Show Us Your Life -- Kid's Rooms and Four Years!

Today Kelly is asking us to show our kids' rooms. We have two kids' rooms for the first time ever. (Rachel shared with us until we moved.) This is super-exciting for me as you may remember from my master bedroom SUYL post! We also have a (sort of) play space for Sam (mostly) which he loves!

First the play space. It's in our basement which is a bit gross otherwise but it does provide a space for Sam where Rachel doesn't really get into his stuff. Dave always cleans it up after Sam has been playing down there but I leave it a mess. So since I took this picture after Dave had cleaned up, but before Sam had been down there, this is what it looked like. The pink rocking chair is one my grandparents bought especially for my mom and she has now passed it on to us. My mom has always loved it because she was the sixth of seven children but her parents bought it just for her.

Now for Sam's room. The main feature of Sam's room is his name EVERYWHERE! Sam is just over three and we help him clean up his room about once a day. Otherwise it looks more or less like this...

When you enter Sam's room the first thing you see is this bookshelf which my dad made for me when I was about ten. The dresser was also mine from when I was little. My sister-in-law painted the owl for us for our wedding. Beside the shelves you can see a craft I made during a program I did with Sam when he was nine months old. It's a mold of his hand and foot on a rainbow painted canvas with his name in green letters.

This is the rocking chair and stool we got from my mom and dad when we moved out to Edmonton. When we found out we were pregnant with Sam it went into the nursery and it's where I've rocked him since he was a baby. His name picture on this wall was made by my dear friend Sheri using his hand prints. The IKEA lights we bought especially for his nursery before he was born. Dave got the brightly printed pillowcover in China on a work trip when I was three months pregnant.

This is Sam's big boy bed which we bought when we moved to Ontario. Sam loves it and picked out the duvet cover himself. The name letters on the wall were a big brother gift from my friend Sheri. (You can see the progress of that craft here.) Sam loves maps and so we decided to hang this one above his bed. He loves looking at it. Sam also picked out his number baskets, by his bed, as part of his birthday present.

Looking towards the door you can see the tree clock Dave made when he was in Grade 7 and Sam's name letters from Austria on his door. Dave also drew the picture of the hockey player which is framed on the top shelf. He was four when he drew it.

Now come on in to Rachel's room, which showcases, once again, how we have generous friends! This is Rachel's closet filled with clothes we got as hand me downs, her name letters from my friend Sheri, and her change table. The change table was built by my friend Janice's father for their kids and Janice and Tim passed it on to us when they were done with it. It's gorgeous and I changed many a diaper on here long before I had my own kids!

Rachel's rocking chair was given to us by friends in Edmonton who didn't want it anymore. We got Rachel her own set of IKEA lights when we moved. Rachel's dresser matches Sam's and used to be my sister's. The sheep pillow was made by my sister-in-law Erin for Rachel for Christmas.

Rachel's crib, and the crib bedding, was passed on to us from Tim and Janice. Again, I tucked both of their kids into this crib on numerous occasions before being able to use it for Rachel. The crib bedding we actually got from them when we were expecting Sam but we had a different crib when we were in Edmonton. (Cribs are a little more complicated to take on an airplane then crib bedding!) The mobile above Rachel's bed was knitted for her by our dear friend Marika and the flamingo picture was made, with Rachel's hand prints, by Sheri again! You can see both hand print name pictures up close here. The artwork above Rachel's crib was inspired after reading the SUYL Living Room posts, and seeing a couple of people link to this tutorial. I knew I wanted one for my own and I decided the spot above Rachel's crib was the perfect place for it. (You can click here to see my experience of following the tutorial and a closer-up view of the art. And I am NOT an artist so if I can do it, anyone can!)

I can't show you our kids' rooms without also including a picture of the two people who enjoy them the most. Here are Sam and Rachel. Sam is just over three and Rachel turned one last week. This was a few weeks ago before church.

So this has nothing to do with Show Us Your Life (well I guess it does but it's not about our kids' spaces) but I can't end without mentioning that today is my and Dave's fourth wedding anniversary!!! It's been a great, full, crazy four years and tonight we are celebrating by going to a baseball game! I am super-excited about this! Check back tomorrow to see how it went. Until then enjoy this picture from our wedding.

Thanks for reading this entire loooong post. I look forward to seeing all your kids' (or future kids') rooms but first I have to catch up on all the master bedrooms and dining rooms. Yep, I'm a few weeks behind :)