16 Days of Summer

Why does going away for a while make you want to "nest" when you come home?  Maybe it's because I looked at the calendar and counted only 16 days of summer left before that "back to school" thing we have to do each and every year.  (why can't we all just stop summer from ending?)  Or maybe it's because after a trip I notice things around my house more.  A whole lot I love and some things I'd love to change.

Well when I should have started cooking dinner I decided to clean, really clean the playroom.  And although I don't plan on spending too much time down here on these last 16 days I know that my girls are down here playing while I'm (supposed to be) cooking dinner, doing laundry, stuff like that.  And gosh darn, this playroom was a MESS all summer.  It was starting to bug me.

And on this '16 days left' day the girls wanted to used their random gift cards.  So we went 'shopping'.  My favorite kind, the no money kind.  They added a bit to their Calico Critter world.  And we spiffed up the playroom along with it.

It's not a huge space.  It's not really even a pretty space.  It's the finished basement of our Connecticut Colonial.  But it houses fun and I want it to be bright and cherry, inviting, and a place that's nice to be.

And sometimes I just want to take pictures of what it looked like, what they played with "back then".  Because looking back a few years from now will be fun!







Yes, I know, I'm hanging on to the 'baby' area still.  Abigail will still go and play with her babies in the playroom so they're still here.  (don't ya just love that all of our dolls are Chinese?  Love that!  With the exception of that one blonde one in the middle... it was mine when I was their age... she's our 'token' Irish girl)



Teaching first grade all of those years means that I love to buy Children's books.  And have lots from my classroom.  They are in baskets and categories all over our house.



Tea, always there is tea.





Leggo 'friends' took over this back table.







The faeries are not in their tree houses right now. Calico Critters like tree houses too.











Lovin these new bins on the floor for their little critters so they don't get hurt by the vacuum.



And even through I gave them my whole 'scrapbooking' counter up there, it is still their favorite to play on while laying on the floor.  So these work perfectly.







Yes, nesting is fun. But gee, I really need to get a few 'real things' done after today!