Is it just me or were holidays one on top of each other this year!? Man alive...plus we had ACE's blessing soon after Easter and then Shortstop's birthday is in May so I have been planning and celebrating a lot!
This year we decided to tell the boys the truth about leprechauns. Honestly, I don't know how the leprechauns snuck their way into our family traditions. It is not something I was raised with but we got caught up in it all. We don't even do the Easter bunny...they know we hide the eggs and baskets so again, no clue how or why they were giving credit to a leprechaun for all the fun things that get done on St Patrick's day. They took it super well and Shortstop said "wait...you are the one who does all the fun stuff in our shoes and dyes the milk and toilet water green? Oh mom! That is so sweet of you!!" Now...let's hope they don't put two and two together with Santa Claus because that is the only fictional character we really indulge in and I am not ready to take away that magic.
For St Patricks day we did the gifts and new shirts in shoes and dyed milk and toilet water. We had rainbow pancakes for dinner and homemade shamrock shakes for dessert. Such a simple holiday but so much fun.
We made rainbows in a jar the night before. This was so simple and so much fun!
Their haul...I LOVE going overboard for holidays
We made green kool aid ice cubes to add to our Sprite for dinner. These boys love helping me in the kitchen and I don't mind it one bit
For Easter we always do their baskets and easter egg hunts on Saturday which helps us focus on the true meaning and the Savior on Sunday. It was a little cold out so we did an indoor egg hunt and they loved finding all the eggs with candy or money (pennies and nickels) in them. Of course their baskets had new Sunday outfits that coordinated in color and even ACE got her own little basket with a little book and new toy.
Sunday was low key as we enjoyed a nice day at church where Fullback recited his first scripture in sharing time. I whispered it in his ear and he grinned and repeated it perfectly. When he was done he looked at me and whisper-shouted "I did it mom! I did it in the microphone!" His older brother was beaming with pride throughout the whole thing.
We came home and had a delicious ham dinner just the five of us. After dinner we did our 12 resurrection egg lesson which is probably my favorite thing to do. The boys are so reverent, opening each egg, taking turns looking at the items and then listening to the scripture. We watch whatever Easter short video the church puts out that year and talk about how our testimonies of the Savior have grown since last Easter. Shortstop has such a strong testimony and before I could get to the scripture with each item, he would explain what it was and how it had to do with the Atonement and Resurrection. Fullback enjoyed listening to his big brother and adding his thoughts on Jesus, random though they were. ("Jesus had to wear white underwear after he was dead in the rock place" etc...)
I am so grateful my boys have such a peaceful reverence towards their Savior. They love Him and try so hard to be like him. The other day on the way to school Mark was asking Shortstop if the class bully was still bothering him. It has been going on all year and has truly been heartbreaking as we work to help Shortstop know how to handle it and what to do. Mark said "You don't have to just tell the teacher...you can tell the boy to knock it off and leave you alone." After a moment of reflecting, Shortstop said "But dad...let me explain something. Jesus was up on the cross and he let people do what they did to him. He didn't get mad at them. He just dealt with it. And that is how I want to be. Like Him." This kid amazes me every single day with his love and I am grateful for the example he is setting for his brother and sister.
