Happy 7th Birthday Hannah!

Hannah is now officially a 7-year-old!

We had her birthday celebration early this year with her friends.  Tony and I took her and four of her school friends to Disney on Ice last Monday when they were off school.  It was a fun, long day!

The girls all came over around 11 that morning.  We headed downtown to the Q and had lunch and watched the show. 

We came back to the house and had a few other friends over for pizza and cake.

 Hannah loves being a princess still!  She's such a sweet girl with a heart of gold!

Her actual birthday was Wednesday, January 30th.  She woke up and said "she didn't feel 7 yet"!  It was a good birthday for her because this week is spirit week at school and Wednesday was dress up day, so she got to wear a pretty dress to school on her birthday!  What a perfect treat for her!  We had choir that night after work, so we didn't get home until kinda late, so there was no additional celebration at home. 

We're so proud of her!  Very happy parents of a now, seven year old!  We love you!

Framing done!

So the framing was finished up last week!  It was amazing to see it go up so fast!  This was probably the most fun part of the build because there was noticable changes every day for about 2 weeks.

Monday, Jan 21 they had gotten most of second floor done.  The windows and front door were delivered and stored in the garage.  I think the guys were off one of the single digit days, but only one.....those guys must be die hards because it had to be NO FUN working in such cold temps, but they did!

 

By Wednesday last week the roof was on and the second floor was all framed out.

And last Friday, it looked darn near done.  The front door and windows were in.

The stairs to the upstairs were done and I could actually walk through the upstairs.  That was cool!  Walking around all the bedrooms and envisioning our spaces was so cool! 

Nate called last Friday and said framing was done.  This week is all dependent upon weather, which so far, we're making out.  They got the roof shingled yesterday and finished up today.

Next thing will be to pour the basement and garage floors.  I think that should be done by the end of this week.  After that, the trades start going in to do their thing - wiring, HVAC and plumbing!  It's very exciting!

So we've also got some good things happening on our existing home....not the "great news" of an offer yet, but we had SIX showings last weekend - six!  That was really exciting to get that much traffic, and generally speaking, we're getting good feedback, so hopefully something happens soon!  Luckily too, we were really busy last weekend.  The tough part will be finding places to go every weekend if this keeps up!  But to get an offer, we'll figure that out!

So, good stuff and hopeful thoughts are the key ingredients to the next few weeks for us.

Framing, Week 1

The framing started on Thursday this past week.  By the end of the first day, the floor over the basement was done and the walls were started.  The wall on the garage was up and the other walls look like they were being built, but not yet erected.

I got a call from Nate Friday.  He told me the trusses were delivered today and that framing would continue through next week and they'd probably be working on putting the roof on by next Thursday!  Seriously, one week?  WOW!

We stopped by at the end of the day Friday and the garage was done and most of the first floor and the second floor was started.  It was super fun to be able to actually walk into the house!  I noticed our tubs were all delivered too.  Hannah asked (with disappointment) why did you get green ones?  Silly girl - that's the back side of them!!!

Here is a picture of the garage and then into the kitchen/breakfast room from standing in the garage. 

This is where the stairs will be both going upstairs and the stairs to the basement

And this one is of the windows in the great room.  Seeing this excited me and it sure felt real!

We've had 2 showings on our house in one week after listing with a new agent.....keep your fingers crossed we see an offer soon!!!

Lumber has arrived!

I stopped at the house at lunch time Wednesay just in time to see them unloading their trucks with our lumber!!!

Things are surely going to start looking different over the next couple weeks.

 

And I'll close this with a picture of a beautiful sunset we watched from the car tonight in our church parking lot before Hannah's choir practice.....God's works are amazing - all of them!

 

 

Basement is done

So there wasn't a lot of visable progress on the house last week.  They did waterproofing of the basement walls.  There was all sorts of underground and utility work going on.

On Wednesday, they filled in the foundation.  They brought a whole bunch of gravel and new dirt in and then filled in everything around the foundation. 

The ground is now level to the edge and the bottom is all gravel.  You can actually stand in the garage!!  Here's a picture from of inside the basement from standing in the garage space.

There are also some support beams on site too.  The poles that will be set in the basement are lying in the space.  I didn't get my weekly call last week, so I'm not entirely sure of what's in store for the upcoming week, but framing is supposed to start, so that should be fun to watch!

Monster's Inc.

Monster's Inc. is Nicholas' favorite movie.  He's loved it for probably a year or so.  We watch it at home sometimes 3 times a week when he's on a roll.  We actually wore out the first DVD and have had to buy a new one.  So when it was released in the theater, it wa a perfect first movie to take Nick to.

Tony and I took him last Friday, January, 4 -  just the 3 of us.  He loved it, did great in the theater and recited half the movie as it went along.  He only wore his 3D glasses about 1/3 of the movie.

This was a great experience with him, a wonderful memory.  The only downfall was paying over $51 for a movie we watch ALL THE TIME!  Oh, well, he's worth it!

 

Basement Walls

The basement walls were poured on the new house today.

The forms were delivered yesterday and then staged around the perimeter of the basement.

Today, in the freezing cold, the crews set the forms

Then, I think, this truck was wrapping up for the day after the walls were poured

 

 

There was supposed to be other underground stuff going on this week, but I'm not sure if that work was able to be done because it's 25 degrees out - so cold!  I'll find out tomorrow when I hear from Nate.