Things I love about our back yard:
cherry blossoms
new grass
sand box
gold finches
red buds
baby oak leaves
The weather has been beautiful. The kids are out there every second that they can be, digging in the new sandbox Barry built, climbing tress, picking dandelions (which I strongly encouge)…
On my list of things I want: a hammock to string up between trees.
Today we sat outside in the fresh spring air and finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It’s kind of like coming full cirlce. Just before Brenna turned three she pulled it off the shelf and brought it to me saying, “Read this! Read, read, read, read…” Well, I took it and opened it thinking, “She’ll last two seconds and then I can go get something done.” But, instead, we finished the entire book in two days. I figured she wasn’t really getting what was going on, but realized that she was playing with her plastic animals calling one Aslan and asking for protection from the White Witch.
I’m glad that I’ve kept up with the reading novels, even though my kids are so young. I think adults often underestimate what kids are capable of understanding. We also think they’re not listening when they really are. Jonah has not been one to sit on my lap and listen to a book without pictures, but he knows everything that happened to little Sophie in The BFG and loves Harry Potter. He normally plays with toys and comes and goes out of the room as Barry or I read, but he gets it none the less. I love it that his play is based on Shel Silverstien poems rather than Bob the Builder or Dora. I’m thankful that this is something I stumbled upon and stuck with it.
Brenna’s almost five now. I thought it’d be fun to post a list of the books we’ve read since the first time we read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Charlotte’s Web
Stuart Little
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
Farmer Boy
On the Banks of Plum Creek
Trumpet of the Swan
Black Beauty
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
The BFG
Peter Pan
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Matilda
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (w/ Dad)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (w/ Dad)
The Magician’s Nephew
Where the Sidewalk Ends (w/ Dad)
Falling up (w/ Dad)
A Light in the Attic (w/ Dad)
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
I’m not sure what we’ll start next. We may just continue with the Chronicles of Narnia, but Spring is getting me itchy to read Laddie again and share it with my family.
I’ve been a James Christensen fan since high school. He just captiviates my imagination– taking me to the place I loved to play as a child, a magical place. He is so graceful with the human figure. His pieces are so full of symbolism and wonder…
So, when I stumbled upon this book at the library I was so excited. Brenna wanted books about fairies. I picked this one off the shelf and what a combination– the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder and beautiful fairies. And the fairies looked so familiar. The book is illustrated by a guy named Richard Hull, who upon further investigation teaches at BYU…so, obviously a student of James Christensen.
The poems are fun and sweet. What else could you expect from Laura?
And a fun fact I learned about her: She didn’t write the Little House series until she had grown children. That gives me hope. Someday I will have time… Someday I can be a real artist.
Right now my kids need everything I’ve got.
