Weekend Project. Day 7!

This wall needs 3 more levels of bales on the very top and it's completely finished. This is the wall that is right next to the trailer. That white door leads into the trailer.

the back door area is almost finished. That large open space on the left is waiting for a window and then we can finish it off.

The outside wall. Both windows are in. The second one, farther away in the picture, needs a few supports before I can bale around it. I love the wide window sills.

The front half is almost completely done!! There is that little bit between the window and door on the front to do and some high ones on the left! Papa is using a bale needle here to make that bale a bit smaller! I stacked most of the bales in the walls as he was busy with windows and doors. We are already talking about doing some things different with the other side of the house. Window and door frames will be finished bit by bit first and then we'll concentrate on bale walls. Windows and doors take FOREVER!! :) Bales are super fast. 

Putting his re-tied bale in.

Got the bale in and is stuffing the crack between the window and door with loose straw! It looks like Papa doesn't have any days off, besides Sundays for a couple of weeks so building will be kept to evenings. We are heading out to the city to get ceiling materials tomorrow (kid less, Thanks Mom.) as that is the next big part of our project. The days are getting too cold to stucco the outside of the addition but we are planning on stuccoing the inside as well. The ceiling will be simple insulation and 4x4 finished plywood sheets and should go fairly fast. There are several little things that Papa and I can do in the evenings, like the door windows and hardware, bringing more bales home, the floor, wiring. Hopefully they will go smoothly and we'll be using this area soon. I miss my wood heat and washer and dryer :) Out of the 100 bales we had at home we use all but about 17. 

Day 7 was a great day for visitors as well. The whole T family showed up in two installments :) My mom brought us supper and stayed for a bit to see the work. Thanks Mom. My sister and brother in law stopped in with their two little girls and we had a nice visit! 

Hokey Pokey!

The 7 children and Mrs. T doing the hokey pokey in our kitchen! They had a BLAST!! R didn't quite 'get' it so I didn't get a lot of pictures as I was helping her! She caught on right at the end. I think this ones a keeper and we'll surely be doing it again! 

My God is SO BIG!!!

Friday afternoon we got together with the T's and sang some songs and did some other fun stuff. Here is a short movie of J and Little Miss T showing their siblings how to do the actions for the song, 'My God is SO Big!' We also sang the hokey pokey and turned all about :) After I finished taping (they didn't know I was :) We sang it faster and faster until no one could keep up!

Weekend Project. The End of Day 6!

It's starting to look like a building and not just a mess of wood and straw! You can see most of it in this picture. The bales fit nicely around the poles and the poles keep them in place. The one corner with out a pole has rebar chunks thru it to keep it pinned together better. 

The front wall!! Window and door are in place and bales surround most of it. I need to make mini bales for the gap between the window and door. At this point I was doing, and had done, most of the bales while Papa worked on doors and windows and all things wood. He did help me get a few high bales up. But I also had a couple of buckets that I used stacked together to give me some height. 

Inside view. Papa swept the floor and boy did that ever change the look! Straw covered the floor before.. Actually straw is everywhere at this point! *STILL IS!! :) 

The back corner. The wood stove you see will be in that corner. 

Weekend Project. Day 6!

The door to the trailer half surrounded by walls :) Waiting on a window box for the window into the trailer. That window will be removed and will help with heating the trailer. The woodstove will go in the corner right by that piece of flashing (tin) and a fan in the middle of the room to move heat around.

It was a beautiful day, the sun shone all day! The kids had a blast helping and playing outside. Here is the start of a frame for the front window. At this point there was a 2 course layer of bales around the whole thing!

The back door! In and waiting for a window on the left side. 

Papa monkeying around, he's actually screwing the header to the window frame.. squared up and ready to roll!! 

L and E pulling a bale with the sticks Papa made them. J and L did a LOT of work too.. pulling bales, pushing bales off the floor on the other side so we could bring them over, picking up sticks and garbage and keeping the fire going. J took this picture and these next few pictures.

L goofing off for the camera.

E goofing off for the camera! He took one of R too but she was too close it was blurry and he wasn't happy with it.

The kids wagon doing bale duty! 4 bales fits nicely! And it's easy to pull!! 

Weekend Project. Day 5!

Started out with SNOW!! I walked into the kitchen and did a serious double take when I looked out the windows! Papa thought that was VERY FUNNY!  It melted by noon and we're all grateful! It's too early to have snow!

The side wall.. in progress..it got taken up and down a bit while we figured things out. Big Mr T surprised us and showed up to help that afternoon! He and Papa put the back door in and made a box for the dryer vent. They also had to 'fix' the front wall so the door would open and close. This next picture is of the front wall.. they took it apart and re built it at least 6 times.

I didn't take pictures that night when we were done. Sorry I forgot. But the back door was in and their was a couple of half walls done. They even got Big Mr. T's vans lights working :) 

Weekend Project. Day 4!

Papa had 5 days off in a row because of a work training session and we are taking the time to build build build!! The 1st day off was Sunday and we took it off and had a Party :) This pictures are from the middle about of day 4. Papa started at the door into the trailer and worked his way around the whole thing placing 4X4's 17 inches apart as a base for the straw bale walls and putting doors in. Doors take forever! In the top picture you can see the two front doors just about done and the 4X4's in the corner.. the 2 bales we were using for measuring depth. I put wood filler on the cracks in the floor when ever Papa didn't need help! 

This is as far as we got on the back door that night. We ran out of straight 2 by 12's and it just was not working so we quit for the night. But the 4X4's all got cut and only 2 needed to be glued, but the door had to go in first so we had to leave them till day 5. You can see the new door leaning up against the pole in the background. 

Here is the front view! There is a 3 foot (about) deck on the front. 

Here is the front wall and part of the side wall. The black bag is insulation from the old addition that we are using for between the 4x4's under the bales. You can see my dryer plug in all done there in the wall. All in all it was a good day. The doors TOOK FOREVER!!! They ended up working on them the next day as well as the bales squished them and made them really hard to open and close.. so they had to support the doors better. 

Baby J. 3 1/2 months old :)

                                                          Yes I am SO handsome!!

                                                       And I smile SO BIG!!!

But what IS that green light on that thing?? (Also known as deer in the headlights :) 

Our little Architect!!

L and his creation! He made it out of the cut out pieces of the stairs Papa is making! Very nice!! It looks fragile but actually survived several days!! Way to go L!!  Oh and I LOVE his cute little hat he insists on wearing if it's damp at all. Hat and rubber boots, his favorite outfit outside!

Pretty Girls :)

The girls have discovered 'getting their hair done.' Lots of fun and I'll hopefully have more pictures soon! Little tiny buns on the backs of little tiny heads are the CUTEST!!

Weekend Project. Weeknight Figuring :)

One thing about building is that it's never boring! I'll give it that much. Papa's been working on squaring the walls and laying down the 4x4's that will be the base that the bales sit on! He's only got a little bit done as we are still busy in other areas, but it's a good start. This coming week we have a FIVE day weekend!! We are hoping that we can get the doors and windows in and a good part, if not all, of the walls up! This will mean another trip for bales and some hard work but I think we are both looking forward to finally seeing some part of our building get built! We've been building for 4 years now and it's coming along but this will be USABLE space very soon!!

Papa has also been working on the stairs in the evenings. In both the previous posts you can see the pieces of them on the floor. We're trying to figure out where we want them.

Yes the picture tattles on us! We've been making ice cream lately. YUM!! Made strawberry for B&B, chocolate with chocolate chunks for E's mini birthday yesterday and strawberry again for her party tomorrow!! (For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, that silver thing with black on top is my ice cream maker :)

On a side note. If you ever want to hear me swear ask me to square something with you! Kudos's to Papa for working with this stubborn lady :) Congratulations!! We both survived :) I love you babe!

Weekend Project. Weeknight Laundry!

Do you know what happens when you build a new addition where your washer and dryer are going to be placed?? Yup you guessed it! You go without a washer and dryer for a time. For us it was 3 weeks to the day! Now your either thinking, what took so long, you have a LOT of clothes or EEK this lady has 5 kids! That's a LOT of laundry! Yes it is!! The washer and dryer got hooked up yesterday morning and I think I've done 10 large loads since then. I have a few to do yet! Only about 3 if I've got it figured right!

Here is my set up at the moment. It works :) The dryer venting out the back makes me think there is SMOKE out there but it's nothing but hot air :) 

OPPS I forgot that we did take 1 small load and 1 large load to my mom's one night and washed them, and dried the small load, there. So we did two loads of laundry in 3 weeks!!

Doors and windows :) A Weekend Project Weekend Trip!

Last week Sunday Papa and I packed up the little people, grabbed our half a mile long list and took off to 'the city' to get some stuff for the addition. We did really well. We got 2 doors, 4 windows (One 3x5, two 3x4, and one 3x3), a ceiling fan, lights, door hardware, wiring 'stuff', venting stuff and who knows what all picked out, bought and brought home!! We took the time to take the children to 'Joey's Only' a favorite spot for supper and all and all had a great and productive day!

I know you can't really see them but this proves they are here! That is our outside milk fridge. On a side note the kittens that we got awhile ago love the new doors and windows. Their food is stored on top of the fridge and until we got the doors they could not get up there. Now they try and climb in the kitchen window as well!! 

Weekend Project. Day 3!

This was already a couple of weeks ago. Sorry. Papa has been working two six day weeks the last 2 weeks, while being trained for a new aspect of his job, and we've been a bit crazy around here! 

Day #3 started with BALES!! Yes!! I know it's amazing! We are actually going to be making our house out of straw bales!! And NO your not the only one who thinks we're nuts :) Here are the first 100 bales that will be turned into a house. Well part of it anyway. Here is good and faithful Molly (AKA the yellow beast) hooked to 100 straw bales. Some of my new chickens look on! We stored the bales under the floor that we made several years ago on the other side of the house. They are staying nice and dry there and can be moved to the building area at will. The chickens were really enjoying laying their eggs in the stack before we caught them all and put them in the barn. 

And ended with this! A finished floor on the new addition side. I apparently did not take 'fresh paint pictures' so I just went out and took these for you :) The floor is 32 feet (I believe) long and 14 feet wide! There is a 4 foot porch on the front and a 2 foot porch on the back. There will be 2 doors and 4 windows :) Stairs in the front and, we're hoping a ramp in the back. The ramp will be for wheelchair access and helpful in getting firewood inside.

Weights and Measures :)

Twas a fine and lazy stay at home day. The children were at the table coloring and doing school in their PJ's. Showers were on the list for the morning after school so why bother getting dressed?? Right? The phone rings.. RING RING!! Yay Mrs T is calling to see how the boys immunizations went! Get your boys shot this morning she jokes! My heart POUNDED!! OH NO!! I've forgotten. What TIME was that again! WHAT TIME IS IT NOW?? Thankfully we had about an hour to get there! A flurry of dressing, packing up (diaper bag and a snack. Lunch will be late!) , hair, and school. Then wake the sleeping Baby J up and out the door we RUN!! Only to be early! Which was fine as I wanted everyone weighed and measured! The boys were both very brave and just said OUCH! when they got their shots. Then Mrs. B the health nurse told the boys it was Mommy's turn. I tried to wiggle out of it but lost! Mrs. B is very persuasive! She gave me 'that look' and I sighed, took my sweater off and bared my arm!  So we all 3 got our Tetanus shots! She even asked me about Papa, he had his last year when the air can blew up in his face so we are all caught up now!

After the boys each picked out a sticker.. I didn't get one :( We headed to the other room to weigh and measure everyone. No not everyone.. I did not get weighed or measured :) And if I did it WOULD NOT be posted on my blog! Though I am losing inches quite nicely!!

J is 6 years and 10 months old. His weight is 61 1/4 lbs.(85%) His height is 48 3/4 inches. (75%)
L is 5 years and 6 months old. His weight is 40 1/2 lbs. (25%) His height is 42 1/2 inches. (35%)
E is 4 years old in 2 days :). Her weight is 30 1/4lbs. (25%) Her height is 38 1/2 inches. (25%)
R is 2 years and 7 months old. Her weight is 23 1/2lbs. (2%) Her height is 34 1/4 inches. (15%)
Baby J is 3 months and 14 days old. His weight is 15lbs 15 oz. His height is 24 3/4 inches.

I don't know Baby J's  %'s from today as I did not get to bring his chart home. But when he got his shots 26 days ago he was in the 90% in both height and weight! He's grown 10oz in 26 days :)

Of course on the way home we stopped by Papa's work and bragged about our weights and measures and bravery at shots. He was impressed and also expressed shock as 'that was today?' So it's not just me! :)

OK you mom's out there. Leave a comment and let me know where your kids stand!! I'd love to see heights and weights and ages from all you blog readers :)

PAINTING!!

Mrs. T and I are taking turns doing something fun with homeschooling in mind every Friday. Switching from her house to mine. With her 4, and our 5 we have a house full where ever we are! The kids are all close in age and we've had many great times together! The Griggers are all older by a few months then the T's but all are smaller!!   From Smallest to Biggest we have R(2), E (3), Mr. T2 (3), L (5), Mr. T1 (5), J (6), and Miss T (6) and babies J and T3 make nine!! (Just for the record the T kids names all start with T so I just numbered the boys as an easy way to keep track of them :) Here we are finger painting at Mrs. T's house! Mr. T is a painter so the kids all donned his painting shirts and Mrs. T clipped them together at the back and they were ready to PAINT!! 

A bunch of cuties before......

Waiting for the go ahead! E, R and Little Mr. T2 :) 

                                                                  L with his cool hand print!

J my finger tipper.. only his finger tips got dirty, but he made a great picture! He loved mixing the colors to make other colors. 

 E painting with a brush.. they hand painted for a bit but Little Mr. T 2 wanted a brush so Mrs. T gave the 3 little's brushes. You can see R's painting in the back too.

 Little Mr. T LOVED IT. I think he would have done whole body painting if he'd thought of it and we'd let him!

 Miss T perfecting her painting. It was pink to start and looked pretty cool when she was done!

L and his painting. He was getting into it at the end there! Amazing the different styles and colors each child used. Some where finger tippers, some whole hand art. Everyone enjoyed it and each picture was TOTALLY different! 

 L, J and Miss T showing off their hands. All of them were washed in the middle of painting. Miss T and Levi for full hands of paint and J because his finger tips were dirty!! LOL!!! He is a bit of a cleanie.. like me! I couldn't MAKE myself stick my fingers in the paint! Gross!

           Little Miss R.. totally hamming it up :) Note how clean her hands are :) She's so mine!!

 Master Painter T!! Must take after his Daddy! Actually his Mama too.. I guess she painted just like him when she was little!! I guess I didn't get a picture of Little Mr. T 2's hands. Washing up below.. Note the purple hand prints on Miss T's and L's backs... Master Painter apparently wasn't quite done!

                                                                          The End!!

Weekend Project. Weeknight Cleanup :)

Burn baby burn!! :) It burnt really hot and melted our electric fence wire that runs up from the house to a spruce tree to the perimeter fence! Papa fixed it in a jiffy :) This was what was left of the addition!! Man did ever burn hot! Lots of rotten wood! Sure is nice to have it gone!! The pile of stuff in the top picture was the dump pile and that's gone too :)