The Fellowship of the Ring

We're rereading The Fellowship of the Ring as our current read-aloud. Our youngest, now eleven, couldn't remember the story from the last time we read it aloud. I guess she'd know the story if my kids watched the movies, but they don't watch much of anything. So we'll probably watch the films as a family when we are done reading the books this time. 

One daughter has a birthday at the end of March, the other at the start of April, so they contrived to negotiate a Rivendale Lego set for their birthday season. The deal they made was that all birthday monies from extended family would be combined to pay for a portion of the set. And they would forfeit parties and dinners out and all other birthday gifts, so that the monies that would have been spent celebrating the separate birthdays could go to pay for the rest of the set. In truth, it was an outstanding deal for their father and I. We saved a ton of money by paying for the other half of this set. 

Note: We did provide birthday desserts on the day of their birthdays. One daughter had her birthday on the day of our CC Community, so we brought cupcakes to share. The other daughter had her birthday on a plain old weekday, so my husband took her out after a common dinner at home to choose special desserts from the local grocer. 

So the girls built up Rivendale each night as we read the story. They literally constructed it as the hobbits journeyed toward it. 

Last night, we read the passage where The Fellowship was defeated by Caradhas before we all went to bed. This morning, I came downstairs after my shower to find that my youngest had emptied the Kleenex box to create the scene. 

My life is utterly Bless-ed.