Happy V-Day!

As most people know, I like to make my own birthday invites, cards, and of course, Valentine's Day cards as well.  Last year, I really outdid myself, so I decided with all that has been going on, just to find something simple to do for the kids classes.  Behold, the Valentine's Day cards for the kids class!

 This year, my work schedule allowed for me to be able to take off and volunteer in H's classroom for her Valentine's Party.  What a chaotic crazy awesome time!  I give MAD props to her teacher, working with 24 5 and 6 year olds on a daily basis is a lot of work!  I was ready for a nap after just an hour there helping!

This picture was the insanity of passing out the Valentine's to all of the friends.

Kindergarten Concert

All four of the kindergarten classes at H's school put on a Valentine's Day/President's Day concert.  It was on the 13th, and all of the kids did fantastic!  The classes sang about 12 songs wearing patriotic clothes and George Washington hats.  

H leading her class in one of the songs!

 H's teacher Mrs. Frankenfeld

Stuart Construction - Week 12

Week 12 - February 4-10, 2013

There wasn't a ton of visual changes at the house this week, perhaps the most shocking thing for B and I was walking up to the house and seeing that almost ALL the windows and doors were installed!  We were shocked at the progress for that one day!  It was amazing!  The siding guys were there as well and had a lot of the north side of the house sided!

It is fantastic to see the windows in, the doors in, and just how much light and air we are going to have in our house!  I'm so excited!  They also finally put in the stairs to the upstairs!  I have been waiting for almost two weeks to have stairs to walk up and down and I love the way that they look!  One more step towards the house getting done!

This is the kitchen looking out at the eat in space

 Photo on the left is family room.  Photo on the right is family room but is a shot of the huge french doors!!

 This is looking from eat in space out over the family room to the stairs

My stairs!  Yea, I love them!!

Photo on the left is the window in the master bedroom, the photo on the right is the french doors in the master bedroom

We don't have much time to go look at the house in the daylight since we get home later from work and the sun sets so early, so usually B and I head to the house after the kids are in bed.  That means that it is pitch black in the house and we look at things by the light of B's I-Phone flashlight.  We were out the other night looking around, and were standing in the garage area when we saw a car, without their lights on come flying down the cul-de-sac.  Although we haven't lived there, we know our neighbors in that area and their cars already, so we were both taken back by this car coming so fast down the street; until we caught the shape of the car in the neighbor's porch lights.  Someone called the cops on us!   Once we realized it was the police, we started walking towards our car that was parked in the driveway, and were greeted by not one, not two, but five officers!  Must have been a quiet night for them and possible thieves in a construction site sounded like a lot of fun.  After clearing us they suggested that we not come to the house at night anymore.  We are so happy that our neighbors, all of them that we have met and haven't are looking out for us and our home!

100th Day

February 6th was H's 100th day of Kindergarten!  I can't believe that she is already halfway through her first year of school!  She has LOVED her teacher and class, and is flourishing in class.  I knew and know that she is a very smart little girl, but didn't realize how smart she is and how quickly she can and does pick up on everything!

At her school, they do assessments (like I'm sure they do in all schools!) at the beginning of the year and middle of the year where they want to see where she was at with her reading, writing and math.  At her first assessment, she was above the Kindergarten level already, not hugely above, but above.  Byron and and I were thrilled, as we firmly believe that we are important parts of our children's education and reading and working with them at home is helping them when they get to school.  We just had our second meeting with the teacher and went over H's mid year assessments, and she is continuing to improve in every area!  She is well above the kindergarten level in reading and is working on 2nd grade word wall words, and is doing fantastic in her math skills.  She loves school and is so eager to learn.  I love that I can see the wheels turning in her head as she tries to read a word she has never come across and then using the skills and tools she has learned to master that word herself.  It truly is awesome to see!  Her teacher is fantastic and I am so happy that H has been able to have such a good woman teaching and growing her!

For the 100th day of Kindergarten, her teacher sent home special shirts to wear and the class got a party.  It was so fun for her, and she is definitely not the same timid girl she was at the beginning of school!  Enjoy the pics from the day!

H's first Day of School

H's 100th Day of Kindergarten

What a change in 100 days right?!

Stuart Construction ~ Week 11

Week 11 - January 28 - February 3, 2013

This past week was a little crazy on the home front, so we weren't able to make it out to the house as frequently as we wanted.

The house is looking like a house more and more!  We are so thrilled with the progress! I'm shocked at how quickly things are progressing now that the framing is pretty much done!

Photo on the left is standing at the entrance of the hall upstairs looking out over the railing into the family room.  The photo on the right is looking from Carter's hallway out over the other side of the bridge that leads to the staircase.

 This is standing at the end of the bridge looking down to where the staircase will be.

Standing on the bridge looking down into the family room

The kids playroom!!!

Carter's Room

Picture on the left is the entrance to the dining room.  Photo on the right is the trey ceiling in the dining room 

Photo on the left shows them framing the covered patio. Photo on the right is our bedroom and a bit of the covered patio.

Windows and exterior doors were delivered this week!  YEA!

Stuart Construction - Week 10

Week 10 ~ January 21-27, 2013

The progress continues!  We were quite excited to go away for the weekend in Breck and then come home to see the progress on our house.  The framers have worked really hard on the house this past week.

Photo on the left is the hallway to Carter's room.  Photo on the right is standing at the entrance of the kids playroom! 

Photo on the left is another shot of the kids play room.  Photo on the right is standing in the kitchen looking at the ceiling in the main family room.

Photo on the left is the landing of the stairway heading to the basement.  Photo on the right is hallway to the kids playroom.

 Photo on the left is the view from Carter's window, looking northwest.  Photo on the right is view from Haylee's window looking southeast.

Progress shots for the week

Shot from south side of lot

Shot from north side of lot

Shot from center of lot