Bird/Fairy Houses, and Kindness to Fairies

 Julia, on a beautiful holiday Monday afternoon, while Aidan and Mommy were reading to each other, you wanted to do something special with me.

We came up with an idea to paint the old birdhouse that used to rest on the eave of our front porch. But, Mommy humbly requested that we not paint it.

So you and I came up with an idea... what if we MADE our own bird house and THEN painted it.

You loved the idea...but were pretty insistent that it also be a Fairy house, as needed. So, you know, any fairies that were passing through would have a place to sit and chill for a moment before carrying on their way.

We gathered scrap wood and loose supplies and came up with a plan. You and I brainstormed, and drilled and tried things out in the warm, golden sun.

And  we worked and laughed and giggled and worked somemore...

And then, it was time to paint!

The sun dried the paint before our very eyes (you couldn't believe it!), and before you knew it... we had finished our Bird/Fairy House!

I still wasn't sure where the fairies entered the equation, but I was pleased with your ingenuity and sticktoitiveness. We had made a pretty, functional, rocking bird house.

And Fairy House, you reminded me.

You came with me to pick up the groceries and brought a piece of paper and a pen. On the way you asked for my help to spell a couple of words. Then, when we got home, I read the note you had written, and I understood how this whole plan had come together in your mind:

Aha! You wanted to make sure the Tooth Fairy had a place to rest, in case she came to visit you when you placed this planned-out note under your pillow.

It was such a good note and good plan, in fact, that you inspired some brother-type people named Aidan to embark on a similar plan!

So, sweet dreams and big plans inspired a day of hard work with great payoff!

We hung the house, even found some bird seed...hopefully fairies also enjoy bird seed... and we ate dinner, swam, read, and tucked you guys in.

I don't know if you can see, but it looks like you can almost see some fairy dust in the bird/fairy house. She did visit each of you that night and even gave you each a dollar for your kindness and ingenuity. 

I had so much fun making a Fairy House with you, today, my daughter. You are an amazing, strong, kind, inspiring spirit. You believe in fairies...and I believe in you.

love, 

Dad

Julia Princess Fairy Cooking Lessons

Julia, we went to the bookstore over the weekend. You had been talking about buying a cook book for a couple of days. You know, so you could read the recipes, and cook the recipes, and learn to be a princess. When we got to the store, you couldn't decide on the Princess Cookbook or the Fairy Cookbook....so you bought both!

When we got back, you and I ventured out on making the first recipe: Princess Fairy Marshmallow Pops. 

There were three ingredients: marshmallows, sprinkles, and icing. 

We didn't have any icing, so we made our own. That had like 5 ingredients: powdered sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, and a little bit of salt.

You and I worked as a team from top to bottom on the recipe. 

You mixed the icing, added the food coloring, did all the prepwork and sprinkling of sprinkles...

And...man oh man... did they look good!

You, me, and Aidan did a LOT of taste testing along the way. The sugar intake probably lent themselves to the super smiles.

...and the yummy taste led to a LOT more taste-testing.

We froze the marshmallows, and waited for EVER (7 minutes).

Finally, when we sat down to taste, I decided to video the tasting.

The verdict: "These are Sweet. TOO sweet. Can I have another?"

THEN, after seeing the video, you decided you wanted to make an entire Cooking Show! So we ret-conned some footage, and you and your brother stickily hovered over my shoulder as you guided the creative edit of the video, including musical choice and sound effects.

The video turned out super sweet!

I hope this week goes by fast so we can get on to the next cooking lesson, sweet treat, and video!