One thing that Corey and I envisioned would happen if we came to Brazil was that life would be a little slower and that we'd have more time to do the small and simple things. Like read to the kids at night. We were right. I had bought the kids some of
these Canterbury classics at Costco for Christmas presents and we brought several along to Brazil ~ Jane Austen collection for Mel, Hans Christian Andersen for the little girls, and Tales by the Brothers Grimm for the boys.
On Monday night (3/30) Corey was reading some of the short stories by the Brothers Grimm to the kids. There are a few "girl" stories I guess, but the original version of them make them more like boy stories to me. Plus there's a picture of big scary haunted trees on the cover. During Cinderella, it was funny to hear Corey read "Turn and peep, turn and peep" in a falsetto voice. I had already read this one to the kids, but Corey hadn't read the original version. Cutting off toes and heels, birds plucking out eyes... this ain't your Disney fairy tale.
What do you kids think of this version of the story? Kinda funny to see and hear their reactions.
Next up was Thousand Furs. I hadn't read that one. But as Corey read, the kids seemed to see what would be one of the plot twists in this story... The kings wife was dying. She was beautiful with golden hair. On her deathbed, she made the king promise he would not marry again unless the next queen was as beautiful as her. The king could not find another woman as beautiful as his deceased wife. Until, one day, he noticed his daughters lovely golden hair... at that the kids all groaned, they could see what was coming. "What?!?! Oh no! Gross!" Corey paused to acknowledge their concerns, with a "Sorry, I haven't filtered this." Luckily she escapes her father's evil design. After that it was a bit similar to Cinderella, with the maid turning up at a party all beautiful and then vanishing 3 times.
Last night after reading, he said "Well,
that story was
really weird..." followed by "but it's sure captures their attention. They don't know what's coming." They read Faithful John last night. Go read that if you want to. Pretty louco (that means crazy in Portuguese). I really enjoy us being able to have this time together.
