you can't make this up....

Sometimes kids say the most precious things.

The night before our move Lydia told me that she was excited to sleep in her new bed because Daddy made it.  And since he made it with his hands then sleeping in her new bed was a little bit like him holding her all night long.

Precious.

Even more precious if you know our Lydia - she is the cuddliest little girl.  In her dream world she is forever snuggled up to one of us.  I like to joke that if we hadn't induced labor she'd be the world's happiest almost-6 year old, still hanging out in the comfort of her mama's womb.

She'll run over to me on the playground, sweat dripping from both of us, and snuggle right into my arm like it's a cold day in December and we need to huddle together for warmth.  So it's quite a compliment from Lydia - to say that sleeping in a bed her Daddy made is like being held by him all night long!

I was not eager to transition to bunks.  I like having the girls on my level, I like sitting on their beds with them, cuddling them at night, flopping on their beds and pretending to snore while they giggle and giggle. 

But they needed new beds (their old beds are not full-length and their toes were hanging off the ends and the boys needed bed upgrades so it just made sense to get new beds for the girls and then the boys also got 'new' beds and everyone is set....)

And our new house is larger so there is actually space for everyone to move to larger beds.... so, time for new beds + can't resist the floor space saving bunks and it was time to take the plunge.

Matt and I started dreaming and thought about lofts for both of them and finally landed on a bunk bed design that gave each of them the space we wanted.  Then he got ambitious and decided to add shelves at the end of the bed for each girl to store her treasures.

Matt drew up the designs, listed out all the wood cuts he needed, followed several different leads on where to buy good quality wood (not a common building material here so it was a little difficult to find a place to buy) and then got to work sawing and sanding and drilling and bolting.  

He loved working on the beds and it was totally worth the weekend days and late nights!  Matt built them at our new house (before the move).  He would come home smelling of sweat and saw dust with adrenaline seeping out of his pores.  So fun for him to work on a project that he says is "way easier than any of my other jobs".  And with such great results!  

We have a lot of common space and stuff - not much around here that is considered "belonging" to just one person.  In order to give each kiddo some space to call their own we honor two standards.

First, someone's bed is THEIR bed, THEIR space.... no getting on someone's bed without asking first!  And second, never ever ever touch anything on someone's treasure shelf.  The girls and Isaac each had treasure shelves (a simple floating shelf) hanging over their bed at our old house.  The shelving on the girls new beds is a serious upgrade and they are loving more space for their growing treasure collections!

Hanging shelves isn't on the top of the to do list yet, but when we get there Isaac and John Paul will both have shelves at our new house.  [In the meantime they are storing their treasures on the window sill above their beds!]

And one day Matt will tackle a triple bunk project for the boys' room.  In the meantime we're just enjoying the fruits of his first big building project, bunks for the girls.