Dia Duit

Dia Duit!  ("Hello" in Gaelic, which is the official language of Ireland.)
With a budding voice actor in the house, who is always speaking with some sort of accent, and another who can't acquire enough information about Ireland...our house is all abuzz about St. Patrick's Day.

To the secular world, St. Patrick's Day is about leprechauns, good luck, and beer, but the day does have a deeper meaning.  Did you know ... 

At 16, Patrick was kidnapped, taken to Ireland, and enslaved, forced to work as a sheepherder.  After six years he escaped and returned home to his family in Wales.  Not much else is known about St. Patrick and his teachings (mostly Catholic, I suspect), but it is said, that he returned to Ireland as a missionary and used the 3 leaf clover to explain the Trinity.   Love that symbolism.

It's fun to take advantage of holidays to learn about other countries.  Last year, Eric took the older boys out for corned beef and cabbage.  Unbeknownst to him, he started a new tradition.  The boys are really looking forward to going out with Dad again and this time, Dan will be going along too.  It's the "man thing"...just some fun with Dad.

While they are out enjoying their Irish feast, we'll have our tea party that didn't happen on Leap Year Day.  Some girl fun...enjoying Irish Breakfast tea and 3 leaf clover cookies, of course.

Hannah thought it would be fun to serve an traditional Irish dinner that evening.  She's been researching recipes and will be cooking it for us.  :-) I am sure it will be accompanied by some great Celtic music too.

To top off the day, Caleb's contribution will be a fun, frothy green drink for all the kids to enjoy.  It's called Yoda Soda from the Star Wars cookbook.

I hate to make blog posts without pictures, but I promise to post them afterwards. :-)