A Work in Progress

We moved into our house almost three years ago.  Our twins were just four months old at the time, and I spent every nap time unpacking and finding places for all of our things.  We hung artwork and arranged furniture and other decor.  I have since purchased a few more things for the walls, so that I feel like the main living areas are almost complete.  However, the twins’ room was a nursery for more than a year and had a completely different look than it does now.  We slowly transitioned to big girl beds and away from the nursery decor.  I have been working on the furniture for the girls’ room, but now it’s time to focus on the decor.  
I made several pillows today for their room.  I bought a remnant of this gorgeous pink rosette fabric at a great price probably two years ago.  It is so soft and luxurious.  My girls love it.  I made two small rectangular pillows that have the pink rosette on one side and a floral print on the reverse.  The triangular pillows were sewn at Sissy’s request. 

 I have purchased most of the materials I need to make their new curtains, and I will work on those this week and post photos when they are hung.  The pillow with the printed fabric coordinates with the fabric we chose for their curtains.  Who would have thought three-year-olds would have a strong opinion about their curtains?!?   

 Next on my list, is rearranging the wall hangings.  I moved one of them over the chest of drawers I finished last weekend, so now the others need new homes.

 This little one has nothing on the huge wall above her bed, so I will move some of the wall decor over to this wall, but I will need more.  I have an idea for some very unique and personal artwork for their room.  We will see how it turns out.  

This little corner area is also on my to do list, and I can’t wait to reveal what I have planned for this little nook.  It will be fabulous!

Art camp

Our older two children (7 and 4 1/2 years old) wanted to do every camp they heard about this summer. With us moving this month and having two babies in tow, the thought of carting the older two around and waiting while they do camp did not sound appealing to me. I figured if I did similar activities with the kids at home, we could save some money and create some fun memories as a family. The kids were excited about doing summer “camps” at home, but they did ask if they could invite their friends, and I agreed to one friend for each child each week. My awesome mother-in-law agreed to come over and care for the babies for a couple of hours each day (three days a week) to allow me to do the activities with the older two.

I came across Thriving Family’s 2013 Summer Activity Calendar here. The short devotionals focus on a different continent each week in June and July, and I thought it would be great to have our summer camp activities focus on the same area of the world each of those weeks. This first week of June focused on Oceania. We started with art camp this week and painted similar to the way New Zealanders paint on barkcloth, made beaded jewelry like women in Papua New Guinea, and created mosaics like an artist and her children in Australia. Today we learned about ancient Aboriginal rock art in Kakadu National Park in Australia, and the kids painted on the pretend walls (brown craft paper taped to cardboard boxes) of our pretend cave/shelter (under the kitchen table and bar). It was fun, and we all learned a little more about Australia.