THE toy box

A couple years ago, after the MILLION toys we had for Anna (almost none of which we had bought for her!) started to overtake our entire house, I begged Aaron to make me a toy box. Now, when I asked for this, I would have been happy with a nothing-fancy-plywood-box with a lid. But, if you know Aaron, he just can't do that kind of thing. By this time he'd been working at his wood supply job for a while and he was really getting into all this fancy wood stuff (they only sell to higher-end homes) and his good friend that also works there is an incredibly talented wood-craftsman (he's made us 3 major pieces of furniture so far that are gorgeous). This friend also isn't known for being exactly fast:). Anyway, I gave Aaron the measurements that I wanted (BIG!) and waited. And waited.........I kept saying "Aaron, just put some pieces of wood together and make a box!" But he wouldn't do it. The time factor also wasn't helped by the fact that Ryan lives almost an hour from us and he has all the tools (and most of the knowledge) for doing this project. Quite a few months later, I had my beautiful toy box, which looks nothing like a toy box! One day, when the kids are gone, this will be a great place to store blankets and such. It really is a piece of furniture and not just a toy box. I'm glad it looks so nice (lots better than the plastic tub I was using!). But just to show you how big it is...

Here's Jacob sitting in it. We emptied it out last night and put some "new" toys in. Probably almost 2 years ago, I went through the toy box (b/c it was so full I couldn't even close the lid!) and put a bunch of toys in a tub and put it in the shed. I figured I could rotate the toys and it would seem like the kids were getting new toys every once in a while, without really getting new toys! Anna was very excited and now the toy box closes again!

Jacob thought it was GREAT to be in the toy box! I also forgot to mention that Aaron put "piano" hinges on this. That way, the lid on won't slam shut on little fingers (which is good b/c it's a HEAVY lid). It stays open almost fully and has to be pulled shut.

As you can see, there's room for a million toys! I think it's like 3 feet long and 1 1/2 ft. wide and deep.

Anna always thinks it's fun to climb into the toy box (I remember doing that as a kid). And yes, that's her hair, not a shadow. This was the day after her let's-stay-up-and-puke-all-night-long night :( Thankfully it was just a 24 hr (not even that) thing and she was fine the next day (I, on the other hand was not--after staying up with her all night it's going to take me a week (or month) to recover!).