A Mother's Day Treasure Hunt

It's a long-standing tradition around here to hide clues and make the Mom  (or Dad, if it's Father's Day) search for the prize.

Clue 1:

So..."number of children I got right away" (5).
The second part had me wondering.  Every other reader in the room seemed to know the answer already and couldn't believe it took me so long to figure it out.

Hmm...could it be that they were in on the planning?  At any rate, I finally came up with the answer.  "K" is the eleventh letter in our 26-letter alphabet.  The clue was "5K".  That could only mean one thing!

Clue #2 was hidden somewhere on the treadmill.

A logic puzzle!  This one was taken from a book and modified to fit members of our family.  Of the six people named, I had to figure out who the "giver" was.

This took me a very, very long time but I loved every minute of it!  Especially when I figured it out.  Sean!  Sean was the giver. 
What did that mean?

I looked from person to person.  "What does it mean?"  Nobody said anything.  I thought of the Amazing Race.  "Sean, do you have something to give me?"
"Yes!  I do," he said.

With that, he handed me Clue #3.

Hey!  I recognize that mouse-brown hair.  That's me, and it looks like I'm teaching school.  I'm writing science stuff on the board.  The next clue was either hidden in somebody's science book, or on the dry erase board.


I hobbled down the steps, limped into the classroom (my left foot is not fond of my couch-to-5K efforts, but I am continuing anyway), screaming happy children following close behind...to find Clue #4 written on the dry erase board.

"cara libro" it said.

Hmmm...must find the Spanish-to-English dictionary.
caro-face, opposite, ...and a whole lot of other words. 
libro I knew was "book".


Opposites Book?  We have several children's books that could fit that description. 

The clue-makers groaned.  They couldn't believe I didn't get it right away.

Not "opposites book?" I queried.  Ummm..."face...book?"
OH!  FACEBOOK.

Off to check my FACEBOOK messages.  There was one.  It was from Holly.

It read something like:   enw tincbae  which I quickly (ha!) deciphered to be "new cabinet".  Off I went.

Inside the new cabinet was Clue #6.  A tough one.  "A stamped clue!"  I was so excited.

What could it mean?  What could it mean?...What could it meaaaaaan?  I began spouting off phrases and words that came to mind. 

"Brain time"
"Thinking time"
"Time to Think"
"The Space-Time Continuum"

They laughed.  They rolled their eyes.  They couldn't believe I hadn't figured it out yet.  Finally they gave me a hint.  "What was the first thing you said?" and eventually I figured out that the design wasn't the clue, but the tools used to make the design was the clue. 

"STAMPS!!!!  The clue is in my stamping room!"  I was giddy.  Once again, I hobbled down the steps and limped into my stamping room, followed closely by six observers.  There it was--Clue #7 nestled safely under the brain stamp.

It was another jumble of letters.

To their delight, and my dismay, this one took way, way longer than it should have to figure out.

 "care mice?"
No.

 "camera?"
No.

 "rice came?"
No.

"crime ace?"
No!



Oh.
"ice cream!!!"

YES--off we all ran, back up the steps to the kitchen.

Clue #8 was set on top of a box of ice cream in the freezer.

Another scrambled word.  I was sure it was "fount", but since that made no sense I had to keep working on it.

Turns out, the word is "futon" and that is where the presents were hidden.  Behind the futon!

Liam wants to make sure I get to the futon.

Hurray!

They gave me wind chimes.  They gave me flowers and chocolate.  They gave me stamped cards, and not-stamped cards.  It was wonderful.

 Later in the day, Liam picked some purple flowers from the lawn for me.

Our center cabinet is waiting on doors and shelves, so this seemed the perfect spot to display the
beautiful cards and flowers.

This was taken before the fun began.  Declan just woke up and is not yet in a treasure hunt mood.

He soon will be.

Thank you, children and Thank you, husband. 
What a memorable and fun day it was!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and Grandmoms and Godmothers!