nesting + party prep

My mom and I have been working on getting the house ready for Bennet's big, upcoming birthday party.  But I also think that some of the work we've been doing is more about nesting for me than the party.  I mean, we've hosted events when our bed was in the living room...  the following has to be about the baby coming.

So here's what we've done:

#1 - kept a running list on the kitchen white board of all the things we need to do.  This is the second list, by the way.  We accomplished all the tasks that were first listed here.

Oh yeah, see the list on the left - that's the invite sheet. 

It's gonna be a packed house. 

 Good thing soda was on sale.

#2 - Mom stained and prettied up this old buffet.  It sat in their basement for years, beat up and covered in junk.  I love this thing because it a) makes our embarrassingly large tv look smaller b) holds and hides all our vhs tapes and dvds c) has drawers that are too hard for the kids to open - thus they are filled with all kinds of things I don't want them messing with, and a lot of junk that I don't want you to see.

 

#3 - We were able to move the all my books to the bookshelf, which once housed the movies.  Bennet and Lydia decided together to one day pull all the tapes out of the cardboard boxes and then smash the boxes.  Lydia was so proud.  But now it won't happen anymore, and believe it or not, they don't care so much about the books.

Don't we look so learned with all these books?  ;)

#4 - we rearranged the master bedroom (which still needs to be painted, I know - I hate all the white).  The black desk on the back right used to house the tv and looked like junk.  Now Trav and I have a place to work on things in private with our laptop when we need to get away from the kids.

We also moved the bassinet upstairs...  the baby is coommmming...!

(but not right now.  I am not in labor right now.  Just to clarify.)

#5 - This bookshelf used to be in the nursery / playroom on the first floor.  It is now in Lydia's bedroom, a move I hope will give her and Bennet things to do while we get up and ready in the morning.  I opted for mostly quiet toys and books to help with nap and bed times.  *fingers crossed*

#6 - We moved the entertainment center out of the dining room and into the nursery / playroom.  We took the glass door off the left side and housed the "fun" and educational books and toys here.  This is the best the entertainment center has looked in a looooong  time.

Possible #7.

This is the area of the dining room that used to house the entertainment center.  It now seems huge and empty.  Does anyone have suggestions for how to fill it?

God bless my mom for helping me with all this.  I wear out so easily now that I'm 38+ weeks along.  She's not only helped with this, but she's also helped with the kids and even taken them home so I can sleep better at night.  She's amazing and I'm so grateful.