Another Reno Update

For a while I felt like our house was just a box with a roof on it. I didn't have the vision to see what parts of the house would actually look like. I mean, it was wood. That's all I could see. But now, OH BOY! Things are really starting to come together. We have insulation! We have sheetrock! The whole house is primed and the ceilings have been painted!

Before we could do sheetrock we had a huge decision to make. What kind of insulation do we put in this house? There is a huge cost difference in spray insulation ($$) and blow in ($.) We chose to go for the spray in kind because eventually it will cut our bills in half. So, spend now, save later. My brother-in-law made the joke that Tyler wants people to pay us instead of us pay our bills :) My husband has been very thrifty with our house budget and I'm so glad he has been in charge. My first instinct was to go to Target and pick out new decor and get the new comforter I've been drooling over from Pottery Barn (so not gonna happen.) Anyway, I digress...insulation...sheetrock...

I don't have many pictures of the finished sheetrock for every room so I'm only going to attach one. My goal is to take pictures as I paint next week! Enjoy!

 Front bedroom

 Jake's room

 Master bedroom ceiling

 Same as above

 Master bath

 Master closet

 Same as above

 Front entry

This will be the kitchen once we finish everything!

Renovation Update

We started demo on our house last Saturday. I'm not sure what expectations I had but I knew if my FIL and husband were involved it was unpredictable what I would find when I finally arrived! They got started on the house early in the morning and my MIL, Jake and I went by to see their progress close to lunch. WHOA! They had taken apart the kitchen cabinets (saving most of them in the process YAY!), removed the appliances that came with the house and taken down the whole wall that separated the front room from the back room.

After Peanut went down for his nap at my in laws house, I joined the boys and we got started on more demo. I have a new found respect for people who do this kind of work every day. That junk is hard! Tearing out sheet rock is tedious and you never know how big of a piece you will pull off; it could be huge, giving you a great sense of accomplishment, or it could be tiny specs of dust flying in your face making you embarrassed that you couldn't do better. The last part never happened to me by the way.

We rented a dumpster and had it on-site at the house. If I took one trip to the dumpster I took 856 trips to it to unload trash. That was probably the worst part of the whole day. It was fun to hammer through the walls (we may have had a little fun throwing the hammer and trying to make it stick in the wall!!) and make a mess but the cleaning up of said mess was not my idea of a fun day.

All in all we had a very productive day. We took out all the sheet rock in what would be our master suite, living room and kitchen. We hired a crew to take care of the rest of the demo and reframing of the house and that's currently where we are today. It is so neat to see a house turn into a shell and then once the framing starts it immediately starts becoming your own. Tyler and I are very excited to see the progress and we may go to the house twice a day to see what's happening. I think the crew could get more work done if we wouldn't show up multiple times a day but whatever!

 Proud new homeowners!

The tree!!!

Kitchen - before

Kitchen - before

Master bedroom - before

Master closet/bathroom - before

Kid's bathroom - before

Kid's bathroom - before

Tiny living room - before (Peanut is just hanging out)

Peanut's room - before

Don't know what this room was, will be our open concept kitchen

Looking from the only bathroom in the house to the living room and master bedroom behind that

 My father in law (the brains behind our whole project!)

 Master closet/laundry area

 Master bedroom

 NO WALLS!

Our empty shell of a house. We have outside walls and a roof, oh and HVAC hanging from the ceiling by a string...literally!

Hello Monday (night!)

Hello to a brand new week!

Hello to Tyler being off Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Hello to our little peanut saying so many new words! (apple, duck, up, Bailey)

Hello to sewing inspiration!

Hello to OUR BRAND NEW HOUSE! I've been absent lately because Tyler and I have spent every available moment looking at ways to remodel our house. The outside is staying the same but the inside is a total gut job. Yay.... ! I hope to post pictures and updates of our progress. We are ready to make this house our home but the bank is taking forever! Oh well, it will be officially ours one of these days :)

Love27, ash

Hello Monday

Hello brand new week!

Hello Jake's birthday on Wednesday :)

Hello to husband being off two days this week!!

Hello to college football starting in 23 days!!! WAR EAGLE!

Hello to a package with two raglan shirts! (I'm addicted)

Hello to a new week full of blessings!

Love27, ash

Sneak Peek!

How cute is this little peanut?! 

Yesterday we had the privilege of working with Sandy O'Dell, owner of O'Dell Photography and she is totally amazing! She took some family shots before taking Jake's one year pics and I can't wait to see the results! 

When Peanut first saw his smash cake he was all about it. He all but knocked us over to get to it. Once he realized the icing made his hands dirty...DONE. He was done. Didn't want any part of it anymore. Sandy still managed to capture him smiling with all the cake and icing everywhere making this mama happy!!!

I'll post more pics when we get them!

6 DAYS

There are only 6 days left until Peanut turns ONE!!! Where has the time gone? I literally blinked and he started crawling. I blinked again and he is walking. Now, he's about to turn one. Whoa!!! Time please slow down so I can savor every little Peanut moment.

Peanut's first picture. Be still my heart!

Love27, ash

Running Shoes

I think I need some running shoes now! Peanut is walking!

Love 27, ash

VBS

This week our church has been having vbs. This year they opted to do a day camp instead of the normal nightly activities we have been used to for years. My mother in law and I have been teaching the 4 & 5 year olds and let me tell you, they are a hoot! You never know what is going to come out of their little mouths!!
Peanut has been loving his class and his teachers. I dare say that he doesn't miss me during the day because he is having so much fun! I love his teachers and I know he loves being with them during the day; I have a little separation anxiety when the time comes to leave him and seeing him at the end of the day is such a relief to me. Peanut is having so much fun this is what we find when we get home everyday:

Such a sweet little peanut!

Love27, ash

Hello Stranger!

Life lately has been so busy! Between family visiting, planning for a first birthday party and sewing for myself (new post coming on that very soon!!) and for customers this little blog has been neglected. The good news is, I'm back! I have challenged myself to take the time to sit down and write at least two three times a week. Surely I can commit to that, right!! Here is a few pics of things I've had going on lately :) enjoy!

Gotta love matching cousins!

Jake's first haircut!

Bowties!

Two seconds...the whole bag on the floor...

Do With All Your Might

My stitches are not pretty, rarely are they straight.
Sometimes pattern pieces don't match up because I cut them wrong.
Nobody will like that because of all the mistakes I made.

Negativity. When it gets to rolling around in my head, it has a giant snowball effect. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and it seems like I can't do anything to stop it. It tells me that my creations are not good enough. That I'm not skilled with my hands. That I'm not good enough.

I've been struggling with this for a week or so after I made a bib for Jake and didn't like how it turned out. A special person told me that the mistakes are only visible to my eyes and that I should be proud of the things I create. Once I let that sink in a few days, I sat back down at my sewing machine and made four more bibs and tried a new project. Let's just say there were still mistakes but I'm not focusing on that. I made something for my little peanut. That's awesome!!

Ecclesiastes 9:10 "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..."
This verse helps me find the beauty in my mistakes. It tells me not to care about the crooked, uneven stitches. You don't have to be a perfectionist, just find something you love doing and give it your all. Appreciate your talent. Know you are good enough.

57 Days

There are 57 days until my baby turns one.

57...

While this fact is hard for me to accept, I have to appreciate the time I have with him today. Sometimes I get so caught up in wishing Jake on to the next new thing, wishing away his childhood. "I can't wait until he can walk." "I can't wait until he can talk and communicate with us." "I can't wait until he can play outside with us."

Tyler and I have decided to stop wishing away the future and start finding happiness in the moment we are in. I'm happy my baby can't walk yet, that means he still needs me to help him get somewhere. I'm happy with the way my baby communicates with me, even though sometimes he just cries and I then have to figure out what he needs. I am happy that he loves playing inside with his mama, one day he may prefer playing with someone else. I am happy that he eats everything we put in front of him, one day he may decide he only wants macaroni and cheese or vanilla wafers at every meal.

Can I just go back to when he was this little and experience all of his milestones with the mindset that everything is on his time?

Jake one day old

Jake four days old

Jake one month old

Love27, ash

Happy Anniversary

Marriage is one of the greatest blessings from God. It is a choice everyday to put someone else's needs above your own; to love them regardless of their faults. I have a man who does that for me. He is so giving and without him I would have nothing. I would not have this great love. I would not have a healthy and beautiful child. I dare say I wouldn't have this much love for God without him.

Easter Family Picture 2013

He makes me want to be better.
Do better.
Love better.

June 6, 2009 was our day. The day we promised to love, honor, and respect each other no matter good times or bad. There have been so many good times but there have been bad times too. That's when you choose to love each other, make your marriage a priority. We aren't perfect at this game but we are both trying very hard and I think that makes all the difference.

             After the I do's                                       Leaving for the honeymoon

Here's to my sweetheart who loves me despite my faults and chooses to be happy with me. I don't know what the next 80 years holds for us but I can't wait to find out with you by my side!

Love you 27 Tyler Hughes!

Love27, ash

Thankful

Today I took peanut to the park and we both had a blast! It was his first time to swing and he loved it. Here are a few pictures of our fun day!

When we got home he barely finished his bottle before his nap so I know he was worn out!

As I was pushing him on the swing, I started to think about how blessed I was to have this little person from God. 

I had to pray. 

I had to thank God for trusting me to be his mother. 

I had to thank God for giving me a wonderful man to be his father.

Taking time to thank Him for your blessings doesn't have to take a long time. I think just knowing you appreciate them is enough for Him.

Love27, ash

Date day

Today was a wonderful day.
A day that doesn't happen very often due to busy schedules, grocery trips or just because.
It was date day.

Tyler, Jake and I left the house and headed down into Birmingham to spend the day walking around, shopping and eating. Days like today renew my love for the man I call my best friend. It is so special to dedicate a whole day to each other without being on the phone, sucked into tv-land or any other technological gadget.

It's about him.
It's about me.
It's about our family.

Photo by: Leslie of Freshly Bold Photography