Blue Yonder

The Miraculous Journey

 

We do a lot of reading aloud in our house.

 I like to claim it's for the broadening of their minds, and that's true, of course, but it's also because a) I really like to read and b) I really like how they all sit still and quiet for just a few precious minutes when we've hit upon a really good story.

A week or two ago, we hit upon a REALLY good story. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate Dicamillo. 

This story reads like a fairy tale. It seems old and wise - timeless and classic. It is so beautifully written, and doesn't speak down to children. In fact the vocabulary is pretty rich. Watching my boys listen to this story was like seeing a little one on his tip toes, reaching with all his might for the cookie jar. They were anxious for every last morsel, but stretching themselves to understand words that were just beyond their reach. Perfect. 

My guys loved it so much that they would beg, "just one more chapter," at bedtime, and then bring it to me first thing in the morning to read to them over breakfast. It's that good. 

I actually got so worked up over Edward's journey that I read the last few pages through broken sobs. For real. I double dog dare you to read it outloud to your kids and not cry. 

Of course, once we read about Edward, we found ourselves needing a rabbit to love.

 My boys remembered these that I made for their cousin, and insisted that they make their own. The pattern for the sock bunny is so easy though that they were able to help with most of the making, which means that our rabbit friends are kind of raggedy and a wee bit off, but loved all the more for it. 

You can whip up an Edward rabbit with your littles using these easy directions. Here's hoping all his journeys are miraculous too!

They Sparkle

I'm going to have to do some confessing. I think it will make us both feel better.  

I haven't been myself lately. 

The husband  (I will fully admit that he is my right hand. If he did not work from home I think I'd go completely crazy) had a long business trip a couple of weeks back. Then he was sick, then he had some business people in town. It seems like it's just been one thing after another. Throw on top of that some stress about the market and what it might mean for his job and well, we've just been a few degrees off track. We've been like a pot on the verge of boiling over, bubbling, rising.

It's nothing too serious, really, but I've found myself seeing recent days as something to get through and my children as things to be managed, messes to be cleaned, a series of fires to put out. That isn't what I want for them or for me.

So, when I picked up sweet Amanda's book, The Creative Family it was as though a dear friend was standing in my kitchen, holding my hand and saying, "take a deep breath, it's gonna be alright."

So much of her dear, warm, gentle book speaks to how our family lives - valuing creativity and time together, honoring traditions, finding inspiration in nature - so of course, I love the book, but not only for the content. I love it for the (ahem) soul behind it. It is truly an outflowing of the kindness, gentleness and mindfulness that is the Soule family. It has been just the quiet voice that I needed to hear. 

Early today, feeling a little sour and looking for some inspiration, I turned to the Creative Family and I read a few sentences about not worrying too much about the mess, about letting go and going where the spirit of creativity led. 

It led me right to the glitter. 

My guys made paper mache egyptian burial masks a week or so ago (after reading about King Tut), and they've been ready for days now to paint and decorate them. They were shocked when I brought out the much beloved, but VERY rarely seen, glitter. 

I'm not one to get worked up over messes. I don't shy away from potentially messy projects, but glitter... the stuff gets in EVERYTHING. It spreads like a sparkly virus. For weeks on end you find it stuck to you, in your food, on your furniture, EVERYWHERE! I am not a fan of glitter in the hands of small children. Not. A. Fan. 

So, bringing out the glitter was an act of faith on my part. It was my way of saying that I was willing to experience some fun, enjoy the moment and let go of some of the adult worries and stresses. Just be. 

My boys were all too willing to oblige. 

At first they painted their masks, according to plan. Then they got a little more creative. And then all hell broke loose. My internal mommy, the one who has been pretty darn crabby lately, wanted to say, "NO NO NO!!!!", but thankfully, I managed to just go with it and let them explore the wonder of being shiny. 

This one, he had it in his bellybutton, his ears, between his toes, and stuck in his hair and eyelashes. I just let him do it. I stood back and watched as he deliberately coated himself in silver. Then he looked at me, and he smiled and he said, "I sparkle Mama!" I just about cried, because he does. 

He really does. 

Whatever the rest of the day brought, for that moment, we sparkled, we four. 

The rest of the day was not perfect. I'm still working my way out of my rut. My attitude is still a little rough around the edges (and let me tell you that it's contagious), but here's the thing... for the next few months, I'm going to find glitter in the strangest places. It's going to pop up at odd moments, and I"m glad of that, because I know that it's going to bring a smile. That delicious moment is going to reach into days far from now and remind me that my life, even when it's messy, is pretty sparkly too.

Pre-Owned Tales

I think that I'm going to be one of those little old ladies that dies surrounded by her stacks and stacks of books. They'll have to dig me out, and then spend weeks on end carting away all my horded tomes.

It is just really hard for me to part with a book that I love.

I get kind of invested in the story and it feels wrong somehow to just cast it off.

So, I troll Goodwill and estate sales for bookshelves... but mostly, I just end up finding, you got it, MORE BOOKS!

You people are no help at all, either. You've all got such great book recommendations on your side bars! Do you not know that you're serving to enable my obsession?

And then, sweet Amber sent me one of her gorgeous bookmarks. It's such a dear, sweet little thing, that I just grin and grin every time I open my book. (You guys had better keep a close eye on Amber's site, because she's about to open a shop, and if her little photo glimpses are any indication, it's going to be completely delicious!)

So, when my oldest, who was just reading his first ever chapter book (the original Boxcar Children), asked for a bookmark, I had to try to make him something special. Then, of course, his brother demanded one for his daily reader.

(the sweet mushroom is Amber's)

Then came one for a friend...

It's so much fun, that I fear I'm going to now die surrounded by not just books, but stacks of books, each with their own lovely little embroidered mark!

That's where you come in, friend.

I was thinking that perhaps a few of you would be interested in a little swap of sorts. Nothing fancy or complicated, you'd just get paired up, and trade a book that you've finished, and a handmade bookmark. Maybe even a few kids would like to participate?

I think I could stand to part with a book, if I knew that it would be passed on to someone else who would read and perhaps love it the way I had. I know that my boys would get a huge kick out of swapping books and making bookmarks for other kids too. At least then we'd get a new story each, without having added to the stacks.

So, if you're interested in such a thing, just leave a comment saying that you'd like to join in, and if you have kids that would like to participate, their names and ages as well. I'm going to leave it open until say, the end of next week, then I'll email you with your partner's name and email address. Afterwards, you can talk amongst yourselves about the details of swapping. Sound good?

And now, I'm braving the frigid night to meet a girlfriend and see Juno! YAY!

Be warm, all!