After the first month of building flew by, we were ready for the second month to go quickly as well. It went by quick, but there seemed to be SO much more done on the house. It is really starting to take shape, and it’s amazing to see something 2D drawn on paper come to life. We are already learning what sorts of things are just part of the process, and have definitely learned some things for the future. So far, we are in love! We just love how everything is turning out.
Our daily visits have continued as everyday brings something new.We often play a little game to try and guess everything they did that day. We walk through the house imaging all the fun we will have there. The kids have enjoyed seeing their own spaces come to be a reality. It really has been a magical experience.
I am finding that taking too many pictures of it is impossible. It’s exciting all over again when I go back and look at pictures of them building. Maybe it’s just first time builders syndrome, but I will take it whatever it is. We have also been making a paper house that hangs on our wall that we update as they complete each step. We add a little phrase that relates to our spiritual home along with a scripture too. For our foundation it says ,”Our home is built on the Savior Jesus Christ”. There is a picture of the Savior and a scripture too. For the walls we put up strips of paper for the framing walls and the kids all week wrote on them things that they noticed others doing to support them. I also had them tell me different ways we could support each other. We talked about what it means to support each other both physically and spiritually. Here are the things they said they could do to support each other:
Brianna-“Go to watch each others activities.”
Austin-“If someone is sick you could pray for them and read them books.”
Brooke-“ If someone was sad, someone else could give them something. Like if I was sad, Brianna could make me cookies.”
Erika- “You could write special notes and leave them in their lunch box or another special place.”
Abby-“Say happy stuff to them like, ‘you’re pretty’ and they’ll smile.”
Scott-“Soccer can make someone happy".( I would argue Aaron paid him to say that, but he wasn’t even home at the time. Yes, Scott, soccer makes us very happy!
I have loved the building process for this fact alone-just the comparisons to our own spiritual homes. It has strengthened us to see that in everything we do, even building a home, there are ways our spirits can grow and learn. We just feel so blessed for this time in our lives.
Day 34-Poured slab. Really cool to see them smooth it out with this really long squeegee thing. They also sanded it down with these large sanders, much like what you would a wood floor.
Day 39 & 40-Frame bottom floor. We only made one change-we combined the laundry room and mudroom into one large room.
Day 41,42, & 43-Build beams for second floor, built stairs, and start 2nd floor. The stairs being built was huge for the kids. They were so excited! They have been asking us for years if we could have a “stair house”. Today they got a stair house. Our builder was very concerned about them going up there until they had walls. We let them each go up once with an adult to see the view. It was exciting, but a little scary without walls. Erika didn’t like walking up the stairs because they had “holes’ in them-the front part had a hole there.
View from the back of the house
I was clueless as to what all those holes were in the ceiling. I have now been educated that that is where the heating and air conditioning pipes will go. Who knew.
A view of the back yard from the top floor rec room area. I love our big backyard. We will end up taking down those small pine trees and have grass there. We can’t wait to have a place to run and play again.
Day 46-49-Built the roof over main house and garage. I couldn’t believe how high they were. I am not a fan of heights so it totally made me nervous for them. No changes from the plans upstairs except they were able to make the rec room ceiling taller.
Day 50 & 51-Finish plywood around whole house. Add black felt for shingles to roof. It was so hot during these days. I felt so bad for the workers. We would bring them coolers with Gatorades and some donuts to keep them going.
Day 54-Install windows and front door unit.
We took the kids there before they installed all the windows. I love how much natural light we will have in this house. If you don’t have enough windows for all your kids to each have their own…
From the upstairs rec room window.
Day 55-Ready for shingles, cornices to be built, and inside work.
2 comments:
WOW!!! You just amaze me. I love your activities and comparisons to building a spiritual house. It's fabulous!! Love all the pictures... you are so talented. Fun to see little corners of our backyard. Have you moved in now? We need to talk soon!!
It's really fun to see it come together! Maybe when we come back down for Capt career course it will be done!
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