A thousand years ago, I had an idea for a book devoted to photographs of beloved stuffed animals. Since I'm not a photographer, my idea went nowhere. (I tend to have a lot of good ideas for things I could do if I were a totally different person.)
Today I discovered that not one but two such books were published in 2013, and they both look beautiful: Much Loved
Take a gander:
More Much Loved photos.
And:
Sylvie wearing her Snow White false eyelashes, which she now begs to be allowed to wear everywhere. No, I don't let her.
And here is Snow White with her good friend, the Leaf Monster. What, you've never read that one?
UPDATE: I forgot to add these ones, which I just found scribbled on the magazine:
A woman's work is hard.
Good things come to those who are good.
People who live in glass houses hurt.
If you don't have anything nice to say, just say a random word.
And Sylvie contributed one, too. She did:
You can't have your cake and ice cream because you have to eat healthy food.
Inspired by this fill-in-the-blank in Real Simple Family magazine, last night I asked Luke to make up some endings to unfinished proverbs. I gave him the words in normal text, his words are in italics. These familiar sayings are still mostly unknown to kids his age and we had a good laugh. You should try it with your kids.
A rose by any other name would be stupid.
A chain is only as strong as a rope.
A fool and his money are toys.
A good man is Santa.
A leopard can't change its stripes.
A penny saved is one cent.
A picture is worth a million dollars.
A poor workman always blames his wife.
A problem shared is a big problem.
A rolling stone gathers no friends.
A thing of beauty is roses.
A watched pot never breaks.
A woman's place is number one. (I think he was sucking up here.)
All good things come to Happyland.
All that glitters is sparkle.
All you need is love.
An ounce of prevention is worth a dollar.
Ask a silly question and you'll get a spanking. (I swear we don't spank here.)
You've made your bed, now sleep.
Beauty is only love.
Behind every great man is a wife.
Better the devil you know than a bad kid.
Boys will be doomed.
Don't bite the hand that loves you.
Don't count your chickens before they are dead.
Don't cut off your nose to smell.
Don't put all your eggs in one pot.
Don't put the cart by a car. (He thought I meant a grocery cart, not a horse cart.)
Don't teach your Grandma to do front flips and back flips.
Don't throw the baby in the air.
Every cloud has a fog.
Everything comes to him who is nice.
He who laughs last, laughs weird.
This is a French primary school. It is gorgeous -- very energizing. They better not hire any old teachers who just want the children to sit quietly. More photos here.
While I worked on this -- I am painting our lower kitchen cabinets in chalkboard paint -- Vivi sat quietly at the dining room table with her watercolours. I heard nothing but the clinky-clanky-swish-swish-swish of her paintbrush being dipped in the mug of water, presumably to clean it between colours, just as I had spent a great deal of time demonstrating to her. And then I got up to check supper in the kitchen.
Oh well, at least it wasn't as bad as this.
Luke's bean plant, the source of much tribulation the last term of school, during which everyone else's bean plant sprouted and his did not, is now blooming and growing leetle tiny beans! Oh jubilation! (This is, in fact,the second bean he planted. The first never did grow, presumably as the result of much anxious over-watering.)
I know this sounds crazy, but I do believe those leetle tiny beans appeared overnight. Now I understand why it was Jack and the beanstalk and not, say, Jack and some other stalkish vegetable.