Well, hello there!

I feel like I should introduce myself! It's been an absolutely insane summer of non stop working on our house. I am so glad and relieved to say our house is done (for the most part), and we can finally relax a little and enjoy what's left of the summer. I'm hoping to start getting the blog caught up a bit, and also get caught up on reading other blogs!

Conversation

I spent almost two hours this morning (while Jaymes was napping) pulling all the weeds in our landscaping and trimming bushes (I'm addicted to trimming our bushes and have to do it every other week, don't ask me why!). While I was out there, Isabella stood there the entire time and chatted my ear off. The entire conversation revolved around this:

Isabella: Did you know I have kids, I have A LOT of kids, so many kids I had to sell my car and get a van.

Mommy: Really!? What are your kids' names, and just how many do you have?

Isabella: Well, I have like one, two, three kids. Their names are Cindy, she's a baby. The next one's name is Microphone, and the other one is Shotsy.

Mommy: Those are some interesting names!

Isabella: Well, you know I really didn't name them that, their Daddy wanted to name them that, and I was like, well okay, if you say so!

Mommy: Their Daddy is your husband I hope! What's his name?

Isabella: Yes, he's my husband, his name is Monte of course! He helps me with them when he's not at work, but you know I just have SO many kids, it's really hard for me to take care of them! Plus, you know, I have a granddaughter too! She's four. Anyway, all my kids had to go to the doctor today for checkups. And excuse me ma'am, but don't you have a baby? Because if there's ever anything wrong with him, I can fix him. Well, you know, I'm not a doctor, though, just a fixer lady.

Finally after about an hour of talking about her kids, she realized she left them all in her van! So I had to go check on these imaginary kids in her imaginary van. Thank goodness they all seemed okay since she did remember to leave the air conditioning on!

I really need to stop and remember these one on one moments with her more often. It was so much fun.

And the walls came a tumblin' down!

Yesterday was the big (and very noisy) day of taking down walls! They opened the house up into the addition, so it seems very real now.

This is as they were taking the wall down in the hallway.

The view now compared to then.

Walls had to be taken out of the office and Isabella's room in order to extend the hallway. Different walls are now up, but I don't have a picture of that.

View from the hallway looking into the new family room.

View from within

Everything seems to be coming along nicely with the house. They've been just working on the inside lately, which is good because it's been SO rainy! They've taken the last two days off, and it's been kind of nice because it's been quiet, Isabella was actually able to take a nap today. We're doing as much ourselves as we can, all of the wood trim and doors arrived today, and I will be staining and varnishing them this weekend. Thankfully my mom is coming for a couple days to help! I hate to admit it, but I'm afraid I've become a terrible mother lately. I've been stressed with all the noise, and the thoughts of how much there is to do yet, and I feel like any patience I once had has completely left me. Poor Isabella, she gets the brunt of my impatience, and I feel terrible many nights once she's tucked into bed, while I'm thinking back on the day.

Here's a couple views of the family room.

This will be our new bedroom, the doorway is going into the closet. My one regret so far is that we didn't vault the ceiling in the bedroom, now that I see how nice it looks in the family room. Hopefully there won't be any more regrets! :)

Windows and doors arrived this week, and most of the electrical is done also.

More Progress

I was excited to come home, after spending the week at my parents, and see how much progress has been made on the house. It's going fast, and should be done in about 3 weeks! It's amazing to me that in just a few short weeks it's already gone from this . . .

to this . . .

to this!

Crawling!

Jaymes officially started crawling this past week while we were staying at my parents. He was the exact same age as Isabella was when she first crawled. Nothing is safe anymore! :) He's also very quickly learning the word "no", and is just as sensitive as his sister. Now when I say "no" I have two kids bawling - Jaymes, simply because he's sensitive, and Isabella because she feels TERRIBLE for Jaymes, and can't stand to see him cry! She told me tonight that she doesn't want to cry when Jaymes cries, but she just can't help it because she feels so bad for him.

Making Progress

It seems like things are moving right along with our house. There has been SO much activity here every day! I thought I had myself prepared for the noise . . .but it's really noisy. The kids and I are heading to my parents for a while to get away from it.

They had to pour the concrete over our house, I had never heard of that. It was quite a sight!

This is what it looks like tonight!