This and that...

We're still pluggin' along. The drywall is almost done (today is Tues) and we're still on schedule to paint on Saturday. Brandon and I were able to decide on a color of paint to use (the drywall crew also doubles as a painting crew) so they're all ready to go. We're painting throughout with a grayish/whitish/beigish color figuring it'll go with anything - and also double as a good primer color if/when we ever get around to painting rooms different colors in the future!

We're planning to go and choose flooring tomorrow or Thursday.
The security company comes Tuesday and finishes their job - all they did was wire the system last week (I was horribly disappointed) - they don't fire it all up until the painting is done so they can put the panels on the walls.

The weather has been nice lately and we've all enjoyed spending time out at the house playing. We took the kids on a walk the other day while we waited for the drywall crew to finish up and leave. Here are some pictures.

House Update

So kind of, this is like being on a roller coaster! There have been days when we've felt like this house was all just a big pipe dream and we'd never really actually LIVE in it - then days when we felt like we didn't have enough time to get ready to be in it b/c it was coming together so quickly. I think it was Wednesday of this week that I thought something along the lines of, "Hmmm, hope we're in it before school starts up again in September!" The drywallers (Is that an actual pronoun?) have been hanging rock all week. Today is Saturday - they started last Saturday. About mid-weekthough, even though they were clipping along rather smoothly, I just felt like there was still so far to go. Now, fast-forward to yesterday. Brandon and I picked the kids up at school and took them out to see the house. The crew doing the walls is really funny. It's an Unle (Chuck), his son (Charlie), and two of "Uncle's" nephews...(Brother and Brother). No, their names aren't actually "Brother" but that's what they call eachother and it's really kind of funny. "Hey Brother, you need to take a half inch off that board." "Brother, you look tired." We also heard reference to Chuck as "Uncle"..."Hey Uncle, aren't you going to open your birthday card?"...followed by a gruff "@#$@ No!" LOL

Ok, so I really am going somewhere with all of this. Yesterday they told us that they'd be done w/ walls, mud, tape, and PAINT by next Saturday! A week from today our walls will be DONE! Of course this is a happy moment! We're all beside ourselves with excitement...well, except for the fact that we haven't chosen colors for walls...not even a little bit. I think our goal today is to find a color that we could stand throughout the house and then paint over if/when the time comes. Naturally, Jacob wants to paint their room fire-engine red. Maddie begged to paint her own room - she wouldn't tell me a color, so that scared me more than the red did! LOL

Here are a few pictures. I'm going to have to go through a video again b/c it's harder to take pictures now that there are walls blocking my view! (That's a problem I don't so much mind having!)

Front door from bridge "before & after"



Standing in the kitchen, looking out toward the front door and living room.


Looking up toward the Master bedroom from the front door.


The whole (backside) of the house - the drainfield was finally filled so we can walk down there now!

One week left!

On the 19th, I will be turning in our Walk America donations! Wow, I can't believe it's already here!

I just wanted to post one more plug for the team! Over to the right is a link to our site - if you are interested in sponsoring us, we'd really appreciate it!

Thanks guys!

Happy Easter

Saturday was our big Easter party at Grandma's house. Every year my extended family gets together and does a big potluck picnic and egg hunt. This year we held it at the city park.


Joseph & Grandpa


6 of these kids are Lee's - can you find them?


Here's Jaynie (she's not in the Merry-Go-Round picture - so you can stop looking for her there)

Sunday we had a nice family dinner at home after church. Thanks to a conversation with some friends, I opted to break out the china (no pun intended)! I tried really hard not to cringe every time they clanked the crystal into the china - or clinch my teeth when they cut through their ham and dragged the knife across the plate OVER and OVER and OVER! It's just dishes, right? RIGHT! They had a great time. We broke out a couple of bottles of Sparkling Cider that we had left over from Valentine's Day - the kids were hysterical with it. Of course we endured several "Why is the Rum always gone" comments - and countless "toasts" - but it was worth it! I wish I could remember what Malorie said when she walked into the kitchen and saw the table - I'll update if I remember it...but don't hold your breath!

Here's our "quick, say Happy Easter" picture - and one of Jospeh since he didn't fit into the shot! lol

House News

The walls are going up! It's so amazing to walk through the house now and not be able to see through the walls anymore! Almost all of the ceilings are up - probably 75% of the walls are up - it's looking GREAT!

I took some pictures, but it's hard to really see the change. Obviously, you see the drywall, which is a change - but it's hard to see the whole, overall change. Oh, I'll shut up and just put the pics up for y'all to see for yourselves!

Brandon is installing the slider Monay. Security system goes in Tuesday. The insulation goes in to the attic Wednesday!

Update on the house -

The insulation crew should be finished today -

The phone company is going out to see what all needs to be installed to get us a phone line (for my security system that I am SO having) -

We're spending all day Friday at the house finishing up odds and ends, and the insulation inspector is supposed to come out, too -

Monday the drywall crew is supposed to come out and start making walls for us!

Tuesday the security system guy comes out to walk through the house with us. I will feel so much better when that thing is up and running -


The kids and I have been going out early and unlocking the gate for the insulation crew. It's been a little creepy going out alone. I always walk around the house...oh wait, first I jog down the driveway b/c it's still too soft to drive on (lovely) - THEN I walk around the house and make sure all the doors and windows are closed and in tact. Then I go to the basement and move the truck that we've parked in front of the french doors (poor man's security system)...then we (I always make my big tough Jason go with me, leaving Maddie with the other kids in the van watching tv at the end of the driveway)...we jog back to the van and drive like crazy to get the kids to school on time. We have to leave a half our earlier than usual (7am) to pull all of this off on time. The kids have been such champs! Today we stopped at Yoke's and got Maple Bars for them - nothing like a healthy sugar headache to start their day!

I'm still plugging along on our insurance claim. What a pain! As soon as I get some documentation from our bank I can submit the claim. I so don't want to have to haggle with Allstate! I've paid them premiums for over 12 years and have seriously only called on them a small handful of times - four maybe. And without a doubt, THIS is the most we've ever asked of them!

So we really can't complain much - oh wait...I did just complain - MUCH! lol We know that we have things pretty good! Our home is almost finished, the stuff that was stolen will be replaced, everyone is healthy and safe...there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Wow!

Brandon reassures me that I don't even want to know how he and our friend, Dan McC, got that window up above the door! I know that 2 ladders and a pick-up bed had a play in it! Ugh!

I went to open the gate/house this morning and got to take a look at the gorgeous door and window that went in this weekend.

I couldn't believe how amazing it looked!

(Before)


(After)




And then I got to see that it looks even more amazing from the inside!



(View from bridge to upstairs)


It was a little freaky to go out to the house alone today - I'll admit I'm gun-shy! I don't think I'm afraid of an encounter w/ a thief. I'm more afraid to be the one who finds that all of the wiring has been stripped out of our walls and then having to call Brandon to tell him. I practiced my 911 call all the way out to the house today! Luckily, I didn't have to use it. But I'm pretty sure that should I find anything amiss tomorrow, I'm going to have to have a deputy call Brandon because I simply don't have the heart to tell him if anything has happened to all of his hard work. Appliances and tools can be replaced - but this house, every inch of it, is HIS hard work - his talent - his dedication. He is simply amazing!

Tomorrow the insulation crew will be out there all day. They'll probably take 2 or 3 days, so hopefully we'll be able to have it inspected before the weekend. Then we have drywall lined up for Monday. We know that the only thing that is going to really keep these schmucks from trying to poach our house is to be living in it. They aren't confrontational - they're sly, they're lazy, they're slimy. They want something that's EASY and FAST. So all we can really do for the month of April is PRAY that everything is protected and remains safe.

E=mc2

About two months ago, the Math Coach at Jacob's school called me at home, in the evening, to ask if Jacob could be on the school's Math Team. I told him that if Jacob wanted to be on it, it would be fine with me. A couple of days later I asked Jacob if he joined the team and he said he didn't want to. I reassured him that it was ok w/ his dad and me if he did - but he said he really didn't want to and that the deadline to join had already passed anyway.

A few days later, the coach called again - he told me that he'd make an exception to the deadline if Jacob wanted to join. So I talked to him about it, again. I told him to at least find the coach and let him know that he didn't want to be on the team so he'd stop calling me!

The next thing I knew, Jacob was telling me about going to Math Team practices at school. I was glad he joined a team and figured that since Jacob enjoys math so very much that he'd have fun.

Fast forward to this past Friday. A math competition was held at a local high school and Jacob's team registered. There were over 125 teams (some schools had more than 1 team, so not 125 schools). Each team had 4 students - so there were over 500 4th Graders at this competition. (See how well I put that together? Maybe he does get his math genius from his mother! ;)

Brandon and I went to the parent-friendly session of the competition. When Jacob saw us come in he got his shy little smirk. Brandon and I stood in the back of the classroom and watched. I was so amazed at how well Jacob and his little team did. There were questions that I had no clue what the answer was (there's a big surprise). There were trick questions - that of course stumped me! It really was so much fun to watch him!!

We all sat together with his team and parents in the gym for the awards ceremony! It was PACKED! It was LOUD! It was HOT! But it was FUN!

The first award they presented was "Top Scoring Individual" for each school. So no matter how many teams of four a school registered, only one student was going to win the award based on a test given earlier in the competition. I'm Jacob's mother, so of course I think he's brilliant - I'm a little embarrassed to say I squealed when they called his name as the winner from his school. I was/am just so proud of him. I'm so happy that his first experience as part of a competition was a positive one!



I couldn't believe I didn't take my camera with me - well, in my defense, I'd never been to a Math Competition (again, big surprise) - so the following pictures were taken with my cell phone - hence the blur!

The announcer explained that awards would be given to the top 5 teams - but only the top 4 teams would be advancing to the next competition in May. Team 5 was announced and we were relieved it wasn't us - but at the same time there is that disappointment that one of five chances to win a ribbon was gone.

Then the 4th place ribbons were presented......and JACOB'S SCHOOL WON IT! I can't tell you how cute those 8 little 4th Graders were running down on to the gym floor. Too cute!

Rejoice!

I don't know how much it costs to have a certified electrician wire an entire house - but I'm betting my amazing husband saved us thousands of dollars by doing this job all by himself!

The storm before the calm...

Let's walk through yesterday's afternoon together. I drove out to the schools to pick up the kids and Brandon drove out to finish up the electrical on the house for inspection (which is sometime today). On a whim I called his cell phone and asked if he wanted us to come out there with him for a while before Jason had his Youth Activity. Apparently we were only a few minutes behind him anyway, so we headed his direction.

As I drove down the LONG, straight strech of D Road, I passed a Sheriff Deputy along side the road. I thought to myself, "Hmmmm, I'm going to remember he's here..." Not even sure why that thought came to my mind (at the moment anyway). Just as I crossed the last intersection before our home, my cell rang. I answered and Brandon said, "Someone was here." My stomach instantly hit the floor of the van. And I'm pretty sure I could have crimped metal with my teeth! When I could finally talk I said, "Did they pull the wire?" He answered, "No". WHEW! "Did they break out our windows?" Again, "No, but they did take the appliances and a few other things from the basement!" WHAT!!!

Just this summer we found some great deals on a double oven, dishwasher, gas stove top and fume hood! Then later this summer, we found a wonderful set of brand new kitchen aid appliances.

The refirdgerator is still there (but we could see that they had tried to move it - it had been slid a few inches from it's original place) and the new double oven is still there. I guess they figured they didn't need 2?

Luckily, no other damage had been done - the morons had pried a piece of plywood siding off the front of the house and climbed in that way - then went straight to the basement and out the basement door. We're puzzled that they didn't just break the basement door (glass french doors), but we're glad they didn't. Very kind of them to be so thoughtful and all. But really, why go to the trouble of prying off plywood walling when there is a glass door just screaming to be broken? Dorks!

Oh - so back to my phone call with Brandon. When he told me what had happened, I turned the van around and drove right back to the deputy on the side of the road. How strange that he would be there even. As we were talking he was called to a crime in progress, so he gave me a phone number to call - which I did. I got to the land and pulled into our driveway. FYI - our driveway is still to soft and muddy to drive on in a big old van full of people! I almost instantly sank up to my nostrils! I seriously could have cried! Brandon came out with a shovel and we made no progress. Finally he tied a rope to his car and to mine and started pulling and miraculously, we got off the driveway just as another deputy was walking in.

He was a very nice guy - he was frustrated for us...which really didn't make me feel any better, but I appreciated that he was trying! lol He stayed for about an hour and finally mentioned where he lived (which was near where I grew up). I asked him if he ever drove Ambulance in S County. He said he did and had for years. I told him I recognized him from the divey resturant I worked in when I was in High School. All of the ambulance drivers, sheriff deputies, state patrol, and city police officers would break there b/c we gave them free food! LOL

It was so good to get home last night. Of course all Brandon and I could talk about on the way home was who we thought had done it, when they did it, if they would come back, etc. I hate the violated, paranoia you feel when you've been robbed!

We sat down to a late dinner of thrown-together-tacos! Naturally, the night couldn't just end, the plumbing had to back up. Poor Brandon! Of course it can always be assumed that nobody wants to fix plumbing - ever! But I could just see the last bits of sanity drain from his face as he looked into the sink. Just for fun, we poured some drain-o in while we ate dinner. His plan was to fix it after the kids were in bed. As we finished up dishes and did "brush your teeth and use the bathroom" routine, we heard the drain chug and bubble and finally empty! What a blessing!

I did go out to the house this morning and everything looked fine. We left Brandon's Jeep parked against the french doors in the basement so if they came back for the oven and fridge, they'd have to lug them up 2 flights of stairs and then drop them out the hole in the wall! (Or, just push Brandon's Jeep back into the huge septic hole that was right behind the Jeep, LOL).

I'll go back out this afternoon and lock it back up and hopefully find a sticker on our meter that says we passed the electrical inspection! Now we feel like sitting ducks! If we passed, we have an insulator lined up to come on Tuesday and he said he'd be done by Wednesday night - then it has to be inspected. Then drywall - which I'm sure will take a good couple of weeks. Then we're going to have to move in as-is, otherwise we're afraid they'll keep coming back and helping themselves to the Lee Family Free-For-All!!

Electrical Inspection!

Tomorrow (3/22) is our big electrical inspection out at the house. It would be such a wonderful thing to have this hurdle behind us. We have insulators and drywallers just waiting for us to say the word to start!! WALLS! We'll have real walls! No more weak knees while standing up in Jared/Joseph's bedroom and looking clear down into the basement through the walls! (Makes my knees hurt just imagining it!)

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Guess we'll keep him after all...

Jason is doing so well at his new school. As much of a pain as it is to drive the kids out to school and then get them to bring them home every day - it really has been good for the kids!!

SO COOL!

Ok, this is the coolest thing ever! Well, maybe not "EVER" - but in a long time, for sure! But first, get a chuckle out of the conversation I had with my mom!

I call her and she answers:

Mom: Hello

Me: Hi! Guess what! You'll never guess, but guess anyway!

(To humor me, she plays along)

Mom: Your electrical is done and passed?

Me: No, but man that would sure be nice...*sigh*

Mom: Ok, you've lost 30 pounds?

Me: No, but that would sure be nice...*longer sigh*

Mom: You got the diamond replaced in your wedding ring?

Me: No, but man, that would be great, huh? *Very long sigh*

Mom: Maybe you'd better just tell me before I make this any worse!

Me: Ok - I get to work at Antiques Roadshow when it comes in August!!!



My friend Marilyn and I were out walking this evening and she was talking about her work. I asked her if she got paid when she did stuff like the PBS telethon or judging Jr. Miss stuff. She said she didn't, it was all just volunteer stuff...and then, just as casual as anything she says, "Like when I work Antiques Roadshow in August..." I about fell off the sidewalk! Thinking back on it now, I must have looked like a moron jumping up and down beside her saying, "Me, take me, can you take me, I want to go, can I, huh, huh, can I?" And just like that - I'm IN! I get to take 2 things to be appraised and she said she would take 2 more things for me since she didn't have anything to be appraised.

So back to the conversation with mom - she had signed up for tickets as soon as she heard that AR was coming to town. The max you can sign up for is 2. So I told her that now she could take Dad if she gets tickets - she laughed at me like that was always the plan!? RUDE!

The only thing that would make this weekend even better would be if AR agreed to go and look through the "Museum house" that my mom's local historical society runs. It's a very old, very beautiful house with all original furniture. She emailed AR and invited them and they told her that they go to 3 off-site locations when they go to a town and they'll consider hers. Naturally, I begged my mom to let me "be there" if/when AR goes through the house!

STREP!

It's gotta end, right? HONESTLY! Our poor family has been sick for WEEKS now!
Naturally, it can't just be a cough and sore throat, it has to be full-on strep - doctor's office visit, antibiotics, missed school, no sleep, etc etc etc! I guess if there's a bright side, it's that I only have half the kids left who need to get it! LOL

Dad
Mom
Jason
Madilyn
Jacob
Megan
Jared
Malorie
Melanie
Joseph

And the winner is..........JACOB!

Jacob's music class has been holding a competition for the past three months or so. The first one to memorize 10 songs and play them for the teacher, one a week (sometimes 2 if time allowed) would win the green recorder. (Everyone else's is black.) Yesterday Jacob was presented with the recorder - we're so proud of him. Darn kid is a natural at almost everything he puts his mind to!

More new glasses

Seuss Olympics

For five years now, we've held an annual Seuss Olympics near Dr. Seuss' birthday. This year's events were kind of whimpy b/c Brandon has been so busy with the house and usually doesn't get home until the kids are in bed, or almost in bed. Yesterday he had to fly to Olympia for work and was able to get home eariler than planned flying stand-by! Here are a few of the games we played. We're planning on a much bigger event next year when we have more room (it seems like everything is going to be better "next year"...)




Megan and Melanie are playing the Tweedle Beetle Battle game. It's really for one player at a time and a stopwatch- (but Jaynie wouldn't wait) - the player gets 2 wooden spoons (Their Paddles) and has to use them to pick up the beetles from the floor (paper print outs) and put them into the bottle - a tweedle beetle battle, in a bottle, with a paddle!





This is Maddie and Dad doing the Hop-on-Pop game. Each player has a set of 4 feet (foot print feet). You stand on two of them and when you start, you lay the other two out in front of you - you step upon those 2 feet and reach back to get the feet from behind you and you lay those feet in front...and so on. The winner is the first one to the end who "Hops on POP" (which is a big old picture of Brandon's face).



Jared's playing Ring the Gak - nuff said?

EDGES!

Holy smokes, I can SEE! Everything has edges again! I've gotten so used to looking at everything "fuzzy" that seeing it now w/ edges is kind of weird! Nuts, I'm getting old I guess. I'm all happy and excited over new glasses...what next? New teeth? Hmmmm?

The week in review...

So last weekend we were almost buried alive by the flu from purgatory! Can't believe it's been seven days since that all started! So what all have we missed since then? Well, here goes...

Sunday: Mom stayed home from church with Jaynie and Joseph.

Monday: Mom took Jaynie back to the ER. The doctor gave her another round of Zofran which seemed to do the trick. Marilyn bailed us out (again) and took the boys to their appointments while Mom was at the ER w/ Jaynie (Joseph, Maddie, Jacob too). Jared had a dentist appointment and Jason an ENT appointment (Malorie & Megan too).

Tuesday: Hooray! No more throwing up! 24 hours of food staying where it was supposed to stay! Mom sneaked off to Weight Watchers and was down a couple more pounds (for a grand total of 15.4 since January 2). Brandon was in Olympia all day for work.

Wednesday: Mom's new cell phone came. Jason went to Youth Night and watched Dave A. do magic tricks. Brandon worked on the house after work.

Thursday: Maddie and Maggie went to sewing lessons at Shirley's. Jacob went to Cub Scouts. Brandon went to the house again after work.

Friday: Brandon drove the kids to school and spent the day at the house. The little girls, Joseph and mom spent the entire day at home. Movie night after dinner.

And now, here we are back to Saturday! Brandon, Jason and Maddie went out to the house all day today. The other kids and Mom are working on Saturday jobs and dinner.

There you have it - probably not really interesting to many of you, but it sure keeps us busy!

Just for fun, here are a few of the pictures we've taken with mom's new cell phone - cheesy, but fun!

Martian Death Flu!!

Poor Jaynie has been so sick this weekend. Friday the kids and I spent the day at my mom's house. Everyone, including Jaynie, was fine. They played and played and slept all the way home. We had dinner around the usual time and then went to bed around the usual time. Then, somewhere around midnight, the space ship landed! Jaynie woke up throwing up. It was all of her dinner (lovely, I know). Then she proceeded to wake up every 25 minutes or so dry heaving. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen! By about noon Saturday, Brandon and I decided we'd better take her in. Maddie, Joseph, Jaynie and I loaded up and headed to the ER. Luckily, our friend Dave was working Saturday so he got us right back to a room - avoiding the 2+hr wait in the waiting room. Who says it doesn't pay to know people??

The doctor promptly ordered Zofran for the nausea (one of my favorite morning sickness meds) and Tylenol & Motrin. I didn't realize who bad her fever was. Apparently it was high enough that he was worried about fever induced seizures! Thankfully, the Zofran kicked in almost instantly! She was able to sit up and eat a popsicle then drink a cup of 7-Up and Pedialyte. They sent us on our way w/ an RX for an anti nausea and an antibiotic for strep - must have been a parting gift from the ER...I had no clue her throat was bad! Even after getting straight back to see a doc we still spent 4 hours in the ER.

We filled her scripts and went home...got there just in time to send the five older kids to our Cub Scout auction with Marilyn. I was supposed to run that auction - luckily, everyone pulled together and did a great job getting through it without me. I guess when you call from the ER and say "I'm here w/ my baby" people become a little more willing to step up and help out!

Jaynie is still under it today. A little worse even than yesterday - but I believe it's because her anti nausea med isn't the same as what she was given in the ER. I think she's feeling a little more nauseated than she was after taking Zofran yesterday. But she hasn't thrown up since the ER. We are treating a fever constantly. I had to make myself a little chart so I'd know what to give her and when to give it! The "orange stuff" (Motrin), the "Pink stuff" (Tylenol), Anti nausea, and antibiotic...each followed by the time she takes it next. Lucky for her, I'm a little OCD abt keeping track of meds this way!

Here is a cell phone pic taken at the ER. Her lips look funky from the popsicle (and the fact that it was taken w/ my phone, lol). Sorry abt the quality - didn't think to load up the camera while we were rushing out the door! ;)

Happy Valentine's Day

We had so much fun this year! On Monday, the three little kids and I went and bought decorations for a Valentine's Day party. Malorie didn't say a word to anyone about it for 2 whole days! I was sure she'd blow it! When the kids and Brandon left yesterday morning, the girlies and I started decorating and fixing dinner.

We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and a strawberry cake for dessert.




Our friend, Marilyn, brought by a huge bouquet of balloons for the kids!



It was fun for the girlies to get to surprise the "school kids" and daddy when they got home!

Please don't forget March of Dimes...

Over at the right are the links to the kids' fund-raiser sites. I've taken Megan's link off as she's already reached her $200.00 goal. The rest of the kids are all more than 1/2 way there, but still need help.

Thanks guys!!

OK - I had to put Megan back because the other kids informed me that they are trying to see who can get the "most past their goal" - and if I take Megan off, then I mess up their game. Brother! I am AMAZED at the generosity of everyone! Thank you again!

Kitchen cabinets have been ordered!

The cabinet lady came out and measured the kitchen last night to make sure everything we'd chosen at the store would really fit. She will actually place the order in 2 weeks - it takes 3 weeks to get here...that means in 5 weeks (theoretically) our walls and floors will be in and ready for the rest of the kitchen! Here's a picture of how the kitchen should look - per the Ziggy's Lumber lady's computer program! LOL It looks a lot darker in her print out - we actually ordered a natural stained hickory...so it's going to be much lighter!

I'm an auntie...again!

Mindy had her baby Thursday! This is Adam. He was 6 lb 13 oz. I'm waiting for more pictures - but this is the "from the cell phone" one that I have for now!

Grandma is going to New Jersey

Brandon's mother is going to New Jersey for 12 months to serve a mission for our church. She's been talking about it for over a year now so it's kind of hard to really believe that it's finally official! She just found out where she would be going today! We're very excited for her, but at the same time we hate to have grandma gone for so long. Imagine this - Joseph will be 2 just after she comes home. He'll be walking and talking! How BIZARRE is that!

Framing insepction day!

Everything in the house passed today except for the stairs. The treads are too high apparently. I think they are at 8" and code is 7.75" or less...can you BELIEVE THAT!? Ugh! So Brandon will be redoing 3 of the four flights of stairs...(one was already small enough). The inspector is really nice - he's been to the house before. So now we're ready to work on the wiring! We could be having that inspected as early as a week from this coming Tuesday!

Pinewood Derby winner!!!

For some odd reason, our pack decided to let the boys run the same cars this year if they wanted to, instead of making a new one. Jacob hadn't been to Cubs in a few weeks b/c of our insane schedule, so we were happy to hear that last year's car was an option! LOL

Jacob's car won first place in every race it ran - and, obviously, first place over all! Apparently the trick to Pinewood Derby racing is to make your car, then wait a year to race it - during that year, you let the car get knocked off the piano (several times), have your younger sisters run it off the end of the kitchen table (several times), somehow lose a wheel and then stick it back on w/ Elmer's Glue at the very last possible minute before the race! Who knew?? LOL

Care to tour our new house??

Ok, this is kind of lame, LOL - but so many people have asked how the house is coming and I never have anything intelligent to tell them. So while we were at the house this weekend, I took some short videos around the house for y'all to see. Now, I KNOW you're going to look at it and think "HOLY CROW, it's never going to be finished!!!" Not so! Actually, we have inspectors coming this week for the framing inspection! *Please pray we pass* Then we ("we" as in Brandon) will pull all of the electrical through the house the following week. Another inspection - and ta-dah, we have insulation and drywall crews doing their thing before the end of the month...and this is even a short month! LOL

I'm sorry there are so many - I thought a few short videos would be easier to download than one big old long one.
















You'll have to also excuse my huffing and puffing while I talked us through the house - it was SO COLD in the house and I was trying to walk as quickly as I could both to stay warm and to keep from recording videos that were too long! LOL

How's the house coming??

Boy, we hear that question about 50 times a week! LOL Granted, it's a harmless, chatty question - but it's getting to the "down right annoying" point!

We are actually doing very well with the house. The plumbing is finished. The septic is finished. The furnace duct work is finished and the units will be installed within the next couple of days.

Brandon is scheduling for the framing inspection in one week. As soon as that's finished, he can pull the electrical through the walls. However, fearing that someone will come and steal the copper wiring, he's trying to time the electrical inspection to be within a day of the insulation crew! We want to get it covered up as soon as we can! That won't stop thieves, but it sure would slow them down and make it harder for them! Our insurance would cover anything that happened - but the time that it would set us back would be horrid!

The kids are excited to move. I'm sure they have no idea that moving means gutting their bedrooms and throwing away one box of junk for every box they think they're keeping! LOL I really have NO ROOM to talk! 90% of this house could probably go to the dump!

Anyhoo - there's the house update! It's moving, albeit slowly! We're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel now though. Every time I get an update from Brandon it's just amazing! It was less than a year ago that our "house" was nothing but trees! And what's more amazing is that Brandon, with some help here and there from his brother Justin and my aunt Joy, have built the entire thing! THAT knocks my socks off!!

I wish I had a picture to share! We may go out tomorrow and if we do, I'll take the camera!