3 more weeks!

It's been a week and a half since my last post, and so much has been done to the house.  It's crazy that it will be done in about 3 weeks.  They initially told us April 6, but we will most likely close around the 12th.  Over the last week they did the sheet rock, texturing to the walls, the wood in the closets and staircase.  They primed the walls and have painted as well.  The doors went in and were painted as well as the base boards.  On the outside of the home they began on the stucco, the soffit and the fascia, and the stone.  We still go out everyday, and still get just as excited each time we go.  The kids don't come in the home as much anymore, they prefer to stay outside and play in the mounds of dirt that are around the house.  (Hopefully we can begin landscaping as soon as we can so the dirt doesn't come into the house!)  Here are a few pictures of the progress.

 The exterior prep for the stucco.

 Sheetrock/Drywall in family room

 Shelves in Pantry

 Highly anticipated gray wall paint!  Looks good!

 Stucco, stone, soffit and fascia

Just a closer look at stone.

Kids grow up too fast

Last week was such a crazy busy week.  We had our SEP conferences for the kids.  Madison has had a really great year.  She loves school, and has such a great attitude about it.  Never complains about homework or anything.  We also had...7th grade registration.  Ahh, my sweet girl is going to Junior High.  This can't really be happening.  She had to get her 7th grade shots the day before registration, and unfortunately did not have good side effects from them.  She was so tired, her arm swelled up and was just not too happy.  So registration wasn't very thrilling.  It brings back a flood of memories though.  Ethan is doing really well also this year.  He tries so hard to do his very best.  His teacher praised him and his ability to do his very best.  She gave him an E in citizenship (excellent) because she feels that he also goes above and beyond.  Warm fuzzies all over for us as parents.  We haven't had Aidan's SEP yet, but he sure loves school.  He wasn't feeling well last week, but he still wanted to go to school.  No way was he missing P.E. (he did miss one day, but not P.E. day)  Our kids are growing up way to fast.  I want them to stay this age forever.

As far as our house goes, it is moving along so fast, as well.  Last week they did the insulation, all of the electrical, the walkway and driveway.  They also did the back patio, and started on the roof and on the weekend started on the sheet rock.  When we went last night, the sheet rock was about 95% done.  We were in such shock and amazed how much they had done in one day.  I got the giggles last night.  Don't know why, just smiling from ear to ear about the whole process.  It's all so exciting!  About 3 weeks and 4 days left. (but who's counting) Woot!

 The view of the porch and walkway.

 Madison in the kitchen.

Aidan loves to jump in the pictures.  This is part of the basement.

Moving right along

 The windows were put in last week

 Madison and Ethan peeking out the boys room window

 Garage side view of the house

My cute boys super excited of their new house

The framing is almost complete now.  Last week the windows were all put in (except the front living room window).  And they are getting ready to do the roof.  Last week it snowed a bit, so I think that set a few things back.  We've been super lucky though as far as the weather, especially this winter.  This coming week will be exciting because they are getting ready to do all of the electrical, the insulation and the drywall.  It so amazing to all of us to see a house being built.  I'm sure I've already mentioned this in previous posts, but we sure are grateful to the people who build homes.

Life in general in addition to building a home, is quite busy.  This rental we are in is taking longer to fix up and paint than we thought.  I wanted to be completely done painting by the end of February....sigh, that didn't happen.  I am being totally optimistic and shooting for finishing it up this week.  Yeah, we have the upstairs and the basement to finish.  I figure if I give myself a target date, I tend to usually want to meet that date.  It's going to be a busy week.  It must be done though.  We realized that we actually have to start packing again...double sigh.  I'm actually not really dreading it because it means moving into our new house.   We have 5 more weeks left.  Which is crazy!  Where has time gone, and why when you were a kid did time seem to drag.  ANd now that I want it to slow down, it doesn't?  The kids are growing too fast.  Madison will be in Junior High next year?  Ethan will be 10 soon, and Aidan will be 6.  I'm thinking this is the perfect time to freeze time. 

Puts a smile on my face

 The back of the house

 The stairs are finally in!!

 The fireplace

 Kids so excited to go up the stairs for the first time.

 Madison's room

 Ethan and Aidan's room

 Front of house

Different view of front of house

It snowed last night and we didn't think anything would be done on the house today.  This morning after taking the kids to school, I couldn't help but drive by the house to see.  Lo and behold there were quite a few workers.  I seriously could not help but have a big cheesy grin on my face.  And then like a little kid, could not wait until the end of the work day to see what was going to be done today.  Hence, the many pictures. I love looking forward to 5:30 everyday.  We all race to the car and drive to the house.  As we drove up I noticed the stairs going up to the loft were done.  The kids have been dying to go up to see where their rooms are going to be.  It was so fun to see their excitement and sheer joy.  To roof is getting close to being done as well.  Yesterday we met with Richie and Joel to walk through the house and make sure all of the framing looked right and to make sure that just everything was what we wanted.  I was actually thinking last week how nice it would be if we could walk through with them, and sure enough they called to set up a time to go through.  I love our builder!  He is seriously the coolest, most down to earth person ever.  He is so laid back, and just a really great guy.  The kind of builder that you just hope to work with.  The best thing he said about our house is that he loved it so much, he was going to build the same one for his family.  Whoa.  We certainly looked at enough floor plans to know that this floor plan is what was going to suite our family the best. The fun part is that he hasn't ever built this plan before, so we don't really know exactly how the outside of the house is going to look.  Sounds scary, but is sort of fun in a way.  We picked out all of the exterior colors so hopefully we did okay.   Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Ethan's Scout Badge

 The other night, we attended the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts.  Ethan received his badge for Bears, as well as the Faith in God patch.  All year we kind of just forget about passing things off, until we get to the last few months before he's about to move up, and we kick things into super high gear and start passing things off like crazy.  Turns out he had already done quite a few of the requirements, so it wasn't too bad.  He was so excited to get his patch.   Madison was our photographer for the evening and she did a great job ;)  Last year Ethan and his friend Cannon received their wolves at the same time, so this year they wanted to do the same thing.  Way to go Ethan and Cannon!

Here is a stellar picture of Ethan putting the bear pin on me.  He asked me beforehand where the best place was to put it.  I tried to help him but he insisted on figuring it out himself.  Cute!  We sure love Ethan!!

Framing almost done!

 The front of our house

 Bryan looking up from the kitchen to the loft

 The family room looking to the master/sitting room

The back of the house

Seriously who knew that building a house was going to be this fun?  Well, to watch it be built anyway.  We drove by the house at around 1:30 this afternoon and they had only part of the rafters done.  Then we came back at 4:30 and they had all of this done, plus the loft framed.  It's such an exciting time for us in our lives right now.  A dream we just thought was a dream but is actually happening.  It's really been so much fun to go out everyday and watch the progress.  

Construction moving along

 Madison super excited here in the future family room/kitchen

 Madison and Ethan in garage doorway

Family room so far

I wasn't able to go with the family to this trip out to the house, but I was able to go yesterday.  All I can say is wow!!  This is certainly an experience that we are loving every minute of.  I had no idea how much fun it would be to see a home being built.  It's really all I can think about.  Bryan and I just think at times, "is this really happening"?  It sure feels like a dream.  Though this house isn't some huge dream home, it's our home and we are so super excited for it to be done, and to be ours.  I'm amazed that people are so talented to do this.  I always think how I want to take baked goods to the construction workers and thank them each day for building our home.  I'm sure I will one of these days.  We are truly thankful.