Our Cozy New Space

When we moved into this house, one of my big dreams was to turn this funny little nook in the playroom into a lofted window bench. I could perfectly imagine it and I thought it would be such fun. I've always wanted a window bench. And guess what? We finally made it happen a few weekends ago!! 

It's amazing and it's the coziest up there! The space is big- that's a full size bed mattress up there! Daniel can just stand up up there (not that he does, just that it's that height from platform to ceiling), we can all sit up there together (well, me and the two kids- we aren't going to challenge it much more than that- in fact, we plan to have a three kid maximum for that space, not that it comes up that often to have more), and the space underneath is big, too. Even I can sit under there. So it's a wonderful space all around and gives us some multilayered fun, too.

When we were planning it out in more detail, I knew right away that I wanted to make it Harry Potter themed- Annabel LOVED this plan. Annabel had been dreaming of having some Harry Potter pillows before this anyway (she had already been looking on Amazon, in fact) and this was the perfect place to make that happen. We found some adorable ones and couldn't wait for them to arrive. Since that's a full size mattress in the loft, I found Harry Potter sheets to cover it. And then I surprised Annabel with matching Harry Potter curtains, too, because I thought it would be fun to close it off and sort of hide out in there. That corner of the playroom gets no light at night, so we knew we needed lighting in there and we found some wall sconces to accomplish that. And voila- it's decorated and done and just perfect!! I LOVE it! We all do! Thank you, Ben (and Larry) for making this dream happen for us!!

We use this space all the time now. We read, we play games, we do our Zoom read alouds with Grandma, Annabel does school up there, and the kids have both even slept in this awesome little loft, too. I'm beyond glad we have this awesome space! This was the perfect year to do it, too- it was a nice way to add something to special to this train wreck of a year. And the kids are at great ages to really enjoy it and use it well. Even I love being up there! Can you tell I could gush about this loft all day?!

Welcome to our cozy loft...take a look!!

 

Here it is in progress...

Daniel hauled the rolled up mattress up the stairs for us and then pushed it down the hall. We were almost ready to add that in and really check the loft out.

But first- Here's Annabel checking it out for the first time!! You see the way her eyes light up?!

Here's the builder checking out his handiwork.

Funny faces.

And now the mattress is on it. Even better!

Since I didn't have the new Harry Potter pillows yet, we used some of Annabel's extra pillows to test out the space. It looked great already.

Ready to sleep over up in the new loft space! The cats love joining us up there, too!

Daniel and Annabel quickly reimagined the loft space for their play. So cute!

More kitty cozy up time!

Playing games!

Peek-a-boo, Ziggy!

We hauled our library cookbook stash up there one afternoon so we could mark recipes to try.

Almost set...it sure looks cozy! Just waiting on a few more touches.

Another weekend, another sleepover!

And voila- One more look at the loft all decorated and finished! So cozy. It's the best!

A Pandemic Halloween

Well, Halloween went on in spite of the pandemic. The kids were thrilled! And cousin Josie even joined us for trick or treating, which both Daniel and Annabel were super cutely excited about. It was the sweetest. As for me, I'd waited and waited on purchasing costumes, wanting to know that our town was indeed participating in/allowing Halloween and once we heard that it would be up to residents to decide for themselves to hand out candy and/or trick or treat, we were on. Cases were rising in our area in the weeks before Halloween, but I had faith that people would be safe about handing out candy and of course we would wear masks and stay in our small family group as well. I really wasn't too worried at all. I was game for some fun!

For costumes this year, Annabel knew right away she wanted to be a Ravenclaw. It was perfect for her and came together amazingly. We had the Ravenclaw robe, a white polo shirt and a Ravenclaw tie, plus a blue headband. She was adorable! And I found a trick or treat bag for her with an HP quote that was perfect as well. And of course that bag can now be used for just about anything, so, win win! Annabel also swears she'll wear that robe around the house...we'll see. But still, such a fun costume for her that speaks to who she is and what she likes these days, which is in my book, the best type of costume.

Daniel simply had one goal for his costume- to find the silliest costume we could come up with. A banana came up as an idea and he was game for it! Absolutely perfect and it looked awesome on him! Again- I thought this idea was the best, because he is such a fun guy with a great laugh and a great spirit, so this was an awesome idea that spoke to his fun-loving nature. The yellow mask he's wearing- entirely his idea! He got so many compliments on that mask, too, it was the funniest thing. He also really wanted a yellow bag to match for trick or treating- Amazon to the rescue- so that was easy enough to accomplish. It was a nice sturdy bag, too, better than I expected, so, another win. 

The weather- PERFECT! We didn't need coats to start with at all. I think each of us maybe had long sleeves or at least a sweatshirt on and that was all we needed. We couldn't have asked for a better day for trick or treating! I was floored. And the people in our neighborhood- they made it all so much fun and were SO generous with candy this year. Again, I was floored. It was such a special and fun day. We needed that. People wore masks, some even had gloves on to hand out candy, signs were posted in doors and windows indicating whether trick or treaters were welcome or not, we saw a lot of tables with candy spread out for choosing, we saw a few clotheslines with candy bags pinned on, and we even encountered a few of those candy slides that were all over the Internet. I'd hoped we'd see a few of those just for the experience and novelty of it and we did! I was tickled. Daniel's band teacher lives around the block from our house and Halloween is her favorite holiday, so her house was all decked out and she totally had an awesome candy slide. That was so fun! The kids got SO so much candy. They have enough to last a millennium, sheesh.

We trick or treated for quite some time with Josie, with my kids holding her hand, encouraging her, waiting for her, and so on. They were so sweet with her. I was so impressed and touched. We're so glad she came with us! That just added to the fun, too! After she left, Annabel wanted to go back out and head toward another friend's area, so we did. It was just lovely to be out for a bit longer, enjoying the fresh air. We eventually made our way around Annabel's friend's small block and then turned around and came home, sufficiently worn out! 

Dinner was our traditional sloppy joes. We had maybe two trick or treaters come to our door in the time we were home, but had no others, though I hear this year was super busy for some people, such that they were running out of candy...we're just never home for more kids but that's okay. After dinner we treated both sets of grandparents to surprise in-person Halloween greetings! The kids were so excited to do this and all the grandparents were delighted to see them in their costumes! That was another fun special moment of the day- taking the time to do that. I'm glad we did that. We came home to check out candy stashes and finish the movie we'd started in the afternoon. I think everybody fell asleep fast that night!

All in all, it was a really wonderful Halloween! Better than I could have ever expected. Perhaps among the best. It was just such fun to see everybody rally together, get in the spirit, be creative, and have fun, and still all be safe. I was mighty impressed with our little neighborhood. I'm just so glad we got to enjoy a super fun day!

Enjoy our pictures!!

These next few pictures are our trying on costume pictures. I knew right away they were going to be awesome!

Here's Annabel getting ready to show off her costume in her afternoon Zoom session for school!

"This is how I really look when I'm at school. Bored."

Peek-a-boo! Annabel was told to turn the video off and have clues about her costume ready for her classmates to guess what she was. But, they can't actually come to class with no video on, that's not possible with their settings, so the post-it note served as Annabel's video off- her clever solution! We made the clues a little harder, because otherwise it's pretty much a dead giveaway what she is. She had fun!

Annabel is all set up for the afternoon at her desk in her room. She was so excited!

And now for the actual Halloween day fun! Time to get trick or treating!

Some people set up tables.

Some people had clotheslines with bagged candy pinned up.

This fun neighbor had a photo op spot with a giant Mickey. (I happen to know the young gal who lives here is a big Disney fan!) Very cute and such fun!

This is Daniel's band teacher's house. So fun to stop here! She had a candy slide, too!

Still going strong... We had a few more clotheslines come into play!

When we went back out after Josie, Aunt Amelia and Uncle Brian left, the sun had started to go down and it was a little chillier, so we layered up a bit more. Annabel enjoyed wearing the new Ravenclaw scarf Aunt Amelia gave her that morning!

Home to check out the candy stash. So much candy!! They won't miss any of it if Ben and I eat some, will they??