Here are some more shots of the house, this time of the second floor, which was framed this past week.
Atop the garage will be a bedroom (which we plan to use as a playroom for Jocelyn and Ian) with big picture windows. The view is pretty cool from up there - you can see a lot of the playground and fields past the houses across the street.
Here is the front door and office to its left. There will be a small covered porch area, which is one of the features Julie and I were looking for in a new house. Above the office, the area with the three small windows is the landing at the top of the staircase. Turn right and one enters the playroom. Roughly straight ahead are the kids' bedrooms, and to the left are the guest and master bedrooms.
One of the features of the house I am most anxious to see is the stained glass window that Julie selected which will flood the staircase and front door entry area with light. (My wife has excellent taste.) The cutout for the window is between the first and second floors here. A little further down the wall, on the first floor, is a cutout (covered with plywood for now to keep the snow out) for the bay window in the dining room. This side of the house gets most of the sunlight through about mid-day, so we tried to have as many big windows as possible on that side.
Here's the other side of the house. There is an extra storage area at the back of the garage for strollers, bikes, etc., and an extra wide door near the ladder shown here allows access to that area. The kids' bedrooms are right above that. Each has its own bay window.
Since we got our permits and ground was broken, the project has moved along at a pretty good clip. Friends have told us that framing is usually pretty quick but plumbing and electricity can take forever, so we'll see if the nice pace we have going continues. The plan is for the roof to go on this week, weather permitting, followed by window installation, and then once the house is weather-proof, plumbing and electric follow shortly thereafter.
This entire process has been an education and a lot of fun to watch unfold. Jocelyn and Ian have been very patient with us lugging them over to the new house countless times to take pictures and just look around!
...a dump truck truly worthy of a young man's attention. Enough cargo capacity to haul around some serious blocks, and a nice loud horn to make sure everyone knows he's coming...
...and the ability to convert into a ride-on when the young lad wants to take his wheels out for a spin.
I think he likes it!
What's better than that?
Jocelyn and Ian were playing this morning waiting for Grammy and Pepere to come and pick them up for church so we took the opportunity to capture them playing together.
True to form, Jocelyn hoarded a bunch of the blocks...
But ultimately decided to share some with baby Ian (which, by the way, were two new words for her this week).
It's tough to blame her for hoarding when he wants what she has even if he already has plenty for himself.
Then it was time for different blocks set on wheels.
He used the walker to stand up against the stairs all by himself...
And might have made more a little more progress if not for the stairs.
Jocelyn hung out nearby trying to put her shoes on by herself.
And then went on to play some music at her piano...
And Ian quickly joined her for a duet!
Then they humored us for a pose together:) And a special thank-you to Aunty Jenn for the early birthday present for Ian - the beautiful baby blue sweater!
They humored us for individual shots as well!!
Atop the garage will be a bedroom (which we plan to use as a playroom for Jocelyn and Ian) with big picture windows. The view is pretty cool from up there - you can see a lot of the playground and fields past the houses across the street. 
Here is the front door and office to its left. There will be a small covered porch area, which is one of the features Julie and I were looking for in a new house. Above the office, the area with the three small windows is the landing at the top of the staircase. Turn right and one enters the playroom. Roughly straight ahead are the kids' bedrooms, and to the left are the guest and master bedrooms.
One of the features of the house I am most anxious to see is the stained glass window that Julie selected which will flood the staircase and front door entry area with light. (My wife has excellent taste.) The cutout for the window is between the first and second floors here. A little further down the wall, on the first floor, is a cutout (covered with plywood for now to keep the snow out) for the bay window in the dining room. This side of the house gets most of the sunlight through about mid-day, so we tried to have as many big windows as possible on that side.
Here's the other side of the house. There is an extra storage area at the back of the garage for strollers, bikes, etc., and an extra wide door near the ladder shown here allows access to that area. The kids' bedrooms are right above that. Each has its own bay window.
The portion on which these workers are focusing will become the garage. Once the earth that was removed to provide a spot for the foundation thaws, the garage will be back-filled with it. A layer of crushed stone goes on top, and then concrete is poured to form the garage floor. From within the garage, one will climb a short set of stairs into the mudroom that you can see roughly in the center here.
The back of the house is an open concept kitchen and family room that extends the entire width of the house. The opening/outcropping that you see on the far right here is to accommodate the fireplace in the family room. You can barely make it out from this picture, but the family room also has a big picture window that looks out on to the backyard.
Looking at the front of the house, the front door is to the left of the garage. It will be under a covered porch area which will also extend over an office that you see on the far left here. There will also be a covered patio area in the rear of the house, just off the kitchen.
