Girl's Best Friends

Elise's best friend, Lady Bug. Pretty obvious, huh?

They have been together for almost a year now and we are truly happy that we got her. The little Chihuahua/Yorkie/Maltese mutt makes Elise so happy and she's so darned cute that her funny little face makes us laugh every time we look at her. Our friends, Jessica and Aleah are so fond of her, they bought her a fuzzy, warm sweater for winter. How sweet is that?

Willow Springs

Some friends from Greeneville asked us to join them at the park. The girls took ballet together and have missed seeing each other every week. It was great to connect with the family again. And what a beautiful place the park turned out to be! The views took my breath away. The kids had a blast playing in the fields and setting up an imaginary storefront where they sold various pets and supplies. We payed for our items with fairy gold dollars, of course. Turtles sunning themselves on a log in the pond were a big hit with everyone. The 5 of us took a short walk on the trail on a sunny, warm spring day. We will definitely return to Willow Springs and we plan to meet our friends there again.

Bat Picnic!

Bat Skeleton

Girls Rock!

We are Family!

Nap Time After a Picnic and Play

Can you her me now?

Elise's cousins invited us to a picnic at the NC Arboretum. What a treat! We visited their amazing bat exhibit (my daughter has a bat/mad scientist blog) and picnicked and played in the amazing gardens. I was so impressed by the beauty of the place, that I look forward to visiting again soon and seeing more of the grounds. The kids were hot and some took naps on the blanket after lunch, but none of them wanted to go home.

Pinky Mouse

Pinky Mouse

Feeding the Fish
Yesterday, we visited my parents at their Bulls Gap home. They bought the house with plans to retire at the end of the year and move from Central Virginia to East Tennessee. The neighbors have 3 children and Elise looks forward to playing with them whenever we visit. Jasmine, the youngest child, found a baby mouse and has been nurturing it. Elise is a lover of all animals, especially small ones, and was enamored of this tiny creature. The kids played for hours and helped grandma and grandpa feed the catfish in their pond.

Art and Literature

Elise loves, I mean, loves to read and to write. She stays up late at night, when all the world is asleep, reading and writing her own stories and ideas. She amazes me! I thought Elise looked so so serene and content, sitting on my sister's guest bed, in the sunlight, reading a book her aunt gave her about faerie folk, while my sister's Basenji quietly gazed out the window. My mother once had that book and it has not been in print since 1970, but my sis managed to find it on ebay and snapped it up for our girl. Elise is in awe of the drawings which no doubt inspired the drawings and characterizations of Holly Black and Tony Diterlizzi in her favorite series, "The Spiderwich Chronicles". Brian Fourd and Alan Lee's renderings in "Faeries" are a treasure to discover and re-discover!

Amazing portrait my sister had drawn of Fairy Elise

Leave Room for The Fairies To Dance

About a month ago fairies must have left our yard in a hurry. Elise discovered tiny beds of fragrant dried flowers, nut shells and grasses, nestled in the crooks of our trees. I was advised not to take pictures of their beds, as the faeries would be angry, and so I obliged. Although I now wish that I had proof of their existence. They must have overslept after placing the metal sign that was left hanging from our tree. This was the inspiration for Elise to choose bulbs and seeds to plant a fairy garden. We will start that enchanted garden next weekend, when we return from our vacation in Virginia. And if we are lucky, we will discover fairies dancing among the flowers.

Miniature Creations

Making Miniatures

Miniature Book

Chocolates

Box of Chocolates

While I do laundry, pack for our road trip, and generally run around like a chicken missing her head, Elise has been creating miniature items for her fairy friends. I got a rare glimpse into the fairy realm last night with special glasses. I feel so honored to have been given the fairy site, if even just for a moment. I did expect to see them moving about more, but Elise explained that they all freeze when humans interrupt their activities. Wow!

Easter Journey

Today we pack for an 8 hour drive to Virginia for an Easter gathering with my family. We will be staying with my sister and her daughter in their new house for about a week. Elise and I dread the long drive, but always enjoy each others company on our road trips. When it's just the 2 of us, we have such great converstaions and some nice, quiet, reflective moments, well, a few quiet moments anyway. Note to self: charge MP3 and DS. :-) Happy Easter/Spring to all of you!

Quieter House

We took the cousins home last night. The snow in the mountains between TN and NC was much heavier than expected, with accidents along the way, and Joel white-knuckled it until we got into Asheville. Elise misses her cousins very much and was down-in-the-dumps all night and again this morning. We hugged it out and now she has decided to channel her energy into a book about fairies. Imagine that! This will be one story in a collection of fairy tales. I love her many "books" and the way she writes with such enthusiasm. And I believe with all of my heart that one day she will finish one of the many chapter series she begins. Life brings constant and new inspirations for writing and I am thrilled that she has such a passion for books and composing her own thoughts. My house is full of pieces of paper, even tiny scraps, with Elise's notes and drawings. These tiny words and pictures are, to me, valuable treasures.

Spring Freeze

The forecast called for snow and freezing temperatures, so I had to cut and cover my beloved tulips and azaleas. Just the day before it had been in the mid 70's and we stayed outside all day in bare feet. The girls had such fun building fairy houses among the tulips and I couldn't bare to cut them all. So I cut 1/3 and covered the rest. This morning, they live!

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Egg Hunt in our front yard.

Night Fairies

Cousins Abi and Grace from Asheville have been staying with us this week. The girls are having such fun, especially playing fairies and hide-and-seek. Our home is filled with giggles and laughter. We took these night photos in our front yard. They three of them really "get" each other and are best friends. We love having them over and feel blessed to have the family of 7 in our lives (there are 3 little brothers who are also joys to be with). They are also homeschoolers who recently moved from Michigan and are loving life in the mountains.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

I don't know if anyone really gives a darn what we are up to, but since Joel got us a new camera, I thought I would put it to good use and post some photos and snippets about our lives. Since you are reading this, you will probably see your lovely visage on this page soon!

Hugs,

Beth