St. Patrick's Day

Dear Abigail,

On Friday before St. Patrick's Day (which was on Sunday), you had your first ever friend over without a parent.  I'm not sure the official name of said event, but we'll go with "friend over without a parent" for now.  We have been wanting to get Caroline over to our house for some time now, but every weekend was just booked up with something, so I decided we'd try an afternoon after school and it turned out perfectly!  I didn't mention it to you until I knew for sure her Mommy thought it'd be okay and so when I picked you up from school I spilled the beans to both you and Caroline, or, well, Caroline's mom told her, but it was all the same because you both were SUPER ecstatic!  I thought we were going to set off alarms you squeals were so high! So, Caroline got her booster and off to our house we went!  The whole ride home you two talked nonstop about the leprechaun that came in your classroom while you were outside playing and messed it all up and even left green in the toilet!  You were very concerned if one had been at our house, but I assured you that no leprechaun was going to mess our clean house up!!  After exploring the house for that little fellow and being a little disappointed, you two headed outside to a gorgeous day.  You girls enjoyed the sunshine for quiet some time and somehow (why do I question) got muddy and wet on your shoes and pants.  After awhile, you ventured in where we decided to make green cupcakes after a quick swap of the pants!  

 You and Caroline make a pretty darn good team, minus the patience it took waiting for the cupcakes to bake!  But in the mean time, you managed to play with several toys in the playroom.  Finally those cupcakes were ready to be enjoyed... 

 I'd say they were!  We just couldn't let that beautiful day whisk away, so we headed back outside for just a little more fun in the sun...

 Sadly, Caroline's mom came to get her and while you two did pretty good with the departure, it was very clear that you both enjoyed each other's company.  You even let Caroline take home the puppy she carried around with her all day - just to borrow for a couple days though.  That's what you told me, and her, and her mom :) 

We went to Mexican that night and without Daddy because he went on a little boys weekend to watch basketball.  Saturday morning we went to your soccer game (I think) or maybe it was rained out, now I can't remember... Anyway... That afternoon your BFF stopped by for a little visit!  Since Daddy was away, we decided to have a little fun on our own.  Sarah and Mommy and Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee (and Miss Leigh and Mr. Lee) all ended up going to a festival in downtown Franklin (Daddy missed out on all kinds of fun!) and you and Kate and Ellie and Christopher all stayed at our house with Miss Lauren and a friend.  We were a little concerned about the 4 of you with the babysitter, but she had things under control!  

So finally Sunday rolls around and it's St. Patrick's Day!! Hooray for green stuff!!!!  We started breakfast off (including Ellie and her crew) with green pancakes!  Deliciousness.

And of course, what's green pancakes without green milk.  Well, apparently it's not what you wanted, that's what.  You claimed the milk tasted different since it was green... Whatever.  After breakfast, you, Sarah, Kate and I headed to the park.  It was another pretty day and we were trying to teach Kate to ride her bike.  She wasn't a fan just yet, but you sure did show us you were quite the rider!  After riding for a bit, we then played for a bit longer, loving the beautiful weather.

For lunch, we continued the greeness with chicken salad wrapped in a spinach (green) tortilla, green hummus with green peppers and celery and green grapes, along with sour cream and onion chips (they were in a green bag) :)

 We may of had a green cupcake, or two :)

After a little rest period, we actually switched gears and headed to your school's church's (the church your school is associated with!) Easter egg hunt!  It was a little odd to be on St. Patty's day, but it was all about the timing.  Easter is rather early this year AND spring break for you was coming up, so it just worked out that it was this day.  

When we got there, guess who showed up?  Oh Caroline, can you believe it!  You two had fun playing with the parachute...

 

 And you even helped your sister enjoy the experience.  Such a good big sister...

 We ventured to the face painting line and while you were waiting in line, your little sis wondered off, so of course I followed her.  When I caught up to her and got back to the line, you were already sitting down, getting your face painted.  I kind of wondered how you got up there so quickly, and then I saw the rest of the crew (Caroline and Ellie - yep, Ellie came, too!) in the back of the line and so I asked the adults in line if you skipped and they said "She's just too cute to not let skip."  So there you have it.  You just made your way on up to the front and got your face painted in no time.  Now, what's crazy is right when she was done, I looked up and saw a butterfly on your cheek, a purple one.  Then, I grabbed my camera (and your sister) and looked up again to see the lady wiping it all off of your cheek.  Apparently you decided, after all that skipping in line, that you didn't want your face painted.  Who knows...

But, you were rather curious when you saw your friend from school (Gracie) getting hers painted...

 After that fiasco, we headed to where the egg hunt was going down and got prepared.  You, thankfully, were on the same field as your sister so I was able to get a few shots, although it had to go down as one of the fastest easter egg hunts in the history of man kind.  I blinked twice and it was over.  You kiddos were super quick!

 After the hunt, we were walking out and low and behold, guess who is walking up?  Ryan!  They were off a little on the timing of the egg hunt so they missed it completely.  Ryan was a little upset, but we were able to find him some eggs and of course, seeing (and running crazy) with you and Ellie helped a little.  Since we were all wound up, Miss Leigh and I decided we all needed to go burn some energy at the park, so off we went.  Our second trip to the park that day, this time with Ryan and Jake and guess who showed up at the park??? DADDY! That's right, he was driving in from Cincinnati (from the boys weekend) and heard we were at the park.  We had so much fun at the park that we decided to continue the fun at our house and have a spur of the moment cook out with the Grugetts.  Daddy ran to the store, we finished up our park trip and headed home with the crew.  You kiddos enjoyed the last little bit of the beautiful weather before it got too chilly for us to hang out outside...

 Daddy made his delicious hamburgers and we all enjoyed our fun, fun company!!!!  So what if it wasn't our originally planned green dinner.  We had great friends and great food.  That's what counts.  Oh, and we may have had a green cupcake for dessert :)

A fun St. Patrick's / Easter day :)  Love you!!