The Year of the Doll House

I'll be joining blogging friends Lynn and Alana for The Year of the Doll House. You can read about how the original idea began here at Lynn's blog. When I read about what Alana was going to do and then read Lynn's idea, I knew this was something we HAD to do at my house.

R7 is the only girl among three brothers and she is our second born. Mostly easy going, she is a lovely little girl. She loves playing with her brothers, but of course does what they do most of the time. She loves to build with Legos and play pretend Star Wars or whatever other spy things are going on at the time. There's nothing wrong with that! There was a time though when she would play doll house everyday. She still plays dolls fairly often, but her doll house is just not used much anymore. I thought sure that once she got too old for her Fisher Price dolls that Barbie would most definitely move in. The house was made big enough for the big girl dolls. However, they just haven't found the accommodations to their liking.

I've often thought that it would be nice to have R7's girl pals over to play more, but that is easier thought about than done. So, I've continued to think I should sit down with her and play more girl themed things. Plus, the doll house just can't sit vacant any longer!

Our Year of the Doll House is still coming together in my head. I envision that we will set aside time each day to play at the doll house. We'll redo some areas of the house and put together new furniture for say the Polly Pockets. She loves those and they will sit at tiny furniture. I know we'll need a backing to the house which I'm going to put Dan on over our Christmas break. I'm thinking we can add partitions as well to make various rooms around the house. I'm really in business if I find that we did not give away the Fisher Price furniture...it might be around here somewhere. I really want that bathroom furniture back above all else!! Good news!! I kept the box!! Yay! Something I didn't give away...yes!!! The Year of the Doll House was meant to be!

Each night I will leave something new for her at the house and she'll know to check there in the morning to see what our play will be for the day. Will we make a fireplace (one of the first on my agenda!) or put up curtains? Maybe it will be a note about an idea for the day. I will commit to finding something to work on each day and we'll play too. We can decorate for holidays- the first of which will be winter. The dolls simply must have snowmen about the house!

What a genuine way of spending time with R7 and getting that doll house back in commission! Along the way, we'll be able to craft together, build together, decorate together, and create together. Plus, I'll get to enjoy talking to her about how a house is built and what's important there. On Christmas morning, she'll open an invitation to The Year of the Doll House.

So, from a picture I took this summer when the doll house was moved back to her room, here is the before picture of our grand house. Along the way I will post new pictures during our Year of the Doll House.