Fiesta!

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A work in progress, as it should be called!

From the day we closed on our house we had a little over one month to get the work done that needed to be in order to make the house liveable. From tearing out rotted walls, patching numerous holes and putting in new flooring, it was an intense job! The kitchen was the biggest project. We put in 2 new walls, coverd up the esbestos flooring, got new countertops and all new appliances.

We could not have done it without the help of Erik's dad, Rob. He sure is a handy man!

Our house became a work zone of wood shavings, bits and pieces of wood, and tools laying around.

We also couldn't have done it without the help of Erik's Mamms and Papps. They tore out all of Esau's bedroom walls and put all new walls in his room! What a huge help!

The upstairs was also a mess. There was a 2.5 in bow in the floor, so if we didn't fix it, then carpet couldn't be put down upstairs. SO, we leveled the floor

The woodburning stove's chimney ran through the middle of the house. It was not a pretty site. My original thought was to paint it. Brick looks nice painted. Rob's idea was to cover it. Much better of an idea. It made a huge difference. You can see a little bit of the chimney at the top of the piture.

This is our room, obviously not finished. It a main area for cutting wood or other things that needed done. It was a mess.

Erik's drywalling job in the kitchen where 2 walls had been torn out. Oh, and the new back door.

We are happy that the hard stuff is over. At least for now.

The day we closed on our house!

So we put a lot of pressure on the previous owner to remove ALL of his belongings, trash, and various debris from inside the house as well as outside in the yard. On the day of closing we were disappointed to see that this had not been done. At that point the decision had to be made, would we risk trying to stay in our apartment for one more month and really try to get him to get rid of all of it and then be disappointed once again? We decided to go with it and close on the house. This is what we came home to:
The front of the house with desks, shelves, and chairs leaning on our porch.

inside the house after walking in the front door, we came to our living room with many of the previous owners personal belongings and the heaviest metal desk I've ever seen and certainly the heaviest desk Erik has ever moved.Our dining room, with a bed, carpet, clothing, and various other items.

Our kitchen, in all its green, light and cream glory piled high with things.

Esau's bedroom with all of it painted over wall paper walls, and holes in the framing around the windows.

Esau's closet filled with trim, wood, holes in the walls, non working plugs, exposed piping from the bathroom.

What a sight it was to see all of the trash in our back yard!!!! This was only a third of what we had removed.

A old worn down shed that we eventually removed, burned and threw away. And of course, the rest of the trash not including all of the stuff from inside the house.

The other side of the shed with trash, etc.

Needless to say it was a HUGE job that we had undertaken.

Were we really ready for what was to come?

Suspicious Silence

Erik just left the house to run some errands. I thought, "what a perfect time to quickly check my email." Of course while at the computer I have to religiously check the blogs that keep me up to speed with all of our friends in the southwest. As I'm sitting, enjoying the quiet....ahhhh, some quiet....wait, the quiet....it's a strange thing to have a house that occupies children to be quiet. I don't remember Erik saying that he'd take Esau with him. It's raining and yucky out and I had just mentioned about how Esau felt a bit hot, meaning I was suspecting something was up with him. I looked around, nope he's not in the living room....hhmmmm. Our house is not big in the least, so I should be able to hear him. Where could he be? I heard a small snap in the bedroom, a familiar sounds that happens when the lid to the wipes is taken off. I peek around the bedroom door, up looks a suspect Esau with a huge grin on his face, "Clean up, Mama. ohhhh, mountain." Esau had taken all of the wipes out of the box and placed them in a huge jumbled pile. "Do you have a mountain of wipes, Esau?"

"Yep! clean up Mama," he replied.

How could I be upset in the least? I had just said that he could help me clean the sheets from the bed and he was helping in his own way. He knew that wipes are used to clean, so why not use them to clean the bed that the sheets were on, certainly the bed is dirty too. (Note to self, must start using cloth wipes for many reasons other than the fact to reduce "mountains" of wipes) The things a two year old does to imitate and interpret the actions and words of adults. The suspicious silence only makes me more suspicious. Esau lets me know about this silence by doing the universal sign for quiet.

YAY for Snow!

Just wanted to share a fun picture from our snow day. We have another snow day today! What will we do with all of our free time? Maybe we'll brave the nasty weather and go to Wonderlab....ooooh, that sounds fun!