Snazzy family

April is a month with many dances and fancy events at school so there are lots of pictures of us all dressed up at the house.

Is he really going to use that blade to cut the tag???!!

More Siding!

Working on the Porte-cochere.

Getting all the edge pieces on first.

Green siding goes on...

Almost done with the side of the porte-cochere.

Working up the back of the house.

Getting closer to the top (actually, the back is done right now but I don't have a picture yet).

Aliens Invade (a.k.a. We get Insulation!)

Don't they sort of look like Aliens?

The skylights are surrounded in foam and sealed up.

It's hard to see, but Jeff built a complicated foam box around a chase to prevent insulation for falling all the way to the basement.

The siding goes up, up, up

They started in the back corner...

Each corner has two pieces of trim for all the board to hit at the end.

The first boards go up on the back.

Slow and steady progress.

Getting up close to the second floor windows.

The current state of things. This siding goes on slowly because the concrete boards are heavy and hard to lift. But it looks really good!

Easter

The family, all dressed up.

Jeff with his W sign! Go Cubs!

Jeff and our neighbor Franz chill out in the afternoon.

March at 304

It's been a busy month!

Every once in a while a mysterious number shows up on a sign at our house. I wonder what this one is for...

A birthday perhaps?

The birthday of this wise looking guy?

But what's with his little bike? Oh, it is a folding bike!

Maybe we should have put out a sign for pi day, but instead Sarah made a pie for her calculus class' celebration. Happy Pi Day!

Signs of spring amidst construction pipes.

The green stuff is growing anywhere it can.

"Wasn't this a flower bed?" One flower asks the other as they struggle through the slits in the pallet. "What happened to our home?"

Houston, we have a roof!

Though there hasn't been much visible progress over the last few months, there has been some which hasn't made it onto the blog. And the recent warm temperatures has created a surge of activity on the roof. So here are the most recent pictures, and following will be a few posts of photos from the last few months.

Working up in the air

Up on the porti cochere

Attaching the panels of our metal roof (Decra product pressed to look like shingles)

Getting close to the end!

Almost done!

From the back you can hardly see our new roof over the roof of our current house. I took this picture from way across the yard of our rear neighbors.

And the Houston, that's where I am off to for a college visit.

This Week's Progress

This week was: the first week of the second semester (Sarah is 90% done with High School), a return to three days of work for Sandy, and the week we built the porte-cochere and the porch! We've been so busy that our blog can't keep up. Here are a few pictures.

The sky-trac helped lift boards up and provide a work platform.

The view from down the street.

Jeff helps set the columns (notice the invisible but hard to put in rods that Sarah and Jeff installed on New Years Eve).

Installing the beam.

Jonny and Sarah arrive from school.

Jeff and Jonny cleaning up the front yard.

The house from the other side with the new porch, porte-cochere and roofs.

The house before, for comparison.

Looks pretty different doesn't it!

Snow!

This is our first real "snow" of the year. We had a dusting a while ago, but over break we got our first white pictures of the house!

Sarah demonstrates the narrowness of the path between a big machine we've had for the last week and the house. Gaining weight is not allowed!

The little house or home base in snow.

The narrow path shown from the other direction.

The house in snow.

Our lovely mailbox is keeping our mail dry!

The view from the front door.