Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Drywall, drywall and more drywall!!

I am so excited to tell you all that the drywall is (almost) finished.  There are still closets, bathrooms and other random pieces to go up but that is all!  I know, I know, you are probably so tired of hearing about drywall.  It makes the place look so different.  Lots of pictures to share, I think I took a picture of every single room.
 Jackson's room.  This room basically stayed the same in size.  We moved the doorway a little because of widening out the stairs.  We added the closet and removed 2 windows.
Other side of Jackson's room.  There also used to be an access door to above what was the kitchen on the right wall, that was removed.
 Tristan's room.  This room also stayed roughly the same size.  Again, we added a bigger closet and removed 2 windows.
                                        
Tristan's room.  The closet we made bigger.
 I'm standing in Jackson's doorway looking into the hall.  The doorway on the left goes into the new bathroom (it used to be a small bedroom) and the doorway on the right is a hall closet we added.
 Standing at the top of the stairs.  Straight ahead is Tristan's room.  Jackson's room on the right.  Bathroom and hall closet on the left.
 Master bedroom.  The doorway on the right will be the bathroom and the doorway on the left is our closet. This space has been added on and is above the garage.
 This is the loft area at the top of the stairs.  We walk thru it to get to our bedroom on the left.  This is all new space.
 This is the dining room looking into the living room (old kitchen).  The area on the right is for the built-in that will go back in.  The dining room is pretty much the same size as before, we widened the doorways to the living room and kitchen (old living room), got a larger picture window, replaced the two windows to the east and removed the door to the porch.
 This is the living room (old kitchen and summer kitchen).  The doorway will be a pocket door and goes into the entry way.
 The other side of the living room (old kitchen/summer kitchen).  We added the formal entrance as well as the small closet in the corner.
 The is the kitchen (old living room).  The doorway is the pantry, we plan to use the old porch door from the old dining room for the door here.  Behind where I'm standing there is a door that goes out onto the deck/porch.
 I'm standing in the corner of the kitchen (old living room).  On the left is the dining room, to the right is a new hallway that leads to the entry way and garage.  There is a bathroom down that hallway on the right as well as a small broom closet.  I couldn't even begin to explain what this used to look like.  There were many walls that got torn down to make it like this.  The bathroom and hallway used to be Grandpa and Grandma's bedroom.  We also widened and elongated the stairs.
 My pictures are out of order.  This is back in the dining room.  To the left is the kitchen (old living room).  As I said, this room stayed about the same size.  There used to be a door between those windows but we moved it around the corner into the kitchen and then put the windows back in (they had been there before underneath everything).  The door that was between the windows is the door we plan to use for the pantry.  This room has so much light coming into it and I love that.
This is what's left of our drywall supply.  And as you can see, the garage still needs to be drywalled.

So much has changed with the drywall being up.  We've had so much great help too!  We have fantastic friends and family who are willing spend their day helping and we appreciate it so much.  

Saturday, March 16, 2013

We have drywall!

Last weekend Karsten and friends/family got to work putting up all that drywall we had delivered.  It looks great!  So nice to see drywall up.  Here are a few pictures.
 Jackson's room
 I'm standing in the loft area at the top of the stairs, the door goes into our bedroom.
 Tristan's room
 Our bedroom, southwest view
 Our bedroom, looking towards the bathroom and closet
 Kitchen
living room

We had some great help this weekend and are so glad they'll come and help us out.
Hopefully the next pictures will be of more walls done, that's what he's doing today and tomorrow.

Karsten's birthday

Karsten's birthday was over a week ago.  It's been a super busy week so I am just now getting pictures up.  After picking up the boys one day we stopped at Farm and Home to pick out his birthday presents.  I started this last year and they just loved getting to pick out what they give their dad.  Jackson had in his head that his dad needed a new big pocket knife so that is what he found.  Tristan started out wanting to get him a hammer but I think he got overwhelmed at the selection at the store.  He ended up picking out some clamps that he was sure his dad needed.  We then stopped at the grocery store to pick out a cake mix (no home made cakes in this house).  Last Friday we got to work before the birthday boy got home. 
 Jackson busy decorating his wrapping paper.
 Tristan's all ready for the birthday boy to get home!

 They picked out a pink cake, of course.  Here they are busy decorating the cake with all the sprinkles you could ask for.
 Our finished product
 They attacked him when he walked in the door.  They were so excited to give him their gifts and cards.
 Such wonderful presents!
Love this one, everybody blowing out the candles.

We had arranged for a sitter for that evening as well and met up with some friends for supper.  It was a very nice evening with friends visiting.  Hope Karsten had a great 34th birthday!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Special Delivery

We received a pretty big delivery yesterday out at the farmhouse.  It's the moment I've been waiting for for a long time now....

IT'S DRYWALL!!!

I have seriously been waiting for this for a while now.  Karsten has been working his butt off out there but it hasn't been the big noticeable stuff, ya know.  I'm very anxious for some drywall to go up because then it finally looks like something.  He's lined up some helpers for the weekend so hopefully they can get a lot done.  I have to work this weekend so I can't wait to see what all they've accomplished.

Oh, and by the way, this isn't even all of what we've ordered :)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Heat please...

Back to the farmhouse updates.  Once again, there's not much BIG news to report out there.  Karsten has been very busy continuing to work on running the heat lines.  I didn't realize this took so long but after spending a little time out there, I understand a little more.  Almost all of the exterior walls have insulation in them and he has started to put the plastic barrier up as well.
 This is looking into the downstairs bathroom.  It used to be Grandpa's bedroom.  See the heat pipes?  We plan to make a built-in closet area on that wall to cover the pipes.

This is the other side of that wall.  This is part of the addition, there actually used to be a tree in that corner as well as a chimney.   This room is an entryway and we plan to have a laundry area in this corner.  

 Can anybody guess what these boxes have in them??  You guessed it!  Kitchen cabinets!!  They were delivered on Valentine's Day.  I know, I know we are soooo not ready for them.  But, I didn't want to have to wait for them when we are ready.  It's also kind of nice to spread out the expenses a little.  Whew!  I peeked in one of them and am very pleased with what we picked out.   Can't.wait.for.my.kitchen.

And now just a couple pictures of what the boys do when we are all out there....
 Riding bikes thru the house, they love this!  Hope it's not a major issue when they have to stop!
Then they decided these bags of insulation looked like good horseys...

As you can see we are still working really hard out there!  

Saturday, February 16, 2013

birthday party

We celebrated Tristan's 3rd birthday last night with our usual family gathering.  On the menu was lasagna, garlic bread, veggies with dip, strawberries and black olives.  As usual, we had a great evening with family.
 Tristan originally told me he wanted a "candy cake".  I think his brother helped him with this idea.  I googled candy cake and found a picture pretty similar to this.  All I had to do was show it to my friend and coworker Jeri Kay and this is what she came up with.  Awesome!
 Birthday boy having some supper.  Black olives are his favorite!
 Blowing out the "3" candle!
 Tristan also told me he wanted a pink cake.  He has always liked the color pink.  So Jeri Kay and I decided to do a white cake but color it pink.  Tristan loved it!  Oh yes, and the cake tasted just as good as it looked.
 Present time!
 Road grader from Grandma and Papa
 Spiderman toy from Uncle Mike
 A can of black olives from Grandma and Papa
 Trampoline from Grandma Shirley
His something you need present, new shoes!

For birthdays I've trying to do the "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read".  That way, the boys get 4 presents and it's not all toys.  Tristan got shoes for his something you need (his are getting too small), he got an ambulance for something you want, a Spiderman t-shirt for something to wear and "The Lorax" for something to read.  

I think Tristan had a pretty great 3rd birthday!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Tristan

3 years ago...
2 years ago...
1 year ago...
Today...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISTAN!!!