SPRING BREAK DAY 3: IRISH TWIN DAY

It's been a while since Sundays were a day of rest. I honestly try to make them a restful day, but they just get filled up with things. But after what I was able to accomplish today, I can see that if I just plan better and put a little bit more effort into the preparation, Sundays really can be awesome.

Today was SO packed. from beginning to end. and I survived partially because of the preparation I put into it. the other portion was the grace of God. I say grace because none of this was necessary. I undeservingly was given a pretty good day even though I brought this upon myself. literally, no one told me to do this. It was all me who insisted this happen. I do it because I want to. And that is the psycho part. But I have a hard time letting go of traditions, especially this one. it's just special to me.

Years ago, when I had two babies that were 11 months apart (or Irish twins, as the saying goes), they turned the same age for the first time. Yes, in the very month of March, for just 25 days, my two eldest are the same age. And it hit me, on St. Patrick's day, that my IRISH TWINS were the SAME AGE literally on that very day, and would be every single year. and it felt SO FUN and too coincidental to just look past it. I turned it into a holiday for our family. I called it IRISH TWIN DAY, and while I still have a bit of St. Patty fun in there, I also made it into a day to celebrate our family with some festivities. And as our family grew, I continued, and added more and more things until I settled on some main events that we still do today.

I started with green crepes for breakfast... but I forgot to make them green at first, haha! hilarious. and only two kids like crepes so... not gunna do crepes again! lesson learned.

we somehow made it out the door on time to church. it was a good meeting, with talks about self-reliance and testimonies about goals and God helping us do hard things. I had thoughts and feelings but was mostly happy that my kids were mostly reverent for all of sacrament meeting. however, things went south when it was time for Sunday school. Ebenezer would not go to class. I sat with him in the nursery, hoping he would come around. He did not. but I was so thankful that I went in there because I found Charles' missing scriptures that James had lost. That was a huge blessing. I tried abandoning Ebenezer for the last fifteen minutes of church so I could go to Sunday school, but I really regret doing that. The poor kid was traumatized and I felt like a major jerk at the end of church. so sad. I hurried home to drop off everyone for lunch and then hurried back for choir practice. it was humbling.

as soon as I got home, it was time to round up the troops for our holiday festivities. first up was an epic treasure hunt. I used AI this time to generate rhyming clues and it did not disappoint. I got up so early this morning and hid all the clues and treasure and it was SO FUN.

then came our gratitude clovers. we use our thumbprints in green paint to make four leaf clovers and write what makes us LUCKY. I feel mine more and more each year.

there is always someone who hates our activities. this year it started out as walter.

an attempt to smile

Ebenezer's clover and his smashed chocolate egg. 

then came a game called TWIN PICTURES. my kids are grouped with a 'twin' and they have to match each other's poses perfectly for a picture.

again, walter was NOT having it.

Then came the three-legged race. this is where the bad attitude left Walter and traveled to Leena. she could not get over the fact that she lost the race.

Next came the egg/spoon relay. this year I did boiled eggs and it was much better. I was proud of those who followed rules and gave it their best. some people just... gave up altogether.

Then came the playdough game. One twin stands behind the other and shapes something out of playdough while the other twin guesses. 

Next up was back-to-back artistry. One twin tells the other what they are drawing and how to draw it, then they turn around to see how close they got to making the same picture.

We also chose someone to bring a box of lucky charms to, to let them know how LUCKY we are to know them. This time we picked our neighbor friends, Unis and Abdula, who seemed to appreciate it.

We usually watch a 'twin movie' for Irish Twin Day, but because it was on Sunday and the day was busy, I deleted it from our agenda this year. 

We finished off the festivities by playing "twin" games that are for two players or have to do with twins... like... checkers, matching, battleship, connect four, and fast-track. 

for a good while, everyone was getting along and having fun. it felt like a success. I was happy. then we hurried and cleaned up, I made a quick dinner of kabobs (nothing to do with anything) and I gave the kids instructions and my mom and I left for the RS broadcast.

it was a good meeting. filled to the brim with great messages, but even more than that were the testimonies shared afterward. I am one blessed person to have so many good women in my life.

when we got home, it was late. but being the stubborn human that I am, I still wanted to have family church with my kids. I let them choose to go to bed or stay up for family church. Only four of them chose to join me for family church. we made books of Mormon and shared our testimonies. it was nice.

 I genuinely feel so grateful for the Book of Mormon, and I have a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my testimony and I can feel it growing more each day. I know God has a plan and that I can have hope in Jesus Christ. I truly believe that the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints is a true church and that we have a living prophet on the earth today who speaks as God's messenger and is God's mouthpiece. I have felt the spirit confirm this time and time again.

after getting everyone to bed, my mom and I had calendar meeting. she busted out some cheesecake she had bought the day before and I stuffed my face. then I did  my homework and barely got it in on time. I also spoke to Jeff on the phone and he is counting down the days until he sees us.