An Updated Girls Room and Table for 8

I finished my three days straight of taking testimony at work and celebrated by finally starting the new Ilona Andrews book Iron Magic (a spin-off series from the Kate Daniels world, one of the best series ever) at 11:00 last night. Just the first chapter I lied to myself, just a little treat before bed.

I finished the book at 3:31 a.m. I loved it. I loved it very much. I'm a bit delirious but I might have liked it more than my Kate Daniels books (though not more than the Hidden Legacy books). But to be clear, any Ilona Andrews book is better than 95% of all other books out there. I can't wait for the next one in the series. I'm devastated it's not coming out for another year. I'm buoyed by the fact that the final Kate Daniels book AND a Hidden Legacy novella are also coming out this year so there will still be many opportunities to stay up all night reading.

Speaking of staying up all night, my new medication appears to allow me to stay asleep all the way until 6:30 a.m. and does not make me feel as though I live in jello, so I am very grateful for that. Maybe third prescription is the charm?

Work has been tremendously busy, but after my second full day of testimony on Wednesday I was able to meet up with a friend who picked up the big kids from golf camp along with her own three children while I snagged Cora and we all gathered at Gloria's at the totally normal dinner hour of 4:45 p.m. Cora and I were the first ones there and I requested a table for 8. "How many kids' menus?, the sweet hostess inquired. "Six please.". We ordered two margaritas and two bowls of queso immediately and a lovely time was had by all.

Post-happy hour we came directly to my house for additional beverages and swim team. Our golfers still needed to wind down and we wanted to minimally parent. Pools are great for that. We watched our little swimmers and chatted and marveled at the fact it was 7:35 p.m. and still 103 degrees outside. Like actually 103 degrees. Summer is ridiculous, but our third babies who we giggled at from across the pool are rocking it.

Also rocking it, our little golfers. It is one hundred million degrees outside and they're at camp from 9-4, but they seem to be surviving and are still swimming every night before bed. Someday we'll make Landon tired. Someday. (Or he'll turn 35 and life will have done it for us.)

But on to the point of this post. We updated the girls' bedroom! And by "we" I mean I did all the obsessive internet shopping, price comparing, ordering, and designing, and James did all the building, assembling, and hanging of a million things. Our credit card is glad I'm done purchasing and James is glad I can't think of anything else for him to hang on the wall. The girls are THRILLED with their space and I love it almost as much as they do.

Unlike the big kids who switched straight to twin beds we already owned around age 2.5, Cora stayed in her crib-turned-toddler bed until 4.5. The toddler bed had a smaller footprint and fit along the wall and I couldn't decide what type of bed layout we wanted so we stretched out the arrangement we had. And it was great! But at a very tall 4.5 Cora was really too big for her toddler bed and a baby mattress is really not very comfortable. In Chicago she kept commenting on how soft her bed was and we were like, it's time.

After many bunk bed requests we finally felt Cora was old enough to handle the responsibility of having one in her room (even if she's not the one sleeping up there, she's an explorer) and they really did make the best use of space in the room, particularly since we still need a trundle for Landon to sleep in whenever we have guests and he gets kicked out of his room. (3 bedroom/3 kid probz, but it works!) I went with this bunk bed because it had stairs, extra drawers we badly needed, the bunked beds with a larger bottom bed for a guest and/or for us to sit on when we read the girls storeis, and the trundle for Landon. I found it on hayneedle.com but ultimately bought it at walmart.com for $200 less plus a 10% Ebate (Ebates y'all, $100 back on a bed I was buying anyway!). The butterflies were from Claire's nursery back in Austin in 2010. I remember agonizing over that $15/each Land of Nod purchase and here they are, 8 years later, still being used.

Cora's bed is full sized and makes her own little apartment underneath, so of course we hid some princesses under there for her.

I ordered the girls glitter name plates to hang on the wall (I actually got a custom size through that seller because I wanted a smaller size than her standard) and then they picked their favorite sister pictures for a little collage.

It was so fun to see which ones they picked.

I added the giant pink rug (nearly 9 ft. x 11 ft.) from Amazon. It's super bright and SUPER soft and at $230 was quite reasonable for such a high-impact item. Their PBK chairs remain in their reading nook and we sold Claire's bed and Cora's crib and then simply rearranged the other furniture they already had. Most of the wall decor is rearranged from before as well (James was so excited! More opportunities to measure and hang things!), though I added the cloud shelf and butterfly shelf up on Claire's level to store her necessities and treasures.

The bedding is also new- Claire had had the same comforter since we moved her to a twin bed more than 5 years ago and of course Cora's wouldn't fit. I got both comforters at walmart.com for less than $30/each and then, as always, let them pick whatever fun sheets they wanted to have underneath. Claire went with geometric shapes, which was a bit of a surprise, and Cora has princesses from PBK. One of the pricier purchases, but since she had to wait an extra 2 years for her bed and the sheets are soft and adorable and she LOVES THEM, it felt right. (And her other set are unicorns from TJ Maxx that were $25; Claire's from Target were $14; it's a high-low situation.)

The other side has the Ikea curtain wires that have been there for years, updated frequently with the girls' favorite art and pictures.

The dress-up clothes rack was moved, along with the birth announcement frames I made years ago that I still love.

Two of our family's happiest days!

I ordered a new little trophy shelf to fit in the corner and moved over Claire's ribbon rack she'll have to start sharing with Cora.

When we cleared out Cora's crib I discovered I'd been storing a number of items under her bed skirt. One was this collage frame I used to have upstairs in Austin but have now updated with kid vacation pics. It fit perfectly on the little wall connecting their room to the hall and it makes me smile every time I walk by- such great memories!

So it's a mix of old and new and the whole room just makes me happy every time I walk in. It feels like the perfect place for them for the next few years and I love thinking of their whispered secrets at night and all the fun they'll have (and tattles they'll tell) and growing up they'll do in this space!

Night night baby girls!