In short, heart-smile-exclamation point

Sometimes appreciation comes from children, completely unexpected and unasked for, and it is so very sweet. I think we should all end more of our notes with heart-smile-exclamation points and the summary that, in short, we love all of you.

Sometimes it's like that

Hazel is learning how to write her letters and has gotten the idea that she can use written words to communicate. As someone who used writing as a coping mechanism for my own childhood angst, I could relate to this activity. (In case you can't quite figure out that last word, she often mixes up M and W.)

Spark the Snow Girl

If Spark came alive, she would grasp my hand and fly into the partichel portal. We would play in Iceland, the land of snow. We would play and play and play! Then, I would have to go home. But, she would say, "Don't worry. Evry time you make a snowgirl, she'll teach you more Tiger-Snow demon triks!" Then I would go home.

--Juniper

 (If you click on the image, you should be able to pull up a larger size version of it. There are some nice details you may miss in the smaller version--especially the portal at the center of Spark's bottom circle.)

Hazel's Castle

A long time ago, there used to be a mice who was a queen, and she made her own castle just like this. And I'm going to tell you a legend. Then a shark came and ate it--the mice, of course. Then the shark was the queen. Chomp. Chomp. Then there was lots of mice; then the shark ate all the mice he found in his castle. The castle fell down. Then I built it back up. Then he had some dessert--a panda. Cause the panda was in the cave. Well, he was roasting coffee because he wanted coffee, and he did not have any coffee at his house. Then the shark found him and ate him. Then you came tumbling in. The shark did not like to eat grown-ups, so you and Dad went in and you guys did not get ate. There's one more legend. It's a legend about this castle, a long, long time ago before anything was real and only castles were real. And the panda was now dead.