Sunday Sketches and Good Reads

Sunday Sketches - We're early by necessity - thanks for looking!

Peter Pan is such a great read, especially if you can find an older version. And the old theater posters for this play are truly lovely. Fabulous children's literature is abundant, both new and old. Reading together aloud or silently is something I cultivate with my children, my husband, our family - see our Story Corners here, our Fall Seasonal Short Stories List here and our Advent Reading List here. We thought we might list a few favorite, favorites with our sketches..

The Wind Boy by Ethel Elliot Cook
Rhonia The Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren (all surpass Pippi!)
Mio My Son by Astrid Lindgren
Brother's Lion Heart by Astrid Lindgren
The Children of Noisy Village Series by Astrid Lindgren
Peter Pan by J M Barrie

Peter.. by me

This is my very quick peter - my son says he looks like a girl, but then the old theatrical productions of Peter Pan usually had a girl acting the male role.. beside Peter is quite Elvin I think, a bit of an imp.

The Little House in the Fairy Wood by Ethel Elliot Cook
The Dragon Boy Trilogy by Donald Samson
Little House On The Prairie by Laura Ingles Wilder
The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Hope

The Bobbsey Twins by C Moore age 10 (c) 2010

The Bobbsey Twins are one of my daughter's favorite books. Stories that invoke childhood, play and imagination. She loves The Noisy Children Books for the same reason!

The Harry Potter Series by J K Rowling
The Narnia Series by C S Lewis
The Lightening Thief Series by Rick Riordan
Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

Robin Hood by T Moore age 13 (c) 2010

I love the rustic reflection in my son's Robin Hood. Robin lived a tough life and I like strength portrayed here - Robin lived by his wits, after all he was a wanted man.

Happy Sunday and Happy Reading!

To view more wonderful sketches by this group of Sunday Sketchers check out
Sophia's blog Blue Chair Diary.

Thanks again Sophia, for taking the time to host!

July Rhythm and Routine

July's Family Rhythm

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for each month in our home; including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are our goals, the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days! We just keep on trying :-)

July Festival / Theme / Seasonal Table
It has to be summer, summer, summery! This month ours is all shells and mermaids!


Wake Up Song
Wake Up Little Suzie (I change the names to my kids names - as always i mostly repeat the same lines a few times) The Everly Brother's 1950's

Breakfast Verse / Song
"With joy we greet the morning sun, who shines with love on everyone
who shines in the sky, on the land and the sea,
And fills me with light when he shines on me, Blessings on our meal today."
~ author unknown to me


Bedtime Song
Taps as in "Day is done, gone the sun, from the lakes, from the hills, from the skies.." US Military Vespers I believe, anyway reminds us of camp, summer etc!

July Projects
We don't really have specific projects for summer - the goal being to relax the schedule.. that said, our children usually come up with several summer projects anyway as they go.. at the moment they are both making little stop motion scenarios on their own.. and the neighbourhood children are all building Foofles (cardboard houses see photo below), next week they'll be into something else. Oh yes and I lie, this week we wanted to make pasta from scratch and we did! Oh and we are continuing Sunday Sketches at Blue Chair Diary.. besides that.. no projects :-)

Happy Summer - get outside!

Ritual and Rhythm - Burying Our Pet Fish

Ode to Splash - Life as Art - Burying our pet fish

Friends have asked about rituals marking various times of change in our lives and in our children's lives. I have promised a note on our ritual to mark the death of a family pet - we have fish and they all have personalities :-) the children do get quite attached. Under the title of better late than never here is the gist of our last passing, a fish named Splash.


We have a place in the garden where we bury lost pets or found dead birds etc. It has had a couple of names, Magic Mountain and more recently the Grave Garden. Because our animals are small we simply wrap them in tissue and place them in one of those 4" wooden match box boxes.


One of the children adds a seed to the box with the body and we close it up. Sometimes we decorate the box, sometimes not.


Then we go off the the Grave Garden and each of us take a spade and a heart shaped stone or a pretty rock or perhaps the children have made a Popsicle stick cross.


We each dig a scoop of dirt, the box is placed at the bottom, and the dirt is thrown back. We light a tea light and leave it burning in a glass candle holder on a flat rock. We send a wish or prayer and toss our stone on the grave, or place the cross, and that is that.


We love the seed idea, my son came up with it, life from death, I don't know - the children like it. We also celebrate los dios de los muertos with Halloween and our shrine to the dead has notes for departed friends both human and animal :-) Splash was also honoured with a fairy tale by A Pink Dreamer written by a blog friend from far away in the Greek Islands - how cool is that?!

Many thanks to those who leave comments - we always enjoy them!

June Rhythm and Routine

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for each month in our home; including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are our goals, the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days! We just keep on trying :-)


June Festival / Theme
No festival. Its spring! School's out at the end of the month! Yipee / Yikes!

Seasonal Table - Spring
Let the children go to it - seashells, special rocks, braided grasses. Pick a handful of meadow flowers or clip a vase of garden blooms. Use any special school projects and anything you've collected in your spring box from over the years!


Breakfast Verse
Flame Fairy, our default breakfast candle lighting verse, for now. We learned this in preschool at Waldorf.

"Flame fairy will you come and light our candle bright, with your guiding light. Blessings on our meal today."

Waking Song
The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (we changed man to one and we make up our own verses all over the place. This is a highly charged, boppy song, perfect for mornings. The children picked it, they love it; daddy may be sick of it by the end of the month :-)

"When I wake up yeah I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the one who wakes up next to you
When I go out yeah I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the one who goes along with you
But I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be the one who walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door.

When I'm working yes I know I'm gonna be.. When I come home yeah I know I'm gonna be.. When I'm lonely yes I know I'm gonna be.. When I'm dreaming yes I know I'm gonna dream.."

Find full lyrics on Google of You Tube, but if you don't know the song, you may want to pick another!


Bedtime Song or Verse
Request for 500 Miles by Peter, Paul and Mary 1962
"If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles. A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, you can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles."


June Project 1 Year End Teacher Gifts
As always it is such a busy spring We are going with one project as so many are due at school, not to mention all those year end shows in theater, ballet, track finals etc. Last month we thought about our teacher year end gifts (we make something simple each year, but we have to make a few so it takes time). We thought about rock paper weights with one of our sketches transferred onto the rock but that's as far as we got last month; so now we're on it, but not paper weights, rather sketches transferred to a marble tile, that's what we will try next week. We'll post the results, promise!

And please, do a sun dance would you?!

April Goals and Rhythm

Easter! The children (and lucky parent volunteers) learned to paint Pysanka, Ukrainian Eggs. We had a fabulous workshop at school, run by Joan Brander of Baba's Beeswax, who managed to create success, step by step, for all ages gr K through 7!

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for the month, including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are goals the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days!

April Festival / Theme
Easter, Spring is in the air.

Seasonal Table
In our handy dandy spring storage case (see post September 29th, 2009) we have all the little Easter trinkets we have made, collected and been gifted over the years. Flower fairies, eggs, chicks, bunnies. Felted, paper, wooden, stitched. We keep palm crosses made for Palm Sunday each year - they dry nicely. We even have blown Easter Eggs made for the past decade; some are whole some are pieces. This year we add our Eggs!

Waking Song
"Little rabbit foo foo, hopping through the forest, picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head" (may not be politically correct but it sure is fun)!
Little Rabbit Foo Foo - from summer camp - an old favorite around here.. we just sing the first few lines then everyone joins in as they wake and goes where it goes.. :-)
Feel free to use comments to request words to look them up on Google.

Breakfast Verse
"Snowdrop snowdrop dressed in green and white, what do you do when teh cold winds blow?
Hide my little heard and say, Cold winds, cold winds, go away."
Seems appropriate as it is colder now in teh Northwest than its been all winter :-) we'll save the 2nd verse for next month and spring weather.

Bedtime Verse
"Star for you to wish on, sun so warm and bright
Moon for you to think on, pleasant dreams, a kiss goodnight."
Author unknown, a friend gave this to us - we draw the pictures, star, moon on the child's tummy as we tuck them in. Our children are getting older but tehy still love these familiar traditions!


April Project 1 - Cascarones
Easter cascarones - a new twist on an old Latin tradition. Little pinata eggs that can be broken for luck over a friends head and contents (confetti) sprinkled for fun - have a dust pan handy :-) For Easter we photocopy and shrink some of our art to glue onto the egg. Instructions will follow in a future post this month - watch for them!

April Project 2 - Ukrainian Eggs
The children did a Pysanka workshop at school and it was fabulous. Instructions will also follow on a future post!

April Project 3 - Easter Bread
We are ambitious this month (and all at the beginning as Easter is pretty quick); but Easter bread is a family tradition! Watch for it!

Luck of the Irish!

"You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind!"
.. isn't that the truth!

Draw a quick shamrock on paper and cut your two pieces of wool felt. Fill with a tuft of wool fleece and blanket or whip stitch, adding 2 or 3 glass beads every stitch. Don't forget to use a beading size needle and to split your embroidery floss down to 1 or 2 threads.


We made these wee amulets when the children were young and they still pull them out to wear every year. Loving stitches, memories, security, safety. Sitting around my girlfriends old, oak table; handwork circle, kids in tow, playing in the house around us. My daughter would watch and watch, week after week, with her intense blue eyes, brain clicking 'round - one day at the age of 6 she just picked up a needle and voila - she could sew!

"May you be in Heaven a half hour before
the Devil knows you're dead!"

Love these Irish proverbs! Happy St. Patrick's Day All!

March Goals and Rhythm

'spring garden' by C (c)2008

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for the month, including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are goals the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days!

March Festival / Theme: Spring
March, while we still try to ski and snowshoe and hang onto winter, it is Spring Break, in our family the beginning of preparation for the arts - our speaking, dance and piano competitions are all in the next few months!

Seasonal Table - Spring
Whatever the children choose from our spring box - mermaids, flower fairies, garden gnomes! No the kids want to continue the red Canadian theme for ParOlympics, plus some tulips for spring!

Breakfast Verse
Continuing with author June Cotner's book House Blessings as a resource.

"The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth - One is nearer God's heart in a garden. Than anywhere else on earth.."
by Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858-1932). From House Blessings by June Cotner

Waking Song
Kids are wanting to continue with he line from "Beautiful Day" by the Boo Radley's. They like to join in! Find it on itunes.

"Wake up its a beautiful morning, the sun is shining for your eyes.., Wake up its a beautiful morning.."

Bedtime Verse
The children have started this calling our thing in the manner of "the Waltons" though they have never seen or heard of that show. We call out "good night great mama", "good night great daddy""good night great T.." "good night great C.." Its fun, its their own, we're going to run with it!

March Project 1 Poetry
The children are all over poetry at the moment so they are writing away. We will aim to submit some once i find a collaborate call for poetry submissions - it is never to early to practice this as long as children can handle being turned down!

March Project 2 Gratitude Book
The Secret Gratitude Book, by Rhonda Byrne - I love this we are filling in a page a day in the morning! Next year C wants to make our own - great idea!

Not a lot of bread or soup happening at the moment! Disappeared since we went away! That happens, we'll get back to it :-) Great salmon bbq, tenderloin bbq and even pie, however! We had a fabulous Bakehouse pie and now that has triggered a renewed interest in pie making, well pie eating at least!

Living Artfully

Its the little things in life, you brush up close to them and they are so beautiful! The details.


Living artfully. Here are my secret valentines. So simple, a paper napkin stuffed with a handful of warm fleece and lavender, briefly stitched on your sewing machine.


A wee note of endearment and you have a lovely Valentine! xoxo

Heartfelt Valentines

So here are my daughter's Valentines this year! I still love letting the kids make cards them selves, however we have seen some lovely children's valentines this year (finally! the last few years stores been inundated with valentines that market movies etc, but where is the romance, the art, the beauty? Call me old fashioned. Call me traditional! Sometimes I think we seriously underestimate our children!)


At any rate we have seen some lovely glittery, sparkle artsy Valentines for children with fairies, cupcakes (rockets for the boys) and some lovely reprints of retro-tines by Golden (these at Shopper drug mart actually! There is hope for us yet!

February Goals and Rhythm

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for the month, including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are goals the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days!

February Festival /
Themes: Red! Olympics / Valentines / Chinese New Years
OK February and Canadian Olympic Fever is in full swing! We hung a few flags on the house and stuck some in the window boxes! I have shirts, scarves and pennants ready for my Dad's momentous torch bearing run on the 11th and any Olympic community events we are attending. So it looks like February is red, red, red.. Olympics (red for Canada - Believe!), Valentines and Chinese New Year (Feb 14th with Valentines this year - year of the Tiger). A strong start to 2010!


Seasonal Table - Red
We usually have a red February nature table full of cut out paper hearts, red roses and Chinese paper decorations from China town - this is a must see time of year for any China Town - decked out in red and gold paper decorations - fabulous in any city! 2010 sees the addition of some Canadian and Olympic flags to our table, maybe a few maple leaves - it all works together magically!

Breakfast Verse
We are sticking to one verse a month to simplify; this since December actually. Found a great author June Cotner! She compiles books of poems, prayers, blessings, toasts in her many books - check her out, interdenominational, a great resource for this type of thing!

"May this house be filled with joy in the morning and sweet dreams at night. Blessings on our meal today."
Welsh Blessing author unknown. From House Blessings by June Cotner

Love these simple napkin Valentines!

Waking Song
This is a catchy tune from teh song "Beautiful Day" by teh Boo Radley's, 1980's I think. Find it on itunes.

"Wake up its a beautiful morning, the sun is shining for your eyes.., Wake up its a beautiful morning.."

So many souces! Explore pop songs from your teens,twenty's, and use wake up lines; Us, James Brown, you'll be surprised! Depending on the ages of your children, consider campfire songs, girlguide songs, nursery rhymes! There's lots out there!

Bedtime Verse
sung, and there are more verses I just do not remember. This is my son's choice, from their younger years.

"The evening is coming, the sun sinks to rest, the crows are all flying straight home to their nest
Caw says the crow as he flies overhead, it time that we all were going to bed"

My son's Canadian Valentines!

February Project 1 Valentine Cards
Time to pull out the Valentines ephemera, images, doilies, red, pink and white paper, ribbons and bows, ruffly scissors, glitter, beads etc. Put it all-out on the craft table and let the kids go to town. Simple handmade valentines are really appreciated by other families these days. Our children love making them! They usually cut small square of pretty card stock and fill it full of decorations. Our English tradition is to sing Love ? a fun game and makes it easy to do several! This has become a tradition in our neighbourhood now. Secret Valentines appear on our doors and in our mailbox, even by snail mail every year! All ages participating, kids and seniors who live on our street in particular! Here are my son's Canadian Valentines!


February Project 2 Going on a holiday - so probably no project 2!

January Goals and Rhythm

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for the month, including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are goals the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days!

January Theme / Festival - New Year
It is always fun to make New Years resolutions, a feeling of starting fresh, the human gift of eternal hope and renewal!

Seasonal Table - Stars
Our seasonal table seems to center around stars for New Years or Chinese New Years Festival colours. This year stars, candles, lanterns, blue, gold, yellow and red!

Breakfast Verse
"January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow. Blessings on our meal today."
From Around the Year by Elsa Beskow.

Waking Song
"Good morning dear earth, good morning dear sun, good morning dear stones and flowers everyone. Good morning dear and birds in the trees, good morning to you and good morning to me!" (at least that is how my children remember it!)

Actually not a song, but children still love and requested "Good Morning Dear Earth" from preschool and playgroup!

Bedtime Verse
The children want to continue with "Oh Holy Night" from December and though I love Christmas I need to move on! So from A Child's Seasonal Treasury by Betty M Jones we have Colourful Journey which is probably for art but my children like to think of it as for dreaming too.

"With my crayons I will go, Journeying o'er the bright rainbow, Red and yellow, green and blue, Orange and purple, that will do, Now let's see where they take me to."

January project 1 New Years Resolution Collage
Taking New Years Resolutions a step further this is a Wonderful tool I learned from a friend last year. I found doing this had a huge impact on my year in a very subtle manner and my children are all over doing this!

Simply take a large piece of poster paper (dollar store / staples / wallmart) and a bunch of magazines and some magazines and collage what the you (or the new you!) looks like for this year. Ideas that strike you, images you like, images that represent what you want from, or for yourself (not stuff you want rather the image of who you want to be).

For example last year I had all kinds of sexy and more outlandish model pictures as I want to loosen up my style a bit, be more artsy, more attractive - hey don't we all? For me not for anybody else! Then I have fresh veggies for healthy food, social eating activities! I want to eat better and with friends more - and from my own garden - all those thoughts are in my food images, then I had romance and flowers. I want to be more romantic, be treated more romantically; have more flowers in my life, my garden, my home.


Then you add words, quotes, again vocabulary, poetry, prose that inspire you! That evoke your goals. Use different colours, different pens. You can go a step further add ephemera or anything you wish, you can put more on the back if you run our of space or have super secret goals :-) but my project is just two step. Step 1 Images Step 2 Words. The whole family can do this together or just you or just the children, but I do suggest you give it a try it is surprisingly powerful. When December rolls 'round and the New Year is on the horizon you will know what i mean! You'll want to so this every year!

January Project 2 Trip to China Town to see it Decked Out for Chinese New Year
Meant to do that last 2 years and haven't so we'll try again!

Happy New Years!

December Goals and Rhythm

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for the month, including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are goals the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days!

December! Our favorite month of the year! I am going to try to keep the month peaceful even if its busy.. time for home, time for family, time to prepare our hearts and rest our souls. Possibly say "no" to some invites. Maybe more guests here for cozy dinners and hot tubs?

Festival or Theme is Advent / Christmas
The children spend time decorating the house and setting up our (several) nativities. We have a lovely fabric wall calender for advent and they usually get one of the beautiful European paper calenders too. As a family, over the years we have made pieces for a wooden nativity (very simple) and we set that up daily through Advent too.

Seasonal Table
Our favorite wooden Nativity made by Jalu of the Sunshine Coast - lovely! Children set up and reorganize as they wish all month.

Breakfast Verse (all December while lighting advent wreath candles)
Advent, advent, a child is born; Advent, Advent a child is born
First one, then two, then three, then four and then the child is at the door
Advent, Advent a child is born! Blessing on our meal today.

Waking Song
We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year! (Children's choice)

Bedtime Verse
Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright etc.
My children love to use carols, these are simple, traditional, everybody knows them. They reflect rhythm, routine, security.

December Project 1 Advent Wreath
If you haven't made one yet here is a simple method.

1. Use a floral wire ring from any florist. Either stuff it with moss or cut strips of floral foam.
2. The moss version is already very green so great for children, simply add garden greenery - clipped holly, evergreen, cones or even small Christmas balls or cinnamon stick bunches or nuts. Attach by wrapping the whole thing with thin floral wire. If using floral foam you will have to add lots of greenery. The easiest is clipped cedar. For either poke on four plastic candle holders and in the case of the moss, wire in. Ass candles (3 purple, 1 pink is traditional Christian, however 4 white or 4 red are also lovely). Light one additional candle each week of Advent at breakfast and dinner (week 1 light 1, week 2 light 2 etc).

Finish November Fundraiser
This year the children raised an amazing three hundred and something dollars for education in both Ethiopia and West Vancouver! Many thanks to all who gave so generously! The children have announced winners and delivered the prizes ( a book by my son, a candle by my daughter) and donations to respective charities! Outstanding! At ages 9 and 12 the children handled most of this themselves this year!

December Project 2 Rosca de Reyes
As in past years we baked Three Kings Bread for Epiphany (Jan 6 so I suppose it is a Jan project :-), a "rosca" ring to symbolize a crown. We do the Mexican version but their are all kinds of recipes from Latin countries and from Europe. Traditionally beans were hidden in the rosca, symbolizing baby Jesus. We use the more modern metal babies (found at a Catholic book store)wrapped in foil. Other years we have used clay babies (from an African import store) use your imagination. My children love to hide many babies not just one so this year we hid 6 babies and then delivered slices to many friends. In Mexico those who find babies make the tamales or host a party on Candlemas, however we just make our rosca with much love and no obligation!


Traditions / Ritual and Routine

Christmas Advent reading most nights.

The "humbug" game all season (once my father gave a stern Victorian woman's face Christmas decoration as a Christmas gift - she looked very grouchy so she was named the humbug - we sneak he on to each others trees all Christmas - the idea being you do not want to end up with the humbug at seasons end!)

Christmas Eve new pajama s from Nana and Granddad

A Very Merry Christmas to you all!

Advent Reading List

Some photos of the children's Christmas tags attached to bags of cookies they made for their teachers, and, for those who asked a Christmas reading list..

Advent Reading List

Christmas Stories Together by Estelle Bryer and Janni Nicol *I Love This!

The Christmas Story Book Collected by Ineke Verschuren

The Light in the Lantern by Georg Dreibig (can by accompanying Advent Calender)

The Emperor's Vision and other Christ Legends by Selma Lagerlof

Christmas Roses Legends for Advent Collected by Mimmi Zoitterman

Seasonal and Traditional Short Stories for Christmas Family Reading

The Way to the Stable A Christmas Story by Max Bolliger Illustrated by Arcadio Lobato *I Love This!

The Mitten by Jan Brett - A Ukranian Folktale

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore illustrated by Ruth Sanderson - A Classic

Come and See by Monica Mayper Illustrated by Stacey Schuett *I Love This!

Little One, We Knew You'd Come by Sally Lloyd-Jones illustrated by Jackie Morris *I Love This!

The Christmas Rose illustrated by Heather Jarman

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas illustrated by Schart Hyman

The Nutcracker adapted by Daniel Walden from the story by E.T.A. Hoffman illustrated by Don Daily - A Classic

Chapter Books - Read Alouds for Christmas
of course these books can be read silently by children and at any time of year but these are perfect at Christmas and make great family reads!

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley -*I Love this!

Any of the Narnia series by CS Lewis - particularily The Magician's Nephew and Lion Witch and the Wardrobe

Fall Short Story List

I am always getting requests for reading lists of great stories!

Something I really cherish is reading to my children. Even as they get older we still make time for that. We have two simple story spaces - the fireplace in my bedroom and our cozy living room, both equip with rockers, quilts and pillows. The children's quilts are from when they were just wee so they love that, and we leave them out to use any time the notion takes us, usually evening, but not always. I usually sit in a rocker to read (seasonal stories that have become tradition in our family, or chapter books or tell stories I just make up on the spot) and I usually start with the same words (my personal preamble is about a lady rocking by the sea in the Mediterranean because that has personal meaning for me and feels old and timeless) but you can create your own lines to set the tone, or chime a little bell or sing or speak a one liner. Here's a simple one I like, "Once upon a time, but not so long ago..".

Read Aloud list for Fall - Short Seasonal Stories

Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant Illustrated by Lauren Stringer *Love this!

The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado Illustrated by George Angelini *Love this !

Pelle's New Suit by Elsa Beskow

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Tihington

Hegedt Peg by Audrey Wood Illustrated by Don Wood

Mrs. McMurphy's Pumpkin by Rick Walton Illustrated by Delana Bettoli *One of my Childrens' favorites since very young!

Cold Feet by Cynthia DeFelice by Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker ( traditional British ghost story - preview first for developmental appropriateness for your child)

Halloween Circus by Charise Neugebauer Illustrated by Robert Ingpen

A Poppy is to Remember by Heather Patterson and Ron Lightburn

In Flanders Fields by John McCrae

Feathers and Fools by Mem Fox Illustrated by Nicholas Wilton *Love this!

Something From Nothing by Phoebe Gilman

For Story Telling resources I recommend and Story Telling Society or Festival or How Too books by the fabulous Nancy Mellon!

November Goals and Rhythm

November, the month of reprieve (?) between Halloween and Christmas, though look around you, Christmas is here - too early! I can't bear the malls yet! I try in the first half of the month to stick to fall. Remembrance Day, peace!

If you have not followed this blog before these monthly planning pages lay out a general structure for the month, including a theme and seasonal table, a way to wake, a table candle blessing, a couple of projects and a verse for going to sleep. These are goals the follow up varies from great to imperfect but having the plan helps it to happen and helps bring rhythm to our days!

So here is our November layout

Festival or Theme is Remembrance Day / Peace
A focus on peace, honour, courage, remembering those who have passed on. We are using a red cloth on our theme table, photos of relatives who went to war, a red candle, red or pink roses I usually receive as a birthday gift (being a Remembrance Day baby), lapel poppies collected over the year and Grandad's medal of honour from the war and his pocket watch.

Waking Song (for November)
chosen by my daughter from our collection

"Come little leaves said the wind one day, come over the meadows with me and play
Put on your dresses of red and gold, summer is gone and the days grow cold!"
~by George Cooper~


Breakfast Verse (first half of November)
(sung while lighting a candle at the breakfast table)

"Light a candle for peace, whisper the word,
Please let it come soon, whisper a prayer for the world,
Blessings on our meal today."

Breakfast Verse (second half of November)
chosen by my son from our collection

"Earth we thank you for this food, for rest and home and all things good,
For wind and rain and sun above, but most of all for those we love.
Blessings on our meal today."

Bedtime Song
From camp

"From out of the battered elm tree the owl cries out - I'm here
And from the distant forest the cuckoo answers clear
cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo da roo da roo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo da roo da roo.
Mr. moon, Mr. moon you're out to soon, the sun is still in the sky
Go back to your bed and cover up your head and wait 'till the day goes by
cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo da roo da roo, cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo da roo da roo.

November Project 1 Clay Nativity
We have bought some air dry clay from Staples. Every year we have talked of making a Nativity for Christmas, but we have always left it too late. This year we will each make small figures every few days when we are able or choose to - all through the month of November. We will start with the important ones, Mary, Joseph, the Baby and see how many we end up with by the end of the month. Whatever we have is what we will go with. No pressure, no stress, just a relaxing, ongoing project. This clay air dries and then can be painted.

November Project 2 Children's Charity Raffle
Each year my children make a "prize" for their charity raffle. 2 children, 2 prizes. This years prizes are a book by T and a candle by C (past years have been small paintings or drawings mostly). Tickets are $1 monies go to the charity of their choice.

Autumn Stories
Family tradition. Short stories (fall theme) read occasionally by the fire. One day I will post a list of good seasonal stories - there are many wonderful books - check your library, bookstore!

Bread, Soup and Scones
OK the bread making and soup making fell apart mid October, but today is friday and I baked bread. My son's friend was over and he loved it, he had never had home baked bread. Makes it all worth while! Actually the realistic bread making goal was once a month so I am ahead of target there. At any rate the rhythm falls apart, we just pick it up as we can! Every day is a new day! Monday I make scones or muffins for lunches through the week (or until they run out - which is usually pretty quickly!)

One more week until our Felting Workshop (see previous post Oct 22) - I am excited! If you are interested we have 3 spaces left - for details and registration contact Lenora@Moore.nu