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!