We Didn't Get the Loan...
We Didn't Get the Loan...
The weekend before Thanksgiving we rented a cabin in Gatlinburg with my family.
We spent most of the weekend indoors cooking. The girls really liked running out one door, along the deck, and back in through the other. It was really cute watching them play together.
We did manage to get out to a mostly vacant trail by the creek to take the kids out for a walk.
Rylee had a blast learning to balance along fallen tree trunks,
walking up trees,
and playing in the creek!
We spent actual Thanksgiving with Nonnie, Poppie, Auntie Em, Uncle Aaron, and baby Ryan! Happy late Thanksgiving from the Burnses.
Before and after Thanksgiving we spent prepping the house for the loan work while waiting on the appraisal and then waiting on the appraisal report. We started on the attic...something we'd be ignoring for a LOOONNG time.
The raccoons and mice had made a mess of all the documents and such that had been in the attic for many years and mixed everything up with the insulation.
We geared up and started shoveling everything out.
It took Sam probably two or three days of working (with help from me and Dad at various times) to get most of the attic cleared. We still have to take out the plywood flooring (to clean) and remove the insulation underneath in order for our contractor to be able to replace the insulation.
In the meantime, the kids and I did a lot of playing.
And went for a lot of walks!
I've been encouraging Rylee to learn to explore on her own.
I let her take off in whatever direction she wants and follow her.
She likes to play with the chickens...
Sometimes she throws her baby doll in the pond for fun.
I also found a new way to occupy William.
He actually enjoys sleeping in the doorway bouncer. I think it's the upright position. Probably reminds him of being in the backpack like when I carry him around.
Rylee helps me out by keeping William occupied while I'm cooking in the kitchen.
Daddy gets all the snuggles he can get!
William is getting so big!
He learned to laugh, and he is such a squealer!
The other thing I worked on was clearing the addition. Assuming everything went well with the loan, our contractor wanted to begin tearing down the addition as soon as possible (you know the place we've been living mainly for the past nine months). While Nene came and watched the kids (thanks, Nene!) I went through all the boxes in Sam's workroom and reorganized his things so that we could more easily find stuff. I moved everything into the living room and dining room.
So now, the game plan is to take is slow. We are still planning on having Benjamin tear down the addition, the back patio, and fix the structural issues. To fix the foundation, he will have to replace one of the basement walls and dig out around the house to install some better drainage to get the water away from the house and keep it from destroying the foundation. The rest of the planned projects we will have to save up for a little at a time until we can afford it. The bright side is that we don't have to complete everything in nine months and we can actually take our time to do everything right and the way we want it.
(Since it's been a few weeks since this point, we have a lot of great footage and pictures for you on the progress of the house. Be on the lookout for our next blog post!)
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