The Help

 Nephews Daniel and Stephen spent the afternoon with us, helping James put together the landing for the new stairs. 

They were good helpers and quite proud!

Small steps

 Now that the floor in the laundry room is done, it's time to start on the walls.
As usual, the girls are cheering Daddy on.

 And by the end of the day...

The top plate is in place and ready.

Filling It In

Slowly, but surely, the wheelbarrows are poured in...

with little eyes watching VERY closely.

Norm got to work filling in the holes and spreading it all out.

All done!  Now time for it to cure...

IT'S HERE!

THE TRUCK IS HERE! 

We decided to go with the big concrete truck, instead of mixing and pouring the whole floor by hand.  Our friend, Norm, used his connections to get us a load and a great deal!  Thank you, Norm!!

As soon as the truck arrived, things were kicked into high gear.

Literally, the truck did a super-spin to mix up the concrete. 

Have you ever seen a cement truck this close-up??

While it was spinning, the men discussed their game plan... 

.

And Charis and Gwyn shared their thoughts...

James and Jeff wheeled several loads into the house, which looked like no small job!

Thank you, Uncle Jeff, for your hard work!

Time for CONCRETE!!

The sand is ready... Rebar is in place...

the path is clear...

the men (and the wheelbarrows) are ready...

the boots are ready...

and most importantly,

the crowd is ready. :-)

Understatement of the Week

"Daddy, there's a little cwack up there in our ceiling." -- Charis

Jana of Brown Awnings (no more)

Remember the glorious brown striped awnings?  Well, the wind took out the one on the left last month, then it left the middle one hanging half-off this month.  So I requested that our resident handyman remove them completely.  Not that we were attached to them at all, but we just hadn't gotten around to taking them off. And they were making the house look quite dilapidated -- more than necessary, I guess. :-)

Once I get an after picture, I'll get it posted here, but let me say, it's a nice update.