Family Wedding

This past weekend we had a family wedding for Steve's cousin Joe. Both the wedding and reception were in Duluth and the kids came along to both. They especially loved the dancing part, but then Grandma Cheryl came to pick them up because they were so tired by about 9:00.

Jack Soccer - U8

This year Jack played in the U8 soccer league this year and it was much more entertaining. They had refs and actually played games against other teams. They changed it up in U8 for the first year and it's no longer coed. I also think that was a good decision because the boys are much more aggressive at this age.

New House - The Yard is Beginning to Take Shape

I stopped by today to take some pictures because we had heard from our new neighbors that things were looking much different and I hadn't been by in a few days. The retaining wall of rocks is complete which will allow for the lookout basement as well as having a patio off the back sliding doors. The way the lot is graded it would have difficult to have both without this slight wall you can see in the left picture. The picture on the right shows where the driveway will be.

New House - Excavating

This week they've just been doing some dirt work and making the yard look much more like a yard. They cut our the curb to define where the driveway and also put some insulation around the basement walls. They are supposed to start framing later this week or early next, so I'll get some more pictures then.

New House - Basement Walls

After putting the forms up on Tuesday, they poured the cement yesterday and had 4 trucks there at one point. Today took the forms down leaving us with basement walls! Yay!

As you can see in the picture the walls are much higher on the far side since there will be window along the this side. The part that sticks out closest to us in the picture is our living room.

New House - Forms for Basement Walls

Next update - today they placed all the forms for the basement walls.  There was no rain today, so it looks like they are completely ready to pour the basement by tomorrow or Thursday.

The forms look huge and makes our basement walls seem like they are going to be really high. We know they plan to build up the yard around it somewhat, so we know not all of that will show. We're excited to see what they'll do because 2 of our basement windows are lookout windows in the back corner.

New House - Footings

And today they spent all day putting the footings in. It seems like things are starting to move, so every day is exciting!

New House - Breaking Ground

Today, after 1 month of waiting patiently, they have finally broke ground on our new house. The basement was completely dug today and tomorrow they are supposed to put in the footings. The kids and I went over to the land after supper and the kids climbed a few of the dirt hills and we checked out all the huge rocks they uncovered.

Back To School

Back to school week is going pretty well so far. It seems to busy and crazy with figuring out the new schedules, rules, homework, etc...but both kids seem to love it so far.

Jack said his first day was "more than AWESOME" so hopefully things continue to go well. He is liking being at his new school, Washington Elementary, and all the new friends he is meeting.

Olivia is back at Queen of Peace preschool and with it being her second year in the same class - she seems like a leader this year.

New House - Stakes

It's getting a little disappointing, but apparently everyone in the world is starting to build their house at the same time and we are having some delays with digging the basement. At this point, we have the stakes marking everything. They are supposed to break ground tomorrow or Thursday, so we'll see.