House Building - Week 4/5

Thursday, August 25 - Basement floor poured and cut. Garage floor prepped and ready to pour.

Wednesday, August 31 - Garage floor poured

(looking at the back side of garage floor. We have an three car garage but it is double deep behind the 3rd and 1/2 of the 2nd stall so that we can have space for our outdoor stuff and a little workshop and gardening bench for me and Kevin.)

Friday, September 2 - Floor trusses secured to steel beams and sheeting soon ready to be installed next week.

(Our first chance to stand in our basement)

(Kevin and Harrison standing by the stairwell coming down from upstairs. It will come down halfway on the left side, then come to a landing, then curve down on the right side. We will have an open hand rail around the perimeter of it upstairs)

(this is looking down the long part of the basement which we'll used for a rec room and play area - at the end by the window will be a guest bedroom some day - I hope to have French doors opening into it so that we can let the light from the window shine through when we want it, but closed when guests need privacy)

Harry Turns Three

My little baby boy isn't a baby any more. This "big boy" is just a peach and I love him soooo much. What a funny personality he has these days and he is really trying to make jokes and enjoys laughing at himself. Eventhough he is starting to become a rough and tough little boy, he still loves to cuddle up with mommy and give me the sweetest little kisses.

For his birthday, Harrison got brand new big boy bike as he'd been fighting with big sister to be able to ride his. He was really pulling for a bow and arrow and in the past day or so really wanting this shooting balls toy, so we told him that we could bring the bike back if he didn't want it. It wasn't too crazy about that idea. It's a little big for him but he rides it like a champ!

Harry's First Dentist Visit

Today everyone went down to our first dental visits now that we are back in the US. Addison unfortunately was having her first fillings put in her tiny baby molars...I felt like a horrible mother, but I guess that's what happens when you are only able to get your teeth checked once a year.

Harry got to wear sunglasses and got his teeth cleaned. He had a lot of fun and did a great job. Mommy and Daddy did good as well with no cavities to report!!!

House Building - Week 3

August 17 - PVC pipe installed on outside of garage walls, but underneath where garage and covered patio floors will be poured. They fill these with concrete and they will serve and footings for the garage and patio floors - brilliant!

These are our upgraded window wells - I didn't want the standard white ones as I am being pretty picky about making our basement not feel so much like a basement. These are a formed composite window well that looks like stone from the inside. This should lighten up the basement a bit more and make it feel a bit nicer.

August 19 - Backfilling begins

Saturday, August 20 - Backfilling complete and rough grade completed around the house.

(our backyard looking from west to east - it's a big pie shape so it goes all the way back to the corner of the corn and angles back towards the street. We have a nice big pile of black dirt left over to use for the final grading next spring)

(happy, smiling faces that the house is moving along again)

House Building - Week 2

Wednesday - August 10 - Sealant sprayed on outside of basement walls. Basement windows installed.

Friday, August 12 - Plumbing roughed in for future basement bathroom, ejector pits and sub pump along with a rough in for drain for future bar sink

Fun at the Chillicothe Pool

Today we met up with Emily Hardy and the kids at the Chillicothe Pool. The weather was a bit scary looking in the morning but by the time the pool opened it was sunny and beautiful. Nice thing was that the weather scared off all the extra people and we had the whole pool to ourselves pretty much ourselves.

Taste of Peoria - Kev's Birthday

Happy 32nd B-Day to my hubby! The kids and I made up a lovely strawberry cake for him that we enjoyed (well they all enjoyed as I'm not a huge fan of strawberry cake) after our trip out to the Taste of Peoria.

Yes, we had the most beautiful weather today and for something fun to do for Kevin's birthday we headed down to the riverfront to the Taste of Peoria.

We fought the crowds to get some food and even ran into the Vandermyde's and Murphy's (former ISE friends of ours from the UK). But the highlight of the evening was the entertainment we got from our children. They loved dancing to the music provided by the bands on the grand stand.

Our lovely little family getting back to living life and celebrating a special day.

First Week of House Building

Friday, July 26 - Temporary has been set up and house outline staked out.

(standing in front of my front door and porch)

Sunday, July 31 - Big digging machine on the lot and the water pipes hooked up.

Monday, August 1 - Hole for basement is dug!!!

Tuesday, August 2 - Footings poured for walls and supporting poles for beams.

Tuesday, August 2 (evening) - forms for exterior walls dropped off at lot.

Thursday, August 4 - Forms set up for basement walls to be poured

Friday, August 5 - Walls poured and forms pulled off.

(view from the road at our driveway and front of house)

(Addison thinks this looks pretty messy, but cool)

(The kids' favorite thing to do this week is play in the big dirt pile behind the house)

Nice!!!

Just some random pictures that all I could say was...NICE...as my reaction!

Harry enjoying his first homemade oreo milkshake....nice!

Addie enjoying her first homemade Oreo milk shake...Nice!

Harrison pulling out the ironing board to straighten out his Robin Hood outfit as I'm ironing away in the living room myself on some sewing projects...NICE!

Addison offers to help me sweep the floor but the dust gets swept under the rug...she said she learned it from watching the Snow White movie and the animals when cleaning the dwarfs house did the same thing...NICE!

Harrison searches for some clothes to wear. Said he couldn't find anything....NICE!!!!

Addison grabs some paper, string and glue and creates her own baby carrier and party hat. Way to be so intuitive sweetie...NICE!

Farmer's Market Shopping

Farmer's Markets are in full swing now during the summer time and we are lucky to have one in Metamora, but after a really quick walk through up town and a dozen ears of sweetcorn, we decided to head to Peoria's river front market.

After being spoiled with European markets for the past 4 years, I was a little let down, but then snapped out of my pre-judgements and appreciated the fact that we had something remotely like them here in Peoria. We found the busiest tent and bought a good basket of tomatoes from them to make some homemade salsa. We also bought some farm fresh brown eggs like we used to have in England. There were some really great things at the markets but I had to get used to the fact of paying that premium for farm grown products vs when going to the market in the UK where you paid much less than grocery store prices.

But it was a beautiful day and the kids really enjoyed watching the boats on the river and Kevin and I enjoyed just being out and about.

Addie Spends a Week at VBS

This week Addison got to go to Vacation Bible School at Crossroads Methodist Church in Washington. She had such a great week and met some fun little friends. Each day she had learned a new word and it floored me when she said, "Mom, we need to have more COMPASSION"! It was great seeing God work in my little girl and that she was obviously surrounded by wonderful people all week and I was so proud to watch her grow and perform in her little program at the end of the week. (She's in the middle of this picture above, to the right of the little girl in a yellow shirt)

After the program we got to go to her classroom and gather her bag of crafts that she made all week. Obviously we could see why she was so happy after every session - she got to do CRAFTS every day!

After the whole program, we got a hotdog dinner and got to go play at the huge carnival they church hosted afterwards.

After face painting, balloon animals, pig races, duck ponds, fishing games, putting games, and so much more, these two little ones were spent, but what a wonderful evening.

Gone Fishin'

Our last day in Iowa with my mom and dad, so of course we need to go fishing.

Harrison fishes with Grandpa and is totally a game hog catching loads of bass and blue gills.

This was my (well Addison's) first fish, but at least not our last. Thanks Dad for catching a picture of this monster.

This is more like it...we had a great time and caught lots of fish. One of my most favorite memories of things I did with my dad when I was a kid was going fishing and I hope to pass that on to my kids as well.