids' school
We had cookies and milk!

We had an ice cream Sundae bar on pizza night!

This was Manuel's
My homemade creation for coconut syrup. So good on pancakes and ice cream!

This is the griddle my mom got me for my birthday!
Pina Colada Pancakes! Here's my recipe http://cookwithlindsey.blogspot.com/2014/03/pina-colada-pancakes-with-creamy.html
These are fresh eggs from the neighbor's chickens!
On our way to church!
The full moon Sunday night was amazing!
Gabe's leprechaun trap
Gabe's leprechaun trap
Cambrey's leprechaun trap
Paisley's leprechaun trap

Gabe's leprechaun trap
Chocolate gold coins and rainbow candy!
Ready for school
Baby Rietzsch is covered in green!
Gabe's siganture
Potato bread, fried canned pork, baked hash browns and asparagus. It was as Irish as we could get with what we had in the fridge. Pretty close to traditional Irish cuisine.
    We ended the night with green ice cream!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Thanksgiving Point Competition!

Last Friday Crista's family came up. I watched my nephews while her oldest two boys competed in their hockey tournament in Ogden. Their family spent the night and the kids joined us for pizza night. Her boys were getting over a sickness and had "the runs" it spread to our family. Cambrey had used the bathroom a couple of times before I was able to sanitize it. Thank goodness it takes 2 days to incubate or the girls wouldn't have been able to go to their first clogging competition the next day. Cambrey got sick Sunday morning and threw up, she had to stay home from church. I was supposed to teach the young men and young women in a combine lesson during the third hour and Manuel taught his primary class the second hour - so we had to trade being home with Cambrey.

On Tuesday Paisley got it right after I brought her home from kindergarten. She threw up right in front of her friend and was embarrassed. She ended up missing clogging. Two days later, we warned Gabe it was his turn and sure enough he called from school and said that he had thrown up in the bathroom. He was sick all day and couldn't even have water. Paisley was the same way. In addition to washing all the bedding and clothes from being sick, I had to move all the furniture out of the rooms because we had all the carpets cleaned (9 areas). I don't sleep at night anymore because of leg cramps and so it has been one exhausting week!

We went to Thanksgiving Point last weekend. The girls had their first clogging competition and they won first place on both dances. Also, their clogging group won the giant trophy for "best overall" out of all the dance groups and studios. I am so proud of them - they clog so good!

Cherise and Grandma Bev came to watch. Afterward, we celebrated my birthday. We went to the shops and Manuel bought the kids some fun candy from the candy shop. I tried to buy some creamy coconut syrup (for pancakes) made in Utah, and some local gummy peach rings, but the line was too long. Darn it!

We were in a time crunch, so we headed to the deli for lunch. My mom bought me a bacon, bleu cheese burger and a Greek salad. The food was very yummy. The kids had kids' meals. Cameron's family met up with us and they were sick as well. It was very loyal of them to come. They had the same thing our family caught.

My mom asked me to bring a cake, so I made lime cupcakes and she passed them out at the ice cream shop and the manager came out and got angry because you are not allowed to bring in outside food. My mom began to cry. She had a rough day and was very emotional and edgy. I felt bad for the poor worker who brought out 25-cent cones instead of the fifty-cent cones my mom ordered. We didn't mind but I thought she was going to chop off his head. No, she became angry and cried and he may have quit his job later. 

After that, we went to the dinosaur museum. My brother and his family forgot their tickets and so of course my mom had a panic attack. She ended up getting everyone in for free by getting an employe to feel sorry for her and all that she had been through. Then at the museum we were in a big room and Cambrey went up to the second floor of that room and a man took her to the front desk saying she was lost. So then we thought she got abducted and it was very scary. Finally an employee brought her to us.

I'm ready for a nice relaxing vacation!

DAILY QUESTION - Have you ever lost one of your children before?

Making key lime cupcakes with cousins