St. Pat's--the official start to Spring Break!

Welcome to my oh so late post about our St. Pat's Day! I'm not usually a fan of crazy activities on St. Pat's because I'm usually getting the kids ready by myself since Matt's usually at work. I also hate driving into huge events (IE our downtown parade) and parking, then unloading all the kids, and trying to find a spot for my big family to sit It's also always too hot or raining on this wonderful day. I've kind of turned into a St. Pat's scrooge.  But since this year it was on a Saturday, I decided we should try to have some fun.

Yes, we all dressed in our green and put shamrocks all over our faces.

We headed downtown with our little family and my mom. Our first priority was food. So we stopped at an Irish fest put on buy a Catholic church. They had a great location right on the parade route, so I was hoping this would take care of our seats for the parade. It kind of did!

The girls tried the hotdogs and like them, of course. Peach had some bangers and mash--which reportedly, she liked. Dad's genes there. I had what I think is the Irish version of a Bierock--swiss cheese, cabbage and corned beef. Blech! Not good. Though I do like the German Bierocks I've had in the past. Guess I'll have to go enjoy Oktoberfest this fall (SMILE)!

As usual, this one couldn't get enough food. She is our little garbage disposal. We usually get her her own food, but she also likes to take care of any leftovers.

She looked cute in all her green!

I think this one met her Irish food goal by munching on any potato chips she could find.

Her second hotdog?

Thanks for including me, mom. I'm never in the pictures, but that's usually okay by me.

Eating again? Yes indeed. That's all this child does. I believe that's the hallow Irish legs that adorn the bottom half of her body.

She really wasn't sad in this picture. I'm not sure what the look of desperation was for!

Yes, that would be the six and a half year old fighting for her rights to the stroller seat!

Showing off her tats while she's still awake enough to do it. Shortly after this photo, we headed over to the funnel cake booth and we were closer to the parade. Guess who was worn out...

Uh-huh. But Grammy's shoulder made it okay.

Yes, we devoured our cakes. But I will say, half of each did not get touched. I guess that shows you how tired we all were--there were 8 of us and only one total funnel cake was consumed. A rarity indeed!

We got back to the car and our kids were extremely tuckered out. Matt and I were supposed to take them all to my friend's house so we could have our date night, but Bug and Boushka cried for Grammy, so they went with her.  The older two and the babe went with us, and since we had some time to spare and the babe was sleeping peacefully, we decided to stop by Dairy Queen and a pet store. The baby got a good nap in and the big girls perked up after the ice cream. About an hour later we dropped the three hooligans off at my friend's house, and Matt and I spent our date night cleaning and organizing our house. We didn't even eat dinner. So sad, yes! But when we have four jobs, five kids, and one pregnancy between us-- we value a good few hours to get some major cleaning and organizing done. It just doesn't happen much otherwise.

I did get their wardrobes for summer put into place and the winter clothes packed away that night. That was the major task that got accomplished. I just wish we could have four hours once a week to get this cleaning and organizing done sans-kids. They can be a wonderful help, but with so many still so young, it is hard to really get much accomplished.