gone-zo.

House update! YEA-AH!

I am starting to see some serious progress at the house. It has been a slow process seeing that John is doing the majority of the work and that his actual work takes precedence over the cottage. But, his framers had a full day of work yesterday and are over there finishing up today. And if I remember correctly, the plumber and HVAC subs are getting started tomorrow or the beginning of next week.

I'm sorry for the dark pictures, but the electrical is cut off and it is so dark come late afternoon. 

YAY for a bigger kitchen! 

The door in the kitchen is gone-zo. The new laundry/mudroom is starting to take shape. The bathtub is no more, and all of the tile and pesky concrete is officially ripped out of the bathroom. We discovered a bit of rotten wood, but nothing worth making us take any steps back.

The tile surrounding the fireplace is gone too. It already looks so much better! We are thinking about doing some paneling above the fireplace and have been playing around with material options.

Our next step is to pick out countertops, hardware, and the remaining light fixtures.

As far as family life goes, Brooks has been under the weather. It seems like Brooks gets the gunk every time we put him in the nursery at church. On Monday I noticed some minor coughing and sneezing and come Tuesday night, snot hit the fan. Brooks was up between 2:00-4:30 and then up for good at 5:30. Last night he had an episode around 12:30 and after about 40 minutes of rocking him he went back down until 7:00. This morning he skipped his nap and is finally snoozing as I speak (after a bad fall, some snuggles from mama, and being rocked to sleep).

...this pretty much sums up the last few days. I hope my angel baby starts to feel better soon.

substance.

There's not much substance to this post. It's just a little recap of our weekend; a wonderful weekend of life's simple pleasures.

On Friday Brooks and I went to the zoo with our cousins and rode the train for the first time. It was such a treat. Thanks Aunt Lea!

Brooks had a partay in the kitchen later that afternoon. I think at this point in the day we were both ready for daddy to come home! 

In an effort to save some money this holiday season, we elected Lea to be our official family photographer. She met us over at Shug and Pops' house on Saturday and snapped away with my camera. I am so thankful that she took the time to do that for us. This is the first time that we have taken an "official" family photo since Brooks was born. I will cherish these pictures for all of time. And will share them as soon as we send out our Christmas card. 

On Sunday we went to church. Poor Brooks cried as soon as I handed him over to the nursery staff. And then I cried. When I approached his room he was out in the hall, crying, and eating puffs. Poor baby. I have yet to pick him up from the nursery where he is not in tears. It breaks my heart, but John assures me that it is good for him. I know that it is good for him, but it is still hard. Can I get an amen?!

Sunday afternoon we gathered at the Virginia Samford Theatre in Highland Park for the Hydinger Family Reunion.  (Papa's mom was a Hydinger and married a Dyson). Let's just say there were a lot of people there that we had never met. We didn't stay too long, but it was good to see and meet some people in John's family that I had never met before.

In other news...

Last Wednesday John and I went to the house to do some more work. The bathroom was finally gutted, but the tile and debris remained. I think that they loaded the truck up on Thursday so I am eager to get over there this afternoon to see it "cleaned up." John met his dad over at the house Saturday morning to drop off some trim and he said it is looking really good! 

We also tore up the carpet on the stairs and discovered beautiful pine! I think that we are going to sand them to get them back down to their original state.

...and another sketch. We do a lot of planning and drawing up in here. 

Happy Tuesday!

elle bee photography: the faust family.

I just love the Faust family. Tuesday afternoon we met at the Bryant's house to take some pictures for their Christmas card. You can't go wrong with their barn or the beautiful pasture as a backdrop. In my opinion, it is the most perfect backdrop! Here are a few of my favorites from our session:

If anyone is interested in having me take your family pictures this holiday season, shoot me an email! Get it? Shoot? 

Ehhh. 

laurenbryant326@gmail.com

mccutie.

How many pictures of your baby wearing his or her Halloween costume is too much? 25? Okay, good. Here are 23 pictures of Brooks dressed up as McDreamy, McCutie, McCuddly, McLovey, what have you, for ole All Hallows' Eve. 

Our little surgeon is the most adorable doctor in all the land; north, south, east, to west. And I'm pretty sure he would have racked up a lot of candy if he went door to door trick-or-treating. But, mommy kind of failed on his first Halloween. Instead of partaking in the festivities, we went to dinner with some of my girlfriends to see and spend time with our dearest Lacey while she is in town visiting from Colorado! I'll do better next year, buddy!

And on a final note, I bought 3 big bags of Snickers, Butterfingers, and Kit Kats for John to hand out to the kiddos in the neighborhood while we were gone. Guess what? Not ONE.SINGLE. treater came to the door. Not one! So, someone please come get this candy out of my house before I eat it all. Please.