Below are pictures from yesterday -

Michael has been such a great help to us. This is when he finally got to take a break yesterday. Brent moved a little bit of dirt in front of the house but he said he didn't quite have the right equipment.

This is our BEAUTIFUL fireplace that Dickie came up with. I am really excited about all the cool ideas he has had for our house.

Elijah is excited to see the fireplace completed...but he needed to make a sily face.

We have a ceiling throughout most of the house.

There is a secret way to getting in the basement without getting in the mud.

The sheetrock in our bedroom is almost completely hung.

This is the ceiling in Elijah's room. Everyday when he gets home he can't wait to see the work that has been completed. Construction work may be in his future.

The ceiling in the kitchen. It's amazing how much different the house looks with a ceiling.

Brent looking to seejust how much dirt we need in this porch. A LOT!!

This is the columns for the back deck. This is different than I imagined but I love it even more than I expected. We will be able to make a nice place to sit outside the basement in addition to on the back screen porch and front porch.

A view of the columns for the deck from away from the house.

Happy 7th Birthday Nolan!!

Today is Nolan's 7th birthday!! I can't believe that I'm the mother of a 7 year old, a 2nd grader!! Interestingly enough, Nolan and Elijah have been watching home videos this week since my mom just had them put on DVDs for me and so we've been reminiscing about the boys. Elijah is loving seeing that his brother used to be small too!

I'm a slacker with the camera at the birthday parties because I'm usually busy but Kelly did take a few more pictures than I did. Karen and Karen and Andrea - please send me pictures if you have some.

House Month 4

They started bricking the side of the front porch
This is the front door where they just bricked it yesterday

They just started bricking the front porch yesterday

Insulation in the basement, HVAC duct work, and Nolan riding his new Powerwing he got at his birthday party

More basement insulation and HVAC pictures

Nolan and Elijah are already enjoying the basement

Insulation in the living room

Insulation in the master bedroom (Note the window we added at the top - this was the window that was ordered incorrectly and we decided to use it in our bedroom. I love it!)

Insulation in the dining room. Brent likes to take naps in the camping chair

Elijah in what we think will be his room. He and Nolan have moved again

Elijah is very excited about he and Nolan's bathtub

Living room insulation

Fireplace and Chimney

Kitchen with insulation

Garage insulation

We've just past the halfway mark to the 6 month timeline for building our house and it seems like we are on track. These are pictures of what's happened in the last 2 days.

Stay tuned...today the sheet rock starts going up, the chimney goes out of the house,

and the footings for the back porch are being poured!! I'm so VERY excited!!

2009 beach trip

Below is a sampling of pictures from our trip to the beach back in June. We had so much fun together. It is so special to me to get to spend time with my family and make good memories with them. I hope they remember all the times that we spend together over the years. Now, you might see that I'm posting this at 3:30 am. Yep, that's right. I couldn't sleep so I thought I might as well get up and do something. So, I've posted these pictures and the most recent house pictures, I've worked on my banking, I've worked on the new house budget, I've made a list of what I have to do this weekend, and now I think I'll go back to bed and try to get an hour or so of sleep before time to get up to start the day.

Here are the latest pictures that I've taken of the house. I've really gotten slack with the picture taking. It's not that I don't want anymore pictures - it's just that I've been SO busy. Everyone talks about how time consuming and stressful building a house is. I didn't really understand why people said that but now I do. It's not so much that it's a lot to do on my part...it's just to add all the decisions, the trips to the store, the calls to places, the budgeting and bill paying, the admiring the work along the way...all that in addition to your normal 40+ hour work week, raising 2 kids chao and you've got STRESS! Brent's stress is of a different nature because he's actually coordinating the building of the house and just finished putting in many hours of labor for the last 3 weeks doing all the electrical work. The good news is that the following inspections have all passed: exterior framing, plumbing, electrical, heating and air, fireplace. They didn't pass the interior framing inspection yesterday but we think that's easily resolvable...they just didn't understand something. So, now on to the insulation and then that inspection and then the sheetrock will go up. Now, we're really starting to get to the tedious jobs - painting, interior trim, etc. The brick masons aren't finished yet but have taken a pause to go to do another job somewhere else. When they return they will finish the front and back porches and the fireplace and chimney. When we get finished, we may not have a lot of furniture to start off but we are going to have a beautiful house with some wonderful places to sit and relax. Hopefully, we'll have time to enjoy those spaces over the years!

We love the details that the brick mason has added to the exterior of the house!! Take a look at the arch over the garage door and at the brick around the window above the garage door.

I love it!!

House - month 3

The boys' bathroom

the plumbing for the washer/dryer

Brent and Michael unloading the jacuzzi tub

checking out the brick

we love the keystone and the way the brick is around the gable vent!

Brent's Trane!

The windows and door in basement

The front door

Brent's wire going everywhere!

The kitchen with island located

Front of island

windows and door on back of house in living room

master tub

master shower framed out

Brent's handiwork - recessed lights in kitchen

Ok, so I know I am a slacker. You don't have to tell me. For those of you who haven't called to gently remind me that I haven't posted any pictures of the house lately, I know you were thinking it anyway! Things haven't stopped progressing on the house...I've just honestly not taken the time to post any pictures. I've been getting ready for a yard sale. I've been sweeping and blowing and shop-vacking the saw dust out of the house. It makes me feel so productive to do that. So, there you have some of the pictures taken in the last couple of weeks -