Presto Chango

Another room transformed before our eyes. This time I let the kids help. Well, to an extent. I started last week by turning Zion's old was-used-when-we-got-it changing table pictured here (though not in its usual spot):

Into a cute shelf for her critters and her books:

Then the kids and I (mostly I) applied zoo animal decals to Zion's walls. Mr. Zebra will make sure that you turn the light off when you leave the room.

And a silly monkey hangs from one of her shelves.

There is also a lion and, of course, an elephant, Zion's favorite.

I finally got Allie's new house put together. It is, ahem, a little larger than I pictured it in my head and in fact kind of makes Zion's bed look teeny. Oh well, she's a spoiled bunny. Zion likes me to drop down the door in the front so that she can stick her head inside. She'll stay like that for ... hm, I actually don't know I always have to make her come to dinner or go to bed or something before she'll stop on her own.

I also found her a cute coin bank - also an elephant! It's the little yellow thing right there that you can barely see 'cause it's not a very good picture.

Allie started to get free time in Zion's room last night and she really seems to like it. The kids love it. They get a little exuberant and I find myself sounding like a broken record "slow/settle/calm down, down, down for cryin' out loud/Pete's sake/or we won't be able to play with the bunny ... arg!" But it is too much fun, once Allie feels relaxed and playful she starts to run around and jump and kick in the air. Too cute. Oh - and Gideon! Gideon! I nearly forgot. Last night he was just crawling as fast as he could after that bunny, making his "I'm crawling as fast as I can" noises and as soon as he caught up to her he'd try to tuck her under his arm like his little stuffed animal and put his cheek on her back. My goodness it was so cute.

I have been searching for zoo themed bedding and I found some of the CUTEST! Yeah. It was only in twin. :( Sad, sad, sad me. So now I'm just searching for any brightly colored toddler bedding that isn't themed. Harder than one would think. Apparently somewhere there is a law that says girl toddlers must, absolutely MUST have a Dora or Disney Princess room and therefore that is all the stores will carry. I will not be thwarted, I will find it and it WILL be cute, darn it!

Allie must really like her new home 'cause she's just all sorts of relaxed. So much she doesn't even bother getting either all the way in or all the way out of her nest before flopping over. Silly girl. Zion was very concerned when we gave her a handful of baby carrots tonight. She picked up the largest of the bunch and turned to me worried, demanding "Too big! Cut it!" I had to assure her that it was fine and "See, watch Allie eat the carrot. She just takes tiny bites and she does just fine." She came back at me, eyes stern "Cut it!" a couple of times before giving in and conceding that Allie did seem to be doing fine with the other carrots (by that time she'd eaten half of one of the others). So our little bun has a feeder with pellets, a rack with Timothy hay, fresh water, a litter box, a nest, a rug so she doesn't have to stand on the wires if she doesn't want to, a salt block, mineral chew, pinecones to chew on, a berry treat block, a shaky carrot toy that she loves to pick up and throw and fresh veggies once or twice a day. Nah, not spoiled, not one bit.


Oh, and a bunch of super kids that just love her bunches including Gideon who had just been put to bed before pictures were taken.