Love it and List it

So it feels like things are going quickly on all ends.  The new house is looking more and more like a real house every time we go out to look at it, and we are almost at the point where we are ready to list our current house for sale (YIKES).  Thursday our realtor is coming over to the house to assist us in nailing down a listing price, and date for listing, as well as hopefully letting us know how fantastic a job we have done getting everything clean and organized what all else we need to do before listing.  So needless to say I am in crazy cleaning mode, but no one else around here seems to be, which I guess just makes me crazy - oh well.

Can I just say that it is going to be a nightmare living in a house that is for sale while there are 2 little tornadoes running around the house undoing all of the organization and cleaning which I am working so hard on??  Seriously, how do people do this - I am thinking we should just move out while it is on the market so we don't mess everything up in the duration.  Guess I just have to hope for a quick sale, although that has its own problems since the new house isn't ready yet, and we do have to actually live somewhere.  Grrrr.

Since I last posted, the new house has gotten: Windows, plumbing lines, air conditioning ducting, electrical locations and wiring, fireplace, and roofing barrier - I know, a lot to accomplish in a week if you ask me.  This week they are shingling, probably some other things too, and on Friday we have the pre-wall close-up meeting to make sure all the electrical is accurate.

Progress photos:

Front of the house - only dining room window is still to be installed, and one study window needs replacing, oh well.

Looking from study toward living room.

Half-round installed in Master bedroom - doesn't look quite as odd as it did with the rectangular opening.

Fireplace installed!!  Discovered that they did not accurately frame the TV niche though, so they are re-doing that this week (by accurately frame, I mean they missed it all-together - we realized it was missing a while ago but thought maybe they would come back and get it done, then the electrical went in for the TV, and we figured hmm, maybe they didn't get the memo - good thing we go by and look all the time)

Air conditioning in the upstairs - yeah, we will not boil when we move in in August, hopefully

 

Back of the house, all windowed up, and ready for shingles.

Blake came up with my title for me, and if you get the reference, congratulations, just like us, you watch too much HGTV too!!  So basically, things are moving right along, and life is getting crazy - although life is normally crazy, so I guess things are just moving right along.

Week 5 house progress

Week 5 - well, still moving right along - I'll just post pictures this time though.

Front of the house

Main area of the house, living room looking into the breakfast room with the game room up top

Travis climbing up the stairs

Breakfast nook

Back of house

 

Hopefully we are getting roofing this week!!

Cute things the kids are doing

So my boys are constantly doing the cutest things, and I thought I should list them out in case at some point in the future I forget that they were this cute (you know, when they are teenagers, eating us out of house and home, and staying out past curfew).


So....

Jake

• Congratulates me on how "amazing" the carpet looks after I have vacuumed (I am going to go with he just thinks it looks better instead of thinking that there is actually a huge change, I really do vacuum, it isn't every day I'll admit, but it isn't an infrequent thing, I swear).
• Okay so the dog threw-up on the carpet a week or so ago, and the boys were in the room, I ushered them out with Blake for bath time, and I got the steam vac, and cleaned up the mess.  The next morning when Jake came into our room (yep, he comes in to wake us up - wonder how long this will last), he says, and I quote "Mom, you did an AMAZING job cleaning up Molly's burp".
• Frequently, and completely out of the blue, he comes up to me and says "I Love you Mom" (ah, melt my heart).
• Has been watching me do my workouts sometimes, and so when he is playing, sometimes he will pull out one of his computers, grab my weights, and start doing his exercises... yep, he even has a computer set up for Grandma, and has out paper-plate sliders to do his legs... can we say adorable, love then hands on hips!
   
• If you whisper something in his ear that you want him to tell to someone, he then whispers it too when he tells them.
• Comes up to me and says "Do you know what?", and proceeds to tell me a 5 minute long story about him and his friends at school climbing trees, and how he thinks that they are all monkeys (he includes himself in the monkeys).
• Makes friends with every child who he comes across, and then refers to them as "my girl" and "my boy" because he never asks what their names are

Travis

• Doesn't really talk much yet, but he has Uh-oh and Mama figured out completely
• Comes up to me sitting on the floor, turns around and backs himself into sitting in my lap
• Plays a game with Blake during meal time where Blake will look at him, and Travis will quickly turn his head away to the side, then slowly look to see if Blake is looking at him, then quickly turn his head back (it doesn't write out well, but it looks adorable).
• I mention that it is bath time, and he starts running for the bathroom.

• Loves to blow raspberries on our bellies - everyone's bellies, but particularly mine when I am getting ready to nurse him, and he cracks up laughing.
• Likes to flip the pages of his bedtime story for me.
• When he gets excited, like at bath time when he is in the tub with the water running, he makes the most wonderful Ahhhhh noise, pitch kind of goes down then up then down again - it's wonderful
• Pretty sure he thinks when he moves his head back and forth really fast that he is making the world shake for everyone else because he just laughs and laughs, and then goes back to shaking his head
• Blake will count to three and throw him in the air.  He has learned on two to start anticipating being thrown, and will get a HUGE smile on his face.
• And he loves the sprinkler - LOVES it.

House building, week 4 progress

It seems hard to me to imagine that just barely over a month ago, there was literally NOTHING on this lot!  Our contractor definitely seems to have been correct when he said that he had framers were just itching for work to do, and would go very quickly.  We went by the house on Saturday with some friends who came in to visit from out of town, and were happily able to walk them actually through the house - and able to show them with a little less use of the imagination than it had been taking - what the house would be like.  The guys who were working were all very considerate, and I think I actually even got one smiling in the corner of one of these photos (although, probably can't see at this scale).

 

Thinking they will be roofing by the end of the week, and should be on to electrical very soon  .So, here are the most up-to-date photos which we have!!  All photos from April 6, 2013.

 

The front of the house, can now see the front porch, garage door areas, and Jake's Room's window above the garage.

The Bay Window seating area in the breakfast room (So excited)

Kitchen with the low wall being formed at the center island, and the window punch-out for the garden window at the sink.

Blake and Dustin (who is holding Jake) in the living room - 2-story high space.

The far wall in the Master Bedroom which will also have a window seat.

The back wall in the Master Bedroom (picture taken through the wall in the living room)

The Playroom upstairs just outside the boys rooms - and all of the toys will finally NOT be in my living room.

Upstairs game room looking toward the back yard

Dustin and Trina in the upstairs game room  looking down into the living room.

 

 

So probably the next time that I post, all of the exterior plywood will be up, maybe even actual windows in and roof on (we'll see though).

Travis's First Birthday Party

So this is late, but yes we did have a birthday party for Travis the weekend before his first birthday, and he had a wonderful time from what we could all tell.

Travis sitting on his Mimi's lap after we had to wake him up from his nap so that he could join the party.

Some of the treats which I made for the party - Grasshopper Brownies, Orange Fudge and Fudge (and if you want some, my freezer is overflowing with it, so just stop by and ask for some, I'm happy to share)

BBQ Brisket sandwiches with pickled onion on it - delicious, we made 40 of them, and had just a couple left over - Yeah big hit!

                       

 

 

Fruit Ka'bobs I made, and then got tired of making, so I also made fruit not-Kabobs, which I thought was hilarious, but didn't seem too many other people thought it was - maybe they didn't get it, or didn't read the descriptions...

Travis's first birthday cake - vanilla cake with lemon curd filling and vanilla buttercream icing - Mmmmmm...

Travis's Smash cake - no lemon curd in this one.

There was a great Nerf gun battle which occurred, and we somehow had enough nerf guns to outfit all of the children at the party - yikes!

Travis eating his smash cake - sort of, didn't smash much of it, oh well; and Jake eating his cupcake (actually licking all the icing off it - he doesn't really do cake, just icing)

Tearing into the spoils - thank you to everyone who came!

Travis on his actual birthday - finally go this cake eating thing down...

 



 

...and ate every last bit of it

So that was it - fun party, fun birthday, very fun little boy!

Framing - mostly done

So construction seems to be going very, very quickly.  Wood was delivered to the site on Monday late afternoon - so 03/25, and today almost all of the house is framed, that is less than a week later - wowza!

 



Front of the house on 03/27

Back of the house on 03/27

Front of the house on 03/31

Back of the house on 03/31

The living room

 

 



So yeah, starting to look like an actual house - next time we go out, who knows what will be in!!