Can I Have My Kitchen Table Back, Please?

School is approaching, and I have to say I'm looking forward to getting back into our school year routine. During the school year everyone wakes up and goes to bed at civilized hours, everyone eats three somewhat nutritious meals each day, and best of all, during the school year, everyone reads more and the TV doesn't seem to always be on.

As we get ready for the school year, study time seems to be the thing that takes us the longest to settle into. Each kid has a study space in their room, but the Furbers all like to be together, so they tend to gravitate toward the kitchen table looking for company. We have our family office, but that seems to be used more for pleasure than for business.

I will now turn Suburban Zen over to the three Furber kids to describe the perfect study spaces that would inspire them to retire to their rooms to do their homework each day.

Welcome to Casa de los Furbers. Checkout is at Noon

My littlest is about to start Kindergarten in 15 days (she's been counting down all summer). Along with all the obvious stuff that comes with your baby going to Kindergarten, there's also another milestone -- sleepovers. We love sleepovers because we really get to know the kids' friends, we make pancakes in the morning (which always makes me feel like Carol Brady), and having them makes our kids happy.

While our kids are big fans of sleepovers, they would rather have them at their own house than at a friend's house. They get to sleep in their own bed, they know where the bathroom is, everything they might possibly need is here, and they're familiar with all the scary nighttime noises at our house. We expect that Katie will feel the same way, and when the invasion starts, we're ready.

When we re-decorated all three kids' rooms three years ago (Jack, who was 8 at the time, still had a bed that was shaped like a boat) we paid special attention to two things -- how to accomodate sleepovers and space to study. We had a different solution for each kid, but each room can accomodate extra kids at a moment's notice.

In Andie's room, there's a double bed so she and two other friends can snuggle in and gab all night.








In Jack's room, there's a single bed with two mattresses on it. When one of Jack's buddies visits, we pull the top mattress off, and they both have a nice, comfy spot to sleep. Or at least a homebase to come back to as they prowl the house all night. If Jack has more than one buddy visiting, we pull both mattresses down and make one big sleeping spot on the floor.



In Katie's room, there's a single bed with a trundle under it. So far the trundle's only been used by Andie on especially stormy nights when Katie needs company to help her sleep. But with Kindergarten coming, Andie will have to step aside and make way for Katie's new Kindergarten friends.




With Katie starting school, I know I can look forward to twelve more years of weekends waking up to a houseful of noisy, happy, pancake-eating kids. Hooray for sleepovers!