The Sunflower Sword

Tyler and Luke recently took out a new book from the library called The Sunflower Sword, and we have all fallen in love with it.  At the moment, we read it before bed at night and sometimes multiple times a day.  It is the story of a boy who wants to be a knight, but his mother will not let him have a sword.  Instead she gives him a sunflower, which he moans about a bit but then finds that it "whooshes and swooshes" nicely.  He has fun with this sunflower sword and pretends to slay all the dragons with it. 

But then...a real dragon turns up!  He whooshes and swooshes as fiercely as he can as the dragon breathes fire and creates all sorts of smoke.  Until...the dragon thinks that the flower is for her! 

It turns out the dragon is not so mean after all and they become dear friends.  Then (and this is the best part) ALL the knights in the land hear about this and learn that an enemy can become a friend.  So, they all come to the same spot and give up their swords to become friends with the dragons.

A beautiful story!

So Tyler and I were struck with a moment of creativity early Sunday morning and decided to make a flower sword (it would have been a sunflower except for the simple fact that we are currently out of yellow construction paper) and find him a "knight's" (colander--same as the boy in the book) hat.  He whooshed and swooshed with all his might too, and I honestly can say I totally see how the dragon could think the flower was for her. 

Below are some of the pictures from the morning's venture in making the book "alive" in our home.  I absolutely am loving this make believe playing stage.  Such fun!

 

SNOW!!

We thought we had escaped with a mild winter.  Just as our thoughts were focused on springtime and how lucky we were to have such a bearable winter and patting ourselves on the back for using such little heat during this particular season: bam!  Two snowstorms in a row (the second came just as you could start to see bits of grass after the first).  And super cold temperatures hovering around 0 degrees Celsius/32 degrees Farenheit.

But let's try to see the joy in the situation: snowmen!  Hot tea! Warm soup that soothes the soul! A beautiful white covering and fun slippery sliding walks!  A sense of unity among all you meet that it is cold and we all love to be warm. 

There is an "up" side to every downward slope, and just like with snow: it is the upside that can take the most work while the downward slope appears to pick up momentum and speed the longer you travel it (although with skiing and sledding or "sledging" as it is called here it is quite fun to barrel down the mountain). 

So, yes, snow is beautiful, invigorating, and brings with it opportunities for fun and excitement.  But if I was completely honest, I think I am realizing more and more that warm weather edges out in my list of preferences (by a sufficient margin too).  Oh well!  Spring is on its way--eventually.  The daffodils will be here before we know it (they are already popping through the ground...brave little souls!). 

For now, I will enjoy snow breaks with Tyler and Luke, and keep trekking up the upside, clutching my hot water bottle and herbal tea.