Vintage Cameras, and, My Daughter is a Genius

I love to collect vintage cameras from dusty bins in the backs of thrift stores.  And now I have lovin' people seeing old cameras and getting them for me because they know I love them.  I am not complaining.  I've gotten three just this month.  Keep them coming, peeps, but just remember- you need to stop me if it gets out of hand.  OK?

I just love how interesting and quirky they are, and I love remembering the age of film.

ALSO on an unrelated note, my daughter is an artistic genius.

A couple weeks ago Grace brought home this painting.  She said it was abstract, and even she didn't know what it was.

I thought she was brilliant.

American Girl Tea

Last Monday we hosted an American Girl Tea Party with a whole lot of sweet little ladies and their doll friends.  There was lots of giggling and sipping and they were just precious.  Every girl came with an extra helping of sugar and spice, and their own special tea cup.  It was really, really fun.

Nostalgic.

Grace and Patie made this banner in 2008.  And here it is in 2009, and this year,

And last year, they made this neat book, which follows the Mayflower pilgrimage, through the group's first two years- in their own words and illustrations.

I look forward to putting them out year after year after year.

And though they are relatively "new" traditions, they already fill me with nostalgia.

Happy Thanksgiving.

20% Smug

Look.  If you don't know about it, now you know.  All K-12 teachers qualify for the Barnes and Noble Educator Discount.  20% off anything in store or online that you could use for your classroom.  And, in my experience, that means just about everything in the store.  I've tested them in this.  And you can combine it with other discounts.

I'm no idiot (I am a teacher, you know). I know why they do this.  It feels so elite to get 20% off anything any day that you choose BN.com over Amazon every time, and make a point to make trips to the store more often than you would have otherwise.  They win, and I win with a card I want to wave in the faces of the poor people who have to pay full price in line.

Bring your pay stub (or if you homeschool your exemption certificate) to your local store and on the spot you'll get a flashy, exclusive card that makes you feel way too cool for school.

On a loosely-related note,

We watched the BBC Life series last week in three days, watching 2 or three episodes at a time after school, and it was exquisite.  Get it at your local library like we did, or buy it here.  We all loved it.  The BN.com price, combined with your slick Educator discount saves you like $24 off the list price you'd get in a store, and you'll get free shipping.  So smug.

Bygone.

While we were back at Jim's parents' house last month I took the girls to a Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Walnut Grove, MN. 

Grace is reading the Little House books this year at our Homeschool Coop.  We now own the series, but I haven't read them since I was in elementary school.  Grace was excited to see Plum Creek, and all of us had fun experiencing the museum- which is really like a tiny interactive "village".

There's a small church (the girls loved this the best and we played in there the longest).  There were pews and a pulpit to stand behind, etc.  It was fun.

The other favorite was the school house.  I know this is all about Laura Ingalls Wilder, but, I, for one, was having major Anne of Green Gables nostalgia flashes.  Frankly, though the Little House books are a part of my regional heritage, they do not hold a candle to my love for Prince Edward Island.  And, my girls are being brought up right on a healthy diet of Avonlea.  I digress.  Back to the school house...

There are neat old things everywhere- Grace had a great time pointing out things from the books.

I don't know what this is.

There were several scenes brought to life from the books.



The girls had a blast trying on tons of outfits.

And then, because of course you exit through the gift shop, we saw a huge selection of clothes etc. for our American Girls.  Since they were right out in the car... the girls dropped big allowance bucks.  We finished up in the store, went out to the van, and traded trendy modern clothes for outfits from a bygone era.  It was fun.  The gift shop lady correctly thought my girls were absolutely adorable.

So THEN, though we'd already been there for 2 hours, we went BACK in through the entrance and Daisy, Emily, and Charlotte went to church, 

and of course school.

New Life

Two Hours Later

I cried.