Happy St. Patty's Day!

While my days of sitting in a pub drinking green beer are long gone, its been replaced with another St. Patty's Day tradition. 

Actually, my husband and kids participate. 
I let them have their fun. 
Then I let them clean up. 
I'll explain.

Every year, my kids try to catch a leprechaun.  They are sneaky, smart and not easily caught. Actually, not ever caught.  (I'm talking about the leprechauns, here.)  That never stops my kids from setting a trap and putting out the fake gold coins as a lure.  This year, they tried to catch him in the wicker chest where we store the extra blankets. 

Didn't work.

Instead, we got a messy living room. 
The little stool was upturned. 
The sofa cushions and pillows were all over the floor. 
The gold coins were scattered around. 
Magazines were tossed about. 
And a note was left: 

More fun things to do with your kids...

The other night, my son wanted to find some new songs for his PSP. He asked for 'Where is the love' by Blackeyed Peas. (Okay, he's 9, where did he hear that?) I pulled up my iTunes library and played it for him. (Yes, I have that song on my iPod, but he doesn't listen to it, so I still don't know where he heard it.) As we looked through the list, he pointed to 'Hotel California' and asked to hear it. I told my peanuts that 'Hotel California' is a classic rock song, one of the best, by an amazing old group called the Eagles.
"Are there words?" asked peanut #2.
"Yes, just wait..." I responded.
I guess the intro was too long and they lost interest. (Mom's ADD is rubbing off on them.) So we went on to a few more songs. We were dancing, singing, twirling (not so much my son) and shaking it.
Try it sometime. Take the lead, they'll follow. Its fun to teach them the words to old classics while dancing like no one else is watching.

Fun things to do with your kids....

I'll add more to this post as I think of them, but here are a few light-hearted fun things to do with your kids that they'll always remember as fun things from their childhood:

1) Piggyback rides! Come on, you can do it! My almost-10-year-old still loves it. Every morning, I take my daughter to breakfast piggyback style. Its her extra 10 seconds of sleep before two leggo waffles with cinnamon.

2) Speaking of breakfast, make breakfast for dinner once a month. I need to get better with this, but really, its fun! Try pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and juice. Whatever your family likes, they'll love having it a 6:00 pm as much as 6:00am.

3) When the weather is good, pitch a tent in the backyard one night. We got in this habit on the 3rd of July. (Dad always has the 4th off no matter what day of the week!) This year we were out of town, so we camped on my daughter's birthday. Kids LOVE it!

4) Go to Party City and get something called window chalk. You know that stuff you see on people's car windows that says, "GO TEAM! We're #1"?? Guess what? It works on the bathroom mirror, too!! So, on my kids' birthday eve, after they're tucked in bed, I graffiti their bathroom mirror with birthday messages to them. It's the first thing they see when they wake up on their special day and it's always something they look forward to.

I'll post more fun things when I think of them...