Our favorite new holiday around here - St. Patricks Day!

The two 1st grade boys in this group, Caleb and Nathan, both had the idea to make a trap for a leprechaun the day before March 17th.  Of course all the other kids wanted to join the fun, so here is the neighborhood clan hard at work.

They created golden money and messages that they attached to their trap to lure the little guy.  This one was the best -

This is what it ended up looking like - a wooden ramp leading to a container that the leprechaun would drop into (thus the cushioning grass bottom).  We also read on-line that because of their Irish background, leprechauns really enjoy potatoes.  They put a couple of those in the container.

It was supposed to rain that night, so we moved the trap under the Rudy's covered porch, and this is what it looked like the next morning:

It was in disarray and covered with small green footprints! There was a note signed with the same footprint and a pot of golden chocolate bars for all to share as well.

What great smiles! See what I mean about being a new favorite holiday? 

Spring Fever

I seems like spring has come especially early this year, or we never really had a winter - I'm not sure which!  March has brought with it quite a few 80 degree days already, the daffodils have already come and almost gone and now the tulips are showing up.  So the other day when the girls were begging to do a "project", I just so happened to have all the empty toilet paper rolls necessary for some spring flowers.  Courtesy of Family Fun Magazine, these turned out pretty neat.  It did end up being a 2-day project (I always forget paint has to dry) which was a little disappointing to the girls, but they did love the end product!