Fairy House

Thanks to our friends Jessica, Ainsley, Sierra, Gretchen and Hunter we are now officially on a fairy kick at our house and I couldn't be happier about it!  Growing up, we had several big, huge maple trees in our yard and I have wonderful memories of spending hours (well, I guess to me it seemed like hours but it could just as easily have been 15 minutes here and there) building fairy houses.  I'll never forget that feeling of really believing that there were troupes of fairies traveling around all of the time.  I loved to picture them coming upon the house I'd built for them, being SO relieved to find such a comfy place.  I always imagined them completely exhausted from a long day of traveling around the world and relaxing in my house.  My mom would leave candy in our houses for us to find, as a "thank you" from the fairies and I fell for the whole thing hook, line and sinker.  I've been excited to share fairy houses with Zoe when she was old enough to appreciate them.

That's why I was so thrilled to see that for her birthday she received a book from Gretchen and Hunter called "The Midnight Fairies" that came with a little fairy necklace (she's totally obsessed with both).  She also got a beautiful and thoughtfully assembled package from Jessica, Ainsley and Sierra that included a handmade fairy (made by Jessica), some "building materials" (sticks, stones and shells) to help get her started on a fairy house, and a book called "Fairy Houses" that includes helpful tips and a great story.  She brought both books to school with her today and wore the necklace.  When I picked her up, one of her teachers told me that she had read the "The Midnight Fairies" to a group of kids outside and that they were all really excited about the matching necklace.  She said at first she felt shy reading it, but as soon as her teacher asked her to talk a little louder, she relaxed into it.

The fairy and building materials from Jessica, Ainsley and Sierra

It's been really windy around here ever since her party on Saturday and she has been DYING to get started on building.  I finally gave in today, even though it's still pretty windy...I just warned her that it might all blow away and that we should wait to put things like leaves and grass down until it's not so windy.  She was perfectly happy with that and got started straight away.  At first, I was trying to stay out of the process so that she could build it however she saw fit, but she seemed at a loss when it came to how to get started.  I finally decided that she's still pretty young and that working on it together as a team would be just as great an experience for her, so I ended up helping her out.  After overcoming my own "how do we get this thing started" feelings (it's been a long time since I built a fairy house!) we quickly got into a rhythm together and came up with a pretty cozy place, if I do say do myself!  It was just as much fun for me as it was her, I think, and I'm pretty confident in saying that it was 100% teamwork.  If she asked me how to do something, I made sure to always say "What do YOU think?" and if she had an idea, it was implemented every time.  If she seemed stuck, I'd suggest something and if she seemed like she just wanted to gather more materials, I'd start a walkway or something with what she was gathering....something she could easily take over and finish if she decided she wanted to....

Anyway, what a nice morning!  She says she wants to check on her fairy house "EVERY DAY" and if we're speaking truthfully here, so do I!

Here's a little "before and after" video....the basket at the "back door" that is now empty and waiting to be filled with flowers was almost a collection basket.  She got it out and said "I'll put this here in case anyone wants to give me money for staying here".  She and I went back and forth for a while...I was trying to say that that's not the reason we built the house for the fairies...that we built it to be kind and give them a place to stay, and she just kept saying "No, in case they just WANT to give me money...like hey, THANKS for making this house for us!"...she finally agreed that it didn't make much sense anyway, since fairies don't actually use money and decided to put flowers in there if she finds any pretty ones....

Zoe's Fairy House