Catching up

Here are some pictures to (hopefully) get y'all caught up on the house progress.

The infamous hand prints. Of course there's no picture of Eli b/c the guys who were around were so embarrassed by the ginormous fit Eli was throwing that they left before I could ask one of them to document the torture I was inflicting on the poor child. You'd have thought I was dipping his hands in a vat of acid.

And here they are a couple of days later admiring their handiwork. Eli now thinks it's very cool that his handprint will be at our house for the next 50 years. Yes, that's what I was trying to tell you.

The very lovely insulation. If only the house could have been pink & yellow forever.

Dry wall/sheet rock - whatever it's called. The house looks amazingly different now that there are actual walls in place. For the most part the rooms seem so much bigger with the walls.

New jammies - OK so this isn't really about the house but I love these new PJs we bought for the boys.

And here's what the house looks like today. We were shocked when we drove up and saw the siding and shakes well on their way and then we went around the back and found an almost complete 2-tier retaining wall. We love the colors we picked for the house - they really look fantastic!

36 days and counting...

October 28!

We have a closing date! And in case you're wondering, it's 38 days from today. Can you believe it? It seems so close and yet not nearly close enough all at the same time. When I think of everything left to decide, purchase and be done on the house it doesn't seem possible to accomplish it all in 38 days. But every time I walk into this apartment or can't sleep b/c of someone else's thumping base music or have to close the windows b/c of someone is smoking near us then I think 38 days seems like forever.

We couldn't be looking forward to moving into our new house more!

Nothing all that exciting

Don't get me wrong... a lot is happening but it's just not the instant gratification kind of stuff - nothing really to take photos of.

• The wiring is pretty much done - couple of tweaks left to be made.
• The concrete in the back and in the garage was poured last Friday. They called to let us know just in case we wanted to bring the boys over to stamp their hand prints into the wet concrete, which of course we did (even though it meant taking them out of school for 45 minutes - it was right at lunch time so I didn't feel too terrible about it). Henry thought it was super cool and Eli threw a gigantic fit. Nonetheless, the hand prints are there. Now that it's over Eli is thrilled by the whole thing and seems to have forgotten the aforementioned tantrum. I do have photos of this and I'll post them when I get the images downloaded from my camera.
• The cabinetry throughout the house is being designed but we're still waiting to see the plan for that.
• We're meeting the landscaper tomorrow to finalize the plans for the retaining wall and the grass. We're kind of running out of time to get grass seed in before the fall planting season is over. But we're crossing our fingers that it'll get in quickly and that we'll have perfect germinating and growing weather.
• We met with the sprinkler system guy to get that ball rolling. Not sure if we have to meet w/ him again or if he'll just go ahead and get started.
• The fireplace box was installed. We found out our grand plan for the facing and mantel didn't really work out due to some code issues with the venting. But, we found a perfect solution that I think will (hopefully) look better than the original.
• Tomorrow they will do the insulation and they start sheet rocking on Wednesday. I guess that'll be finished sometime next week - although I can't remember the exact time line. Once that's done the painter does the knock down ceilings and the 1st coat of paint on all the walls and the ceiling.
• And I think they are going to do the siding starting sometime this week and the landscaping will be done within the next 2 weeks.

Lots of stuff - just nothing really to show right now.

Here are some pictures from last Thursday when the pillars were put in. They also installed the last of the windows and the patio door in the basement. Once they did that they put a lock box on the house - it's funny b/c there's no door on the garage and no sheet rock on the walls so it's still a bit pointless. Soon though...

A roof over our heads... brought to you by H&E

Henry and Eli took turns last Friday taking pictures of the house and the guys who worked super hard all day in the hot sun to put a roof on our new house. These guys were still at the house when we stopped by around 6:30 on a Friday evening - long after the other contractors had taken off for the weekend (not at all saying the other guys don't work hard b/c they totally do!). Thanks guys - the roof looks great.

First Day(s) of School

What a great start to the school year! H&E both did terrific on their first day and give school 2 thumbs up (literally). I'm very proud of my boys.

Windows!

We have windows!! And they are beautiful.

We're still waiting for the sliding patio door to be installed. It's on site but they have to wait for the concrete on the basement floor to dry first.

Sunroom - one of the sets is on backorder still but here are 2 sets.

Master bedroom

Eli's room

Henry's room

What a difference a week makes

We're getting closer! The framers have been busy this past week and it looks like the weather will be beautiful for the rest of this week. By this Friday our house will have windows, a real roof and doors - officially sealed up. After that the weather should not be a problem at all in regard to our timeline. We have been busy finalizing paint colors, tile, countertops and flooring. We also spent a decent amount of time on Saturday shopping for pluming and light fixtures. A big thank you to Auntie for watching H&E so we could do that!!

We didn't have a chance to stop by the lot on Monday due to some car problems and also our annual trip to the Great Minnesota Get Together (aka the state fair). It was our first time taking the boys and they loved it! Henry loved the rides at "Kidway", the horse shows and the kids bungee jumping. Eli loved all the food - mini donuts, turkey jerky, french fries, pronto pups, scotch eggs, snow cones, ice cream, chocolate milk, etc - he tried everything we had! It was so much fun with them. And we were lucky enough to have Ron & JoAnn come with us - hope they had fun too!

Onto the pictures - here are some from the last week since I've been negligent in posting lately. Sorry.

Tuesday - this is what it looks like right now. They have most of the plywood on the outside of the house and have started the porch. It's really taking shape for sure.

Monday (taken Tuesday before work)

Friday

Thursday