Narnia

My wonderful friend Julie is amazing. She is tireless in her efforts to do fun things with her kids and she often generously includes my kids in the activities she plans. Making gingerbread houses from scratch is a colossal and time-consuming endeavor, but Julies makes it happen every year. When our children were decorating their houses last year before Christmas, one of the kids suggested doing Narnia this year. Julie made it happen. Her daughter designed Cair Paravel. Jakin designed the wardrobe and Julie designed the sledge. All the kids had different decorating assignments. They then added the lamp post, the four children, the White Witch, and Aslan on the broken stone table. I wish I had pictures that included the artists, but I didn't have my camera with me on the day we decorated (forgot it!). You'll have to imagine their smiling, proud faces surrounding their excellent work.



Corban decorated the wardrobe. He was so thoughtful and careful, sitting at the table for a good 45 minutes after the other kids had abandoned it to go play.


Cair Paravel

The house on December 22

Despite the very cold weather, good progress on the house continues.

This is the living room. Our stone mason will soon be bringing the chimney up from the basement into the living room. The tarp is covering that space.


This the the space for the kitchen and dining room table. Beyond the kitchen is the pantry and laundry/mudroom.


The scale of the house has increased dramatically. I must admit that when I first saw the rafters I was a bit shocked with the pitch of the roof. I know it will all look great proportionally as it comes together.

The house on December 11

The first floor is getting all sealed in. Most of the sheathing (is that the right word? the problem is that every time I blog about the house, Jack is asleep on the couch so I can't ask him any technical questions...) is up. In fact, Jack and his guys are hoping to start putting the second floor deck on tomorrow.


Yep. It snowed last Friday night and then again this Wednesday. This probably won't be the last time Jack is shoveling snow off the deck.


Lauren will grow up in this house. Someday that will hopefully be a blessing to her. But, for now it's just not as exciting for her to go check out the progress on the house. And it was very cold today. She was happy to see her daddy though. And of course he gave her some bites of the pumpkin chocolate chip bread that I brought for Jack and the crew.


Annie, Corban and Jakin standing on what will be the screened-in porch. I was struck last week by the new perspective being up this high offers. It's cool to be able to see the brook in addition to being able to hear it. Can't wait to see the view from the second floor!


We have some interior walls. I walk through my future kitchen and living room in a dream-like state! I know I've said that this is so exciting. It's also weird. It's really happening.

The house on December 4

Framing is well underway.

Annie peeps out of Daddy's future office


The house is starting to take shape


This is the back of the house. Note the double walls. The gap between them will be filled with foam, making this a tight, efficient house. As my dad said today, "You're going to be able to heat that house with a candle." That's the idea.


At the end of the week, here's what it looks like

The house on November 28

The deck is on. Ready to frame.



The boys spend a good bit of time at "the property" with their dad. Usually, the are just playing. But they often help. Jack loves seeing them run around. I love that they never get bored of this place that will someday be their home.


Jack's parents, Jim and Nettie, spent Thanksgiving with us. In addition to enjoying great time together, the visit gave Jim, the designer of the house, an opportunity to get his hands on the house. Jack calls his dad at least once every week with questions about the house. I know it was nice for Jack to have his dad on site to answer questions, not to mention having the chance to work together.


Since the weather has been relatively warm and dry, the stone mason started the veneer on the exterior of the house. All of the stone was harvested from our site. I'm ecstatic with how this feature is starting to look.


Jim gets to work on the house he calls, "The House That Jack Built"

Lauren at 10 months

Our sweet girl cruises the house. She has long periods of happy play time, which is nice for a home schooling mom. Inevitably, she ends up playing with books or the toy drawer in the kitchen or pulling out all the hats and gloves out of the bin in which they are stored. If the gate isn't up, she will be up the steps in a moment. If she is not otherwise amused, she will find me and climb up my legs. She has a few "tricks" - "so big", clapping and she knows a few useful signs at the table. She still isn't sleeping through the night, but it's pretty close and since all four kids are doing well sleeping in one room, I can't complain. Lauren loves to play in her room with her big brothers and sister. This is such a fun time.



If the dishwasher is accessible, Lauren wants to stand. This works a lot better when the dishes are clean instead of dirty.



Lauren is finally starting to be interested in big girl food. I can sometimes feed her an entire meal out of the food we are eating, instead of pureed food. It's a nice development.