affordable housing for all, part 2

So the next morning when we woke up, we were one step closer to solving our housing dilemma.

While the girls were at school, I cut a drawbridge door and a window in the sides of the box, and during lunch we discussed ideas for how we'd paint it.  I make a diligent effort to let my children create things on their own, with as little intrusion from me as possible - but I also try to get them to think ahead and have a general idea about what they're aiming for.

Emma started painting the door with purple-yellow swish and samantha tackled the window:

How many times I have I said that I love taking pictures of kids painting?
This door was all Emma, zero mom:
Samantha's window started to take on a creepy halloweenish look, what with all the red paint dripping down.  (In an effort to salvage the greenery, we later turned the red drips into berries on a bush.)

On Emma's second side, she wanted to create a garden.  I wasn't quite sure what she had in mind, but I was pleased that she had a plan and could envision it.  I was amazed at the garden she turned out.  It was lovely!
I loved the differing heights of the flowers, and even the unusual blooms on the flowers - not your typical little five-petal-my-mom-doesn't-know-how-to-draw-a-flower flower.  The dirt at the bottom was also her idea.  
Samantha's next side was making a rainbow.  We had a fun time mixing the red and yellow together because we had no orange.  After lots of mixing, we had plenty of orange!
Here are Samantha's two final sides:
And Emma's two final sides:
nice work, ladies!  I was SO impressed and really pleased at how it turned out.  We still had to wait for this to dry before adding the finishing touches...