We closed on the purchase of our new house and the sale of our old one. The buyers asked us to lease back from them for a few weeks so they could get through the rental contract on their current place. It's been nice to have some time to pack slowly (the only way to pack with two little ones to take care of!) and not have to live in the new house while it's being renovated a bit. Here are some pics of the new house:
Here's the upstairs, jack-and-jill bathroom the girls will share. They will each have their own sink. The contractors have already removed the wallpaper and light fixture and the bathroom will be painted to match a "mermaid" theme. I'm thinking maybe a pretty light, caribbean blue?
Here's the formal dining area, which is what you see when you walk into the front door and look left.
Here's the informal living area as viewed from the kitchen. The backyard is viewed from the windows on the right.
The downstairs, guest bathroom. Next door to it, on the left is the 4th bedroom we'll be using as an office.
The kitchen, looking from the living area.
The informal dining area with doors leading into the backyard. We've added a doorway through to the formal living area where the picture hangs on the wall to the left of the doors.
The formal living area as you walk in the front door and look right.
The formal living area looking into the back yard. That new doorway I talked about is to the left, out of frame in this picture.
Ava's room upstairs, which is the larger of the two small bedrooms. This has been repainted a nice, light, sage green color to match her bedding. Yes, we talked her out of the orange she wanted!
Now, for some of my nearly-forgotten pics from the past couple of months:
Our friends, Tate and April came over to dinner one night with their too-cute boy, John. Ava enjoyed rolling John around in our wheeled, storage-ottomans that we use to house some of the girls' toys. Are you comfy, John?
Elizabeth "tackles" Ava with a little help from Nana...
I just love this hat on Elizabeth. It kept her little head and ears very warm this winter! Check out those cheeks as she peeks over Nana's shoulder!
Elizabeth getting ready for her first bite of cereal, ever! She looks skeptical...
I gave her a spoon to busy her hands while I fed her with the other. Somehow she ended up with both.
Yum! After a few tries with baby oatmeal cereal and one Cheerio incident in the nursery at church, we figured out that Elizabeth is allergic to oatmeal. Yeah, we hadn't heard of that kind of allergy either. Uncommon, but that's definitely what she's got. A few bites of the stuff and an hour or two later she starts a vomiting episode that lasts a good hour or two. Not good. The first time we took her to the ER because we were getting a little nervous, and so was our pediatrician who we called to ask for advice. Hopefully this is something she'll outgrow soon.
Elizabeth LOVES to put her toes in her mouth. This is her favorite thing to do while getting her diaper changed or getting a bath. Who would guess her Daddy is a foot-a-phobe?
Daddy and Elizabeth enjoy a show by Ava...
...the star on her "stage" singing in her microphone. She loves this thing!
Take a bow, American Idol-to-be!
What a ham!
Speaking of Ava on stage, here are some more photos I forgot to post a couple of months ago...
Her dance class did a little "parent presentation" where they show the Moms and Dads what they've been learning. Ava is on the far left in the picture below, waiting her turn to show off her dance moves.
They do mostly ballet moves. Ava really loves her dance class and all the little girlie-friends she's made there! Here, she's geting a stamp on her hand from her teacher, Ms. Janie. Ms. Janie is SO wonderful with the dance students! She loves them all as if they were her own little granddaughters!
What a WONDERFUL Daddy! Adam brought Ava a rose to give her after her little, mini-recital. Who has Daddy wrapped around her little finger?!
One of Ava's favorite things to do at the lake house is to roast marshmallows in the fireplace and make s'mores. Since our old house doesn't have a fireplace, this is a real novelty.
We'll have to limit this activity once we move into the new house that also has a fireplace!
I'm going to take some in-progress photos of the updates on the new house to post soon. We're so ready to be all moved in and to start living in the new house!
Ava's grandpa decided it would be funny to trick me into thinking he'd gotten Ava a puppy as a surprise birthday gift. Grandma and Adam were in on the joke and were both trying their best to convince me.
When I saw the little puppy was a hunting dog, the "dog was outta the bag"! I know Mike a little too well to think he'd let a good lookin' hunting dog like that go! Just as I suspected, Mike had picked up the newest addition to his hunting dog crew on the way to the party. That little 6 week old baby puppy was a cutie, but one baby in the house is enough for me for a WHILE.
Ava got her birthday girl medal for the second year in a row.
The coach had the kids pretend they were animals running from a big lion!
Uncle Josh and Elizabeth look on while the kids play and get crazy energy out!
You can tell by the way Elizabeth watches Ava and her friends that she can't wait to be running around with them!
Ava bounces down the trampoline runway...
...and jumps into the big pit of blue, foam squares.
Ava was finally brave enough to go on the big rope swing and jump into the foam pit below!
Ava is still very much enthralled by the princess thing, so she thought her princess castle cake was pretty great.
Poppy made a very special birthday gift for Ava this year. He has finally taken some time to work on his passion of making metal (steel, copper, brass, etc.) sculptures, so he made one for her. She's been to the museum several times, a few with Poppy, so she is excited to have her own piece of art.
