Framing started and the skeleton walls went up! Mr. Bill had to take the brick down. They were doing this when I got home from MOPS on Monday. The window was supposed to come out, but I think he is waiting to get some roof up before that goes.

My tub is here! It’s a garden tub. I’m excited. Mark said I’ll have to have a step ladder to get into it. This is the “bathroom” side of the addition.

Here’s the side of the addition.

We have our foundation built on solid ground not shifting sand! Here it is. I’m such a visual person, I couldn’t see how everything was going to fit, but Mark walked it out and reassured me! So, our foundation is layed. Next up, framing next week. First, the inspector has to come by and that’ll be done on Monday. Also, we have a window guy coming to give estimates on replacing our dinosaur windows! No more draftiness…ahhhh!

This hole in the side of house is for plumbing, electrical, sewer etc. Apparently, my complete lack of all things construction is causing quite an uproar (of laughter), so I think I might have to let Mark do the posting of the rest of our construction! Just tell me guys…what’s a topstitch?!! Ha!

I’m not sure I’ll get to post everyday, but I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated.

Today dawned with nothing! Finally, around lunchtime, Mr. Bill stopped by and said we had passed inspection (did you see what they did yesterday?!!…an inspection for that…wow…gotta love government). He said they would pour the concrete this afternoon and then the cement blocks and sand would be built up to complete the foundation. So far, we’re on schedule.

And, of course, they came to pour the cement right after the boys went down for their nap. They missed it all!!! But, most importantly, they slept through it all! Zoe and I watched out the bedroom window as they poured the cement. Her comment, “It looks really yucky dirty!”

Shortly after they poured the cement, the sand dump truck came. We went out to take pictures of that.

**Note: I’m basically posting these pictures, updates, because I think our nephew Jonathan would enjoy all this “boy” stuff…but I have to apologize to him because I am not very good with construction terms. I realized yesterday, we do not have a lot of “construction” vehicles or books…oops!

They came right at 8 on Tuesday with a big digger thingy and Zoe and Ace were amazed. Zoe’s comment was, “It’s bigger than our car.” Dug holes and put in steel rods and left. Not sure what’s next.

The big digger thingy! Mr. Bill called it a hoe.

Ace watching the hoe. He was wide eyed but didn’t want to get too close. He saw one of the guys using his shovel and told me he had one and had to grab it. I think he really wanted to help!

The base for our foundation. I took the opportunity while they worked to talk to Zoe about the wise man and foolish man building their homes…as Jesus talked about in the Bible. It helped her get it and I enjoyed throwing in the Scripture to teach her about building!

Prince Ace is breaking up dirt clods. As he threw them down he yelled, “It bwoke!”

And that’s the work for Day one of our construction!

Bye bye to Horton!!! We’ve painted over Horton to give the boys a more boy room feel instead of a nursery room. Ace requested blue and I tried to protest as their comforters are a navy blue…however, I was able to find a nice blue that I think matches good. There are khaki curtains on the windows. Now I just have to find airplane pictures to put up around the room. I’m looking for warplanes or vintage warplanes to put up. Liam and Ace have pictures of military aircraft on their comforters. All that’s left is to paint the top part of their closet and the trim in Zoe’s bathroom.

Before I show the pictures. I wanted to give a house update: We talked with Mr. Bill, the contractor, and our permit has been submitted and we should get that by the end next week, then construction will start!!!! YIPPEEE! I only have 17 more weeks (+/-) before Mr. Josiah gets here. Please pray that most, if not all, construction will be completed by then!

Here are the murals that were in the boys’ room, formerly the nursery. We used Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss as our theme because “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Mark and I took about a month (this was with me in school and working part-time, and Mark working full-time) to paint the murals. We scanned the pictures in and then printed them on transparency paper. Very easy and a very neat way to get a personalized room.

This was the mural over the crib. You can see the top of the crib in the left hand corner.

Our changing table/closet area. We’re all about saving space and got the idea of putting a changing table in the closet of the nursery from friends of ours (Thanks Scott & Shannon).

Close-up of the mural in the changing table/closet.

Okay, so the blue is close to the blue already in the room. It’s actually more subtle with a hint of grey in it. Appropriately, it was called “Salute” blue. This is now Josiah’s crib! Liam moved to the big boy bed with Ace on Saturday. He’s doing great in it. He sleeps closest to the wall while Ace sleeps on the outside (it’s a full size bed). Although, both the boys have been sick, they’ve been good sleepers. I found Liam, one night, curled up at Ace’s feet cuddling with them!

Last weekend, we started our end of “renovation” by redoing the kids/guest bathroom and making it into Zoe’s bathroom. We had three very good friends come over and help, and unfortunately, caught up in playing hostess, chasing three preschoolers, and helping paint, I did nto get any pictures of our friends so I’ll just send out big hugs and say thanks to Bill, Alvin, and Annette!

Zoe’s bathroom before. We had a “lighthouse” motif. Very neutral. I thought it was very nice and pretty but I also thought it would be very special for Zoe to get her own bathroom with her own pretty colors!

“Pearl Violet” on the walls.

And the finished room. My mom painted this window and when she found it, it had the purple sill already painted. I was going to try and put it in our bedroom but when we were talking about a “girls’ bathroom,” we realized that the window would work great in her bathroom. As it goes, without even thinking much about it, Zoe and I picked out a beautiful shower curtain that has butterflies on it. All the colors matched perfectly. This window and towel rack are on the opposite wall of the vanity.

The pretty shower curtain and new hand towel rack and all the pretty colors. I wish I could have had my own bathroom growing up! Lucky girl 🙂 Of course, she has to share this bathroom with the boys for a little bit longer!