Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!




But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and laying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Luke 2: 10-14

We haven't gotten much done on the house in the last few weeks, but we're hoping to get going again after the first of the year. Right now, it's ready for paint...we just need to finalize colors and away we'll go!
Once again, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! God bless!

A Thanksgiving of Firsts

Happy Early Thanksgiving! Sunday Dad's family came over for an early Thanksgiving. As the title indicates, it was a Thanksgiving of Firsts. Three firsts, in fact!

1) Our first Thanksgiving at our farm.

2) Our first Thanksgiving that was made almost entirely in crockpots (an interesting experience, let me tell you).

3) Our first Thanksgiving where the weather was warm enough to eat outside;

Playing in the tree fort

Give him a few trucks, stand back, and watch the gravel fly!

Showing off the (almost) finished new house

Sheetrocking...well, rocks!

Good morning, afternoon, and evening, ladies and gentlemen. Well, the house is beginning to look even more like a house. Last week we had a crew of two "pros" (Shannon and Kevin) and seven helpers (Sam S, Jake B, Josiah M, Josiah H, Josh, Wyatt M, and Luke S) out there slapping up sheetrock and pounding it in! I got to take pictures, haul sheetrock, sweep, and help Mom make big (and I mean BIG) meals for the guys!

WORK...

Partially sheetrocked ceiling

Lift...
(from left Luke S, Josh, Josiah H, Sam S, Kevin)

Roll...

Hold.

Painful!
(Josh and Josiah H)

Looking good!

Yes, I was threatened while taking pictures! (Josiah M)


Looks like Josh and Hannah aren't the only pyromaniacs around!

Lovely warm bonfire!

Like our hillbilly pavement? (from left, Liz S and Joy H)


AND PLAY...

I think Hannah gets more sleep in at the building site than at home!


Then again, so does he. (Josiah H)


While we're on the subject of sleeping... :) (Poor Halley was so tired out from being the crew's baby)

Gotta have that football break! (from left Jake B, Sam S, Josh)

Honestly, guys, thanks for coming out and helping us. You're hard workers. It was fun!

You Know You're Building In Hillbilly Country If...

1: The fire department won’t come fill your septic tank but the local milkman will
2: The construction workers are all missing teeth
3: First thing Monday morning means after the weekend hangover has worn off
4: One of the crew disappears and they find him 15 minutes later napping in his truck
5: A screen is put in place with duct tape
6: California corners are standard building procedures
7: The dog comes along for a day and his owner expects him to get paid
8: Instead of a plumb line, they use string and a bullet
9: You didn’t want to change your address so you took it with you
10: The only way to build a house fast is to have it brought in on wheels
11: The names of all the sub-contractor companies start with the words Redneck or Hillbilly

12: You can’t send the crew to the local bar & grill for lunch because they wouldn’t make it back
13: They use a 1 gallon paint bucket to test your water pressure
14: The only day everyone shows up is payday

Insulation and Other Things

Hello, hello again! Yes, we've been working on the house. We haven't abandoned it yet! :) These last couple of weeks we've had a flurry of activity, mostly for other people.

Digging the geothermal lines

How does our house stay up with these two around?
Mmm, lovely, Daddy.

View of the rafters

Yes, I actually do work.

Insulation time!

Like his "warpaint"?

The insulation came squished into packages about two feet wide and when they were opened, it expanded a lot. Mom found this fascinating.

It's snowing!! No, not yet. This is just blowing insulation in the outside walls and downstairs.

And our back deck (in its rough stage...)

Hello again! Sorry it's been so long since the last post! Here's what's been going on...

Septic lines have been laid

Wells have been dug for water and geothermal systems

We wrestled the "King-Kong" of electrical wires into place

We had some friends come help us out. I got brownie points for working all day with Andrew!

Josh and Sam doing...something

Luke nailing wire in a tight spotA lesson in electrical

And our septic tank.

Right now, the house is almost completely wired, has all of the plumbing and most of the heating/air systems in, and the septic system is finished. Next is hooking up the electric, plumbing, and everything else. I'll try to do better in keeping this updated! :)

Clean-up (among other things)

Well, the roof was on, the a/c guys and plumbers were there, and Mom and Dad gathered up their crew (us kids) to clean up around the outside of the house. There were scrap piles, plastic piles, shingle pieces, and various other types of trash scattered around the building site, so we got a fire going and went to work.

We're thinking about renaming our farm to 'Toad Hall'. We found five toads, one purple and four black, in scrap piles.

See what happens when we let him have matches?

The smoke from the trash fire looked really pretty when the sun came through the trees just right

Hannah had to roll up all the nail strips we found...

That is, when she was working.

Straight ahead, the in-progress clearing for electricity, etc

We have a roof! Yay!

The front of the house, slightly more finished this time!

Inside the house...

Looking up the staircase...

And Josh. Need we say more?

"When are you guys gonna be done? I'm bored. I'm hungry. This cardboard smells weird!"

Well, that's it for this post! TTFN!