A Pictoral Review of Recent Happenings

 Better late than never. Here's a montage of photos of our goings on over the last few weeks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Forget all of the living ones, Declan took a picture of a dead one.

Butterfly bushes are torturous for cats when they're right outside the window.

This guy almost got stepped on b/c he was warming up on the walkway at night.

Lil man earned his green belt. Awesome job, bud.

"What? The world's in peril? I eat peril for breakfast--one spoonful at a time."

Lil man LOVES taking pics of his toys and animals. We seem to have an entire catalog of his belongings.

Classic!! Right after the cat whacked him.

Two of the people that make things worth while. :)

The pen people hope you enjoyed your stay!! Til next time!

Mr. McPiddlefingers

[Legacy Post- Originally posted 10/08]

Tonight is the weekly, ever-anticipated Family Fun Night here at the Swarr household.

After we got home we made dinner and decided to play a board game while we ate. The game's called Frustration. It's a knock of the Milton Bradley game, Trouble. We just got it this past weekend at a consignment shop and little man loves it.

So there we were, playing and munching on the living room floor, when the smallest of our number began to wiggle around with his legs crossed. Maribeth, using her acute powers of observation asked, "Declan, do you need to go to the potty?"

"Mm hmm," was little man's reply. And with that he stood up and ran off to the bathroom.

We could hear everything from where we were. We heard the seat lift, his pants unsnap and get pulled down. The 4 second stream of whiz...

Then...Silence. A good 6 seconds of silence.

"Declan?"

"Whaaat?" came a little sing-song voice.

"What are you doing?"

"Um. Washing my hands," he said with a hint of that oh-crap-I'm-busted tone.

"I didn't hear the sink," Maribeth said as she got up and made her way to the bathroom, "did you wash your hands in the potty?"

"Um. Mm hmm," was his meek response.

"C'mon. Over to the sink. You have to wash your hands," Maribeth said.






"...but I already did..."



I love Family Fun Night.

Review: Elmo's Adventures in Grouchland

I know what you all must be thinking, "Elmo? Grouchland? Really?" And the answer is...yes. To be honest, I'm a sucker for all things Henson. We actually started Declan on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show at a very early age. Now, thanks to our forced guidance, Declan loved not only Muppets, but puppets in almost all shapes and sizes.

So back to the movie. the opening sequence sets the tone. It's Ernie and Bert coming on screen and talking to the audience. They talk about audience participation and, of course, they have thier jibes back and forth. It totally sets the tone for the movie. ...And they make appearances throughout, stopping the movie in the process. It really draws you into the movie.

Then we go to Elmo's room and his day consists of a great wake up song. Overall the movie is just fun and the pacing is great for younger kids....it keeps moving. Once Elmo's blankie (yes, blankie) get's whisked away to Grouchland, the movie really takes off. Grouchland is a blast (who doesn't like Oscar?).

I know this is a quick review that really skims the surface, but you really should check it out. As in most Henson productions, there are a lot of subtle details that need to be seen, so I won't ruin it. to sum it up even more simply, it's just plain fun.

Oh...and wait until you see who plays the villain. Well, I'll just say this: he used to be looking for man man with six fingers on his right hand.

The results of this year's trappings

I don't have too much to say about the results of this year's leprechaun trap. I'll let the pictures tell this story:




The final count was 43 jelly beans, 12 'gold' coins and 8 peanut butter eggs. Bandit.

Who's Magical Now, Pointy Ears?

Beginning last year, it became a tradition to catch a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day. Last year, we set the trap on St. Patrick's Day eve, but this year we decided to take advantage of the little bugger's want for beer and set our trap on St. Patty's Day (aka, Daddy didn't know when St. Patty's Day was this year and it sneaked up on him- oops).

No matter how you look at it, my alibi has merit: why catch a sober leprechaun on the way to a St. Patrick's Day party, when you can take advantage of one who's been thrown out on his shamrock for swimming in his Guinness well after last call and is now staggering home in a drunken stupor?

That being the premise of this year's trap, we decided to go with the good old standby: skulduggery. Here it is folks. The leprechaun trap for 2010...

I present you with The Pub Crawl:


We took an ordinary cardboard box and colored it to look like a bar:















Then I cut an 'x' in the door and angled the triangles inward, that way, he can fall in, but can't figure out how to get out (thanks, Mr. Guinness for the assist):

























Next, we place the trap in the yard:















Followed by some authentic scenting:















And, as I stated last year, the leprechauns, once they know they've been trapped, are able to disappear, but only if they leave a treasure behind.

My hopes are high this year, so check back tomorrow to see what we scored!

The Big O-5

Well, Declan is officially 5. And even though, due to the white flakes of doom, we had to postpone his playdate/birthday party, Declan is one happy camper. I must say this entire weekend, snow and all was one big birthday bash.

We woke him up on Friday morning and, after a few gifts, breakfast in bed and of course getting dressed, we did one thing that is not normal for the beginning of February...we went swimming (indoors, of course).

We had a great birthday weekend. Declan ended up getting everything from a Dinosaur Train tshirt to a camera, Legos to a new handmade quilt and Transformers to a new set of bongos. Oh and lest we forget the pop up book of creatures, the new super awesome (dentist approved) toothbrush and the Lincoln Logs. Declan even made his own cake for his own party....hey, if he wants to do it, we're not gonna stop him.

Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate this past weekend. You know who you are :)

And again, Happy Birthday, little bud. Way to be 5.

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

DECLAN...

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY, LITTLE BUDDY!!

...more birthday posting to come...

The Cookie Family

Last night we all decided to decorate gingerbread cookies for Family Fun Night. I had a little trouble with the dough and ended up adding about an extra 1/3 cup of flour just to make it manageable. But alas, they turned out fine and we had a good time doing it.

...and we had a little hand cut surprise cookie for Declan to decorate.

Merry Christmas!

How to catch a leprechaun

This St. Patrick's Day Declan was old enough to be introduced to the ancient sport of leprechaun trapping. Now this is something that my family takes seriously and Declan's first time was to be no exception.

He knew what a leprechaun was, so that was good. But that was about it. He had heard at school that leprechauns live in Ireland. This, obviously is not entirely true. I explained to him how leprechauns, who used to be indigenous to Ireland, were brought here by the Irish who immigrated during the potato famine in 1849. During the first migration in 1845, the Irish didn't bring them, but found living to be difficult. The leprechauns were then brought to ease the transition and to assist with reestablishment.

So the other thing he knew was that leprechauns liked candy. Again, not entirely true- they're Irish, think about this, folks. And lastly, I told him that although a person can trap a leprechaun, that doesn't necessarily mean they can see/grab/detain the elusive creature. I explained to him that once a leprechaun is trapped, they can disappear to escape, but their magic requires that they leave behind treasure when they do.

So...on to setting the trap. For this we will need the following:

a pair of scissors


a mug- in this case I used pewter. Physically and visually, the old style/material is more appealing to the leprechaun


a sturdy container, open on one end (I used an old file box without the lid)


a nice, level patch of grass


a stick (about 6-8 inches long) and a piece of string (about a foot)



Now that we've gathered our materials, let's set out to build our trap. I told Declan we need to be nonchalant about building the trap because, if we look like we're up to mischief it could draw the leprechauns out early before the trap is set. So...

Step 1:
tie one end of the string to the stick, the knot is most efficient when placed at the center


Step 2:
tie the other end of the string around the handle of the mug.


Step 3:
place the mug on a level patch and...


now for the bait: beer
normally I'd use a beer from Ireland, such as Harp, Guinness or Killian's, but since this trap was set in rural PA, leprechauns here aren't as picky as those who reside in urban areas near pubs.


When you pour the beer, you don't need to go for the 'perfect pour.' Leprechauns actually like a bit of good head...

...it gets stuck in their beards for later.

Place the container upside-down over the mug and prop one side up with the stick. Viola! The trap is set.


Now, since most leprechauns don't like to be seen or heard, except for the adolescent ones- they actually go out of their way to be noticed, we need to let our trap set over night.

We made out pretty good this time. Declan banked a huge bag full of candy, including green gummy frogs: