St. Patrick's Day

Ben’s class started the week off with some sneaky leprechauns disrupting the classroom and making messes. This led to a long discussion about if these were people in costumes, little creatures or what? Unfortunately for Grandpa David and Grandma Lyn, they took the brunt of the paranoia as Ben checked every tree and every room for leprechauns while visiting their house that day. Luckily though their explanations alleviated most of the concerns and Ben was able to somewhat enjoy the rest of the week as the leprechaun tricks and stories continued. Ben believes they are people that want to dress up and play tricks on other people. When Ben’s teacher put out a tiny box to try to catch one, Ben argued with her that it would never work as no person in a costume would ever fit in that box. :) His mind is so logical!

Ben and Mom made rainbow cupcakes in anticipation of the big day. Mom thought it would be a fun way to learn about mixing colors and this fabulous experience. After coloring and layering seven layers, it was decided this might be a "once in a lifetime" experience never to be repeated. Hopefully Ben enjoyed it some.

The kids had special green treats on St. Patrick’s Day and both wore their lucky green shirts. Elizabeth was mad that she didn’t get to choose her own shirt that day, so we compromised and let her choose her pants. She chose light pink pants that had stains and didn’t match at all, but she got to wear them as we are in the middle of blossoming independence and it wasn’t worth a second battle that morning. Ha ha! Ben was concerned that he needed to wear green head to toe like a leprechaun. He didn’t have green shorts so Dad convinced him that wearing green underwear under his khaki shorts would be just as good. As we got to school that morning Ben felt the need to share this with everyone and justify the khaki shorts he was wearing by pulling the band of his underwear out to show that he really had green on under his shorts.

The sneaky leprechauns left Ben’s class some special treats that afternoon and they brought home necklaces and gold lucky coins. Ben is very pleased with his treasures and hopefully we can not worry with leprechauns until next year.

Elmo Time

We took the kids to see Elmo this weekend. Elizabeth thinks Elmo is pretty great right now, so we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. We thought Ben would be excited as well and were looking forward to telling them we were going. A few days before, we drove by the BOK Center and Ben asked if we could go there soon. Mom told him we in fact could and before she could finish, Ben replied "only if it isn't Elmo." What? You used to love Elmo. You know that Elizabeth loves Elmo. . . we waited a bit and told them later that day that we were actually going to see Elmo. Ben protested briefly. His logic was sound as usual - Elizabeth likes Elmo and I'm not going. We let it go and sure enough a day later he started asking about it. Would there be enough room to dance like a superstar near our seats? Of course! Would we have to sit by strangers? No, Mommy and Daddy will get that job. After all of the important questions were answered, we were back in business!

Elizabeth was scared when the lights first went off, but after things started going she was rocking out and climbing into other people's rows. She loved seeing Elmo and gang so close (but not too close).

Ben also enjoyed the show. He claimed his favorite part was the popcorn, but the stories he told to friends and family later confirmed that he went to a "crazy show where Elmo got super powers and saved Grover" and it was "really cool".

Mom's favorite part was when we first sat down and Ben asked, "didn't we sit over there last time?" Ben pointed to the area where we sat two years ago when he was two and a half. How he remembered that, who knows, but it was fun to know it stuck with him at least for now.

Bedtime Prayers

Here is a list of a few of the items that Ben has been praying for in the last week. It was too sweet not to share.

• Please don’t let our family or anyone we know get cavities.
• Please heal my scratch and dry elbows.
• Please remind me that You are near when I feel scared. (Ben was feeling scared at bedtime and Mom told him to pray that God remind him that God is always with Ben and that God will protect him. This led to the conversation of how God can be everywhere. Ben’s theory is that there is only one God, but that God has a special machine that makes other smaller versions of Him that help Him out and then report back to Him like God robots. Interesting theory! That is a tough concept to get, but we’ll keep at it!)
• Please take care of Sarah’s belly. (Ben’s aunt is expecting this summer and Ben loves to talk about and pray for his cousin.)