Let The Work Begin

We spent our whole morning and a good chunk of the afternoon working on the house today. Here's how we divided up the responsibilities:
#1-shovel the driveway (we got 2 inches last night...not much but still he now has 2 driveways to do), get the screws/molly bolts out of the walls, install the diaper sprayer (this was his idea, not mine)
Me-pull the nails out of the walls, take down unwanted curtains, keep the boys busy, fill nail holes
Snug-play outside in the new backyard, stay out of the way, be nice to Little Monkey Man
Little Monkey Man-run, climb, jump, scream, be nice to Snug
Here are some pictures of Hannah's room aka the nursery. This wall needs some Kilz for sure! While I think the idea of a chalk wall for kids is nice, overall I do believe it would teach my kids to color all over the walls...not just the designated one. Besides that, I think in this room it is ugly.

I forgot to take a picture before I took down numerous Disney posters (tried to save them but they were old and ripped easily), tape stuck to the walls, bright pink curtains, and wall stickers. This is a picture before #1 took down the white shelving you see. We will try to use it in a closet somewhere.

The yellow doesn't look too bad in these pictures, again, the camera is being very generous. Like every other room, this one is cable ready...or at least is now. We'll be taking care of that very soon too. I really wish you could see the paint in this house. EVERYTHING is painted, right down to the actual light switches. I am so so happy they didn't paint the trim in the livingroom/dining room. That is a blessing.

I took some pictures out the back. Here is our deck (the metal rods in the corners are part of a tent thing that goes up in the summer and gives almost the whole deck shade. Nice! You can also see the fire pit (yeah marshmallows!), swing set, and play set they left. Snug played out here for probably 40 minutes today (didn't get pictures, had spackle/putty all over my hands) and decided it was a really good yard.

Another view of the porch. I can just imagine Hannah and I relaxing on the deck as the boys play in the yard with our dogs this summer.

This is the window looking out the front from the living room. Excuse my photographic blunder with balance of color/light here. Anyway, it is HUGE and I think the kids will spend a great deal of time looking outside. I really want to get some kind of a bird feeder out there.

This is how Snug spent part of his day. He was watching Bob the Builder, but when it was over he didn't turn it off and then an episode of Barney came on...and then a couple of other cartoons that I had never even heard of. They looked like something college students had made for a class project, but they were using nice language so I left it on. I had no idea they were at the end of the DVD. #1 and I were laughing though. We are working hard to get the cable lines out of the bedrooms and fill in holes from mounted TVs...and yet Snug spent a chunk of the day watching TV in his new room. Oh well. It kept him occupied.

He and Monkey Man also had puzzles (trying to perk up his interest in this area), books, matchbox cars, and a soft sided ball. They didn't veg out all day. Actually, that was a picture of the probably 5 min. total Little Monkey watched anything.

But Little Monkey Man doesn't believe in playing with toys for long if he can help it. Nope, daddy's drill is the toy for him!

And being daddy's shadow is a full time job. There are several odd features about this house, and we're not really sure how to get rid of them without making a bigger mess. The house used to have a central vacuum system. I guess it was a vacuum that ran in the basement and each room has a hole in the floor you would stick a hose in. Another feature is a speaker system similar to what you'd see at a department store (in the ceiling). We have no idea how to use it/if it works. #1 is taking down a circular apparatus that appeared to be a light, but ended up being a hole to the attic that does who-knows-what.

The kitchen will indeed need to be painted. Poor #1. On closer look in the daylight we discovered there are many many nail holes, and the walls are quite dirty. All the walls are filthy in fact because they burned paper (TONS AND TONS) in their fireplace (perhaps also the flu wasn't all the way open???) and because the chimney needs to be cleaned so bad, it left soot on all the walls, particularly where they took pictures down.

It was fun to be over there working today though because we know everyday it will be a little closer to being ready to be lived in. Today I filled 109 holes in the walls. And I am exhausted.

On a completely different note, Little Monkey Man's diarrhea is not better. We've been doing what the GI told us to do, but we have seen little difference. Please continue to pray for him as it doesn't feel good to him and for us as we continue to make decisions about his health. He has two more medical related appointments this coming week.