those tricky leprechauns

Yesterday Ben woke to find that a little leprechaun had visited overnight. He'd had a lot of fun making mischief downstairs...the chairs were stacked on the dining room table, some of our pictures were turned upside down, there were clothes and shoes hanging from Alex's swing, and there were little shamrock trails everywhere he'd been (he also turned the toilet water green, but I don't think Ben noticed that one). He also happened to leave behind his tiny hat, so I had Ben dictate a letter to the leprechaun saying he'd found his hat and we'd be leaving it on the windowsill in case he returned looking for it:

Leprechaun,

You forgot all your stuff that you did. We found your hat, so please come back to get it. And make sure you get your stuff and make sure you get the clothes down. What a silly goose! And even dream about Thanksgiving [editor's note: Thanksgiving?? What the heck?] and even something else. Your hat supposed to be on your head. And then you go back home and I always want to see you but you're gone already.

Ben

At some point while we were upstairs, the leprechaun returned and got his hat. In it's place he left the start to a treasure hunt:

Thank you for finding my hat, Ben! I was wondering where I left it. To show my thanks, I've hidden a small treasure for you to find.

The first clue is a downstairs place - where you go to see your face.

Ben quickly figured out it was the bathroom, and lo and behold there was another clue:

The next clue I will give can be found where your waffles live!

Ben knew right away it would be in the freezer, and he was right...it was on top of the box of waffles:

I'm hiding out where you eat, underneath a wooden seat.

He wandered around the dining room a bit before spotting the next clue:

You found this clue under your chair, the next one's in with your underwear!

Ben immediately pulled down his pants and undies and excitedly started rooting around in them (much to my amusement). After awhile, I told him maybe it meant it was with his clean underwear. Ben raced upstairs, and sure enough the next clue was found in his underwear drawer:

This will be your last clue: you'll find the treasure under something blue.

This was the hardest clue yet...there were so many blue things to look under: his comforter, a blue book, the blue lego container. Finally it was found under a blue bag....a pot full of chocolate gold coins! After giving an audible gasp, Ben triumphantly lifted his treasure for me to see.

Thanks, Leprechaun, for a fun day!