Little helpers--Tanner was in charge of the pencil, Alia kept tabs on the hammer, the "dummy piece", and the black plastic piece. Elena was supervising.

















Look, Ma, new floor!





















Ahh! Now this is the life! Welcome to our new great room. The final details are still in the works, but we're moved back in and loving it!

Happy Birthday To Me!
Guess who likes ice cream and cake?















Oooo! What's this curly thing?



















Again? I thought we did this yesterday?! (I guess she's not old enough to appreciate two parties, but she still likes ice cream and cake! :)











Look Ma! It's a kitchen!
















Unpacking for new kitchens are soooo exciting! (I think they are packing newspaper down into the paper bag for recycling.)

















"X" marks the spot...no water, no drain in this old sink! :)

Peek-a-boo! I'm so excited! My birthday is almost here! The postman brought boxes to our house (with my name on them!) and Mom let me play with the shoe box after lunch! Whee!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm all dressed up and ready to play!

Tanner and Luke the lego man say, "Aye, matey! There be siding outside!"















It's like a puzzle in here!



















Puzzle Completed!














"Mom, they're BLUE!" (Got to love it when your choice of counter tops makes your kids happy!)







Paint job #1. Yes it looks yellow. No, it's not really yellow. Think warm tan. (Ok. I'll see if we can't do better in daylight.) Look at the color to the left of the door. See, it's tan!

Here are Elena and Tanner (and Mom) playing with trains in the "great room". Notice the open wall in the background. This was approximately day 5 of the construction project.

















Alia made a present for Elena's upcoming birthday (shh! Don't tell Elena!) It's a picture book that Alia has titled "Elena's Silly Ideas"




















On day 6 (or thereabouts) the workers came, put a coat of mud on the ceiling and said, "We'll see you tomorrow!" Mom immediately got out her dye pots and dyed some roving. Here it is drying in the afternoon sun.










By day 7 or 8 most of the ceiling lights were in, the wall board was up and the ceiling was almost ready for texturing.

Bit by bit we are seeing progress! Note the ceiling is patched where the walls were and has been scraped smooth!

Alia posed for this picture with her "cast" on her arm. She and Tanner had been playing doctor. :)

Look, Ma, the walls are gone!

It's day three on the construction front. Alia and Tanner are standing where the old closet once was. The old walls are completely gone now. A small section of the ceiling that was load-bearing (oops!) was supported and beamed yesterday. Today lots of spaces got filled--drywall where the old closet was, plywood on the floor where old walls were, etc. Things are moving along!

Where have the walls gone?

We started into our construction project today. Here is a picture of Alia and Tanner posing by the missing walls. The floor under the carpet turns out to be a nice hardwood... perhaps someday we can use that, but for now it will get covered again.

Construction starts tomorrow. That makes today the day to play! All the furniture, except the table, is out of the kitchen/family room. The walls that are being removed have been beautifully decorated by Alia. Here she is chalking in the body of a buldozer for Tanner. We even did a window swap--salvaging the good lower panes from the back windows (soon to be removed) and installing them in the front windows where they were desperately needed!