Another first in the Kensington house...

...our first dinner party! Batch made his famous spaghetti, and we enjoyed the evening with about 12 friends. We invited those who were present for our last dinner party in the old house (well, those who still live on the Coast). It was a good time, and we look forward to doing it again soon. We will be having a proper house warming party as soon as a few more items are finished around the place (master bathroom and landscaping). Now, before anyone reading this gets offended at not being extended an invitation to the first supper, there will hopefully be MANY more, and we had to limit the invitees based on places to sit and eat (we still do not have much furniture).

As part of the preparations, I made sure to get my camera out and put it in the kitchen/dining room, but alas, I still forgot to use it and take some pictures of the festivities. Maybe next time!

Busy week...

A couple of milestones this week- we cooked dinner INSIDE our house- oven and microwave only- and as of last night we have countertops and a cooktop! Hopefully we'll be able to find the hole saw we need to install the faucet which will complete the kitchen sink! For those of you at First Pres. on Sunday, we all know how important the kitchen sink is! :)

Besides the usual work on the house it seems like we've had a busy week socially. We had dinner guests Tuesday night, we tried to make it to church on Wednesday evening but ended up working on the kitchen, had an event at a neighbor's house last night and are schedule to head to Lagniappe Pres. tonight for a crab boil. The events continue tomorrow morning with a baby shower for our neighbors Kevin and Beth who recently adopted their 2nd child from Russia (an adorable little boy named Drew).

I'll try to post more pictures of the house after this weekend.

House pictures...

Here are some pictures of our house. It's still a work in progress, but looking more and more like a home each day...

Luke sitting in the middle of his new kitchen!

A view down our LONG island with the pantry in the background. We should get countertops and the rest of our appliances next week!

A view of our "famous" living/dining room from the kitchen

The master bedroom...not much to see here but at least there's a bed!

If you had told me a year ago that I'd be excited about a washer and dryer I would have thought you were crazy, but even I am enjoying these new additions to our home.

One of the guest bedrooms- we used some antique beds Mom had in storage. The cute bedding is courtsey of Lois!!

The front of the house with our NEW front door!! Doesn't it look great? We will likely start on landscaping next week so I should have more exterior pictures to post then.

Home Sweet Home...

Are you sitting down and ready for this news??? We are finally in our house!! We officially moved in on Saturday and have been settling in since then. We were blessed with many helping hands to assist with the final push and cleaning efforts! The church had a group in from Palm Bay, FL to help with VBS in the mornings and help in the community in the afternoons. I'm so terrible with names, but there were 10 wonderful youth who cleaned and prepped the house. I must also mention our good friend Virginia who convinced her boyfriend to spend his Friday off installing our front door so many, many thanks to Virginia and Tim for making the move possible- the front door actually works like a front door now- and by that I mean you need a key instead of a drill driver!!

Believe it or not, we actually had our first house guests this weekend too...the Mahnes and the soon-to-be Manuels came to visit and were a tremendous help getting things put away and just giving us a chance to play for a weekend. They brought their boat so we got to get out on the water some...by the way, although they claim to have cleared the channel, drive carefully...it's not as clear as you might think! Pictures from our adventures to follow later.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!

BTW, our kitchen cabinets are being installed as I type so we might get a kitchen soon too!!!

The latest...

Sorry we haven't been able to post more pictures of the progress. I will try to take some soon and get them up here. Things are moving along and we are still hoping to be in by July 4th. My boss has generously agreed to my working 1/2 days next week to help with the final push at the house. This will also allow me time, when stores are open, to get some furniture and "essentials" for the house. WOO HOO!

Looking more and more like a home...

Here are a few pictures to tide everyone over until tomorrow. There's been a lot going on around the homestead so I'll try to take some more pictures tonight and share them tomorrow. Our goal is to be in the house by July 4th weekend!

One of the "Jack and Jill" guest rooms- ceiling fan courtsey of Laura, Bobby and CW
Master bathroom cabinets...there's also a wall cabinet I actually installed!

The NEW exterior of the house..more pics tomorrow as it's now finished, but this is close!

We've had a fun couple of weekends away, but are looking forward to some time in town to finish up the house and actually move in! We'll need some volunteers to help us clean it and get it liveable so if anyone is interested... :)

Today

I drove one of these...

AND

... one of these

The skid steer was cool but the excavator was incredible.

I feel like a little kid who just spent the day playing with the toy(s) he always wanted.

I may not sleep thinking about it.

B

WE PASSED!!!

Here's one more reason (as if we need more reasons) to PRAISE GOD...
The plumbing inspector came back out this morning and we PASSED for both water and gas. We will be able to call the gas company next week and have them come set a meter. Batch also called our plumber and let them know we passed and that we'll be ready to install the water heater next week.

Buddy is here today working with Batch to get the final pieces of the electrical complete so we can call for an inspection on Tuesday. That means A/C and FLOORS!!!

We are taking a break this weekend and heading to Chattanooga, TN and Birmingham, AL to visit some friends. Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Time to do the tiling...

...we did the tiling! For those of you who remember the old Dunkin' Donuts commercial, that will make sense. For others, sorry for the random reference.

Well, thanks to lots of help from my mom over the past week and a VERY long work day on Saturday, all the floor tile in the house has been laid. Depending on what is happening in the rest of the house this week, we will likely grout the new tile later this week or early next week. We've also put the first coat of paint on most of the trim (baseboards, crown and door molding) T.S. left behind for us to use.

Batch spoke to our local plumber late last week and he said that, legally, the city can not make us replace the washing machine drain since it was existing but that it would likely cause us problems down the road so we're better off replacing it now. Hopefully his crew will be able to replace the drain this morning and get the inspector back out to sign off on the project.

Bobby and Laura have been coming over in the evenings to help with the finish electrical work. They have all the ceiling fans installed and most of the electrical boxes wired up. There are some more ceiling fixtures to install and an outlet or 2 to find (they were accidentally covered by sheetrock) then we should be ready for final electrical inspection!! That means sweet A/C AND installation of our hardwood floors.

The neighborhood handyman is making quick work of our siding project. Almost all the "boards" of the board and batten siding are installed, and he should be able to start putting up the battens this week. We might be ready for house paint by the weekend.

Thank you for your prayers during our rebuilding. Please continue to pray for smooth building and passed inspections. So many things are just sitting on ready waiting for a small trigger to let the progress continue.

We will post pictures as soon as we remember the camera!

Progress Pics

We are installing board-and-batten siding. This is a picture of our house with the boards (no battens yet) but it looks much better than before.

Again from different angles.

Yesterday, we also installed cabinets, a light fixture and the shower head in one bathroom. The camera angles are bad (really bad, but I think you can make out the progress), but it looks a little more like a house every day.

A Brief Progress Report

I know Batch took some pictures yesterday that he wanted to upload to show everyone, but the internet was done at the Leavengoods last night. Maybe this weekend we'll get some more pictures posted. Here's what's been going on this week:
- Siding: As of last night, the cedar siding was complete along the driveway side of the house and people were stopping by to compliment Batch on how good it looks.
- Electrical: Buddy is back!!! He and Batch have been installing outlets and switches all day and have most of the "back" (really the north side) of the house complete. Batch and I will pick out some light fixtures this evening or tomorrow morning and those will be installed. We hope to be ready for the electrical inspection next week so we can get the A/C turned on and begin acclimating the hardwood flooring.
- Painting: You can basically call this complete. There is some touch up to do and the trim still has to be painted and installed, but it looks awesome! Mom will be here to help next week and I think that will be her project- finish the painting throughout the house.
- Plumbing: We had a little hiccup with the plumbing inspection, but our plumber is on the case and will hopefully have this worked out early next week.
- Cabinets: The rest of the cabinets arrived yesterday in a HUGE Bertch truck. I've taken a tiny peak and they are beautiful. If we get the electricity turned on, we might be able to begin installing the next week!

Thanks to everyone for your continued prayers and support. We continued to be amazed by God's provision for us.

Does Birth Order Determine Success?

A very interesting article I stumbled across this morning (and the topic of one of my gradeschool science projects).

I am the youngest of three:

Youngest: The youngest child tends to be the most creative and can be very
charming -- even manipulative. Because they often identify with the underdog,
they tend to champion egalitarian causes. (Youngest siblings were the earliest
backers of the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment.) Successful in
journalism, advertising, sales and the arts, famous youngest children include
Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Eddie Murphy and Billy
Crystal.

Holly is an only:

Only Children: Only children have similar characteristics to first borns and are
frequently burdened with high parental expectations. Research shows they are
more confident, articulate and likely to use their imagination than other
children. They also expect a lot from others, hate criticism, can be inflexible
and are likely to be perfectionists. Well-known only children include Rudy
Guiliani, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Alan Greenspan, Tiger Woods, tennis' teen
queen Maria Sharapova and Leonardo Da Vinci.

What are you? Do you think our profiles (Holly and I) fit? Does your profile fit?

B

A few pictures of the progress

Batch and our friend CW work on hanging the insulation board. The next step on the exterior work will be siding. Inspired by the beautiful homes of the Springhill and Fairhope, AL areas, we've decided to use cedar siding.

Moving inside the house, we find the first of our cabinet order...it's the vanity and linen cabinet for the "jack & jill" bathroom! The remainder of the order should arrive sometime next week!!

Here's the guest bathroom just off the "man room." The workers did a GREAT job with the paint in that room!

It's time for tile selection...below are our 3 options...let us know what you think. We have one in mind, but enjoy hearing from all of you!

Forward Progress

After months of being stuck in neutral, and sometimes even reverse, things at the house are racing forward. Batch has taken a leave of absence to spearhead the operation and so far it's been well worth it. We are so thankful for God's provision and blessing in our efforts to restart our lives. Here are just a few things to give thanks for:

• The sheetrock is DONE!
• Walls and ceilings are being painted as I type (I'm stuck in the office while others are working on the house).
• Our kitchen and bathroom cabinets will be delivered TOMORROW!
• Our flooring is on order (or almost on order) and will likely only take a few days to arrive.
• Mr. Buddy will be here later this week to begin the finish electrical.
• Volunteers, volunteers, volunteers...our friends have been VERY helpful throughout this process (especially CW- I'm glad you work so close!!).
• The soffits have been replaced and furring strips for the siding are being installed this week.

Please continue to pray for skilled laborers to assist in the cabinet and flooring installation and for continued forward progress. At this rate, we may actually move in this month!! I'll try to take and post some pictures of the house that is slowly but surely becoming a home soon.

Which MUPPET are you?

I'm Scooter...pretty funny if you ask me! :)

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick.You're always willing to lend a helping hand.In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going."15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test