Labor Day?

yeah umm isn't labor day a day to celebrate all the work we've done and relax a bit? ha! what world do you live in? so here is the much anticipated break-down of our labor day (3 weeks late).

The weekend of Siven, Addie, Katie & Nana: (pictures to come?)
Our weekend kicked of on Friday. Nana came down early in the morning that day to watch the kids, as I finished up some work on a little side project I've got going on (and wish that it would go away). Anyways Jerry and Jesse started their weekend on Friday afternoon when they both arrived at the house early from work, so I guess that's when our weekend started too. The remainder of that day is a blur- we went out to dinner, did some errands, and got caught in a heavy rainstorm- which we were happy about since the roof was to be torn apart the next day.

Saturday morning, the destruction began...and Nana, Siven, Addie and I scrambled to get the heck out of there. Finally getting everything packed up and out of the house, we decided to make a pit stop at the mall and do some shopping. It was a great time, and ended up taking up our whole afternoon- which was fine by us. We ran into Auntie Sissy, who had Riley and Teagan with her and we all had lunch together and then the kids enjoyed a carousel ride. As for the shopping, Nana and I did great- as we always do when we shop, its something that we do very very well together. Later it was determined that Siven made out the best, followed by myself, then Addie and then Jesse- who was the person we went to the mall for in the first place. Oh well. After the mall we headed up to Nana's house were we unpacked, ate a fun finger food meal and settled in for a weekend there without the boys.

Sunday I woke up feeling great. I slept so good, it was amazing. I spent the day studing for my structures test (i plan on re-taking it at the end of the month), while Nana (Dotty, Jesse's mom) watched the kids. Later that evening we went over to some friends house for a bbq, and then it started to rain. Then the phone calls started coming in, where were the pots and pans, do we have others- i'm using anything i can find that will hold water....yeah I was NERVOUS. Later that night after we put the kids to bed, Dotty and I hung out, chatted and polished off a bottle of wine together, it was nice.

Monday morning was a bit slower, because we had stayed up so late and drank- but it wasn't too bad. I studied some more and Dotty watched the kids again. After nap time we packed up and all headed back to our home to see what progress/damage had been made. We were pleasantly surprised and VERY impressed.


The weekend of Jesse, Jerry and Kevin:
Again starting off on Friday afternoon after enjoying a lovely lunch....went up to the attic did a bit more surveying of the situation, took stock of what tools and supplies were available and missing- did the same thing in the back yard and basement- then took off for one of many trips to Home Depot. They did a bunch of cutting, and I think some added reinforcing of the roof but that was about it for the evening.

Saturday morning- I swear I've never seen my husband shoot out of bed so fast. At 5:30 in the morning Jerry (who is always up at the crack of dawn) calls out about something- and Jesse flys out of bed is dressed and I swear already had a hammer in hand. Okay I ezaggerate a little, but seriously it was quick. Anyhoo- the demolition began. It was noisy and messy. Roofing nails, singles, bits of wood were falling into the house .....and then there was light. We could see up through the attic into the beautiful blue sky above- it was awesome. Jesse's cousin Kevin, then showed up and helped finish out the rest of the demoltion of the roof, and painting of the new rafters. The boys went out for bbq that night and went to sleep for another grueling day of work.Sunday was when they started putting the dormer in, I believe. I couldn't tell you the sequence it went in- because I wasnt' there. But I do know this somewhere around 5pm it started to rain-and there was no roof still- just a big hole with walls. They grabed anything you could imagine that would hold water and brought it up to the attic- including Siven's wagon off the front porch. Jesse recounted standing on the roof in the rain trying to drape a 35' tarp over the hole as it flapped around in the wind. It wasnt' pretty. The rain continued on and off for the rest of the evening.


Monday was the day of sucess. The remaining rafters and ridge supports went in and the rest of the sheathing. The windows didn't get put in, but the dormer was in and water proofed for the most part. It is BEAUTIFUL.

These guys did an amazing job and I am so proud of them. The new dormer, which will be Addie and Siven's bathroom is great. It really opens up the attic...so much in fact that we've (half heartedly) decided that we need to raise the existing front dormer to make it "right". But we're holding off till next spring to tackle that one.