The Time I Cried Over a Dollhouse

 

I'm a little embarrassed to tell this story, so maybe I should clarify and say that it was TWO dollhouses, not just one. 

 

But anyway, here's how it goes.  I check on EstateSales.net every week for sales that have vintage dollhouses.  Not just any vintage dollhouses, but Keystone and Rich, specifically, which are the ones that are my favorites.  And, let me tell you, they are very few and far between around here.  So few and far between, in fact, that I've never actually found one close enough to buy. 

 

So imagine my excitement when I saw the above photo for a sale about two hours away!  But I hemmed and hawed about whether I should go- it's a little hard to tell the condition of the houses from this photo, and what if I drove all the way only to find that they are priced crazy high?  Not to mention the gas money to get there.  I should also mention that driving 2 hours (and back 2 hours as well) is kind of a major deal for me.  I have a pinched nerve in my neck that makes driving pretty uncomfortable and even painful at times, but I do it when it's necessary. 

 

So I found a way to email the estate sale company and sent an email asking nicely for the prices, since I was so far away.  I heard nothing before the first day of the sale, so I grudgingly decided it was against my better judgement to take the risk.  But that evening, I got an email telling me they were only $20 (plus the next day was 1/2 price day!), and they were still available! 

 

It was a sign- I had to go!  The sale opened at 8:00 AM the next day, so I decided not to risk it, and to try and get there right at 8:00.  I got up at 5:30, and left by 6:00.  I was making good time, on schedule to get there on time, but then I started hitting the toll roads.  I had to stop three times and hunt for correct change.  Aargh!  I hadn't anticipated that delay, but I still thought I was doing okay to get there pretty close to 8:00.  But then the MapQuest directions I'd printed got confusing, and I had to backtrack, then stop and figure out how to work my car's GPS in order to get back on track.

 

But still, by then it was only like 8:15, and I figured, "It's not like anybody else would show up right at 8:00 to buy these dollhouses- after all, they were there all day yesterday...".  Well, I'm sure you've got a good feeling about how this story ends up.  I pulled up in front of the house at 8:20, and watched two men as they were loading the two dollhouses into the trunk of their car- literally. 

 

I was just stunned.  Are you serious?  I just drove 2 hours and wasted $60 in gas, only to miss them by 1 minute??  I couldn't help it.  I sat in my car and cried for about 3 minutes.  Not really because I wanted the houses so bad (and not that I needed them for sure- I need another dollhouse like I need a hole in the head)- but just because it had been such a waste, and I hadn't even had the chance to make the decision myself, you know?  I started to drive away, because I really didn't know if I could even handle going into the sale, knowing what had just happened, but then I turned around, knowing that was kind of stupid.  I went in a poked around, and found a couple little things, but certainly not anything that made the trip worthwhile.

 

Writing it all down here makes it sound pretty silly, but I figured that if anyone could understand my pain, it would be you guys.  So there's my story.  It's embarrassing, but it sadly is true.  I hope maybe I brought some amusement to your day by retelling it though!

 

The Ever-Evolving Chalkboard

I got this large school-room chalkboard at a thrift store.  You may remember it from Riley and Noah's room tour a few years ago. I've always loved it, but the kids just have never really been too interested in drawing on it, as much as I've tried to encourage them.  It's hung in a few different places in the house, but it's usually just been a big black rectangle on the wall.

 

 I'd finally had enough of the sad, blank chalkboard, so a couple months ago, I decided to do this!

 

 I used a chalkboard marker, and wrote out a favorite quote.

 

This is definitely a sentiment that I (as well as the kids) need to be reminded of daily!

 

 I hung it up in a hallway off of our family room so that we could see it every day.

 

As you can see, I also added some décor to the top of the chalkboard.  These are pieces from the dollhouse I showed you in this post. I'd taken it apart (to make room for more, of course!), but I love the graphics so much, I wanted to still see them!

 

 Doesn't everyone have dollhouse walls hanging in their hallway?

 

So now I feel like this chalkboard is living up to its full potential, finally!  And hopefully, reading the quote every day will help my family live up to our full potential as well!

 

Hope you're all enjoying the wonderful fall weather these days- I know we are down in Florida- it's finally becoming bearable to go spend some time outside!  I have lots to show you guys coming up- a studio (semi) re-model, a couple more dollhouse tours, new scrapbook pages, and I'm sure some things I'm forgetting, too! 

 

 

My Favorite Spreads from Avery's Journals

Well, this is my final trip down memory lane as I've been looking back through all the kids' art journals.  Today I went back through Avery's journals.  These are the prettiest ones, obviously, since she's a girl, and I had a hard time narrowing it down to my favorites because of how pretty they all are- ha!  But I got it down to twenty , and here they are...

 

 Had to include the above one- it's about the day we found out we were having a girl- my dream forever!!

 

Here is her birth timeline.

 

 Aaah, picking out little baby girl clothes...

 

 She started smiling as soon as she came home from the hospital!

 

 Her very special blanket, made by both my late grandmother and my mother- she later named it "Gee-gee", and still sleeps with it every night.

 

 Six months old...

 

 This baby was a major drooler!

 

 A page about waving...

 

 Her baptism...

 

 Her obsession with shoes when she was young!

 

 The many faces of Avery!

 

 Fixing little girl hair!

 

 Two years old!

 

 Her first day of preschool...

 

 First haircut...

 

 Moving from a crib to a toddler bed...

 

 Her first dance class...

 

 First dance recital as a bumblebee!

 

 Karate classes...

 

And finally, her fifth birthday...

 

All of her journal pages should be in this Flickr album, if you'd like to see the rest of them.  Thanks for indulging me in this little trip down memory lane for the last few posts!  It's been fun for me to look back over these books, and I hope you guys have enjoyed it, too! 

 

 

My Favorite Spreads from Noah's Journals

Today, I'm going to show you some of my favorite spreads out of Noah's art journals.  Both Riley and Avery ended up with six journals over five years, but somehow Noah only has five.  Poor middle child, I guess, but to make up for it, I feel like I did some of my best work in Noah's books.

 

 While Riley has a separate journal that followed his pregnancy (I just looked, and I don't have that album up on Flickr- I'll have to shoot some photos and add that, for those of you who haven't seen it before), Noah's and Avery's pregnancies are part of these art journals.

 

The above page was from Noah's journal, about finding out we'd be having another boy.

 

 Then here's the spread about his birth...

 

 I've always loved the above spread- he was a little colicky in the beginning, except when I had him in his Moby wrap.

 

 This one's about starting to see little bits of his personality coming out.

 

 Comparing photos of Noah and Riley.

 

 Six months old!

 

 This is about his lovey, a giraffe named Jelly.

 

 One year old!

 

 He loved playing with shapes and designs (he still does!).

 

 Our cat Ashley took a liking to sleeping on Noah's pillow.

 

 First day of preschool...

 

 Three years old!

 

 Noah and his multiple collections...

 

 Learning to swim...

 

 He was such a shy little boy- he didn't talk to any grown-ups for almost a year (except for family).

 

 Learning to whistle...

 

And finally, his fifth birthday!

 

If you'd like to see more spreads from these journals, you can see them here.  Stay tuned, and I'll show you my favorite spreads from Avery's journals next time!

 

My Favorite Spreads From Riley's Journals

 I gathered all the kids' art journals together, and came up with seventeen of them!  I put them up on our mantel to photograph them, and it actually makes quite a pleasing arrangement- maybe I'll keep it that way for a while- ha !

 

 As you can see, I used different sizes of books over the years.

 

 

 Doing the covers was always my favorite part, and I love the look of them all lined up, so that you can see the variations.

 

 I actually think I kind of like the looks of them turned around a little better!  All those pretty fabric ribbons showing...

 

 

 

 

In looking back over all of them, it was hard to choose just a few favorite spreads!  So I thought I'd break the posts down to show a different child's each day. 

 

First we have Riley's journals.

 

 This was the very first spread I did in his journal.  I did one like this in each child's- showing a timeline for their birth. 

 

 The one above talked about needing to stop breast-feeding him.

 

 And this one has a photo of me as a baby, and one of him, wondering who's side of the family he'll resemble.

 

 How soft the top of his head was- oh, to be able to rub my cheek against a baby's head again!

 

 I've always loved the one above- I did it on his six-month "birthday".

 

 Learning to walk....

 

 First haircut!  I also did a page like this for each child, with a bit of their hair from the first haircut.

 

 Just a fun page about those early years of excitement, seen through a child's eyes.

 

 Second birthday...

 

 Letting go of the pacifier!

 

 He was obsessed with the color yellow for a while.

 

 Learning to count to twenty...

 

 The above was from one of his books that was a vertical format- it was hard for me to work that way, so I didn't do another one like that once I finished that book!  The above spread was about his discovery of monster trucks, specifically GraveDigger!

 

 As the kids grew older, there weren't as many "firsts" to document, so this was just a page about simply being four.

 

 Learning how to swim...

 

And the final page in his book- turning five!

 

 

As I look back over these, it's obvious to me how much more time I had in the beginning of the books!  The pages are so much more detailed and thought-out.  By the end, I was simply trying to keep up, so I wasn't spending as much time on each one.  But they're still all very special to me!

 

If you'd like to see more pages from his journals, they are here, in this Flickr album.  I actually think there may be some from early-on that didn't make it into that album (I should update it!), but the vast majority are all there.

 

Next post, I'll show some favorite pages from Noah's journals!