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Hebrews 3:4

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything."

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Dog Teaming




More work today on our Dog Team Barn from Connor Homes. And, time tonight for the kids to "team" up on Daddy beside our new garage.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Mommy's Night Out


Now that the house is under cover with plywood sheathing, the garage is getting some more attention. Shine and I made just a quick stop by today, and saw a gable placed, before heading off to bring Shimmer home from Grammie and Grampie's. Gotta get back in time for a girl's night out at the driving range and desserts at a friend's house. Daddy was nice enough to give up his bike night so I can go. He and the kids are headed to Toy Story 3. Fun for all!

Monday, June 28, 2010

When Shimmer's Away... Shine Will Play





No summer camps on the schedule for Shimmer this week so she is having her first sleepover with Grammie and Grampie... TWO nights and she is double-excited! Shine and I stopped by the house today and the crew is hard at work again. Plywood complete on the back of the house and they were starting the front as we got ready to leave. My "shadow" had fun climbing the dirt piles with me to get some photos.

Came back over with Daddy this evening and Shine got to do some more climbing... this time up the ladder to our second floor, with Mommy waiting at the top and Daddy following him, so he could go into his room for the first time. He did a little happy dance... wish I had that on video! One of those memories mommies stash away in a special corner of their heart.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Passing Time


Nice weather on Thursday and Friday but not much happening at the site, other than a little backfilling. A couple guys are on vacation and the others had some cabinetry to put in at a prior job that had been back-ordered. No complaints here... I would want my kitchen too if I'd been waiting! Our windows are delaying our exterior shipment anyway, so we can spare some time. Daddy is anxious though to get the house under roof. All in God's timing... not ours.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me...



Trying to squeeze in an evening VBS tonight for Shimmer (and Shine) at a little country church nearby with some friends, (since she is missing ours due to art camp this week). So, it was getting late before we made it over to the house tonight. House and the connecting mudroom are roof-ready.

As we were leaving, we spotted an incredible sunset and raced to the top of the hill to try and get a picture before it dropped below the horizon.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Raising the Rafters



Looks more like a home everytime we stop... framing the roof today.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Movin' On Up...


Beginning of another week and summer is officially off and running... and so is Mama! Shimmer started art camp, Shine has VBS, and things keep moving right along at our lot. Second floor framing was completed and the guys were installing the third floor joists, when we stopped over today.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Seeing is Believing...



Picked Daddy up from work today and after a quick change at home (from pool clothes for us and work clothes for Daddy), we headed over to waterseal the second floor. Shimmer and Shine were anxious to get a firsthand look at their rooms, but that will have to wait until we have actual stairs. They went on a "nature walk" up and down the road in front of the house while we worked.

I still can't get over how much progress has been made this week. It's been exciting to watch...

Now Framing: Our Second Floor




After lunch downtown with Daddy today, Shimmer had a birthday party to go to for a classmate. Daddy had been to our lot this morning (we realized last night after looking at our floorplan, that the pocket door framing for our laundry room had been installed on the wrong side and he wanted to let our GC know. They are glad we noticed it... should save trouble down the road). Anyway, Daddy said they probably would be framing the second floor this afternoon, so Shine and I ran home for the camera and drove over to take a few photos before needing to pick Shimmer up. Great timing today... we got there and saw a wall go into place on the master bath. Overheard the crew say it went up perfectly.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

We've Come a Long Way




Grandpa paid a visit today to see how our new house is coming along. Last time he was here was April 6th, and back then we were still clearing the massive pile of downed trees and brush. Excited to have him see all the framing that's taken place in the last week. When we pulled in this afternoon, the steel beam had already been installed in the garage and work was progressing on our second floor, floor joists.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Work in Progress





As excited as we were to see the progress on the first floor last night, I was a little disappointed to miss all the action! So... I took Shimmer and Shine over late this morning in hopes of seeing a wall go up, but we were later than I wanted to be and lunch break was due. We looked over the garage framing that had started and then decided to head home ourselves for lunch. Shimmer went next door to play with a friend after lunch, but Shine and I headed back and spent an hour at the lot and did get to see walls and a header set for the shed.

Monday, June 14, 2010

What a Difference a Day Makes





Shimmer and Shine spent the day with me while we ran some errands out of town, including a few stops to pick up more paint chips since I just can't seem to make up my mind. It was 5:30pm before we made it over to the lot and storm clouds were hovering, but what a surprise we got when we drove down the lane...

Can you believe it??? Almost the whole first floor framed in just one day!!! It was so fun for me to walk them through room by room. This makes it real...

It was also literally an answer to prayer for me overnight, since I had just spent the night before praying over our project again and asking that it would be a blessing to our GC and his crew as well. We've all gone into this with blind faith to a certain extent and today a weight was lifted off our shoulders. Glory to God and compliments to Connor Homes!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Let the Good Times Roll




First floor decking was completed yesterday and Daddy spent last evening rolling it with water sealer to protect against forecasted showers this weekend. The openings are for our fireplace and stairway. After some whining (from him), I convinced Daddy to pose with Shimmer and Shine inside our future foyer before leaving.

Friday, June 11, 2010

All Hands on Deck




Rain-out the day after delivery, so the real work started yesterday with floor joists being installed. We drove over late morning with my "soul" sisters who were in town for a visit; plus, three extra little ones. Sorry no pictures... I was keeping a close eye on the kiddos at the worksite.

Today the first floor decking is going down and I let Shimmer and Shine take a few steps on it. They were thrilled to step foot "on" our new home. Shine even helped with clean-up by blowing off some sawdust.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Moment We've Been Waiting For...




Near 10:00am, I spotted the truck approaching on a nearby hill and we watched it pull in before racing back down the cul-de-sac to call Daddy and see it unload. He arrived just before it was ready to leave. We also got to meet our GC's crew today and who could hope for any better. They went straight to work and when Shimmer and Shine and I returned tonight, we found that they had the sill plate completely installed. All in all, I think the kids and I spent five memorable hours ourselves at the lot today and it was perfect...

Delivery Day is Here!



I could barely sleep last night (don't know if it was nerves or just excitement... but I felt like a kid again, the night before the first day of school). Up early to get ready and take Shimmer and Shine over to our land to see the first delivery from Connor Homes arrive. We weren't quite early enough though... the first truck was already there when we pulled in at 7:40am. Only a few stacks had been unloaded and we learned that another truck was a little more than an hour out and on its way also. Very happy to hear that we would still have a great photo op to mark the occasion.

Daddy didn't arrive until after the first truck left. Meanwhile, Shimmer and Shine and I took a walk out to the end of our road to wait for the next truck to come so we could snap the perfect picture of our new home on its way. We saw two squirrels and a rabbit; plus, the red-winged blackbirds on our walk. It took the truck a little longer than expected to arrive, so Daddy had to go back to work, but we thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful view from the spot we chose to wait. Shimmer and Shine found a ladybug that pre-occupied them for quite awhile, and we even had a young deer run right nearby! Sorry, I was so busy getting Shine's attention to see it that I didn't get a photo. It would have been amazing!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Ready and Waiting...




Excitement is in the air tonight as we know the first shipment from Connor Homes (our exterior shell) is scheduled to arrive first thing in the morning!

In the meantime, the garage floors were poured as planned today, completing the foundation and slab work. The sky was painted up as we left tonight and raises our hopes for a perfect day for delivery tomorrow...

Friday, June 4, 2010

Like Father, Like Son...



First day of summer vacation today, and the start of my first summer off with Shimmer and Shine. We plan to make the most of it right here in our little corner of the world, and building our new home will make it memorable on its own.

Tonight, Daddy inspected the finished basement floors while Shine looked over the fill and drains placed in the garage bays and attached shed. For once we are actually hoping for rain. It would help the fill settle before the garage floors are poured on Monday. Forecast looks like it will make that happen at some point this weekend. Praise God from whom all blessings flow...

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Division of Labor





I stopped over to the lot this morning after taking Shimmer and Shine to school. Foundation crew will be pouring the basement floor today so I'll bring Shine over later to see the cement trucks one more time. Some questions raised about the amount and type of fill to use in the garage, and who should do the work. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have needed any fill to speak of... but the miscalculations mean we'll need quite a bit.

Shine and I picked up Daddy at lunchtime and met our GC at the site to discuss all the issues. Got there just as the concrete was being delivered. Harder to see now that the walls are up, so we watched through one of the basement windows. A second truck came as we were getting ready to leave. Perfect for a pose!