Wrapping, Roofing, Windows, and Doors

This weekend, the frenzied building pace continued. By the end of the weekend, the roof had been finished, the whole house wrapped and most of the windows and doors had been installed -- amazing! I've heard that this part of the process always seems to go fast, then in contrast, the rest of the house seems to go at a snail's pace. Here are some more pictures of the outside of the house...





Here are a few of the inside of the house, too. I'm sure it's hard to make out what most of this is, but I figured it would be interesting to look back on once the house is finished.

Here is the view looking out our front door.


Here is a peek at the kitchen and eating area.


And, finally the fireplace


Also, here's a copy of the Floor Plan. Although, keep in mind, our house is the mirror image of this one, and we've added on a covered rear porch instead of the small patio. (BREAKING NEWS...my incredibly awesome husband flipped the picture and drew in a covered back porch and labeled all the rooms because the labels had flipped with the picture...what would I possibly do without him? He is the best husband in the whole wide world. Have I mentioned what a wonderful person he is? Really. If you feel the need to acknowledge his computer prowess, he accepts payment in Pepsi and Double Bubble.) I realize it's a very small image. As always, you can click on the image to make it bigger, and once in the other program you can click on it once again to see even more detail.

All Framed Up

This past week brought any amazing amount of progress in the building of our new house. First, for the framing...

Here's a view of the left side of the house -- these windows will be Elijah's, Keira's, our master bathroom and one of our master bathroom's -- although it's a little hard to see all of them. In front, with the large header, is the garage.


Here's a view of the back of the house.


And, the front of the house



Then, the next few days, they completed the framing, making it look even more like a house.



Here are Keira and I standing on our soon to be front and back porches.

A Sunday in Atlanta

Last Sunday, over Labor Day Weekend, we spent a leisurely morning in Atlanta. It was a beautiful, breezy fall morning. Even though our afternoons are still frequenting the 90's range, the mornings have been mild and pleasant. We were long overdue for a Trader Joe's run and Eli mentioned that he was interested in visiting Piedmont Park. We decided to combine the two and make a morning out of it. We started in Piedmont Park and went to one of Eli's very favorite playgrounds. Scott and I were both impressed with the work that's been done on Piedmont Park since our last visit. The city pool next to the playground is nearly resort quality and cheaper to swim in than Peachtree City pools. It's definitely something to keep in mind for next summer. Although, next summer, we'll be a two minute walk from our community swimming pool. The subdivision amenity center is something I forgot to mention in my last house post. We will be living behind the community swimming pool, awesome playground, basketball courts, tennis courts, small workout center and giant play field. The community amenities are another huge plus to our new house.

But, I digress, back to our last Sunday in Atlanta... As I said, we started our morning with some play time at the playground in Piedmont Park. It's always been one of Eli's favorites, and it didn't disappoint. The last time we visited the playground was over a year and half ago, and in terms of Eli's physical skills, that eighteen months made a huge difference. His favorite playground element this time was something that he couldn't even play on solo our last visit. It's these swinging stepping stone/pole things. He spent a lot of time navigating his way across.




Keira also enjoyed the park. She was in awe of all the big kids running around and spent a lot of time just watching the mayhem.


Her favorite element was the swings.



After spending a few hours at the park, we headed to Trader Joe's. It had been about two years since we'd been and we remembered why we love it so much. Too bad they won't open one locally. :( Although, it does make a good excuse for heading to the big city from time to time. Now that Keira doesn't detest the car maybe we'll start going regularly again. After a healthy shopping run, we drove home and within minutes both kids were sound asleep in the back seat. All in all, it was an enjoyable and productive Sunday morning in Atlanta.

Medical Drama and Cuddle Bunnies

I almost hate to say it, lest I jinx it, but my children's amazing relationship continues. Even when Eli's grumpy and defiant to Scott and I, he's still loving, affectionate and protective of his little sister. Like any transition, Eli starting school, has been a little rocky. And, like any transition, his behavior has suffered. I'm sure his medical drama hasn't helped the situation.

First, he missed his third day of school because of his asthma. I took him to the doctor because he had been wheezing, coughing and not sleeping well, two nights in a row. He had a virus that complicated his asthma, which we were disappointed to find out he hadn't outgrown, as we'd previously thought. All told, on that Thursday, I gave him eight puffs of Albuterol and he had a breathing treatment. When his breathing didn't improve by the evening we decided to take him to Chidren's Hospital in Atlanta. Fortunately, they didn't have to admit him. They gave him another breathing treatment. The higher dose and added decongestant seemed to do the trick. But, the emergency room doctor was worried that it had taken him that much Albuterol to turn the corner. So, along with his steroid inhaler and rescue inhaler that the pediatrician had prescribed, the E.R. doctor prescribed oral steroids, too. I was glad he did, it took Eli about four days before I really heard his lungs clear. But, oral steroids are famous for being mood altering. For those five days, Eli seemed to enter an extremely early adolescence. He was wired and crazy one minute and weepy and sad the next. Crazy! I'm sure the two puffs of albuterol every four hours only increased his wild mood.

Then, to add insult to injury, on the evening of his fifth day of school, we found out that Eli is definitely allergic to pecans. He's now had a reaction to almonds and cherries (which are in the same family) and pecans. On that Thursday evening, we went to a little classic Southern restaurant for Scott's school's Spirit Night. Spirit Nights is when a restaurant agrees to give a part of their proceeds to the school for the evening. They are usually quite popular. While we can't afford eating out much, we do try to attend a few Spirit Nights a year, usually at the beginning of the year. Scott felt especially obligated to go to The Fork in the Road's Spirit Night as one of his student's parents' own the restaurant. We had a delicious meal, then for dessert, Scott and Eli decided to share a slice of Coca Cola cake for dessert. Coca Cola Cake is a Southern classic where they use Coke to make a chocolate cake even more sweet and rich. Unfortunately, the frosting was filled with pecans. Within minutes of eating the dessert and possibly ingesting two whole pecans at most (he tried to pick out most of them.) Eli looked pale as a ghost and said he didn't feel well, like he was going to throw up. Again, unfortunately, the restaurant ran out of credit card paper and we had to wait around with a sick kid for another fifteen minutes. The delay meant that Eli threw up in the car on the way home. Poor kid, poor carseat, poor car. He threw up again at home, then fell asleep, woke up crying an hour later and was covered in a rash. The rash sealed it -- it was definitely an allergic reaction.

All told, his steroids, inhalers and throwing up have complicated his start of school. Finally, now, I feel like he's settling into it. But, those first two weeks were hairy at best. But, as I said, no matter how wild or naughty Eli is one thing remains the same -- he's always wonderful and cuddly with his sister. His name is the first thing she says when she wakes up and she likes nothing more than to crawl all over him. The other night, in fact, it was when we were at the Fork in the Road's Spirit Night, Eli told me that he loves Keira a little more than me, because she can lay on him.

Catching Up on Lot 2 -- Sold Sign and Forms

The building of our house is getting exciting! Last week they started framing it. Visiting the lot and looking through our windows (holes) made it feel so real. It was the single most exciting house moment in a long time. I don't have any pictures of the framing to post right now, but I do have to catch up on other pictures.

Before last week, the exciting news was a sold sign on the property and forms. If you are anything like me, you may not know that forms are the wooden parts that they lay down before they pour the foundation. They are not paperwork. ;) Hee hee...




I realized after receiving emailed questions from friends reading the blog that I haven't supplied much information about our new house. So here goes... It's a four bedroom, two and a half bath, ranch that is a little over 2,600 square feet. The square footage is extremely exciting, considering that right now our house isn't even 1,100 square feet. Our new house will be more than double the room! Some of the features that I'm most excited about are the covered porches -- front and back, less mosquitoes in the back yard, an island in the kitchen, marble countertops, a giant master closet, a laundry room (that's not in the garage), a powder room, a giant play room for the kids (we'll be using the combined formal living and dining room) and maybe most importantly, having enough room so that everything will have a place. I'm enjoying the process of watching it go up, but in some ways, December can't come quick enough.

A surprising highlight for the kids so far in this building process, has been visiting our dirt. In many ways, I think they were both a little sad when all the dirt got covered with a foundation and hay. Here are some of my favorite pictures of my Red Georgia Clay Kidlets.

Second Day of School, Sock Tent and Daddy Car

I didn't get any classic First Day of School pictures of Eli. You know, the backpack on, standing outside, classic shots. So, on the second day of school I had him pose for a few before we got in the car.



In many ways, this transition to school has gone more smoothly than I had imagined. Eli hasn't cried once when I drop him off. He is slowly warming up to school. Although, still, if you ask him about it, he'll say it's "not too fun." His most successful day yet was last Thursday. It was a Dendi Day. When Dendi picked him up he enthusiastically told her that he had had a fun day. They had played with glitter all day and he had cake for snack to celebrate someone's birthday. Nothing better than glitter and cake!

Switching gears, from school to socks... Keira is infatuated with socks and tents. In terms of socks, she doesn't wear them much as it's been so hot that all she requires are her sandals. But, last month we spent a lot of time at Jump 2 It, where socks are required. She's enamored. She often pulls them out of her drawer on her own accord and tries to put them on. This one day in particular, she was adamant that she wanted her socks and shoes on, even though she was only wearing a diaper. And, to complete the look, I took a picture of her in Eli's Scoop Tent. The Scoop Tent has gotten a new life as Keira is now interested in tents, and loves to play by crawling or walking into it, and dragging toys in and out of it. She also likes to stand at the mesh "window" and yell out in her monotone loud voice she pretends to talk on the phone in.


Speaking of Keira, her language has taken another big leap. She has lots of new words like: Dendi (Dindi), shoes, truck, cracker, sink (ink), swing (ing), bath (bah), baby (bee-bee), book (boo) and many more that I can't think of right now. But, most exciting, she's starting to combine her words into little two word sentences, like "Kee-kee bye" when Kodi goes outside, "Hi Daddy!" , "Oops cracker" etc. It's so fun.

Besides the tent, other toys that are always a hit for Keira are her ride on toys. She especially loves her Cozy Coupe and her bike. With the ride on toys, we have a gas pump. It's a favorite of Eli's and he likes to gas up all sorts of things besides the vehicles like the couch, the rocking chair or the ottoman. One day, Daddy Car was the vehicle of choice. Eli gassed up Daddy by putting the nozzle between Scott's knees, then Scott would ride walk around with his passenger on his back until he needed another fill up. Keira even got in on the fun.

The Williams' Visit

In third week of August, Babo's brother, sister-in-law and their two boys came to visit from California. It was their first visit to Georgia, and the first time we'd all seen them in almost ten years. On August 18, Grammie had us over for dinner so we could visit. It was so nice to see them all, and crazy too -- my clearest memories of the boys were when they were Eli and Keira's age. Time flies! Now, I was pleasantly surprised that they had matured into considerate, polite and helpful teenage boys. I assumed that teenage boys would be aloof and want nothing to do with my kids. On the contrary, they both entertained my kids for most of the evening. It was a great family reunion. When we got in the car to go home, we asked Eli how he liked the Williams family. He said that he liked them, especially the girl. Huh? We figured out that he thought Doug was a girl. And, he was adament about it! I guess the concept of fashionably long boy hair is lost on a four year old!