Happy {Belated} St. Patrick’s Day

Happy {belated} St. Patrick’s Day to you all!  We had a great day yesterday enjoying our Irish heritage.  It finally thawed out enough here in Chicago for us to be able to go outside and explore the yard.

We went hunting for sticks and rocks around our yard and boy were there a lot!  We have tons of trees around us, so once the snow melts, there are plenty of great sticks to be found.

This was Miss Matilda’s main look the entire time we were outside.  She was in amazement of so many things – especially the wind-chime that we have hanging from a tree.  It is so amazing to see the world through your children’s eyes – it really made me appreciate all that we have and the area in which we live.

We went to look for our favorite ducks (we live right next to a very large river), but I don’t think it is quite warm enough for them to make their appearance yet.  They were probably staying on shore for the most part, but I bet in a couple weeks we will see them.  There’s a really cute male and female duck that walk around our neighborhood every year – they seem so in love – it is very sweet to see.

My mom made these sweet St. Patrick’s day dresses for the girls.  I love how they turned out with all the ruffled ribbon and grosgrain ribbon trim – too cute!

My husband made two loaves of his family recipe for Irish Soda bread.  It is delicious every single year!

Brett (The Cottage Papa) typically doesn’t get home from work until later, but for St. Patrick’s day he made a special effort to be home early so we could have a family dinner.  I was in charge of the corned beef, cabbage and potatoes and they turned out mighty good, if I do say so myself.  I make my corned beef in the crock-pot.  I just stick it in there with the seasonings – no water or anything and about 6-8 hours later, cooked on low it is ready.  I have this thought every year on St. Patrick’s day – Why we don’t eat corned beef more often? – it is so yummy.