Erin Go Bragh!

I've always been enamored with all things Gaelic, Celtic and Irish.  In my twenties when I had free time, I took adult Irish dancing lessons, went to Irish festivals, listened to Irish music and when Marc and I got married we decided on simple gold bands with spirals etched into them to represent the neolithic carvings at Newgrange in Ireland.

And then I had kids....and kind of forgot about all that Irish stuff.  Molly attempted Irish dancing lessons last year but they were so boring the child was in tears.  I mean, there's only so much skipping a 5 year old can do before she falls asleep from the monotony, you know?

But Saint Patrick's day!  Now THERE'S a day when I can indulge and truly enjoy my Irish heritage!  Especially out here in Chicagoland, where the river runs green and Irish pride runs almost as deep as it does in Southie and Dot.

Naperville has a HUGE Saint Patrick's Day parade and I was so excited to go with Marc and the kids.  We didn't count on 30 degree weather and gale force winds though.  Or a rare Mega-Molly-Meltdown that caused us to be 45 minutes late and park a half mile away.  We got thisclose to the parade before the shrieking, whining, grimacing and kvetching finally made us turn back.

See?  THISCLOSE!!

So we went out for pancakes instead.  Whatcha gonna do?

At least we looked Irish.  Cornrows and Cableknits - it's all over Dublin runways these days.

On the actual St. Paddy's Day, we were able to celebrate in style with Auntie Trecie, who was visiting on her Spring Break from nursing school.  We also got to celebrate baby Cam's first St. Patty's Day too - he's quite the celebrity around here - even a diaper change requires supervision by all three Mallett kids with exclamations of "He's sooooo cuuuuuute!" and "CanIholdhim?CanIholdhim?CanIholdhim?CanIholdhim?".

I brutally overcooked the corned beef, but Uncle Paul poured a delicious black and tan that more than made up for it.  And because nobody really enjoys the cabbagey potatoes from the pot, I also made sure to have mashed potatoes and baked potatoes on hand.  Next year I think I'll skip the boiled veggies altogether in favor of baked or braised ones and cook the meat in the crockpot alone. 

All pf our decorations are courtesy of Dollar Tree, my favorite place for good stuff, cheap (there's no Building 19 in Chicagoland, so I'm safe with the copyright infringement I think).

We had some leprechauns too.  They were after the cupcakes!

These two below are the SWEET Leprechauns.

Just happy little sweet things they are.



Expand the picture and you can see the LOONEY Leprechauns that surround them...

Seriously?  All I said was SMILE, I swear. 

And then when you thought it couldn't get any crazier...

Why yes, that IS the new baby Skyping with his  Havanese furcousin.  Because it wouldn't be a holiday without dogSkyping.

Millie eventually let Nana talk too, she's not a diva like that.  Well, yes actually she is, but she's small enough that she can't reach the buttons without help ;o) 

Nana was looking great and we were all so happy to see her!

She had to get a close look at Cam's big toe because he clearly takes after her in the realm of wierd illnesses and foibles that happen to otherwise healthy people.

Cam's bandaged toenail, where a brewing infection had to be lanced.  Seriously?  Only three weeks on the planet and his poor teeny toe has to be assaulted?  Lucky for him and his parents, he's so good-natured that he didn't even wake up for the procedure.  Or when his awesome Aunt Beth went to kiss his "good" toe and instead kissed his "boo-boo" toe.  (he had socks on - I swear I thought it was his good toe!)

Poor baby, with a family full of screwballs.  Luckily, he's one of us, so hopefully he won't notice!

Happy Saint Patty's Day to everyone

 and Cead Mile Failte to the family Cameron!