Skip to main content

Irish eyes keep smiling

Not even a global pandemic could stop us from enjoying St. Patrick's Day.

Tonight we head to bed with out tummy's full of Irish soda bread, and a tasty casserole of potatoes, ham, leaks and onion (something akin to a Dublin coddle). When we were building our stockpile, I'm glad I thought ahead to a few special meals.  It just wouldn't be St. Paddy's Day without this dish.

The day started out with high spirits, as the kids raced downstairs to see if they managed to catch the leprechaun. Seamus eluded our trap again this year, leaving a mess in his wake. At least, he was kind enough to leave a card, some chocolate coins and a few fun things to wear for the day.

I'll admit that today was a little bit trickier. I think we were all dreaming of the summer when we were in Ireland, enjoying a laissez-fair existence and living life to the max. We would have never guessed what the next year would bring.

My little one was a little more demanding today and came to me several times looking for things to do. I knew this would be tough on her. Her brother is old enough to enjoy reading a good novel for hours on end, but she is a busy kid and not accustomed to sticking so close to home. I do my best to switch things up, but it gets tiring. This will prove even more difficult when I return to work on Thursday. Thankfully I have the ability to telework,  but I won't be able to give her the same attention.

Today's boredom buster was certainly not my pick - a Nerf gun battle. Mostly this consisted of the kids barricading themselves in their room while hubby and I waited to peck them off, which doesn't really make for a good fight. Either way, I think hubs and I had fun letting off a bit of steam. Tomorrow's pick should be a bit more fun - an outing to an isolated field to fly our kites. We invested in some really nice ones a few years back at a hobby shop and they have traveled all over with us.

After our delicious meal tonight, we topped the day off with another nice walk. There were more families out and about enjoying the warmer weather, so we had to be a little more careful with maintaining our space when we passed by . It's so strange to see folks avoiding one another like this, but at least it usually accompanied with a friendly wave and some laughter.

Wherever you are out there, hope you also enjoy a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day.

 Seamus left us yet another leprechaun (aka painted garden gnome) to add to the collection


Waiting for the kids to come, ready with my Gatling gun

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pandemie-Tanzparty

Sometimes something seems like a good idea, until you actually try it. Today's "boredom buster" was - learn a new language. Each family member picked a language and wrote it down on a piece of paper. I then threw the papers from our upper hallway down to the first floor - the first paper to land would dictate the language. German was the clear winner. Today, on my lunch break, I sat down with the kids for some Duo Lingo time. It only lasted about 15 minutes before they decided German was too challenging. My littlest ran off to do something else and my son soon discovered that it was much more fun to type ridiculous phrases into Google translate and play the audio. What was meant to be an educational experience, soon descended into total nonsense. We did walk away with a few choice phrases such as, "I farted," and "The toilet is full". But my personal favourite would have to be, "Pandemic dance party." Not sure any of these phrases will ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The strangest picnic

How do you keep the most social of children happy in a situation that warrants isolation? I think it's a challenge that many of us parents will struggle with over the coming weeks or months. For me, it's a matter of trying to reinvent the activities that they are accustomed to, maintaining a sense of familiarity, but working within new restraints. It's making the very best of a strange situation. Today's "boredom buster" was an idea I threw in the bucket - a country drive and a car picnic.  It only took an hour, but it was the perfect activity to break up our day and was easy enough to incorporate into hubby's work schedule. We drove down to some nature trails along the Ottawa River, parked the car in front of a turtle pond, opened the tailgate, and  piled into the trunk for lunch. I have to admit, it was a bit chillier than planned, but the kids were thrilled when hubby closed the trunk on the kids and I to warm us up as we ate. Who knew being sea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art therapy

By the end of this pandemic, I'm convinced we will be decent artists! Today the kids and I participated in our second drawing class through www.yaymaker.com We joined kids and other families from all over the US and Canada to draw elephants, frog princes and monkeys. Again, I was super impressed by the artist and her ability to engage everyone in the class from afar. Between drawing, they stream upbeat music and the kids have fun dancing on camera and seeing other kids do the same. Thank goodness for the marvels of modern technology! I'm happy to report that we have a new batch of masterpieces ready to be taped to my parents' windows. This may become a weekly occurrence. We will hopefully drop them off tomorrow, when we do our next supply run. Speaking of supply run, I'm starting to feel myself getting a bit crazy over toilet paper conservation. We still have lots in the basement, but I can't help but worry about our alternatives when we run out. Rags and washing...
Post a Comment
Read more