Saint Pats

Another St. Patricks day has come and gone in our household.
And, as is custom in this house, the kids scavenge our recycling for things to trap the leprechaun the night before so we are left inventing a makeshift trap at the last minute.
This year Sadie conceived most of the plan. Since the leprechaun usually runs away before a trap can fall on top of him, this year she wanted a trap he could fall INTO. Clever. Also making my lying responsibility more difficult butwhateveritsaboutthekidsandnotme.
We took a milk box, cut a square on top and then replaced it so the weight of the leprechaun, when standing on it to get the 'treasure', would fall in and be trapped. They wrote their notes and went to bed.
The highlight of this for me was Elliet. She came to me privately and asked me if this is really real, so I confided in her that it wasn't and invited her to help me make it fun for Sadie and Luke. She lit up and loved it. It was so fun to have her be part of it, hence her wink in the photo.



Our 'escape plan' in the end was a hole cut out of the box at the bottom and the leprechauns note said he used his magic to get out. Bummer! But this has renewed Sadie's determination to catch him. She said next year we are going to use a metal trap so he CANNOT get out, even with his magic. Maybe Mom will just spill the magic beans, as it were.

Luke's Lesson

A couple of weeks ago I bought the Puss N Boots movie for the kids and they have been watching it a lot. This new mania influenced them to repeatedly ask me about making 'costumes' for their stuffed animal kitties. Note: Luke does not have a kitty, but a lion named Patrick. This was important way back when he wanted to participate in the playing.
I, of course, agreed to do this (this is where my friends say I deserved what's coming) so we went to Michaels and bought the felt and feathers.
I cut out little hats, glued on feathers and made little belts. I also made tiny boots for each kitty (plus lion) and was about to put a gun to my throat (WHY do I agree to this stuff?!), but they were thrilled and it benefits me in the end because hours of playtime ensue.
WELL,...
We come home from church on Sunday and Luke informs me his Lion's belt is stretched out and loose. I told him I would make him another one after I make lunch.
Five minutes later, Luke comes in and says this to me:
"Mom, I think I accidentally made a mistake". In his hands is his Lion thickly waisted with Luke's black, leather church belt cut in half and belted around him. I was so mad! Could he not have waited 10 minutes!? His lion is the best dressed animal in our house with a genuine leather costume around his waist! Stinker. Soon after I left for choir and told some of my friends who just laughed and said that's what I get for making creative costumes for their animals. I guess they are right.
I returned home with a softened heart, had a talk with Luke, doled out his punishment which he accepted, and took photos so I could document this moment and rub it in his face when he has sons of his own. :) I'm a good Mom, huh.

Proud little Patrick. Hmph.

The Last... Month?

Well, Hi There! Did you think I had vanished for good? I did. I am going to be honest here. I am really losing motivation to blog. I don't know if it's laziness or aging or what, but I am just really not that interested in sharing my experiences with others lately. I am already sharing them with the family and friends that I would do them with anyway, right? This, my friends, is the senile in me coming to the surface. But this is not fair because without blogs and such, I wouldn't know what was going on with my peeps. PS- I am aware of the hypocrisy sprinkled throughout that opinion. I know I make no sense.
Anyway, I recently made a photo book of my kids and realized what a great journal and timeline this blog has been for me and my fam-damily, so I need to keep it up.
So on to latest Leaver things. I guess I should sum up that, oh... has a month or more gone by since I have posted? February came and went... I did not bother impressing others with cute Valentines for my kids (Target sufficeth and the Leaverites were happy and did prosper), Rich and Randi visited which was SO fun, we've enjoyed the blossoming trees and warming weather, etc. etc. Luke has been playing his Lego Pirates of the Caribbean Wii game (and I just HAVE to play with him), so we've been Pirate heads at our house. I bent my PG-13 rule and have shown them the movies one by one, slowly and steadily (does that justify my sin?) and it's been really fun to have them enjoy them. Unfortunately it required me to make pirate hats and swords for play time but that is what I have a glue gun for, right? Oh, and juicy bit: Elliet has experienced (as far as I know) her first crush on Orlando Bloom. She just loves 'Will Turner' but turns pink when I tease her about it. :))))
Enough babble. Pics:
I took the kids to the Springs Preserve playground one beautiful day they were out of school.

We also enjoyed the Lorax last weekend (Eh... it was okay. Maybe a 7. I wanted another Despicable Me but no such luck. Listening to Z. Efron is never bad, though.)
Ha- look at the kids in this photo. Sadie will kill me for this one day.

The kids have been creative, as usual, with their play time.
This was how I found Sadie's stuffed animal, SHOVED into a barbie dress. It's an armless Cat princess!

I nicknamed Sadie 'Sadie-bug' since she was little. One day I drew a Sadie bug on her board.
The next day I found her reply.

She also rewrote Tinkerbell's Pixie Hollow Pledge "Faith, Trust and Fairy Dust", to "Fifty Bucks". Money. Smart girl. She knows what those tinkers really want. She drew a graph to illustrate this, no less!

The new sign before ascending the stairs. Consider yourself warned.