Labor of Love

 

Full Disclosure-This post has lots of words and lots of pictures. This blog is how I document family happenings, and this was quite the process!

Shortly after Papa died, the kids felt we needed to consider moving to Papa and Grandmother's house. (They mentioned something about all the stairs and us getting older......What??) After being in our house for 34 years, I was not originally sold on the idea.  After some serious persuading, we began the process of renovating the house with plans to move.  The house had excellent bones, but was seriously outdated.  Reed began the process of making the house ours, and did most of the work on his own.  We did receive some excellent help along the way.  Lindsey and Josh painted almost the entire house, and helped install much of the new floors among many other things. Willie, Caleb, Skip, our precious grandbabies and others helped along the way. Sadly, Willie passed away during the renovation, and is greatly missed.

 Our goal was to take our time, complete projects as we could, and not be rushed.  This plan worked great until we sold our house earlier than planned.  We moved in with no kitchen and several little projects still uncompleted. I moved all of the little stuff in two laundry baskets, and set things up as I went.  We had a big moving day for the big stuff.  After the move, we continued working, and before we knew it, most things were finished!  I am going to list just a few of the things that were done.

1. The work began outside and included painting, new shutters, repairing boards that were eaten by squirrels, extensive roof work, wrapping the columns, replacing facial boards, new outdoor ceiling fans, yardwork, and eventually the pool.

2.  We moved indoors and replaced the front door, painted the entire house, painted the tile in two bathrooms, updated the bathrooms and more.

3.  One of our favorite projects was the new ceilings in the den, dining room, kitchen, our bedroom, and the bathrooms.  Reed's work on the ceilings and beams is just beautiful.

4.  Took a wall out of the kitchen, added a support beam and gutted the kitchen. This opened up the kitchen and dining room, and it's now my favorite part of the house.

5.  Added over 2300 square feet of flooring. We have plans to complete one or two of the back bedroom's flooring in the future.

6. Installed a beautiful new kitchen after waiting on cabinets for 19 weeks.  The work in the kitchen included new cabinets, ceiling, floors, island, backsplash, crown moulding, countertops, farm house sink and more.

7. Installed multiple new ceiling fans and light fixtures.

8, Completed a ton of electrical and plumbing issues.

9.  Installed new commodes and two new vanities.

10. Whitewashed 2 fireplaces.  Installed a new fireplace door, and converted it back to a woodworking fireplace.

11.  We literally lost count of the loads of stuff we threw away, gave away and took to the thrift store.

12. Installed a pool.

13. Installed 2 new AC units.

14.  Yardwork will continue forever! 

Before and during in no particular order-

Moving Day

She had one job-don't let Jesus get broken!! :)

After- Again in no particular order or season

Landscaping and sod coming this Spring.

Even though I was reluctant to move in the beginning, I can truly say that this is now home.  And as I looked at the "after" pictures, there has already been lots of little changes to rooms. The grandkids love having their own rooms and the yard.  Speaking of the yard, it's either going to kill me or keep me young!  

Come see us!

Hunting and Such

Belle and Reed haven't been able to quail hunt this season until yesterday. Reed just finally put all work aside and took her for a little outing.  I think it was good for both of them. I went to watch for a while.  I love watching her do what she was born to do.  She loves it! She also loves coming home and snuggling on the couch! Maddie, Lillian and Reed have had virtual school for the last week or so.  I am really missing them and am going to try and work a little visit in soon.  The little ones were here last night, and John Sawyer will be back Monday.  They are all growing so quickly.  A very special friend that is going through an unthinkable situation right now reminded me to hug my babies tight and tell them how much I love them.  Believe me, I intend to continue doing that.

Doing a little yardwork!

Cutie Pie!

Yes, they are on the coffee table!  It makes the perfect racetrack!

These three were having a little fun outside after finishing up their work one afternoon.  Doesn't Maddie look precious in her new braces?  John Sawyer is getting glasses this week, too.

More to come!

Fun Little Outing

We ended our last visit with an outing to Olive Garden and Upsurge.  I love spending time with these guys, and can't wait until Jack can join us.  It won't be long now.  Lindsey and her kids are now back to virtual school, and the two little ones are out due to covid issues at their school.  I long for the days when things are back to normal!  I have been hunkered down enjoying the fireplace during this cold spell the last couple of days.  I was scheduled to have not one, but two root canals Thursday.  My appointment was cancelled at the last minute when my dentist tested positive for the flu.  Lots of pain here, so I was devastated! I can't wait to get this cleared up, so life can get back to normal. 

I took this right before we left.  They had a great time, but were worn out after an hour!

So much fun!  This is the most precious age!

Maddie was the queen of this!  This sweet girl got braces today.

Tackling the obstacle course!

Ready, set, jump!

Fun was had by all!

January Update

What a fun weekend!  The big kids were here for the long weekend.  John Sawyer and Jack spent one day with us, and fun was had by all.  I love these days.  We aren't sure when our next visit with the big kids will be.  This was another laid back visit, and those are my favorite kind. I am meeting Lindsey to take them back tomorrow, but first we are picking John Sawyer up and headed for one last adventure.  More on that later. I must say that we were all very disappointed in our lack of snow.  We had big, big plans!

They enjoyed decorating Valentine's cookies.  Very creative and just a tad messy.                   

Teamwork!

Great job!

After decorating the Valentine cookies, the boys helped with some delicious molasses cookies.

This sweet thing loved washing dishes!  He washed that one bowl for about 15 minutes.  

Jack loves riding around on their dumptruck.

Maddie went for a run at the park.  Reed ran with her for about a mile and then joined Lillian at the playground.

Big pig down!  Reed and Pop killed 2 more the next day.  You wouldn't believe the damage they do to our land.

Just chilling! The oldest and the youngest!

Meet Mr. Puggles!  We picked him up running down the Benevola Road.  I am happy to say that we were able to reconnect him with his family after just a couple of hours. I was so amazed at all the people that helped with this.  There are lots of nice people in our community.

John Sawyer and Pop got in a little bulldozer work, and we enjoyed some time at the sandpiles.

More to come!

January Update

We have settled into the new year nicely. We are still on a break from house projects, but hopefully we will get started back soon.  The only major project left is one bathroom, and then a few smaller things.  Reed and I have settled in nicely and are really enjoying living here. I plan on doing a blog of our renovations soon. The installation of the pool was completed right after Christmas.  We still have lots to do as far as landscaping, but I am thrilled to have that project completed. 

John Sawyer helped Pop with a little bulldozer work this week.

Enjoying a drive around the yard in their new dump truck.

The pergola will go at the end of the pool.  It is being painted right now, and then Reed will put it back up.  We also still have lots of "fixing up" to do around it.  We made the decision to go smaller this time, and I couldn't be more pleased. I predict lots of new memories will be made here! I also highly recommend Mr. Pool from Montgomery.  They were a very impressive group!

Lillian's face tells the story!  It's cold!

I am headed to see the little ones tomorrow, and the big kids Friday.  Love them bunches and bunches and can't wait to see them!

And I just had to capture our big ole snowstorm!!!

I would also like to add that I have settled quite nicely into full time retirement.  After 31 years teaching, followed by 6 years with GEAR UP, I am loving being on my own time!  I'm not sure how long it will last, but so far it/s been awesome.