Independence Day 2008 & Birth of a Blog!!

What a fitting day to kick off a family blog. Yes, we enjoy the festivities that go along with celebrating our country's independence, but this year we are also celebrating our independence from building our home!!!! We signed our first official document confirming we were moving forward with building the weekend of MLK, Jr 2007. And the last year and a half has been filled with drawing plans, editing plans, meeting with subcontractors, picking out everything from siding to door stops, waiting on subcontractors, dealing with subcontractors that don't show, waiting for the weather to improve to move forward with work, and most of all watching the calendar as the months tick by and hoping that we will finish when we needed to. Being your own general contractor carries with it the wonderful ability to have complete control over the building process, but it also means you carry all the responsibility and liability, which is quite a heavy monkey on the ole back.


Well...with all that said, we did it! Only one month past our target date, we are done with the house. I should rephrase that, we spent our first night in our home on June 25, 2008 and have been staying ever since. There is still plenty of work to be done for the house to be considered fully liveable, and then finish work after that, but rest assured we are elated to be living in a home we own that has our own blood, sweat, and tears in it. We hope to post some pictures soon, just haven't gotten around to taking any yet.


Piper kicked off her Independence Day celebration on July 3rd by starting in a new classroom at school. She moved up to a new room, and they made special hats to commemorate July 4th. Here's a couple pictures I got of her in her hat. She first found the hat to be the most fun to wear...however this faded with time and it soon became quite the burden as she was too busy to be bothered with such childish head gear!




Our day for the 4th started out with a family breakfast. Then we played in the basement, Ger has taught Piper how to roll on the floor, and she thinks it's absolutely hilarious to do. She also practiced pushing her stroller around, as she is trying very hard to perfect turning it, which is not quite as easy as it sounds when you are 2 feet tall. Her stroller is now one of her favorite things to push, not ride in.






Piper went down for an early morning nap, so Ger and I started working on applying the first coat of tile and grout sealer in our bathrooms. We need a total of three coats, with about 12 hours drying time between each, so we still have a ways to go, but put a good dent in things during the little lady's nap. We cannot yet use the master bath, as the grout/tile hasn't been sealed and we do not have glass doors on the shower yet. The sealant will hopefully be done by the end of the weekend and the doors will hopefully get ordered this week. Once Piper got up from her nap, we headed out to do a little furniture shopping. Piper enjoyed herself emensely in the store, and made sure to greet all the fellow customers and salespeople with a "Hi" and a wave. She tested out a few kiddy-sized chairs and gave her stamp of approval by demanding that both Ger and I sit in them and give them a try (or as she says, "Nit!"). We went home for lunch, an afternoon nap and more tile/grout sealing.



Then headed out to our friends' house for a 4th of July cookout. Piper and her best bud played together, we had good food and good company. And there were plenty of people around willing to give the girls wagon rides.



Once we got home, we were able to watch fireworks right from the deck, as well as some amazing heat lightning that almost stole the show from the fireworks.


All in all, a good day!