Wednesday, March 17, 2010

New Addition - Breaking Ground

Yesterday was a big day around here! Thanks to Dave Ramsey's zero-balance budget plan and a healthy tax return, we were able to break ground on our new addition. We are enclosing our porch, which will add 75 sq ft of living space to our dining room and living room. We will have a much smaller porch area that will be enclosed. Excited to not have to worry about slippery steps in the winter time. This will enable me to have a larger office/homeschooling area. It will make our living space much more open, which I'm extremely excited about! We are also planning on getting rid of our ugly carpet and putting in hardwood floors. We've hired a contractor to do the foundation/framing work, and we'll do the rest. Here is a before picture of our porch. Michael and Josiah pulled the siding off.We hired a backhoe to break up the concrete and dig the foundation. While he was there, we had him level out the driveway as much as he could. You can see our refrigerator for milk next to the side of the house. Eventually, we'd like to build a little shelter for this that would look nice. The tree you see on the left, we want to take out to make our driveway bigger.Hailey was helping with the foundation work. We hired a contractor who loves kids and lets them hang out with him and ask questions. He's a great guy! He did our the big addition to the back of our house that we added 6 years ago, just before Josiah was born.Josiah and Hailey played in this dirt pile for a really long time. Have I mentioned that a pile of freshly dug soil is a homeschooling family's dream? They were digging out tree roots and earthworms (they loved dissecting these), insects, rocks "gold" and were pretending they were dogs and burying their "bones". We talked about different soil textures and organic matter. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of other school work done. It is hard to say "do your math" with an excavator working in your front yard :) They were so dirty that when bath time came, the water was a beautiful shade of brown.

Last night, we managed to get our seeds planted in our indoor Jiffy planter. Hoping to break ground for our new organic, heirloom garden this weekend.

If you are looking for a wonderful Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe, click here. You'll love it! Although, when we get our 1/4 of a beef this year, I'm going to try marinating our own. I'll be posting soon about the delicious avacado pancakes we made for St. Patrick's Day. I'm hoping to have time to make some naturally fermented sauerkraut today, not very Irish, but hey, I'm using green cabbage, does that count?

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Everyone!

Love and Blessings,
Jackie

17 comments:

Angela said...

How wonderful to see such progress AND for another addition..that IS exciting. Don't the children just adore 'helpin'...

I had my wee ones raking outside with me today...

He & Me + 3 said...

Well congrats. We love Dave Ramsey and are on his plan too. We got our roof done with our return.

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

So cool!!!! Can't wait to see the progress little by little.

A pile of dirt is a homeschooler's dream!!!!

La Familia Garcia said...

Wow, that looks super scarey and a huge project, but I hope it goes good with no problems!

Lisa said...

That's awesome Jackie - congratulations!! Lots of excitement going on and the weather looks great for it. What a fun time. Thanks for sharing with us!

Hugs,
Lisa

Andrea said...

Awesome...it is very rewarding when you see the hard work and sacrifice of doing things GOD's way..pay off!
Hugs, andrea

Anonymous said...

Well Yippie!!

And would you take a look at that black dirt!! Send me two truck loads please.

Little 'man' is doing his job perfectly and he's growing like a weed all of a sudden.. wow.

And Miss 'P' there is sweet as can 'bee'.
Exciting and Happy Patty's day!

with love,

Olivia

Amy said...

It will be great when it is done. I am sure that the kids will have a field day in the dirt.

Have a wonderful day.

RaD said...

That's great that you guys can do most of that yourselves! You must save a ton!

Camille said...

How exciting Jackie!! You will be AMAZED how much BIGGER your home will feel with "only" 75 square feet more space. Yippee!! And...homeschooling was happening in abundance while all that digging was going on...are you kidding me?? :)

Have a great night!
Blessings,
Camille

Sarah said...

Happy St Patricks Day to you too!

Wow...your remodelling will bless you so much! You can never have too much space...trust me as the bigger our house gets the more 'stuff' you fill it with!

I loved the photographs of your little ones digging...school sure looked fun that day! I hope all goes well with your remodelling Jackie!

God Bless

Unknown said...

Wow! that will be so nice! I'm sure your children learned a whole bunch just being outside and digging around in the dirt. Those are the days when your living school!

Tina said...

Can't wait to see more pictures as the project progresses. Loved the teaching about worms and different types of soil. Don't you just love homeschooling? Everything is material for learning! :)
Hmm - avacado pancakes. Never heard of them. Would love to see the recipe and see how they turned out. (I just put green food coloring in our regular pancakes this morning. Avacados sound so much more adventurous!) :)

Deb said...

This is great!! I am so happy for you guys!!! I can remember when my two were little and we enjoyed the kind of homeschooling days that took us into the woods, dirt or water. So much fun!! We are big fans of Dave Ramsey as well and are on our way to giving him a phone call...can't wait for that moment!!!
Have a super great day!!
Deb

Catherine said...

I love it that you begin with how you are able to accomplish this financially...with some financial tools via Dave Ramsey. I can hardly wait to see the finished room. And, of course, your kids are darlings!

Connie said...

What an exciting day for all of you! You will love the additional space. May your project go well and faster than you expect.

Mary said...

That's great! Living area is always much better than a porch or patio, because let's face it: most of us don't sit outside much anyway!

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