The countdown is on!!!

Mud needs to become our friend!!!!

It is going to be a muddy winter at The Klatte Homestead!!! The house is moving along... Our move-in date has changed to Friday, December 5th (if anyone wants to help). The kitchen counters are getting installed on 11/18.

It looks amazing!

We are getting close, but there is still a ton to do! Not sure if the 20th will still be the move-in date, but keeping our fingers crossed. Pat said that he will have a better idea at the end of this week. It looks amazing. Absolutely beautiful!!!! So we will have to be patient....

Our kitchen floor is in...

Our kitchen floor is in & they are installing our cabinets tomorrow. The fan is up in the great room & lots of lights are up too... And Quinn got scratched by Mocha : (

We have 2 garage doors!!!

We went out today & quite a bit got accomplished this week. All of the lights downstairs are in. The downstairs interior & exterior doors are on! And I think that we were most excited about our 2 garage doors!!!!

Yeah!!! Uncle KC & Owen come to play!!!!

It was a beautiful fall October day at the homestead today! Izzy spent the night at GG's, so Uncle KC & Owen met us at the property & dropped Izzy off. We had sooo much fun! Rob painted their faces, we went down to the creek, & had PB&J sandwiches for lunch. What more can you ask for. Then when they left, we stayed & Rob cut wood & I helped split some wood. The kids helped stack it up. We rewarded ourselves with ice cream at The Scoop in Burlington. We are getting really close & this week is a big one for the builders--putting on the doors, the floors and hopefully the cabinets, too!!! Our move date got pushed back a few weeks to November 20th.

So this is for Annie... Instead of Where's Waldo, we decided to do Where's Izzy. And you have to guess which room she is in. (The answer is below the photo). The only confusing part is that it starts with the last photo... Oh well...

A perfect Sunday evening...

We went to Rob's game & then spent our evening with GG & the kiddos at the cabin after we checked out the house. It was a relaxing evening spent fishing, eating good food, and just enjoying our little heaven...

A beautiful October day at our new home!!!

We spent the afternoon at the homestead & it was wonderful!!! Rob got a chance to chop some wood, the kids played, & I got to read a little and just enjoy our beautiful space. Our move in date is October 31st, so we are keeping our fingers crossed... The outside stucco is finished & they have plastered half of the downstairs. They are staining the front door and trim this week...

Rob's 42nd birthday

Poor Rob... He is #6 September birthday in the Norwalk family. So by the time we get to Septeber 29th we are over birthdays & birthday cake : ( We went out to meet John (the electrician) on Rob's bday. We had to decide where the dimmers were going....

Trying to keep our plants alive!

We transplanted some hydrangeas, boxwoods, & azeleas from the Turros. So we are having to water at least every other day. So this evening we went out to water. And the kids went swimming in the creek maybe for the last time this year?!

September 17, 2008

Today was my 35th birthday & we met Gigi for a picnic at the cabin. It was a beautiful evening!!! As we arrived, Nathan had just sprayed something to protect the windows in the house. So, we had to cover our faces & it was still really hard to see & breathe. The kids & Gigi did not go in. We then headed to the cabin & had a delicious dinner that Gigi brought from Fresh Market. We ended my wonderful birthday with a beautiful birthday cake that Rob made for me (well he had it made)...

Three new lights & a lamp post

We met John, our electrician, last minute this evening. Rob is going to Florida tomorrow to play Miami & we won't be able to get out there for quite some time. We changed some exterior lights around & added a lamp post. The kids were great & had a fun evening.

We have a roof!!!

We decided to put the kiddos in their pj's & head out to the homestead lastnight. We could not believe how much they got accomplished last week. We have a roof!!! I brought Nana's camera because mine was out of juice & I took 1 picture & hers ran out of batteries. Sooo, we have one photo.

A hazy day with Jim, Emily, & Rebecca ( & lots of bugs)

We met Jim, Emily, & Rebecca out for the afternoon. We checked out the house, went down to the creek, & had way too much pizza from Pizza King. It was a lot of fun... And Izzy got scratched by the black cat & just informed us that she doesn't want a cat anymore, just a horse :)

We thought that we found Izzy's prince, but he hopped away (lucky guy)

We had a short, but sweet visit to the homestead. Rob returned from Kansas at about 5pm & had practice early the next morning. However, we just had to check things out. And everything looks great!!!!

A weekend with the grandma's

Saturday afternoon Rob had the afternoon off & we had a late start, but headed out to the homestead. We weeded the garden & went down to the creek.

Sunday I met Gigi with the kids. We walked around the house, watched the kids ride their bikes, & headed down to the creek. We ended with dinner at Treece's in Burlington.

It was a great weekend at the homestead!!!!

The back logs are stained...

They got a lot done this past week. The back of the house logs are stained and we are thrilled. It looks amazing!!! Lots of plumbing took place & electrical wiring. We also met with John the electrician today and went over placement etc. Things are rolling....

We thought that we found Izzy's prince, but he hopped away (lucky guy)

We had a short visit to the homestead. Rob had just returned from Kansas and he had practice early the next morning. However, we had to check out the progress that Pat & his crew have made.

It is starting to feel like a house!!!

Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. The roof is covered, the front door is cut out, and lots more!!! We have been busy with making tons of decisions. It is like a snowball... We are really excited about our lights?! We got most of our exterior lights at www.barnhouselighting.com .

We went out with Nana for a few hours & I could not believe how incredible it really is... We are so super excited...

Rainy Sunday

We spent the afternoon hanging out in our great room as it rained. We played dominoes & enjoyed our new home!!!!

Saturday Picnic

KC, Amy, OO & GG met us for a wonderful & yummy picnic. It was humid & cloudy, but we had fun anyway... And it ended with rain, which our garden needed :)

It's been a week...

It has been an entire week since we have been able to get to the homestead. They got a lot of roof framing finished!!! You can get an idea of what the house is going to look like. We have purchased our countertops & most of our lights. Manana we have an appointment to order the rest of our lighting....

Do we need a floor outlet in the great room?

Cathy & Larry Chitwood (my surrogate parents/ the kids surrogate grandparents) stopped by on their way home from Michigan today. We were needing Cathy's (& Larry's too) input on furniture placement & trying to figure out if we need a floor electrical outlet. The jury is still out....

4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July. Watemelon, sparklers, what more can you ask for?

A fantastic day with the Turros

Today we met Aunt Al, Lucia, Luke, & Jimmy this afternoon at the homestead. We had a fabulous day. They checked out the new house, we went swimming in the creek & ended with pizza from Pizza King!!! It was so much fun to have them out & finally see it!!!!

We would love to have lots more visitors soon!!!!

Wow, look what takes place in one week!

Well, I had soccer camp all week and therefore wasn't provided the opportunity to head out and see the construction progress through the last five days--but after picking the kids up last night we headed to the Dinner Bell for dinner and then out to the property to see what the crew had accomplished.

They spent most of the last week framing the upstairs and putting on the pine ceiling in the great room. In addition, they placed oiled felt sheets over the log section to protect them from the elements. The framing allows you to walk through the house from the mudroom and pantry, into the kitchen and dining area, past the two log columns into the great room onwards into the master bedroom with a pair of small walk-in closets and finally into the master bath.

We are really excited at the number of windows the house will have--allowing in great light and providing beautiful views.

The garden is growing--NO REALLY, it is GROWING! Our pumpkin plants are running out of the beds. The corn is vying with some VERY healthy beans for tallest in the garden and our sunflowers are now taller than Izzy! Hmmm, perhaps Jack and the beanstalk wasn't such a fairy tale!

Our apple trees look like they are doing very well--new buds are popping up all over and we still have three small apples that may yet grow to fruition.

We'll keep ya' posted on any new happenings--rumour has it that we are going to be picking stains very soon.

Log Day!

Wow, eight plus hours of work and it was certainly worth it!

We really can start to see the house grow now and those timbers were huge!

I was really grateful that Pat and his crew allowed me to assist--it really provides a feeling of accomplishment and provides even more value to the home because you know that you assisted in putting (at least some) it together. Rebar was driven in to each log wall portion and then the floor and ceiling beams and timbers were ratcheted down with huge screws. I think I know the place that I want to be if there is ever to be a tornado!

Pat's crew was brilliant--they climbed all over the place, driving bars, screwing down posts, hauling piping hot rods and all the while exchanging that friendly and clever banter that makes being on a team so enjoyable!

My mom came with me today and she took a lot of the pics from outside the structure and then I took the camera along with me while I was working to try and give you a view from inside the structure as it went up.

Currently, it looks like a small (but tall) one room schoolhouse that you might have seen on Little House on the Prairie, but it sits on a BIG foundation. They are going to start framing the rest of the first floor today if the rain permits.

My sister was able to come in from a work trip to Cincinnati and then Alyssa arrived with Izzy and Quinn after she got off work, so the entire fam was able to partake in the day--at least a little.

Afterwards, we went to the Dinner Bell for some sweet potatoe french fries--just imagine crispy pumpkin pie! It is good--don't knock it til you try it!

I hope you all enjoy the pics--this was truly a great day!

A Wonderful Muddy Day, Ending @ Dinner Bell

First of all, I think that I am a funny person (at least I crack myself up & Ali every time that I talk to her), but not as funny as my husband.... So bear with me... My first attempt @ blogging, I am not funny : ) We had a great muddy day with a few of our favorite people... Aunt Martha was in from Seattle & Uncle Kerry was in from Laguna. Uncle Kerry designed our house & we were super excited to have him see the house in the works... Then we ended our visit with the Norwalks @ The Dinner Bell. The Klattes went back to the property to take a hike to the creek... We had a fantastic day & can't wait to see you all....

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

Ok, we don't live in "Pleasant Valley," but it was a GREAT Sunday at the homestead!

The sun was out and the temps were great--it had rained the two previous days, so we didn't even have to water the trees or garden, though I will say that there was a little mud around the construction site.

The kids played, picked their bedrooms to be now that the framing has started and then had a good go at the creek, though since the water was a little high due to the recent rain we didn't let them tread very far. I chatted with Mike and Pat about the house, well, electrical and storage space. In addition, we contemplated which walls would best accomodate the television and Alyssa spoke with Mike about the stain colour of the logs--we have a lot of decisions which will be coming up in a short period of time.

The kids had a good snack of animal crackers, pretzels and peanut butter crackers--nothing like eating high on the hog!

Anyway, wanted to get the pics up because over the next two weeks things will REALLY start to change--the logs are due in next Wednesday! :)

Sunny May day!

I am heading recruiting tomorrow morning for two days, so we decided to head out to the homestead in the afternoon to ensure that the garden and trees were watered--it has been beautiful this week (lots of sun and temps in the 60's), but I don't want our new green to dry out!

In addition, Alyssa and I packed a lil' lunch and with Quinnie taggin' along--he wasn't feelin' great today, so we let him sleep in and join us out on the "property." However, it is incredible how good one seems to feel out in the sun and fresh air--he had no issues until this evening when we knew that he should have taken a nap! :(

I also spent some time with my "farm boss" cutting some wood--then of course, I had to swing that twelve pound splittin' maul and now I am just plain-ol-knackered! This was the first time I used my chainsaw on my own--it was a wee bit intimidating, but I think I got the knack of it. I just need to get some of the finer points down--ie. chain-tension, cutting angles, dealing with LARGE pieces!

Alyssa was pleased with the sprouts of green in her garden--beans and flowers appear to be doing very well! The corn and sunflowers are just popping out their heads and we are keeping our fingers crossed for the tomato plants--Barr thinks they are looking a little dry!

We took the advice of one of my friends and took a picture of Quinn next to one of the apple trees--we will try to make this an annual event, so we can track both the growth of our son and our hopefully blossoming fruit tree!

Ok, gotta go pack for my trip to Colorado--we will try to post again after our Memorial Day sojourn to paradise.

Uh, sorry late start!

We already picked out the parcel of land (approximately 4 acres) on a wooded ridgeline over the Wildcat Creek in Carrol county. It is approximately five minutes West of Burlington and eight minutes Southeast of Flora--that should ensure that you know EXACTLY where I am talking about!?!?!?!?!??!



We have spent some time planting some trees--five to be exact (three apple: golden delicious, zastar and honeycrisp along with two pear: bosc and barlett).



For Mother's Day I built my beautiful wife two raised flower beds (with the kind assistance of one Jim Daugherty and my son Quinn--I am deeply indebted to both).



I purchased my first ever chainsaw--a Stihl Farm Boss (the best available I was told by folks who know) and have proceded to spend a couple of afternoons cutting wood and then splitting it--WOW, folks a hundred years ago must have been bad-assed strong 'cause swinging a twelve pound splitting maul is some serious hard work. As Mike, our new neighbor says, "the wood will warm you twice--once while you cut it and again when you burn it!" I have a small accumulation stacked between two trees, but I am going to have to get going if I am going to make a dent in the massive stack of timber yet to be cut.



We feel blessed that our land was sold to us by our builder--Pat Thomas of Sunshine Designs. He is insightful, kind and generous and having looked at several gorgeous other homes which he and his crew have built or worked on, both Alyssa and myself are very excited to see the house come to fruition!



On the day prior to Mother's day we planted the flower/vegetable beds with our first "food" crop ever--we shall be excited if we end up with more than a pot of green beans, 12 ears of corn, enough soup beans for a bowl of chili and one jack-o-lantern! Of course, we planted a lot of these items, but we will take a wait and see attitude--especially with the presence of so many "food" predators in the area (deer, racoon, possums, rabbits, wild turkey, coyote, moles, ect....). We spent some time putting dog fur down around the garden today, someone said that might deter deer!?!?!? Perhaps I just need to leave the dogs tied to a post near the garden--now that might work!