christmas tree is up and ready to be decorated!
The next morning the kids got up early too see their tree all lit up. Such cute faces!
Merry Christmas!
Charlotte and Nathan are building a snowman with Uncle Ryan during Thanksgiving break in Lake Arrowhead.
This is Remy. He is our newly adopted old dog.
We are hoping the forecast holds so we can have a white Christmas!
Update: 8 months and counting...
We PASSED our final inspection on Monday of last week (8-10-15)!!!!
The last 8 months have been frantic and extremely emotional. We moved in to the house in April and sold our old house on June 16th. Our Daughter Amelia is undergoing genetic testing to determine what is causing the severe nerve pain she has been experiencing. We are still waiting for those results.
Although we passed the final our kitchen and laundry room do not have all the cabinetry yet and our counter tops are plywood. But hey! We are living in the house!
little did we know that late July and August are Tarantula mating season! We thought Halloween had come early!
Christmas day...
Christmas Eve activities in Arrowhead
Christmas decorations
Can't believe Charlotte is so big! 7 years have flown.
Great ornament hanging crew!
Between rains...
Busy day of plumbing and flooring work Saturday
3.5 inches of rain in 24 hours!
Some how the soil around our house is dry enough that I could drive on it today even though our had 3.5 more inches of rain since yesterday!
Rain, Rain, Go way...just until the driveway is dry enough to pave...
We have had more that 1.5 inches of rain in 48 hours and the driveway is not passable. So bumbed because we had scheduled the electrician, plumber, backhoe, and truck to make a final push to get the house ready for a final inspection. So all that is off until the ground is dry enough. I went out yesterday to drop a load of supplies and almost got the minivan stuck in the mud! :)
Not super deep but the tires started to spin and it didn't look like it was getting better. Minivans are for asphalt anyway! :) Maybe time for a 4x4 truck?! or just some asphalt for a driveway! The asphalt is cheaper!
This was about 3:30 on Wednesday we had a quite a bit more rain Wednesday night and Thursday morning. I will be heading up today to check the gauge! Really curious about how much rain we received!
Miss E was quiet for a while and then we found out why! She was enjoying the black marker left out by her siblings. Such a sweet face! can't believe how big she is getting! She is walking like a pro and talking up a storm!
Stair case is very close to being done! Finally!! :)
The above picture is a gallery of pictures. click on it and you will progress through. The first shot is the mudroom off the garage. We hired a guy to come in and set the tile. There is a shot of the Stove hood Dave Bishop and I installed (thank you Dave!!). The last shot is of Elyse and Amelia...they had their arms around each other as I pushed them into Costco the other day and I couldn't miss the shot. But apparently they both thought it was a dumb idea. :0) So funny! I am sure I will see many more of these looks...
Staircase, interior doors, and some finish electrical
The staircase and railing has been a pain! We assembled and secured the newell posts upstairs before we noticed that there were gaps between the boards that formed the base which allowed the posts to wiggle dramatically. We took it all apart and have used a different method (we secured the 4x4 post inside the newell post directly to the floor with 4 inch screws) this secured the posts and we are now where we were with Mimi and Papa here two weeks ago. :)
The plastic sheeting under the flooring is making a "swooshing" sound that is noticeably strange. We are trying to decide what under layment we will replace it with.
Big work week with Mimi and Papa!
First Load from Lowes for our stair treads and railing!
Late night painting of the wall paneling
first wall with the paneling...looks good!
Kids room vapor barrier for the flooring
sub-floor laid down over the plastic vapor barrier
Living area
80 sheets of OSB sub-floor. Dad had the great idea that we should hire the guys that were just finishing the gutters to help us move 80+ sheets of OSB inside before the rain that night. Great Idea!
Master Bedroom sub-floor!
This is a gallery so if you click on the picture you can move through them quickly. :)
Picnic at the new house, exterior doors first coat of Tong oil!
More Drywall Pics!
View as you walk in the front door
Dining and living rooms
Kitchen island and stove wall
Entry, stairs, and mudroom to the right
Upstairs bath, bed and game room on the right
A on her tippy toes to see out the window. So cute!
First pics of the drywall on the walls!
Kitchen and living room
Hall to Master bedroom. Laundry on the right.
Kids bedroom
Master Bedroom
Garage
garage
Partial approval and drywall onsite!
The inspector gave us the go ahead on back filling the area around the tanks and under the driveway. He was very particular about how deep the trenches are and how straight the drip lines lay in the trenches...yes he was ridiculous. But the system works and we can move forward.
The drywall was all delivered yesterday but the installers couldn't find the house so they decided to go home?! James our drywall contractor was a bit embarrassed and brought six installers with him this morning. I had to go out to the house before school today because I had thought I could install the final two pocket doors on Saturday, but James said they will probably be done hanging drywall by the end of the day Friday! I took tons of pics of the walls and the electrical yesterday in the hope that we wont have to use them to find electrical shorts after Edison hooks up the power. :)
Living room/Dining room
Sound deadening insulation
view in to the entryway from the garage door. The wall with green insulation on the right side is the laundry room
Septic system inspection, and drywall installation tomorrow
Tomorrow we will be having the septic system inspected and the drywall crew will be begin hanging drywall! If the inspection goes well tomorrow we will be ok'd to back fill! So by the end of the day we may have a smooth front yard and some drywall completed! The drywall should be all hung by Monday and ready for the nail inspection! K and I are frantically trying not to forget anything that would be covered by the drywall...for example, the 2x6 that will support the bathroom sink in the kids bath. it would be a real bummer to have to cut out drywall in order to install it later. :)
Insulation Inspection Passed and Drywall Tuesday!
We passed our insulation inspection yesterday! Drywall comes on Tuesday and will take three weeks to complete. I installed the tracks for the remaining pocket doors and met with a paint contractor for a bid. The septic system should be inspected next Wednesday but we haven't heard back from the inspector with a confirmation. He has said that as long as he has a few days notice he can usually make it work. So I am hopeful that we can meet on Wednesday and get the OK to back fill and then the front of the house will look much better! :)