Christmas week and Josh and Rachelle and family came for a visit. We had progress on the house. Busy week.
Claude and Sallie came over on Christmas Eve day. We had our family Christmas dinner and then went to Christmas Eve service at our church, the Wilmore Free Methodist Church.
Sallie enjoyed holding baby T.
We started our Christmas day with reading the Christmas Story. We need to be reminded of why we give gifts at Christmas time.
We opened gifts.
And decorated gingerbread houses
And did crafts, this one called Perler beads. We put these plastic beads on a form and then heated them with an iron to make Christmas ornaments. One pink kitty on the table is an example.
J and K had a wonderful time playing together. We had mild weather, so the kids were able to play outside and play in our house.
They have partially built the hallway that will connect our main floor to the upstairs of the kids' house. They won't make the final cut through until the new house is heated.
In the meantime, though, you can go through the mini door where they put stuff to store in the eave/attic. The kids can go through that door and into the new house.
Jackie really enjoyed time with baby T.
We had a lot of work on the house in the past couple weeks. Lots of tradesmen's trucks.
We passed inspection for HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing.
The first step of the insulation was done. We did a thin layer of spray foam insulation and then will use fiberglass bats which will give us a value of R38 in the attic and R26 in the walls. The foam will act as the vapor barrier.
I've been choosing paint colors. That's a scary time for me because we will not easily re-paint.
Well, that's what's been happening here in the Bluegrass.
Where do I begin? It's been so long and we've been doing so much.
Bob & Charley had one afternoon to work on the line fence They need to have a whole week when Charley doesn't have to work and the weather is good. We'll keep whittling away on it. John and I "helped."
I went on a road trip with Josh, Rachelle and family to Iowa. We had a wonderful trip. We started out in Fayette. We had time with my brother and family and were able to do an early celebration of my Mom's 94th birthday. Then on to Charles City where we had some time with Bob's brothers. Then on further to see my other brother in Thornton.
When we were at Fayette, we were able to go to Northeast Iowa Community College where Shelia works. We saw the working milking barn. Also, they are about the open the robotic milking barn. It is mind-boggling how they can do that. We were able to see them setting up the equipment and I'm sure it is now in production.
On our way back, we had a night in Galena where the family had time in the pool. We had a great time! Josh took K down the water slide.
We ended the trip with our friends in Wheaton - College and Church. Wonderful to have a few minutes with old friends.
Then, back to Marion and then on to Kentucky.
When I got back home, they had made so much progress on our house.
The siding will be finished tomorrow, the plumbing passed inspection today (12/18) and the electrical inspection is tomorrow (12/19). The HVAC is nearing completion.
We now have a picture of how the hallway will cut through to the existing house. Today they had to move a duct that was in the way. I'll be anxious to see when that is out of the way. They were still working on it when we left tonight. The pink stuff is where the door will be. The dark gray you see is the roof of the existing house.
Anyone who is planning to come visit us and can stay in our guest room - this is what it looks like now. The bed will be in the center of this wall and on either side of the bed will be bookshelves which are actually built out over the shingles.
They started the siding on the back side, so that is all done, the end of the garage and the lower level in the front. The ceiling is in for the porch, and the wood was delivered today for the porch floor.
It's one week until Christmas and progress is great. Our first Christmas as residents of The Bluegrass.
