Another Egress Done and Caps started (7/30/13)

Today I filled the blocks that Mike built last night with class 5.  He finished the rest of the wall and started to put the caps on both windows that are done.  

Back window with caps started

Side window finished

Side window

Side Egress Window (7/29/13)

Tonight Mike got about half of the back side egress window built.

One Egress Done!

Tonight we got the back egress window done, well almost done, it still needs the caps put on the top.  It's all filled back in around it which feels so good!  Slowly the yard is getting into shape!

Class 5 dropped off

Starting Blocks in Egress Windows (7/23/13)

Tonight we went and picked up blocks for the egress windows and got started on them.  Just a couple rows done in one and one row in another.  Tomorrow we will have class 5 dropped off to fill them and continue on.

These blocks weigh over 50 lbs. each!

Egress Windows

Today I dug a lot more dirt out of 2 of the egress windows.  We rented a tamper to beat down the dirt since these windows had been back filled in and we hope to eliminate settling so the block walls in the windows don't shift.  Mike added in drain tile tubes into the window to the middle bedroom, digging in a pass through into that hole.  I dug out some of the class 5 we have along the driveway and Mike put that down at the bottom of the holes for a good base for the block wall.  We're hoping to start the block walls in the windows soon so the dirt sides don't cave in on our hard work!

Dirt pulled out

More dirt pulled out....it was a muddy mess from the rain we got!

Adding in the drain tile tube

Feeding it through to the middle window

What a dog?? (7/18/13)

So Evan says tonight "There's a dog in the basement....and it even pooped in there!!!!!!!"  WHAT?!?!!?  
A random neighbor dog ended up jumping into our basement through one of the egress windows and it couldn't get out!  So weird!  Mike asked a couple of the neighbors that we thought it may belong to and we couldn't find any owners!  Poor pup did not have a collar on either....so hopefully he found his way home!  So random and weird....never a dull moment around here!

hot hot hot! (7/17/13)

So the weather has been a little on the steamy side!!  It's like you just stand there doing nothing and you can feel a bead of sweat dripping down your back....yes I know hot ;)  So what better of an idea can you think of to do tonight but dig egress windows???  Wow I don't think I've sweat more in my life before!  But....we got one mostly dug out and then lost motivation...and it got dark!  So one mostly done and one to clean up and one huge one to dig out to go!

 And then I asked for a step by the side door....little did I know he would make a redneck step and try to kill me at the same time!  It is now secured down better so this "super nice" step doesn't shift when you step on it and hopefully is VERY temporary!

So today marks our 15 YEAR anniversary (dating)!!  Holy I feel old!  We "celebrated" by digging egress windows and sweating together ;)  

Then once it got dark we had a few beers by the kiddie pool :)  

Backyard & More Soffits (7/16/13)

Today I raked the backyard to pull out any loose rocks so we can get it ready to seed.  I started pulling some weeds but it was like 100 degrees so I could only take so much sun!  Mike moved the canopy and now we are not sure where we want to put it.  I was thinking of putting it at the corner of the garage (where it is in the pics) but it seems to be a bit busy, so the other option is to put it on the backside of the garage.  We're going to leave it where it is for a little bit to see how we like it.

Moving the canopy

New possible spot

Mike finished the soffit as far as he can go for now.

He also put the white trim piece around the edge.

Lights (7/15/13)

Tonight Mike got the lights wired up over the side door and put in more of the soffit.

The wall came down! (7/11/13)

Once we got the addition sealed up we planned on taking down the sheeting over the wall in the kitchen going out to the addition.  Mike figured he'd get the soffits done tonight so he took down the wall!!  YAY!  We have so much more space!!!  

Moving the table out into the addition!

And this is where we had dinner tonight!

He didn't quite get the soffits all done, but put up some cardboard to prevent bugs from coming in.  He ran out of the soffit material and also had to put up some lights over the side door so it took longer than expected.   

Soffit along the back

Lights above side door and garage door

Soffits (7/10/13)

Tonight Mike worked on the soffits, he got one side done...2 more to go!

Rain Garden

Today we got the rest of the fill for the rain garden delivered and put into the rain garden spot.  I got it all spread out and Mike did the final smooth.  I thought it would be cool to put cat tails in since it is a rain garden, but when I went up to Gertens to get them today they said that they spread rapidly and maybe the spot we want to put them is not wet enough.  I decided to just get the one that they had to try it out and put other grass there.  We had some tall grass by the garage that was planted in way too close so I took those out and split them and planted them along the fence line in the rain garden with the special little cat tail in the middle.  I put down some mulch and grass seed and it is done!  YAY!

Mike started prepping to put up the soffits on the addition, this is the last thing we are trying to get done so that space will be closed in or bug free.

Fill dropped off

Total fashionista :)

Smoothing it out

Plantin' grass

Lil' helper!

Done!

Grow seed Grow!