Train/Art Table (Kid's Fort Update) and Other Life Updates

It is finished!!! 

We have this closet under the stairs and it has just stored toys that we have picked up on sales and old toys of Jared and mine. There is a box of Christmas decorations and some other odds and ends. I decided it would make the perfect fort for our children. I will talk more about that after the pictures. We cleared out the end and Jared installed a table. 

I need to buy one more plastic bin to hold the train pieces once I open that bottom box. But for now he is happy playing with the little train set I bought for $2 at the thrift store. Woohoo. 

Martin can open doors now and he found  his way into the closet today and started playing with it. He likes to roll them down the hill, which is an improvement because normally he just likes to tear the pieces apart. See the cushions I made a few months ago. :)

He was having so much fun that he didn't want to stop to eat or nap. He started throwing train pieces (a clear sign that he is tired) and told him it was nap time. He threw a fit, threw himself on the ground, kicked his legs, and tried to hit me (he has developed this awful shrill squeal when he gets mad, it is horrible), but after a few minutes in his crib he fell asleep. Crying children used to bother me. I am pretty good at picking out the fake cries now. I don't have any pity for fake crying, especially when they peer out of one eye to make sure you are listening and watching. 

Before - storage 

After - play area

So what is the rest of the closet going to look like? Jared and I plan to mount shelves about 3-4 feet off the ground and to the ceiling. They are going to wrap around part of the side wall and all of the back wall (where the wire shelf is today - see picture). That will get the toys off the ground and still allow the kids to be able to play under the shelves and have more floor space. We plan to move the door, that we have been storing in the closet, out to the shed. I am thinking about painting part of a wall with chalkboard paint or mounting a car or marble track down part of it. I also plan to make a puppet theatre curtain to place as the doorway or cut the door in half. 

Wire shelf that holds a bunch of unopened toys. These will be replaced with shelves in the wall. 

So that is the update for now. I am really really happy with the table!! I love it. I want to play in there. :) I think Jared did an excellent job on it. I look forward to seeing what he does for the rest of it. 

For all you Pride and Prejudice fans, I keep saying, "shelves in the closet, happy thought indeed." Jared doesn't get it. 

In other news, we went blueberry picking this morning with my sister. I love having her back in town this year!!! I also bought some peaches. Both the peaches and blueberries will be used for VBS next week. 

I came home and made a pot of gumbo (recipe on my blog, but I can't link when I am typing on my phone).  Chicken quarters were on sale for 10 pounds for $6 this week. I couldn't pass that up. I boiled them with celery, onion, garlic, and carrots and made chicken stock (it made about 5 quarts). Then I shredded the chicken and had about 8 cups of meat. I made the filling for chicken enchiladas, with half the chicken, and froze it yesterday and a double batch of rice (cooked in some of the stock). I will pull out the filling for dinner next week during VBS when I am running short on time (I think that recipe is also on my blog, if it is not, I need to add it). 

Then my CSA food was dropped off, thanks Ashley. She didn't want half the watermelon so I cut that up and de-seeded it while Martin ate lunch. Of course my organic CSA wouldn't have seedless watermelons... It is probably my imagination, but I think the seeded watermelons taste better. That is what I tell myself when I opt to buy watermelon with seeds because it is cheaper at the farmers market. Ha ha. 

I still have to make some cowboy cookies and some caramel corn for tomorrow in celebration of my brother coming home!!!  He graduates from coast guard boot camp tomorrow people!!! I am so excited and I am so proud of him. We will just have to get used to the bald head. Yay, Luke! 

Verses for the day:

Jeremiah 31:10-12

Hear the word of The Lord, O nations and declare it to the coastlands far away; say, "he who scatters Israel with GATHER him, and will KEEP him as a shepherd keeps his flock."

For The Lord has RANSOMED Jacob and REDEEMED him from hands too strong for him. 

They shall come and sing aloud on the heights of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the GOODNESS of The Lord!