House of Sticks

We've made some progress on our house! We have the framing almost completed. Two weeks ago we just had the basement done. Yep, this is just the basement, and all that underneath is considered "crawl space". This is my one big hang up on the house - my basement sits 15 feet above the backyard! However, this is not too uncommon for the area (because it's so hilly). I think I may get hives over it, though, considering how much I worry about it.


Cute Addie poking her head out of her bedroom window


Here's our basement, all framed in. It's too hard to tell from the pics where the separate rooms are, but our basement actually has all the kid bedrooms in it. Plus a family/toy room.


Soon enough we got ourselves our "main floor".


It's nothing fancy, but we know it will work for our family just the way we need it to.




The house actually has the roof trusses on, as of this past Friday, but I didn't get any pictures yet. I'm anxious to get it under a roof, though, so it can stop raining in my house!!

A funny from this past week...The house that we currently live in, and rent, is all brick on the front. We drove past our new house (pictured above) this week, and Addie, in a panic, tells me,

"Mom!! We can't live in that house of sticks! We need to stay in our house of bricks or the big, bad wolf will come blow it down!"

Christmas At Our House

Whoops...I didn't realize I never posted this in January. I'm a little late...


For the first time in, well...never, we stayed home for Christmas break. We didn't go anywhere during the break, but both sets of grandparents came to us, so we didn't need to!

Grandma and Grandpa Critt came in for the week before Christmas and we had fun getting ready for the big day.

We spent Christmas Eve with a great family we've met here. Here are the kiddos on the couch with their kiddos.


Sure enough, Santa found us at our new house. The big gifts this year? Delaney got a beam and mat. Jackson wanted more LEGOs and Addie's most wanted gift was a Doodle Bear (or Doo Doo bear, as she says it).


Delaney was thrilled with her beam. We've had it set up in the front hallway ever since, so we're looking forward to finding a home for it in the new house.


And, of course I couldn't take a picture of Delaney showing off her toy without Addie showing off hers...a new Toy Story LEGO.


I really enjoyed Christmas on Sunday. Our ward did a beautiful Christmas program, that was almost all music. We took Grandma and Grandpa to the airport right after church and lucky for us Grandma and Grandpa Clark came into town the very next day. The kids had so much fun bowling, seeing movies, swimming and tiring them out.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. I do have to say I can't wait for Christmas in our new house next year, though!

Progress

We are now the proud owners of a pit in the ground (or on the side of a hill?) Here is the lot a few days before they started digging. These were taken about two weeks ago.


The "sidewalk" at the back of the lot is a path that runs through our neighborhood. And then, to get a feel for really how sloped it is, here's a shot from the back of the lot up to the front. In all of it's Northwestern fog glory. On a side note, I am in serious love with all this fog. Feels cozy and moody, all at the same time. Hmm...maybe it's a metaphor for me ;).


And, here's the digger sitting in front of the lot, waiting to be put to use.


The house next to us is just a few weeks ahead of ours, so it's fun to see the progress and know where we'll be in just a few weeks.

A week ago, we then had ourselves a dug out hillside. These were taken on Christmas Eve.





And finally, as of this weekend, we have concrete footers for the foundation.





I know these aren't the most glamorous of house shots, but I think it will be fun to have pictures of where we've come from - a little house journal of sorts. Today I drove by and they have the forms up on the footings. Can I get three cheers for foundation walls?!?