Bathrooms....Buffets....and Babies

Ok, that's a total lie.  There are no babies in this post.  Not 1!!  I've been posting a  lot of Abby around here these days but that doesn't mean that Ryan and I haven't been hard at work getting projects done around the house.

First off, Master Bath update:

Let's start from the beginning, shall we??  Here are some pictures I took before we moved in.  You'll see that the sink is awkwardly placed IN the bedroom, with a pocket door into the shower/toilet area.  Ry and I originally thought they had done a remodel at some point and decided there would be more room if they moved the sink out but we found the original house plans at they actually BUILT the house this way.  Which explains why the window to the right is stupidly placed about 3 inches too far over (you'll see in 1 second).

See how the shower had a half wall?  Yep...that's gone!  See how the shower head is on the wall?  Yep, that's going on the ceiling.  The subway tile was in pretty good shape (or so we thought) so we'd planned on just removing the half wall, fixing the floor of the shower and bathroom, and moving the sink into the master.  But, demo gives you a real idea of what's going on, and we found mold.  Mold = full bathroom remodel.  So...here's what it's looking like today.

Ryan's framed up the new wall (almost continuous from the closet wall, but the dang window is in the way so it's set back a few inches.  The bathroom looks huge now, and I'm happy to say that the bedroom doesn't seem too small.  I was concerned that it would shrink up when we framed up the wall, and I suppose the true test will be when it's all dry walled in.  But for now I'm very happy with how it's coming along!

Ryan made for some fun photo shoots tonight.  Enjoy these gems!

Since this project has ballooned out into being much bigger than replacing some floor tile, we've decided to go all out.  We are adding a rain shower head, radiant floors (can't wait for those!), some really cool accent tile, canned lighting and a glass shower wall.  I can't wait to show you pictures of the finished product.  But, in the mean time, I think there might be a few more "progress" posts before we get to the FINISHED one.

Next, the buffet table:

I've been looking for a buffet table for our dining room for a few months now.  I wanted a nice piece of furniture (ie: not from Target or Ikea that has a million pieces you have to put together with an allen wrench) but I didn't want to spend a million dollars on it.  So, I've been on the lookout for a nice garage sale/craigslist/thrift store find.  I read tons of blogs where they find a great piece of furniture for less than $50 and the magically make it beautiful.  I can NEVER find anything that cheap!  But, all that looking finally paid off.  I looked for probably 3 months and I finally hit the jackpot.

Ugs McGee right??  It just needs some love.  Structurally it's good.  It's got dove tailed drawers and solid wood faces.  It just needs to be sanded down and re-stained.  Guess how much it was.  Guess!!  $40. 
 And...it was on sale for 30% off so I got it for just over 30 bucks!

Ry took some super sexy pictures of me working on it this weekend.  I suppose it's paybacks for the booger picking/wierdo pictures I took of him. 

*Yes, we have a super classy "Surrender the Booty" flag

I'm practicing Abby's no-neck photo taking in my ultra sexy, slimming paint clothes. 

So, that's where we are at with one major project and one slightly smaller project.  This week we hope to make some more headway and maybe I'll have some updates for you next week. 

More baby picutres

I used to feel bad that all I was posting were baby pictures these days and then I realized that's all anybody cares about.  She's the cutest thing going on in our lives these days so here's some of the latest for you to enjoy!

Some crazy photo editing...but I couldn't resist those eyes!!!

I clearly had too many favorites!!

And, a video just because....

Photoshoot with Grandma

This past weekend Ryan and I went on our annual ski trip to Galena.  It was my first time leaving Abby for the night and although I sort of dreaded it, it was actually 100% fine.  Jamie and I decided that cold and wet weren't in our program for the weekend so we ditched the hill for an afternoon in Galena while the boys and the rest of the crew had a blast skiing.  While Ryan and I were enjoying our time together like without Abby, we both missed her lots.  But, Grandma and Grandpa did a great job taking care of her and boy oh boy, did they have a great time playing dress-up with her.

Check out the cute pictures Mom got with Abby:

A weekend with cousins

I'm slowly getting behind on the blog these days.  Between Abby's weekly blog, knitting, all of our adventures, house projects, and just general life, I'm finding myself falling behind a bit on the family blog these days.  I'm playing a little catch-up so here goes nothing.

Two weekends ago Joey and I brought the babies back to Freeport for a surprise visit with our little cousin Lydia.  I was Lydia's age when she was born and I will never forget holding her for the first time.  She was so teeny and amazingly cute that I instantly gave her the nickname Squirt, and she will forever be Squirt to me.  So, I knew how fun it would be for her to finally get to meet the babies.  I'm so glad Charlie and Mom were able to coordinate it and that we were able to spend some time together.  I'm hoping maybe she can come down and stay with Mom or us sometime this summer for awhile.  That would be fun!!

Anyways, here's a few pictures from the weekend.

That is the best one!  Trust me, I took about 50 of them.  But, having two peanuts cooperate at the same time is like finding a needle in a haystack...but we did finally get one!

Kayden usually does "nice touches" but she was loving Abby's ears this weekend :O)

Many of the pictures turned out like this....see, two babies, not cooperating!!

One of my most favorites pictures of her these days!