Drywalled!

Our ducting and heat pump installation is complete.  We have several items we need to fix but the contractors are gone and not coming back.  We're not entirely satisfied but we don't need to turn on the system for awhile.  As Chris said, "we didn't pay for the white glove service" so I guess we got what we paid for. 

My parents came down this weekend to help out.  Chris and my dad worked on some final framing/flooring items and installed a lot of drywall.  Chris was also off work yesterday due to the snow so he was able to finish up a lot more.  Here are some before/after shots of the space:

While the boys were upstairs, my mom and I worked on spring cleaning and pre-baby nesting.  There was a lot of sorting through stuff and it wasn't fun.  We did a good cleaning of each room to remove the dust from the HVAC work.  It's nice to have it mostly finished!

On Saturday, I went to get my hair chopped off for donation.  These aren't the best pictures but it shows how much I had removed.

Here are some pictures of Samantha from this week.  She loves hoarding her toys.

She had fun using puffy paint.

She was great at color sorting cereal on shamrocks.

 

 And she enjoyed the snow cream I made yesterday after our bit snowfall.

This week should be spent upstairs with a lot of drywall compound and possibly painting this weekend (I'll keep my fingers crossed!).

Duct, Duct, Wire!

What a big (and dusty) week it's been here.  We hired a company to install our HVAC system (yes, all these years and we haven't had any central AC).  They were here two days installing ducts in the attic.  They have another day this week to finish up the install but there's already a lot of duct in the attic.

In order to put in the vents, they needed to cut into the ceiling plaster. 

I forgot how much dust plaster cutting creates.  Basically, every surface in the house was coated with a fine plaster dust layer. 

I had covered many things with sheets, etc. but it wasn't enough to eliminate any cleaning.  I think I vacuumed the house 5 times in the last week...with much more to do next week.  

We had an electrician come by on Sunday to install the high voltage wire for the air handler and condenser.  He will have to come back this week for the final hookup but it was great to have the rough in complete. 

Chris also got a lot accomplished by roughing in the wiring for the upstairs renovation.  This included moving a couple lights and switches, installing four new lights, and installing several outlets. 

Samantha and I had to hibernate in the basement while the HVAC guys were here so we weren't able to get out or do many crafts this week.  I think it's catching up to her because she has a LOT of energy today!

The weekend was beautiful and we were able to start all of our seeds for the garden this year.  We set up out on the deck and planted our tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, herbs, and some random veggies, as well as some marigolds.  Samantha had a good time playing in the dirt and planting her own flowers and tomato plant.  Hopefully she'll enjoy watching the plants grow and helping care for them.

This week we have more dust producing happening but we'll finally have an HVAC system!

Plumbed!

I don't have any photos of upstairs work to post this week but it doesn't mean Chris was slacking.  On the contrary, he worked hard to finish up the rough in plumbing for the upstairs bathroom.  Most of this work though is buried in the floor, the walls, and the attic. 

There is still some electrical work to finish, floor boards to put back in place, and some random items to complete before we can start hanging drywall. 

It was a pretty quiet week here but Samantha had a great time chasing boys around the house when our friends came over for a play date.  We also went to a play date to make some lion crafts (March comes in like a lion!).

Besides that, here is a picture of Samantha after she dressed herself (apparently she doesn't think sleeveless shirts are only for summer!).

A couple big things for the upcoming week:  The HVAC guys start installation tomorrow on our ducting and my parents will be driving down this upcoming weekend to help hang drywall upstairs.  We will hopefully have a lot of progress to show for it!

What Studs!

We had a lot of snow this week!  After about 13 inches of snow, we got a lot of rain/sleet mix followed but a few more inches.  I think overall we ended up with 17 inches.  Samantha wasn't too thrilled because it was a little too deep to make snow angels!

Chris has been working hard on the upstairs.  He has worked a lot on the plumbing and putting up the first of the wall framing. 

He wasn't able to work as much this weekend as he had hoped because we did a couple fun things instead. 

Samantha has been talking about Mickey and Princesses for a while so we took her to see Disney on Ice with some friends.  She really seemed to enjoy it (after the first few minutes anyway!). 

The second fun thing of the weekend was a baby shower thrown by my book club.  They are such a great group of women!  They hosted a wonderful brunch and had everyone bring meals to stock our freezer (so I won't have to try to cook for a little while with two young kids). 

The one hostess is exceptionally talented for cookie decorating - look at that adorable book worm onesie cookie!

I'll end with a couple funny things from the week. 

Samantha has learned where the phone belongs...although I'm not sure her play phone will get charged this way!

And last is Samantha singing "Twinkle Star."  Her version goes like this:
"Twinkle star, what you are, bap bap high, diamond sky, twinkle star, what you are"

Hopefully we'll be able to post more upstairs progress next week!

Moving Tons of Debris

This week was all about demolition, moving things, and a little girl's birthday. 

We finished up the demolition of the upstairs.  My parents were here over the weekend and helped get everything out of the house and to the dump.  After the upstairs was cleared of debris, we went and bought a lot of stuff - studs, drywall, plumbing and electrical supplies, etc., etc.  Fortunately, my dad was able to help Chris move everything upstairs - I think my big belly would have gotten in the way!

I hosted a birthday play date for Samantha's friends.  We had some fun, did a couple crafts, made some pizza, and ate cupcakes.  She had a great time!

 While my parents were in town, we celebrated with some cake (of course!) and presents.  Samantha needs work on her candle blowing technique - she did eventually get it though!

This girl is very spoiled...too many presents!

She loved all of them though - and was very quick at opening them.

She does like to be a princess!

And I'll end this week with a video of her playing with some bubble wrap:

We may be expecting some snow this week...maybe Chris will have an extra day off work (at least we can hope!).

Two Years Go So Quickly...

Happy Birthday Samantha!

It Always Looks Worse...

With only two months before Baby #2 arrives, it is past time to get the guest suite finished.  We had a lot of things stored up there so it took awhile to move it all to the basement.  So Saturday night after Samantha was in bed, we started demolition. 

Demolition is always fun because it's quick and the changes are very drastic.  We went from having a useable bedroom, living room, and bathroom...

...to this:

Chris spent Sunday morning after church demolishing most of the ugliest bathroom in the world.

We're so happy to have that gone! 

One interesting ridiculous thing about the upstairs is the quantity of different tile on the floor.  From what we can see, there are seven different types/patterns of tile. 

The next couple months will be spent finishing this space and hopefully we can beat the arrival of the little one!

Speaking of the arrival of the little one, I had a couple (also pregnant) friends over on Saturday to make some freezer meals.  We spent a couple hours prepping and assembling meals.  It was a lot of food but we'll now all have 9 meals in the freezer ready for the crockpot so we can spend time caring for our newborns.

I'll end with a picture of Samantha and her favorite toy.  She has been asking us to take pictures of her bear recently (and all his body parts:  "Bobo's elbow," "Bobo's foot," etc.).

Let's hope that we can get a lot of the upstairs work accomplished in the next few weeks!