St. Patrick's day fun: a leprechaun trap + celebrate simply

Ella had a homework assignment this week to create a leprechaun trap.

I thought for sure Lynn would Google for ideas, but when he said he found some on Pinterest, I couldn't help but laugh. Yep, that's my man.

Here's the genius idea what we came up with.

First the leprechaun climbs the little ladder (borrowed from the Lego collection).

Then it's a straight dash to the "treasure" at the end of the rainbow. Ella told us that leprechauns love shiny things, so we found some coins. And who can resist rainbow Skittles? (Especially if your name is Ella.)

Here's the tricky part. When the leprechaun runs for the treasure, the floor will cave in and he'll get all caught up in the fabric. I know, pure genius. :)

And because no project is truly "Ella-worthy" without a massive amount sprinkling of bling/glitter/shine, the outer surface of the trap was decorated appropriately.

The students in Ella's class all brought their traps on Thursday, and set them all around the classroom. On Friday when they arrived, the classroom was trashed! (Ella's own words :)) A mischievous leprechaun had dumped out crayons,  scribbled on spelling tests, put clipboards in the sink...it was crazy! And he had left a note in Ella's trap that read:

Nice trap! You almost got me, but I am too tricky!

Fun stuff. Great teachers are awesome. (Thanks Mrs. Hulme!) Lynn said he loves that little ones get so excited about these things and really missed it when our bigs got older.

Celebrating Simply
When my older kids were young, I would go all out on holidays and special occasions--special meals, decorations, activities, etc. The kids loved it and I loved that they loved it. But it was a lot of work and time.

I'm doing things different with Ella. Because I've "been there, done that," celebrations aren't as elaborate. We do just a few simple things instead. At times I felt a little guilty, thinking E was getting guyped out of those special "experiences."

But guess what? She gets even more excited about the little things than my bigs did about the big things. And the bonus is, we all enjoy the celebrations more, because I'm not tired and cranky from running around putting things together. There's less expectation too, which I think is a big issue with children these days.

Just speaking from experience.

So here's what our simple St. Patrick's Day celebration will include:

One: Display this Lucky print from Simple as That. Maybe we'll even talk about why we're so lucky.

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 Two: Paint our nails green and add glitter. A true Ella-esque activity.

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Three: Because we don't do sugar cereal around here, this special St. Patrick's Day treat of Lucky Charms is sure to be the highlight of Ella's celebration.

Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!