Home Make-Over!

This summer has been a different one for us....we've been really busy preparing for Ava!!  It has been soooo exciting, and has helped the time that we are waiting for her go by very fast! But on the other hand, I'm wondering where in the world our summer went. It has been a "beachless" summer for us, having to save Craig's vacation time and all of our money to put towards China. We know it will be well worth it, but I think I speak for the whole family when I say that we really miss that annual beach trip. There's just something soothing and calm about the ocean!!  But we KNOW that the joy of saving and preparing for Ava will far outweigh our annual beach trip! Here are some before and after pictures of Laura's new room, the Dining Room, and Ava's new room!

Laura's Room Before.....This is the "Bonus Room" above our garage. When we moved in there were no walls,  ceiling,  closet, etc. The only thing there was, was a bathtub in the bathroom. This has been a work in progress for several years. Getting Ava, definitely helped speed this process along!

Laura's Room---AFTER!!!

Got carpet installed July 5th!

Laura's bathroom-After

Laura's bathroom-After

Ava's room is now  Laura's old bedroom. We kept the walls the same color. Jane and Ashley bought a new  Owl quilt and stuffed animal for her bedroom!! And it matched the walls perfectly.  My mom and dad (Mimi and Dado) had given me my Grandma Nofzinger's bedroom furniture and queen size mattress last summer and this is the mattress. It's so comfortable, and almost brand new!! I'm sure I will get to share this with Ava :)))  One reason we put such a big bed in her room is because I wanted her to get used to sleeping in HER room, even if we sleep with her, rather than OUR room. I felt this would be less traumatic in the long run.  (plus this will serve as a guest room when we have out of town guests!)

Nannie and Poppa bought the little green lamp for Ava. It is adorable and matches the quilt!
Alice and CA gave us the furniture for Ava's room and Craig and CA worked together to re-finish it.  I think it turned out  so beautiful!!

I absolutely LOVE this dressing table. It is the other piece of furniture that  Alice and CA gave us! 

We had a really big garage sale last summer and finally got rid of most of the girls toys. But we kept the special things. this just happens to be MY toys from when I was a little girl. The high chair and the kitchen set.

My Dining Room was the "catch all" while we were moving things from up downstairs to upstairs....vice versa

My house was like this for a good several months while we were working upstairs......I really like to be organized, so I didn't like this much!

Yeah!!!!  We got the boxes put away, the closets rearranged, and I got my Dining Room back. Plus a couple pieces of furniture that are family heirlooms. The pump organ came from Craig's mom's side of the family.  The cabinet on the far right is a piece that Craig's dad made.

Now all we need is our little Ava!! We are on day 41 of our LOA wait! 

We are still hoping to travel the end of October or the end of November.