One lovely October day

This past October was a month of gratefully remembering all of the many people who gave us their time last fall to push hard to get the exterior of the addition weather-tight before Owen and I left for Bulgaria to bring Krassi home. We didn't get it quite done, but close enough that we could rest on that for the winter. And spring. And summer, and much of fall, too.

But, this past week, on a lovely October day, Matt had time to get out and finish up all sorts of loose odds and ends. (Have I ever mentioned how much I admire the way my husband can work??? Well, now I know I have!)

The results:

A finished (although rather grungy, still) underside of the roof soffit! (Please note that the orange ladder is still standing where it's been since last October, except for the day our neighbor borrowed it to fix his window, and kindly put it back right where he found it, and also that there is still no siding around the door.)

A close-up of the underside of the soffit. I love the leaf imprints. Those boards have been waiting a long time to find their home!

One last panel (the vertical one to the right of the bank of three basement windows) that's been missing for the last year is now in place.

And look! There's now rigid insulation AND the first layer of finish siding (the "board" of the board-and-batten) around that door!

It looks like just a photo of kids, but it's also a photo of Daddy working. In case you were wondering, it was totally butterfly leotard with boots, mittens, and a hat weather if I've ever seen it.

Happy Reuben got to play with water one more time. "Wa-duh! Dow!" "Yes, Reuben, the water goes down every time. That's called gravity." (And there's Daddy working...caulk going in around a few last battens, and an active outdoor electrical outlet.)

Girls. Staged, of course, since we had to ask Daddy to come over and take the picture.

A few last shingles on the fireplace bump.

And I apparently don't have photos, but Matt got the battens on the door wall, and got them caulked, and also slid in the few pieces of siding on the existing house that had to be pulled off to make the junction between the two, so we are now, for this winter, completely weather tight.

Even though the all-consuming nature of this addition is definitely over, there's still regular work going on. Tonight Matt's putting on another coat of mud on the basement sheet rock, hoping to have things ready to prime down there by the end of the week. He and I may try putting in the last bit of wood floor at the bottom of Barb's stairs now that we have the subfloor evened out there. We'll see. ;)

Regardless of what happens tonight, it's been good to continue to see things reaching "finished" stages. What an incredibly packed last year and a half its been. I doubt we'll even in our lives have another 18 month period with as many significant life changes as this past one has had. We have started and close to finished building, mostly by ourselves (read: Matt) an addition that doubles the living space in our home. We have added a 10 year old son, a newborn daughter, and a mother/mother-in-law to our household.