Lucky, lucky you!

Although the way St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in America makes no sense to me, it's still so fun to shake things up a bit! The kids were so excited this morning...almost as excited as Christmas. Serious. (And that's a bit embarrassing!)

After scouring the town last night for a sneaky leprechaun, I came up empty handed except for one small garden gnome that I found in the gardening section of the drug store. There's nothing a new coat of paint can't do, right? The remainder of the night was spent repainting the spring-welcoming gnome into a
You see, I couldn't let the imagination of two little munchkins down. After all, Roundabout had spent the majority of the afternoon hand sewing a blanket to serve as a enticing lure to the trap she and Green Light designed. When I returned from my outing, the kids were tucked snugly into bed and outside of their bedroom door, I found this

That little mischievous leprechaun wreaked all sorts of havoc around the homeplace. Things like...dumped out toys bins, scattered laundry, overturned chairs, a piano bench on top of the entertainment center, a gallon of green milk, but most surprising of all to the munchkins...

It was a day full of surprises. Luckily, the that little green guy did manage to fill our shoes with plenty of gold-wrapped goodies before he fell fast asleep under the hand-sewn green platchwork blanket in the "leprechaun trap". He slept there all night until one unsuspecting soul quietly opened the lid of the trap and "actually saw him alive and sleeping in there". She slowly closed the lid back, used the bathroom (and subsequently found the green toilet water), and then prepared to capture him with her hands. Just as I had warned her about leprechauns, that sneaky guy froze as soon as he realized that a person had spotted him.

She carried the "frozen leprechaun" around all morning, admiring his green as grass features, noticing his gold belt buckle, and even wondering why there was a gold "Made in China" sticker stuck to the bottom of his foot. (Oops!) Quick on my feet, I replied that he must of stepped on a sticker on his way in last night.

I coaxed her into getting herself dressed for the day, which required that she put the miniature green guy down for a split second. And would you ever guess that when she freed him from her little hands and took her eyes off of him for a split second while pulling a shirt over her head, he escaped!

Our apartment was searched over, the hallway was scoured, but he was nowhere to be found. Maybe next year he'll be back. Meanwhile, we enjoyed a smokin' hot Short Stack O' Shamrocks for breakfast, a Good Luck-y Charms snack, a completely green lunch, and the traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner.

Just for kicks, here's a little recipe (thanks to Miss Betty Crocker) to go into the stash...

Peanutty Good Luck Snack
4 cups Lucky Charms cereal
1 cup peanuts
1 cup Reeses Pieces candy
1 cup yogurt covered raisins

Mix and enjoy!