Superhero Room for Two

It has been a very long time since I've posted! Life has been very busy with three little ones and a lot has happened in 2017. We had some very serious family situations with extended family members, our police department lost a wonderful officer (who was also a husband and father to two small children), and our church is continuing to undergo many changes. We also enjoyed a beach trip, Matt was promoted to sergeant, and Aynsley started kindergarten! The last six months have been very emotional, mostly for negative reasons. I have been able to enjoy several fun projects around the house, though, so it thrills me to be able to share this superhero room for two!

There were a lot of thoughts and considerations when it came to putting two kids together. We have three bedrooms in our home, and we knew we'd put kids' bedrooms together eventually (we never had any problem with that). The dynamics, the personalities...There's the tough part. All three of the kids are fairly good sleepers, with Aynsley being the one who will sleep through just about anything. Originally, we were going to put the girls together. Occasionally, though, I was still getting up with Eliana and I didn't want that to impact Aynsley's sleep as she started school. Also, Eliana will typically sleep later than her siblings and I didn't want to take the chance that she'd wake up when I would wake Aynsley for school. So I ultimately decided that Eliana would be moved into the room we use for guests and the big kids would share a room.

So we ended up switching what has typically been the nursery (all three kids have slept in the crib in this room as infants) and the big kid room. While I was planning to move furniture and touch up paint, Matt and I decided that I would take the time to repaint, as we intend to put our house on the market at some point in the next few years. I decided on a light gray that I love. We also purchased new beds and bedding for Aynsley and Gavriel. I ordered beds from Walmart (they can be twin beds or can be stackable to make bunk beds) and bedding from Target. Eliana didn't need anything new, but I'm loving how her room is coming together. More on that later!

I, for some reason, love having decorations on the kids' doors. At the girls' rainbow birthday party in May, the kids all made this little craft. I may eventually replace it with something else, but it looks great right now!

Here is what you see when you first open the door to Aynsley and Gavriel's room. I love the brightness!

We initially opted for a bright superhero room for a couple of reasons. Aynsley has been mildly obsessed with rainbows for a couple of months now and I love bright colors. We ALL love superheroes and we have plenty of toys (and clothes!) to prove it. For Aynsley's superhero birthday party in 2015, I made four of the buildings that you see as a photo booth backdrop. I couldn't bear to get rid of them after the party, so I put them in the nursery closet. I already had red, yellow, green, and blue; I purchased black posterboard and used colored cardstock that I had on hand to create an orange building and a purple building to finish off the rainbow. The kids each chose three building colors for the wall next to their beds.

Sidenote: This room is rarely used for anything but sleep, so the curtain is nearly always closed. I tried to allow more light in for these photos, so I just tucked the curtain behind Gavriel's bedpost.

The tassel banners were leftover from the girls' birthday party (they took forever to make, but they look so good!), and I cut tags and letters on my Cricut to personalize two for the kids. My mom and I found the amazing signs at Kirkland's - they were just what I was looking for to hold a few pieces of artwork. You can see that Aynsley likes to draw and color a little more than Gavriel does!

I cut the superheroes with the Cricut and put them together over a few days. There were a LOT of small pieces with these, but they turned out great. The kids chose which ones they wanted by their buildings, and I even made a little string "web" for Spider-Man. I found some of the images from a fantastic blog (KraftyNook) and I purchased some from Cricut.

I mentioned that the bedding was from Target; the quilts are reversible (just two different shades of blue and red). We chose superhero sheets - Captain America and Wonder Woman. The kids chose fabric from Joann and I made them each a pillowcase for a square pillow (but I definitely saw rainbow Wonder Woman material after I had finished this project, so I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about making a new pillowcase for Aynsley). 

The curtain is very busy, but it was the best option at Joann. I loved the brightness and the variety of superheroes on it. I may eventually make something different, but I'm happy with it for now!

This is right next to the door. The Cricut cut the file in the frame (Even superheroes need sleep) and I used a small star punch for the stars. I had the hooks from a past project and the capes are frequently used around here. 

One of my favorite things about this room is the dress-up area in the huge closet.

This closet is big, so big. I am still working on finding better storage for the things that were in it before we moved the kids in (this was the closet of all-the-baby-things-and-all-the-past-and-future-clothes), but I got everything out for this project so the kids have plenty of space to play in there now (and it will stay that way!). This rack is low enough that the girls can typically grab things, and there's a stool in case it's needed. This is a favorite area in our house!

So there you have it! It was a very fun project. Now I'm working on Eliana's room and you can see that I can't give up on the tassel banner, despite how long it takes to make each tassel...

There's a little sneak peek of that room. More to come later!

2016 Reading List Accomplished!

I wrote about my 2016 Reading List progress here and, now that 2016 is over, I can finally share that I accomplished my goal! I finished the last book of the challenge on New Year's Eve, so I was working on it up until the very end.

A book published this year - My niece got me addicted to Cassandra Clare, so I opted for her latest book, Lady Midnight. I enjoyed it, though not as much as I've enjoyed her other books.

A book that you can finish in a day - I opted for one of the books I thought I might read, Stuart Little. It was fun to read a children's book for this one (and somewhat necessary).

A book you've been meaning to read - I had written down Deep and Wide due to several pastors recommending it and the changes our church has been going through over the last year. When our church did a summer reading program to help with our focus on outreach, this was the second book on the list. I really loved it!

A book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller - I had already read the book at the time of my progress report, so I read Frog: A Novel by Mo Yan for this part of the challenge. It was incredibly moving and kept me interested. It was a WORLD Magazine recommendation and I've found that all of their recommendations that I've taken have been wonderful!

A book you should have read in school - I picked up The Scarlet Letter (and the corresponding book of Cliffs Notes). I enjoyed this one well enough, but it wasn't my favorite. I am glad to have crossed it off the list; I've owned it for years!

A book chosen for you by your spouse, partner, sibling, child, or BFF - There's kind of a long story on this one. I opted to read Poe around Halloween, who is one of Matt's favorite writers. We own two Poe books (both contain selections from Poe's work). I wanted to read the Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, but the book was not holding my interest after his mystery and horror stories. My sister-in-law (a lit major and fellow book-lover) said I didn't have to finish the book, so I didn't. I DID look through the two Poe books we had, wrote down the stories I hadn't read, and finished the stories and also the poems. So I found out that I love Poe's mystery and horror stories (and I don't mind his poems too much), but everything else is kind of terrible (in my opinion).

A book published before you were born - A friend from Bible study mentioned Elisabeth Elliot's Discipline: The Glad Surrender and so I requested it from the library. It was absolutely full of greatness and did not disappoint.

A book that was banned at some point - I was thinking The Catcher in the Rye for this one, and I read it quickly. I don't think I hated it quite as much as I did in school.

A book you previously abandoned - I addressed this one on my progress post and I'd read it again - I really enjoyed it eventually. The book was Bloodroot.

A book you own but have never read - The Problem of Pain is a work of C.S. Lewis. Most everything I have read of his is fantastic, and this one involved a lot of my attention. It's not a big book, and I'd recommend it, but it's not an easy read.

A book that intimidates you - The Hunchback of Notre Dame was my pick for a book I own but have never read, but once I got into it, I realized it fit this category a bit better (these two categories are interchangeable, as I owned both books but hadn't read them and also felt intimidated by both of them). I had hoped to, but I did not finish it in French. I didn't love it in English, but I did finish it. Wow, it's different from the Disney movie. I know a lot of stories don't match up to their Disney films, but this one was really out there.

A book that you've already read at least once - This was kind of a cop-out. I reread Husband-Coached Childbirth in anticipation of Ellie's birth, so it fit the bill. I'll probably read it again before baby #4!

In addition to these books, I read six or so other books in 2016 that didn't fit into any of these categories.

Now onto the 2017 challenge! I find myself excited to make myself some new lists. Here is the challenge for this year - it's actually two challenges! I am planning to do both lists with a little flexibility. I'm thinking that there will be some books that will cover categories in each list, like I may read Anna Karenina (as a book I've already read AND a book that has more than 600 pages). I'm looking forward to a lot of reading (as usual!) in 2017!