Progress is Good

So I am not patient! The house process has been held up for a while. This drives me crazy! Finally they started working again last week. The graded the back yard and pushed dirt to the front. Then they started digging the basement on Monday. Bennett and I went out to watch. I mentioned this "free" entertainment to Andy and he reminded me that it isn't exactly free:)

Here is the front-loader (I think that is the name!) digging into the basement.

You can see we have a long driveway.

backing up to dump the load

He would come over to the side yard to dump and each time Bennett would slam his hands down and say "dump."

Here is the hole from another angle.

We are supposed to do footings tomorrow, but it has been raining today. Hopefully it hasn't hurt the timing.

Snow Balls and Daffodils

What do snow balls and daffodils have in common? Well, apparently they come at the same time in this wacky winter we are having! The snow started about 4 o'clock on Sunday.

Bennett saw lots of snow last year, but this was his first chance to actually play in it. We got him suited up after nap. Throwing a snowball.

The girls getting into the throwing routine

Gathering ammunition

Carly

Bennett wanted to eat the snow.

Mouth full

Our poor daffodils in the snow.

The next morning was a teacher work-day so we got out early to play in the snow before the 48 degree temps melted it!

B pushing his car.

Eating more snow

All three getting me!

More sad daffodils!

B moved his car to the front yard!

Making snow angels

snow angel

Mr B marching along!

You can even swing in the snow!

Snow chase!

Sweet girls! You know I tried to get all three, but this is what I got! I'll take it!

Funny Faces

I have all these pictures of us making funny faces. It makes me sad, but now that the girls are in Kindergarten, most of the pictures are of Bennett alone. I will get my phone unloaded because I have lots of the girls are my phone.

The girls were home for a teacher workday last week and we had a great day. At one point they were dressing up and had on wings. You know Bennett needed some too!

Carly took his picture and you can see him reaching for it!

Silly girls!

Trying to get him to take a picture with me. I didn't angle it well enough to get more than Joiner's eyes!

Here is my sweet boy being shy

Big blue eyes!

We let Bennett have a donut for the girls birthday and he was very excited!

So was Carly!

Being silly with Mamie!

Gigi bought the girls this Rudolph nose for Christmas. Carly made Andy antlers and he wore the get-up for his staff Christmas lunch!

"Morning" face before he had to say "bye bye" to his Baba

I don't know about other moms, but somehow the last 10 minutes of the morning always sneak up on me. It feels like things are going well and then I realize that I needed everyone out the door 3 minutes ago. I then need to give Zoie her insulin, check B for a poop, make sure everyone has their book bags and lunchboxes, etc. In this moment, Bennett invariably needs his own stuff. He was being very helpful; running to the girls and stealing theirs. This would result in screaming (all 3) and hitting (just Bennett) which then meant a very untimely time out. Well, we finally realized that if we give him his book bag, he was happy as a clam. So here is the big boy in his book bag.

"Cheese!"

He also likes to have the book bag on his back as he leaves the Y. Got to be a big kid!

And another "cheese" face to finish! The "Cheese" has somehow morphed into him looking straight up. Oh, well!

Before and After

We have been trying to figure out what we want to do now that Andy is enjoying his job and we feel confident about things in Winston-Salem. We have a nice house and I had hoped to stay in it longer, but it is squeezing us. We only have 1.5 baths in a ranch and it is getting tight. I am a little crazy with sleeping, but I feel like we are always whispering. The bedrooms are all on top of the kitchen and living room. We have no place for guests. The other night Andy was coughing all night. Gigi was sleeping in the basement. He literally had no where to go to avoid waking anyone. If he went in the living room, Bennett would be woken up. The poor guy had to stay in our room. We also love to entertain, and there isn't any room for us to do so. (I realized after reading this that it sounds ungrateful for a nice, safe home for our family. I am grateful for this house and I appreciate that we have a house of any kind!)

With all our wants in mind, we began looking at houses a few months ago, getting an idea about areas, and price ranges. We went into the search looking for an older home in the Buena Vista area. However, we were quickly, and with our jaws on the floor, priced out. So, we looked a little further from that part of town into Old Sherwood. We founds lots of ideas there, but they were all on the small, tight side, as older homes tend to be, and needing a lot of renovation. We found a house that we thought had everything we wanted with some concession to size. It needed a big reno with walls taken down, total kitchen remodel, bathrooms, and a new porch. We were ready, though. So we went looking for builders to come and give us ideas and estimates so we could figure out if it made sense financially. We went to the Fall Parade of Homes to see new homes, ideas, and to meet the builders. The first house we went to was our favorite and we loved the builder. He was so nice and easy to talk to. We came home and told our Realtor that we wanted him to come give us an estimate. She had worked with him before and thought he was a great choice. He came to the house and had amazing ideas. As we added up all our "must-haves" we realized that this may not make sense. We came home and ran the comps and the unknowns, and we had to pass on the reno. Our nice builder, though, had a great property in the heart of town that he wanted us to look at. We had not really considered building, but we went. It was a nice culd-a-sac that they have had for years and have tried to wait out the bad economy. The lot he showed us was totally up our alley: wooded, big, and private. This began 2.5 months of talking, shopping, planning, worrying, etc. before we even signed the contract! So, now we are under contract to build a house! I still don't know how we will do it. I am not a patient, wait for things to happen person. I need a job and I need things to move! So, I am learning to be patient as I try to pick out all the things that need to make this house happen. We hope to be in the house by the end of July, early August.

The builder listened to all our thoughts and created a wonderful plan. It will be a cozy Craftsman style house with an open floor plan.

Here is our lot before the big trucks came. The slope will be graded to make a more level backyard. We will actually have grass instead of asphalt!

Gigi and Bennett going up the hill

The lot is #5, conveniently the number of our family and Andy's favorite number!

Bennett and his "cheese" face!

Lots of trees before...

A few days later the bulldozer came and started clearing.

The lot is now cleared for the house. There are still lots of trees on the perimeter, but it is shocking how many came down!

So here we go, and I only have to twiddle my thumbs for the next 6 months;)