Fire Station Playroom {Christmas 2012}

Hoping you all had an amazing Christmas! I actually ended up with a horrible cold right alongside Izzy, but we made it through and had a great time spending the holidays with family.

Our Christmas revolved around the "Fireman" theme yet again. We thought maybe our little man Judah would focus in on a new subject matter by now, but it's just not the case. We are living in a constant world of "emergencies." There is always a fire to be put out, a rescue mission to be conducted, a paramedic that needs to give a hurt person some attention, you name it- we are on call 24/7.

We got majorily (I know it's not a word) spoiled this Christmas. Judah's dreams came true with his new fireman gear costume, water tank, fire car, and fireman pole (Don't worry- not all of it was from us, we clued the grandparents into what was on our little man's wish list).

Through a little Pinterest perusing and some Busy Kids inspiration- I got a new vision for our playroom (It's probably about the 4th time we have re-done our playroom and I have a feeling that number is going to keep going up). I often find it hard to want to "play" in our playroom because it always felt like there were toys everywhere and we had no order to our madness. I'm so grateful for other geniuses out there who help solve my problems by giving me some structure (which I tend to lack- I'm a free spirit kind of person). So, I took what we already had, an amazing room, and decided to organize it. Wanna guess what we organized it to be? You're right! A FIRE STATION! And let me tell you, this fire station has been in use since the plan began to unfold. I so wish I had taken better before and after pictures- but I'll give you some of the afters in a second. It's still in Phase 1 of becoming a "cute" fire station, but it's a working one none-the-less.

We created a climbing area from an old slide (still looking for a cheap ladder) which leads Fireman Judah up to his bunk. We got a crib mattress and a pillow up on the window sill which created a great fireman bed and also will be used for a reading nook as he gets older (the visions in my head). Then, we ran into a store manager at Lowe's who dreamed with us and gave us all the tools needed to create a fire pole that he could slide down. (If you are interested in those building materials- comment below and I can write a post on those- it's super simple and cheap- but don't want to waste the time explaining if nobody wants that info.) You have to see him live in action here:

Next, we cleaned out the storage of my crafts/wrapping paper and junk from our wardrobe area, and we placed all fire equipment, gear, costumes, trucks and gadgets hidden away for him to access during emergencies. This way too- he's got a place for ALL fire stuff- it doesn't randomly disappear across the room and he's very serious about keeping it organized- because fire guys always put their stuff back in their "garages."

We moved our play kitchen over near the "garage." You must know that fireman have kitchens at their stations. Our play kitchen is now the fire station kitchen and I get served some great meals from there. Our TV and sitting area is now the common area where the firemen can relax while waiting for an emergency, etc. You get the point right? The best part of it all, we have purpose in the playroom. The toys are getting played with and stuck back where they belong before moving to the next thing. It's seriously a Christmas miracle. It's working out great for our little family.

Our little Izzy loves being outside and with the new "fire truck" (it was the cheapest motorized car we could find for Judah's big gift) we get lots of playtime outside riding around our street and Izz has learned to ride Judah's little three-wheeler car too (she got other toys for Christmas too- don't worry- but she still is in the go-with-the-flow phase of life). Izzy is Judah's right-hand-girl. She'll become whatever he wants her to be at the moment (fireman, paramedic, person needing rescue, etc) with no complaint.

If you are ever bored and need to spend some time at a fire station, come on over. Judah will tell you what to do. He's great at that.

Here's to a New Year with lots more "rescues" to be had.

Just in case you need a little more of this cute little fireman: