A Few Things...

I just realized that many of you may not know that Jonathan now has an expander in the roof of his mouth. His palate is small and there isn't enough room for all his teeth to come in. He's been wearing it for almost four weeks. The first two weeks we had to crank it every night, just slightly and in those two weeks it made a big difference. (They said usually it takes a month to do what it did). He's supposed to wear it for about six months and then get a retainer. Later on I'm sure he'll be getting braces, once his adult teeth are all in.

We went to six flags on Friday. James was off work and we took the four oldest boys. We stayed until after 10:00. It was a full, but fun day. Yesterday was the 4th and it rained, so the fireworks will be tonight. We'll probably stay home and watch them from here. None of us really care all that much about fireworks. The neighbors are shooting them off right now, and it is daytime, that seems a bit odd to me, you can't really see them.

I'm posting pictures of the house below, but they are from over a week ago. I wanted to take pictures yesterday, but it was too muddy to walk in front or around the house. We got quite a rain earlier yesterday. I hope to take some tomorrow.

This past week a lot got done. The roof is just about shingled; it should be done early this week. The dormer window on the front was built. The garage, basement and front porch now have concrete pourred. All the window and doors on the main level are in, except the window in the loft. The stairs and walls down to the basement are done. The septic tank is in and the heating pipes are delivered. I don't expect this much to get done this week. The basement windows will probably get done and probably other things that won't be so noticable. The brick should start to get layed by the end of the week or beginning of next week. That will take about a month. The plumber comes on Wednesday to do plumbing on the first floor and install the tubs (two of them).

I'll try and post again soon. This week should be a light week.

We Survived

Last night we had a pretty powerful storm. It was quite scary being in the trailer. It came upon us so quick, that we felt it was safer to stay in the trailer than to try and make it to the house. We had been checking the weather radio before bed and didn't expect the storm to hit us. It is amazing what the high winds blew across the yard. There are some big tree branches down and we had a bit of damage to the trailer, but all is well. We are so thankful for that!

The Trusses are Up

This is after the first day of putting the trusses up (Monday). Yesterday they worked some more on them and also put up some sheeting on the left side. I'll take some more pictures on Friday, but it may not look much different. Thanks to a dry week so far, it is coming along. The well drillers were going to be starting to drill the well today too. Prayerfully we'll get good water.

This is facing out towards the front of the house. The ceiling will be pretty high in this great room.

The back and side of the house:

What a Great Dad and Husband!!!

We had a nice Father's Day, but it was busy. James did the BBQing for the whole family, with some help from some of the guys. I didn't even get a chance to fill out his Father's Day card until the next day. I thought I'd take an idea from Sarah's blog and pay tribute to James.

We love you Daddy, because even with your busy schedule, you make time to play with us. You don't take much free time for yourself. Even when you are working, you take us with you when you can.

We love you because you include us on house projects and let us do work, even if it isn't the way you would like it done. You encourage us and spur us on.

We love you because you take us hiking. You take us on cool vacations and we get to see all kinds of neat things. Sometimes you take just one or two of us hiking and we get to spend special time with you.

We love you because you love to have us fall asleep in your arms and you'll hold us for a long time.

We love you because you love Mommy and spend special time away with her. You are so good to her and you help her to keep us in line.

We love just hanging out (on) with you because you are such a great Dad! We love you because you're you! Happy Father's Day Dad!

Construction Progress

Here's our front yard. All the trusses are laid out and ready to be put up. The crane is coming down the road this minute. YEAH!! So it looks like we'll have them put up today. Hopefully the kids and I will get to see that being done today.

Here's the inside, looking towards the kitchen.

Here's the front of the house.

This is a picture of the back and side. It looks pretty big in this picture.

I'll post more pictures at the end of this week and it should look a bit different.

We Made it Home

We got home this afternoon after picking up all the kids in three different places. They seemed to have a good time with their cousins and didn't miss us too much. We had a wonderful time away, celebrating 15 years of a fantastic marriage! It was so nice to be just the two of us for a couple days. I will post pictures later, but I thought I'd report on our trip now.
We got to Eminence, MO sometime after 12:00 p.m. and ate a picnic lunch before heading out on the trail. My pack was pretty heavy, but not too bad. We hiked for about 5 miles before setting up camp. A storm started to roll in, but spared us until after we went to bed, so we were able to cook dinner and clean up. It rained and thundered for over an hour and got about 3/4 miles away. There was no wind, which seemed strange, but that was fine with me. I didn't want any trees falling on us.
The next day we hiked out and got to the bed and breakfast around 4:00 p.m. We had a great dinner at the B&B to celebrate our anniversary. It was nice to have a soft bed to sleep in and both of us slept good. All in all we had a restful and relaxing time. God was good to watch over us and to help me hike all that with no troubles. We hiked in all about 17 miles in three days.

When we got home, we stopped by the house (our future house) to see what got done last week. Most all the walls are up. I'll take pictures tomorrow night and post them later in the week. We have VBS this week, so it will be busy.

The Walls Are Going Up

This is what the house looks like as of Friday. I don't know how much will get done this week with the expected rain. The trusses are supposed to come later this week. We'll be gone on our anniversary trip until Sat. I will post more pictures then, if much progress is made.

The back of our house.


The garage side of the house (can't see garage in this picture).

The front of the house.
As far as other news, we are still trying to finish up school (working through it very slowly) for the summer. This week we leave on Wed. for our anniversary trip, while the kids get to visit their cousins for a few days. The next week is VBS, so that will be a very busy week. After that, we'll be home the rest of the summer and have a more relaxed pace. I'm looking forward to that!