Fred's 9th & 10th Day

I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday. I spent the morning grocery shopping, then taking Addie to school. I had my parents pick her up, because I was busy making surprise cookies for her class. Their teachers are planning the surprise. I'm not sure what it is, but Addie has come home, everyday this week, talking about a little gingerbread man that is on the loose at school. I think it may have something to do with him. If it is, Addie is gonna be in heaven! She says the gingerbread man is ornery & when she catches him (yes, she thinks she is going to be the one) she's going to gobble him up!! Too funny! BUT whatever it is, I'm sure all the kids are going to love it!!

On the same cookie baking note, I have a tip. NEVER buy store bought tub sugar cookies to make cut outs. Cutting corners led to heart failure. For me anyway. I saw my life flash before my eyes. OK, not that dramatic. BUT it did stress me. I thought for sure I was just queen of crappy cookie cutouts & totally failed the little preschool kiddos. My gingerbread men looked like the Michelin man. It was not good! Lucky for me, I had pinned a sugar cookie recipe on Pinterest. I had everything I needed, minus one thing. And again, lucky for me, DH is a wonderful hubby!! He ran up to get my ingredient & ran again when I thought we needed a second batch. How great is he?!?!?! Turns out, making homemade ones really isn't all that time consuming. I've never been a fan of this type of sugar cookie, but I hope they work for the surprise.

And now for, what this post was truly about, FRED!! On day 9, we found a note at the top of our stairs. Ellie spotted it first since she was up before everyone. I didn't get a picture of the note, but it said:

Addie, Ellie, & Katie~~~Get ready........Get set.......I created a game. A treasure hunt!! Do you want to play? I hope so! All you need to do is: Follow the string to find the treasure. The string starts at the bottom stair, but where does "Fred" mark the spot? Love, Fred

What we found waiting for us was a massive maze made out of string. It started at the bottom stair, like Fred said it would, and worked it's way through every room on the main floor. It was like weaving in & out of downed power lines, minus the risk of electrocution. BUT, you'll have to take my word for it. The pictures don't do it justice. And I couldn't take pictures in the play room. Fred didn't pick up before he began. What was he thinking?

This is the end of the string. Where "Fred" marks the spot.

And the little "treasure" Fred left under the tree.

And good ol' Fred waiting in the tree.

The girls loved this! This day might have topped all the others. They were running around, weaving in & out, & talking 100 miles an hour. Wondering what was at the end? Where is Fred? This isn't the best picture, but here they are looking their new toy over.

This morning, day 10, Ellie was first up. She was so excited to see what Fred had been up to & couldn't wait for her sisters to get up. She went upstairs & got them right way. I missed out on the "real" photo opportunity, so I asked Katie where Fred was. Addie joined in! Ha!

I must have been asleep still, since this was the best photo I took of Fred's happenings. He wrapped our photo frames. Which, come to find out, is why Ellie was so excited. She thought Fred left 3 gifts for them!! Too funny!

Fred must have been practicing his wrapping skills. What do you think?