st patty’s day…

came and went in the blink of an eye. our kiddos woke up to a trail of three leaf clovers that lead to a pot of treats. we had a busy family day, and that was it! what did you do?

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saint patrick’s day at our home…

irish or not, i like to spread a little green + rainbow cheer this time of year. i prefer years when march is the focus of st patrick’s day and april is easter. this year i feel crunched for time with the two happening only two weeks apart. regardless, both holidays mean spring and that is constantly on my mind…

sunshine, rainbows, and warmer weather one of these days!

do you celebrate st patrick’s day? have any plans for the holiday this year?

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green.

we drove into the city, found a great spot to park on west street. walked around enjoying the sunshine. had hot dogs and sodas at the boston common. we rode the T out to south boston for the annual st patty’s day parade – lots of green traveling on the subway!

we waited two hours for the parade, but made it to the front for a great view! the parade was fun, simple, festive – lots of bagpipes, armed forces, star wars, and saint patrick!  we left early. we are not really parade people… i recommend going to it once in your life, if you are in or near boston on st patrick’s day.  {kj wants to go back next year!}

we are totally eating-out people, and max ‘n dylan’s is the place for sliders. even dessert sliders!

did you do anything festive?

{all photos by me.}

Posted in boston, holidays, husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, sela, st. patrick's day | 1 Comment »

happy weekend!

this weekend is packed with goodness. first, sela will be dancing in her first competition with the lil dance team she is on. we are all excited to cheer for her! she has already asked that we don’t forget her flowers. {the details little sis has absorbed after years of watching big sis perform!} kiana, one of her ballet friends, and i have tickets to this. girls night out! kiana is thinking about attending this dance studio next year so we are attending their 2011 show to scope-out the dance scene. myla is going to her first birthday party since we’ve moved to boston. we’ll be celebrating st. patrick’s day here. i’m making my first corned beef & cabbage dinner with advice from our local whole foods butcher. lets hope i don’t mess up! and, more of this. i’m obsessed!

what are your plans??? if you are in boston, boston mamas does a great run down of weekend events here!

{all photos by me, with these photo props.}

Posted in kiana, KJ, myla, sela, st. patrick's day, Uncategorized, weekend | 4 Comments »

☘ ☘ ☘

everybody’s irish on st. patrick’s day – at least it seems like that in the USA. especially here in boston! did you know Boston held America’s first st. patrick’s day celebration in 1737, and the city is called the Irish capital of America?

if you decide to join in the fun, here are my ideas for green festivities!

on saturday morning {very early} we will dye our traditional crepes green + the kids love green milk! this year for our milk i found these adorable mason jar tumblers. i love how they look with our green stripy straws! and the kids will love using them long after st. patty’s day has come and gone.

then… did you see when danyelle blogged about these jars from anthrolpologie? i thought they were darling, but at the time i had everything i needed for valentine’s day. so, i was in anthropologie this past weekend & found green ones! so perfect for each of my girls this weekend – a little surprise to add to our breakfast table. there are so many fun ways to make these cute! for $10/jar you can’t go wrong.

you can find more ideas on my st. patty’s day pinterest board.
do you plan on participating? do you have any traditions or ideas to share? please do tell.

{all photos by me. this is not a sponsored post.}

Posted in holidays, st. patrick's day, traditions, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

♣ happy st. patrick’s day ♣

our day of green usually includes:

♣ a visit from a leprechaun, bringing something green to wear.

♣ green crepes & green milk for breakfast.

♣ lots of green snacks & sometimes green dinner too…

kj’s boston jersey is an original by pro look sports, husbands company.

i used my sparkling water bottles from here, for vases to decorate our breakfast table.

i filled them with individual flowers from a large bouquet via costco. i’m a big big fan of fresh flowers in my kitchen. it creates this fresh-outdoors feel that i adore. myla & kj also took one of these to school for their teachers desks today.

my favorite sock-styled-slipper, from here .
myla’s mini leprechaun hat made it’s way to her football, she and kj both pack footballs for recess at school these days…!

in fact, last week, i got a phone call from husband in the middle of the afternoon – he said, “this is the happiest day of my life!”

my reply, “really? wassup?”

husband had spotted KJ on the field playing football during recess while he was driving by! ha! {kj has highly disliked football until recently…} that is the heart of the college-football-player, i married.

myla also drew me a chalkboard surprise last night & unveiled her picture today.

miss four wore her green jacket to ballet class today, then handed out green shamrock silly bands to her class so they all had green on during ballet.

after ballet, she made a switch into this cute outfit -

her shirt was made by alison, inspired by my shirt here.
sela’s clogs can be found here – she loves that they are “heels.” if you buy some in the next couple of days look for a friends & family 30% off discount!

sela & i were matchy-matchy today with my grey hoodie & her grey cardigan. today was easy to match with a green theme…

but, quite often, if i’ve picked out the kids’ clothes, i’ll be sitting in say, the pediatrician’s office…

and realize,

we all look so-well-coordinated that we should take a family photo. fellow-mommas of the world: do you ever realize this, after dressing your kids? maybe you show up at an event and you’re all in grey/yellow, or denim and white tops? happens to me, every time i choose our clothes. i dress everyone in the exact same mood of what i feel like wearing! however, that’s not very often any more – most my kids dress themselves every day. including miss four. and, quite often, we {the girls in our family} think, “dang. that’s a great outfit sela!” and we try to copy it the next day!

then, on the flip-side, when it’s actually time to coordinate for family photos…i’ll spend days trying to figure out what we will all wear! c’est la vie.

this little confetti-stand kept popping up around our house all morning. i laughed when i saw that someone stuck it in my pot filler. such is family life.

sela & i had lunch at zupas, we always eat out for lunch on her tumbling & dance class days – it’s our little one-one-one date. today, they had their regular chocolate covered strawberries also drizzled with green mint chocolate. we grabbed extras for after-school treats. very special – i usually make the kids have healthy{ier} snacks after school.

and that’s it. ♣

what do you do???

***

and, the lucky winner of my gatehouse giveaway is…

susan anhder!

congratulations!

***

would you like to add a little shamrock to your blog post today???
use this html code: & c l u b s ; with no spaces.

{all photos by me. all opinions of products are given by my free will, nothing sponsored.}

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diy: upcycled embellishments & gift wrapping.

in the hunt for something green for st. patty’s day for each kiddo,
{note: the green needed to be somewhat original…}

i could not find anything i was super-pleased with for myla.

so, last night, i took this basic green tee,
found one of my old tank tops,
and went to work…

i loved the color, polka-dots, and lace trim on this tank,
so i trimmed it off—

with five minutes of basic hand-stitches, i gathered & stitched on a little trim
to the neckline. very very easy {and…sewing is not my strongest skill. believe me.}

i used the white polka-dots to hide my stitches.
{because, i only own white and black thread! and when i start projects at 10pm or much later, i prefer to not make a run to the local wal-mart for thread!}

ta-da! the finished tee!

i used the large scrap of fabric left-over from the tank-top to wrap myla’s
green goodie. this morning, when the kids woke-up to find their goodies,

KJ said,

“i wanted mine wrapped in fabric! why am i the only one without fabric?!?”

you win some. you lose some.

do you upcycle clothing? rachel, right here, is a genius at doing so. i love seeing her projects, they are so inspiring! check out this, this, and this!

{all photos by me. all opinions are mine, nothing sponsored.}

Posted in create something, DIY, fashion, st. patrick's day | 5 Comments »