Eloise Wilkin - We Help Daddy and We Like Kindergarten

More of Eloise Wilkin's wonderful work for you today - We Help Daddy - I have a tiny as well as regular size version, and We Like Kindergarten.  I feel like We Help Daddy is a good reminder to me to try to let the kids 'help' when we can, even if it slows us down.  My 8 year old has become a good helper with her younger 2 sisters.  She does not like doing chores but she does like to do special jobs like helping to bake a cake.  We Like Kindergarten brought back a few special memories of my own kindergarten class - I remember the classroom had an upstairs loft - how cool is that!  I vaguely remember being Mary in the Christmas play and being cheerily competitive with a little boy in the class over who was the best reader - we were the only 2 in the class who could read already.  I even have a sweet picture of me and a few friends at a sleepover and I am reading a bedtime story to everyone while we are cozied up in our pajamas.

Eloise Wilkin - Baby Listens and Mother Goose

More gorgeous illustrations from Eloise Wilkin for you today- Baby Listens, and Mother Goose.  My own baby is doing well - she is 9 months old now.  She is full of smiles and wiggles. Teething like crazy but nothing has come through yet. She really seems to like people and new faces. And my beautiful big girls are 7 and 3.  We're having a nice summer together - it goes by so fast as always. These days my oldest daughter is into Lego, Minecraft, reading, drawing, and learning about horses.  My middle daughter is into Lightning McQueen/Cars, the Fresh Beat Band, swimming lessons, and Play-Doh.

The Christmas Story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas Story, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, has 2 different covers but the inside pages are the same, and I have both versions.  Coincidentally, I saw a post on My Little Bookcase about making 'story stones' using pictures from Little Golden Books.  Jackie had the exact same situation - she had 2 copies of the same book, so she decided to cut the pictures from one to make a nativity scene with story stones.  I didn't have a nativity scene either, so this was the perfect quick and easy craft for me! Just throw some Mod Podge glue on there and you're good to go!  I don't tend to make a lot of structured crafts with my daughter as she prefers to make up her own inventions with shoeboxes, ribbon, constuction paper, etc, but this was a great simple craft to do and we can use it every year to decorate at Christmas.

Eloise Wilkin - Prayers for Children and My Little Golden Book About God

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of these pages absolutely make me tear up, especially from My Little Golden Book About God - written by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by Eloise Wilkin.  What a beautiful way to talk about God to small children.  And some of the illustrations seem to show the children and God communicating with each other through nature - it's amazing.  And the way that the author explains how we can also feel God's love through our family and friends and our memories of them- awesome.

Does anyone watch the show Parenthood?  It is so, so good.  I cry almost every week when I watch it.  But it's not a depressing show - just very poignant, with lots of humour in it too though.  Anyway, the theme song over the opening credits is Bob Dylan's "Forever Young".  Since this post is about prayers for our children and about teaching them about God, I thought you might like to read over the lyrics and listen to the song here over this YouTube clip.  Love it!  I couldn't get the clip to embed into the post so you'll have to click on the link.  I dedicate this song to my daughters - hopefully one day they will read this blog - kind of cool to think that it is like a digital scrapbook that they can enjoy when they are older!

"Forever Young"- Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Parenthood - Forever Young by Bob Dylan

Linking to Kid Lit Blog Hop

More Eloise - Baby Dear and Birds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "Baby Dear" reminds me of how we bought my older daughter Keira a baby Cabbage Patch doll not too long before our younger daughter Tegan was going to be born.  She adjusted quite well - we only really dealt with a small amount of jealousy and acting out from her.  But she was 4 and a half already so she really was ready to be a big sister.  Now that Tegan is almost a year and a half now, Keira gets more frustrated with her now as they sometimes fight over toys or Tegan wrecks something that Keira has been making.  Seeing the page about writing in the baby's memory book is filling me with guilt.... I have not been keeping up with Tegan's baby book!  Such a typical thing to do with the second child - everyone I knew with more than one child said that this was the case with them, and I didn't want it to happen with me but it has - I really need to get some things written down before I forget them!  It's not that I never have any free time to do it, it's more that by the time I get both girls down to bed I just want to relax and I keep procrastinating. Anyway, enjoy these illustrations by Eloise Wilkin - I especially love the second-to-last one here from "Birds" - just gorgeous.

Linking to Cozy Book Hop