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Have your heard about the impending demise of Google Reader?  I'm so sad.  It's what I use everyday to keep up with all of you out in Blogland.  Luckily, I learned about Bloglovin' and it's pretty swell, if I do say so myself.  And you can import all of your current Google Reader blogs into Bloglovin' in no time.  It's super easy.  So head on over to Bloglovin' and follow me there!

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St. Patty's Day

Remember the Leprechaun Trap that we built?  Well, Little Guy was beyond excited to set it out the night before St. Patrick's Day.  So excited in fact, that when he woke up around 3 am to go potty, and he checked it and discovered that a leprechaun had gone wild in his room! I can't tell you how glad we were to be up at 3 am inspecting his trap, but these are the things you do for your children.

In case you're wondering what the note said:

I see you've left a trap for me, but I'm too smart for that, you see.

Tricking a chap is just not nice, so now you'll have to pay the price.

I've left a mess for you to clean.  It's just for fun - don't think I'm mean.

You didn't catch me, but don't you cry.  You really did give it a good try.

I've left you a special treat, that I hope you'll think is really neat!

From, 

Seamus O'Reilly

(the most Irish name I could think of)

Needless to say, we slept in a little that morning, and since we're finally getting some warm enough weather down here, we hit the beach.  The water's still to cold for our blood, but we had a great walk.

How was your St. Patrick's Day?  Did you do anything special to celebrate?

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Build a Leprechaun Trap

Little Guy had to build a leprechaun trap for school, and it turned out to be a really fun project!  We figured out a design, and used mostly materials we had lying around - except for the little pot of gold and the St. Patrick's day stickers.  Those, we found at Michael's.

Here's most of what we used.

We started out by painting an old shoebox green. Then I cut a square out of the lid, and we placed some green felt inside so leprechaun wouldn't get hurt when he fell into the trap.

I realized we had no popsicle sticks, but found I had these little forked sticks (leftover from our Pirate Unit), which worked out perfectly to form the ladder and the pole for hanging the bait.  I cut the forked part off the ladder rungs, and Little Guy started painting them.

Then, I hot glued the others together to form a pole to hang the bait.

We cut some foam to glue to the underside of the lid, so that the pole would stay upright.  I can't tell you how excited Little Guy was to do this part.

We glued papers to the underside of the lid, so that when the Leprechaun goes for the gold, he'll fall into the box! Then Little Guy got to work with the stickers while I wrapped the pole with pipe cleaners.

Tada!  Our Leprechaun Trap!  Little Guy had a blast with it at school today, and can't wait to see what he might capture on St. Patrick's day!

It's not too late to build a trap with your child.  This would be a perfect weekend activity.  You can also download my Free St. Patrick's Day Printables for some extra fun!

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Five Things

I was tagged by Jackie Jade for Five Things.  I'm supposed to write Five Things that you may not know about me, and then tag 5 bloggers to do the same.

Hmmm....ok, here we go!

1. I'm a sucker for midgrade or teen books. The characters are so full of hope and angst and naivety. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, you name it!  I'm not really sure what that says about me, but I don't really care! I even went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for my 30th birthday (where I found my newest love: Butter Beer)!

2. I have had crushes on both Savage boys.  Ben and Fred.  Kevin Arnold was soooo dreamy when I was little - I just knew I was going to marry him one day, and Cory Matthews was such a sweet boyfriend.  By the way, have you heard about this spin off?! Stoked far beyond what's appropriate for my age. 

3.  We live approximately 10 minutes from the beach, and....I don't really like going to the beach.  I like the idea of the beach, but seriously, I'm the mom.  Do you know what that means?  I'm the one who has to prep for the beach day, and then I'm the one who has to unpack, rinse, and launder the aftermath and I've developed a touch of hatred for sand. It sticks to everything!  We go anyway.  Every. Week. From March/April to October. But seriously, give me a pool or let's go hit the springs instead!

4. I can pretty much recite verbatim The Goonies and The Neverending Story, and frequently quote both. They are my all time favorite movies. Hey, no judging lest I bust out my Pinchers of Power or call for my Luck Dragon!!  

5.  Growing up, I always, always wished I was a twin. I have no idea where it came from, but I wanted so badly to have a twin sister. 

Hope you enjoyed reading my random facts!

I'm tagging:  Chloe from Rainbows and Honeysuckle, Ashley from Him & Her, Colleen from Five Little Homesteaders, Bethany from Life Unexpected, and Carly from Texas Lovebirds.  

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Sugar Free Orange Cranberry Muffins

I guess by now you are getting used to my compulsive need to create treats out of over ripe bananas like my healthy banana ice cream, or the banana oat cookies, or even the chocolate banana muffins, but these....

These muffins right here....

Oh. My. Goodness.  These are ahhmazing!  I kid you not.

You see, we have this orange tree in our backyard, and since it's already starting to blossom, I figured I'd better get to pickin' and use up the oranges on it.

If you don't have an orange tree, don't fret.  Oranges are in season right now, so I'm sure you'll be able to find some.  You'll only need two for this recipe.  Here's a list of ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour (sub at your discretion)
1/2 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp banking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp ground flax seed (this goes in everything!)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (sub fresh at your discretion)

Wet ingredients:

2 oranges (peeled)
1 over ripe banana
1/2 cup honey

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Peel two oranges, place in food processor, and pulse for about 15 seconds. Should make 1/2 cup of pulp.

Mix processed oranges, honey, and mashed banana.

Add to dry ingredients and mix.

Mix in dried cranberries before spooning into lined muffin tin.

Bake at 375 for 20 min. More or less, depending on your oven - just keep an eye on them starting around 15 min.  When a toothpick comes out clean, they are done. 

Enjoy while still warm for extra yum factor!  

Did you try these out?  Let me know how you like them!

You can find this post at:  Homemade Mondays, The Winthrop Chronicles, Tell Me Tuesday, Too Cute Tuesday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, Whatever You Want Wednesday, Your Green Resource,

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Skinny Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

Do you ever get a hankering for wings? Do you wonder what kind of person uses the word hankering? Is it even a real word?

Anyway. Sometimes I'm in the mood for some wings, and I think, "Hey, I should have Hubby bring some home for dinner."  Until I snap out of that and realize that it's not Saturday (our take out day), I want them now, and they are so bad for me! So I sat, wingless, and hungry until I came up with this brilliant idea!

A Skinny Buffalo Chicken Sandwich!  Yes, I'm aware that it would be skinnier without the bread, but then it wouldn't be a sandwich, now, would it?

At lunchtime, I don't usually have a chicken breast thawed and ready for the grill, but I do have a huge pack of canned chicken breast my parents picked up for us at Sam's.  Score!

I used:

1 can chicken breast
1 tbsp ranch dressing
1 tbsp buffalo sauce (if you don't have this, you can make it by mixing melted butter and hot sauce)
spinach leaves
2 slices of whole grain bread
green onion

*I'd like to add here that this would be a big, mamma-jamma can of chicken which makes more than just one sandwich worth, so if you're using a regular, tuna sized can, you probably want to go 1 tsp, not 1 tbsp on the sauces.

Mix the chicken, wing sauce, ranch, and green onion.

Top a slice of bread layered with spinach with the chicken mixture, and toss it (ok, gently set it) on a flat top or in a pan. No need for butter here, this is a skinny sandwich. Here you can add a slice of your cheese of choice, or not, it's your sandwich.

Pair it with some baby carrots and you've got yourself a wayyyyy healthier alternative to wings, but with all the flavors.

Score!

You may find this post linked up at these places.

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