In the Navy

Christine's Cousin, Matthew, recently joined the Navy, so we met him and Uncle Chuck at Grandmas house in San Antonio last weekend since it might be the last time we see him before he goes to boot camp.

 

The Race is getting closer

Belle is only 4 weeks away, and the house is actually catching up. They washed all the windows this week and it really looks nice. We expect to have the countertops, landscaping, appliances, ... We heard today that we should close on either the 14th or the 28th. If they somehow make the 14th then they might beat Belle. Of course Christine is threatening to have her induced in early December. She's feeling large and uncomfortable.

Here are some pictures from the 16th before they started cleaning things up...


2007-11-16


from the back yard


on the back porch



on the upstairs porch

progress

Here is a Picasa slide show from start to where we currently are.

And some shots of the inside of the house:


From the door way looking in.


In the family room looking at the kitchen.


In the kitchen looking at the family room.


Mixing cement in our game room. Yes they were really pouring bags of cement out onto the floor and mixing it right in the middle of our game room. They were using it out on the porch to prep for the tiles.


Looking down from the game room to the dining room.

And some Belle progress too:

Christine and I went and stayed out at the Inn Above Onion Creek this weekend for our 15th wedding anniversary. For lunch on Saturday we drove out to Mandolas Winery and had lunch. This is a picture at lunch and as you can see C's tummy is growing with little Belle. She looks great, but is really getting tired of carrying her around now. I'm starting to hear how I get to carry her for the next 9 months now :-) The inn was wonderful BTW as was Mandolas Winery. I recommend both!

2007-11-09

2007-11-09 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

2007-11-08

2007-11-08 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

2007-11-07

2007-11-07 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

2007-11-05

2007-11-05 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

More pictures than you want to see

I've gotten some grief about not updating the house pictures, so here are a bunch from that past month. Things are moving along great! They have the brick and stone finished, the sheet rock is up and textured, the cabinets are installed, the doors, baseboards, trim work is up, the back yard is cleared. They should have started painting this weekend.

Selling the 3102 Kerbey Lane house is also going well. We signed a contract today, and if all goes well we will close on 30 November.

Here is a slide show of the progress from the start.

Here are some pictures you missed:

Yes, this is the Kerbey Lane House, but I took a bunch of pictures and I think this is the one we ended up using on our flier.


27 September 2007


01 October 2007


08 October 2007


12 October 2007


13 October 2007 - Rene, Christine and Troy at the Museum Fine Arts Houston Gala.


Here they are again with T-Rex...


15 October 2007 - Wildlife at the Ranch... This spider was outside the model home. Really creepy looking! This is a shot of its back...


and the front. Not sure what it is but it looks poisonous to me!


21 October 2007


26 October 2007


28 October 2007 - Uncle John, Aunt Gail, Josh, and Michelle came out to the house with us to check it out.


31 October 2007


2 November 2007


Well, now you are all caught up. I'll try to get some pictures of Christine soon to post because she's really looking good and pregnant now!

25 Sept. 2007

2007-09-25 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

The outside looks the same, but they have all the AC duct work installed, and they are making good progress on the electrical wiring.

24 Sept. 2007

2007-09-24 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

Noah at Triangle Fountain

2007-09-21 - 002a - Noah at Triangle Fountain, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

Noah loves this fountain. It's one of those that jumps around. They also have light that travels through the water. Noah likes to let it hit him on the chest so he can "gain powers" from it.

mom and dad

2007-09-21 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

Mom and Dad came up last weekend and we worked them way too hard - on the old house not the new one. We've been convinced that it needs to go up for sale in the next 2 weeks. Dad and I worked most of the day Saturday repairing the deck. It looks really good. Christine and I stained it this afternoon so it looks even better now. We still have some paint touch up, flower planting, mulching, moving some of our junk to a storage unit, .... Wow it's hard work selling a house.

20 Sept 2007

2007-09-20 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

Bricks

2007-09-18 - 001a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

We have bricks, but as you can see from the next couple of pictures, a week later the same bricks are still sitting in the same place....

On the Deck

We went out to show Brian our house today and were really happy to see all the windows in and the roof decking almost finished. Yea. Progress.

Meanwhile Belle is also growing as you can see and evident by all the round ligament pain Christine has been having.

We were excited that you could see over some of the trees on the green belt and get a bit of a view from the upstairs deck.

Noah made us a bit nervous in the house - I kept having to remind him to stay near us, but he doesn't move that slow... He called us down from upstairs very pleased with himself for posing as art in our art niche.

There are still several problems with the house, but Sean keeps telling us not to worry, they will fix them. We'll see, we just don't like seeing additional progress made on things that will only be ripped out later.

Starting to look like a house

2007-09-13 - 001a - Steiner Ranch House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

I need to get a picture of Christine today so you can compare the house to the baby. The house is still bigger, but I had minor heart palpitations when Christine told me she was in her 3rd trimester last night. I'm thinking that Belle is going to win the race. We have a Dr. apt today but probably no interesting news. Christine swears they are not doing an ultrasound today, but I'm going just in case and to make sure I know what the Dr. says.

There are several framing mistakes in the house - and we've asked about them several times but nothing has been done to fix them... Looks like we are going to have to chase down the builder and flog him. I guess that's the danger of moving walls around without true plans :-). Plantation claims that's what they do and they are happy to charge you $300 to move a wall. They either need to give me a refund or actually move the wall like I want. Sigh. No worries, I'm sure they will make it right. I just hope it doesn't slow things down too much.

View

2007-09-07

We finally have stairs and can go up and check out what our view will really look like. Check out the huge black bird up on the peak of the roof.

2007-09-07 - 055a - View Panorama, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

Here is the view from our upstairs patio at about 7:45 AM. The rising sun washed it out a bit, but other than the house next door it's a nice green belt view and a bit of hill country if you can peek over the trees. There will be some one story villas behind us on the other side of our narrowish greenbelt, but no houses to the right which will be nice.

9/6/2005

2007-09-06 - 042a - Steiner House, originally uploaded by ddbailie.

9/5/2007

2007-09-05

generators and everything

Christine tells me I forgot to mention that there are live longhorn cows (2, not just 1) on the side of the road on the way out to Steiner Ranch that we assume are there either to advertise the numerous BBQ Restaurants or more likely for photo opportunities for unsuspecting tourists. Sigh... One even has a Texas flag behind it - yes we have been tempted to stop, but no we never have....

In the mean time there is more rain which will undoubtedly delay our house. It's nice that the lakes are full, but come on people! Here are at the end of summer - wishful thinking! - and I've only watered my lawn twice!!! and yes, it's green and growing.

Oh, BTW, the traffic into town from Steiner Ranch is even worse in the rain. The good news is a friend of mine who lives out there says it's quick after 8 AM - you know all those folks out in the suberbs like to get to work early. Good news for us slacker types who like to go for a run before work!

Christine had lunch with Noah today and the kid that Noah likes to hang our with - Max - had a Nutella sandwich, a chocolate cookie with chocolate fudge filling and chocolate frosting, and chocolate milk. Sigh... not sure which is worse, the chocolate lunch or the kid at Brykerwoods who would only eat the candy and crackers (and the crackers only by force) out of the Lunchables package. Please, parents, read the ingredients of the food you are feeding your children! Nutella is not made from just nuts. It's chocolate! At least send peanut butter, and you should buy organic peanut butter that is made out of peanuts and maybe some added salt! Do you really needed added sugar and corn syrup in everything? OK, fine, bring on the flames about how I'm abusing my child by "making" him eat a vegetarian diet.

Lost and Suburbia

I lost Friday's picture of the house, and we didn't have the energy to drive all the way out to Steiner Ranch to take one this weekend, but of course I'll have an early morning shot tomorrow that I'll eventually upload.

For those of you who don't know, Steiner Ranch is about 30 minutes west of where we currently live in central Austin. It's suburbia. It's Master Planned. It has exemplary schools, really big SUVs, BBQ restaurants, and rolling hill country and lake views. My friends at work tease me endlessly - "you'll have to get rid or your crappy '89 Prelude b/c the HOA won't allow you to have that once you move in", "you'll have to get a F250 and a bouncy castle for the front yard" (of course I said, hey, as long as the truck is pulling a boat, I don't mind), "Do they know you are a vegetarian? Are you sure they will let you move in?". Of course they are just closed minded and jealous - I think...

I drive Noah out to Laura Bush Elementary School (hey, at least it's not George Bush - wouldn't you rather have Laura as president?) every morning turning my 15 minute morning commute into a 1 and a half hour commute (my poor car is not happy about that BTW). Christine picks him up every afternoon. It's not easy, but after last week I can't imagine Noah having to switch schools in January, move houses, and get a new sister. That would push us all over the top I'm afraid.

Framing Progress

Slow but sure progress...

Start of Framing

Yea, they started framing.

Noah in front of the house

Here is Noah standing in front of the house after school on Tuesday.

Concrete!!!

We finally have concrete, and this is the day they start framing.