More Basement pics

Brrrr....It's cold outside! 30 degrees...oh, and GO GATORS!

They should be here at 10 am to start the footers.

Digging the Basement

They dug the basement today. It ends up that it was pretty much solid rock in the area where they dug the basement, so we ended up having to dig a hole on another part of the property in order to get fill dirt. Now they will fill that hole with some of the rock they pulled out. We ended up having to pay a little extra to rent the big dumptruck, but what can you do?!

So, the grade of the back yard is a little more severe then we all expected...the video below is of the big dumptruck trying to make it up to where the basement will be, to drive over the dirt to pack it in a little. I didn't think about taking a video until the end, but it was quite comical. Near the end of the video you can see one of the other tractors helping to push it up the incline!

This picture is a little dark, but it shows all the rock that is in the walls of dirt. Rich says "at least our house won't settle too much!"

Tomorrow they lay out the footers and the walls are scheduled to be poured on Monday. Things are moving right along...

Clearing the land!

They started clearing the land on Monday. There have been a few bumps, but nothing major. We've had to shift the house around a little, they found a lot of rock - which thankfully can be broken up by the equipment and doesn't require dynamite...at least so far, and they took out the one tree I didn't want to lose. But other than that they are making progress!

This was the one tree that I did NOT want taken out...but, the slope of the land is greater than they expected and it was this tree or spend up to an extra $20,000 for fill dirt...so, they took the tree!

Kalee and Ally (who is our builders daughter) played while the guys supervised the clearing.

Rocks everywhere! They dug out a test hole and went down about 6 ft and found rock, rock and more rock! Hopefully they will find a little more dirt, so that we don't have to truck it in (and pay for it!!!)

Digging the WELL!!!

They started drilling our well today! They stopped at 120 ft, for tonight, and will start again, in the morning! We already have enough water for the house, but we are going deeper, because I would like to be able to wash clothes and take a shower at the same time!!! Exciting times!The peanut gallery...my aunt and dad came out to watch the drilling. I missed most of it...they finished for the day 5 minutes after I got home.

Our Georgia Christmas!

We got home around 10:30 last night...I slept in until 11:30 this morning - that felt soooo good! Anyway, we opened presents and had our traditional dinner with my family - lasagne - YUM!!!

Midnight crashed on the way home, too...she was super cute!

Kalee has had a barbie christmas...and could not be happier!!! Thanks Uncle Joe & Aunt Cindy for the barbie and car! Chase's favorite gift was the Batman lego's...he was super excited!

Rich got a King Cobra 3 wood golf club...

Poker night!

We were able to squeeze in a few nights visiting with friends while we were in FL. We had breakfast with Alison & her family, played "bones" (domino's) with the Hanley's and had poker night with Donnie, Luv, Troy & Todd. It's so nice to be around your friends!!! Poker night was a ton of fun...mix that with Reid Harted's (our own special concoction of gin, sweet & sour and cheery 7 up) and it becomes a little bit more entertaining!!!I was the big winner, until the last hand, which is when everyone goes all in with what they have left. Then I lost to Donnie...whatever! It really was a funny joke!! Luv was using my line "it's night-night" by the end of the evening...ahhhh...memories!

Some highlights from our trip!

I can't believe our trip is over, already! We are all exhausted and glad to be sleeping in our own beds tonight! We had a great time - thanks again, Vince & Sue, for letting us invade your house for 10 days!

Kalee & Andrew danced together this morning...it was super cute! He is such a joy!

Then Uncle Stevie took Kalee for a quick motorcycle ride...she was a little scared at first, but she loved it!

We had breakfast with Aunt Stacey, Melissa, Grammie T, Aaron & Charley on Friday @ our favorite breakfast spot...Daddy-O's. Yum! Then, we went to Aunt Stacey & Melissa's to go swimming! Well, Kalee, Aaron and Crystal went swimming! Look @ these blue eyed babies! I don't know where my beautiful brown eyed girl came from! (Well, ok, I do, but the other three have such vibrant blue eyes - it's amazing!) One of Kalee & Grammie T's pictures. Kalee was very animated, as usual, at picture time!

Merry Christmas!

Well, needless to say, we have had a very busy couple of days! We had a Christmas Eve party, which was a lot of fun, and now it is Christmas Day! Kalee is past the state of exhaustion... Here are a few pics!

Toddy-Todd came to our partyRich, Mike, Troy & Vince playing bachi ball (I'm sure it's not spelled right...I've never heard of it before!)Andrew & SierraMidnight and Tusk. Midnight was being her normal "submissive" self in the 2nd picture!Christmas morning...Kalee was wondering "Where to begin???"Daddy got a special present...he'll have to tell you what it was!!! It's a little embarrasing!Aaron had fun, but was a little overwhelmed, I think!
Charley had fun, too!

Uncle Stevie & Kalee had a silly string fight...good times!

O Happy Day!!!

Our Miracle Baby, Andrew, turned 1 today!!! His mommy and daddy threw him a fun, fun party!!!

Aunt Betsy planned "Shaving Cream Mountain"! The kids LOVED it...and when I say kids, that includes Aunt Betsy!