Footings . . . almost

We did make it out to our hole in the ground today. The footings didn't actually get poured, but the molds (or whatever you want to call them) are up and ready for concrete. We made more progress on our contract today. I'm (optimistically) hoping to have things settled sometime tomorrow.

The Finished Product

Well, here it is . . . sort of. Aaron and I sat down with the White-out and a red pen and made our changes tonight. As Aaron so eloquently put it, "I can now add 'architect' to my resume." The plan is a full sized blueprint, so I couldn't exactly scan it and post it. But, I had to have documentation . . . and here it is. If you click on the picture you can see it larger. The dotted line that you see extending the vanity is to allow for a possible upgrade to a 60" vanity. The dotted line at the end of the hallway with the "L ?" in it is another linen possible linen closet. The builder said that he wasn't sure if it would fit, but if he finds that he can fit it during construction, then he'll put it in. Otherwise, no big deal. Angie is stopping by tomorrow to pick it up and take it to Kinko's to copy it (full sized and smaller for the contract.) Maybe I can get a small copy and share that later. : ) Anyways . . . moving right along . . .

Success!

Our meeting is now over, and was very successful. The builder and his agent were both great to work with. We are making a few changes to the floorplan. Some of them are the changes they sent over last week - we just weren't understanding the plan correctly. We will get our 2 feet back in the Great Room. The stairs will go down from the Foyer. The Pantry will be in the Kitchen (rather than right outside of it). The staircase will now be open, carpeted and separated with a half wall. We are cutting the Master Closet in half and making a super-mega L-shaped Master bath. I'm sure that's all clear as mud. I'll post a new floorplan once it's drawn up.

Side note: The hole for the basement is now finished and they are pouring the footings tomorrow. I'll have to get out there and take some more pictures tomorrow or Thursday!

A Step in the Right Direction . . . Hopefully . . .

We now have a meeting scheduled for 5:30 this evening to sit down with the builder and talk over the floorplan. The problem that we're running into now is that the builder wants to be very informal about everything. He wants us to just make our own modifications to the floorplan he sent over last week and call that good. Angie, of course, wants him to have his architect draw up the new plans before we sign off on them. So, hopefully we can get some details ironed out this evening. Once again, I find myself asking that infamous question, "Does this have to be so difficult?"

Still Waiting . . .

Well, It's now been a week since we wrote our contract, and things still aren't settled. Here begins the "fun" of building a house! : ) The builder felt the need to move some things around on the floorplan - though I have no idea why (The previously mentioned "door issue" was obviously not so much of an issue, as they didn't change that on the new plan!) It took them several days to get us copy of the floorplans after they had been modified. We were not okay with the changes they made, so Angie went back to them to let them know that. We're hoping that we can sit down and talk over the floorplan in order to let them know what we're willing and unwilling to change without having to wait several days in between their guesses at what we might like. So, right now we're waiting to hear . . . I'm sure we'll have a lot of this over the next few months. I can tell already that this is going to be an intense time of character development for me. I'm trying to wait patiently and not get irritated when things don't go as smoothly as they could . . . i.e. Why does it take 40 days and 40 nights to get a call back from the builder's agent?? This isn't a difficult thing to do . . . just pick up the phone, push the buttons and talk . . . So you get my point . . . character development . . .

The Coolest

Our friends Jim and Jessica spent most of the afternoon with us today after Jim helped Aaron move the piano. Their liitle boy, Maddux, is almost 3. He's a Daddy's boy, and his Dad will ask him "Who's the coolest?" to which he replies "Daddy is." Well, while they were at our house, Jim asked him that same question, only this time he pointed to me and said "Her is!" At least someone realizes how cool I really am.

New Toy

Thank you to Uncle Guy and Aunt Sandy! We are now the proud owners of a real piano! Right now it has taken up residence in our bedroom, since we have no other place upstairs and Aaron refuses (and understandably so) to move it into the basement. I have its home in our new place all imagined in my head. Ali is especially excited . . . not only does she have a real piano (a huge step up from the cheap Walmart keyboard that she has learned on so far) but she also has a real piano bench (a huge step up from the folding chair she has been using!) It will eventually look great in my living room, and the price was certainly right . . . it doesn't get any cheaper than FREE!

What a Beautiful Hole!

We did make it out to our hole in the ground last night. You really can't see much from the pictures, but you get a pretty good view of the land. It used to be completely wooded. When
they cleared it they left some random trees up. It will be nice to have the shade of some mature trees. I'm sure it will be gorgeous once there are leaves on them.

Here's the view of the "driveway" leading up to the hole.

Still no word on the contract. They said they needed another day . . . so hopefully we'll hear something later today. Angie said they're trying to rework the floor plan so the garage entry door and the basement door don't open against each other. Personally, I don't see the big deal, but, they're supposed to be sending over a modified floorplan today. I guess we'll see.

That Was Fast!

Well, our contract went to the seller yesterday and we expect to hear back today. Last night we got a call from Angie, telling us that the builder went ahead and broke ground yesterday! (Ordinarily they would wait for the contract to be signed, an appraisal to be done and a full loan approval to be in hand.) I guess they're eager to get a jump on things. : ) I'm hoping to get out this evening to take some pictures. It's amazing how interesting a hole in the ground can be when it will soon be your basement!

Moving Right Along

Well, we just finished writing our first book a.k.a. the contract for our house. We started at 7:30, then 3 hours and about 20 pages later our contract is ready to go to the builder. I have to say that Angie (our agent) is AMAZING!! I could never do her job. She thought over every possible detail, and was meticulous about wording . . . so that we don't end up assuming something and have trouble in the end. I'm so glad that we have her!!

So, we should hear from them in a day or two. Hopefully things can get rolling quickly.

Happy Valentine's Day . . . A Little Late

On Valentine's Morning I was down here blogging, completely oblivious to the fact that it was Valentine's Day. Aaron and I had already gone out earlier in the week and the kids had their party the day before. Once again, my brain was jumbled in house stuff.

Well, one of the disadvantages to homeschooling (in the kids' eyes, particularly) is the lack of seasonal parties. Amber and I decided to go ahead and plan a Valentine's party for them . . . and they were all beside themselves with excitement.

Our party was complete with red, white and pink everything . . . drinks, cookies, balloons, plates, napkins, etc . . . They enjoyed heart shaped PB&J sandwiches and strawberry banana smoothies. After lunch they got to deliver their valentines to everyone's "Mailboxes" and then had a blast checking out their loot.

The kids each made valentines for their Daddy . . . ironically, Julie was the one who sat and worked the most intently. (I had to practically rip the crayons from her hands for naptime. That child loves to color!) The big kids chilled out for a little while and watch a Winnie the Pooh Valentine's movie . . . and the mommies enjoyed some quiet chat time. In all, the party was a roaring success!

The Coolest Mom Ever!

Yes, and I'm so humble about it! : ) Let's face it. Most of the fun and cool things are Daddy things. I read and snuggle, teach school and make meals, do crafts and art projects. But, I rarely get down on the floor and actually play, or anything of that sort. It's fun, b/c every now and then I can really surprise the kids, and they are thrilled beyond imagination!

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A few weeks ago (yes I'm a little behind - all of this house stuff tends to make me forget that life is still going on around me!) we had Paige and Sam Elliott at our house for two days. The kids were getting antsy, and trying to make their little 1 man princess tent accomodate 3 kids. Seeing that this really wasn't working, I told the girls that if they could get the basement picked up, I would make them a fort during naptime. They did their part, and I did mine.

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I listened to them as they went downstairs to see this finished product, and it was hilarious. Ali and Emma gasped, and Paige called out "I think I'm going to cry!" I couldn't help but to laugh : )

L-R: Megan, Emma, Ali and Paige

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Needless to say, the fort made for many hours of happy playtime, until Daddy had to take it down so that he could get to the computer!

Calling All Cardboard Boxes!

Yes, I was awake at 6:15 this morning and went right downstairs to do some blogging. Sleep has become an elusive thing for me these days. I spend my waking hours thinking about painting, arranging furniture, etc . . .
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All that to say . . . It looks like the Patton family will be building a house this summer!!!
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Nothing is in stone yet . . . but barring any wierd complications, we hope to have construction done in early June (Which our builder seems to think can be done easily.)
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Right now our "home" is just a big dirt lot, so there isn't much to see, but we took this picture of another house that he built (Ours will look the same, different colors). It will sit on a 1/3 acre lot . . . which we are very excited about!

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Here's the floorplan. In all it's 1300 square feet with a full (unfinished) basement. Size wise, it's certainly no mansion, but it's bigger than what we have now. The one major change that we will be making to this plan is that we're moving the laundry room to the basement. I'm not into main floor laundry . . . not even a little bit. We will keep the hook-ups upstairs (for resale value) and add additional hook-ups in the basement. We will also be adding a laundry chute! Yee Ha!

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I took many many pictures yesterday, but am only posting a few. The one picture I didn't take is of the great room (looking from the dining room.) Oh well. Here's the kitchen . . .

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And the dining room . . .

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We were met at the house by the builder's agent, our agent, the agent of the guy whose house we were seeing and the builder himself. It was great because we could ask all of our questions, get prices on upgrades, etc . . . The builder seems awesome and very willing to work with us. Angie (our agent) was very impressed. In a market like this, he is eager to earn our business (bonus for us!) and said he could break ground next week if we're ready!
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So, here begins our adventure! I'll keep you all posted!

Algebra?

I just finished teaching my second grader her first Algebra lesson! When I looked at her lesson for today, I felt faint. How can it be possible that my baby is learning Algebra? Granted, it's very basic algebra (i.e. n+5= 9), but their were some new concepts there that took me back to my school days. She has just learned terms like equation and variable, and been introduced to the idea that whatever you do to one side of an equation, you must do to the other. She learned it all amazingly well (especiall since math isn't exactly Ali's forte). It just doesn't seem right to be learning this in second grade!

Learning My Lesson the Hard Way

I am a mother of four. You would think I would know better. I can tell my kids to take it easy when their sick, keep up their fluids, get plenty of rest, etc . . .

I should do a better job of taking my own advice.

Start Friday afternoon, I was feeling quite a bit better. The I was reminded that this weekend was "Shakespeare in a Week" - a production of a local Classical Christian school that several teenagers from our church attend. They take a week off of regular school and put on a Shakesperean production . . . This year it was The Taming of the Shrew and I didn't want to miss it. So we quick called Grandma Patton and arranged to take the girls over their at 6:30. The play was great (Very different from 10 Things I Hate About You, which was my only previous exposure to the story. Go ahead and roll your eyes - that's what Aaron did when I said that to him . . . and admittedly, I deserve it.) By the time we got the kids, got home and got in bed, it was after midnight, and I thought I was going to die. I was groaning about how I had overdone it. I went to sleep and slept until after 9:00.

The next morning I woke up feeling much better! I was so glad, and quickly developing amnesia about the night before. My Dad called about the snowman, and we decided to go. Just before we left, I got a call from the Kellers, asking us if we would like to join them for a Trivia Night that evening. We just couldn't pass that up. So we headed off to my mom's house, enjoyed our snowman making, etc . . . And this time the kids stayed at her house. We had a blast at the Trivia Night. Our table came in 2nd out of 68 . . . pretty good, I must admit. We would have come in first had it not been for one category . . . COMIC BOOKS! Grrr . . . Well, by the time we got the kids and made it home it was 11:00. Another late night, but I wasn't dying.

Sunday morning we were all well enough to go to church. Afterwards we went home for naptime. By this time, our house was a royal mess, so we had some work to do. At about 4:00 we headed over to Aaron's parents' house for the Super Bowl. I spent the first three quarters or so doing some scrapbooking, but I put my stuff away early, due to some major sinus congestion/pressure. The fourth quarter was very exciting. I really didn't give a hoot about either team. I think it would have been cool for the Pats to have a completely undefeated season, but no tears here! We managed to get home about 9:30 and get everyone in bed in time to watch House. I did my prep for our school week while watching. With a few odds and ends left, it was once again 11:00 before I got into bed.

This morning was a rude awakening for me! : ) I know . . . I deserve it. I'm hoping to take it easy today, but there is a moutain of laundry calling my name. I guess we'll see!

Snowman

On Saturday morning I got a call from my Dad. He was calling to see if we were planning to stop by at all this weekend, and by the way there's a lot of great snow here for the girls to make a snowman with (Read: Could you guys stop by? I'd really like to make a snowman with the girls.) He is a strange and funny man.
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So, yes . . . we went to see Grandma and Grandpa Klarner. You have to understand something about my Dad. He takes his snowmen very seriously. The last time he made one with my girls, he was rather disappointed b/c they are content with a dinky little thing. Once a mini snowman was made, they were ready to come inside and have hot chocolate. Well, this year I prepared them, and they were ready. I also prepared Aaron. My Dad's philosophy on snowmen is that a really great snowman requires the strength of 3 grown men to lift the second ball on top of the first. Well, 2 grown men was going to have to be enough . . . and I prepared Aaron to be one of them.
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So, they got started. The snow was awesome! It was the super-packing type, and the snowballs got big fast. Grandpa did the big ball, Emma did the middle, and Ali (after much groaning and thinking that she was being overworked) did the small one.

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Megan managed to be completely useless, and just enjoyed snacking on the snow!

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And here is Aaron's time to step in. They nearly broke their backs getting that thing up there!

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Time for the head . . . quite a bit easier!

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And here we have the finished product - My Dad is even smiling for a picture!! Obviously he had a great time. : ) The girls named him "Frosty 2" - real original, I know.

Cute!

I love this picture. Aaron and I love to curl up with a good book in bed, and it seems that Julie has picked up on that. So, when I walked into the bedroom the other day to see the two of them reading, I couldn't help but to laugh. (It's especially funny, b/c she's trying to lie down and read, like Daddy, but hasn't quite figured out how to manage the book while she's lying down . . . so she's lying down with her body, but sitting up with her head!) Of course, Aaron is reading Dickens and Julie is reading Little People, but who's counting? : ) Over these past few days, I've also found that Julie likes to escape to our bed for some private reading time. If I can't find her, 9 out of 10 times she' on our bed, looking at books.

Pictures

I must admit . . . one thing that's great about snow days . . . fun pictures!

Julie couldn't keep herself upright on the sled while Daddy was pulling her, so Aaron put her on her tummy. She loved that!


The girlies suffered from a bit of snow blindness while I was trying to get this one. They could barely keep their eyes open!

Snow Day!

I have to admit . . . for the most part, I'm not a big fan of snow days. Sure it makes everything look pretty. But . . . my husband already has a 45 minute commute, and snow just complicates that. While my other friends long for these days, I reply with "Yeah, it's just a shame that Boeing doesn't give snow days!"

Well . . . it turns out that they do! Yee ha!! Yes, Aaron is home today. It's wonderful on many different levels, not the least of which is the fact that I am still sick. Right now he is outside with all four of the girls . . . I'm so glad I don't have to be the one to do that today!

Unfortunately, my girls are learning a hard lesson . . . homeschoolers don't get snow days. Thankfully, Fridays are light for us anyway.