St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

White frosting, green sprinkles, and a few chocolate gold coins make these cute "Leprechaun gold" cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day.

I made these fun Shamrock cupcakes using white frosting and yellow sprinkles.  I took gum drops and rolled them out flat with a rolling pin. I used the mini shamrock cookie cutter from the pampered chef holiday set, cut out the shapes and added them to the tops. Hint...use flour when rolling out the gumdrops or they get too sticky to work with. Then once the shapes are cut out rinse the flour off with water.

Sneaky Leprechaun

St. Patrick's Day is always very exciting at our house, because every year we are visited by a very sneaky leprechaun. We never see him. But we know he comes some time in the night, because when the children wake up he has left a note with clues as to where he has stashed his gold. They then go on a hunt to find the chocolate gold coins hidden all around the house. They look forward to it for weeks in advance. It's become such a tradition that I even sent some gold "coins" to my grown sons this year. They'll pretend they think it's silly now, but you know they'll actually love it! 17 more days!!! The kids are already asking if I think our leprechaun friend will come again this year. I'm thinking the odds are pretty good!

Juggling

One of the greatest challenges of being a mother is the juggling act we must perform every day. Whether you work outside of the home or not, every Mom has multiple roles to fill. Chef, chauffeur, housekeeper, nurse, therapist, encyclopedia of random information, artist, room mom, team mom, teacher, drill sergeant, conflict mediator, party and event planner, holiday coordinator, nutritionist, laundress, etc.  Most of us have had little or no formal training in the majority of these categories, but suddenly are expected to become experts, or at least be baseline proficient in them once our first child arrives.  It can be a fairly daunting thing at times. I have had many moments in motherhood that completely stopped me short. Speechless.

"Mom...why is the sky blue?"  (anyone?)

"Mom...I don't get this math problem." (the high school homework sometimes does look vaguely familiar...but hey...it's been awhile)

"Mom... I forgot I have to make a model of a pyramid by tomorrow morning out of sugar cubes." - (this was at about ten PM the night before)

"Mom...Chip isn't moving. Is he dead?" - (Chip was our pet rat...may he rest in peace)

"Mom...where do babies come from?" - (Yikes!)

"Mom...how come water is leaking from the ceiling?" - (Yeah...it was bad)

Mom...Mom...MOM!!! Anytime anything needs fixing or figuring out it's up to Mom to take care of it. If there is blood or vomit  involved they come running to Mommy to make it all better. Holidays and vacations are pretty much Mom territory start to finish. Errands and daily jobs like laundry and dishes are never done. Wash, rinse, repeat! Multi-tasking only goes so far, and it's easy to get a little frazzled from time to time isn't it? But take heart...that's normal. Just keep on trying your best and loving those babies to pieces. That's what really matters. If your child comes home from Kindergarten and you realize they had on mismatched shoes that day...or you forget to send in the Valentines for the class party...just let it go. Give your child a hug ask them if they know that you love them. If they say "yes" than you're doing ok. And every once in awhile in the midst of the busy days take the time to stop and listen to the sound of your children's laughter. That's the paycheck for all of your hard work after all. Enjoy it! Moms rarely hear it so I want to shout out today - You're doing a great job Mommy!!! Just thought you should know!