Lenny the Leprechaun Strikes Again!

Did anyone catch the leprechaun last week? Sweet Pea gave it another try this year. Last year she set up an elaborate trap involving string, bait, weights and triggers to ensnare the elusive leprechaun. This year she modified her efforts by rigging an alarm to wake her when the leprechaun went for her bait.

SP's bait was a trail of homemade paper coins leading to an upside down wastebasket suspended with yarn by her bed. The trail of coins started at the other end of her room next to a note placed on top of her alarm clock. The plan was for Lenny the Leprechaun to read the note (stating press here for gold), press the alarm button, waking SP just in time to spring her trap.

SP's enthusiasm even got her brother in on the action too. He left a trail of paper coins too, not leading to a trap but to a list of leprechaun questions. His letter started out by wishing the leprechaun a lucky day and that he left a cup of Granny Smith Sweet Green Apple applesauce for him. He later wrote that his mom took the applesauce and he would have to find it in the refrigerator. N1S also wrote that he will not be setting any traps. By morning all of N1S's coins were gone and his questions were all answered in green marker. The leprechaun also signed his name in Gaelic which he must have looked up on the Internet. I'm pretty sure Number One Son knew what was going on but he still played along for his little sister.

I guess the leprechaun was too wily to fall for SP's note. In the morning SP's paper money was gone, but the kindly Lenny left her a box of orange flavored Tic-Tac's in trade.

I'm not sure if SP really expects to catch a leprechaun each year or if she just intends to trick her parents into giving her a treat every March. Either way, I'd say we all are pretty lucky to have Lenny to entertain us.

Luck of the Sweet Peas

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope no one got pinched today. I know we all had our green on. There have been many years where I have forgotten to wear green and I received my share of pinches. But Sweet Pea wasn't going to let me forget this year.

When I picked SP and her friend, 'J',up after school, they were both chattering about the Leprechaun trap set up in SP's friend's class. From what I could eavesdrop, her class decorated a box and placed various Leprechaun treats inside. I asked, 'J', what kind of treats do Leprechauns like?

She said, "I don't remember. Pretzels I think."

I then inquired as to what they were going to do with their Leprechaun if they actually caught one.

"We're going to keep him in the empty fish tank and look at him.", she answered.

That sounds like a lot of fun for the Leprechaun.

That night, SP's creative energy was buzzing. When bedtime rolled around, she had her own Leprechaun trap all ready to spring in her bedroom. On the floor at the foot of her bed, SP had brought up her indoor tent to sleep in and be ready for any Leprechaun action. Firstly, she made a trail of homemade paper money, coins and bills.

The Whoopee Cushion was at the start of the money trail, right next to her pillow, and acted as the 'alarm' to wake SP in the night so she could exit her tent and watch the Leprechaun greedily follow his trail to entrapment.

She then rigged her waste basket with string.

Next she ran the string across her bed and anchored it to her book baskets. Her horse 'Paint', her lamb and her dolphin all pitched in.
The final 'bait' was a half box decorated with a picture of 'Leanie (pronounced Lennie) The Leprechaun', with a half empty box of Jolly Rancher Chews and an acorn from who knows how many summers past. This was where SP, after her Whoopee Cushion wake up, would pull the string and drop the waste basket on her unlucky prey.

When Lady Di saw the energy and excitement that SP was putting into her creation, she just had to put her Keep-Your-Room-Clean Mom sense away for the night.

Before going to bed, I asked SP the same question that I asked her friend. "What will you do if you really catch one?"

"I will probably just talk to him a little and then set him free.", she said.

Sounds like a catch and release program.

In the morning, before SP awoke, Lady Di snuck into her room and place a St. Patrick's Day scarf under the waste basket and stepped on the Whoopee Cushion as she stealthily slipped out of the room while SP was still groggy.

SP came running into our room with wild eyes to show us what she had trapped. "I told you they're real!", she shouted. "You didn't believe, Dad didn't believe and Number One Son didn't believe! But I knew all along."

So she got to wear a really cool scarf to school that all her friends oooh'd and aaah'd over when she told them the story.

I think Leanie followed her home from school to take his scarf back.

Happy Green Day!