Playing on St. Patty's Day

Yesterday turned out to be a little more exciting than I had originally planned (or maybe it's that originally I didn't plan!). Ryan called me a little while after getting to work, wondering if he had left his wallet at home. Sure enough, it was still on the dresser. I know he just planned to be without it all day and drive home very carefully. But I got the idea to take the 3 younger kids (Nathan was still in school) and show up at Dad's work around lunch time and surprise him.

Benjamin and Joshua were very excited -- I think more for the opportunity to eat at Dad's work than for the actual surprise factor. They love getting to eat the frozen pizzas that are at work! Ryan was surprised to see us and get his wallet, and then we went to Uncle Brett's office to say hi to him.

While we waited for the pizza to cook, Ryan made one of his famous sandwiches -- it looks beautiful, tastes amazing, uses many ingredients, and takes Ryan about 15 minutes to construct! Uncle Brett and the boys played ping pong in the adjoining room.

Brett had fun serving 3 balls at a time to Joshua.
Joshua tried 3 paddles at once. That lasted for about 30 seconds when he decided 3 is not better than 1!
Once the pizza was ready, the kids and I ate on the couch while we watched Ryan and Brett play a lively ping pong game. Brett got off to a good lead, but then Ryan came back and won the game. This puts their ongoing game total to Ryan -- 9 wins, Brett -- 0. Sorry, Brett!

This is Benjamin's whiteboard drawing; with Brett on the left, Ryan on the right, and me with the 2 boys and our pizzas on the couch (on top). Elizabeth was in her carrier on the floor, and so I guess she didn't make the picture!
The afternoon consisted of lots of great outdoor time. The weather was perfect -- so perfect that I actually did some yard work!

What to make for dinner? Some days I figure out the answer to that question much sooner than others. I kept procrastinating that decision until about 5:00 when I realized that it was St. Patrick's Day and so maybe I should make a green dinner. The kids were so excited when they saw we were having a green breakfast dinner!
Nathan looked at the scrambled eggs on the stove and asked, "What is that?"
Me: "Eggs."
Nathan: "No, really. What is it?"
Me: "Eggs. Think Green Eggs and Ham."
Nathan: "Okay. But what is that?"
It took me a few minutes to convince him that they really were eggs!

A yummy dinner was had by all -- a great end to a beautiful spring day!