Construction - Week 4

Weekly construction update. The frame is almost finished, which means they are starting to come inside. yikes! Joe and I cleared out Hannah's play room (and now have a VERY full living room) last Thursday and then I came home Friday to find part of our kitchen cleared out (and a messy dining room) with all parts taped off (our contractor moved everything since I wasn't home). Now the real fun begins! The kitchen window has been taken out (and boarded up), but our kitchen thankfully is still functional!!

No work has been done this week while Eddie (our contractor) is waiting for a dumpster to be delivered and to coordinate the electrician, plumber, etc. A slight hiccup...the wall were going to take down has plumbing running through it...oops. We're working on a solution, but part of the wall is still coming down!!

Hiking

We went out for a short hike this morning in Habitat. Habitat is a nature reserve in Belmont Hill (the fanciest part of Belmont) that has hiking trails, a greenhouse, ponds, etc. over many acres of land. One of our neighbors was nice enough to give us a membership to the Mass Audobon (the park system) so we can get into all of reserves/parks in MA for free.

Hannah just loves being outside and she actually did the whole 15-20 minute hike by herself (well, except for the very end spent on Daddy's shoulders).

Hannah and Madeline

Here are a few pictures of Hannah and her friend Madeline....

They are so cute together. They were being super funny together so we wanted to take pictures, but as soon as we got the camera out, it was a different story.

Hannah looking suspicious of Madeline.

Giggling girls.

Dining Room - Before and After

Can you say "red"? It wasn't exactly the color I was going for originally but Joe wanted bright so that's what I gave him...And I love it.

Before.


After. (the pictures don't really give the color full justice. the first picture is too dark and the second...well, in person, it is not that bright! or maybe it is and I just don't realize it)

Construction - Week 3

Another week down. And even with rain delays (no work was done last Thursday or Friday), things really seem to be moving along.Amazingly, Hannah is still napping through all of the noise. Today, they are literally working right below her room (her room is the 3 windows in a row on the 2nd floor). I first tried putting her down in the guest room (at the front of the house) but went in 15-20 minutes later to find her just hanging out on the bed, not sleeping. I put her in her room and she went right to sleep, through the banging and all. Charlie seems to be having the most trouble. He goes crazy when they use the nail gun.

Guest Room - before and after

Another room done. And just in time for visitors today.


Guest room - before (I went a bit overboard on pictures)

Guest room - after.

Doing dishes

Hannah's new nightly activity with Daddy...doing the dishes (you can't start them too young). She carries her little stool over to the sink and after he washes, she puts the dishes into the drying rack. It's terribly cute! And someday I'll remind her that there was a time when she was actually excited to do the dishes!

Construction - Week 2

So you realize I'll be posting weekly updates of the construction, right? Exciting, huh? The foundation is complete and the hole has been filled back in. (We no longer have a backhoe sitting in our backyard....or as Hannah likes to call it, a tractor). The lumber should be delivered tomorrow and they'll be starting on the frame! Moving right along.

Shoe Fetish

Have I ever mentioned that Hannah loves shoes? I mean really, really, really loves shoes. Her shoes, my shoes, Joe's shoes...it doesn't really matter. And look out if I leave my closet door open. While I do have shoe racks, most of my shoes don't stay there very long. They are worn and then discarded on the floor. By Hannah, not me. Her favorite today...black high heels.

(She actually navigates pretty well in them too.)

Clarification

The picture of construction actually shows the footing, not the foundation. They started putting up the walls yesterday that will be filled with cement that will become the foundation. Not that anyone really cares (as I don't really) but just in case someone actually knows what they were looking at in the picture...thinking...what is she talking about?? Truth is...I don't know. I just take the pictures. : )

Construction - Week 1

Construction is moving along. After the hole was dug last week we started getting worried when no one showed up to do anything more for almost a week. But then yesterday the cement truck came and laid the foundation and now more people are working today (although not sure what they are doing).
When I went out to take pictures, I inadvertently locked Hannah and myself out of the house. So here's Hannah and I (gotta love the self portrait) waiting on the steps for Eddie (our contractor) to come with the key. He was actually on his way anyway.

And here's some pretty tulips in our front yard that Joe planted (a souvenir from Amsterdam). Eddie wanted to know if we had anything else growing in our yard from Amsterdam.

Grandpa Katkin's

Yesterday, we took some lunch over to Grandpa Katkin's for a visit and some yard work. Joe's grandpa lives on a farm with acres upon acres of land including a barn, a pond (that is a mile around), and lots of trees. Our job was to finish raking the leaves and pick them up. Thelma had done a lot of the work already and we all pitched in. Even little Miss Hannah. She would pick up the leaves and hand them to Grandpa so he could put them in the tractor bed. It was so cute! She really is quite the helper. Must be the nightly games of "clean up."

Joe drove the tractor and tried giving Hannah a ride. She didn't like it very much.

She preferred to walk with Grandpa.

It was a really nice day and the sunshine got all of our spirits up!

Breaking Ground

Construction has finally begun!!! They started digging the new foundation today. Just after I took these photos, John took away our backstairs...Guess we'll be using the front entrance more often.

We are pushing out the back of the house (first floor only) 8 feet, adding a mud room, remodeling the kitchen and family room (currently Hannah's play room), and moving the half bath...all of which will supposedly take 90 days. I'm counting!!!
Hannah (and Charlie for that matter) are enthralled with the work going on outside.