An Egg Hunt, Some Soap and Another Egg Hunt

What started out to be a relatively calm day for me, turned into a morning full of activities that reached into the afternoon.  Our wonderful neighbor, Sherrin, came over to make Easter soaps with the girls.  Before we even got started, Tammy called to ask if we were going to the Easter Egg Hunt right here in Jordan.  Honestly, I had thought about it, but pushed it aside because of my school work and the soap making.

We quickly made the decision to go meet Tammy and the boys at the park and then make the soap when we got back home.  Sherrin joined us at the park.  The hunt was mass chaos but the kids managed to get their limit of four goodie bags, one large egg and one small egg.  The large eggs were to be turned in at the shelter in the park for a prize.

The kids posed for a quick picture while waiting in line to trade their big egg in for a prize.

Once it was our turn, the kids handed over their big eggs and one by one they reached into a bag and drew out a slip of paper with a prize written on it.  Christian won a ball and Heath got an elephant webkin.  Alyssa won a white puppy webkin and Madison was the big winner with a pink singing Easter bunny that came with a $10.00 gift card to Target!

 After the hunt, we headed back home to make our soaps with Sherrin.  The girls had a lot of fun making bunny soap, fruit shaped soap and spring flowers.  By the time we finished the soaps and a quick lunch, we were out the door again to meet Tammy and boys at their park in Prior Lake for another egg hunt.  Although the prizes for the egg hunt were nothing compared to Jordan, it didn't matter to the girls as there were ponies to ride and that made their day.

Alyssa:

 

 Madison:

All the eggs just waiting to be claimed by way too many kids ... they were gone within minutes and many kids didn't get any at all.

All smiles ... remember ... we got to ride ponies!

Daddy/Daughter Project ... Lego Friends!

Today while mommy was away volunteering at the women's shelter, then sitting at school wishing I was home ... daddy and the girls were busy doing a daddy daughter project!  Their mission was to successfully assemble the new Lego Friends set the girls talked daddy into buying last night at the Lego store!

 The finished product ... Lego Beauty Salon!

11 Years Ago Today ...

mommy and daddy were married on a beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Our girls decided to help us celebrate by "taking us out" to Crave for dinner.  They also surprised mommy (with daddy's help) with beautiful flowers and a Barnes & Noble gift card.

We celebrated with a round of drinks ... martinis for us and chocolate milks for the girls!

We are a lucky couple to have found each other and to have been blessed with our little girls ...

A Grand Slam Birthday ... Happy 6th Birthday Christian!

The girls had a big afternoon/evening today arriving at Grand Slam to help Christian celebrate his birthday in an adolescent heaven.  The girls were treated to miniature golf pirate style, their very first experience with laser tag and bumper cars!  The entire party of kids hit the golf course first thing and all made their way through 18 holes.  Tammy even managed a picture of them all at around the eighth tee.

After miniature golf, the kids went into laser tag training and played a good game, that apparently the girls team managed to somehow win as a few dejected boys exited the game.  The gang was then off to give the bumper cars a try ... something that the girls repeated at least three more times before we headed for home.

Next up was a dinner of cheese pizza and cupcakes in the party room.  The kids finished up eating and Christian opened up his gifts, which he seemed pleased with all the way around.

Some of the kids hit laser tag for another round and some of the kids played another 18 holes on the golf course.  The girls had a wonderful time ... Happy Birthday Christian!!

The One That Got Away

Awoken this morning to overlapping squeals from the girls ... "We caught one!!! It worked!  It worked!  Mom it worked!!!"   Of course, "mom" knew what the excitement was about, but I have become good at playing dumb and I wearily ask, "What worked?"  Again, overlapping voices, "The trap!  The trap!  We have treasure!!!"

Sure enough, a little Leprechaun must have been in our home as evidenced by the gold chocolate coins and the St. Patty's toys left behind.  They were even excited when I read the note left behind, saying he got away! After much excitement over how they had a "nice" leprechaun, it was determined by Alyssa that obviously the Leprechaun ate all the honey in the trap, thereby freeing himself.  Drat!  We will have to try harder next year!

Happy St. Patrick's Day ... and keep an eye out for those sneaky Leprechauns!

How To Catch A Leprechaun

Apparently the teachers and/or kids at school have been having lots of discussions about Leprechauns this week with St. Patrick's Day approaching tomorrow.  Yesterday Madison brought home a self-made drawing of her plans on how to build a Leprechaun trap.  I was informed by the this this morning that we would be building our own trap to set tonight in the hopes of catching a Leprechaun for St. Patrick's Day.

Apparently, it is widely known through the Jordan Elementary School that if you are lucky enough to catch a Leprechaun and get him to laugh, he will show you where his gold treasure is hidden and you will be rich enough to "Buy Madison a new Laguna Blue doll."

Madison's plan was to take a box and make it shinny ... as Leprechauns are attracted to shiny things.  Also, there must be something sticky inside the box to hold the Leprechaun in place so we cannot get away.  Madison recommended taffy ... but settled for a whole mess of honey on the bottom of her trap box.

I also learned today from the girls that apparently once you catch your Leprechaun, you must look him/her directly in their eyes and must not blink or they will run away.  They are so fast that if you blink, they will be gone.  Apparently these little green dressed people can fit through small cracks and keyholes as well, so, of course, we must use tape to seal the door cracks and keyholes in order to protect the girls valuables in their toy room and bedroom.  Lastly, girl Leprechauns apparently love to wear bugs as earrings ... who knew??!!

How I made it 42 years in life without knowing these secrets is a mystery to me ... I guess we will see if the trap works come morning ...

Here is our trap ... a shinny box with a trap door in the top.  The trap door is covered in jewels.  We even included steps to the top of the box and arrows to encourage the Leprechauns to check it out.   If that wasn't enough, we secured a Leprechaun hat mobile and shamrocks above it so they would be sure to take notice and, yes ... I know I spelled Leprechaun wrong on the box, but hey it was better than the girls could do ... :)

 

Stay tuned tomorrow for an update on whether it worked ... Although I am fairly certain that as excited as Madison is to catch one ... Alyssa is equally worried about actually finding one stuck inside the box ... I think she hopes there isn't one to be found in the morning.

The Forgetful Tooth Fairy

Well, it finally happened, the moment I dreaded ... the tooth fairy forgot to come during the night and now I had one girl (Madison) asking tons of questions and the victim (Alyssa) in tears.  It is hard to think fast at 6:45 a.m. when all you are use to doing is dressing the girls, making breakfast and drowning yourself in a cup of coffee while waiting for the school bus.

My excuse ... maybe a lot of kids lost teeth yesterday and she is running behind ... Madison thought it was possibly, Alyssa just cried.  I sent them to wake up daddy and then to go potty before we got dressed.  I ran downstairs and grabbed three gold dollars from the tooth fairy's hidden stash and in a mad dash through them on the breakfast table where Alyssa sits and ran back upstairs like I had never left.  Problem now is there is still a tooth in a box under a pillow to be dealt with ... *sigh*

The girls came back in the room and got dressed and I brushed hair.  I then sent Madison to find daddy and I sent Alyssa downstairs with the water cups from the night to put in the kitchen.  I proclaimed that I needed to use the bathroom quickly.  The girls left, I grabbed the tooth and ran to the bathroom to assume an appropriate position for someone who, well, had to go.   Seconds later Alyssa yells from downstairs, "Mom!  Did you put money on my table?"  Who me????  "Now why would I do that Alyssa?"  Madison runs out of my bedroom to inspect what is happening.  Alyssa comes upstairs with three shinny gold dollars, confused.

Madison promptly begins telling her story of events and she SAW it ... bless her little fibbing heart and her great big imagination ... "Alyssa!  Those are coins from the tooth fairy!  I saw her!"

I interjected here and asked the big question, "Are you sure the tooth was really in the box?"  This set both girls running to their bedroom and tearing open the tooth box from under Alyssa's pillow ... GONE!  Not wanting to feel left out ... Madison continues her story ...

Madison:  "She was here Alyssa and I saw her!"
Alyssa:  "What did she look like?"
Madison:  "Tinkerbell!   Rosetta and Silvermist were with her and they were each carrying a gold coin for you!"
Alyssa:  "Really??!!!"
Madison:  "Yes, I saw them, I really did!!!!!"

*Phew* ... Alyssa bought Madison's story ... and the tooth fairy's record remains unblemished ... for now ...

Vacation Day #4 - The Atlantic Ocean ~ New Smyrna Beach

We took the girls to New Smyrna Beach today to see the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.  I think the enormity of it was lost on them, but the waves certainly were not.  It was a beautiful day at about 85 degrees at the shore.

The girls had a great time running in the water and enjoying the waves roll in towards them.  Alyssa really enjoyed jumping and running in the water.  Madison had fun in the water but really spent a lot of her time on the beach looking for seashells.

When we finished playing at the beach, we drove just a few blocks into New Smyrna and had lunch at a little sandwich/ice cream stand along the street.  The dogs were good, the slushie was just okay ... but the ice cream ...

Definitely put smiles on both of the girls' faces.  Alyssa had a slightly deformed looking Braatz bar while Madison had a chocolate "kiddie cone" ... which looked more like and adult size cone to me!

After lunch we made the 90 minute drive back to Pat and Linda's home and joined the rest of the family for some relaxation and visiting.  Although our mini-vacation only lasted five days, it was a fun-packed five days and gave us lots of wonderful memories for years to come!

Disney World Day #3 ... The Magic Kingdom ... Part #3 - Until Next Time

After lunch it was time for Madison and daddy to experience Splash Mountain since they were absent during our first trip down the day before.   The line was the longest of the day at about 40 minutes.  Everyone enjoyed the ride, so much so that the girls wanted to go again, but the line and doubled in size from when we originally entered it, so instead we hopped over to meet Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.  Grandma and Grandpa and myself got completely drenched and of the three of us, Grandma was definitely the wettest!  They pulled up a spot on a nearby fence and waited for us.

Madison brought Jessie a pink flower that had fallen from a bush near the line we were waiting in and Jessie was very sweet to her when she received it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon riding favorite rides and some that we thought were favorites (like the Haunted Mansion) ... Alyssa went for ride #2 and panicked as soon as she entered the ride.  Madison's last ride wish was Peter Pan and Alyssa decided to ride the carousel while Madison and I waited in line for Peter Pan.

Since we watched the fireworks show the night before, we made our way back to Main Street and decided to pick out a few souvenirs at the Emporium before ending our visit at the park. We snapped a rather blurry picture of the girls in front of the castle lite in the night on our way to the shops.

The girls both picked "young" Rapunzel dolls as their keepsakes from daddy and I.  Grandma and Grandpa also bought them each a gift and Alyssa selected a new Ariel barbie doll while Madison chose a miniature Tinkerbell play house.  By the time we rode the monorail back to the hotel and got in our rental van, it was about 7:45 pm and the girls were out before we had left Orlando.   We had about 90 minutes to drive.

We stopped in Mount Dora for dinner and found ourselves at a local bar and grill.  Grandpa and daddy had awesome BBQ ribs and Grandma and I enjoyed good Reubens.   The girls managed to wake up enough to actually eat some food and then we were off to Pat and Linda's home in Tavares, Florida and we arrived right around 10:00 p.m.   

The girls absolutely loved their time in the Magic Kingdom and were already looking forward to morning as they were promised a trip to the beach by daddy and I.  

Disney World Day #3 ... The Magic Kingdom ... Part #2 - Cinderella's Royal Lunch

Despite the fact that we were not dressed up like princesses for the lunch (the original plans), we were just completely grateful that everyone was well today and that the non-refundable lunch with the princesses was honored a day later thanks for the wonderful owner of the restaurant in the castle.

Our party was announced as honored guests of Cinderella and our gracious host met the girls, signed their books and posed for a lovely picture in the great room on the main floor of the castle.

After meeting Cinderella, we made our way via a winding staircase to the upper floor of the castle and a large ballroom ready for lunch.  We were greeted by our wonderful waiter and seated next to the large stained glass windows, which gave us a lovely view of the park while we ate.  Another benefit to our table location was that when each princess was introduced to the lunch guests, they headed directly to our area to meet guests.

Alyssa selected an appetizer of grapes and cheese along with cheese pizza for an entree and finally a decorate your own ice cream sundae for dessert.  Madison opted to have a salad with ranch dressing as her appetizer followed by cheese pizza and her very own decorate your own ice cream sundae.  Grandma and I shared an appetizer that was presented from the chef as a tasting plate.  Grandma opted for a fish and pasta dish while I had a seared tuna salad.  We both then finished our meals with cheesecake topped with lingonberries.

Snow White was the first princess to arrive.  She was introduced to the guests and was just a joy to have visit our table.  Believe it or not, but she actually talks with a high squeaky (annoying) voice in person too!

The girls were trying hard to get in a few bites of pizza in between guests as they did not want to be caught with a mouth full of food just as a princess arrived to greet them!  Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was the next to arrive at the lunch.  She has always been at the top of Madison's list although recently relinquished the top spot to Rapunzel.  The girls thought she was just as pretty in person as in the movie!

Ariel was introduced next.  Alyssa was almost speechless as Ariel has always been her favorite princess (currently tied with Rapunzel).  When Ariel arrived at our table, Alyssa announced that, "You are my favorite princess!"  Ariel thanked her and talked with her for a few minutes before turning to greet Madison.  Upon hearing Ariel say hello, Madison promptly responded, "Hi Ariel!  You are my THIRD favorite princess!"  Ariel took the news in stride and proclaimed that she was in very good company with Rapunzel and Aurora who were her friends.

Belle was the last of the royalty to be introduced and the girls adored meeting her, although we were all left wondering why oh why she is in her peasant dress instead of her yellow gown.  The girls thought she deserved her beautiful dress like the other princesses.

We had finished eating by the time all the princesses visited our table and it was finally time for dessert!  The girls' ice cream arrived on a plate shaped like a painter's palate and they really enjoyed creating their special ice cream art!

Right before it was time for us to depart our fairy tale lunch, the girls participated in a wishing ceremony.  Although the instructions were especially difficult to hear over the speakers, we just sort of made up our own and waved our wands whenever the majority of other dinners waved theirs ... :)

 

Alyssa wished for the day to last forever and Madison, of course, wished that unicorns were real ...