Sit Down Dinners

I have to admit we have sat down to dinner in front of the tv since we've been married.  Mostly because we've never had a dining room table (well we did but it was used as a desk instead) or the room to have a dining room, the coffee table was our dining table.  Well, I am determined to change that! I remember siting down to eat as a family when I was a child and I want my children to be able to say they have those same types of memories.  But I didn't think Jonathan would be down for siting on a table cloth and picnic-ing it in the dining/nursery room so I had to carve out any area in our tiny space to make room for those dinner memories.  Thus the small space between the nursery and living room is where I shoved our dining table.
We bought a dining table off Craigslist a few months ago for $40 (a steal considering its worth close to $500 after a little research on the hubby's part) but we haven't had any chairs.  Saturday we found some chairs in our price range, $35 a piece, which is actually a little over our price range but they're solid wood, in good condition and pretty fancy.  We got 4 of them from a hotel liquidation center down the road, which means they are covered in hideous green fabric some designer thought was fabulous 20 years ago.  I thought about painting the frames white but our table is white and that just seemed a little overkill to me so I've kept the original finish (just need to fill in the scuffs and knicks) and recovered the seats.  2 done, 2 to go.  The cushions were already thick and somewhat new so I didn't add any extra batting.  I got a $13 drop cloth from Home Depot, bleached it, bleached it again and used it to recover the seats and there's enough to cover all 4!  Grace and I ventured to Jo-Anns today to look for some trim and found some black trim @.79/yd.  12 yards was enough for all 4 chairs and I had a coupon so I only spent $5 on trim!
We've been siting down for family dinner this week and I gotta say it beats vegging out in front of the tv anyday!

Before:

After:

And here's a glimpse of life lately:

Grace has discovered toilet paper

(that skirt is the leg of an old pair of jeans- super cute and super easy)

She loves the craft boxes in our room, ribbon is her favorite...

the statue in front of our apartments (in the background) after the Saints won last night

Our Bedroom- can you tell everything is in storage and we're using what we've got: pink, red, purple and black; what a color combo 

plus a little cutie tearing into some ribbon

Living room: we're looking for some couches but can't bite the bullet and make a decision (or fork over $1000+). We found the lamps a a salvage store for $5 each, got some lampshades from Target and trimmed them in some yellow ruffles.  The ottoman is the same green leather as the couches but I made a slip-cover from a bleached drop-cloth.  Side table...actually it's a moving box with a yellow floral table cloth I found at goodwill for a few bucks.  The pink suitcase (another goodwill find) in the corner is a good place to keep Grace's toys out and accessible for her but also easy to clean up when it's time to vaccum.

Nursery aka Dining room.  Jonathan didn't want to hang anything on the walls because we're only here a few months....so I taped :)  Just some scrapbook paper and hot glue and you've got monograms and paper pin-wheels.  I'm thinking maybe new bedding?  The bumper is really cute but it's also really thin...I'm not sure yet.

Ashley

Our August

Our August was filled with grandparents, tests, snowballs, baby bottom bumps and grins.  My mom and dad made a visit towards the end of last month to see baby girl.  They stayed downtown and got a first-hand experience of NOLA nightlife.  Grace and I brought them to eat at some of our favorite new places and of course the mall.  No visit is complete without a trip to the mall right?  Totally off topic but has anyone else seen the coupons Gap is giving out for 40% off on Wednesdays? Pretty cool!  
Add another bump to the list.  We had a great time with my parents and look forward to their next visit!
Last week Jonathan's dad came into town on business and we were able to spend a few days with him.  Grace has recently become quite the ham around other people and was more than excited to show Pops all her new funny faces.  
Grace has started pulling up within the past month and is now getting pretty fearless.  Trying no-hands, with her back to the wall....which ends in the bottom bump and cry.  We've been trying not to baby her and clap when she falls which has really helped; she'll make a sad face and then look for our reaction, if you're happy she's happy.  She's playing in her new play area, sucking her entire hand and squishing her face into a stink face right now, oh and trying to pull out the entire contents of the dresser.  
The house is not finished, doesn't even have walls yet....and life is getting a little cramped in this little apartment.  Even Jonathan is ready to get out of here because "it's just not comfortable" which means alot because he never complains about our living situation (and we've had LOTS of living situations since we've been married- 6 homes so far).  They say insulation will go in on Thursday and drywall should begin the next day. 
Jonathan is at school close to 14 hours a day right now.  I bribe him with dinner to get him home for an hour or so at night.  This has been much much much tougher than I had expected but its only 4 years so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  But we're just entering the tunnel :(  Any prayers you can send our way would be greatly appreciated!  3 tests this week and another major one on Tuesday so we won't be seeing him for a few days.  
We're going to go the park until daddy gets home, here's some pictures.

                                                             baby stove from a diaper box

                                                                     play suitcase


Ashley