2nd Floor

We took H&E over to the house yesterday evening b/c I was the only who had wandered up to the 2nd floor so far. Troy hadn't even seen it yet. They loved it and were so excited to see their rooms and play in the "yard." There hasn't been a ton of progress on the house lately - party due to the weather and party due to the crew's schedule. By the end of next week the framing should be complete and then the weather won't be so much of a factor. Jason (our builder) did let us know that we are still on schedule to move in mid to late October - that was great news b/c we have to give our 2 month notice on the apartment by Monday. Here are some shots from our fun evening at the new house.

H&E - give these 2 tape measures and they can entertain themselves for hours!

Henry in his new room

Eli in his new room

H&E playing zombie/mummy/robot game

Upstairs hallway

Henry's Room

Eli's Room

Master Bedroom

Rain Rain Go Away

It's been raining here pretty much all day. Right now it's pouring - sideways sheets of rain, torrential really. We're supposed to be meeting the retaining wall guy at the lot in like 16 minutes. I'm not really sure how that's going to go. The lot is a big messy mud pit right now. Oh well.

The crew was able to get a bit of work in this morning - looks like they are close to raising the garage walls.

Tornados in the Metro and still there was progress!

Wednesday was a very strange weather day - chilly, cloudy, rainy, windy - not tornado weather. Around 2:30 I got an email from Troy letting me know that he was safe even though a tornado had touched down in downtown Minneapolis. It was not terribly close to his work and not heading in his direction but still...

I decided that since it hadn't started raining until around lunchtime that maybe the crew had had a chance to work a bit on the house so I took a quick detour from picking up H&E and drove up to the lot. On my way the radio weather guy was saying that the tornado warning was currently centered around Shoreview, Arden Hills, etc - right around our lot. When I got there the sirens were going off but really, it was fine. It was raining but that was it. I was able to snap a couple of photos from under my umbrella.

Good thing I was quick because when I got to daycare the boys were in the center's tornado shelters, which are their bathrooms. Yuck! And to make matters worse they were being served their snacks in there. I was more than happy to rescue them from that. Of course the center has to follow their protocol but really, snacks in the bathroom is just a little too gross from me. I felt bad for everyone involved because clearly it was a stressful situation for the teachers and for the kids.

Mud Room

Since we started this process H&E have been obsessed with the idea of a mud room - thinking it was a place where we'd do all mud-related activities (as if). When I showed them the mud room Henry told me "not very interesting!" Poor things - all the hype, all the expectations - only to be totally disappointed. ;-) As for me, I couldn't be looking forward to the mud room more!

The boys hadn't been to the lot in almost a week so when we drove up on Tuesday they were amazed. They just couldn't wait to get into the house and explore a bit. We were excited to see the 2nd floor well on its way. We're still working on the exact placement of those front windows, which are in the boys' rooms - seems like they need might still be a little high on the wall.

A Room with a View

A friend of mine asked me if we were moving out to the country. Since then I've been noticing just how green our new neighborhood is. There are tons of mature trees, lovely lawns and nicely landscaped yards around us. There is a park about a block away with a new playground that the boys have appropriately named "Pogo Stick Park". And just beyond the park, through a large wooded expanse, is Lake Owasso. All in all I think this is going to be a great neighborhood for us.

From the dining room

From the sunroom. H&E keep asking when our pool is going to be installed...

Looking at the backyard through the sunroom and kitchen.

Here are a couple of other pics from today. The guys really are moving along. Can't wait to see the 2nd story in the coming days. I hope the threatened rain won't slow down the process too much.

I stood in my new kitchen!

These guys work fast! I've resisted up until today but I just had to get up into the house and really get a feel for it. I think it's going to be the perfect for us! And check out all of the windows in this place - it's going to be really beautiful.

Living room

Taken from the front door - looking at living room, into dining room with the sunroom just beyond that

Family room

The kitchen

Windows and sunroom

On this day the crew started framing the main floor. When I got to the lot I was excited because it seemed like I'd get to see them actually raise the east wall of the main floor but just then they look at their watches and declared quittin' time. Today was still cool because we're getting a glimpse of the sunroom and those huge front windows. Nice!

Looks like we'll need a retaining wall afterall

All along we've been nervous about how the yard is going to turn out. The crew is doing a great job of grading the lot but it looks like, unless we want a 6+ foot hill in the middle of our backyard, we'll need a retaining wall (or 2). It seems like we'll probably end up with 2 nice sized flat sections separated by these walls, which I think will make for a great yard. The driveway and front yard are turning out really nicely as well.

The basement takes shape

It's getting easier to see how the basement is going to turn out now that it's pretty much all framed. We were especially excited about the steps for some reason although Eli wasn't too happy that I wouldn't let him try them out.

Let the framing begin!

It's exciting to finally see our plans being turned into an actual house. The boys were the first ones to step foot inside.