Begin by mapping on paper the usage of the back yard, including any natural pathways. Think carefully about sun exposure and how you can use it to your best advantage, and the areas where you need to control the exposure. Hardscape should come first, with materials that mix well with your house materials, style, and colors. Budget and practicality are important. Your two year old twins will go through many childhood phases rather quickly, and your garden is small, so it makes sense to use an adaptable scheme and limit the number of segregated areas. My own kids had a paved area, a grass area, a dirt area, and a non-traditional "playhouse/fort" area built under an existing patio cover. This allowed for a multitude of play activities only limited by their imaginations. We had a planting area in the sunniest spot where I grew giant sunflowers and tomatoes, nothing fancy. When they were little we were on the go all the time, and actual gardening was a fairly low priority. To summarize: children are easy to please.

As I understand it, thrift shops etc., will still be restricted from selling recalled toys, etc. . . that's probably a good idea but how will it work out in real life? I work for a nationally known donations re-seller and we already check every donation against a list of recalls. It's gotten to be a huge burden because so many toys are recalled, but we have text lists as well as photos of the recalled items posted at the sorting area. Inspectors make the first sort, but anything that might be on the recall lists, like toys and some appliances and children's clothing that may be more than a few years old, is also checked by a supervisor. Recalled items go to a shredder/compactor so they can't be sold. We take this very seriously and every thrift shop or used merchandise shop should. I can't speak for small, local stores but I hope they are just as careful. Even with the changes it looks like we may have to stop reselling toys. Clothing that has no metal (buttons, for example) should be OK. The changes allow for items that are only made with natural fibers, like cotton, silk or wool, to be sold without testing so those of you who make quilts or similar items are OK. Because testing labs have to be certified and inspection equipment has to be calibrated periodically, companies would not be able to do their own testing. Any thing to be tested would have to be sent out to a certified testing facility. There's another good discussion about this same topic on the Quilting Forum. I included a link to that post below. Here is a link that might be useful: CPSIA discussion

What a pretty room! I love the red chairs and the wall color. I would either remove those shades or get curtains to cover them. Quite likely from the outside they look like there are brown paper bags at the Windows. Could you place a small table with a lamp between the two chairs? I would try to use the floor lamp somewhere in the room. Lamp light is very important . You can then turn off the overhead light. Are you planning to get a rug?

As a southerner we have a history of telling stories and it was very much a part of my upbringing though trying to fit all those tales into some sort of coherent history is another matter. We practiced our own history with my mother starting "remember whens" My mother was a spoiled only child and most of her stories were about how special she was to her doting father. My father did not talk much about his childhood though I know they moved frequently as my grandfather was a mason and builder. I spent a good deal of time with my mothers step-mother-my Grannie- and learned as much about her life as I could. She was a child of the depression-something that for her on a prosperous farm in the south was just something they heard about happening elsewhere. Grow your own food and make your own clothes and you only need money for taxes and coffee and salt. I loved hearing about her life. she was one of a big family of girls and they had to work like boys. Their father did not want them to leave home so for each of them it was an adventure to leave. I don't have children and have always lived all the way across the country from my kin so I have had no one to pass on what I know nor about my own life but there you are. I love social history and yet historians will use the lives of the rich and famous thinking they are telling you how people lived in the past-the one tenth of the one percent.