The Final Countdown

The builder locked down the house this weekend so they could control exactly who goes in when - just to make sure nothing bad happens in the final days. Apparently they've had issues with this in the past. So, we haven't been to the house since lunchtime on Friday. They have everything inside pretty much done - just a couple of very minor things to be finished up on Monday. We have our final walk-thru tomorrow at 11 am, which they said would take about 2 hours. Not sure how it could possibly take that long - it's not that big of a house and we've been there everyday but that's cool. The final inspection happened on Friday afternoon and the house passed contingent on the exterior being finished - meaning the driveway, trim paint and the front yard all still need to be finished. It was unclear to us whether all of that needs to be complete before we close or just "sometime." The weather forecast for this week is looking much better so there's hope it all could get done by Wednesday. It would be great to have it all done and not have to worry about it but either way it'll be fine.

We made a huge dent in packing today. The boys were great helpers and sorted and packed all of their toys, games, puzzles and books without a fuss. I still need to tackle the kitchen but really, I don't think that'll take too long. After that it's our clothes and bedding - NBW. We're hoping to be able to move enough stuff on Wednesday and Thursday that we'll be able to start living in the house by Thursday evening!

Here are some pictures I took on Thursday - it was the first time we were able to see the hardwood floors finished. They turned out really beautiful. We couldn't be happier with the end result.

3 days to go!

Bowling

It's our last weekend in the e-partment and we have only one thing that has to get done this weekend... bowling! We've been promising the boys that we'd go bowling since the day we moved in and we haven't done it yet. Yeah, we suck. Last night Eli was talking on his Buzz Lightyear phone and here was the conversation:

Eli: Hello? You're where? You've got to be kidding? I can't believe your at bowling. Did you know bowling is across the street from our e-partment?

Me: Eli, who are you talking to?
Eli: I don't know but she got to go bowling! We never get to go bowling.

So, we're going bowling. It's the least we can do. These boys have been such troopers this whole year. We started the year out working on all of the house projects to get our old house ready to sell. Then we put it on the market and they had to endure all the cleaning and being out of the house for showings. We then proceed to move them to an e-partment, which was great b/c we had a pool but most of our stuff is in storage. Now the pool is closed & it's not so great anymore. And on top of all that they've had to come with us to meetings with realtors, meetings with the builder, to the lot and then to the house - almost every.single.day! They've shopped for appliances and lights and tile and paint colors and just about everything else we needed for the house. They have been really great kids throughout this whole process and I'm very proud of them.

We got their school pictures yesterday - look how cute!

Henry - 1st Grade, 6 years old

Eli - PreK, 4 years old

One week to go!

One week from today we'll be closing on the house. It's unbelievable really. The time has gone so fast and yet so slow. We signed the purchase agreement on July 3 and now here we are almost ready to move in. There still seems to be a lot of things left to do in the next 7 days but they've been working hard and I have no doubt they'll meet their deadline. I don't envy them though - the weather is not really cooperating for any of the exterior stuff so I think we'll have to wait and see on that.

We still have not starting packing - maybe it'll get done this weekend. You'd think we'd be more excited to get going on that but man, packing sucks. We still have a few minor things to take care of - house numbers, mailbox, and the ceiling fan in the sun room isn't working out so well so we need to figure that out. Once those are done I think we'll be able to check most everything off our list for the house.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some new pictures of the house - we can't be in there right now b/c of the floors. I did get to peak at the paint the other day and it looks really nice!

Lucky 13

13 days to go! Can you believe it? Crazy.

Kitchen! Totally loving how it's turning out - the stain, the countertop, the lights - all of it! They've started to install the appliances already. The refrigerator, cooktop and dishwasher are in. The rest of the appliances are either in the living room or the garage patiently waiting their turn.

They finished the fireplace today - grouting the tile, color enhancing the slate and putting the face on the actual fireplace. It's stunning! I thought it looked really nice before but was totally amazed at the difference today.

The chandelier we chose for the dining room.

Our future front door. I don't know - it looks pretty nice in the family room... maybe we should just leave it there.

The weather has been pretty crappy here - cold, rain, snow. Not ideal for finishing all of the exterior stuff. They were able to get the steps and the sidewalk in this week and we're hoping that with the slightly warmer weather we're supposed to be getting next week will help. They still have to put in the driveway, paint the exterior trim, grade the front yard, install the sprinkler system in the front yard, etc.

As far as the interior goes - the big things left are carpeting, finishing the hardwood floors, completing the cabinetry, painting everything and finishing up all of the electrical. Then they also have to do all of the finishing touches and clean and probably a million other things that we won't even know about.

Our close date is still Oct 28. Troy & I are planning on moving stuff to the house Wed-Fri and then do a big truck on Saturday morning to finish it all up. We got notice that we have to "check out" of the e-partment by noon on Oct 31 - what is this, a hotel? I think not! So, anyone up for helping us move? It'll be super fun - at least this time we'll be carrying everything down 2 flights of steps and not up.

Seriously though - 13 days. Not even really - more like 12 days and 90 minutes. We are going to be pretty busy for the next little bit b/c we haven't even touched a box or tape or anything since we moved into the e-partment. We're going to have to kick it into gear next week so that we're ready to move ASAP. But first we have a super fun weekend ahead of us - heading to Iowa to celebrate birthdays. Can't wait!

Cabinet Stain

These aren't the best pictures in the world. When I was there they were spraying some type of protective coating on the cabinets so everything is a little foggy. But, I think you can get a pretty good idea of how they look anyway. I am so happy with how the stain color turned out! It was a tough decision and it look a long time with many different attempts to get the right color but it was worth it!

And we now have a garage door. It looks nice but a little out of place since nothing else on the outside of the house is white yet. I think once all of the trim is painted along with the columns it will look terrific. Eli, on the other hand, is NOT happy! When we pulled up today he started crying because according to all that is correct in his world the garage door should be red. I mean, of course it should be. Kind of like the hard wood floors have no business whatsoever looking like wood - they should have been painted to look like an e-merican flag! Seriously, he was just disgusted with us for not knowing this. As if!

And here are my sweet, funny, silly, cute boys playing in the garage at the house today. Take a close look at the first picture of Henry - notice anything different? That's right - Henry lost his first real loose tooth. Exciting stuff! Although it only turned exciting after the pulling of the loose tooth was over - before that it was pure torture. Once he figured out that it didn't hurt even one tiny bit he was pretty happy. And once again the tooth fairy came through!

20 days until closing!

October is finally here!

Our house is currently in lock down so they can finish the hardwood floors - we are not allowed in it again until Wednesday. I can't wait to see how it looks when we're finally allowed back in. So much has happened at the house recently - we are finally able to see some of the finishes being put in - floors, tile, cabinets, countertops, trim, etc. It's been a lot of fun to see it actually come together.

Front (obviously...) the columns and the railing will be white when we're finished. This week they are pouring the concrete steps and sidewalk. And at some point very soon they'll do the driveway too. They need to get it in before it gets too cold or it won't set up correctly - I think it's a bit of a guessing game for them.

East side of the house. I think this picture was taken on Friday - since then they've finished this side, the sunroom and most of the rest of the house as well. It's been raining so much here that they are a bit behind on this aspect but they work whenever it's dry. They were at the house most of the day on Sunday working on the siding.

Foyer - instead of a closet we chose a bench w/ hooks above it. Nice and casual but still functional. Plus we have a closet in the mud room so there'll be plenty of room. And this isn't our real front door - at some point they will replace this white one with a lovely wood-like one. I can't remember the name of it but once they stain it it really looks fantastic.

Family room - the orange wall in the stairwell really looks red in these pictures and all of the taupe walls look kind of brown. I don't know how to explain it but it looks different and much better in person.

Entering the house - they installed the tile around the fireplace on Sunday morning. I was so surprised to see it when we stopped by after picking H&E up from their sleepover.

Kitchen - we were at the house this morning to work on picking stain colors for the hardwood floors and the cabinets. We ended up going w/ the natural oak floors instead of staining them. We're still working on the cabinets but I think we're pretty close - we'd better be b/c they are staining them on Wednesday.

Kitchen - here's a pretty good look at the countertop. I love how it turned out!

A little closer look at the tile on the fireplace. It looks really blue in this picture but not so much in person.

Sunroom - this room is getting hardwood floors too but for some reason they didn't install them at the same time as the rest of the house. Seems like there were a few miscommunications with the hardwoods - like they didn't put them in the sunroom and they actually installed the wrong kind of wood (red oak was installed but we ordered white oak). Not a big deal since the red oak floors are just as gorgeous as the white - definitely not something we'd want them to correct b/c it wouldn't make that much of a difference and it would put us behind schedule. It's just one of those things.

Eli's "brown" room. The boys got to pick their own colors. Eli originally wanted red and only red would do - that was until I found some totally awesome pirate bedding then he changed the color to brown b/c pirate ships can only be brown. Obviously his room is more tan than brown but he's happy with it so that's all that matters.

And Henry chose yellow - after he chose orange and then pink and then blue. This isn't exactly the yellow be picked but again, he's happy with it so we're all set. He's getting a basketball quilt and rug so he's excited about that.

Backyard - we were able to get the sprinkler system and grass seed in this fall for the backyard and the sides of the house. The seed is covered with curlex, which looks like a burlap sack kind of blanket over the whole yard. The grass will grown through it and then it was dissolve at some point. The front yard will have to wait until next spring b/c unfortunately it's gotten too cold too quickly here. That's fine though.

23 days and counting...