doll house furniture fun/Preserving kids drawings

Got to finish another UFO last night... (un finished object for those whose missed yesterdays explanation)
This one is something I started last year.. bad bad bad. I cant find if I blogged about this activity but if you have never done it, I would ABSOLUTELY recommend that you do :)
I asked Jumeirah to draw a picture for me on some calico using crayons. At the time, she was totally into drawing ballerinas with kicking legs. I loved it and got to work stitching it with a simple backstitch. It doesnt really take that long, couple of episodes of Greys Anatomy and it was done.


It looks fantastic and has been a graet way to preserve one of her wonderful drawings. She no longer draws ballerinas like this anymore so I am so glad I got this to keep :)
Once I had stitched the whole picture, I gave it a small border and turned it into a pillow which now resides on my bed where I can see just how clever this little one is :)

We have the most wonderful doll house we bought for the kids a few years ago. Its tall, has lots of rooms and plenty of space to set up and play in. Funny thing is, no one has really played in it. Today, I took a small selection of furniture out of the house and set it up on the table for some pretend family play.



Amahli was straight over, sorting out the family into the areas she wanted... Mum and dad sitting at the kitchen table having a lovely chat about their days, mum then able to sit watching her show on tv , then mum giving kisses goodnight and kids going to bed happy and quietly.







Altogether: *aaahh*

I left her to it, she was singing to them and tucking them in and I thought that just maybe I am doing a great job in showing them a well rounded, happy way of family life.
Less than 5 minutes later, this is what I hear...

"NO!!!!" (her)

"YES!!!! MUM GOES IN THE KITCHEN!!" (him) *SIGH*

Amahli leaves the table and Jared starts to play. This is his set up.

Dad, hard day at work and tired, takes himself to bed.




Kids, jumping together on the lounge, high as kites and about to end in disaster.



Mum, table dancing in the kitchen (?) Yes, I feel for her, there are days that only a table top kitchen dance will fix ;)



Then I witness Jared crash everything down in the house. When I asked him what happened, he replied " Mum went CRAZY!" Again: *sigh*

Having this kind of play allows children to pretend play the things that happen in their house ( ok normally none of this happens in our house, really.) Often Amahli has different voices for different people in the house when she plays, having watched Jumeirah do it. It allows them to take on the roles they see happening everyday in their own little worlds. BUT dont be alarmed if you see the above scenario happening... sometimes its just fun to build and destroy too :)