Oh! I forgot the footings!!

How cute is this picture?? We LOVED our foundation man, Jimmie Shipp from Holly Springs!! He was so kind and sweet! And more importantly, he did a GREAT job!! He got everything so square and level---He took lots of care to make sure it was!












Here is where they dug the south-side footings. If you click on the picture and look really closely, you will see the rebar in the bottom of the trenches. I had no idea what footings were! I have already learned so much!!
























Speaking of learning things.......Lizzie and Anna howled with delight when they saw Aunt Ju Ju had a port-a-potty on her land!! (And the best part to them was that it is called "American Johnny!!") We stayed out there so long that they needed to use it......But Lizzie said that her mommy wouldn't let them use the toilet at her new house until it was actually IN the house! I assured her that this potty would NOT be installed in Aunt Ju Ju's house.....and that it was okay to use it. She was convinced until she saw the dozens of yellow jackets flying out of the toilet paper dispenser! Then she discovered she COULD hold it until we got home!! Tee Hee!!

Sara Kate Turns One!

Sweet Sara Kate turned one on March 2nd, but we celebrated her birthday the first weekend of our spring break with all of here family and some close friends! She was the center of attention----and didn't always love it!

Her darling birthday cake was made by her VERY talented mother---How cute are those presents?? However, she really didn't love eating it......But she did thoroughly enjoy her day!!

Becky Brings her Pet to School

Becky Flax--Student of the Week--decided to bring her pet clydesdale to class for one of her Me-Museum exhibits. It was a huge hit----the entire grade loved meeting Eli. Even the newspaper ran a story about it!!

My Kids!

Here are my sweet kids enjoying a science lesson on tessellations and simple machines! They are so creative!! (And complete joys!!)

My Cabinets!!!

Here are the pictures of my cabinets!! Keri's mom saw an ad for them in the paper and went to look at them--she thought I would really like them, so she called us! She was right!! WE LOVED THEM!! The owner had sold her house to her son who was going to renovate the kitchen....so she was selling them and the appliances for $4500! Charlene (Keri's mom) bought the appliances for $500 and we took the cabinets!! The cabinets and counter-tops were installed in 1994 and she paid $22,000 for them!! The French seeded (?) glass alone was $1600 for six panes!! The cabinets were $14,000 and the granite was $7000!!

Later the next week Jonathan, Andrew, and Al went and took them out of the house------QUITE the job!! The granite counter-tops were a pickle....but they all came out fine! Now they are in storage....So we are hoping they will make the move from storage to the new house without any problems!! We will have to purchase a bit more granite to make it all fit in our house.......hopefully that won't be too big of a headache. We have had to rearrange our kitchen plans to make them fit better.....but the match is really amazing! God has just been too sweet to us!!

Lizzie Loses Her First Tooth

Our Foundation!!

After digging the footings and after the concrete was poured, Jimmie Shipp and his crew began to lay the block. I was shocked to find out that concrete blocks cost $1.50 each!! They did such a good job laying the block--everything was so plumb and level!! Jen and Al and the boys got to come and see the foundation at this stage!! Things seem to be going smoothly so far!!

















The view from our tree in the front yard...I am hoping to do a good job of taking pictures from this viewpoint throughout the building process! It will be fun to watch it grow and change!!

Two Engagements!!

On the same weekend........

Andrew got engaged to Ashley!! The wedding will be on June 16th!!








And Kevin, Keri's brother, got engaged to Mitcie! (Date of wedding still being decided!!)
Pictured on the couch: Kevin, Mitcie, Andrew holding Sara Kate and Lizzie.
Behind them is Keri holding Anna, and Keri's two youngest brothers, Charlie and Sam!

Our Yard---The Early Stages

This is our YARD!! After seeing it all flattened out and the big gulleys filled in, we are amazed at how big it looks!! Anyone looking to get rid of their riding lawnmower??











Here is Jonny walking up our driveway. Right now it is very difficult to get up because the gravel is so big and loose!! We need some big trucks to come and pack it down for us!! They will be coming very soon!

Keri's dad, Keith, brought his tractor over and graded it for us....which helped a whole bunch!! (We will probably need help like that often!)

Justin, our dirt-man, also came back a week after this to smooth things out again!

Move That Dirt!!

After getting several quotes for dirt work, we went with a very nice man from Slayden--Justin Cowan. He was very accommodating and finished the job in just three days!! It just so happened that I was sick those three days and missed school---I had no voice at all!! It was really cool to be able to be home and watch the bulldozer and the dirt pan go to work and make such huge changes to the land so quickly!! (and so expensively!!)

They ended up taking 2.5 feet of dirt off of the entire front of the land to fill up the really low areas(in some places, deep gulleys!) behind the treeline.

We were very excited with the results!! It really looks like a yard!! And boy, are we going to need a good riding lawn mower!!!!

A Piece of History

Look familiar?? This is the house our home is patterned after....Jefferson Davis's childhood home!

Finished Blueprints!!

These are our treasured blue prints straight from the hands of Jim Sealy!! We are so excited about them!! They are beautifully done---and exactly as we ordered. (However, we have already made some changes!!)

I hope you can see them.....I think you can click on them to make them even bigger!!

Yipeeeeee!!

Jonathan Clears the Land

In order to save money----and because he just loves being out on his land---- Jonathan decided to clear some of the big brush and smaller trees out of the back part of the land himself. He spent over 50 hours out there using a chainsaw and dragging the brush to a huge brush pile!
It was AMAZING what a difference it made!!

We were going to load it all on a trailer and pull it over to the Cisco's burn pile....but when we got up there with the trailer, we realized we were crazy!! It would have easily filled up 15 or more trailer-loads and would have taken forever. So, later we had Justin, our dirt work man, to push it all over so we could burn it later.

Keri's dad, Butch Cisco and our neighbor, James Daniels helped us burn it one Sunday. The flames were huge because of the diesel....but it burned really well!!














I don't know if you can tell here, but this last picture is a shot of the HUGE pile of brush and trees that Jonny pulled out!! It was an incredible amount----so much so that it did not even completely fit in this picture!!

Yea, Jonny!!!!