Our Busy, Fun Friday

Hoop dancing while waiting for the parade to begin.

Penelope and her friend, Maya marching in the parade.

Violet and Steve marching.

Ready to joust.

Making ink from blueberries.

Writing with a quill, using blueberry ink.

Cutting out her shield.

Violet using a quill.

Steve and Pen painting her shield.

Vi abandoning the brushes and using her hands to decorate her shield.

Vi's knight outfit.

Pen's knight outfit.

Pen and her sword.

Vi wearing a dragon mask.

Pen ready to be knighted, but frustrated by the wind which was blowing her shield.

All the squires ready to be knighted.

Pen waiting her turn.

Waiting for the games to begin.

Charging the dragon who is keeping a maiden captive under the laundry basket.

Returning on her trusty stead with the rescued maiden.

We had a busy day yesterday. It was the grand finale of our library's summer reading program and we went to the parade and festivities there in the morning. It was a grand celebration after a wonderful summer reading program, which Penelope totally got into this year. We enjoyed many free and wonderful shows and presentations, took home lots of prizes and free books, and read piles and piles of books all summer long. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful children's room at our library, with fabulous, enthusiastic, and creative librarians who make such a great program for the children.

Then we spent the afternoon at the park with other homeschool families for a medieval tournament and celebration and feast. Javelins, swords, bows, clothing, shields, and other essentials were created, using pillow cases, pool noodles, poster board, sticks, string, and duct tape. Everyone was a page when they arrived, then became squires, and were finally knighted. Then the games began. It was all too cute and fun and we had such a beautiful day for all this outside fun.

Then my filthy, sticky, covered in paint girls played in the pool while I made dinner (and then they didn't need a bath!) and after dinner they fell asleep instantly, as soon as their little heads hit their pillows. Fun day!

This Moment, Friday, August 17, 2012

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

Lambs at the Farm

We took a trip to the farm and were surprised by new baby lambs. I can't stand how cute these pictures are,  which is cuter, new baby lambs or two little girls in sunbonnets running around the farm? And the rooster, how I adore this rooster.

The Worlds They Create

I have been teased about some of the kinds of pictures I take. Pictures of meals I've made, pictures of cloth diapers drying on the line, pictures of squirrels and random wildlife. But perhaps the oddest pictures I take are those of my children's playthings. Sometimes at the end of the day I can't bear to clean up a section of floor space in their room because the scene they left at the end of their play is too wonderful to destroy, and often they are not yet finished with playing in it, the little world they created. They will go back to it first thing the next morning and pick up right where they left off, so it often seems like an unfinished story that I dare not touch. And sometimes it is so wonderful that I have to take a picture of it. Odd, yes. I don't know any one else that takes pictures of their children's toys, but it is more than a picture of toys. I often feel as if I am getting a glimpse into their minds. A peek at how they see the world, and there is something wonderful about that to me.

The first pictures were taken yesterday morning, the last five were taken yesterday afternoon. The girls brought some animals with us to a family cookout and built fences from sticks with their cousins for the animals.