Isabelle will turn 7 (yes, SEVEN!) on Monday and for a while now I've been thinking of passing along my old dollhouse to her. When I had outgrown it, my mother had lovingly packed it up and put it in her garage for me. When she passed away, I grabbed the boxes and threw them in my basement. I actually never even opened them. She was so much more sentimental than I was! But, I've known that they've been down there and I've been waiting for the right moment to open up the boxes.
I have no doubt that Isabelle will take fabulous care of my precious childhood keepsakes. Her brothers on the other hand? Not so much. So I went back and forth on if I should bring them up or not. Really I don't want to miss my window with Isabelle. She's never been super into dolls except for her one favorite doll, Kendra. What if I waited until the boys were older and presented her with my dollhouses and she was all, "Umm...Mom. These are lame!"? So I decided that with her birthday coming up that today I would take a look at them while all the kids were at school.
I have no doubt that Isabelle will take fabulous care of my precious childhood keepsakes. Her brothers on the other hand? Not so much. So I went back and forth on if I should bring them up or not. Really I don't want to miss my window with Isabelle. She's never been super into dolls except for her one favorite doll, Kendra. What if I waited until the boys were older and presented her with my dollhouses and she was all, "Umm...Mom. These are lame!"? So I decided that with her birthday coming up that today I would take a look at them while all the kids were at school.
OMG - the memories!!! |
It was like time had frozen still in those houses. Little trinkets were still in drawers right where I had left them.
Film, anyone? |
I had forgotten just how into all things dollhouses that I was. I can remember going to this little dollhouse store with my mom and ooohhing and aaahhhing over everything in the store.
The tile in the bottom bathroom of the dollhouse? That was the tile from my own bathroom in the house I grew up in. I nearly died when I saw it. Sooooo many memories. Once those memories escaped from those boxes there was no way that I could put the lid back on. So I decided to put away a lot of the small pieces that I knew for sure would get lost or broken. I figured I'd start with the basics and then I could slowly take more pieces out as I learned to trust the kids with it (or maybe never?!).
These pieces for example?
I'll never let them get their grubby hands on them! |
Oh, and does anyone need to brush up on any Girl Scout laws?
Can you even handle the teeny tininess?! |
Seriously, I can't even stand it. I'm so glad I took them out. Isabelle has been playing with them all afternoon. I conveniently put a movie on for the boys when I secretly presented her with the new addition to her room. Mamma didn't raise no fool!