July 3rd & 4th

The plumbing inspector came Monday and passed everything. He was relunctant because our pluming is very shallow, as it is in our entire neighborhood is, so we were just thankful it passed. Thursday evening, my parents and Uncle Paul, Aunt Carol, and cousin Christine came up. Friday morning the guys worked on filing in plumbing with Quickcrete. Jameson's dad had brought his electric mixer last weekend, so my dad mixed the quickcrete, Jameson carried buckets full downstairs, and Paul leveled and smoothed it out. Friday afternoon, Paul worked on setting up a new electrical pannel and running some wiring. Jameson and my dad worked on framing the bathroom. Paul, Carol, & Christine left Friday night after a long day of work. Saturday Jameson and my dad finished framing the bathroom and finished most of the electrical. My mom and I worked on painting trim and doors. We stopped briefly to go watch the fireworks at the dome, but came right back and finished working late Saturday night.

Saturday #4

Thursday, Dalton's came and put in the plumbing for the bathroom and kitchen sink.
Unfortunately, the city inspector was on vacation Friday so we couldn't have it approved and poor cement this weekend. My parents and Jameson's parents came up and the guys framed around the stairs (they used furring strips to max. the area), around the ductwork in the bedroom, and put up the one wall in the bathroom that could be done prior to pooring cement.



The ladies weeded the garden, 'brick patio' area, and back flower bed. We also went to a few garage sales, shopped for blinds for the dining room and kitchen, and powerwashed the outside of the house. Here's a picture of our garden. Everything is looking great! (From top left to bottom right) We have a cherry tomato plant, garlic, zuchinni, green beans, onions, green peppers, more green beans, big tomato plants and roma tomoato plant, and italian largo.

In Other News

The basement project is not the only thing happening in our lives (though I think Jameson spends most of his spare time thinking about it). The baby starting kicking hard enough to feel it from the outside last Sunday. I love being about to feel the baby move around throughout the day and it's great for Jameson to be able to feel the movement now.

My last day of school for the year was Friday, June 5. My last week was filled with some emotion as some students that I've had in class for two years will be moving to the high school next year. It's been enjoyable to watch them grow over the last two years and I will miss them next year. Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with some of them to see where their futures lead them. Thankfully, it wasn't the very end of my teaching career. I'm planning to start teaching next year until the baby comes (6 weeks). Then I will be staying home with our precious boy/girl and am looking foward to being able to stay home with our children. I worked Monday and Tuesday at school to finish grades and clean my classroom. Wednesday and Thursday were my two days of summer vacation until middle of July. I enjoyed some time to relax and time to get house work done and mow the yard.

Tomorrow I'm starting a 5 week 'externship' at an local architecture firm. It's a new program through the Iowa Math and Science Coalition to get teachers 'real-world' experiance through a summer internship that they can bring back and use in their classroom. While I would love to start my summer break now, I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to make some money (to help with the basement projects) and gain a unique experiance during my last summer without child-rearing responsibilities.

Saturday #3

This weekend my parents came up again and Loren also came up to help. Jameson and my dad spent the morning sawing up concrete so a plumber can come and tie in lines for the shower, toilet, bathroom sink, and kichenette sink. My dad then pounded up the cement while Jameson took buckets full upstairs and outside next to the garage, both working themselves to the max.

Loren worked on framing the west bedroom wall around the door between the bedroom and living area.

In the afternoon, all three guys worked on framing the bedroom closet, bathroom closet, and doorway from bedroom to the bathroom. My dad also worked on some electrical.




My mom and I made a Lowe' s run in the morning for bedroom, bathroom, and closet doors, a toilet, and nails. We spent the rest of the morning/early afternoon garage saling. I've been getting gender specific clothes because they tend to cuter and friends have told me you want it to be obvious whether you have a boy or girl. I limit my spending by only buying onesies/shirts/pants that are 25 cents a piece and in good condition (maybe 50 cents if it's really cute). Many people try to charge more than that but I've found at least one sale most times I'm out that are trying to get rid of things and not worried about making money. I find baby clothes absolutely adorable so a few dollars serves as a morning full of entertainment for me and I come home with some cute clothes for our little boy/girl. The best buy of the day was a super cute Christmas dress for $2(in case we have a girl).