Fall Fairy House or What to do on a Saturday Afternoon in a Small Town when there is nothing to do

After a chilling fall rain the night before, the day was washed clean and the sky, blue and sunny. And the age old questioned that arises every Saturday morning in our little house arose again without fail, "What are we gonna do with the kids today?". Neither of the parental units were feeling too parental that morning so cartoons would have to do until lunch was the next activity of the day. With lunch done and the dishes cleaned up we were begging them to go outside...please! I evened opened the front door pointing with great momma intimidation to get...out....side...now! When that technique failed to work I succumbed to interacting with them. Yes, mom of the year award once again.

I stepped outside with the kids and looked at the decaying jack-o-lantern. It was then I remembered seeing a fairy house constructed out of a pumpkin. I brought the kids back into the house for a brief moment to review the rules of constructing a fairy house:

• Fairy Houses should look so natural they are almost hidden. A location close to the ground is best.
• You should use only natural materials. Dry grasses, leaves, sticks, pebbles and pine cones are just a few examples of materials to choose.
• Be careful not to use or disturb any of nature's materials that are still living, especially flowers, ferns, mosses and lichen. Fairies do not like to disturb or destroy anything that is growing in nature.

So outside we go to collect natural materials to add to our pumpkin house. Here is some of what we came up with:

Now, I have to confess we used toothpicks to attach some items. But they were once natural material, right? Gavin decided the decaying pumpkin was not too inviting for fairies to sleep in so he gathered very colorful leaves and layed them inside the pumpkin.

He also, I might add, was highly concerned that the lid of the jack-o-lantern would leak on the fairies if it rained. So he gathered leaves that still had their stems attached and stuck them through the lid opening creating a canopy of beautiful deep red leaves on the orange pumpkin. Mother Nature really is a great designer! Anna created the pathway to the house with pebbles and small rocks.

And I created the ladder leading up to the house.

The kids stood back and appreciated their creation. They walked around the tree and peeked around several times to see if they might be able to sneak up on a fairy.

Then I suggested they say a little something to dedicate their house to the fairies. This is what they came up with:

I must say, the magic of childhood is one of the best things about being a parent. And to think I had begrudgingly stepped outside with them. How lucky am I to be given the opportunity to share in that magic? What a gift. We are already planning what our winter fairy house will look like.

May you find some magic today too!