Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The One That Got Away...

Alas, neither Beth nor Amy managed to catch a leprechaun this year. They did both manage to lure little green creatures into their traps, however. The leprechauns left green footprints and broke through the tissue paper. Beth's trap even had green footprints inside the pot of gold, right on the lever that closes the top, so we know that he must have been trapped inside for at least a short period of time! These little leprechauns sure are sneaky...

And now, as I look at Beth's very, very large creation, which is once again taking up most of my kitchen counter space, I am struggling with one question.

What am I supposed to do with this thing, now that St. Patrick's Day is over?!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Amy designs her own leprechaun trap

Amy was so enthralled with her big sister's creation that she begged to make her own leprechaun trap, to set here at home. So this afternoon she and Dan worked quite industriously, creating a leprechaun trap based on Amy's designs. It now sits on our fireplace mantle, with a green-frosted cookie on top, awaiting the arrival of a tiny, mischievous creature.

Here's Amy giving a detailed description of her very own leprechaun trap.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

How To Trap A Leprechaun

It's done! I think this just might be the year that Beth's first grade class finally manages to catch a leprechaun...



I'm not sure if it's my computer connection or a problem with this video, but I'm having trouble getting it to play for more than a couple of seconds. Could some of you leave me a note in the "comments" so that I know if the rest of you can view it, or if I need to try again? Thanks!!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Trapping a Leprechaun

Beth is staying up a bit late, tonight.

She and Dan are downstairs, working on her leprechaun trap. This school assignment produced a bit of anxiety for Dan and me at first. The trap must utilize some sort of "simple machine" to capture a mischievous leprechaun that might be lurking in Beth's classroom on the night of March 16th. The entire class will set their traps before leaving school that afternoon, and will arrive on March 17th eager to discover whether or not any of the traps have been successful.

I spent a few days racking my brain (and taking a peak at the millions of traps displayed on the Internet), but Dan and Beth soon came up with their own unique idea. They've been hard at work for a couple of weeks now, making a paper mache pot of gold, and they have designed a really neat way to trap the leprechaun inside the pot. Tonight, Beth is painting the pot with sparkly black paint, and decorating the rainbow that attaches to the pot of gold.

They're having a blast together with this project. I've come to realize that this is something that Beth will probably remember for the rest of her life. Hopefully, what she remembers about this experience is the time that she spent with her Dad, brainstorming ideas and then putting them into action. Whether or not the finished project works as well as planned is irrelevant, as is the final grade she receives from her teacher.

I can hear them laughing in the background right now. I'm not sure whether she'll actually manage to capture a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day, but I can already tell that this project is going to be a great success.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Ten Years Ago...

...if you would have told me that the day would come when I would actually be losing sleep worrying about whether the leprechaun trap would be working in time for the school deadline on St. Patrick's Day, I would have said you were crazy.

You're not crazy. But I think maybe I am.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

New Shoes

Amy has been complaining about "pinching shoes" for weeks now. We've promised to take her shoe shopping, but as we run from school to gymnastics to birthday parties to dance class, it's often difficult to find time for those "extra" shopping trips. But when she burst into tears while walking into school last week, I knew that we could prolong the trip no longer. So, on Friday morning we headed to the nearby outlets for our shopping extravaganza.

Erin has also begun voicing concerns about her ill-fitting shoes lately, so I had both girls' feet measured. I felt a bit guilty when I discovered that Amy's foot measured 1.5 sizes larger than the shoes she has been squeezing into, and Erin's feet have grown one full size in the last few months. We headed to the girls' section of the store, and there the chaos began.

While Brian wailed and fussed in the background, shoes began flying. Erin pulled random shoes off the shelf, irregardless of the sizes, while Amy began whining that she "was NOT going to buy shoes that match Erin's. I'm tired of matching her". I began sweating bullets while trying in vain to keep Brian quiet, Erin re-directed, and Amy happy. After many, many "try-ons", we finally found shoes for each of the girls. Brian continued to fuss and cry while we waited in the long, long line at the cash register. Finally, we made our way out of the store.

Our car was parked quite a distance from the shoe store, and by the time I finally buckled the kids into their car seats and loaded the stroller into the back of the van, I was mentally and physically exhausted.

The girls begged to wear their shoes home, so I handed each one a box of shoes. They happily donned their new footwear and held them up for me to admire.

That's when I noticed that something didn't look quite right with Erin's feet. Her shoes looked much, much too large. I climbed into the back of the van and removed her shoes.

To my horror, I discovered that she was wearing a pair of shoes that Amy had tried on and discarded. They were the same style that Erin had chosen, but unfortunately, in the chaos, we must have grabbed the wrong box.

I sat there for a full minute while I digested this situation. I then silently climbed out of the van and lugged the stroller out of the back. Ignoring Brian's wails, I unbuckled his seat belt and plopped him into the stroller. I instructed Erin to place her shoes back into the box. I located the receipt and we all trudged back to the store. We stood in another long, long line while Brian screeched at the top of his lungs. I filled out all sorts of "exchange" forms while the cashier checked my license, located the correct pair of shoes, and made the trade. Finally, we returned to the car and headed home. Everyone was happy, but Mommy was ready for bed.

Now I know why I procrastinated for so long. It might be a long, long time before I attempt another shoe-shopping venture like this. A very long, long, long time.