It's time to update.

We are moved in, still settling down but it will all fit in the house so that's a wonderful thing!!!

Since moving in we've had Jessica's 6th birthday and Thanksgiving all at our house and Drake's car died a very quick death. Like on his way home from an out of town job. After about a week of having one vehicle, we purchase an Impala. Ah, back to normal with two vehicles. If his car would have been considerate enough to wait until summer, he would have riden his Goldwing. The nerve of a dying car!!

We are busy getting ready for Christmas. The house is decorated, some of the presents are bought, nothing is wrapped and no cards are ready, no thoughts of baking even in my head. I guess I need to step things up a bit.

Jessica has really adjusted to school. She got her first nugget yesterday (this is a reward from school where the principle/Assistant priciple calls the parents to say what a wonderful job they have done).

Nicole just finished up organized volleyball through the school. She seemed to really enjoy it. The last game she was serving overhand, something she had been trying all through the practices. She was on top of her game the last game, she scored 5 points!!!

I'll try to get the girls pictures taken and updated on the blog this week.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year To All!!!!

I'm so tired!

We've moved in. :)

There are boxes everywhere, I've washed hundreds (k, it only feels like that many) loads of laundry since most of it was in a pole barn for 3 months. Yesterday I spent the entire day unpacking boxes, putting stuff away, then rearranging it two more times. I think things will continue to move about until we've lived here and gotten it all unpacked. It also figures that this is the busy time for Drake at work so he's putting in extra hours at home working on work stuff instead of house stuff. He has done ALOT, he hung shelving in our master closet and I've unpacked most of it. He'll be looking for underwear for weeks :)

Wish me luck in the unpacking and putting away stage now. I totally love our new house just wish it came fully decorated and unpacked.

I've decided there are some new things that I would like to buy for us.

1. New kitchen table (ours is a very light oak but new kitchen is dark wood).
2. New bed for our room.
3. New tv for living room.

The day is Friday! Whooo hooo!!

We get the keys on Friday, we can start moving our stuff in then! We are so excited, we will be able to move a bit over this weekend then more the weekend of November 2. We will be all settled by Jessica's birthday (Thanksgiving for those that need a reminder :) )

I've taken some more pictures and will post when I have more time. If you are interested in helping us move, just give a call!!!

The days are counting down

Yesterday they really surprised us, we drove out at lunch time and we had sod in the front yard, all the flowers were lining the walks and a tree in the backyard even. While we were they they seeded and strawed the back/side yard. It makes it look so ready to live in.


Today - The carpet is installed and looks so great, I just love it with the wall colors we choose (doesn't really match the girls rooms, but what really would? lol)

My kitchen cabinets are all installed, still need a few of the knobs on them but that will only take a few minutes. Tile backsplash in the kitchen will be done tomorrow, they put it up today and will grout it tomorrow. Water is on in the house, ice machine is working, toilets even flush (Jessica was the first to try it out - and just for laughs, from the kitchen sink, I can look through the pass through and see into the bathroom if they leave the door open. LOL)

Painters are coming tomorrow to touch up all the needed spots, plumbers will be back to finish up. We picked up all the spare wood we've collected in the basement since they will be powerwashing down there tomorrow. (that was a surprise to me too)

It is so very exciting, every day that comes closer is even better than the last. The girls were playing on the living room floor tonight while we were looking through the house, and they just looked so right. When we went to leave we saw the most beautiful sunset from our front porch. I tried to take a picture of it, but that darn night view on the camera just makes it so blurry since I shake too much.

Tomorrow we will have exactly a week before we can move in. The time has just flown by and I can't believe that the house is ready. I can't wait to move in and start unpacking and really get into a routine.


Tonight was also parent teacher conferences for the girls. First time for Jessica, and her teacher says she is doing REALLY well. She is still very shy, but is starting to be more involved in classroom discussions and is playing well with the other kids. Today she was on the school tv as the "Star of the week". Nicole's teacher really surprised me by telling me that Nicole was on the A/B Honor roll - I wasn't surprised about her abilty to be on the honor roll, just that she made it. Drake and I both feel she hasn't been doing all that well on some of her spelling tests, but she has an A in it. We did talk to the teacher about all the transistions and she said once we move and things settle down, we might even feel better about her school work. (She has been known to be studying in the back seat of the truck while we are working inside the house) She has been really great about trying to do homework before she comes in to look around or play. I'm so proud of them both, my heart is overflowing with the love and affection I have for them. I'm so truly lucky to have my wonderful family.

More pictures

We have 10 days until we get the keys. I think the last 3 or 4 days will be the hardest since those will be strictly cleaning days. It will be done, they just send in people to clean it really really good. Let's dive into the updates.

I think today or tomorrow the carpet is getting installed, so that will be exciting. Ok, it's really all exciting to me!

More work is done.

Some of the trim form is going on now. Lights will be installed tomorrow yippeee!!!

my kitchen :)



















another view of kitchen









looking from garage entry through

from garage looking towards Kitchen (through walkway on left past first wall) into master bedroom.











This is Nicole's room with her green circles. It looks so cute! Now to make lots more circles to fill in the area.

Heavy on the pictures

Since I've been short changing you with pictures, today will be lots of pictures and few words.



Standing in Dining nook looking into kitchen.
















wood floors at entry way.



Fireplace in living room (like the bold paint choice I made?!)












Kitchen countertops













Back porch













More work to do tomorrow!!














Living room, before all painting was done.













Front Porch view. Few more stairs and walkways to add.












From back of the house into the garage.














Jessica painting her color of choice.













Nicole's color of choice. It reminds me of M&M's blue candy(sorry for the spots on the camera lens.)






We have been told they will be laying carpet in one week and that is one of the last things to do. So we will be in our house in just a few more weeks. We are just so excited and can not wait!

Wow, we have been busy!!

I can't even believe it but we are almost ready to move in!!! They put up drywall last week, taped and mudded over the weekend and this morning they were there to texture the ceilings. Drake asked them when they thought the painters were going to be there - FRIDAY!!! Once it's painted, then all the finishing touches go in! We do have a few issues that we are trying to address with the builder so it's not be a total free easy process, but for the most part he has been willing to try to fix things or do them as we would like them.

I don't have the cable to be able to download picture right this minute but hopefully I will get that done tonight or tomorrow.

You won't believe the changes that have been made!

Also send Nicole a short birthday message today! She is 11 today!!! My baby is 11 (said with tears coming down my cheeks) We are going to take her out for dinner tonight with some friends and celebrate!!

We are just moving right along.

Yesterday we met with our builder to confirm a few things. Ended up he had lined up the electrician, cement guys, and the heating/air guy. So we answered all the questions (and gave locations) for everything. They poured our front porch yesterday, they shingled and installed our fireplace. We also found out they the builder REALLY, REALLY wants us to be able to move in the end of October still. This company has been wonderful to work with and very accommodating when I didn't think about the laundry closet not being big enough to hold my dryer. He also gave us a heck of a deal on some extra concrete work that we wanted done. I'm going to have a fabulous back patio that will be 10 X 30! I'll try to update with pictures tonight, show some more of the updates (I did't have time to update about the windows and doors being installed so that will be some of the pictures. Today should be the siding going on and some of the duct work.

I can't wait to be done and invite people over for a party!!!!

Changes all the way around

Walls are up, trusses are up, even part of the wood on the roof is on. It REALLY looks like a house today.

Front of the house.














God's beauty in the mist of a storm (Nicole took this picture)















Jessica and I in the master bedroom, looking out at the backyard.

Only family update, no house news today

Well with the rain that has come, we are at a standstill on building so it will be a few days before we can see more progress. I do have exciting news on the family front though. My baby brother Tom and his wife, Jackie, delivered their first child this morning around 3:30 AM, they have a bouncing baby boy named Jacob Ray (not sure on the spelling either). He weighs in at 9lbs 4 ozs and is 20 inches long. I've not seen pictures as of yet, and it has been over 12 hours!! (Tom what else do you have going on man??!!!) Tom was pretty wiped when he called me at 7:00 this morning so we'll see how much he really remembers from calling me. I'm so excited for them (ok - now they'll really know what it feels like!) When I get pictures, I'll see if I can put them up.

Tom just had to go over the top though, today is daddy's birthday too. (phhhtttt to you Tom!!)

Holy Walls Batman!!

Wowsers, I can't even explain how excited I am about todays update. Pictures say it all. (Nicole and Jessica could actually stand in thier rooms and understand the layout!)

More pictures

We have a floor!!

The basement floor was poured, the stairwell walls were framed and today the floor joists were laid with plywood on top, so we could walk from one end of the house to the other. Jessica actually could stand in her room today. :)

I'll add more pictures later, my camera just died. :(

All is well

We got to speak to the builder today. The plumbing was wrong in the basement so they have fixed it. (whew!) Good thing that we watch it all pretty closely. We also found out that the sewer line coming in next to the egress window has to stay, but they are going to do as much as they can to run it up and overhead.

We also found out they will be pouring the basement floor and garage floor tomorrow, then delivering lumber, backfilling the edges and have scheduled framers for Friday. We need the rain that's coming, but it could slow down the progress on the house, so hopefully it will rain late each day so they will show up to work and make progress.

It's really Fridays update, but I didn't get posted until today

Here's more

Pea Gravel is filling in all the little open spaces. They have filled in around the house, under the porch and inside the basement and inside the garage. We do have some issues that we are going to be discussing with the builder because that green pipe is a sewer line coming out of where we thought we were going to add a bedroom later. We can't do that now, because it looks like they also move some of the plumbing in the basement over towards the basement window also making the room even smaller. Instead of a 10 x 12 room, now it's going to be more like 7 x 12. Hopefully we can talk to the builder in the morning.











Here's another view












Can you guess what Jessica is looking for? Yep, you're right, more rocks!


It's so exciting that in 2 months our house could be finished!!! Then we can find all those little things that we packed away and can't find now. :(

Shelly - Where is your blog about your house find? Can't wait to hear more about it!

Holy Cow!!!

When they decide to work, they really work!


Tuesday - They delivered the forms for the basement walls, not alot to look at but why not?!
We thought it would take at least a day to set the forms, then a day to fill the forms, then a few days to dry in the forms.


It didn't go that way.....






Wednesday - Forms are up and filled!!!













Thursday - Forms are removed and gone, sealer is sprayed on outside of basement and insulation is installed on outside of basement walls.
(This picture is Drake looking from the outside through to our basement. Window well is already attached and ready to go.

Our builder still thinks that we will have our October 30th closing date. I was worried, but the way they have been working this week, I can see it happening.

Jessica's in rock heaven

For those that don't know Jessica very well, she loves any and all rocks. This building a house thing - she is loving because she gets to pick out a new rock everyday. I'm letting her collect one per day and put in a box for when we move, she can put them outfront and tell people what they are and where she got them. She looks all over the lot, picks up at least 5, even tries to get Nicole to pick one to take home. (Nicole always declines though) She looks in the dirt for rocks, she looks in the rocks they put in the driveway, and today.....she looked all over because they filled the footers in with peagravel which all she sees is rocks. That poor girl, thought she was going to have a heart attack when she was looking at all her choices.

So the update on the house is they have filled in the footers with peagravel. This is in the basement and in the garage. I took pictures, but you can't see much except for the girls. Drake and I are having a debate on what will happen next and what the plumbing in the floor will look like. I'm not good with depth perception so he's trying to explain there will be about 6 inches of concrete for the plumbing in the basement, and all I see is the top of the sump pump is all ready even with the pea gravel how can it be that different? So now we'll wait and see. If that's the biggest disagreement we have then I think we are pretty lucky.

Well, hopefully we'll see you tomorrow with more updates.

It happened.....

On the way to pick the girls up after school, I drive by the lot to check on things. (This will be a Monday - Friday occurance) So last Thursday they had staked 4 corners on the lot. Confused us since they were not the corners of the house though.













Then Monday I drove by and there was a excavator on the land. That seems exciting to me!!!



Tuesday there is a dirt Basement!!! We had the girls run some energy out in the basement while we were there.















And today they poured footers!!!!!






I'm so excited they have gotten going and now hopefully they will rock and roll along the next steps too. I was really starting to worry about our October 30 closing tentative date, but I wonder if they can get us in. Drake spoke (in what little English the guys could understand) to the guys that put in the footers and they said they would be back on Monday to pour the walls. (now that's if Drake understood what they were saying too)

Klondike Started school today

Jessica started kindergarden today!!! I can not believe it. She's gone from new born to school in a blink of an eye. Don't even get me started on Nicole! She started 5th grade today. It's unbelievable.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!

No new house news yet. We've turned in our color selections, choices for designs. We are waiting on building permits now. It's been two weeks now, I wonder how much longer it will take. Our closing date is supposed to be October 30, wonder if we will make it still.

Girl Scout Camp Started Sunday

Nicole will be gone from Sunday to Friday for Girl Scout Camp, can you believe that I'm missing her already? We got there, she met her friend and started ignoring us, so we left :( My little girl is really growing up. I've sent her an email message that she'll get when she wakes up, just to tell her that we miss her. Jessica seems to be enjoying the one on one time, alright, she's getting almost everything she asks for since the little con has figured out all she has to do is say how much she misses sissy!!! (ARGH!!!!! - how did she learn to con me so early!)

Well, time to go to bed. I hope to update more about the house tomorrow. I've tried loading the images of the house plans multiple times, but it always gives me errors, so I might just have to wait until they break ground and show you the lay out as we go. I do have some pictures of the empty lot that I plan to load. I'll work on that tomorrow so it will keep my mind off of Nicole and if she is doing alright.

91st Davis Family Reunion

The weather was perfect (Sunny 83 degrees, slight breeze and plenty of shade) for my family reunion, it was in Noblesville, IN at the White River Park which has all kinds of things to do for all ages. Some of the kids were disappointed that the pool was closed due to a swim meet this year, but they did go on a real train ride. (Thank you Aunt Judy for taking all those kids by yourself! I had no idea it would be that long of an adventure!) Why is it that there was almost a full table of desserts instead of real food? We ate, converserved, looked at family trees, voted the same officers again next year (Great job Joel and Carol, it's so good that siblings can work well together :) ) I'll upload some pictures as soon as Drake let's me touch his camera, I forgot mine in the car that day. Shelly, you were missed! Earl and I had to start new rumors this year since you weren't there. Let's see how long it takes you to read this! Bwahhhahhaha!!!!

Shelly's visiting!!!

My friend from college, Shelly is visiting from New Jersey. She's been here since July 4 and will be returning home on the 10th. Each year she usually goes to our family reunion, this will be the first year in 5 years I think that she will miss it. My family is already missing her. My older brother even asked if his other little sister was coming. We've had a lot of fun with her here. Last night we played the Wii, she got into it pretty good, but can't hula hoop to save her life!

(tried to insert video, but too waaaaayyyyy to long to upload)

Tonight we were supposed to go out to an Ice Cream store called Silver Dipper but were just too tired and full after eating supper. We went home and lazed about and are going to bed early. Maybe some ice cream tomorrow night.

Housing Changes

We did it, we took the plunge to sell the house and it sold in 30 days. We decided in February we were going to sell our home, so that began the process of moving things around, boxing things up, and kicking Nicole out of her own room. (We had to make it look open and inviting and for the girls to share a room again and have an office made more sense.) We listed the house with Caldwell Bankers on April 27, 2008 to our amazement, we had 18 showings and in 30 days we had an accepted offer. This lead to a rush of packing and going through more stuff. I know we threw some things away, but we still have too much stuff and hopefully will get rid of more things. Our closing was on June 30th, with the help of Drake's mom, Linda and some of our friends, Becky and Brett Creech (along with darling Allison), we got everything moved with an hour to spare for a shower before closing.

We are officially renters again. (Didn't see that one coming!!) One of my co-workers had a house for rent, she was moving out as we were moving in so it was a bit stressful. We are currently renting a 100 year old house with 2 bedrooms, one bathroom (OMG this has been a test!) and two dogs in Lafayette. (Hey - they came with the house!!)




It has flower gardens everywhere, screened in porch and lots of room for the girls to play with the dogs.

We've kept the same phone numbers so you can still call us at those. I'll post some more photos of the house as we get a little more time.

We will be staying in West Lafayette, same school district as before, it will be about two miles from where we used to live. If you can believe it, farther away from Wal-Mart. I'll have to find a new way to get my social outtings in. We have decided to build a new house in Huntington Farms, this is off of St. Rd. 26 West. We are building a 1700 sq ft ranch with a full basement. Our plan is for this to be the last move (Lord willing that is). So we've thought alot about this and believe we have made some good decisions. I'll take some pictures tonight and keep adding to the story. The plan is to update this blog with all the details on the new house as it's getting built, in there you will also get to see those cute kids of mine too :) I'll have to brag about them some.

The Girls

Two wonderful little girls that are growing up way to quickly before my eyes. I'll add more of this tonight or tomorrow. Time to go get them from daycare.