3/15/09

St. Paddy's Connection!

My main goal every day is that our family connects at least once throughout the day.

With a very active family, one son working and all 3 kids playing spring soccer, we don’t always get to sit down and eat dinner together in the evenings.

But when we do, the time is rich and sweet.  To me, the sentimental Mama that I am, it’s like having a big piece of dark chocolate cake with rich, flakey chocolate pieces on top, when those moments happen.  And dinner seems to be the time when we are most relaxed.

I know these years are precious and will be gone before we know it. So like this chocolate cake, I don’t want to miss out on a bite!  At times I actually want to take a big BITE out of my kids.  They are so yummy and wonderful - full of spirit and life.

This morning I made our traditional German Pancakes – and I added a few drops of green food coloring!

After all, we are an Irish family!

We indulged and went on our way for the day.

Connection in the morning, or connection at night – the most important thing for our family is that we do it.

Do you make it a point to connect with your entire family on a daily basis?

I've always made St. Patrick's Day fun.  When the kids were little I added green to milk, pancakes, and eggs.  This last Sunday I added green to the pan of Irish oatmeal that my friend Barb sent us!

We ate it with blueberries on top!  YUM!


Green Gardening TIP: Studies show that raised beds increase almost twice the amount of flowers and vegetables than ordinary gardens.  Did you know this?

(Come back for a very EXCITING GIVEAWAY next post!)

31 comments:

Melanie said...

Even green, the oatmeal and pancakes look good!
Melanie@Bella~Mella

Christy said...

What a fun time at your house!

Darla said...

Although we aren't Irish at all, I have fun celebrating every holiday that comes along. Corned been and cabbage is on the dinner menu for us tonight.

Darla

Jen said...

how fun. we never do green things....madison is home today..mabye we will make something green later....

Anonymous said...

Happy St. Pat's day to you and yours! We have a busy schedule today, too, and family connections are hard to accommodate sometimes, but so worth the effort. :)

Amy said...

I have been debating the raised beds or in the ground garden question lately. The garden time is sneeking up on me so I don't know if I can get my hubby out there to build a bunch of frames this year but I am thinking maybe next year. It will probably be in the ground this year. Love your blog and how inspirational it is!!

Anonymous said...

Well, Darn!
I had plain ol' beige oatmeal this morning. I should have read your Blog before I ate. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

GrannySmithGreen said...

Precious post. We try to always have meals together. There's nothing like family. Adore your blog. So wonderful, so heartfelt. Thank you very much for sharing with all of us in blog land!

ellen b. said...

A very Happy St. Patty's day to you and yours! May all your eyes be smiling!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, how lucky--DH built me raised beds years ago. (I just liked the look of them.) The kids were served green foods yesterday in a muffin tin--that was our mini-celebration.

Our Complete Family said...

Hi! Looks like your morning was a super fun green one~ Glad to hear it! I love doing all things green for mine, too! We make it a point to have family meal time. I love knowing that others value that togetherness as well!
Happy St Pat's Day to you and yours~ Les

Anonymous said...

No green breakfast, but we'll have Irish Stew and Soda bread for dinner---though we are not one lick Irish. It will be early because the boy has rehearsal for band competitions tomorrow and hubs is meeting a friend at a pub tonite. My older kids are far away---so we are lucky to eat together even once a year. A Mom is wise to grab the time to make memories that you can---it is glue for the years to come. Love you Sandy---Best o' luck to you this day!

the BLAH BLAH BLAHger said...

I haven't eaten anything green yet, today. Makes me sad that I don't live at home with my mom. Ha!

Laurie said...

Looks like a fun St. Patrick's Day at your house! With one still at home and one at college, connecting isn't quite as easy. I'm very thankful for text messaging! :>)

Unknown said...

Love the green pancakes. I didn't make anything green except a salad for lunch. I am such a slacker.

Cynthia

jennykate77 said...

Connecting over a meal is really important. I love the green pancakes :) Happy St. Patty's Day!

Maureen said...

happy st. patrick's day!

I love the idea of adding green food coloring to milk... I need our babies to get a bit bigger for it, but it's one to remember.

Miss G said...

I love your intentionality in connecting! I know what you mean about how wonderful connection feels. My mom used to make green kool-aid for St. Patrick's Day and I always loved that stuff! Really fun! Kelly

Jan said...

I once did green eggs and ham for breakfast on Paddy's. The oatmeal is not looking to good to me. But, I love me some blueberries on top.

What great traditions you have.

Chablis said...

I have to give you props for coloring all the food. I tried that once and none of us could eat it! A mental problem I guess. That oatmeal looks yummy though. At my house, we go through blueberries by the bucket!

Kim said...

I was wondering what your Irish influence was going to create!

LuLu said...

We love Irish Oatmeal! Looks wonderful with blueberrys ontop!!
LuLu

Nancy Wyatt said...

Hi Sandy! Love your blog and added myself to your follow list! Look forward to keeping up with you and your family! Thanks for stopping in at my blog!

Anonymous said...

That sounds delicious, but it is truly hideous looking food, LOL. (Please don't shoot me for saying that!)

Kate

RefreshMom said...

I wish I'd thought ahead for something like this. It was much too late this morning before it occured to me.

The little one (3) especially seemed to love the idea of the "Leprechauns" that visited his classroom this morning while they were out playing; I'm thinking we might need some Leprechauns here at home next year. (It will be fun to turn the tables and be the one who provides the mischief instead of enduring it!)

Victoria said...

Love the green pancakes, very clever, and so fun for any day:-) Thank you for the great reminder to daily connect with family. My 3are 4, 3, and 1, dinner is our favorite, and messiest time of day :-) SO excited to find your blog.

mrs shortcake said...

I married into an Irish family, but our oatmeal wasn't verdant yesterday :( Looks like you had fun!

Live.Love.Eat said...

Happy Belated St. Patricks Day to you!!!!!

Elizabeth said...

Hi, Sandy -

I didn't do as well this St. Patrick Day. We were in the parade on Saturday, but I wasn't creative...

Are you going to post about how you are going to make Easter Week (Holy Week) more special or how you are preparing for Easter? I'd love to read about that!

Thanks for all the inspiration.

Blessings for you and your family - Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

Whew! I wasn't sure what that green stuff was...That sounds like a fun tradition. And of course, German pancakes are some of my favorites. Do you serve them with buttermilk syrup? If you don't I'll get you the recipe. You won't be sorry!

Anonymous said...

hahaha I added the green food coloring to our pancakes too. did you kids sniff them to see if you'd added any nasty pureed vegetables?

Mine did....