Grandpa & Grammy's first time

Today we drove out to the new house with Leah's grandpa & grammy (my in-laws). It was their first time seeing not only the house, but the property as well. Leah's been to the house so many times that she was starting to give the tour. Leah made sure to show them the most important part of the house first...the bathroom LOL.

In the picture, it doesn't look like the framers did much, but they did. They finished part of the deck on the 2nd floor which means most of the first floor is covered. Hopefully when I get out there on Monday, they'll have more "noticeable" work done. Trusses were delivered as well, which is a great sign. The framers should be done by the end of next week.

Leah finding that perfect rock

YAY...Leah found that perfect rock and is showing it off to Grammy, Daddy, and Grandpa LOL

Framing - 2nd floor started

Another beautiful day for the workers. Leah and I were suppose to go out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and go visit the framers, however, Leah decided to take a 3 hour nap and pretty much killed our afternoon. When she finally woke (around 5pm), we took a drive out to snap some pictures.

Leah standing in the driveway in front of the garage.

I'm in the family room looking at the kitchen

I'm in the kitchen area and Leah is in her "future" playroom

I'm standing in the kitchen looking in at the Mud room

Leah at the front door

Here's a shot of the powder room from the study

This is the Study

Here is the front left side of the house showing the beginning stages of the 2nd floor

Framing - Interior shots

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day being that it was in the 70's. The guys got a lot accomplished and Leah and I were able to get some interior shots :) 

It may be hard for some to determine what's what since there are a lot of temporary 2X4's that are there to just brace the walls, but I'll try my best to explain.

Garage

Leah is in the breakfast room, morning room, whatever you want to call it, but we are using it as our dining room.

Kitchen - To the left is the breakfast room, window is in the kitchen, and off to the right is the mudroom. I'm standing between the kitchen and the family room.

Family room - I'm standing in the kitchen looking towards the family room. Off to the left is the entrance from the front hallway and to the right is the breakfast room.

Leah in the breakfast room not wanting her picture taken

Powder room, which is the 1/2 bath. Leah didn't want to be a model. I am in the front hallway.

I am in the front hallway, powder room is to my right, and in front is the Study (my office...well and I guess Chris' too when he'll be home).

Leah is sitting in the front entrance - Don't worry...I was watching her and yes, those are nails around her, but she's FINE...no need to call child protective services.

In the Foyer looking at the kids playroom, which is technically called the Living room/Library. To my right is the front door, behind me is the closet, and if you go through the living room, you'll end up in the kitchen area.

I'm standing in the breakfast room which is the back of the house, looking towards the front of the house.

Breakfast room again...Leah was trying to steal a Hershey chocolate, but unfortunately for her....mommy was watching LOL

The big hole will be the staircase. I'm standing in the Mudroom and in front will be stairs leading up and on the other side of the hole will be the stairs leading down to the basement.

Front of the house - The left 3 windows will be the Study; middle is the entrance; and the 2 windows on the right is the garage.

Tomorrow I'll be there again and believe that they'll be working on getting the upstairs started. Framing should be done by next week, weather permitting.

Update on the house

It's been raining off and on today and around 67 degrees outside so it's pretty warm for the framers. Tomorrow it's suppose to be in the 70's so it'll be a beautiful day for them to frame even more. Everything seems to be going in high gear right now which is a little stressful but I'm glad it's all getting done. I sat down with our cabinet designer last Saturday to go over final measurements and to get our cabinets ordered, so that's done. Today I meet with our GC and the window rep to go over final measurements and window selections, so - CHECK - that's done too :) So now we have to pick out our exterior doors and get those ordered ASAP and - believe it or not - showerheads! I'm having such a hard time picking out shower fixtures for the kids bathrooms...I want a handheld showerhead as I think it would be easier for them to use, plus it's great for cleaning the bathtub. However, I can't seem to find one that includes the tub spout and water controls :(

Anyway, here are some pictures from today:

In the driveway looking at the house

Ron and Leah standing in front of the garage

Garage

The garage will lead to the mudroom then kitchen area - it's going to be an open floor plan so you'll see the breakfast room, family and kitchen all at once, plus a staircase leading upstairs.

Leah being goofy and not wanting her picture taken, but I got one :)

Today's framing progress

This morning when Leah and I went to the property to drop off some coffee for the workers and to go over a few changes, I didn't take any pictures so when Chris got home from work, we took a drive out.

I'm standing in the driveway looking at the house (side view)

I'm standing near the garage looking in. The first bump out on the left is the "library" or will be better known as the kids playroom. The second bump is going to be the office and Chris is standing in the future powder room.

Framing started this week

It's been a crazy week with the weather!!

We were suppose to have the first floor framed by Friday (tomorrow) because I have a meeting with our cabinet designer on Saturday to finalize measurements and order the cabinets for our kitchen, baths, and laundry room (an additional 10% plus free shipping was the reason why we have this deadline. We are Direct Buy members and even though we are getting wholesale pricing, which we are saving a TON already...the additional discounts covers taxes and all other misc. charges so I didn't want to pass it up!!).

The one week that is crucial for us to stay on schedule, is (of course) the week that it goes from beautiful warm day to rainy and now a threat of snow by tomorrow. It's been raining off and on all day and so the guys decided to leave this morning cause it was just too muddy, slippery, and hard for them to work in it. They are going to work tomorrow, but of course with the threat of snow...who knows if they'll work the full day.

I was going to bring the guys coffee & donuts this morning, but thankfully I didn't...maybe I'll do that tomorrow as an incentive for them to tough it out LOL.

Anyway, wish I had better pictures to show then the 2 below, but I don't. This is how it looks as of today (Thursday).

This is a side view taken from the garage area and looking towards the back

This is also a side view (too muddy to walk anywhere else) looking towards the front

Backfilling

I went out today to meet with our GC and took some updated pictures of the house. It's so rewarding and exciting to see the process of this house compared to our first house...maybe because I know we are staying in this house for a while, God-willing of course, and that we are the ones that designed every part of this house. I personally have had so many visions for this house and I just can't wait to move in and build new memories.
 

You can't see much from this angle, but I'm in the driveway looking up at the house. Our excavator has been grading and backfilling all morning and he's been trying very hard to make the transition from driveway to garage have as minimal of a slope as possible so we're not climbing up a huge hill to get to the garage.

Just the inside of the foundation...with the stone bottom

I climbed up another huge mound of top soil to get this shot. You can't tell in any of these pictures but our house is set on a small hill so it's very hard to get any good shots from the ground level.

Here's a better picture

Foundation completed (100810)

Our foundation is completed...all they have left to do is waterproof the foundation on Monday, hopefully start backfilling on Tuesday, and (weather permitting) start framing on Thursday!! That's when the fun begins :)

Leah is standing in front of the garage. Do you see the single block to the left? Left of that will be the single car garage, in the middle where the plank is to the 2 blocks on the right is the double car garage, and the little hole on the right will be the door to the garage.

Leah is standing in front of the front entrance

The "square-looking" thing will be the covered porch or front entrance...whatever you want to call it.

This is a view from the back of the house. I actually climbed up a huge mound of top soil to get this picture...probably not the best thing being 7 and 1/2 months pregnant but oh well.

The start of the foundation (100210)

It's been an extremely wet week so our mason had a hard time completing our foundation this week...it should be done before the end of this coming week, weather permitting of course.

Here are some pictures of the progress:

From the garage area looking in

The garage

Looking in from the front entrance

Left area of the house

Right area of the house

My two loves

My two loves again - See the little caterpillar by Leah...well she scared it and it hid in the knot of the wood LOL