A room for girls

Nev has had an issue with sleeping in a bed since we moved here. She kept falling out of the toddler bed and Gary or I would have to go get her when she'd cry from falling out in the middle of the night, sometimes multiple times. Well she got fed up with it and soon we'd  put her to bed and about a half an hour later she'd sneak her blanket and doll and pillow pet and sleep on the floor next to her sister's bed. Since she was happier there we learned not to interfere and found other means of lowering her bed and giving her a bigger sleeping space than the toddler bed gave her. That also freed up the Toddler bed/crib for her baby brother.

However, I felt like it was time to do something about the mess of their room and I thought that Nev was ready to sleep a little more elevated. So I searched around for bunk beds. I had a strong impression that a ladder bed was not the right solution for the girls and so I started looking for stairway beds. I found this one via Amazon at Bunk Bed King and was happy since it was white, and said it was made of solid wood.


Gary and Olea sorted all the pieces and organized them so it was easy for us to put it together while the girls slept in the art studio.

This also worked out nice so that it was not suspicious that we had the bed mats set up for their Grandparent's arrival a few days later.

 We were able to get it all done except one of the under bed drawers since one of the pieces was missing the groove cut out down the side.

Thankfully we have a nice neighbor with a table saw and he was able to rip it for us the next morning after the mattresses arrived.

The girls' room had a paint we were happy with and it matched some of their existing pieces well enough so we have just stuck to the color excitement instead of pinking out the room to the point of vomit. I really like it now. We put in new blinds too, which is great since the other ones were broken and had lost real function and their room faces the street.

We have changed out the wall shown in this pictures since I took these pictures by adding the book shelf (used to be changing table Hensvik from Ikea) since it was white and Giddy doesn't really need the changing table anymore and Olea needed a place for her books. We also moved the dress ups into the closet.

A few more things I want to do: switch out the fan blades (the boys room has blades that match and theirs match the wood finish we are planning on doing in the boys room) and the dangly thing on the end of the fan and light chain. Gary also wants to sand down their dresser and paint it white.

Here is the magic. Their room has never been cleaner, consistently and without nagging. The right piece of furniture can make all the difference! The girls and Gary and I are so pleased with it. No painting required. :)

Ceramic shuttle

I am so ridiculously excited about this.

It's been a long time in process. I didn't have much hope when I started it but thought it was worth a shot anyway. The kids and I were hand building some clay LAST YEAR in August and I roughly fashioned a tatting shuttle.

 See that lil thing in the middle of the tray...

Fast forward a month till I fired it to bisque and then fast forward a year and a few months till I got around to glazing it and re-firing it. Since I didn't expect it to work I didn't do a particularly careful job of finishing and smooth it. I was more concerned about placement of the tips because that is important in tatting and when you glaze it, that's really important in it not fusing together.
Wanna see?!

It all came out so well! The tip tension is perfect and it makes the most adorable "tink tink" sound when I wind the thread on and off it. It holds a lot of thread and is very comfortable to tat with.

It is A LOT of work and I was lucky to have it come out so well on my first try. I am so thrilled with it though. I'm kinda  itchy to try it again. :)

Halloween encore

We love Halloween.
(that's for the record)
We took the kids to the city trick or treating.

Giddy insisted on bringing Dap the bear with him. He held him under the crook of his arm the whole time.

 

Giddy and Dap

My cute short ones.

Oh how my little ducky loves his bear.

 We then met up with some friends to go door to door trick or treating. Work for their candy a little more.

Z's legs "are too sleepy"

 

Z and his friend Addy: he was such a gentleman pirate he'd put his hand on her back to help her up the curb etc. and holding her hand.

We stopped by our neighbors on the way home and they had prepared a little bag for each child with age and personality appropriate toy. It was so sweet and special for the kids. 

 

 

 This makes me laugh. Gary was joking earlier that we needed more kids to get more Halloween candy... but 4 kids seem to be doing the trick. :)

"those" bloggers and Halloween

I've turned into one of those bloggers... you know the kind. The kind that shows up on your links and under the blog title it says last post was "3 months ago" "6 months ago" or "a year ago."

I've had lots on my plate and mind and figured I'd better just keep it all to myself until I was ready to selectively share. Hence the big gaps in posting this year.

Things are good with us. We enjoyed a full summer with lots of travel and fun things. We have made huge improvements on the property in the past year and feel like Florida is home.

"It's Halloween Day." as my 3 year old says.
As we have already taken in a few Halloween activities here are some pics. My oldest can't dress up for school.... except on red ribbon week. The week before Halloween they had theme days so on the career day she dressed up like a teacher. I like how she picked out shoes that made clack clack noises and added a pair of frames. (I think it's sad they don't let them dress up for Halloween so I made some plans of my own rebellion.)

 Nev, Giddy and Nev's best friend and a church Fall Fling.

 Gary as Timon (a pretty sweet costume his mom made when he was 17 for a play he was in)

 We couldn't keep the kids altogether so I took the photo ops with who I had.

 His mad skeleton pirate face.

 

 Purple haired Mermaid

 Olea witch, Gary, Coretta as an artist (totally last minute costume as we were packing kids in the van), Giddy Duck and Z pirate.

 Haunted Trails, we got there as they were winding down hopefully next year the two events won't be on the same day.

 Giddy was over it all by now and Gary took off his costume thinking that was his issue. Later I found out it was his toe being held down under his foot by a skewed sock. I did not put on his socks and shoes, for the record.

 Carving pumpkins

 Giddy getting out pumpkin guts. Zurich and Nev wouldn't do it.

 She kept making faces at me. I am not responsible.

 two finger pincer is all he would do with the pumpkin guts. Finished product.

 

 Next morning ready for school. See that lil witch hat she has on. It's a hair clip. It's all school dress code passing. Wanna see it closer? Check here: http://corettadeesign.blogspot.com/2012/10/witch-hat.html

School kids

Zurich has felt so left out about Olea going to school the last few years, him waiting till he was old enough for Kindergarten seemed so cruel. Especially since his birthday is in November. So when I was informed about VPk I knew this was the cream for Z. He's been SO thrilled since we told him he was going to go to school this year after all. After a week of school he is still excited about it.

So the first day of school:


At his school: And I don't want to forget how my excited, confident little boy turned to walk down to his classroom and turned back to me and shrugged lifting his hands like, "I'm kinda nervous, come on Mom, what am I supposed to do? I'm a big boy, I can do this, but I need a little direction."

 After school snack

(ignore the messy kitchen, it was a busy day with just these two finding new ways to entertain themselves)


After a week the kids report loving school and Zurich has a girl "That is in love with [him]" but pretty sure he's in love with her. :)