The Gaylords: March 2011

Ok, I know this title sounds a bit creepy, but this is what Grant decided on calling the Leprechaun that was to arrive at our house (and coincidently on the same day at school).
It all started when I picked him up from school and he had a funny mustache on...I asked him, "Grant, why do you have a mustache painted on your face?" To this he replied, "For when the "Sneaky Man" comes to our school to steal the pot of gold coins". Hmm, I thought, apparently the "Sneaky Man" is how they are referring to "leprechauns" at school. Is this more PC than Leprechaun? Are there some tiny little men with red beards, hats and silly shoes living underneath the rainbow that will be offended if we call them Leprechauns? Regardless, I figured out what he was talking about and we carried on from there: Here is a photo of Grant, Gwen and Cam (our neighbor's grandaughter who Grant thinks "is GREAT") riding their scooters after school that day:

Other misconceptions/conversations regarding St. Patrick's day with Grant:

1)Lesson 1: Clovers are not Clovers in Grant's eyes: Me;"Grant, look! Your school has hung a clover flag!" Grant: "Mom, that's not a clover, that's broccoli".

2)Lesson 2: Apparently, the latest and greatest project to do with your kids is to make a "trap and attempt to catch "the Sneaky Man" when he comes to your house (in my 30 + years, I've NEVER heard of this tradition).

Now, realize that it was 2 pm when I realized this new tradition after reading about it on a friend's facebook page; I, of course, went into "oh my gosh my kids will be scarred for life if I don't make a Sneaky Man trap with them" mode and scoured the internet looking for something I could put together with them and not spend a ton of $ building. Here is what we came up with:

Green felt wrapped around an empty bread crumb container, with a construction paper "trap" lid. On top is some "gold bait (ie. Reeces Peanut Butter cups) The idea here folks is that the Leprechaun, er...Sneaky Man...will notice the gold bait on top and climb up the ladder to snatch it, but will be surprised when the top of the hat caves in! Brilliant! This MUST work!

3) Lesson 3: Apparently the "Sneaky Man" has gained rank with the Easter Bunny and Santa.

Grant to me, "Mom, do you think the Sneaky Man will leave me presents?" Me: "Grant the Sneaky man is not the Easter Bunny, nor is he Santa Claus. In fact, he is SO SNEAKY that he's kind of mean and he steals all of the gold money from people." Translation: Come on kid! Give your mom a break! I put together this Leprechaun trap project idea in the last 2 hours at work, I DID NOT have time to think of buying you presents to go along with this idea. Sheesh!

Luckily, I had stashed away a couple of Hero masks that the Easter Bunny WAS going to leave in their baskets.....

As you can clearly see, the Sneaky Man, came, climbed the ladder, took the gold bait, and left the kids' hero masks...left a trail of rainbow Skittles....but he did not get caught..this year.

Grant jumped 3 feet out of bed when I told him to wake up and go see if he "caught the Sneaky Man". Here's the video from it:

Grant looks for the Sneaky Man

Don't mind Gwen SCREAMING in the background. She's quite a mommy's girl in the mornings and was NOT happy Dad went to get her from her crib.

Oh, and one other FABULOUS recipe I want to share from The Yummy Mummy blog:

Chocolate Stout Salted Ganache cupcakes

Here's a picture of the ones I made for our St. Patty's day celebration

Well now, I did mention in my first post that I had no idea where I was going to find the time to update this and it's so much easier to post immediate pictures onto my facebook account....but I have been saving these few pictures to share with all of you.

I've been WAITING and WAITING for this bento box to arrive from Japan....I purchased it from the online store Jlist and although it took a while to get here ( blue was back ordered initially and then the 10 day delivery from Japan), it was worth the wait when I showed Grant and he said

"A LEGO box for my lunch! Sonya (his teacher) is going to love it".

It's a two layer box: On the bottom layer today, I packed him Mac 'n Cheese muffin from The Sneaky Chef which I had kept frozen in our deep freeze since the last time I made them, edamame, and chicken apple sausage from Trader Joes (on "swords" that I also bought from Jlist)

Here's a pic of the chicken apple sausage from Trader Joes (did I mention that I went into the store ONLY to buy an $8.00 pack of EmergenC and came out $150.00 later?) Grant and Gwen both love these--and convenient for moms because they are already pre-cooked--I just warm them up a bit in some EVOO in the morning before I pack lunches...nice change up from the turkey meatballs I often send.