Ellie the mechanic and Tom the Leprechaun

Anderson came in the house yesterday yelling, "Something bad is happening out here!"  I ran out because I thought someone was hurt.  It turns out that he was just telling on himself.  Ellie followed him in holding one of my wrenches and said, "Anderson was using your screwdriver on Caroline's bike and he was screwing one of the nozzles on her training wheels and now her training wheel is all loose!"

Carla, to Caroline:  Tell dad what we did.
Caroline:  Dad, what we did!

Carla, to Caroline:  Ask dad how his day at church was.
Caroline:  Dad, how was church at day was?

Every year on St. Patrick's Day, our house gets invaded by a mischievous leprechaun named Tricky Tom.  Every year we try to catch him but he always seems to evade our traps.  We've trapped his pants a couple of times but he apparently doesn't mind leaving them behind as long as he still has his gold.  Well, last night we were devising our trap and we had this little conversation.
Me:  So, what are we going to do with the leprechaun if we actually catch him?
Ellie:  I . . . don't know.
Anderson:  Cut him in half and eat the ham?
All:  . . .
Me, to Anderson:  You don't actually know what a leprechaun is, do you?
Anderson:  Nope.

So later I set up what I thought would be a good trap.  I leaned the vacuum hose against the sweeper so it was right against the switch.  I showed the kids that if we put the bait (our gold) in the right spot, Tom would step on the switch and get sucked into the hose.  I demonstrated with a plush toy that he'd only go a little way into the hose, not get sucked into the canister.  Everyone thought that was a great idea except for Anderson, who started crying really hard because he thought that might hurt him.  I guess cutting him in half would have been OK, though.  In either case, we had to move on to plan B.  Plan B was a simple snare made of fishing line thrown over our dining room light.  We put gold in the middle of the slip knot and tied the other end to the sweeper, which was tipped slightly.  As successfully demonstrated with the same plush doll, when Tom grabbed for the gold, the sweeper would fall over and the knot would tighten around his ankles and pull him into the air, trapping him for us to interrogate in the morning.  (The kids absolutely cracked up when they saw their stuffed Alvin swinging upside down in the air).  Well, once again we came up empty handed, but we are up one pair of leprechaun pants.  He also left some little treats for the kids and once again turned our milk green.

When I was tucking the kids in we were still talking about what to do with Tom if we caught him.
Ellie:  If we catch him, which one of us gets to hold him?
Me:  Umm, I think he'll run away as soon as we cut him down and try to hold him.
Anderson, very deep in thought:  Maybe we should talk to him before we cut him down.  Leprechauns are magic, though.  I . . . don't think they talk very much.