Before and After: Basement with Walls

Before
And AfterAnd After

Happy First Birthday, Spencer!

I can hardly believe our baby is turning 1! We had a carefree day. He woke up at Grandma and Pa's house early (so I am told) and lounged in their bed until they were ready to get up. Then Grandma and Emily went to clean the church, and Pa watched the boys. I guess Timmy didn't want to share his toys with Spencer, so he found some scissors in the drawer, located Spencer's beautifully wrapped gifts. Grandma had tied a Tonka Truck on top with the ribbons. Tim began cutting ribbons until that truck came off. He gave it to Spencer so he wouldn't have to share his toy anymore. The funniest part about it was that Pa was unaware that any of it had happened until Grandma came home and asked him about the mess. It still makes me laugh when I think about it.

Here is the front and back of the invitations I made for Spencer's Party next weekend. I can't believe I had time to make them. They were fun. Timmy helped put the white glue and the dirt in the dump truck. If you know where the "job site" is, consider yourself invited. I was protecting our identity.
When we arrived at the house, the kids were in the sand box with Emily. Will all the dirt at our house, I am surprised that they still love the sand at Grandma's house. After digging in the sand and swinging on the swings, we went inside the house and ate breakfast, then Spencer opened his present (which has been loosened by his brother). It was about 6 darling summer shorts/shirt sets and one that they said was for camping this summer- it has long sleeves and pants.

"Push me higher! Underdoggie!"
You can see the truck Tim cut off the package on the counter
He really liked ripping off the paper!
He already wants to be on the move, like his brother. Whe is such a little boy!
Spencer in disguise, well, removing the disguise.
Then we went for a walk around their neighborhood. Timmy found some old roller skates in the basement and wanted to try them out. Troy also wanted to look at a house that was being built by one of Brad's friends. It was nice to see how they were framing so Troy could have a visual. (it's been almost 15 years since he last helped frame a house.)


Timmy was hilarious on the roller skates. He was very wobbly at first, but in a short while had figured out how to maneuver himself. By the time we had been at the construction site a few minutes, he was climbing up a fairly steep hill alone because he wanted to sit in the little tractor at the top of the hill. He made it to the top!

There's something you don't see everyday: a tractor driver wearing roller skates!

Three generations of boys

Digging the basement today

Which first- the good or bad news?

Well, the good news is that 1 the excavators came out this morning to dig the basement.
2 We also had out dumpster hauled away this morning. It was loaded to the brim.

And 3 we got a port-a-potty. It is literally inches from my front door. (I am rolling my eyes at the hilarity of it all.) My life and house are chaotically crazy. The bad news is that after digging a very short time, they hit water. I don't mean broke a pipe; I mean hit the water table. I guess in our area is is very close to the surface- only about 6 feet down. We needed to dig 9 feet deep for the footings and foundation walls. So, at this point, we are waiting to see how to proceed. We have a few options we're considering at this point. Any suggestions? Any sympathetic comments would be appreciated.

One more thing. A huge THANKS to Troy's parents and 2 youngest sisters who came over last night and helped finish the prep work. They stayed really late- until the whole house was staked off and ready to dig. another Thank You to Parker, who also helped tear out the roof. Last night, and Monday he helped us finish demolishing the shed.

Draining our water storage- the fun way

I filled our entire blue recycle can with emptied pop and juice bottles from the shed. We even jumped on them, like a trash compactor, and still couldn't fit them all in the can. I emptied most of them on Wednesday, but Troy's sister, Ali, came over with her 3 kids and they helped dump out the remaining bottles. They got wet, but had so much fun. Ali wanted to climb up on the roof and hammer with Troy, so I watched the 5 kids. After a while, they got bored of the backyard, so we went for a walk. Spencer and Hannah rode in the stroller while Timmy, Hunter and Eliza walked, or rather, ran ahead of me.

Some of the empty bottles. Ironically, Troy and I don't drink soda pop. Most of the bottles came from Ali and Brett. He's a Dr Pepper lover.
Timmy watering the peach tree that we will have to chop down this week. I'm so sad to lose the peach tree and 3 apple trees!
Spencer with his bottle.
Hunter climbing one of the apple trees we cut down on Saturday
Hunter dumping a bottle. Notice the sidewalk behind him is soaked?
Spencer and Hannah. From this angle she actually looks bigger than him.

The big kids climbed up on a pile of gravel to take a break
Almost 9:00PM. I hope the walk wore out these kids as much as it wore me out! Whew!

Backyard Birdwatching

Can you find the male Quail?

Click on the picture for a larger size.


Every spring, a family of Quail make their nest in our backyard. When the babies finally hatch, they are so adorable following their dad in a straight line, with Mom bringing up the rear. They can sure run fast!