No Corned Beef Hash

We found green hair spray in Wal-Mart so all the redheads resembled true carrot tops, green on top, orange underneath. We must've been a sight chasing Max all over the neighborhood with green hair.

Even Scooter got in on the action. Max only got a few streaks because he's a fraidy-cat of anything that makes a spraying sound. He ran away before we could write anything significant like, "Kiss me, I'm Irish." I don't know who took this picture, but there's a profile of my belly for those of you that have asked. Seven weeks and counting. And there's my long, long, desperate-for-a-trim hair that I'm just about to cut off. It is becoming a burden. I won't take it all off, but I can't be getting it caught in other people's car doors and things like that. It's just too embarassing.
They look like action heros. I think they felt like movie stars walking through Wal-Mart. Kids were pointing and talking about them everywhere they went.
Trebo changed his clothes three or four times during the day, trying to get a little greener. He settled on this pajama shirt. At first I protested but who really cares. Leila wears pajamas almost every day and no one seems to mind. She's dressing herself and that, my friends, is something I do not want to discourage. She wasn't having any part of the green hair spray. She wanted me to spray her hands and her arms and her feet, but the hair was off limits. I thought she was just scared because the kids were all freaking out about the fumes when it was their turn, but even after I showed her that it didn't hurt she refused. Who needs green hair when you're this cute anyway?

We spent the morning learning about St. Patrick, who he was and what he did, as well as the legend of him driving the snakes from Ireland. Then after Dale got home we had a lovely Irish meal. The soda bread was a first so I had no idea what to expect. Because I don't keep currants on hand for anything and the kids are picky about raisins in bread, I left them out. Thanks to the wonderful information superhighway I was able to find a simple recipe with credentials that turned out perfectly. Soda bread is a staple in Ireland the way sandwish bread is a staple in America. You bake it on a cookie sheet and it is like a giant biscuit that is fairly dense. Dale and the kids loved it; I wanted to put strawberries and whipped cream on it. We'll definitely add the soda bread to our traditional menu from now on.

The corned beef that I bought was on sale for $.99 a pound, which made me nervous because I have never bought it and didn't know if I was getting a good cut of meat. Fortunately, it was just one of Albertson's steals and turned out so tender and delicious that we had no leftovers! And it made almost four pounds. The kids gobbled it up. I'll have to try to make the corned beef hash next year. The cabbage was overcooked to compensate for the red potatoes, but all in all I'd say it was a hit. I couldn't believe the kids liked it so much, even Tre ate his entire portion.

All in all it was a good day. Now back to real life. Leila needs a nap, the kids still have on-line lessons to complete, and I'm pretty sure Micah still has a stack of homework left from this morning. At least lunch is done. Right now they are all building things with giant boxes. I heard Micah say, "If anyone hears me scream, will you let me out? I'm not sure I can really fit." Right after that Leila walked by singing, "Woop there it is" over and over. We heard it on the radio the other night and they've all been singing their own renditions ever since. So funny.