Odds and ends in the kids' room

If anyone is looking for a gift for a preschooler, look no further than the Matryoshka doll. Four of ours came from the Mother Russia herself thanks to traveling family members. They each have five dolls and Lottie spends at least an hour a day, usually more, playing with her little Matryoshka family. She just melts over the littlest baby ones.

The girls are on a pig-loving craze. It started with a reading of "Charlotte's Web" and grew during the Mercy Watson series (by Kate DiCamillo). Now they want to wear their pig jammies all the time and Evie walks around pointing out things the "porcine wonder" Mercy would have loved (seriously, go to the nearest library and check out the Mercy Watson series, my girls are nuts for them). The piggy banks have experienced a boost in play time and at least once a day I have to tell Lottie to stop dancing around with them lest they break.

I made some prints for the room with my favorite book quotes and it makes my heart happy that Evie's favorite is the pink one. We are raising nerds and we just don't care!

Speaking of readers, the bookshelf is packed full and has become Trent's go-to spot when he plays in the room. I look forward to the day he can turn a page without ripping it clean out of the book. Right now he is obsessed with some little board books from Usborne.

The photo-heart was meant to remind the girls how much they are loved and love each other. For at least one minute this afternoon I think it worked.

I will close with a few words about bugs.

I am afraid of my apartment. If that sounds dramatic, it's because it is. We don't have any infestations and I often go days between bug sightings, but I am squeamish and constantly afraid of encountering something nasty. I haven't seen any scorpions yet, but I'm pretty sure I would have a panic attack. Evie got a gnarly bite on her ankle that swelled pretty bad and turned deep purple (it is on the mend now). I may or may not have freaked out over an infected fire ant bite on Trent's finger, but a church member talked me down from rushing him to the ER. Now Trent's face has a few mystery bites on it and I hope they are not coming from something in his room (aka: the walk-in-closet).