Cranney Classics

While this blog is to keep in touch with family and friends far away, it's also be somewhat of a record of our family history as each post is e-mailed to the gmail account I've created for the boys.  It somehow seems amiss to keep this history however, without including some of the books that we have poured over again and again.  I can't help but suspect they'd enjoy being reminded of some of our favorites and so each week I thought I'd include a Cranney Classic: a book that we have long loved or just discovered.

As the first Cranney Classic, I have to admit I feet obligated to give the Donaldson side a little attention and include a book written by Julia Donaldson.  Nepotism? I may have picked it up due to the Scottish author's last name, but I honestly found the book delightful and a gentle way of making the fearsome less intimidating. It's a little too old for Simeon to understand the humor and plot right now, but the rhyming and illustrations are such that he doesn't mind reading it along with Christian, nor do I.

By way of other updates, our house smells like scouting.  Stephen got home late last night from a Klondike Derby and all his clothes--to the last three pairs of socks he was wearing are permeated with campfire smoke.  As much as I'm a fan of rustic, Monday morning we're making a trip to the laundry mat.   I met Stephen when he was 21 and in some ways I wish I could have known him when he was a boy. Seeing his obvious enjoyment of the trip despite numb toes and a sleepless night however, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse of his boyhood adventuresome self. 

 Don't feel too bad that I only have glimpses though. Watching Christian and Simeon sneak out of their room to fight the "bad guys" of their nightmares at four in the morning with their foam swords and shields, I think I'll be seeing more than just mere glimpses of boyhood adventures for many more years to come.