Brick Removal

Our current house has brick a few feet up in the front of our house. Over the years the bricks have been slowly leaning forward falling away from the house. We decided as long as we were siding the house it was a good time to remove the bricks. We didn't want to do it too soon before they started the siding because we would then leave the house exposed to the elements. We asked the builders to give me a little notice so I could get it done so as not to slow up their progress. As it turns out the notice they gave me was a busy week and weekend so all I had was Saturday morning until Saturday 3 pm to remove them, about 7 hours. With a small jack hammer and the help of Janelle's dad we accomplished it at 3 pm. The front of the house was a mess with bricks laying everywhere because we didn't have time to organize, we just did demolition. Of course it snowed that night so everything was buried, leaving clean up a challenge.

The demolition crew.

Santa Visit

Today the kids got to see Santa at our community Christmas gathering.

Megan still participates and asked for an ipod touch(slim chance the elves know how to make those).

Jaden didn't know what to ask for.
Jordan finally wasn't scared and asked for Scooby Dooby Doo toys and an excavator, a real one.

Austen was scared so Megan joined him and he asked for toys.

Holiday Decorating

Today we spent the day decorating for Christmas. It was much different than other years because of the construction. We did not want to put up a lot of stuff that would have to be moved around so we put up significantly less then in years past. We even put our tee in a different spot than we have ever put it because we needed to be clear of windows(we are replacing all of our windows).

Jordan decorating the tree

Megan decorating
The always happy Jaden

and Austen enjoying the tradition

Austen liked a particular branch so he decorated it over and over again

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Janelle's side of the family. Below you can see Megan and Jaden had decorated turkey placemats for everyone.

We're Enclosed

As you can see by the pictures below they have now applied the plywood to the walls.

Walls Are Going Up

As you can see they have started building the walls to the upstairs addition. It is fun to now be able to step inside the additions and get a feel for the size of the rooms.

This is the view looking south from the "soon to be kitchen". The hole on the left will be a window and the whole on the right will be a patio door to the patio. You can see the wall of patio bricks in the background which will be next springs project.

This is the view out of the "new kitchen" to the East. The window on the left will above the sink and the window to the right will be from the dining area.

The kids enjoyed playing on the new addition. They used the big wood "stage" to play rock stars before the walls were put up and below they played "Anti-I-Over" the new wall between the garage and the kitchen/dining.

We Have a Floor

The weather has finally been dry enough that they would finally poor the basement floor. I believe they are about 2 weeks behind now. This is a view from our "big hole in wall".

Now that the cement is done they delivered the lumber. I lost half of my garage to our builders tools and now I lost half of my driveway to the lumber.

Austen and neighbor Hally tale a rest on the 2x4s.

Jordan is playing something in his imaginary word.