Our leprechaun visit

St Patrick's Day has taken on a celebratory spirit in our house now that our leprechaun friend visits each year.  It started with an assignment in kindergarten last year...Building a Leprechaun Trap.  The teachers and the kids at school have made a tradition of leprechaun trapping, with stories of leprechauns and their mischief.  Learning they can never tell a lie but they are so tricky and sneaky you just can't catch one.  The whole thing did not sit well with Tovrea, it concerned him that trapping a leprechaun would be mean and not something he would ever do.  He worried, and fretted over it for days.  He finally decided instead of a trap he would build a house, with a comfy bed, and a table and it would be a nice place to visit.  It worked!  Last year, he had our first visit of a leprechaun named Sean Patrick O'Malley.  We left pennies for him in the house and sure enough he left gold for Tovrea and this note: 

 

Dear Tovrea,

Thank you for such a lovely house to stay in when I visit.  It is nice to have a place where I have a friend who didn’t try to trick me or catch me.  You have such a nice comfortable bed for me and even thought of a nice place for me to store my clothes. I will gladly come here year after year!

I go on many adventures all over the world as I explore for pots of gold wherever there is a rainbow. If you remember to put out a penny or two on the eve of St Patrick’s Day, I will visit and leave you a treasure or two from the gold I find.

Good luck to you all year round!

Happy St Patricks Day!

Your leprechaun friend,

Sean Patrick O’Malley

2010

Tovrea took the house, the note and the gold to school as all the other kids brought in their traps.  When they were at lunch the traps were just too tempting for the well known leprechaun that visits the school. So, he made a visit to the kindergarten classroom, leaving gold footprints on everyone's trap/house and apparently he took Tovrea's gold and tore up his note from the "nice" leprechaun.  Who knows, maybe he knew Sean Patrick O'Malley and was not happy about his visit to our house. In any case, we quickly learned the school leprechaun was quite mischievous, probably since he had been trapped and tricked so many times over the years by numerous students.

On the day before St. Patrick's Day, Tovrea claimed, "This year will be better!" while reliving the story he vividly remembered from the year before.  We set the house out on the dining room table, with 2 pennies and a night light. We also refinished the floors with fresh construction paper to cover up all the gold foot prints left by Mr Mischievous.

Up before the sun, Tovrea checked the leprechaun house and whoohoo! There was more gold, gold chocolate coins, and a new note:
  

Dear Tovrea, CoCo, and Quiny,

I am so thankful to come to this great little house again! I really do look forward to my visit since I know I will have a comfortable and quiet rest.  I know that I do not have to worry about a trap here! You are my favorite family to visit in all my leprechaun years.

I heard the note I left for you last year was stolen and torn up by my mean rival that always seems to visit your school. So, I left you a copy of the note so you could remember it and keep it for as long as you like.

Good luck to you all year!

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Your leprechaun friend,

Sean Patrick O”Malley

2011

We started the day with smiles and Tovrea hiding his gold and we ended the day with green minty milk shakes! So yummy!!  Happy St Patrick's Day...we wish you all friendly leprechaun visits next year! (Of course, you should build a little green guest house.)

Our leprechaun guest house.

Tovrea's note to our leprechaun, Sean.

Pennies in the bowl next to the night light.

sleepy morning smiles...

Mint Chocolate Shakes

Best buddy, Jack celebrated with us.