143 Days to Go

Yeah, the first day of school was a bit rough. Hopefully it will only get better from here. I have to make some changes to my original schedule because one in particular didn't cooperate. If I didn't get on the treadmill, it would be much easier, but I'm not willing to give that up. I think if I did I'd gain way too much weight. I'm ready for bed and it is only 8:00 p.m. I guess I need to get the kids down first.

Home Work

Sorry I didn't take any pictures this week. The brick is coming along. It could be done by the end of the week, but because of the rain forcasted, it may carry into the following week. As far as inside, we are needing to have an open wall inspection. That should happen early this week and then the insulators do their job for a couple days, followed by the drywallers. Drywall should take a couple weeks.

This past week our tub was put in and that was fun to see. Yesterday we bought our appliances for the kitchen. We won't need them until the end of September, but we'll be a bit busy then, so it is nice to have that out of the way. We also picked out all our flooring this past week. That was a fun experience and I'm excited to see how it all comes together. The only thing left for us to decide is wall colors. That shouldn't be too hard since we already have an idea of what we'd like.

So far, we are really happy with everything. It is going to be interesting to see how this all goes down. I have less than eight weeks until this baby comes. I'm sure he (the baby) will be here before we move in, but it could be two or three weeks later that we move. I am ready! It is fine living in the trailer and living here, but it will be nice to have our own space and comfort again. It will be an exciting time, that is for sure.

We start school tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to it, more than the kids are, except for Rachel, who seems to want to do a little "school" everyday. Should be fun. I'll try to take pictures at the end of this coming week and post them.

New House Pictures

I decided to just upload pictures of the house to dropshots. I will take lower resolution pictures next time and they should be easier to upload (thanks for the suggestion Dad).

Moving Right Along...

I'm having trouble uploading pictures of our house in its current state. I'll have to try again later. The internet here is so slow. Anyways, the brick is done on the back of the house. Next week they'll probably work on the sides. It is supposed to take about a month to complete. Plumbling and electric are all roughed in on the inside. The duct work is in progress. The sprinkler system is done for now. So all that is left on the inside in the walls is the central vac line and the duct work for the heat/air system. The fireplace is in in both the living room and our bedroom.

We've got our cabinets picked out and our lighting ordered. Most of our decision-making is done. We still have a few things to pick out, like painting and flooring and a few appliances.

This morning was Joshua's last baseball game. They only won one game during the season and it wasn't today, but Josh did great! He even got a really good homerun. It was quite exciting. He also made an out at home as the catcher (one of his prime positions). This was his first out at home ever, I think.

Jay starts soccer practice on Monday. He's been counting down the days. He was outside, practicing with Daddy and his brothers earlier today (with all the garb on).

We have one more week before starting school. Jonathan has church camp this week. It will be weird without him around. We'll miss him.

Rachel has been gettting interested in "school". She started learning her shapes this week, coloring papers I printed off the internet. We'll see if her interest continues.

I'm doing well, but tired. I'm feeling very pregnant these days. It looks like I passed my 3 hours glucose test, yeah! I still need to go easy on the sugar and carbs, which is hard for me to do.

Well, I'll try again soon to post the pictures.

(sorry if there are mistakes in this post, I don't have time to go back and read it now)

The Weekly Update

It's the weekend again and I thought I would report on the progress of the house. Right now James is out in the state park, camping with Jay, Josiah, and Rachel. It is a cooler night than usual, so I'm sure they'll be comfortable. There isn't supposed to be rain for a few days and I'm grateful for that. The bricklayers didn't make it out to the house this week because things were too wet. Hopefully they'll be starting on Monday. Inside the house there is a lot going on. Our fire place in the living room is in. The gas fire place in our bedroom is sitting in the middle of the room right now. Tonight when we stopped by the house, the sprinkler system guy was there, working. The electrician has been busy at work this week. The plumber has done some rough in and the duct work has been started today. It is a mess of wires and pipes. Maybe tomorrow we'll get out and do some cleaning, as we often do when it starts getting messy.

Last night we met with the cabinet maker. That was a fun date, picking out cabinets and counter tops, etc... We didn't end up with cherry cabinets, but we got something that looks similar called alder? (I think that is the name). It will look nice when it gets in. Our island is just huge, but I really like it. All the kids should be able to sit up to it.

I've also been busy this week, picking out lighting. I think we have that all figured out. Next we are going to figure out the mantel/hearth of our fire place. We are going to do stone, I believe, which will cost more, but should last a lifetime.

Well, the boys are probably wondering what happened to me. They are at the trailer, watching Star Wars, which is where I should be.

Oh yeah, one more thing, my ultrasound went well. Everything is in place where it should be. Baby is measuring right where he should be. Now we have 10 weeks (if I go to the end) to come up with a J name.

Last House Pictures for a While

Here are the pictures I took at the end of last week. Not too much got done this week, so I'm not going to take pictures.

The brick layers are supposed to start Monday, along with the plumbing. We'll see.

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.