Spring! St. Pat's, and A Late Night Snack

WARNING: This post may contain an image not for the faint of stomach.

It is spring! Of course this means that we should have several more snow storms and the weather should turn cold and nasty a few more times, but I feel confident in packing away the gloves, Paul can remove the snow blade from the lawnmower (yes, you read that right), and my children are wearing bathing suits (without my permission- they think it is summer). Last night after dinner Paul did this:

Hooray for a garden ready to plant. I will try to plant peas, spinach, and chard. I love the first flowers of spring. They defy winter with their shocking colors. I envy my sister whose daffodils bloom a good three weeks before mine!

St. Patricks's Day falls into the category of: confusing holidays. These are holidays that I have a hard time explaining to my children. Halloween is also a much beloved but confusing holiday. In fact, besides wearing green, we never did much with St. Patrick's Day until my sister introduced us to corned beef.

Yum.

Now we celebrate St. Patrick's day like the good Irish Roman Catholics we aren't. We started out our day with green shamrock pancakes. It doesn't take much to impress children. We had to dig out the short sleeve shirts to find green ones for the kids to wear, but everyone was safe for school. Joseph chose to wear a very iffy shade of green in hopes that people would try to pinch him. For dinner we had corned beef, carrots, and potatoes.

After dinner we left the dishes and went out to play/work in the yard. Soon it was time for baths, brushing teeth, stories, and bed. I sat down to read a story with Adrie and Katie, except Katie had disappeared. "Oh no! I left cookies out on the counter." I hurried to the kitchen and did find Katie. Except she did not opt for cookies for her late night snack. Oh no, the cookies would have been the good choice. Tell me, if you were faced with these options, what would you choose?

You choose: Leftover cookies or leftover fat that Paul trimmed off the meat before serving.

Yes, when faced with this tantalizing choice (and this is how they were placed on the counter- I did not move them for the picture), little Kate was cheerfully making her way through the bowl of fat. It makes my stomach turn just to think about it.


Dear Katie,

If at some point in your life you face clogged arteries, high cholesterol, or other such problems, I take full blame for the start of the problem. I should have cleaned up the dinner dishes.

Love, Mom