Fairy Houses for "People"

From my homeschooling journal:

"Since the weather was absolutely spectacular, we headed outside. Ended up spending TWO HOURS working on fairy/People houses. I brought Jenna the Fairy Houses book and she found an inspiring pic and immediately set to work building a bed and ladder on her own (gluing the ladder didn’t work very well, so we ended up moving on to something else).





We gathered things from the woods—nuts, (which she cracked open for bowls), sticks, and also rocks, leaves, seashells from the house and a couple of gourds from the garden. All three of us had a blast. Carnie loved playing on the blanket w/the people. I created a couple of little things, but mainly assisted Jenna, who  told me exactly where to cut and glue, etc. Jenna commented about how cozy the “house” was and how fun it would be to be tiny and to live in the little house. (that comment gave me my theme for the Little Squirrel Story before naptime…Carnie and Jenna “shrunk” when they ate the seeds from the gourd. Jenna loved it!). She also set up a little area with a garden, a table,  and a bed, using one of the mussel shells collected from KY Lake.



More from my journal:
"Note: It was so incredible to sit on the quilt with my daughters outside—laughing at Ruby, working with Jenna and watching her work and play, smiling at C. and tickling her in my lap when she told me to be a “monster,” feeling Caroline plop down in my lap every couple of minutes, hearing Jenna and Caroline’s excitement when a plane came over the house, watching C’s fascination and pride in finding a “beeny-tiny” worm, seeing Jenna place the “baby worm” in the gourd because he “would like it,” telling the girls a story at naptime and watching Jenna’s eyes get big with anticipation as I led up to the climax (the kids and squirrels shrinking), laughing at Caroline in her “Laura hat” pulled down to her eyebrows, feeling the girls cuddle and "waller"all over me as I read them a book. How sweet motherhood can be. And how quickly things can change from frustration to connection and laughter!!! Jenna loves to work on something…loves to be around people (she works sometimes alone, but often wants me or Carnie to join in)…and being OUTSIDE makes everyone’s soul sing, doesn’t it?"
*This morning was made possible by a bone so delicious that none of our items were carried off by this lady...