February Love Challenge Week 2

At first, when I read that this week's challenge from Jessica at Muthering Heights was a scavenger hunt, I was stumped. Pk is too little to follow written clues or a map (for that matter, it's hard to get her to follow "it's over there in the toy box" or "look right in front of you on top of the piano"). I knew I wanted to do this but it wouldn't seem to come together in my mind. I knew I didn't want to do candy (I'm trying to keep that to a minimum and it seems to be everywhere - you can't seem to get away from the parties these days) and stickers wouldn't really get her excited. Then, it came to me - a "My Little Pony." Nothing makes Pk more excited than a pony. I am somewhat uncomfortable with this - we try to keep the big brand toys, especially those made of plastic, out of our house but on the other hand, we can't entirely keep them away and I am much happier with ponies than, say, Disney princesses, Barbie or, worst of all, Bratz. It helps that they are cheap and that we have discovered that the McDonald's Happy Meal toys can be purchased without buying a Happy Meal for 83 cents. You can't beat that! I splurged for this challenge and bought a real pony pack for the huge price of $5.93.

The next challenge was how to put the search together. Then, I saw the pattern for these adorable little felt envelopes on One Pretty Thing (see this post for information) and I knew exactly what to do. Dh and I took photos of the location of each clue and put the photos into the envelopes. She was able to follow the photos to the final location. It worked like a charm and Pk was over the moon.

This was such a wonderful thing to do. Dh and I were silly with excitement with the planning and we couldn't wait for her to get up this morning so that we could do it (and, if you know Dh, you will know that this was big, normally he needs to be pried, kicking and screaming, out of bed). The funny thing is that when we gave Pk the first envelope to open with the first clue, she said, in her breathless voice she uses for anything exciting, "Oh, mummy, thank you! I love my card." We could have left it there and she would have been pleased. How nice to spoil a grateful child.

Jessica, thank you for these wonderful ideas. I hope that Pk goes to sleep ever day having felt that she was loved and cherished. It's been nice to do something that goes the extra mile. I am not sure who is being blessed more, her or her daddy and I.