A Not So Usual Thanksgiving and a Somewhat Chaotic Christmas

Brandon has been plugging away on our kitchen remodel.  In September and October he framed, roofed, and put siding on the addition, but we were waiting until absolutely necessary to take out the existing wall as we knew that that was when things were really going to get crazy.  However, with our new little one expected in just a couple months it's now or never so Thanksgiving weekend we jumped in.

Here's the progress from the outside.

We began Thanksgiving weekend sealing off the kitchen from the remainder of the house.

Then the day after Thanksgiving, with the help of my brothers, the demo began as they removed flooring, and cabinets, and what was the exterior wall of the house, and then lifting up a huge beam to support the new room.

The kids are really not so helpful but definitely entertaining.

Getting the supports for the beam ready.

And up it goes.

This is about how we left it after 2 really long days of work.

At the end of week 1 the remainder of the framing that had to be done was done.  The wall separating the kitchen from the den was in place and the remaining rafters were up.

On a fun note we also squeezed in a minute to get our Christmas tree from a farm just down the road from us and to do a little decorating.

Week 2 was finalizing the plumbing and electrical for the new kitchen as well as installing the insulation.  Brandon literally works every night after he gets home until late.  Don't know how he does it and I am amazed at how much he is getting done each week.  Oh and don't worry about me, I'm getting to spend lots of time crafting and nesting for our baby girl so I really cannot complain.

On the Friday of our 2nd week we had planned on getting the insulation inspected so that he could begin dry-walling but a it ended up that the inspector was not able to come out that day, thus holding us up for the entire weekend.  This was obviously very disappointing, but I think God knew we needed a weekend off after so many days of consistent work.  It was a blessing to have a little bit of forced free time to hang out as a family.

Our 1st burn pile.

Week 3 and 4 have been dry wall, dry wall, dry wall.  Brandon hung and is in the process of taping and finishing the drywall in both rooms as well as smoothing out the textured ceiling in the living room so that it transitions nicely into the new kitchen!

And so here we are the week of Christmas feeling a little cramped but festive none the less, thankful that we can escape to Grammy's house during the day to play, and anticipating how great its going to be in a month or so to open everything back up again and get back to a more normal routine.