Maelynn's FIRST St. Patrick's Day!

This was Maelynn's FIRST St. Patrick's day! I recently found this adorable outfit and bow set at Target and I loved seeing her in this color green. She was just the cutest little shamrock I've ever seen! After we played dress up this morning, she went to the sitter's house for a while so that I could go to Kamden's school and volunteer in his first grade class from 11am-1pm. 

Today was the teacher's lunch out, so parents get the chance to come help out once a quarter and watch the kids while they go out for lunch. Usually its at least two parents, but when I arrived the other mom's child got sick a few minutes before and they had to go home. So the teacher asked if I would be okay by myself. I quickly thought, "how hard could this be!?" and told her sure! The first little bit went well, luckily the teacher had typed out a step by step guide to help me stay on track. There was teacher's assistant in there for the first 30 minutes as the kids finished watching a video. The video was telling them all about St. Patrick's day and I might have learned a thing or two as well. Then, it was time for lunch. There were some helpful kids in the class that assisted with lining everyone up and passing out hand sanitizer. I was really happy to see that germ killing before lunch was part of their daily routine. We walked to lunch and after they were done eating, I passed out the cutest St. Patty's day cupcakes that I got for them. I went to several grocery stores yesterday evening while Kamden was at soccer practice to try and track these down. Treats were sold out everywhere and I just happened to get the last ones they had at Publix (which was a little out of the way) but also one of our favorites! When we lived in Florida we always loved going to the Publix Bakery. The kids were so excited to get them and you know I was too excited when there was one leftover for me too *grin! Kamden helped me pull the big trash can around for everyone to clean up. 

Had fun volunteering at Kamden's school! 

As we were walking back to the classroom, another dad smiled at me and said,"so you got them all hyped up on cupcakes this afternoon," and I laughed. Shoot... I didn't think of that. It wasn't too long before we were back in the class before I started thinking that was probably a bad idea. Clearly they were on a sugar rush or just running wild while the teacher was away. It reminded me of the days when I was in school and everyone would go crazy on days we had a substitute teacher. The teacher had told me to have them complete two fun St. Patrick's day worksheets after lunch, so that is what we did or at least tried. It was all I could do to keep them in their seats. I learned real quick not to let one "go sit at the special table" or "go to the reading corner" or "go to the bathroom" next thing I knew, everyone wanted to and then it was like herding cats *laughing. At one point, I'm pretty sure I was getting flustered and one of the kids brought the color button basket and showed me where the bell was and said here you go... you can use these if no one is listening to you. I guess that was a hint. They use the green, yellow and red button system in their class so as soon as I started changing some colors they piped down. I hated to do it, but if not I was about to have 23 unruly first graders on my hands. They almost chewed me up and spit me out. I left feeling like I barely survived two hours then immediately had this new found appreciation for parents who have more than two kids and elementary school teachers! God bless them all! All in all, we did have fun and it was an incredible experience I was grateful to have. I feel so lucky right now to have the chance to be a stay at home mom so that I can take the time to do these kinds of things. These are the days and years I will never get back and wouldn't trade for anything in the world. 

How did I get so lucky?

After I picked the baby up, we went back to get Kamden from school. I told him if he ended the day on the green button we could visit his favorite local toy store, Toys & Co. and he might be able to get a St. Patty's day surprise. So of course he did and couldn't wait to go! He picked out a new Bruder tractor and plow and was one happy boy. We walked around to kill time waiting on Keith to get off work since we were on that side of town. After he got off work we all went out for dinner. Fridays are usually our traditional pizza and movie night, but we attempted to go to an Irish pub for some festive food but as we passed by the one downtown the line was already down the block, so it was a no go. We ended up at Riverside Tavern and lucky for us they had a special St. Pat's day menu. As we were walking out, Kamden picked me three flowers and told me this is what each one meant:

1. Because I love you
2. Because you were a good teacher today
3. Because you got me a toy

So I guess that means today was a win and definitely one for the memory books.