There's been some pretty substantial progress since we last posted a few weeks back. All the interior walls are framed, the roof is on and shingled, and just about all of the windows are in. Here's the front of the house:
And here's a shot of the back of the house. The big picture window looks from the family room out to the backyard. There is a covered porch area just off the kitchen, a perfect spot for barbecuing and relaxing.
Things are moving along pretty much on schedule and on budget so far (knock on wood). The only major hiccup we've had so far was some extra lanscaping we decided to do. To ensure proper drainage of rainfall away from the house, the builder said he would like to grade the land on the left hand side of the house (looking at it from the front) to an extent that it required ripping out the retaining wall that was there and replacing it. And to ensure a nice flat play space in the back we had to bring in a lot more fill than we had planned. But Julie and I actually think it will be for the best because the new wall will be much more pleasing to the eye than the old one and the yard will be beautiful. We'll post more updates in a bit!