The Toy Area

I finished up the toy area and I am LOVING it! I really thought I'd regret having all the toys where people could see them, but I am loving every second of it. Since we don't get too many visitors it really doesn't matter what the house looks like during the day--it just can't be too messy or it starts messing with my sanity. Anyway, since I moved everything out of the bedroom I've been able to keep the messes to a minimum. When it starts getting too messy we start cleaning some of the things up. It's so much easier to see what needs to be cleaned up when it's right there in front of my face, and not hiding in the back bedroom.

I've also found that Miriam and Shaylynn play a lot more together now that they have to share the same space. Before, Miriam would hog the bedroom and complain when Shaylynn came in to play. Since the rule is that there are no toys in the bedroom, they have to share the same space no matter what. There are still fights, but nothing like there used to be. YEA!! I guess the figure they might as well play together instead of trying to find their own corner somewhere.

Here are some pictures. My mother-in-law asked where the LARGE tent went. Look at the big pink thing folded up by one of the walls. Yep, I folded it up. I almost left it down, but it took up so much space that I decided I'd rather have the open floor space instead of the castle. Plus, it's even more exciting when I pull it out for them to play in.

I combined the toy room and the teaching room into the same place. I'm going to start teaching Miriam some sight words and I thought it might be a good idea to have it somewhere where she'll look often. Notice in the picture above I have the calendar set up. I put the kitchen there for now to keep little fingers off of it. I cleaned it all off and wasn't anxious to do it again for a little while. Oh, and in case you're looking carefully, it's set up for April. I didn't think it was worth putting it up for March when we only had a few days left in the month.

The chair Miriam and Shay are sitting on sits across from the television. Isn't it cute? We bought it at Target for a great price, at least I thought it was. Both girls can sit on it with plenty of room left for another little body. I LOVE IT!! We thought it would be fun to put on our patio, but I think I love it too much to risk letting it get dirty. I guess we'll just have to decide when the weather gets warmer.