Weekend with the McCollum's

This past weekend Dustin's parents were able to come up for a visit.  For the first time they were able to come up and just relax rather than help work on the house!  We took a drive on the parkway on Saturday and ended up at Mabry Mill.  After church on Sunday we did some shopping.  (We are now officially done with Christmas shopping!)  Monday night was Dustin's winter concert.  It was wonderful for his parents to be able to see all of his hard work in person.  

Thanksgiving

Better late than never, right?  

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend with the Nieter's this year.  It was a great time of cooking, eating, relaxing, and of course shopping!  It was a lot of fun to hit the Black Friday sales with the ladies.  I think we're almost done with our shopping!  

Somehow we only have pictures with Blake... you wouldn't even know that there were any adults around!  We'll try to do better at Christmas.  

Blake helping Uncle Dusty take pictures.

Practicing our crawling.

Ok, so there was at least one picture without us hogging Blake (he was probably down for a nap!)

It's beginning to look, feel and sound a lot like Christmas!

Well, we had our first "snow" yesterday. It was enough to cover the cars and the deck, but not much else. School wasn't even on a delay! I don't think it has gotten above freezing the last 2 days.
Christmas music has been playing in the stores since November 1st and it just started on the radio this past weekend. Next year it may be September when they start. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas but it keeps getting earlier and there are only so many songs that they can play over and over during the season.
Sorry, no pictures of the snow, we were too busy getting ready for work in the morning and it was all gone by the time we got home.

Lots of Leaves

Another Saturday, another day raking leaves.  Zoe was able to get in on the fun today!

Fall

Today was a great fall day.  After some running around, we took advantage of the 70 degree weather and raked the yard.  The trees are beautiful, but they sure do make a lot of work for us during this time of year.  We ended up with 11 big black trash bags and we only raked the front yard!  

All of those leaves still to fall!

Last night was also a lot of fun.  Dustin's band went to their football game and decided to have a little fun... rather than their regular show, they played "thriller" and did the dance too.  If you would like to see a video of it, a band parent posted it on their blog.  Excuse the yelling... the moms always get excited!   www.hiddenvalleyband.blogspot.com

Peaks of Otter

We took a day trip yesterday to Peaks of Otter in Bedford.  We had a picnic lunch then headed up the mountain.  It was a day trip and Zoe did great.  She had a lot more energy than we thought she would... staying ahead of us all the way up and down the mountain!  She especially loved the top, probably because there were a lot of people, including a little girl that kept slipping her Pringles!

Update

Here are a few more pictures of the house.  Sorry it's been so long... we have kind of been taking a break from working on the house.  

We have done some finishing touches in the study!  Mom McCollum painted the amazing picture above the computer.  We also painted the bookshelf and the computer stand (they used to be brown).  The paint is still drying on the TV stand and we are refinishing an end table that has a little bit of work still.

Yes, I know that the vent is out the window.  I was doing laundry at the time and we still don't have the hole drilled to send the vent out the side of the house.  There will be drawers above the cabinets between the washer and dryer.

Here is a picture of the completed bathroom!  Nothing left to do in here!  

Mud Run

A couple months ago Brent said jokingly that I needed to run in the Marine Corps Mud Run with him when they came up to visit.  Sure, why not?  So I called up Heather and we've been training for it since then.  We had a lot of fun and our knees are only a little scraped up from the mud pit.  

Before the race so nice and clean

Not so clean anymore... we had a great time!

Who wants to join us next year?

The end in sight!

Today the carpet was installed in the bedroom. Dustin took the day off work to finish up a lot of the little things left to do. Today we were able to put up and paint the crown molding around the cabinets in the mud room, put down and paint the baseboards and shoe molding in the bathroom, put down and paint the baseboards in the hallway, finish painting the mud room, and finish installing the vanity top in the bathroom. 

The only big things we have left to do are install the toilet, install the closet organizer, put down grout sealer on the bathroom tile, paint the doors for the mud room cabinets, put down all the shoe molding in the rooms we refinished the hardwood, and paint the bedroom doors. Oh and we still have to find a mirror for the bathroom. That's probably not all, but that's all I can think of. 

Here are a few pictures. 

Lots of Progress

We have made a lot of progress this weekend!  Everything is looking so good!  We are so thankful that the McCollum's were able to come for the long weekend to share their expertise, tools, hands, and old cabinets with us.  Dustin's parents renovated their kitchen a few years ago and still had the cabinets and asked if we would like them for our mud room... sure!  It looks (or will look as soon as they get finished) perfect!

I know, not a huge deal, but the closet doors being up makes a huge difference in the look of the study.

The bathroom is looking great too!  We love the color of the grout!

I am so glad that Dustin's dad is here helping with the lifting!  

Here are the cabinets without the countertops on them.  The dryer will go in the space to the left of the window and the washing machine will be on the right.  

Dustin is doing great working with all of the tools that he has never used before.

The formica is on all of the countertops, they just have to be trimmed around the sides.  Would you believe we painted the walls, then found the countertops that look so good with the color?

Woo Hoo!

We have made some visible progress again!  Dustin's parents are visiting and have helped with some projects.  Hopefully we will get a lot more done during this long weekend.

We are finally able to walk on the floor so I didn't waste any time filling my pantry!  Hopefully the door will be put on tomorrow.  

The tile is looking so good!  It is all put down and tomorrow is grout day!  Oh yeah, we have one coat of paint on the wall too, just one more to go.  

1 down, 179 to go!

The first day of school actually went really well for both of us!  Dustin's students have seen him for the past few weeks during band practice so their first day was just the reminders of how to act inside and all of the paperwork that high-schoolers have to do.  

14 students came to me this morning and 14 went home (only 1 on a wrong bus, but we got wrong information from the transportation department and the boy did get to where he was going!).  I have a few students that will make me earn my paycheck, but they are all very sweet and excited to be in school.  

We both have students with special needs which can make challenges for us, but they are all funny and will keep us on our toes.

Happy 1st Birthday!

We don't know exactly what day Zoe was born, so we figured today was a good day to give her her present... a huge rawhide bone and a little stuffed something that looks like a tooth (just like cousin Millie got for her birthday)!

Here are a few funny pictures from her 1st year... I know it's pathetic, but she is our baby.

Some Progress...

We have spent the last few days working on the floors in the mud room/study.  They are looking really good.  (we think anyway)  We have put plastic over the doorway and it has actually kept most of the dust and smell from the rest of the house.  We had to put 3 coats of stain on the floor, which we finished tonight.  Tomorrow night we can begin the polyurethane process!  Then it's only a few more days until it's ready to move things (back) in!

I am very proud of how well Dustin is learning all of the new things that he has had to during this project.  

This is a view of the floors completely stripped down and the first coat of stain on them.  

The third and final coat of stain is now drying!

Back in business

Since band camp is over we are back working on the house full time again (minus new teacher inservices and band practices a few hours here and there).  Our amazing neighbor, Clyde, (a true God-send) came over today while I was at an inservice and helped Dustin hang drywall.  

We still have a lot to do, but it looks so much closer to being done now!

The mud room!  All we have left to do is paint the walls and baseboards... and of course redo the floors.

This is from the corner of our room looking in towards the bathroom in the very back.  The closet is right before it on the left.  (I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out very well)

Our bathroom!  Lots to do in here... the toilet will be where the ladder is now and the tub is to the left of the ladder.  

"Aren't you done yet?"

Slowing Down...

... or should I say speeding up?  The housework is taking a bit of a back seat right now since we are about to start school.  Dustin is going full swing into band camp which means he is not here to do all of the major stuff.  It's a little hard for me to hang drywall by myself :)  I am also getting ready for school... inservices, workdays, picnics (I love pre-k!) and back to school nights are all coming up in the next 2 weeks!

Hopefully we will still be able to get a lot accomplished even with the hectic schedules.  

Are we done yet?

Here are some of the latest photos.  It doesn't look that much different, but the plumbers have spent most of the last 2 workdays in the walls and/or ceilings.  They should be done tomorrow... then it's all up to us!  

Our tub is in!  It's anchored in and everything.  Obviously we still have tons to do by way of drywall and everything else bathroom related, but this is a big step.  

Yea for a pantry!  Since we still have to redo the floors, we haven't hung the doors yet.  And since we don't want our food to taste like dust (any more than it already does), the pantry is only holding supplies for now!

The upstairs hallway is getting there too.  We just have to prime and paint where the doorway was.  It still seems a little strange to see.  The poor dog wanders around the maze and ends up at the tub and can't figure out why she can't just walk out the door like she used to.  

One (almost) down...

Well we have finally started making visual progress again.  For a while there it was 'mud, wait, sand, repeat!'  We have pretty much finished the study.  There is a little bit of crown molding to put up, the doors for the closet have to be hung (hardware is in place, just have to be put up), and we are going to refinish the floors after everything else is done.  The pantry has also been painted, but it doesn't look any different.  

We also have a plumber (yea!) that will be coming tomorrow!  Hopefully he can run the water up to the mud room for the washer so we can finish putting up the drywall this weekend.  

 

The above picture is the study!  I can't wait to get all the stuff out of the middle of the room and in it's place!

It's a little hard to see, but the space on the left is the closet.

Dusty was able to get the drywall up in the bedroom.  Luckily one of his former students lives up the road and was able to help him bring it upstairs so I didn't have to carry that stuff!