Moving Day!

Getting our final CO was crazy.  The inspector came on Monday, and he has been very nice, but when he was here he said, "You didn't think I'd pass you on the first attempt, did you? I have to show that I'm actually doing my job." We weren't expecting a pass on the first try, but it stinks that his attitude is failure from the beginning.  Thankfully it was only about 8 small little things he wanted done, nothing major. Unfortunately Marc was headed out on a business trip the next day. We had to pass this week so we could move on the following Monday. Sam was so awesome about working to get everything done.  It took him a full couple of days of tracking down what we needed at Home Depot and getting things fixed, but we passed our reinspection! Time to move! 

All this work wears a couple girls out.

More mud prior to moving.  Macy is on a rescue mission here. 

See all of those little dots? Frog eggs. Hundreds. Probably thousands. She wanted to rescue as many as she could.  Unfortunately they didn't make it past the tadpole stage, but it was neat watching them grow. 

We started off with a UHaul for a couple of days. The movers were moving furniture, but we were taking care of the boxes.  It was nice to have the weekend to work on this before the movers arrived on Monday.

Monday was a long day, and it included two trips by the moving company because they only had a smaller truck and crew available that day. 

This was so surreal.  The hardest part was walking into the basement when it had all been cleared out.  Maybe the hard work we put into finishing it off was fresher on my mind. I don't know, but it was hard to walk away from this house. It was never our intention to sell and move.  This was our final home. But God. His hand has been over this entire process.  The whole process and move has been bittersweet, but there is so much sweet in following the Lord. We are excited (and so thankful to be almost done)!

Always a game with this one.  Hiding in the paper that was covering the flooring. And the other little miss is sitting in the driveway reading.

Her life has been so disrupted. She's a lot of work, and she is making it a lot more work on me right now.  I'm hoping she settles into the new house and routine quickly.

Late night cleaning up at the old house.  Wow, that's weird to say. The girls found some cardboard tubes and are having light saber fights. One last hurrah, but new adventures and memories await us now. 

Final Push!

So what all happens in the last month of building a house, you ask?

Cabinets are installed.

Tile gets installed.

Pinestraw and hay is spread on top of grass seed.

Drainage is installed.

Pier augers are used to strengthen the supports of the deck posts (so you can pass inspection and someone can make some extra money). Our deck is 2 feet off the ground.  I don't think anyone would be hurt if something happened to the supports.

 

Sam installed my amazing stained ceiling, and then Marc had a turn on the scaffolding to install the light fixture. He is a brave man.  I struggled just climbing up halfway to hand him some tools. 

But the end result is amazing! (Trim still needs to be painted, obviously.)

Granite countertops are installed.

These countertops were a bit of a splurge.  I fell in love with this granite the first time I saw it, and we got a small discount on them from our favorite granite supplier.  This is the 4th time we have used them, so I think that makes us special customers or something. Anyway, I LOVE the countertops and it was exactly what I was hoping for.

Hardwood is delivered and unpacked for conditioning. Marc and I moved every box of hardwood from the porch to the dining room and laid them out.  That was a lot of work.

Sod is installed.  We chose to sod the front yard and seed the rest.  It will take some time for it to grow in, but for now the kids can play up here.  It also makes the house looked more finished. 

More packing was done. It was so much work that a couple munchkins apparently had to take a break from helping. 

The girls have loved playing at the new house.  We are moving from a driveway with a steep hill to a flat one.  On this night they worked on their dance routine to a song from "The Greatest Showman" soundtrack.  Marc and I took a break to just enjoy watching them. 

Mismatched light bulbs, but the house looks so pretty all lit up. 

This one hasn't been to sure of everything going on.  She is always up for a car ride to visit the new house, but she is just so confused.  She is acting out more and having accidents in the house.  I'll be glad when we are all settled and she can settle back into her normal life as well. 

Brannon Drive

Here are just some final pictures of the home we poured our hearts into for the last 6 years. I want to post them here as a reminder of the journey were were on during this season of life.

4th of July Celebrations

Macy performed with a select group of children for our church's Independence Day service.

Afterward the church had food trucks set up, but it is always a mad house trying to get food and wait in line.  We opted just to go to lunch with friends, but we waited around to see this veteran parachute out of a helicopter.

One of Macy's best friends is moving out of state.  We wanted to have all of the girls over one last time before she moved.  July 3rd happen to be the best available date, so we decided to make it a fun celebration with pool time and fireworks. 

Little Bit didn't have any friends spending the night, so she was able to have a movie/popcorn night in our room.  She enjoyed making a pallet with Strawberry the bear and sleeping here for the night. 

July 4th had us back at our usual spot for fireworks, and it was a beautiful night.  Rain threatened, and we did get sprinkled on, but we still had fun.