Basement - Day 2

Today they did all of the framing for the bedroom and bathroom. It is so much easier for me to picture what this is all going to look like now. I've been telling Mike for the past month that I just couldn't see how this was all going to look and we kept getting frustrated about it because I just didn't get it. It's so much more clear to me now!

These pictures on the other hand aren't really that clear - at least not until the sheetrock is up. It doesn't make the rooms look very big right now.

Bedroom

Bathroom

Tomorrow they are at another job site and will get back to our place next week with the plumber and electrician. The guess is that by next Friday they should be done and then it is up to Mike & David to finish in time for the baby.

Basement - Day 1

The basement remodel is officially underway. Today they put in the egress window. Bennett especially enjoyed watching the backhoe come in and dig down about 4 feet of dirt. I think he was pretty confused by everything going on and all of the noise. He must have been pretty tired though because he still slept for 1 1/2 hours which was during the noisiest part of the day.

Here are the picture updates from today.

Basement Before

We are getting our basement finished! We have been talking about doing this since we moved in 4 years ago but haven't gotten to far. Basically because of time and money. Since we are running out of room upstairs we decided that this is something that should get done this fall still before the baby comes and our whole upstairs gets taken over by baby and kid stuff. Mike has done small projects in the basement during these years but he has never had enough time to really get going at it. Plus we would need an egress window in the bedroom which he doesn't know how to do. Since we'd have to hire that part out anyways, we figured we'll just hire out all of the main things and get it done with! They are supposed to be starting tomorrow!!! Mike and David are still planning on doing the finishings like the paint, carpet, trim etc. to save on a little money and also give them some "fun" to do too.

Here are some before pictures of our basement. I'm going to try to update every day or two with new pictures.

This picture is looking out the doorway from the completed office. This will be the family room. Mike has mudded these walls already and installed the lights.

This will be Bennett's bedroom. This is off of the family room to the right. The egress window will be the one on the left side of the picture. Walls will be going up separating the furnace and bedroom and family room and bedroom.

This back area will be the bathroom and storage room. (My washer/dryer is cut off in this picture.) The bathroom will have a wall separating the laundry area and then another wall in the back separating the storage area. The bathroom will have a toilet, sink and shower.

Mike's Family

We don't get a chance to get together with Mike's family very often since most of them live further away. But, this past weekend we had an 80th birthday party for Mike's Grandpa Leo (his mom's side). And an added bonus was that it was in NYA which is only about a 10 minute drive for us! Here are a few pictures from that day!

Bennett sitting by Grandpa Leo & Marlene

Bennett with his cousin Devon. He was really intrigued by his game!

Grandpa Leo with his two Great-Grandsons

Most of the Zaback family. (Mike's sister Sarah is the one sitting by Devon and Mike's mom Leann is standing next to him)

Happy Halloween

So we were able to get Bennett in to the Superman costume. The other one we had was a lion and he did not like that one. I took Bennett to a party that is held in town every year where they have games and give out candy. He was a little too young to understand the games but he did his interpretation of the game and got some candy.

Here is a picture of Aunt Shirley and Bennett since she was the person working this game.

Too bad I cut his head off...

After the party we headed to Grandma's, Great-Grandma's and Aunt Shirley's for "Trick or Treating".

Uncle David showing Bennett how to fly like Superman

He had fun checking out his candy supply but I figured he didn't need any candy at 8:30 at night so I put it on the counter. A few seconds later, I caught this picture. And, a few seconds of trying to reach the pail, (sigh...) he did. (Nothing is safe on our counters anymore)

Carving Pumpkins #2

Mike & I finished carving the other two pumpkins last night. They all turned out pretty cool. And for those of you that don't know, pumpkin #1 is one of Bennett's favorite characters - Curious George.

I hope to post pictures of Bennett in his Halloween costumes tomorrow night but, we'll see. I have two of them - one given to us and one at a garage sale. I tried to put one of them on him tonight to see which will fit him better and he FREAKED out! I wasn't expecting that to happen. So like I said, I guess we'll see...

Carving Pumpkins

We "helped" Bennett carve one of the pumpkins this afternoon. Sometimes he gets very upset when he has messy fingers so I was prepared that he wouldn't enjoy this at all. But, he actually had no problem going in to get the seeds and stringy stuff out. It turned out pretty good!