SINCE YOU BEEN GONE

So um...It's been A WHILE.

So long in fact, that we were able to create an entirely new person, keep it alive over a year and live to tell about it ; ) 

Introducing, to the Keep Smiling family, Simon Yale Fugit:

Born January 1, 2019

10:39 AM

3 lbs. 15 oz, 16 in.

As you can maybe tell from the weight up there, lil' Simon wasn't supposed to show up on New Year's Day. His due date was actually February 12th but our doctors decided he needed to be a New Years baby so here we are.

He spent 21 days in the NICU but at last check up, he was over 20 lbs. and doing awesome. He's now walking, talking, and getting into everything (including dirt - see mouth in below pic ; ).

That sort of set the tone for the whole year - a whirlwind. Read on to see what else we did that was...surprising...or not depending on how well you know us ; ) 

WE GREW OUR LITTLE BUSINESS

The Little "Lampy" Camper will be 3 years old to us (+ another 60 or so but who's counting) this year so we spruced her up with a new sign and some matching hubcaps, natch. Lamphouse Photo Co. will be turning SEVEN years old this June as well! Time flies when you're having fun, huh?

We also added a small fleet of our newest Birdie Photo Booths: 

All designed and built by Conan himself. 

EDIT: When I drafted this post back in January, we were looking forward to a very busy spring season of photo booth-ing but the universe had other plans. 

Due to the banning of large events because of COVID-19 all of our business stopped in mid-March and looks like we won't be working again until the end of May maybe longer. We're hopeful that we can ride this out and come back as strong as before. We're using this time off to organize, build, and take care of all of the little housekeeping things in a business that fall by the wayside when you're very busy. Anywho! Back to the fun stuff: 

WE GOT BACK TO WORKING ON THE HOUSE

Probably what you're actually here for but I couldn't resist putting my cute little baby and cute little camper at the top of the page ok? ok. 

But yeah, after about gosh, THREE YEARS? off due to being pregnant, running a business, having a newborn, and just being all around busy, we finally got back to painting the exterior of the house.

My parents have taken the lead on this one since Conan was pretty much always working and I am pretty much always holding Simon but basically, we're moving up onto the second floor. You may remember that we painted the porch way back in 2017 - here's that reveal post for a refresher on where we were.

They've built a structure on the roof that will hold scaffolding come better weather so that they can get way up to the tippy top (oh man I'm getting queezy even thinking about it). 

MY DAD RETIRED!

Part of the reason that we're getting so much house help and baby help too is because my dad retired last year at the ripe old age of 65! 

Now it's all grandbaby, fixing up their own RV, traveling, fixing up their house(s), fixing up our house, and maybe sleeping somewhere in there, idk. 

AND SPEAKING OF FIXING UP AN OLD RV, WE BOUGHT ANOTHER CAMPER!

Ever since we reno'd the Little "Lampy" Camper we've been itching to do another little vintage camper and do things a little differently with some of the tiny shreds of wisdom we've garnered since then. And here it is! 

She's a 1968 Playmor Model 140 camper. It's 14' so just about the smallest we've ever had. We bought it here in Wichita last summer for $600 and our goal is to do a complete frame off renovation on this one. 

We've been using this downtime to take the camper apart and hopefully rebuild it. We'll see how that goes with our $0 income and inability to go out and buy whatever we need whenever we need it. It's going to be an interesting challenge for sure. 

and last but not least, and probably the best part for you blog readers: 

THE HISTORY OF OUR HOUSE IS COMPLETE!

A month ago, we were reached out to by Meredith, who found our blog while doing genealogical research.

Her 3rd great aunt, Mary Cunningham, was the home's original owner and lived here from 1917 to around 1940 when the Muck family bought it (check out our research into the Muck family here and view more about the history of the house here). 

The Cunningham's story is about as interesting as you could get when doing research and I can't wait to share it with you in depth. Here's a sneak peek: 

I've got that post locked and loaded and it deserves a space all its own so stay tuned!

Until next time,

STAY HOME! 

& 

Keep Smiling

<3