Dorathea's Woodland-Fairytale Birthday Party

When I was little my favorite way to play with friends was to pretend to be a fantasy character.  My favorite toy was a pink My Little Pony castle and I imagined the unicorns and me living in it together up in the clouds.

When I was in high school I painted a picture that said, "Once upon a time" across the top in gold.  It was a misty view of a distant castle as seen from a forest.

Later in college I did a more serious illustration that said, "Once upon a time a princess was troubled by the world she would inherit",but by then it was serious "real art" you know (wink).

It is no shock then that my little girl choose (really on her own) a fairytale theme for her 7th birthday.  When I asked her to describe the party I said

"Once upon a time" and she picked up, "..lived a unicorn named Dorathea and a prince named Jonathan. The prince decided to throw a birthday party for his best friend."
And the stage was set for a fantastic party.

I debated as I spend hours and days preparing for the party.  I even prayed about whether this was a worthwhile use of my time. I felt like God was saying;

"You are delighting in your daughter, and that's your most important job as a mom.  She will only have a seventh birthday once, celebrate her/with her to the fullest!".  

I also debated a fairytale theme.  There are a lot of dark parts of those old stories.  But as I prayed about it God reminded me of those castles and "Once upon a times".  As a girl I was yearning for a supernatural place in a castle in the clouds, now I understand my heart was yearning for heaven.  In my girlhood

God was illustrating in my imagination the place he has prepared for me, a place we could hang out, a place more real than real life.  
He was setting my heart on an ever-after life that he alone could satisfy.

That's important because I want my little girl to know the way to that ever-after life too.  Because
I still "pretend" to visit that castle now.  And when I go there I am visiting my Heavenly Father.

So here is the fantastic scene I set for a little fairy princess, and like a fairy godmother, I orchestrated a wonderful party.  I completely spent myself setting it all up.  But it was soooo rewarding, the best use of my time.  Here I am playing pretend with my daughter;

The cake!  I used D's toys and let her put them on the cake herself. Perfect job for her.

 The princes are getting ready!

we found Mr Frog Prince in a garden bed and gave him a toilet paper-roll crown.  

The Toadstool was also excavated from the garden and D and J helped me give it a fresh coat of paint. 

 The fairies have prepared their own birthday feast for the birthday girl.

 Look closely.  This is a miniature tea set, gazebo, and banner, in a fairy garden.  (I iced a cupcake to look like a fairy sized cake)

 She planted most of the fairy garden herself. What a fun way for a child to garden!

 This was one four storybook clues in the Unicorn treasure quest.
I made the signs with scrap wood and silver puff paint.  They make a fun permanent addition to my garden.  The other treasure hunt signs read; Fairy Garden, Frog Prince's Toadstool, Tigerlilie's TeePee, and Dragon Rock (which was guarded by wonderful young James in a dragon costume).

  The food table.  Make your own trail mix in the baskets with toppings in the little chest of drawers.

 wooden castle turned into a cup and napkin service

Alice In Wonderland  inspired, "Drink Me" Lemonade

  tree stump chairs for a woodland feel.

 The Knight and Faerie princess are ready for guests!

 The guests are here!!!

 This is Kate, Dorathea's new friend

Jonathan and friends questing

King Daddy hugging his princess

Thank you Dorathea for letting me enjoy girlhood again as I celebrate you,

and Thank you God for caring enough to show me where you were in my own girlhood.

I hope this day, and this seventh year will be as beautiful a memory for Dorathea as it is for me.  - Allison

I taught a homeschool art class to 13 kids in my kitchen yesterday.  Ahhhh!

It was so energizing, and now I have a cave painting on my garage door that the kids don't want me to take down- ever.  That's how much fun they had.  

I compromised and told them we would cut their portion out. 

The class started today with the first art ever and will keep going once a month till we get to modern art (the good kind of modern art... You'll see ). Here is a summary;

The Very First Artists in the World  !

The very first cave paintings were discovered in 1896 in the Altamira Cave in Santander, Spain. Almost 50 years later an even older discovery was found.

  In September 1940, four boys and a dog set out on an adventure in Dordogne, France.  As they walked through the woods the little dog, Robot, ran ahead toward a deep depression in the ground covered with overgrowth and began sniffing the sunken hole. Then, each one of the four boys slid through the hole in turn. “The descent was terrifying,”recalled Jacques Marsal who was just fourteen years old at the time, the youngest of the four boys. 

Marsal described what they saw as a “cavalcade of animals larger than life painted on the walls and ceiling of the cave; each animal seemed to be moving.” The ceiling was pure white, the paintings were brilliantly multicolored in reds, blacks, browns and ochres.  Find the full story here.  It is a great adventure story!

This discovery became known as the Hall of Bulls Cave in Lascaux, France.  We took a virtual tour of the cave that you can find here.  Dorathea was excited after class to go to this website and do the tour "all by herself".

The cave of Hands

We also briefly talked about the "Cave of the Hands" in Argentina.  and I showed them the picture from below

These hand print paintings are found all over the world, in Australia, North America, Spain, and Africa, and that although they look easy to do, they are made by blowing paint through hollow bones (like a prehistoric airbrush).  I also asked them why the same paintings would be all over the world when no art today is as identical. We tried this technique outside with a spray bottle, but the bottle got clogged before we could finish.

Early Art Tools

We made our own art supplies just like the cave men had to!   We used feathers,  fake fur and, twigs to make brushes.  We mixed clay, mud, and water for paint, and used charcoal straight from my wood stove ash pile  to draw with. 

I thought it was funny that the kids didn't take home art this week, but homemade brushes instead.

The kids practiced drawing the shape of the bulls, horses, unicorns (yes unicorns!) with crayon inside then we went out to try out our new neolithic brushes and paints!

Here is what we created!  

Notice the stags, horses, unicorns and people figures.  Horses are hard to draw, and I really saw them get much better as they drew and painted.  It was a great class, and at least when I asked D she remembered most of the history too.

Here are some questions to help them remember what they learned;

1. Where were the first cave paintings found?  France and Spain

2. Who found them? some boys and a dog

3. What where the paintings of?  What animals?  bulls, cows, stags, horses, unicorns

4. Did they paint them to  look like animals in real life? No!  They were very fat 

5. What did they use to paint with?  Did they go to the art store and buy paint and brushes? 

Can't wait for the next class Tues May 6th!   We'll be learning about Greek pottery, and making some of our own.  If you want to follow along with this  series I will be teaching from the book Usborne's The History of Painting

 which was 5$ on Amazon (what a great thrift store find!). It is titled The history of Painting but it also covers sculpture, and printmaking, and every other Art period in a brief way that connects art to history.

So thank you art class Mommas for letting your kids take this tour of history and get messy in my messy home!  I was blessed.- Allison 

Hope is Alive! Happy Easter!

Guess what??  Spring is here!  as we celebrate Easter at the Key's house,   

The long harsh winter is over. 

 If March has been in like a lion in 2013, it must be a snow lion.  We still have snow melting on the lawn.  

We've had some dark days, some very dark moods, and some hard circumstances. 

But I hear a mantra in my head of, "Hope is alive, Joy is Now,".   


Foreclosure, losing a job, being scamed, worrying constantly  if we will make it through all this as a family.  Or if we will be broken bitter people when all this is done. 

But you know what I don't care about my circumstances anymore.  

It's time for joy and I won't settle for despair!  

"Restore our fortunes,LORD,

like watercourses in the Negev.

Those who sow in tears

will reap with shouts of joy."- Psalm 126

So even before the warm front blew through Ted and I have been feeling the warmth of Joy. 

Not the kind from everything going well or our own accomplishments, but that deeper Joy from our Hope in Jesus.  

This hope comes from a deep knowing that He has seen us through before and he will again.

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dream.

Our mouths were filled with laughter,

and our tongues with shouts of joy.- Psalm 126

Without further ado, here is part of our Easter celebration;

 little man soon lost his suit jacket

 He is proud of his egg hunting prowess

 See the snow lingering by the shed?

 Divying up the eggs and candy

God is good!  Can't wait to see more of his faithfulness.

...Then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”e

3The LORD had done great things for us;

we are filled with Joy.

-Allison

God is in the Closet

Jonathan leaned over and whispered to me during worship at church, "God is here." he said.
  Now this 4 year old  was a wiggle worm during most of the service, climbing under seats dancing with his Mommy, being his usual  boyish self.

But Jonathan has been experimenting with where God is lately.  He came marching out of his room one day last month and said in an unbelieving way,

"Bobby (mommy), Dor-tea says God is in my closet, but God is not in my closet!"

and he laughed at her silliness.  I explained that God is everywhere, and anywhere he might go, that he never needs to be lonely.  "In my bed?" He said with a big smile.  "Yes" I said, "even in your bed, even in your closet".   He shook his head at me like I was too silly for words.

 Now Jonathan, our sweet second child does not like to be alone.  Even if you offer him his favorite snack he will think hard about if it's worth it if he has to eat it alone in the kitchen.  He also gets scared of ghosts, and Max (from Where the Wild things are) when he is alone. "Max is in the ceiling and tried to bite my hand!"  His sister shares a room with him so he's really not alone that often.


Dorathea was reading in the guest room last week when Jonathan walked in the room.  She told him to go into our room.  Like me she relishes the occasional moment to herself.  He must have said he didn't want to because he didn't want to be alone, so she told him that God would be in there.  Ted found him talking away to God in there a few minutes later.


Can I tell you how encouraging it is to see a child begin a relationship with God?  In the midst of the dark winter, and a week where we seem to be too snappy and unforgiving over here,  it's like seeing a little seedling pop up.  Spring is coming, hope is real, I am never alone, and I don't have to worry about Max biting my hand.  GOD IS HERE

Valentines

We had several "talks" about complaining in our house today, even before breakfast.  Talks about not complaining about breakfast, school, really everything.  Moans, groans and tears ruled until we started school (but then many groans about starting school).  Groans stopped when Dorathea read an adorable book aloud called, "Pippa Mouse". 

I love to hear her read, she has her Daddy's speaking voice, but lately has been asking to read "in her head" instead of aloud.  No complaining during Pippa and then onto our writing work today; Valentines.  Valentines sent us far away from complaining land into thankful land.  

Today we were making valentines for far away family to send in the mail.  I love how loving others changes our perspective instantly.  Pretty stationary helps too.

I let Dorathea go freestyle.  My only restriction was to use only one color; red.  She chose some old, tiny stationary paper I found at the thrift store and went to work while I helped Jonathan with some cards I had printed out for him.  

I wrote  xoxo  love J  in pencil.  He traced the letters in red marker which looked like this;

I designed and printed them last night.  Do you like them?  My Grandmother (who will be receiving one) used to sing this song to me when I was little.  I am including the original for the cards here:  

If you want to make your own cards just right click your mouse then select copy image and paste into a Microsoft Word.  Make sure your document is landscape (wide instead of tall) so that you can fold it in half and make the image the right size for the paper.   I used a pastel papers to print mine on.

Happy Valentines Day from the Keys!

 I explained that x's and o's stood for hugs and kisses to Jonathan and he grinned and said "I send them hugs!".  He is so sweet and such a cuddler, he totally got the concept.  Of course after these instructions instead of tracing he made a map island  in the inside of the first card.  I guess the penciled x looked like it would make  a better treasure map?  The second third and fourth ones were better :).

 And then when I turned away he decided his valentines and his hands needed spots.

Meanwhile,

Back to the little girl...

She was already finding envelopes and sealing hers up.  And low and behold they looked really cute!

 We had a quick lesson on addressing an envelope, which I ended up doing most of

Then off to the mail box she went!  I think I'll send Jonathan's tomorrow.  Let's spread out the love over a couple days.

Then we did PE; rollerskating.  Trying out new rollerskates and falling down a lot.

More Valentine's to come!  Happy February to you all- Allison