One month progress

A month has gone by...and we're getting closer everyday. The boys and I {well, Josh, too} are exhausted but keep chugging along. I think we went to the new house every day this week. Some days we stayed longer than others, but still - it's tiring for the littles to do something daily. We're making progress, but we're in a stage where the house just seems really dirty inside and out and not a lot of "wow" progress. Hopefully we'll get that this week. We passed 2 inspections this week, which means we can put back all the drywall that was down. Wawhoo! The guys were putting back the dried out insulation in the garage today along with new drywall. During the time I have been home over the last 2 weeks, I refinished this night stand that I had. I think it will go nicely in Wells' new room.

All the new windows and doors are in and they look great! I love having these french doors leading to the back yard. Hopefully next week we will have a concrete slab where Wellington is standing. It's soo muddy at the house right now!

This window is replaced but they brought the wrong one :/. It's supposed to be frosted....we will see whether we get a replacement.

Back at home, our garden has been doing really well! We've harvested lots of white and purple onions, several zuchini and a cucumber or two. I have about 30 green tomatoes that I'm waiting on to ripen. Everything has been delicious! I love growing my own food!

We've also been potty training again. It seems like it's more mommy training/remembering to take Wells to the toilet. He hasn't told me he's needed to go or gone #2 on the pot the entire time. So frustrating. But my floors are very sanitized!! I have the hardest time keeping them off the couches too. They love throwing the pillows off. Wells was not supposed to be doing this....

Sherwin Williams is getting lots of my money and I'm sure they are getting tired of me coming in. However, they have been so great and helpful! Today I got a sample of my trim color. I think I've nailed that down but have yet to buy the big bucket. The other day Wells fell asleep on the way to SW. He stayed asleep while I put him in the stroller {normally for Fielding}, slept the whole time we were in SW, and only woke up while we ran thru the pouring rain to the car. Yea, I think we was a little worn out. Oh, I even had to put his shoes on before putting him in the stroller too!

The master bedroom is now painted! So much better than the dark teal that was there. It's going to be very white/creamy in there, but I love it!

The floors are here! Hurray! We have the floor guy coming to install on Monday. We may have to push that back so we can get some dry wall up. But, it's going in soon!

This picture is taken from the sitting room looking out the french doors. The concrete patio will be right where all that mud is now.

The garage. The guys were getting to work on the drywall.

Yesterday I was at the house for 4.5 hours. I didn't get nearly as much work done as I should have, but my mom, dad and brother stopped by for a while and I got to walk them through the progress. I let the boys play in our master tub. The hot water didn't work yet, but they didn't mind. They had a blast. Anything to keep them happy sometimes...and let mommy work nearby.

Here's Fielding in the front yard. We had a picnic on Tuesday at the house then watered some transplanted shrubs. This kid loves the hose.

The stucco guys are supposed to come tomorrow and set up scafolding, and they say they will work in the rain next week if needs be. Our contractor said he hopes to be done with all his stuff by the end of next week. Do you know how excited that made me?!?!

Oh yes, Lowes is also getting a lot of my time and money. The boys don't mind cause they get to drive the lawn mowers each time on our way in. They are going to be sooo excited when we get a new mower! I like the John Deers myself.

We also painted our master bathroom...still needs a lot of work, but it's sure better than that yellow! Can't wait to paint that black. We hope to do a full remodel, but that will be a year or two down the road.

Here's a reminder of the yellow....

Mud. That's about all we have left in the front of the house. *sigh* Someday, we'll have money to do landscaping....My dad drew a cool plan for us to day dream about. Pretty cool.

A shot of our new front windows, irrigation, and front stoop that collects water now. I think that is going to be replaced next week too with the right pitch.

That's where we are now! It's 9:45pm on Friday night but I think I'm going to head to bed! Ha!

~Helen

House Progress

Hi All! Things are really moving along. This is the end of 3 weeks working on the house, and I feel like we've made real progress. Although, the house is so dusty and dirty it seems like we've just made a big mess! So far, the addition has been put on. Here is the space {below} where the hand railing used to be...It took the framers only 2 days to put it up! I was amazed. It created a huge room that we will eventually finish ~ but for now it will stay plywood.

This is after the first day of framing ~ amazing! We've had a new roof put on. And today they are working on the soffets and facia (sp??) boards.
I've been spending as much time over there as possible...either with or without the boys. My friend Lindsey and my sister Joy have watched the boys for me making it so much easier to clean the grime. Notice our new roof below! And all that landscaping...gone. My dad is a landscaper/hydrologist and is helping us with the yard and some water issues. I don't think he liked anything that was there and they were in his way....So, it's pretty bare now. But here we are earlier this week having our first meal at the "new house".

And when I say grime, I mean grime! Here's a picture of the laundry room door. I had already scrubbed the top half. Some parts of the house are sooo gross. The boys like to help. Actually, Wells loves to help. Fielding is only there messing around because I'm forcing him to. He's going thru a very bratty stage. I hope we get thru this fast.

Here is the front stoop which needs some help with water flow. As you can see, all my bushes are gone. Instead, we have lots of mud. The boys think it's great ~ my car thinks otherwise.
Remember that ugly fire place and the entertainment nook? Look at this transformation! I just love my new windows. I think this will be my favorite room in the house. It makes me happy! :)
Our inspector is being pretty particular, so we're having do to a lot of drainage work. We will now have everything piped away from the house. I guess it's for the best. Where the boys are standing will be a concrete patio in a few weeks. Get ready for some back yard parties! :) {FYI food and drink may be a little sparse at the said parties...funds are being used elsewhere....our apologies}.

This picture was taken this afternoon. Windows are almost done. Marco {our awesome do anything guy} and his guys are painting the upstairs bedrooms and hallways. I have to go back to SW for more paint after Fielding wakes up {second trip for today...fourth I think for this week}. So another week down. Hope we can keep up this pace!

P.S. This shouldn't be a side note, but, Josh and I celebrated our 6th anniversary last Saturday and Sunday. We left the kids with my parents {first time leaving them} and stayed at a hotel downtown in Atlanta. It was AMAZING! We layed out by the pool, had a fabulous dinner at Nava, explored the hotel and went to bed early! HA! In the morning we swam some more, got Starbucks, and headed back to the burbs to get the kids. All week Wells has been asking to go back to Mia and Boss' :). I love that they love them so much. I'm so blessed to have an amazing husband. He's everything I need and we fit together so well. I can't imagine life without him and am glad he's stuck with me forever and ever. :)

~Helen

The Work has Begun

We are so excited that the house demo has already begun. After a great weekend of wedding, and cooking out, we got right to work on the house. Sunday, Josh and the boys and I went to the house and started puttsing around. He worked inside tearing some baseboards off and I tried to work in the yard. I'll tell you...it's very hard working over there with the kids. I have so much energy and excitement to get it cleaned up...but it's just near impossible for me to do so with the kids. Wellington is pretty content, but Fielding acts like he hates it. Guess I need to train him a little more....He has lots of work ahead of him in life. :) Anyway, the plumbers are there now replacing all the old fragile pipes and the guys are demoing the tile floors. I think it looks better already! Here are a few pictures of the house. Lots more to come!!

The front of the house. To the right, we'll be taking the railing off the roof and building an addition that will eventually be a play room. That room will be on top of our garage.
Wells loves it over there. We met some of our neighbors. They seem normal! PTL! and they even gave us some home grown squash! :)

Here's another front shot with a view of the huge garage.

For this picture, I was standing in the part of the yard they decided not to mow...and there's more yard behind me! The yard was a huge draw for us on this property. Can you imagin a pool out here some day?? :) We can!

This is the keeping room right off the kitchen {notice the bar in the foreground}. The lovely tile, fire place with rock, and the entertainment nook are all coming out. Along that yellow wall will be windows looking out to the back yard.

Here's the master closet....as you can see, it will be undergoing some work in this first phase of remodelling.

A full shot of the kitchen. Cabinets are staying. I'm hoping we'll be able to paint the cabinets and get new countertops now...but we'll see how the budget holds out. :) This tile is already up!

That's all for now!