Going Green for St. Patrick's Day

Columbia hosts a large St. Patrick's Day festival every year but I've never been in my 9 years of living here. So this year when my friend Katie invited us to the parade on Devine Street (where her office is located--free parking, bathrooms, etc), I decided it was time to experience the green festivities. Ashley had to work this morning so the boys and I headed out at 9 a.m. wearing our green.

Katie was a great hostess and provided the kids (and adults) all sorts of fun St. Patrick's Day snacks (Lucky Charms, green grapes, cookies, cupcakes). It was a popular blanket until the parade started!

Mason loved putting on all the St. Patrick necklaces. Cool dude.  

It was a hot morning--over 80 degrees--but the boys loved watching the parade, mostly from their stroller. 

But Levi had to get up and watch the Jamil Temple bike riders doing tricks in front of us. 

After the (long) parade, Katie, Susan, one of Katie's friends, and I strolled the kids down the kids' festival (separate from the rambunctious Five Points festival). I had packed a picnic so we enjoyed our lunch (but really, the boys had filled up on so many sweets they weren't too interested in lunch). 

We all had a great morning but by 1 p.m. the kids were tired and we were, too...so we headed home to relax.  Here's Susan with her kids--Levi was pleased that Breeley came to another parade with him (they sat with us at this past year's July 4th parade). 

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Growing Our Garden

Building on the success of our summer and fall gardens, Ashley tripled the size of our planting space and now has carrots, spinach, peas, lettuce, onions, potatoes and broccoli in the ground for spring. I am really impressed with all of his planning--here's his list of what to plant when.

Our collards and broccoli were especially prolific through the winter. We gave away most of the remainder of the crop and then tilled the rest in. 

Sunday was a COLD and WINDY day here but the boys loved being outside. 

Ashley has also been busy completing the chicken house. It's looking great and the old tin gives it an established look to match our other three barns. 

Ashley and Mason plowing. Mason now asks over and over "Ride tractor, please????"

Levi and Ashley plowing (got to take turns). 

But Mason did not like taking turns. He wanted to ride on the tractor all day long. His heart breaks.

Although I'd love to help more with the actual planting of the garden, I'm more in charge of supervising the boys. In a couple of years, we'll all be out there readying the ground. 

I have been busy with a few projects inside, including these spring flags for our dining room. Our dining room has such large windows and because I haven't found curtains that I like, I decided to spruce it up with some simple flags like I made for July 4th. 

I'm also in the process of painting our living room entertainment center. We've been in the house almost a year so it feels ok to change things, paint, etc. We're hoping once this is done, the living room won't look so white and will feel "warmer." The color is a little greener that I thought it would be (Behr's Dried Leaf) but it may darken with another coat. Oh and I'm going to the paint the whole thing but I'm waiting to do the top once I finish the bottom (that TV is a beast to pick up).

Also inside...lunch for the boys. I've recently discovered that they both love grilled cheese. Our favorite inserts are cheese, ham and apples. 

Deliciousness!