Saturday, October 23, 2010

Day 1 Construction

Thursday, Oct 21 was the big day when the contractors began work. Here are some pictures and video from the big day!

The arrival of the backhoe!




Part 2: (click for external video site)



 
Digging the new basement (click for external video site)


Looking out the kitchen door (obvoiusly no longer in use!)

Looking out the kitchen door, towards the garage

Back of the house view after day 1 - see the scaffolding at the basement door on the left (that's our temporary entrance). You can also see the hole in the basement wall (covered with plywood) that will join the two basements.
The front - dug out

Friday, October 22, 2010

Farmhouse updates (prior to official construction)

Sometimes things have to get worse, before they can get better...the state of the house for the past month or so was proof of that! Ben was working hard on a few of the things he needs to have done before the contractors start. They'll have a couple months of work, and just started yesterday! I'll have those pics up shortly. Once they are done, that's when the big job starts for Ben...so we won't have a "finished" new house for quite awhile. It will look nice from the outside though very soon!

Main Entrance (Back Porch) Changes

Here are pictures of house after Ben took down the back porch (main entrance side), leaving just the cement slab as a temporary patio for us. That cement will come out, a new basement dug in it's place, and then a 2 story addition on that side of the house. Ground level will extend the kitchen to be bigger and include a mud/laundry room. The 2nd level will give us a master bedroom and master bath. You'll also see pictures with siding removed, getting ready for the new siding that the contractors will put up when the additions are in place.

Starting point...


Front porch gone, top layer of siding coming off


With all the siding off

Back Porch

You saw a prior post that had construction photos of Ben taking off the back porch, but I never had any photos with it completely gone. This picture was taken during the phase of removing the top siding, and since then he's also taken off the bottom layer of siding.
Front side of the house with the porch off. The siding was also removed, and then Ben wrapped it.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Two new videos

Playing with Pound Puppies that Mom had growing up (click here if the video doesn't display below)


 Giggling with Mom (click here if video doesn't display)


We have eggs!

Our egg layers have a fancy new home, and have started regularly laying eggs! We are getting up to 7 eggs a day right now, and have eaten them on a number of occasions. At one point we heard a lot of noise and chaos coming from the coop, and sure enough - we went out and there was a warm egg waiting for us. It still kind of creeps me out when eating the eggs - but I'm getting over it! I think they have a great strong egg taste - and we're enjoying having them around!


With barn board siding and window trim

Found in the next box!


During construction



Roofing the coop!


Free range at it's finest - checking out the yard

Our first couple of eggs!
Field trip to the front steps and wanting to come in the house!

Pecking around in the construction dirt

Monday, October 11, 2010

Berkley's Baptism!

We celebrated Berkley's baptism on Saturday, October 9 and it all went perfectly! She was in great spirits, despite being somewhat crabby after not taking a very good nap that afternoon. When up in front she was smiling and being as cute as ever - making everyone laugh and smile in the church. We had lots of people tell us afterwards what a cutie pie she is! The pianist even said she is one of two cutest babies she's ever seen - the other one being her 47 year old daughter. What a nice thing to say! :)






With Godparents Amy & Scott and cousin Gianna
Love this picture!

Sitting on the shawl that Sarah wore on her baptism!



Nothing like margaritas to celebrate a baptism!



Sunday, October 10, 2010

Pictures - 8 Months

Berkley may have turned 9 months today, but I'm catching up...here are pictures from the past month. She is crawling all over the place, pulling up and even trying to balance without holding on! She's still working on teeth, and not sleeping all that great at night - but other than that, she's so perfect and so much fun!



Fun in the sun in our new swing!


A little blurry, but she was doing some light reading with Daddy's Cabela's catalog :)

Practicing for her own birthday in a few months, she couldn't help but dig into one of Daddy's belated birthday gifts