Whose house is this?

As the kids and I pulled up to the house late this afternoon, there was a gasp from each one of us...whose house is this?!?!  Ashley remarked, "Wow - that looks even worse than when we bought it." 



Ugly!  Framing crew pulled off the front siding and the upstairs "peaks" today...



Breakfast room 3 ft. bump out...thankful we got the
foundations inspected and poured before the rain...

Front porch footers...



 Began framing laundry room...



More progress - foundations, laundry room, 2nd story overhang...

Front porch foundations ready for inspection...second floor overhang is being shortened...and the peaks will be removed...a third window will be added upstairs...

Front porch footers covered due to forecasted rain tomorrow...so
grateful the Japanese maple can stay - it's just outside the new front porch...

The foundation guy pulled out the shrubs -
several compactas and two large hollies...

New laundry/mud room framing was started today...the washer and dryer used to be in the garage...now we will have a laundry room inside, a large pantry, and a place for the kids to hang up jackets and take off shoes...

Breakfast area bump out is ready for inspection...covered to protect against rain...

Connor worked hard to remove the small wooden pieces with the carpet nails...

Pony rides and taking dominion!

The kids were so happy today!  Ms. Monica let them ride Cherry, her 26 year old Chincoteague pony!  Pony rides were not part of our deal, so this is such an unexpected treat and blessing!  Monica is so patient with the kids, teaching them how to brush the horses and take care of them.  The kids are loving it!

Hannah had a blast!

So excited!



Ashley



Connor told me later that while he was riding Cherry, he was thinking about the
movie we recently watched, Secretariat, and how fast those horses ran. 
He said he had a hard time just holding onto Cherry and she was going slow!  ;-) 
How do the jockeys hang on?

Ashley and Ty

Going around the pasture...

Hannah

Cherry is so calm, the kids can take each other for rides!

This is the largest mailbox I have ever seen! 
It's holding construction plans now, books later...

Lots of liriope (a vigorous groundcover) along here!  
The kids and I have been working hard digging it up and
throwing it in the woods!  My back is not enjoying this! 
We're planning to mulch the fenced in area soon.

*******

Our neighbor came over while the kids were riding Cherry and I asked her about snakes - how many they've seen, etc.  We saw a few last year and haven't seen any yet this spring.  I've been praying that God would just say the word and cast them off our property!  She said they have killed 30-40 in the last 3-4 years.  Yikes.  Not what I wanted to hear!  I know I might offend some people, but if it slithers, it's dead.  My goal is to kill any and all snakes.  I don't care what type they are or whether they are "good" or "bad".  Dead.  I know God made them, but as far as I'm concerned, they are part of the curse from Eden.  They even look like the devil.  So...this property has been uninhabited by humans for 18 months or so and we're taking dominion over the land (or at least trying to).  Shortly after my conversation with the neighbor, I had the opportunity to exercise my convictions!  I turned over a brick in the backyard and behold - there was a 10 inch snake or so (ie, very little!).  It was embarassing.  It is dead, but I need to improve my technique and not scare the neighbors!  ;-)  I will be heading to Lowe's to buy a supply of flat head shovels...one for the front of the house, one for the back, one for the barn, one for the shed...I need to always have one handy...preferably with a really, really long handle...

Wow! What a difference!

I couldn't stand it!  I just had to see what the framers got done Friday, so we all headed over after dinner.  Surprise!  These framers continue to amaze us - and it's only Day 2 (Friday, April 8)!  They assembled and installed the LVL, removed all the temporary supports, loaded Big Red again with demo material, removed the cabinets in the breakfast area, and added some extra support in the basement.  If all of the parties would move as fast as these guys, we would be done by May!  We are so impressed that we now plan to have them also demo the bathrooms (it would take us forever), and remove/install the siding and windows.  These guys are good.  Such a blessing!

On Saturday (today), we met with the plumber and foundation guy.  The foundation work is supposed to start and finish on Monday.  Mr. Dean from church also met with us and surveyed some of the lines/pins that we weren't sure about.  He confirmed that our blueberry bushes are indeed well on our property!  ;-)

Another layer of wallpaper!  This was hidden behind the
remaining cabinets that the framers removed!  Ugh.

Wow!  LVL and columns installed!  We cannot believe how open this is! 
And we cannot believe that the framers got all of this done today!

So open!  Big improvement!  Thank you, David!  Great job!

I was actually surprised that this column (left) was not larger.  Steve is known to be very thorough and include big safety factors, so I was expecting something...beefier.  This is essentially holding up the middle of the house!  I have, however, been assured that this column is more than adequate!  ;-)

Such a big difference!  This change helps a lot - it's not so boxy anymore!

Scott is so strong!  Three walls have been removed
(1 will be moved a few feet and rebuilt for the laundry room)...

The framers removed the plywood that had mold growing on
it from the leaky ice maker and replaced it with new plywood.

Added some new supports in the basement.  Not quite done...
this is to address the heavy brick floor that is partially hanging over the basement...

It's amazing that the LVL and 2 columns replace that entire structural wall!

Studs are gone!  Looking straight through
from the family room to the school room!



Getting a surveying lesson with Mr. Dean this morning...surveying equipment
has come a long way since Scott and I took surveying in college!  Unreal!



Sawdust is flyin'!

Wow - the framers are rolling!  Lots of action today (this was actually the update from Thursday, April 7; we've had some blog issues)!  Grateful!  They removed the structural wall between the family room and kitchen, and set up temporary supports.  They also removed the drywall ceiling in the new schoolroom.  This room used to be a front porch and then was doubled in size and closed in for a sunroom.  You can see the old front porch roof which was "hidden" by the drywall ceiling.  The exterior roof was placed over this one.  Very pleased with this contractor so far...

Beautiful day!  Happy to see work trucks!

Future school room - ceiling removed...
this beam and the old porch roof will be removed.

The framers removed all of this on Thursday.

Structural wall is now removed and a temporary support
system is set up while they assemble the LVL.

Here's the wood for the LVL - big boys!

The right half is the old front porch roof with the left half
showing the newer roof that covered over the entire room.

Looking through the temporary supports towards the front of the house.

The dogwoods and Japanese maple are brilliant! 
The Creator is showing His creativity!

Scott and Big Red taking another load of debris to the landfill.

Uncovering the steps - what's under this worn green carpet?

Another beautiful dogwood...

Tulips that we planted in the fall...

Hannah coaxing Cherry to the fence...

Cherry and Justice (Ty was hiding in the shed) - these guys eat ALL of the time!
*******
So thankful for all of the work the framers got done today...so encouraged!

Late night...

Scott and Connor workin' hard!  The last bit of particle
board and triple linoleum!  Almost done!

It was a pretty night tonight...

Ashley's helping out too - that floor is tough!

Ashley pulling out nails...

Daniel's gettin' into it...clean-up crew...
Connor is becoming an expert at levers and demolition!

Daniel - only 3 years old...but he's seen this a few times...

Where's Hannah?  There she is taking out lightbulbs -
not gonna use this fixture...Hannah does a great
job of helping take care of Daniel and making
sure he doesn't get into too much trouble!

Daniel just has all the tools!  He's quite the helper tonight!
"Like this?"

Foyer - looking from the new kitchen to the dining room...
The framer has a challenging job leveling all of the subflooring so that the hardwood floors will all be one level on the first floor.  The foyer now drops about 2 inches because of the green brick we removed.  He will also need to bring the "brick room" height up slightly.

New school room - this ceiling is coming out -
fortunately, we'll let the contractor tackle this one. 
This used to be a front porch before it was closed in...

Just a tiny bit of the floor is left to be removed. 
The contractor will also remove these cabinets.

Ashley being such a good big sister...
"teaching" Daniel how to remove nails...



*******

We all headed over to Forge after dinner just to "double check some measurements"...right...We ended up removing most of the remaining flooring and loading all the debris into "Big Red"...we didn't get "home" (ie, rental) until 10:15 pm!  The kids are troopers!  Almost forgot - we had a nice surprise when we arrived at Forge this evening - Ms. Monica (the horses' owner) was riding Ty and let the kids go into the pasture to pet her horses, help brush them, and put the saddle away.  The kids were THRILLED!!!