End of Tuesday Construction

Zack and James were here working on this mess until 830 tonight. Here's a picture of what the foundation looked like. There were, at one time, 3 2x4s flushed with each other under this door. All that's left is 1/2 of 1 board. Zack ended up cutting away some of the floorboard into the family room as well. He didn't have a choice since the damage was so bad....sigh. However, the door is boarded up now and is ready for siding tomorrow. I'm not sure when the deck will be repaired since that was an unexpected thing. Ryan said they are going to focus on getting the room finished so I can have my house back to normal...whatever that may be! I told them to get to the deck when they could. I can do without the deck, but I can't do without that room!

Here are a bunch of pictures of the drywall...
view from the sliding door
View OF the sliding door...hehe
Soon to be the doorway
Old back wall of the house
And another one of the soon to be doorway...you can see the side of the house in this picture. Notice the deck is gone from the house about 3 or 4 feet out....sigh once again.

Tuesday Mid-Day Construction....sigh....

The boys and I were up and at 'em this morning. Before I left to take the boys to MDO, James had the door taken down...



When I came back from MDO, James said they had some bad news they needed to discuss with me. Long story short, the wood that goes on top of the brick foundation and that the walls are nailed to is totally rotten under the door. The deck was built ON TOP of the old brick steps, and was flush up against the house without any kind of barrier (usually aluminum of some kinds) between the wood from the deck and the wood on the house. Water has been getting into the foundation wood and has eaten it away. So, we've now added a few more days and dollars to fixing this problem. You can see the rot below.
The wood fell apart when I simply touched it


They are ripping out about 9 boards of the deck and will have to pull out the old wood from the foundation and put new wood in a long with some joists. They aren't sure how many just yet, but I'm sure it's going to be a tough job. This is a load baring wall, so it will be interesting to see HOW they are going to complete this. Sigh...



The painters are here and are working on the house too. Looking good so far...

Silly Boys

I can't turn my head from these munchkins for ONE SECOND! I left the kitchen, hurried, to wipe Connor's faucet of a nose only to turn around and see THIS...


Brandon is going to be the kid who runs out into traffic, who has to taste/lick everything, who has a kindred daredevil spirit, and who is CONVINCED he can fly as long as he continues to jump of as many different things as he can. He got into the toilet paper yesterday too. I think this is a right of passage for every kid...






Here's a little video of Connor taking a few steps...he's working on it! He takes a few steps every day now, so I'm sure he'll be walking in no time.

Monday Construction and RE construction

After a busy weekend, Monday didn't start off any different! I woke up to a leaky ceiling in the family room this morning...

Zack came out and fixed it right away. There was a very small nail hole where the new roof and existing roof connect...no big deal!


Here is a picture of the sheet rock...
This is the ceiling...almost done insulating...
the wall facing the woods is done...
another look at it...
Working on the ceiling...
more of the ceiling...
this is the wall that used to be the outside of the house. The opening into the living room will be at the far left of this picture.
Zack and James were done for the day. There are only 2 more sheets to go before they are going to start mudding it.

Doesn't the vaulted ceiling look awesome?!?!?!?!?!?!?!


It's all coming together more and more each day. I really hope this will be done by the time my mom gets here NEXT Thursday! We picked out the paint...Sparkling Sage for 3 walls and a very creamy green...almost cream color called Luna for the wall without any windows. If the rain will hold off, the painters will start on the exterior tomorrow as well as the insulators. In February, when we did all of the mold repair to the crawl space, we didn't install the new insulation. The company that's doing the addition will also do the whole house. Since Ryan is such an awesome contractor, he's going to give it to us at cost and NOT charge any more for that. That seriously saved us about $500 - $600!!! That probably doesn't sound like much, but to me it is! Off to bed I go...busy day tomorrow as well!

YAY for Spinach

The boys had left over Florentine Mac & Cheese for dinner and were clapping for joy! Brandon finally started clapping yesterday!

A Wonderful Day

Even though today started very early, and was very busy, it was a wonderful day! I got up around 630 to get showered and get ready (including doing my hair and makeup). After the boys ate and played, I put them down for their nap and finished getting their lunch ready and all of my other things together. Bettina and Beine came over and sat with the boys while I went to Renee's wedding shower. Renee is a co worker of mine and is getting married in June. She loved the plate!

This is Nikki and Dalton...she's the maid of honor and he's her 6 month old. He learned to chew on his feet...YUMMY!!! There were a lot of ladies at the shower and Renee received many wonderful gifts. Best Wishes to Renee and Ray!



The next stop was to the Hartman's! Reese was the boys' NICU buddy and is celebrating the one year anniversary of his homecoming from the NICU. The Hartman's live about 45 minutes away and have a really nice BIG back yard. Brandon got down and played right away...bubbles..YAY!
Connor...was a little on the anti social side....
but soon warmed up and took the toys for a walk! Jason, Tara's husband, got these huge bouncy house things from his unit. The older kids were having a blast with them. My kids, on the other hand opted to lick the bubble wands and eat dirt.
I think this is the cutest picture EVER!!!! Brandon fell off right after I took this, but he's still super cute!
I literally threw Brandon in the bouncy house because he LOVES to be tossed around. He crawled right back out. If they were just a few months older, they probably would have loved it!
Here's the only picture of the birthday boy! He and Connor were playing with some old putt putt golf balls.
CONGRATULATIONS to Reese and for making it through this first year! Once again, there's still time to donate money to the March of Dimes TEAM HARTMAN. You can go to www.marchforbabies.com/katedanko. We are walking with them!

After the Hartman's we proceeded to the Brown's house. Theresa's birthday was today and her hubby is at airborne school. I was not about to let her spend her birthday alone!!! She lived just a few miles from the Hartman's so we HAD to stop! She fed me some very delicious minestrone soup that she just made up. I'm tellin' ya...this girl can really cook...and she cooks very healthy, wholesome foods that are naturally low in fat and calories. The boys even ate the soup! They mainly ate the meat in it, garbanzo beans, broccoli, and green beans. There were tomatoes in it, but I haven't given them any yet due to Brandon's eczema...tomatoes are known to case flair ups. It was time to go, but I couldn't leave until I tried a piece of her Tres Leche cake. While I was eating it, she and I were gabbing in the kitchen..right by the stairs. She asked Faith, "where's baby Brandon" and she calmly replied, "he's up the stairs" Neither of us believed her because we blocked the stairs and I was standing RIGHT BY THEM. I turned and looked up the stairs...and sure enough he was about 3 from the top. Unbelievable! You all know me...I had to get it on video for Eric. I put him at the bottom and he did it again without any hesitation. I'm glad I live in a ranch style house and I'm glad my fireplace is gone. Enjoy the video!



He wasted NO time in getting up the stairs! Once he rounded the corner, he saw the girls' playroom filled with toys.

Today

Today was a very busy day. The boys went to Mother's Day Out, I went to the gym, Hobby Lobby, Quiznos, mall to return some clothes, post office, grocery store, and finally back to church to get the boys. They didn't nap while they were there and Brandon was crabby the whole time...sigh. I came home only to realize that the contractors had NOT COME!!! ARG! I purposely leave the house every Tuesday and Friday with the hopes that they will come and work while I'm gone. I even told them that. Instead, they came for about 2 hours, did a little insulation on the ceiling and left again. My friend Trish called and told me to turn on Rachel Ray. She was making a recipe that included mac & cheese and Trish knows my weaknesses!!!!! Since the boys woke up early from their nap, we took another trip to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients. Check out the pictures below....

Deana, one of my co workers, picked up some pottery for me today and dropped it off on her way home. Her daughter, Katie, scooped up the boys and started playing with them. I think they were a little overwhelmed, but they all had fun.


Brandon cried pretty much all day. I think he's finally getting some more teeth..he only has 2 right now. He WASN'T crying while he played with the curtains...so I let him!


Baby feet...
Baby butt...
Trying to get out...
HERE I AM MOMMY!!!! He's actually smiling.


This is part of the recipe I made tonight...and it was YUMMY!!!

I made Rachel Ray's Florentine Mac and Cheese and Roast Chicken Sausage Meatballs.

The other recipe she made was a ribbon salad. The ribbons were made of squash and zucchini, topped with grape tomatoes and home made balsamic vinaigrette. Now, this is the first time I have ever made a vinaigrette, and it had too much dijon mustard in it. That's ok...I'm learning!



This was the whole meal...and it was delicious and easy. The boys loved it! I feel so lucky that my kiddos eat spinach and all the other crazy stuff I give them. The only change I would make would be to add a tbsp of tomato sauce on each meat ball, cut the amount of spinach in half, and hold off a little on the dijon mustard. I couldn't put egg in it because of B's allergy, and I think that would make a difference. Becky and Matilda came over and ate with us and then we all went on a walk. We came home, the boys got their tubby (bath), they had a little bit of milk, I brushed their teeth, read them each a book, put them in bed with a kiss and walked out the door directly onto my couch where I laid and relaxed for the next hour.


This is a picture of the plate I like to make for each of my friends when they get married. I think I've made 5 or 6 of these. Renee is a co worker of mine and has helped me out with the boys...she loves them like they are her own. Her wedding shower is tomorrow and I'm not sure if I'll be able to make her wedding, so it was important to me that I go and present her with her plate. I hope she likes it!

Now that it's 1130, I'm finally going to bed. It's been a crazy day, but tomorrow is going to be even crazier. I have the wedding shower to go to and thankfully Bettina is going to hang with the kiddos so I can go, then we're heading to Lillington to Reese's "1 year anniversary home from the NICU" party, and then finally we're going to swing by Theresa's house to celebrate her birthday since her hubby is at airborne school. Whew...big day! I'm looking forward to Sunday...a chill day!

Thursday Construction

Lots accomplished today! Roof is 100% finished, walls are insulated and ready for sheet rock, electric is done, wall is opened, window removed, door way is framed in...here are the pictures













The painters are coming tomorrow to paint the exterior. The door will be removed and sheet rocked tomorrow. We were going to do an archway originally, but since we changed the width of the opening, the archway would actually cut off a good amount of the actual doorway. Instead, we went for more of the angled arch look. Getting closer to being finished...YAY!