Remodeling

I have taken some pictures of our new house but then I keep forgetting the camera so, pictures will have to wait a little longer but .... here's the short version of what's been going on in our world:

My dad (who is doing all our remodeling for us) got here Tuesday morning early and demolition began! At first, we were thinking we needed a staircase put in. The house has a loft with a tiny banister railing across the second story (which looks over into the living room/kitchen area) and only a spiral staircase to get to it. Our idea was to put in a real set of stairs and a wall in place of the banister and to make the upstairs our "master bedroom". My dad, who has been in construction/carpentry/architect for probably 40 years, just couldn't figure out a feasible way to get the stairs in without tearing up too much of the rest of the house. It would have been a MAJOR ordeal and very costly. So, R and I decided against the stairs for now (in the future if we see we just can't live with the staircase I guess we will have to bite the bullet and do it anyway or buy a new house) So, for now, the upstairs will be the kid's room and Ryan and I will take one of the downstairs smaller bedrooms. For obvious reasons, I didn't want to be climbing steep, winding stairs all the time. I guess the kids and I will have to work out a new bedtime routine or something-- I don't know how it will work out but, we will make it work. Anyway, so we tore out the banister railing completely, a closet, and a bathroom (there were two upstairs--weird!) And plan on putting in a wall where the banister was and a new closet where the bathroom was. (I know this makes no sense until you see pictures...)

So right now, we have this open second floor-- completely open to the bottom. They have been throwing all the trash over the edge and onto the living room floor-- what a mess! The good thing is, this means I get all new carpet! The bad thing is-- what a mess! We have decided the upstairs project and new flooring and paint are our first priorities and then we will see how far money and time will go after that before deciding on what small projects to tackle.

It has been a lot of fun working on this together. The kids have been pitching in and carrying out trash, picking up nails, pulling out nails, and being generally helpful. The people who lived there before us left the yard a mess so we have been picking up trash out there in our spare time. They love going to the new house and Benjamin yells out, "We're home!" every morning as we pull through the gate! They have even fixed up their own club house with things they have found around-- some old chairs, pots, and even a piece of a grill they turned into a couch. They even tied up some old antlers to one of the outside walls for a "decorative entry!"

On a more serious note...please pray for our safety and especially for Benjamin. He was sitting on a six foot scaffolding and somehow fell off backwards, landing on his back and back of his head. I wasn't there and didn't see it, so I don't know what happened exactly but that is what we have figured out happened as he tells us. He was fine-- immediately jumping up and screaming for his dad. There was no cut, no bruising, no bump. We have watched him now for two days-- I even got him up three times during the night, just to make sure, and he seems fine. He has been a little more whiny than usual and has complained of a headache at the front of his head. He will go off and play and then come back and want to lay around a little but other than that, he seems pretty normal. Please just pray that R and I would have wisdom to know if something serious is going on that we can't see-- I have heard that swelling of the brain can happen even days after a head injury.

I hope to have pictures up soon-- no promises though!