Tea Party Redux

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I'm not Irish, but Dylan and I will be decked out in green at the zoo today, while Abbey will be wearing some variation of pink or purple.  Such is life in the closet of a three-year-old in love with pink.

My days of celebrating with flat, green beer are over, but there are still many delicious beverages to be enjoyed on this day of the Irish.  One of those beverages is tea.  Invisible tea, to be exact.

Since our tea party playdate, Abbey has been into tea parties.

Since I stopped nursing, Dylan has been into napping (more on that in another post!)

Therefore, a few opportunities have arisen for Abbey and I to play Cootie (too many mini-pieces for Dylan's quick fingers).  And then have Cootie tea parties.  In case you aren't aware, all Cooties love to have tea parties with tea and pizza, even "Little Brother Cootie".

Unfortunately, Abbey's love of tea parties is overshadowed by her love of looking at pictures, specifically pictures of herself.  I tried to casually take some photos of our Cootie Tea Party (so I can blackmail her she can't deny these moments in twelve years), and she immediately went into picture mode, which involves making the goofiest faces and most contorted poses and then sweetly asking, "Can I see THAT one?"

Remember when you didn't get to see the picture until you paid to have it developed?  I am thrilled those days are over, because I would be paying for many, many shots of silliness and little hands grabbing for the camera.

Abbey is always, always the pink Cootie

I shudder to think of what will happen when she plays with another pink lover, like her BFF Brendan

she's dancing here

sister and little brother Cootie are having tea

mommy Cootie has fallen apart

daddy Cootie is going to get the pizza

(without his head)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It wasn't that long ago that St. Patrick's Day meant drinking some green beer at PT O'Malley's at Michigan State.  What can I say?  The school's official colors are green and white - practically an invitation for a special St. Pat's celebration.  Not to mention that Ryan and I ran into each other the day after St. Patrick's Day one year.  Ever the liberated woman (LOL), I asked him if he wanted to get dinner sometime.  Without that forward move on my part, today's celebration might never have taken place!

Hooray for little boys in green!  Dylan was really living it up.  We didn't name him Dylan Patrick for nothing :)

My girl sporting her green...

...and pink and yellow and purple.  She picked the leggings herself.  Really.

Abbey has been talking about cupcakes since her birthday.  We decided (well, I guess I decided, since I am the only one who can reach the KitchenAid mixer) to make some green cupcakes to celebrate the day.  I had the ingredients for the cupcakes on hand, but we needed to go to the store to get the stuff for frosting.  Thankfully, the weather was absolutely beautiful (in the 60s, which is unseasonably warm for this time of the year), so we all piled into the double stroller to go to the store.  Dylan slept later than normal in the afternoon, so we didn't have time to frost them before dinner, but Abbey enjoyed her frosting-less cupcake anyway.  I finished the sweet treats after dinner.  There was no green beer in sight, but I think even the most thirsty of St. Patrick's Day partiers would have enjoyed our cupcakes at the end of the day!