More Amazing Progress

Well, as has become our regular weekend routine, this afternoon we visited the house. We were so anxious to see what had been done since the surprise of last week's drywall.

For starters - the siding is halfway up! The guy was there working on it when we showed up.

It's a lighter color than I remember, but I love it. The front door will be a very dark red called "Old Colonial Red", very appropos given our location in Virginia and our proximity to historic Civil War battlefields!

The next wonderful surprise was that all the cabinets have been installed. First, the kitchen:

Wow! I've never had so many cabinets!! I'm very excited. The opening on the left side is where the refrigerator will be, and the opening in the center back is where the stove will be with a microwave above it.

That back corner is where the sink will be, and the dishwasher in the open space to the right of that.

Here is the fireplace, with the mantle and granite surround installed:

As you may be able to tell from the above pic (since some of it is on the moulding - but will of course be fixed!), they have also done the first coat of the paint. The color is called "Cool Platinum", and it is the same color all over the house. We won't keep it, of course, but it's nice to have some sort of neutral color when you move in rather than just that stark builder's white. We won't have to be in such a hurry to hire the painters to come, and it gives me more time to pick out what I want to go everywhere. The nursery and the boys' rooms will be my first priority as I want them to have fun, decorated rooms sooner rather than later.

On to more cabinets.... Here is the master bath, with the upgraded cherry cabinets:

This is the cabinet in the upstairs hall bathroom - the kids' bathroom:

And here is the lower level bathroom - or, Mom's bathroom!

All the doors, the mouldings, and the columns are currently stacked up in the garage.

After our house visit, we went shopping. There are a few things we will need for the house. We need furniture for the family room, a kitchen table, and a washer and dryer.

We found a sectional couch and a kitchen table at JcPenney that we like. But we're still thinking about it. We've decided not to impulse buy our furniture this time around like we did when we bought the townhouse.

However, there is a little more urgency to the washer and dryer, since we will need that right away. Can't be caught without those with these messy boys running around!!

Thankfully, Sears had many to choose from and some good deals. We went with a middle-of-the-road set by Kenmore:

They aren't the fanciest, but they have more features than the ones I had in the townhouse, so I am very happy.

We are told that the tiling will be the next thing to go in, so I guess we'll be seeing that next week! Only a few more weeks to go - final walk-through is scheduled for September 21st, and settlement is scheduled for September 25th! That's the day before we head off for our annual beach vacation, so it will be a busy time. But the good news is that we will be moving right in upon our return from OBX!

Parties, Pirates, and Fevers - Oh My!!!

The weekend started off slowly, at least for poor Tyler. He came home from daycare on Thursday with a temperature of 100, and having vomited and had... um... messy diapers during the day. So I took him to the walk-in clinic on Friday morning (by then his fever was up to 102 after the motrin wore off over night) to get him checked out. Red throat, swollen glands, but the strep test was negative. And his ears were clear. With no real diagnosis to go on, the plan was to wait out the symptoms to see how they progressed.

There was no more vomiting (thankfully), but the messy diapers and fever persisted. We spent most of Friday afternoon, and the better part of Saturday, snuggled up on the couch. As we know, Tyler doesn't normally sit still for long, and he certainly doesn't do much snuggling with Mommy, so I knew he was feeling badly!! The saddest thing was that we had to miss cousin Nathan's 4th birthday party on Saturday. Daddy and Evan had to go without us.

Here are some pics:

Before going inside, Evan had to make sure all was in order in the driveway at Aunt Ashley's.

It was a pirate themed party, and luckily Evan donned his hat long enough for daddy to get a picture!

The birthday boy!!!!!!!

Here's Evan helping Fammy entertain cousin Charlotte (she's getting so big!!)

Evan surveying the land - with his typical mouth full of food!:

At least it looks like he's eating vegetables!

He even sat at the little table with the big kids!

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by this. He is in fact older than Tyler was last year at Nathan's party when HE sat at the little table with the big kids. I still think it's pretty cute!

Unfortunately, a big storm rolled through and the party had to move inside.

Hangin' with Grandad.

Check out that cake!!! Ashley made it, and it was a pirate's treasure chest with treasure (candy) pouring out of it! Very creative! Wish I could have seen it in person, but hubby brought me home a piece so at least I can attest to it's yumminess even if I couldn't enjoy it close up!!!

PRESENTS!!!!

No idea what Evan is carrying in the above picture, I just thought it was cute.

Check out that scooter! Nathan also got a bike for his birthday so he is going to be very busy whizzing around Westhills Lane!!!

Here's Evan, sitting between Grandad and Aunt Ashley, again with a mouthfull of food!

Nathan and Evan trying out the Hungry Hungry Hippos game we got him:

It looked like a great party, and I'm sorry Tyler and I had to miss it. The good news is, by late Saturday, Tyler's fever had broken and his appetite (as much of an appetite as Tyler is capable of having) was coming back.

So on Sunday, since he was still fever-free and evidently feeling much better, I let him go to a baseball game with Daddy, Aunt Ashley, Uncle Richard, Nathan, and Charlotte. Yes, it was his first baseball game, but I don't think of it that way officially because it was a Washington National's game and he WILL be an Oriole's fan!!! :)

So here he is, with his shades, all ready to go:

You have to take a shuttle bus to get to the stadium (well, you don't have to, but it's easier than parking there), and we know how much Tyler loves buses!!

Now, don't ask me what was going on with his hair because I have no idea!

Of course, there are no pictures of him actually sitting in a seat watching the game. I guess since he'd been laid up on the couch for 2 days, he wasn't much interested in sitting still - especially in a cool place like a baseball stadium! So here are some shots of him wandering around the concourse - under Daddy's supervision of course.

I think he had fun!!! I believe the shuttle bus ride was his favorite part, as that was the only thing he talked about when I asked him about the game!

While Tyler was on his bus/baseball adventure, Evan and I headed out to check on the progress of the house.

First, note some additions to the exterior. Decorative details around the garage doors and the front door:

Also, the stairs inside the garage (leading into the house) have been installed.

Now, moving on to the inside.... THE DRYWALL IS ALL UP!!!!!

Check. This. Out.

From front door - living room and dining room.

From dining room - living room, front entryway (including coat closet and powder room).

Kitchen.

Family Room. Note the large tubs of joint compound - they were stacked up all over the house. Next step I guess!!

Safety rail installed outside family room door leading to where the deck will be - eventually!

Upstairs - looking out over open foyer.

Master bathroom!

Upstairs - standing at top of stairs outside master bedroom. Open foyer on right, Evan's room top right, laundry room straight ahead. Tyler's room is to the left of that.

Upstairs - standing in laundry room doorway. Tyler's room to my right, Evan's to my left. Master bedroom ahead on right, Baby Girl's room ahead middle, hall bathroom ahead on left.

Lower level - rec room.

Rec room - looking down hall toward mom's room.

Mom's room.


I was flabbergasted at what I saw. I knew that as of last Friday afternoon, the drywall sheets were stacked up in the rooms ready to be installed, but I never expected to see it all up by Sunday afternoon. I guess these pros work fast... So here we are, a week away from September. Word is that we will be closing before we leave for vacation on September 26th (through October 3rd) because they'll want to get the house off their books before the end of the month. This is all happening so quickly, but it's very exciting!!

Can't wait to see what the house looks like next week!!!

The Little Helper Strikes Again!!

On Sunday, Tyler helped Daddy wash Fammy's car.

He's so proud of himself too: "I helping Daddy!" It's working out nicely for Mommy too on occasion because he's very eager to throw things in the trash. So when Mommy is feeling very pregnant and lazy and needs to throw away her napkin from the big bowl of ice cream she just polished off, Tyler is at the ready! Can't quite trust him with the glass bowl yet... He's good with plastic bowls though and has been helping Grandad feed Mazie every night by carrying the bowl and placing it on the mat and calling out "C'mon Mazie! Supper!" Very, very cute.

On Monday morning, we had the framewalk at the house.

This was the opportunity to walk around and take pictures of where all the electrical and plumbing stuff is so that if we ever have issues, we know where everything is and can tell whoever comes to fix the problem. It's also an opportunity to make sure everything is in the right place before it's too difficult to move. It's a good thing they do this, because there were actually some things that were wrong. We're paying extra to have some of the cable/internet jacks and power outlets up high so we can mount flat screen TVs on the walls, and some of them weren't there. There was also a discrepancy about whether or not we were getting the columns in the living room. We know we are, but the building supervisor said we weren't. By the end of the day, it had all been hashed out between our agent, our salesperson and Tom, the building supervisor, and all was well. This means that when we visit this weekend, we should see some drywall up! They said they might possibly start on the siding this week as well! Can't wait to see it. We won't make it out there until Sunday though because on Saturday is Nathan's 4th birthday party!! We are looking forward to that as we haven't seen Ashley and her crew for a while.



After the framewalk on Monday morning, Mitch and I toured three different child care centers. The boys are now enrolled at Winwood Children's Center. It's a daycare, pre-school, and kindergarten, so it will carry them through until they are ready to go to elementary school (Glenkirk Elementary, to be exact, which is walking distance from our house). It was the best of the three that we visited and was actually quite impressive. They have these wonderful little classrooms, there is a music program, they'll learn sign language, and there is a computer lab! All food is provided (breakfast, lunch, and snack), so no more packing coolers every morning - I will NOT miss that!! They are also equipped with web cams, so we'll be able to check in on them during the day from work. It is also the one that is closest to the house, so that is a bonus as well.



Monday night was a rough one, with Evan deciding that he didn't want to sleep. He does this every once in a while. He'll just be wide awake all night. Doesn't seem to be sick, or scared, or anything, just awake. So, Mommy and Daddy end up being awake all night too. He usually falls asleep right about the time that I have to get up and get ready for work. So while we're all scrambling around getting ready and feeling like zombies, here is Evan on the couch:


He practically slept through getting dressed and didn't really wake up until he was in the car on his way to Bila's. He had a cranky day too. But, the good news is that it was only one night and he is back to sleeping normally. We should have at least a month before it happens again. KNOCK ON WOOD!!!