The Project

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen our pictures of the progress of finishing our basement. But for those of you who haven't seen, here are some pictures of what we've been doing around the house for the past half year or so! :) Our basement already had a finished family room but we decided this year to finish the rest of it--two bedrooms and a bathroom. Jonathan did most of it on his own with the help of his dad, brother, and of course lovely wife! :) The only thing we had to hire done was the plumber and the carpet layers. Now that it is finished, we are loving it!!!! And it just looks so much better when you know that you were the one that put up that piece of drywall and spent hours upon hours of back-breaking work in completing it!

Framing...

I have lots more pictures of the drywalling and everything but I won't bore you with those. Instead we'll just go straight to the finished product:

Bedroom #1 aka the toy room!!

Bedroom #2 aka my parents' room! :)

The bathroom: I was sooo pleased with how this turned out! My husband was skeptical when I came home with this shower curtain but he let me have free reign and I think the color scheme turned out amazing!!

Here are just some pictures of what the rest of the basement looked like while we working:

And how it looks now!

Needless-to-say I was tired of living in this dump!

So much better!!

While his brother was here putting up the trim, we went ahead and had him make us this built-in bookshelf which is beautiful! If you are in our area and are looking for an amazing carpenter, I would highly recommend him! He does incredible work and is so fast and efficient!!
Yea!!!!! So happy to have it all DONE!!!!!!!!!! So now, if you want to come visit us, at least you know you'll have a room and bath of your own! :)

Addison Is ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our sweet little girl turned one last Thursday! It's so hard to believe a year has flown past since she was born. We can't remember what life was like before Addie! My parents were up for the entire week and my siblings came up for her birthday party over the weekend. It was so great seeing everyone and I know both kids loved having everyone here!
Addie opened some presents from Auntie Em on her actual birthday. Check out these adorable butterfly wings she got!


We went out for dessert that night. It was goooood!!!!!!!!!!!

The birthday girl is ready for her party to begin!

Aunt Emily was at it again and did such an awesome job on the cake!!!! She never ceases to amaze me!
Thanks Auntie Em! I love it!!!

Emily even made her a little butterfly cake of her own. So cute!!

Jonathan's parents got the kids a combined birthday present--a new wagon! They love it!! I thought the picture above was so funny! Luke really wanted to help daddy put it together. :)

You can't have a party without presents, cake, and lots of cousins!

Addie loved her tent with a tunnel from Meemaw and Papaw!

My sweet baby girl and I after church. I love her dress!

She was so glad Uncle Jacob got to come!

At one year old Addison:
*can say dada, uh-oh, hi, and hey. She is also very fluent in her own language which she is constantly jabbering in! :)
*pulls herself up and can stand alone for a couple seconds. She hasn't shown any real interest in walking yet.
*is such a daddy's girl!
*adores her big brother. They are now starting to really play together (and fight together!) and she loves to copy him.
*loves clapping her hands.
*gives out sweet (but slobbery!) kisses.
*has recently taken an interest in books. She loves them!
*has three cute teeth--two on bottom and one on top.
*has been weaned for about a month now. She's drinking whole milk and eats all her meals with us. I love it when babies join the rest of the family's meal schedule! :)
*goes to bed between 7:30 and 8 with her brother and usually is up before he is (around 7 or 7:30). She still takes two naps a day that range from 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

We love you Addison Marie! Happy 1st Birthday!!!

A Day in Saugatuck

While my parents were here for ten days on their vacation, we spent a Sunday afternoon in Saugatuck. If you've never been, it's a cute little town with a beautiful beach on Lake Michigan! We had such a great time!!

Getting all lathered up to play in the sun.

Good thing we brought some shade--it was hot!

Luke loved running away from the waves!

Playing in the sand.

This little boy loves to play at the beach!!!

Someone took a good nap!!

Sleeping beauty.

Just some cute pictures of my little girl and I.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner outside on the water with live music!

This is what a day at the beach will do to you!!

I just thought this picture of Jonathan was funny. He's carrying all our junk we took with us--life jackets, blankets, towels, etc. :)

Just Some Pics for Fun

She was talking to her daddy who was out on the deck. :)

Someone dressed himself!

Love this pic of them! Luke's hiding spot is so cute!

Luke enjoying his free birthday ice cream at Coldstone: blueberry with gummy bears. Mmmm!