Dollhouse

I have been on Maternity leave since the end of October. While I have had a lot of amazing quality time with my girls I have also had a lot of well... time. I needed a project.
Meanwhile Charlotte's plastic dollhouse had broken and I wasn't interested in buying another one that would do the same. Christmas was coming, and I have really had a sense of wanting to do instead of just buy. So I did the math:
Extra Time + Christmas + need a project+ 2 girls = lets build a dollhouse
I forgot to factor in that I am not at all crafty and haven't really worked with wood since a puppy dog napkin holder in Junior High, and oh yeah Jake would add that I also tend to get in over my head with almost everything that I start. So mid-November I found a dollhouse "kit" online. I ordered it from a man named Frank who lives in Utah that puts together these kits himself. Below is what came in the mail along with 10 pages of instructions.

WOW... in over my head much??? Seriously what in the world had I done? In my head I think "kit" meant snap together. This was going to take wood glue, nails, actual tools... I was not prepared for this. But I jumped in, how hard can wood working be anyway, right.
Finally a practical application for Abstract Expressionism (support for the wood glue to dry)
I worked in the basement (because Charlotte never goes down there) on the ping pong table. I would take Claire with me and we would chat, and she would nap, nurse a little. It actually was quite a lovely bonding experience for us, turn out she is a pretty great listener.
This is the point that I had the basic structure completed, and I got to add the fun details.
I love the roof. I took tin snips and cut the corners off of each of these shingles prior to individually hot gluing them on. Along with hot gluing my fingers to the roof more than once. I really started to enjoy this experience. The smell of wood glue reminded me of my grandpa, and the slow unraveling of creating something became magical. I soon became a tad obsessed. I couldn't wait for Charlotte to go bed, so that I could sneak down to my secret workshop, listen to Christmas Carols, hang out with Claire and create.
Fast forward a month ...
We spent Christmas in NY. But the morning we left we got Charlotte up and told her that there was a surprise for her in the living room.
This dollhouse has crown molding, a vaulted ceiling with loft, glass in the windows along with shutters... basically the dollhouse is nicer than our house. Although we do have glass in our windows too, so its close. Charlotte had really wanted a "pink and purple" dollhouse (remember the letter to Santa) but I just could not do it. After clocking in this many hours building this dollhouse, to paint it pink would have made me sick, so I found a deep plum that I could live with. Jacob asked me after I told him there would be no pink on it, who the house was actually for? Clearly he didn't understand.
I also had a friend ask me if I would say it was from Santa. That I also could not do. That little elf man wasn't going to get credit for this one. He can get credit for the Touch n Brush, but this dollhouse no way.She loved it, although we had to leave it almost immediately after to head for NY. I am sure there will be hours of play ahead of us. Not just for Charlotte and Claire but for my grandbabies as well!