Priceless

I posted earlier about Tina and her girls visit to Harpers Ferry, but I purposely left out a very important part of that week. Steve was finishing a book binding project the day they arrived and it captured their attention, so he decided he'd help each of them make a book of their own. They chose their paper and the project began. Sewing the signatures was a little tricky, but they did great!! Now if any of you have ever made a book, you know it's more than a one day process...... ....especially during the gluing part. I could probably watch all day and still not remember the whole process. A 6 yr old with a tub of paste and a brush made me a little nervous, but Steve seemed confident. I'm not sure if that was because of his lack of experience with a 6 yr old or perhaps he sensed something I didn't. Again, they both did terrific jobs on all the stages of gluing. There was really only room for one of them at a time at the table, so the other got to take a break. While McKenna sewed and pasted and pasted and folded..... Jadyn sat with her ice cream and a book. Nobody new at this stage what exactly the books would be used for, but a few ideas had been tossed around and it sounded like they might become....... ..... vacation journals. Sometime around day two of the process, I took them to Mal-Wart and we picked out stickers and stars and decals and those little corner tabs for photos. We couldn't find any satisfactory paper for the book covers so it was decided they would use fabric. Now anyone knows there isn't a shortage of that in my house. They each picked out their favorite. Mckenna chose some that Steve had brought back from Japan, while Jadyn chose some leftover curtain material. I knew I saved that fabric for some reason!! I never thought it would cover a book one day. And of course while Jadyn glued and embossed and folded and glued and embossed....... McKenna went outside to teach Dash how to be better behaved. Did he have her fooled.... LOL..... .... he already knew all the tricks she thought she was teaching him, but he would do anything for an endless supply of puppy treats!!! Embossing and gluing and folding and clamping all complete, the two girls proudly displayed their new books. Now it was up to me to photoshop and print pics of their daily activities here, so they could cut them out and use them in their Journals. Two proud little girls and they have every right to be. They listened and learned very well. Hopefully they'll remember the hard work it takes to make a book and it'll help them appreciate a time honored trade. None of us know just what kind of an impact our participation in a childs daily activity can have. Of course we remember the people that took time to explain things to us during our own childhood, so why not repay that? Repay it by repeating it. They may have been just books, and it cost us pennies to help the girls make them, but the smiles that came with those books...... were priceless.