Progress...but not pretty!

 We are in the demo phase.  We have made big progress...Nate will read this and insert an "I" (as in Nate) for the we.  I'm moral support and I keep the kids entertained and to bed on time.  

This is the back of the house with the greenhouse tore off.  The deck on the right hand side is also no more and the porch is also coming off.

  For those who do not know...the plans are to put an addition on the back of the house.  It will be roughly 25ft wide and 50ft long.  So the length will be about the length of the current house.  There will be a new deck & porch on the right hand side of the house.

This is where the greenhouse used to be.  You can see the sliding glass doors on the top floor that walked out to the spiral staircase.

Shay's room.  The wood floors have been taken out.

We are going to sell our interior doors and cabinetry at Sharpless Auctions.  Nate is getting ready for a load to be picked up.

The kid's bathroom.  The cabinetry is all pulled out on the left, the toilet gone and the glass doors on the shower gone.  This bathroom will be made bigger and the layout will completely change.  Each kid will have their own vanity, a separate room for the bathroom and door into the laundry room!!!

Mom is supervising while the boys (Nate, my dad and Tom) remove the kitchen cabinets.  This was no easy task for the upper units.  Apparently they put those babies in with no intention of EVER taking them out.

My goal is to take lots of pictures!  With the money I made from selling stuff during the move I'm buying a new camera!!!  I hope to document this entire process!

***On a side note, we never turn down free help ;)  But always feed them!!!

Monday Funday!

 Shay had Sydney (best buddy from Kids Depot our old daycare center) over on Monday for a couple of hours.  They had not seen each other in a LONG time, but picked up quickly where they left off.  We painted fingernails, played house, ate lunch and of course had to swim.  The girls just loved playing together.

 It was hard to get them to stand still!  We are so lucky to be staying with Mary and Tom during the summer.  The kids love swimming and having their buddies over.

 Conley is learning the ropes as a beekeeper.  Tom suited him up on Monday while the girls were swimming.  Conley was bummed he couldn't have a friend over, so Tom distracted him with some bee work.  Conley LOVED it!!!!  He was hands on with the bees and didn't get stung.

 The future beekeeper.  If you are in need of honey or bee pollen...we can hook you up!

Grandpa and Conley off to work.

We did many other fun things this past weekend, those posts will come soon.  Nate raced a nascar car at Newton Speedway on Monday (a gift for his birthday), I took many pictures of the house in progress and I still have pictures from Shay's preschool graduation.  I will soon be caught up!

Our new home!

We have officially moved out of our house.  ALL of our belongings are in a storage unit except our clothing and business/office necessities.  It is weird to only have that little amount to be responsible for.  We are extremely thankful to Nate's parents who graciously offered to take us in.  This is a huge blessing for Nate to be able to work on the house (they live 2 doors down from our house).  We are hoping to have our remodel/addition completed by Christmas or BEFORE!!!

 Our new room.  This was Nate's room growing up.  The desk cabinetry was already there.  Of course (no surprise) an unmade messy bed...our specialty.  Our room is right across the hall from Conley and Shay.  Both rooms are huge and provide lots of room for the stuff we moved in :)

 Of course we didn't want to put our tv in storage so we brought it with us.  It is HUGE for this room.  Nate's parents have CABLE!!!  We are slowing becoming addicted.  Luckily this is temporary ;)

 Nate hard at work!  He has the BEST work ethic and is extremely talented at what he does.  Fortunately the desk was already in this room, we just brought the two file cabinets on the right.  We are still organizing our stuff, but it is feeling like home :)

 For those who have not seen our remodel blue print...I am getting a HUGE closet.  It is one of my demands.  I only had 2 non-negotiable items...BIG closet and a laundry ROOM.  I am getting both...yeah!!!  Here we are stuffed into a big closet (yet not big enough).  We have sold a TON of our stuff...love that purging process (big shocker).

 Of course, still awake.  The kids are sharing Mindy's room growing up.  It is huge and has a huge closet. They are sharing a king size bed and are doing great.  Shay does not require much sleep and does not go to bed early.  Usually she lays quietly until she falls asleep.  Conley is asleep the minute his head hits the pillow.

 A wall of closets.  Nate's winter clothing is at the end and the kids take up the front half with clothing and a few toys I let them bring over.

Shay pretended to sleep for the picture.  Shay was showing me what Conley and Shay sleeping looks like (her words).  This transition has gone quite well.  We are excited for the changes to our house.  It will be a busy summer but we are ready!!!  Feel free to visit us anytime at our temporary home!

Lumberjack...take 2!

 The trees behind our house have come down...or been forced down.  They needed to be taken down before any construction started.

 Any opportunity to break out the chainsaw is a good thing around here.  Nate quickly brought down the 3 trees along the back and the tree & bushes on the west side.

 The lumberjack hard at work!

 Of course his helpers had to get out in the action.  Prior to this picture they were scooping up dog poop and dumping it in the woods.  Nate paid them a quarter for every pile of poop...they are trying to earn money to spend at the ice cream store down the street when it opens.  

 Here is the pile of limbs and branches.  Many of you can guess that this pile will be blazing soon enough.  Pyrotechnics are Nate's specialty!

For some reason this picture turned out dark, but the entire length of the picture is a wood pile.  We are not putting a wood burning stove in the remodeled house, so if you know someone in need...send them our way.

Slip n Slide!!!

 The best slip n slide EVER!!!  Nate put a HUGE HUGE HUGE piece of plastic on the west side of the house and watered it down!  The kids had a BLAST!!!

 Shay was a little hesitant at first, but then got the hang of it.  This occupied much of Saturday and almost all day on Sunday.  I see many slip n slide parties in our future!

 Shay had just as much fun hosing down the plastic.  Sunday Nate hooked up the sprinkler which kept the plastic continuously wet and was fun for the kids.

Not pictured (I was working) but Sunday added more "tricks" to the activity.  Of course it became a great idea to put a little dawn dish soap on the plastic to increase speed.  Then they (Nate) added garbage bags...the kids would get inside of them (separately and together in one) and slide down.  I'm sure other tricks occurred that were kept a secret.

We have no food!

 Those that know us well, or have seen our fridge on any given day...know we have no food.  We don't keep a full fridge.  We live day to day, although I try to shop weekly for groceries.  Thankfully we are not big eaters!  Of course in the midst of packing our house, baseball, work, dance and much more, a rental unit's fridge pooped out.  Of course we gave them our fridge and are using the "apartment" size fridge that was in our basement when we moved in.  This is the first time EVER that our fridge has been full.

I'm sure many are noticing this full fridge does not offer many meal possibilities...that's how we roll!!!  We decided we would use this fridge for the last couple weeks we are in this house.  We are moving into Nate's parents house in a couple weeks so the remodel/addition can start on our house.  I am more than excited and cannot wait for my new house!!!