Class Party

The last time we enjoyed a play date with the Bell Quads, I mentioned feeling a bit sad that my kids don’t have the opportunity for class holiday parties. I don’t know why, that just seems to be something fun for little kids to do. Noting the fact that between us we have a full capacity Mother’s Day Out class, Amber suggested we have a little class party of our own for Saint Patrick’s Day. Brilliant!

Originally, Amber intended to hostess this shindig. However, her crew became extremely ill last month and was under quarantine orders for four weeks! I started feeling a bit loony after our week-long escapade with a stomach bug so I can only imagine what she experienced. I invited the Bells to our house in hopes of providing fresh scenery.

Keeping up with the party theme, I dressed everyone in assorted Saint Patrick’s Day attire. Oddly enough, several of them came from hand me down bins. Amber and her crew also dressed the part in shades of green.

Amber brought themed plates and party decor while I served a green meal. For the main course, I wanted to serve a new family favorite (it is a super easy recipe that also happens to be green in color #WINNER). The recipe originally came from Picky Palate, but my family wasn’t fond of it as is. After making several tweaks to the recipe, I came up with one my family demolishes. Seriously, my kids eat 3-4 servings each when I make this meal so I knew Amber’s kids would approve as well. To make the green menu complete, I served steamed broccoli, a tossed green salad, and key lime yogurt bites.

While I was tossing ingredients together for our class party, I prepped two more batches for freezer meals. We have several friends with new babies, and I know freezer meals are among the most appreciated gifts for new moms. In case you want to give this recipe a spin…

While I plated dinner, Amber introduced paint with water books she scored at Target’s One Spot. It was shockingly quiet as these little artists went to work. It really resembled a little preschool class.

When dinner was ready, both Amber and I marveled at how big our kids have gotten. I couldn’t help but reminisce about our first play date that involved doling out several rounds of bottles, assembling four pack ‘n’ plays, and alternating kids through the quad table. It was A LOT of work in those days. Now the eight of them can gather around a dinner and feed themselves using utensils.

Amber’s party plates were really cute, but I really loved them when it was time to clean up after dinner. I simply tossed eight plates into the garbage instead of washing them. After dinner, the kids spent time in the playroom before we changed all eight into pajamas. And, just like “school” all eight gathered on the playroom rug for story time. It was absolutely precious watching all eight sprawled out or crouched around to listen.

When the bedtime hour approached, the quads bid their buddies farewell with hugs (ADORABLE!). George and I tucked our four in, and then I helped Amber load her crew into the Suburban. I’d say it was a ~~“class party”~~ quad play date success!