Flashback!

Looking through some photos from a few years ago, I found this cute video of Colin when he was younger. Makes me realize how quickly time passes and how I need to stop, slow down, and appreciate these precious moments...

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

Caution we have stairs!!! :)

Caution!!


See how happy we get when there's stairs in!? :) We were excited to see more progress today: finished stairs, a moved master bedroom window, and a moved closet door. :) Unfortunately there was not enough clearance for head room as you head up the stairs so we lost part of our closet, which means the cool island we were going to put in the closet now will probably not work. :( Can we blame that on the designer too!? Good thing we got to pay him $500 for plans that weren't complete and had errors! Errrr. On a upbeat note, the contractor's guy that was there was very helpful. Not sure what his name is-but he said he'll probably will be doing the finish work as well. Very nice guy.

Growing and going up!

Growing up....Wow, what a day! Today my little girl grew up just a little more. Katie decided she wanted her ears pierced. She actually decided quite awhile ago, but I finally gave in. So tonight we made a trip to Claire's. Katie was such a brave little girl! Instead of having a simultaneous piercing, only one worker meant doing it twice. We're hoping that she does not have the same reaction to the metals that Jocie had.



Going up....today the builder's crew came in to fix some of the framing mistakes and to work on the first portion of the stairs! Jocie, the last of the kids to see the upstairs, was excited as we took her along the upper floor to visit each room. It's looking really good! Alan was told that they would be installing the windows as well! I'm so glad that we're closing the house up to the outside elements now that it's getting closer to fall (which means wind and rain). Today was especially cold with a really crisp wind. Brrrr! Dont' forget you can click on each picture to open a larger image of it.

Fixing windows/doors! Master bedroom window and lower patio still to go.

A view looking up at our house.

Football!

This was definitely a football weekend! Unranked Iowa, beat #5 Penn State - they're now ranked #12 in the AP Poll. The Chicago Bears beat the Seahawks! And Jordan played in two games over the weekend. He played his D squad game and a few hours later played up a squad in a C squad game. As his mom, I was a little nervous about him playing in the C game, considering they're quite a bit bigger, but to our surprised he played starting team offense, held his own, and did very good. The C squad coaches seemed very appreciative to have him there!

Construction update: the stairs are still not in, so unfortunately the electrical walk through was canceled and re-scheduled for Friday. We have two tub/shower surrounds laying in our front yard and a landing (for the stairs). They also put in the large posts for the deck supports and garage support.

Waiting......

No new photos to post...

But windows have been delivered :) and we've scheduled our electrical walk through for Monday afternoon. This is a little early, but since our sales/marketing gal will be gone she wanted to get it done as to not hold anything up.

On a side note, tomorrow we have Colin's soccer game and Jordan will be playing in two football games. He'll be playing at 9:15 on his D squad and he was asked to suit up for the C squad game at 4:00! It'll be a busy day tomorrow!

Clean up day

Today appeared to be a clean up day. When we arrived they had cleaned up all the scrap wood (dang, we showed up too late - would have been nice to have some of that wood for later projects)!

Below you'll see a few of our views from upper windows as well as some of the color selections.


Kids in front of the house.

Color selections - dark cabinets in kitchen & bathroom, the lighter cabinet will be used around the island. Wall color choice for the main house will be the top color of the left color choices.

View of boys room to the left, their bathroom to the right.

View from upstairs den (looking west).

View from den looking north.

View from Master looking north.

Roofing to begin soon

Today roofing materials were dropped off - which we're quite thankful for since we're heading in to the fall. The sooner we can get things closed up the better! :)

We will be meeting with the Sales and Marketing gal tomorrow to relook through our color selections and to finalize where we stand on purchase price & all addendum items. If anyone would like to buy us a new refrigerator, or any other kitchen appliance for that matter, for Christmas just let me know! :) JK (well sort of)!


Above the garage - hmmm storage???

Finally, the upstairs!!

So Sunday, still no stairs, but Alan and I decided to take the ladder and climb from the main floor to the upper floor. It was worth the wait! :) It looks really good! A few of the rooms (mostly closets) look smaller than envisioned, but framing can make it feel that way. So below are the long awaited pictures of the upper floor. As of today, they are very close to finishing the framing of the roof).


View of Den

View of Girls' Bathroom & closet (accessible from their room)

View of Laundry Rm, Media Closet (Gathering Area is beyond Laundry Rm)

Gathering Area from Den (you can see Laundry rm & Master beyond)

Girls' Bedroom (view from their bathroom)

View of upper level Gathering Area

Main level Formal Dinning Room (view from Formal Living Room)

View from main level Family Rm looking in to Kitchen & Formal Dining Rm

Side View

Back View

Trusses Going UP!

The trusses are going up (and earlier than expected)! Still no stairs as of 4 PM today - can I just say how much it is killing me to have to wait to see the upstairs!!! I am not a patient person and this waiting thing is for the BIRDS! Tomorrow, if they are not on, I'm taking a ladder and heading up! :)

We took pizza up to the framers today. What a bunch of hardworking guys! Framing is not an easy job. Can you imagine standing on a 2x4 after working hours in the hot sun, pulling up trusses?! We're very appreciative of these guys!

Making Progress

Due to a sick Jordan :( & lots of work to catch up on, this blog entry will be short (but sweet). :) We spoke with one of the framers tonight. He said they hope to be done framing by Saturday and trusses up Monday (he mentioned the plumber may come Monday as well). The stairs to the upper floor are still not in; so unfortunately we have yet to see what our design looks like, but cannot wait to see it!

Here are the latest pictures:

Jocie's Crush

It has happened, shhh...don't tell her daddy, but Jocie has a crush! :) My little girl opened up to me tonight that she has a crush, not on just one boy, but two! As she is telling me this, she is giggling and smiling from ear to ear. She told me that she told a friend at school too about it. I asked her what happens if she tells other people about Jocie's crush(es). Her response? "Oh I don't have to worry about that, we ankle swore." Aye aye aye!!! I suggested to her that it's a little too early to be thinking about crushes and dating. "But Mom, when can I date?" How about when you're 16, was my answer! Jocie, "But that's forever!!"

I can already feel gray hair and wrinkles coming on! :)

Problems being taken care of

So today, we met with the builder, the foreman, and the sales/marketing gal. They took care of all of our issues, all to our satisfaction. In fact, everything was handled surprisingly well & fast!

Like I said in an earlier email, we're learning a lot about the construction process. Today's lesson - circ lines - basically a pump system that will have almost instant hot water at all sources. A friend of ours is a plumber and has filled us in on a few inexpensive upgrades that we should add now and would greatly benefit from. So...a circ line it is. :) The boys will love it. They currently have to wait 3 minutes. Dad will tell them to turn on the water and get in the shower. They'll respond, "But Dad, it's cold!" And he will proceed to turn it on for them while they stand there freezing. Poor guys. :)

No new photos to post today, but maybe tomorrow! Not a good day to frame anyway - it was very windy (thankfully no rain). Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate and hold off on any adverse weather until the roof is on. :)

FRAMING has started, but hold them there horses!

So to our surprise, Friday the framers began framing the house! No concrete slabs yet, but no complaining here. :) There was a team of 7 guys on Friday working from sunup till sundown. They multiplied and returned on Saturday. Things seemed to be going great until we noticed a few minor problems (you know windows and doors moved around and things not aligning according to the plans)...you know, minor details. One of the pictures below shows the differences. Hopefully all will be remedied Monday!


Look at Katie. :)


Why does it look like that power line is in my garage?


As of Sunday


Some issues with framing vs. plans.


View looking at formal dining from living room

Basement

Basement

Not a good idea

White shirt, khaki skirt, a bunch of dirt -
NOT A GOOD IDEA!

Backfill is almost complete...