Fast and Slow

I know I am terrible at keeping a daily blog. I will just admit it and move on.

Fast- some things in my life are going so fast it is hard to keep up. The kids schedule is moving along and this time of year I always wonder "why." Baseball is going great. Max's team is awesome. Jonah is having a fantastic time and Christian's team is looking real good.

Slow- Not that the house is really moving slow. However, the framing seems to be going on forever. I ordered windows and a garage door. The walls are up and the floor in the old garage (ceiling to new garage) is being built. They are out there working on it every day. I know they are going to put the house down on the new walls soon. Then they pour concrete, finally hook the heat back up and lots of other stuff. Oh yeah, siding.

I try really hard not to pay any attention to the time line at all because I think at this point it is inaccurate and also if I look at it, it may actually drive me crazy.

I had a fantastic Mother's Day. My husband and kids are great. I read a book all day why they made me yummy meals and did some things around the house. Max wrote me a poem, Christian gave me an abstract self portrait of himself and Jonah made me a ceramic coaster. Chris bought me a new cell phone and took me out for a night on the town.

I have a ton of house paperwork to get done. The red tape is killing me and may put me over the edge. Almost done, almost done.....almost done!

Happy Birthday Chris.

My Sweet Hubby turned 36.

His birthday was not as awesome as it should have been. He had to work all day, then we had baseball all evening. I ended up in the ER. However, I think I made up for it today with breakfast out and a cool present. I always like to mark birthdays with my favorite things so here goes.



A few of my favorite things about Chris:

Chrisisms- things Chris says to explain something.

Chris's blue eyes. Love them.

His love of music. Music has always been a huge part of our relationship.

I should have put God first but this is in the order I think of them. Chris has always made God and Church a part of our lives. He has taught with me, served, participated in the music ministry, volunteered and just served our family. I love that my kids are being raised by a man of faith and that his example shows them how to love and serve the Lord.

I love that Chris coaches in our community. Chris has been a coach for youth sports in the valley for many years. He never stops "coaching." He is always routing for his boys even if they are no longer on our team. He leads by example and in the crazy world of "sports" this is huge. He has never puffed up his chest and done the guy thing in a game. He does not brag, he does not boast. He lets his actions speak for themselves and really teaches the kids as much about sportsmanship as he does about sports.

I love that Chris works hard. It is rare to find someone with as much work ethic and drive as Chris. He is a perfectionist that just wants to do the best he can.

I love that Chris will dance with me. In the kitchen, at a party...anywhere.

I love that I am going to be married to him for the rest of my life cause life without him would suck pretty bad.

Happy birthday Chris.

Back at it again.

Well, Dell and the boys are back at it again. They have been back filling and prepping for my new walls. I didn't post yesterday because I felt terrible. Today I made it around to take pictures and video of all the happenings. By far the best video is Max running the tractor. Kenny took some time to teach Max how to work the arms and then he let him loose. Max has been waiting for days to get this opportunity.

I am starting to get a yard again. The back fill means the piles of dirt are going away. Jackie is working on fixing some rotten board he found so they can connect good stuff to good stuff. I have lots of fun pictures to share but not enough time. Christian has a concert tonight and we have two games and one practice. I am still not feeling great but who has time to be sick.

Baseball is in full swing. Max's team is doing great. Jonah and Christian are doing great too. Christian and Jonah both played tonight and did well. We had two games a practice and a concert. Life is busy. I included a pick of Chris and his team. They are very cute. Both C and J pitched tonight and both had hits. I love my boys. They are so cute. Max went to practice and then Heath (the other coach) took him to Mc Donalds. He loved it.

I will update as soon as I can. I am trying for everyday and keeping up with pics but it is really hard.

ummm, am I supposed to be posting everyday?

Ok, so I am failing miserably at this every day thing. In my defense we are very busy. I didn't get home from the board meeting until 10:30. We had two games a practice, piano lessons for everyone and a whole lot of house stuff. That was Wed. I don't really remember Tuesday so you will just have to believe me when I say I was busy.

Now for the house update. Things are going well. The foundation is finished. WOOO HOOO. Willy and Doug poured the stem walls today. They have been working all week to get the forms in place. They are very nice guys. Today was a beautiful day. After the pour Willy came and got Christian and I so he could show us the post and beam footings that will be exposed in the basement. There are four concrete plinths and he gave one to each of the boys and one for Chris and I to decorate. Around four in the afternoon we all went out and put hand prints and designed our piece. The boys had a ton of fun. I only had time to take pics of Max's but I will add the rest (promises promises).

Tomorrow Jackie comes back to begin framing the walls. Chris says it the beginning of phase 3. We are unclear on how many phases there are but somehow saying it feels like progress.

Christian had a baseball game tonight which went not so good. Jonah had practice. We got home around 8pm and decided on an impromtu family basketball game. Chris and I against the kids. Chris and I won. Yeah it is true. I have mad basketball skills. I got the hops. (stop laughing).

We have a full weekend planned. Chris got us tickets to tomorrows Mariners game. Felix is pitching. Opening Day for Little League is this weekend. Kim and Payton (sister in law and niece) are coming for the night Saturday. Tristan's birthday is Sunday. Never a dull moment around here.

As always, I will keep up with the pics and progress just not as promptly as I originally promised.

Monday Monday

Wow!

Everyone back to school! Max and Jonah were a little sluggish getting out the door.

We had the footing inspection this morning and I was told it went well. After work I followed a concrete truck....low and behold it was heading to my house. With the footings signed off the boys could begin pouring the mud (That's what they call it. They really mean concrete.)
They worked hard and fast and had all the footing poured and curing in 3hours flat. They earned a cool beverage on the house. I think they enjoyed that.

I keep promising construction videos and I really mean it. I just need to confiscate Chris's computer.

Max has a baseball game tonight which I can't coach cause I am working. I put my trust in my Hubby and Coach Heath. I hope they do well tonight. I have a great group of boys. They work hard and are very cute. Max is really enjoying his team this year. I wish I was there. Alas, someone must circulate the books!

Pics and video coming around 9:30!

Foundation, Firewood, Socks, Lunch and a Clean House

The guys worked on getting the forms ready for the foundation to be poured on Monday. I finally was able to locate some wood and the delivered it bright and early this morning...Just in time for the beautiful sunny day. Figures.

My mom came up for a visit today, as I was too busy to drive my bottom down to Olympia. While the boys and I stacked firewood my mom helped clean my house. Woo Hoo. After spending the morning in my home on our very cold floors my mom declared it necessary for socks. (Never been a good sock mom) She took us out to lunch then we went to the Fred Meyer to buy socks. My family is sock crazy...they love warm toes. Now I just have to figure out how to fold them.

I spent some time going over elevations with the contractor, concrete guy and the survey guy. I don't know if we have it all worked out or not. Chris is going to have a meeting with them at 8am tomorrow before he heads off to work. Everyone is hell bent on getting it perfect which is fantastic. I appreciate all the hard work and time they are all putting in. I know the concrete guys are going to be out here working on getting the forms set tomorrow.

Chris is probably working all weekend. Christian has a couple of birthday parties and Jonah has plans on Sunday with his friend. Other than that, I am looking forward to a pretty mellow weekend. I only have relocating the rest of my plants and stacking wood on the schedule so that is pretty good. Oh wait, I think Christian has a game on Sunday...ugghhhh. Oh well, I am going to remain as mellow and calm as possible. We will see (hahaha)

Here are some photos from the week. Sorry to put them out all at once but the daily thing is killing me...

Holy WIND Batman!

OH MY GOODNESS...Last night was windy! The storm that raged outside my windows did more damage to my piece of mind than it did to the house. Chris told me I needed to stop sleeping so I could get some rest. My dreams were crazy last night.

The house is doing great. They are making the forms for the foundation. It is all work and no play for those guys. I believe they are going to pour on Monday. The work is so dramatic visually but I will post pics from the last couple of days soon. It is just hard to find time to sit in front of my computer these days.

We ran out of wood for the fireplace and I have been calling around for wood deliveries but no one has seasoned wood for right now. I am just going to have to go hunt down one of those wood trucks.

I took the boys into Seattle yesterday to get their passports. That took longer than I thought. We had lunch with Claire and then headed down to district court. The boys were cute. They had to raise their right hands and swear everything they new was accurate. The also signed their own documents which was adorable. I had to remind Max to sign his name as Addison. He signed it Addison Max Duvall. Super cute. Vacation can't come soon enough for me.

Excavation Baby!!

There is an enormous amount of dirt and rock in my yard as the gentelmen are excavating and preping for a new foundation. The comings and goings are enough to make my head spin. Hard to keep track. Yesterday, we worked on relocating some footings for my deck. I called to order more wood but can't find anyone with dry wood this time of year. Running out of wood fast so that is a problem I need to solve.

I believe they are going to begin pouring foundation late this week or early next. I still have not read my timeline to see how long this madness is to go on because I figure what difference does it make. If I have no expectations, I can't get cranky they are taking too long.

I took the boys to "How to Train a Dragon" yesterday. It was so cute. Today we are heading into Seattle for lunch with Chris and to apply for passports. Have Passport...Will Travel. The boys have baseball this evening and Chris is still working a ton. It is amazing how he balances family, work, house work, baseball etc. etc.

I have pictures but no time to upload them. Will get to that later.
See ya soon...

Happy Easter....

Work on the house did not stop because it was a Saturday. They were out with the excavator on prepping for the new foundation. The boys and I cleaned house and then ditched for the weekend. We headed out to Aunt Tanya's house.

Tanya and I went to Easter Vigil Mass which was really nice.
Easter morning was lovely. Tori and Tristan were supper cuddly and gave their auntie some great good morning love. We had an Easter Egg Hunt, baskets and then headed off to mass with the kids and hubbys. Tristan was adorable in Mass.

After we had a fantastic rib dinner. Thanks Trav. We rented the big boys some scarry movies which I tried to sleep through...no such luck. Tanya and I sent the kids and the Daddy's to bed so we could do photos and watch girl movies...However, we are watching the worst movie ever made...maybe not the worst but it sure is depressing. We are staying another night with Tanya. She is going to watch the boys so I can work tomorrow without having to worry about the boys in the construction zone. Yep she is up for Auntie of the year!

I will head home in between shifts tomorrow and see where we are at on the house. I hope everyone had a great Easter. I am so blessed and thankful to have such amazing people around me. It was a great way to spend a beautiful holiday.

Buttoning Down The Hatch.

It is 1:15 and all work at my house has stopped for the day due to a high wind storm warning. Del and the boys were out there bracing the pilings for strong winds. I am not going to lie....I am a little bit nervous. I just can't wait til the day where I don't have to worry about my stinkin house anymore. I am tired of being so stressed out all the time. As I am writing this the sun has peaked out a little bit and that is good news. The high winds are expected in the next couple of hours and then we should be fine. Afterall, what am I going to do about it anyway.

I am so glad we booked a vacation because I really need white sand beaches, sun, relaxation and of course a nice cold margarita.

Tomorrow is Easter Vigil so the boys and I are going to Aunt Tanya's house. Chris has to work but will meet up with us in the evening. We will stay the night and do Easter with them. I love Easter and am so happy to have time to reflect on all of the positives going on right now. The truth is God has blessed me more than I could ever hope for. I am married to an awesome man. He works so hard for our family and is truly dedicated to me. I have three fantastic little boys who make me laugh constantly. I have my super awesome BFF's who put up with me and save me constantly. At the end of the day...I couldn't be more blessed.

Too Late To Blog....

J

Man oh Man, it is definatley too late to be blogging. Busy day with work, house, family and of course some baseball. I am still up trying to download pics and movies on my lame computer. Who wants to talk Chris into buying me a new laptop? I have been at this for far too long. It would help if I read the user manual on my new video camera, but who needs to do that? Chris kept me up late last night watching Texas Chain Saw Massacre....not a favorite of mine. Now I am paying for it dearly.

As for the house, well....It looks like the guys showed up after I left for work today. When I came home they were hard at work cutting concrete and removing my old foundation. Del came up to check on all the walls, doors, tiles etc to make sure there wasn't any damage in the house raise. Christian and Del ended up playing a duo on the piano which was super cute.

Jonah was supposed to umpire his first game tonight but it got rained out so he played in Christian's game instead. Christian only hit and sat the bench so we could protect his finger. Jonah went out there and worked hard playing with the big boys. The other coach commented on how good he was. (there were several mom's mentioning how cute he was too...I got that on video). One of my favorite things about Jonah is his love and joy....he is absolutely adorable. He got a hit and a walk and no one steals bases like he does.

Chris loaded the house with fire wood and helped me clean. Thank goodness! It is hard to find time to do it all and right now and I really wish we had a house keeper....especially with the mud. Life is life and I will forever be stuck with the cleaning responsibility...thank goodness I have a hubby to help.

I am not sure what is in store for tomorrow. I think they are ripping out more of the foundation and bringing rock in. I work all day and Sarah is going to watch the boys so they don't fall out of the house. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with my cousin...Wooo hooo. Tanya and I are hoping to sneak out for some girl time. In the mean time, I will work hard a posting daily progress. This is more of a commitment than I realized but I am determined to keep it up.

The Duvall High Rise..

We are home. The extra night in the hotel was not necesarry but it was good. The boys were all cuddled up and loved hangin' in the pool. We ordered room service for dessert....it was fantastic. Christian stayed at Alex's house again. He loved it. We missed him. He did not miss us.

Today was crazy. I barely got the boys to school in time. I stopped by for a quick conversation with the plumber and then I headed out for a Library meeting. It was a very LONG meeting about tons of boring computer things....Its hard to focus on new computer systems being implemented in the library when I am really thinking about making sure the washing machine gets hooked up.

When I got to the house they were hard at work finishing plumbing, prepping for more demo and making me my beautiful temporary deck, stairs and entry. One more ways DB Davis has outdone themselves. No one in town has a temporary entry like this. They are super FAB!! They added extra railings to make sure little kids that come by have something to hang on to. They also fully stocked my wood pile for the fireplace before we went up. I got the fire going and it is finally getting warm in here. Chad and Tim took a few minutes to help me get my internet working again.

I was late to pick up all my kids today. Guess I am not getting that mom of the year award. I just couldn't get everything together for baseball and piano. I did make it to my practice barely in time. I was able to watch Jonah's game from my field. He is adorable. We just finished a nice family dinner and are all getting ready for bed. We are adjusting to the new height of our homes and are enjoying the views. Can't wait for the next step in this whole crazy thing...I need to remember tomorrow is Holy Thursday and somehow I have to get my family to church. I am looking forward to spending Easter weekend with Tanya. She is becoming Catholic and I am her sponsor. We are planning on staying most of the weekend with her family. I am looking forward to some girl time.

WOW! The house is up very high....

Well another huge day at the office....

The day started out at the hotel. The boys loved it and wanted to head to the pool first thing. Instead they got ready for school and we made it back to Snoqualmie in time for the bus. I stopped by the house for a minute before taking Christian to the ortho for his finger. The doctor cleared him for all activities...

As for the rest of the day...I showed up at the house in the early afternoon. As usual the guys were hard at work. They were raising and stacking, raising and stacking. They are all very nice and funny. Eventually, they all agreed the house was high enough. A carpenter showed up to build me a temporary entrance to the house. In the mean time they rigged up a ladder so I could go up in the house. Yeah....the ladder was sweet and very useful but I decided to high tale it back to the hotel instead of braving that ladder. Actually, the truth is the plumber had a couple hours left to go before we were up and running and I thought sitting in a hot tub at the hotel sounded better.

Everyday before the guys leave they try to clear me a "clean" path back to the house. This is adorable. As you can see in the picture, mother nature has different plans for my clean path but the effort they put into finding safe clean ways into the house for the boys and I is sweet. The boss man jumped around on the house and the ladder to prove how safe it was. It was crackin me up. I am thankful that these guys not only work hard on my house but they work equally hard at taking care of my family. Yeah for them.

I will post again tomorrow on the next phase of progress...Oh yeah, I need to post video too. Coming soon, I promise.

I'm Comin Up!

And we thought there was a lot of mud before.....yikes.
I am working and we are staying in a hotel tonight so the pics will be delayed. Sorry bout that.

Today was a big day. Lots going on. Chris came home from work early to watch the house raise. We let the boys skip school to see what was going on. Mostly it was a whole lot of rain....If there was a massive amount of mud befor we have beat it by a ton. Mud EVERYWHERE. The back addition was a pain in the butt for the guys and one of the sewer lines broke so that didn't make them too happy. Finally around three o'clock this afternoon we had lift off. I was able to run the hydrolic lifting machine which was pretty cool. House is up about 2 feet...They will finish raising in the morning.

The rain today was terrible. It was hard, constant and sideways. I feel terrible cause they were all wet and muddy but they never complained and they kept working. One of the guys brought his 12 year old son to hang out with him for the day. That was neat to see. He played with my boys and lots of the kids friends stopped by to check out all the hoopla. Ian, Alex, Cooper, Fiona and some of their parental units stopped by. It was fun for the kids to see what was going on. The whole thing is a little surreal for Chris and I.

I couldn't sleep last night and I am paying for it tonight at work. I am yawning here at the desk. Its been a full emotional, cold, wet day. I am ready to head to the hotel and take a hot tub. I have room service breakfast in bed planned out....(not gonna mention that part to my hubby).

Tomorrow, we go up the rest of the way. Christian heads to the ortho to find out how much damage he really did. I am thankful baseball was canceled tonight and I hope it will be canceled tomorrow. Could use a couple quiet evenings before we get back in the swing of things.

a broken finger....

Well, it is official... I am exhausted. We spent yesterday at the ball field (typical). The boys had a mini round robin tournament. Max had two awesome games. He pitched well. He is soo cute and his team is looking pretty good. We were a little agressive on the base running but that isn't such a bad thing as long as they listen to me at 3rd base (which they weren't) but we will get the hang of it. Jonah had a great two games as well. Max and Jonah played at the same time so I could only watch him from across the way. He leads his team in enthusiasm, that is for sure. He pitched some and got a couple of hits. Christian had a great day. I saw a little of him playing. He pitched well. He was catching in the 2nd game when he got hit with a bat. He still played in the third game. He pitched really well and was throwin some serious heat. Today after batting practice I took him in to have his finger looked at and sure enough the darn thing is broken. He is out for a couple of weeks. He can still play the piano...he made sure of that tonight. I don't know if he is going to be able to work out the saxaphone or not. I am sure he will find out tomorrow. A broken finger can't keep that kid down and sadly, that is what worries me.

As for Chris, he worked until midnight on Friday, coached all day yesterday and has been at work since 7am this morning. (it is 9pm) It doesn't look like he will be home anytime soon.

I woke up this morning and hung out at the laundramat...Good times. Then, I worked in the yard cleaning up a pile of junk that needs to go to the dump. I can't back up the trailer by myself so I had to wait on the dump run. Then a couple of baseball practices and some shopping to round out the night. I got a camcorder so we can video the house raise. On the way home from errands, I ordered pizza so I didn't have to cook.

Tomorrow is the house raise. We are staying in a hotel in Issaquah for at least one night. I am kind of lookin forward to some breakfast room service to be quite honest (don't tell Chris). The kids are looking forward to a pool. Even if baseball goes late, they will want to hit that pool. Well, that is it for now. I work a split shift tomorrow so I probably won't be able to post the raise until Tuesday...Stay tuned.

Steel and Mud

Wow, this whole house raising thing is a very muddy job. Yesterdays down pour didn't help things much. The "boys" are putting steel beams everywhere and every which way.

My boys are loving every minute of it. Max declared he was "born to ride a tractor." The only down side to this whole thing is they had to take out the plumbing in the back bath/laundry so now I am approx 4 days without wash in this crazy mud and baseball season...yikes.

The nice thing is they work really hard all day long and are very nice to the boys and me. Chris doesn't get to see too much of the "show" because he is always home after dark. I know Monday when they do the lift Chris and my boys want to be there. Mommy may let the out for the day.

Day 3-

Pics coming soon...Prob tomorrow. I am writing this from work.



Well, today was a very unexpected day. Guys showed up bright and early 7:30am and began working. I quickly shuffled boys out the door before sitting down to do a ton of paperwork for the project. That of course took forever but was finally able to connect with the heating and plumbing guy which is great since we are out of heat.



They demo'd more of the foundation and took out the slab in the garage along with my sidewalks. There are huge holes everywhere in the foundation and guys keep popping in and out of them. With more digging came more work for me. The guys surprised me by digging up 7 plants for me so I didn't have to but that meant all of the sudden I had to find them homes in my already crowded yard.



I spent most of the afternoon digging. I went inside to clean up and get ready for the afternoon rush with kids (piano/drums/baseball/work) when my friend called to ask if it was her day to pick up the kids cause I left them at school.....wooops



The HVAC guy made it to the sight in time for my outside water spout to break. I am still not sure what happened with that cause I left. Now I am sitting

Day 2-

While day 1 ended peacefully, day 2 was anything but. There was a lot going on yesterday. Those boys sure make quick work of things.

The day seemed like it was going to get off to a calm start. I left around 10am and no one was here. By the time I got home Tim was taking a sledge hammer to my foundation....good times. Poor Jackie was stuck under the house taking out our heating ducts. Unfortunately, we will have no heat for awhile....again. I think we are getting used to living without a furnace.

The Dump guys came by to pick up my "carport pile." With a tear in my eye, I said good bye to that rotten pile of wood. It was a good thing the cleared out when they did because Dell showed up with a semi-truck full of supplies which is now scattered happily in the yard. I left them to their own devices in the early afternoon. The Max and Jonah had a play yesterday, Christian had a Jazz workshop, two baseball practices and then we watched a set of the great pianist Christian wanted to see at Boxley's. We finally arrived home around 10 to see the presents that were left in our yard. I had to take pictures of it on day 3 but it does mark day 2's progress.

Max is still lobbying to be allowed to stay home and supervise construction. He asks me all kinds of questions about what is going on. He was disappointed to miss the action yesterday. Christian is worried the steel beams in the yard will stay in the lower portion of the house when they are done hence destroying his dream for a batting cage. I could only laugh at his concern, I didn't even bother correcting it. Jonah oddly enough is just going with the flow. No worries or distractions. He has a lot of baseball on his mind which is terribly cute.

I will keep you all posted on the progress...construction and family. Lots of love, me

Duvall House Raise Day 1

Well, the day has finally come. We are raising the house so we don't have to go through another stinkin flood. I am a little sad to see the brick go. We really loved it. They made quick work of tearing out the carport and the hideous storage shed. I am not really sure what they are going to do tomorrow but I know the debris pile in my yard will be gone.

Max came home from school and instantly put on a hard hat to start working. He helped clear out the plywood from the garage. He has since asked to skip school and stay home to watch the workers. I told the boys on the day they actually do the raise I may let them out of school a tad early to watch. However, I work a double that day so I don't know if I can hold true to my promise.

You can see a house in the top right corner of the photos. That house was just raised and is as high as my house will be.

Who left their tractor in my yard?

Christian called me after school today. He is so sweet. While we were talking he started telling me a red truck pulled up to the house and left a tractor in our yard! The funny part is that no one said a word to us about it.

The tractor is there to start phase one of the house raise. Yikes. I can't believe it is here already. By next Monday we should be up in the air. I am nervous, excited, overwhelmed but certainly glad this day is here.

I have been sick the last few days which is not helping anything. I have a fever, sore throat, muscle aches...the works and I am scheduled to work all weekend. The contractors need everything out of the garage this weekend and all my plants moved. Not the most ideal timing. I am sure I will get it done it is just gonna be a big push. Frankly, my muscles aren't in to any more pushing.

Baseball is already going and in full swing. Chris and I are coaching despite my better judgement...or lack there of. It is hard not to because we love being involved and hanging with the kids. Kids are awesome!!

Well, check back for new posts on the praject.
I will try to post pictures too.