I'm an Aunt!!!

My sweet little nephew Mason Taylor Fuqua was born on April 9, 2008. I was able to be at the hospital for the birth. It was so exciting. Momma and Daddy (Kelly and Josh) are doing fine. Mason is adorable! He makes the cutest sounds and faces.

It was a rough day for little Mason.

Josh and his baby boy!

Nana Lana and her boys.

Kelly looked so great! She made it look so easy.

I can't wait to babysit Mason and spoil him rotten.

Finally...

It's been exactly one year since we moved into our new home. There are still many things we want to do to it, but that's what makes it so great. I don't think I would enjoy it as much if everything was finished and perfect. Where's the fun in that?
















A few folks at Kelly's baby shower in our living room.

















Brad's family around our breakfast table at Thanksgiving.

















Most of the pictures I have are of our Christmas decorations. This is our fireplace.






















Our Christmas tree was so tall, it had to go between the 2 couches in our living room, but blocking the foyer.

















Zippy enjoys climbing up on top of our kitchen cabinets.

















Outside is all decorated for Christmas!

















Close-up of the porch.






















Looking through our front door at night. I love this picture because of all the white lights and the tree in the foyer! It's so pretty!

Hopefully we can take some normal pics of the house when it's not decorated and full of people. We'll see.

Across the Universe

I know it's been 4 months since our last posting, and we haven't put up any finished pics of the house. Sorry! They will be coming soon. But I couldn't help sharing this movie trailer with everyone. Brad and I went to see ACROSS THE UNIVERSE this weekend, and it was awesome! It is the best movie I've seen in a long time. I can't stop thinking about it and can't wait to buy the soundtrack. For those who don't know, it's a musical drama set in the 60's, and it follows its main characters as they deal with the issues of that decade, such as the Vietnam War, anti-war protests, civil rights, etc. Much of the story is told through the music of the Beatles, as sung by the characters themselves, who actually do a really great job. I read somewhere that there's only about 30 minutes of actual dialogue, and the rest of the movie is Beatles's songs. It is an incredibly beautiful movie. You must see it! The only theatre it's playing at around here is the Grandview in Madison. Let me know what you think.

La Casa de Los Freeny Ocho

The trim carpentry started about 2 weeks ago and finished up today! So far everything looks great! I think our kitchen cabinets turned out really nice, as well as our pantry. Going from the apartment kitchen to this, we will have plenty of room. We should be able to store all of our food in the pantry and everything else in the regular cabinets.

Fonzo, our trim carpenter, was able to install the double columns like our plans called for on the front porch.

















We have a couple of columns on the back porch as well.

















Fonzo did a beautiful job on the mantel over our fireplace.

















This is a photo of Britney's embarrassingly large walk-in closet. It's about 3 times the size of Brad's. (sorry, Brad) This photo doesn't do it justice. It really is quite huge. It used to be a staircase in part, but we decided not to have a room over the garage and made it into a closet instead. Hopefully, all of my clothes and stuff will fit in this one. I hope I don't outgrow it anytime soon.

















Cabinets in the master bath

















Kitchen cabinets (and Brad in the background)

















The top row of doors has been changed out since this picture. They installed square doors by mistake, but we had chosen arched doors for the top, so they switched them out.

















On Monday, the painters arrived and started painting the walls and trim. Looks good so far. I think we are going to be happy with our wall color. The house is still kept locked, and we aren't allowed to have a key, so we don't get to go inside every day. If we are lucky, we may find a door unlocked or the garage open, so we can sneak in and look around! Consequently, we haven't been able to take as many pictures as we would like along the way. Look for pictures of the paint coming soon!

Also, our builder finally gave us a potential closing date. They said we would definitely be in our new home no later than July 27! Whoohoo!

La Casa de Los Freeny Siete

The trim carpenter has finally started trimming our house. We had to wait almost 3 weeks on him while he was finishing the house next door. We met with him on Monday morning to discuss what we wanted as far as the cabinets, closets, etc. We both felt pretty good about it. So far, the work looks good. He has finished putting up and trimming the interior doors and some of the closets, as well as started on the kitchen and bath cabinets. I say he, but actually there is a crew of about 4 or 5 people helping.

Unfortunately, this stage means our house has been locked up with "work locks" which we aren't allowed a key to. If we want to go inside, we have to call and ask them to leave it open. This means we won't have as many pictures to post right now. But I will post them soon enough! We are hoping to close on the house by the end of July. We were hoping for the end of June, but since we are going to New York City the first week in July, that would have been pushing it to get moved out of the apartment and into the house. This should work out better. Also, we are excited to be going to Memphis this weekend (June 8-9) to see Norah Jones in concert at Mud Island! Look for pictures when we get back. Hope we get an autograph!

Prom 2007

Every year Brad and I chaperon the Clinton High prom. Since we never went to the prom together in high school, it's fun to go now that we are married. We get our pictures taken and go out for a nice dinner (sponsored by CHS). I love to see what all the girls are wearing. This year, polka-dots seemed to be very popular. I saw black and white, brown and white, and various accent colors. It was very interesting.

Our first post was the coke table. Here's a pic of me and the other Spanish teacher, Jan, serving cokes.















Here's the check-in table, where each couple has to check in and out of the dance. This was our last post at 11pm, so we weren't very busy.















Here's a pic of fellow chaperones, Megan (math teacher) and her boyfriend, Wade.















A group pic of Brad (far left) and some of his Spanish students.















Clinton High Principal, J. Reeves. He's always a good sport.

La Casa de Los Freeny Seis

These are the most up to date pics that we have.

Here, I'm taking a look up into the attic.




















The following are pics of the sheetrock and drywall being put on.











































































These are pics of the finished (for the most part) brick.













































This is the outside of the fireplace being bricked up.






























This is the finished interior fireplace in the great room. It's my favorite part of the house!




















Right now, we are awaiting the trim carpentry to begin. The trim carpenter is finishing up with the house next door, and then he will start on ours! Once that begins, we should know an approximate closing date. We'll keep you posted!

La Casa de Los Freeny Cinco

The house has really started to transform as they begin work on the inside. The rooms are becoming more defined, and we can begin to picture where we want to put furniture. Recently, we had to mark where we wanted our telephone and cable outlets, which was no trouble, since we have neither right now. Brad suggested we just not have them, but I pointed out that it might make the house harder to resale in the future.




















The electricians have wired the house.

The following are some photos of the heating and air ducts in the ceiling.

































































This is the fireplace with the spot lights over it.




















Someone left us a strange message on the wall. Not sure what it means. Maybe they are gang symbols? Hmmm. . .




















Oops! A board got broken! Don't worry, it was replaced.















The roof is put on at last! The color is called Weathered Wood. It looks great with the brick.















Front view of the house with our new roof.




















That's a big mess outside. Glad I don't have to clean it up.

The next 2 pics are of the insulation within the walls.








































The sheetrocking begins. It is amazing how rough it is to begin with, but how smooth it turns out in the end.























































This was a rough spot, but now, you can't even tell it was there.















The bricks are brought in and we're ready to start! The brick color is called Belhaven Mod, queen size.




















This brick was done in about a day!
















Our tubs and showers were brought in.
Stay tuned for more pics!