A Treasured Birthday

Today I was welcomed into my 40s by a treasure hunt prepared by my children! Here was the note I found on my bathroom sink:

There is only one elephant in my house, and it happens to be a lamp on a table in our living room. Inside the little drawer in the table was this note:

You have to know my household pretty well to figure that one out... but the most predictable alarm clock in our house happens to be our cat, Kaspurr! We have to lock him in a cage in the utility room at night unless we want to wake up bright and early... and Mason was being conservative here. Kaspurr usually starts the wake-up calls around 4am, not 6! In any case, I found this clue inside his cage:

This one was a bit tough, because there aren't many things in this house that I'm not responsible for cleaning! It took me a little while, but I finally figured out they're talking about Morgan's hamster cage! Sure enough, this clue was hiding behind sweet Sandy's stinky cage:

This one took me a little bit to figure out, too... but it was a carved vase that we got on our last cruise. It was supposedly made from some sort of lemon wood, but we've since discovered that this was just a sales pitch... they must've only oiled it with lemon oil because the lemon scent is long gone! Inside it, I not only found a clue, but a lovely bracelet with matching earrings! This was a gift from the boys - Morgan picked it out on his recent trip to San Francisco with Michael.

We have one spot for all the loose keys in the house: a basket on the kitchen counter. Sure enough, buried deep inside was this clue:

Garage was the key word here... and since ping-pong is played in the garage, I searched the bucket of balls to find this next clue:

Ah, clever! I knew immediately that this meant our grandfather clock!

By this time, I was really getting the hang of this and went straight downstairs to the foosball table because the guys are yellow and black. Inside the goal was another clue along with a lovely little box! Oh, wow!!! SCORE!!!

By this point, I would've been satisfied, but the game continued on! I searched Morgan's drum set, but found nothing. Eventually, I figured out this meant our washing machine because when it gets to spinning, it rattles the dishes in the kitchen! Deep inside was this clue:

We have a chess board on the wall in our living room, and when a player gets captured, he goes into a box... which is precisely where the next clue was hidden:

Simply has to be a globe!

We joke about how Michael built the treehouse just so he could have a mountain view... so I trudged up to the tree in my slippers not knowing what on earth I'd find.

BUT OH, WOW!!!!! Did I hit the jackpot!!!

Whoopee!!!! Isn't it gorgeous? I am very partial to diamonds and sapphires together, and this is just perfect!

Michael done good, huh?! ...and the boys' treasure hunt was simply delightful! I am so blessed...