As I sit here writing this my girls are in their playroom watching one of my all-time favorite movies – Charlotte’s Web. I watched that movie over & over growing up and it just never got old to me.
Mom & dad got an apartment. We were waiting on one at the Senior apartments but it could be an entire year. There is another complex that is new for 55+...so I called them. We went to look at them Tuesday afternoon & wow they are really beautiful. They took one. I love it & I know that they will love it there.
On Tuesday Katie was home with me while Shea still went to daycare. Katie is in the Day School so they take the week prior to school starting off to prep for the school year. I needed to go over to the property to help with a few decisions. It was going to be the first time Katie would be seeing the place since June 14, 2012! Crazy to think that!! We just didn't feel it would be neccessary for the girls to see the house in the state it was in. When they are old enough we will show them pictures. My fear was nightmares. Katie still asks about certain things & gets sad but luckily the crying has become less & less. She still asks if the men can put our green house back. We've explained that we are building a new house. I prepared her that morning letting her know that we would need to stop over there once we dropped Shea off. I asked if she understood that there is no longer a house there, but we are preparing things to start building. She said yes but became really quite & I could see her heart had started pounding harder & faster. I asked if she felt that she could handle seeing it and she said yes. Her eyes were sad..I could see it. Momma held her & I did everything I could not to cry. I told her that if she needed to cry that it was perfectly ok. Seeing it would no doubt be a shock for her. As we approached the property she swallowed as deep & hard as I did. But my baby girl held tight and showed strength & courage. I was proud! Uncle Dave was there so she was happy! Uncle Dave is our builder & she is best buddies with him. As decisions were made I made my way back into the car. We were headed to take my mom to a doctors appointment. As I drove away Katie says "you know momma everything is going to be ok & do you know why?", I said "yes it is but why?", she says in a very sweet angelic voice "because Uncle Dave is going to build us a beautiful home made from his heart...it's apart of him." Now this came from my 4 year old...wise beyond her years!! I had always held onto those words in my heart before she had spoken them...it was as if she was reading what my heart held tight to. I needed to hear those words spoken.
Mom & dad got an apartment. We were waiting on one at the Senior apartments but it could be an entire year. There is another complex that is new for 55+...so I called them. We went to look at them Tuesday afternoon & wow they are really beautiful. They took one. I love it & I know that they will love it there.
On Tuesday Katie was home with me while Shea still went to daycare. Katie is in the Day School so they take the week prior to school starting off to prep for the school year. I needed to go over to the property to help with a few decisions. It was going to be the first time Katie would be seeing the place since June 14, 2012! Crazy to think that!! We just didn't feel it would be neccessary for the girls to see the house in the state it was in. When they are old enough we will show them pictures. My fear was nightmares. Katie still asks about certain things & gets sad but luckily the crying has become less & less. She still asks if the men can put our green house back. We've explained that we are building a new house. I prepared her that morning letting her know that we would need to stop over there once we dropped Shea off. I asked if she understood that there is no longer a house there, but we are preparing things to start building. She said yes but became really quite & I could see her heart had started pounding harder & faster. I asked if she felt that she could handle seeing it and she said yes. Her eyes were sad..I could see it. Momma held her & I did everything I could not to cry. I told her that if she needed to cry that it was perfectly ok. Seeing it would no doubt be a shock for her. As we approached the property she swallowed as deep & hard as I did. But my baby girl held tight and showed strength & courage. I was proud! Uncle Dave was there so she was happy! Uncle Dave is our builder & she is best buddies with him. As decisions were made I made my way back into the car. We were headed to take my mom to a doctors appointment. As I drove away Katie says "you know momma everything is going to be ok & do you know why?", I said "yes it is but why?", she says in a very sweet angelic voice "because Uncle Dave is going to build us a beautiful home made from his heart...it's apart of him." Now this came from my 4 year old...wise beyond her years!! I had always held onto those words in my heart before she had spoken them...it was as if she was reading what my heart held tight to. I needed to hear those words spoken.
Yesterday was the beginning to the end and paves the way to our new beginning. We began tearing up (breaking ground) the original 1940's slab foundation yesterday which brings us to the end of the old. It gives us the fresh new ground to start the new house. We will need to bust up the slab of the garage as well & redo the concrete floor. It was surreal to watch the big massive machine pick up & drop chunks of cement to crush. We learned that the original footings had no metal bar in them which is just the way things were done back when the house was built. The metal bars are there to help protect the cement footings from giving way. We also found no rebar in the slab. We will be using fiber mesh reinforced cement this time. 
I am currently in the process of looking at lighting options, vanities for the bathrooms, picking out a front door, windows and what type of hardwood flooring. We have also made the decision to put in a propane tank in order to have a gas stove & gas heating. I am so excited to get my gas stove back (I hate cooking on electric & I love to do lots of cooking). So in the meantime I've been checking out some really cool ranges. This excites me. I will be starting discussions on having our cabinets done with a cabinet maker soon as well. Decisions, decisions, decisions!
We have the tree guy coming tomorrow to take down a couple of trees. The mason will be there on Tuesday. And, then in the next week we will be framing. We’ve signed my father in law to build our outdoor fireplace. He did an amazing job on my sister in law & brother in laws. I don’t have a picture of it, but oh my it is gorgeous. I’d like to put a pool in (yes I dream big - see above about the gas range...my dream is big in that area as well)! I’ve been looking into doing an above ground with a deck to make it look like an inground pool. The way our land is it would work perfect. I’m working on my husband slowly. My girls love being outside, and they absolutely love swimming…so why not. Plus we are on a little over 3 acres…plenty of room with lots of sunlight where it’d sit. Ahhh yes my dreams…
We have the tree guy coming tomorrow to take down a couple of trees. The mason will be there on Tuesday. And, then in the next week we will be framing. We’ve signed my father in law to build our outdoor fireplace. He did an amazing job on my sister in law & brother in laws. I don’t have a picture of it, but oh my it is gorgeous. I’d like to put a pool in (yes I dream big - see above about the gas range...my dream is big in that area as well)! I’ve been looking into doing an above ground with a deck to make it look like an inground pool. The way our land is it would work perfect. I’m working on my husband slowly. My girls love being outside, and they absolutely love swimming…so why not. Plus we are on a little over 3 acres…plenty of room with lots of sunlight where it’d sit. Ahhh yes my dreams…
And, our deck…oh it is gigantic and I love that. We have a view of the Hudson River which is rare to find without paying a fortune for it. Before we were planning on expanding the deck out & taking said above trees out so you had a full vision year round. The view is fantastic & the way we worked with our builder to design the deck is going to be where we will be enjoying many evenings.
We are looking at February to get to move in….that’s not that far away when we are looking at it’s basically September now. Holidays make the next few months after go quickly. I just hope I don’t go crazy between now & then with all of the decisions. Life just got a little busier for the moment, but come Spring we are going to sit back, relax & enjoy our life!
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