Pouring the walls

The pump truck is here to pump our walls full of cement. That is one neat machine!

It was awesome watching it unfold. 

Then the driver got to use a remote control to move the arm wherever it needed to be. Who says remotes are just for kids!  

I think they were checking the concrete to see if it was the right mix for the walls. I'm not really sure though. 

Buddy kept watch over the kids while the pump truck got setup.  

 Then they let 'er rip...or pour I guess!

 When the wall was full, they cleaned it up. 

 Then they moved on to the larger walls. 

 They used a machine that vibrated to break up any air bubbles in the cement.

Once they cleaned up the top walls, this guy came along and added little rebar pegs. I'm assuming that's to connect the wooden walls to these poured walls. 

 

They were very precise with the top of the wall, measuring to be certain it was flat and even.  

The kids had fun walking around and inspecting everything. 

Prepping the walls

Now that the forms are up, it's time to secure the walls so they don't fall over. That would be bad!

So the workers laid out the wooden supports and will soon be staking them. 

They also boarded up the ends of the walls that still needed something to stop them up. 

Not all needed something extra.

View from the above/side. Tommy had fun inspecting everything. He's my shadow whenever I come out to take a look. 

This looks like a puzzle or maze to me. 

Love how they use the forms for ladders/platforms. 

They should be ready to pour the walls soon. I can't wait!

Finishing the Forms

They finished forming the walls today!

They put up rebar and then formed the walls around the rebar. 

They also put little rebar in the little holes they drilled for the front of the walkout basement.

This circle pipe is for our geothermal HVAC. I'm interested to see how it's going to work someday. I'm sure they will cut it and add to it, but for now, it's just sticking out of the ground like a circle. 

Nailing the forms together.

Those form trucks are so incredible organized. :) I wish I could make my car stay that organized. Three kids don't allow that to happen often though, even when I limit the toys they are allowed to bring in the car. My kids are sneaky sneaky!

The forms can be angled too. I wondered how they would make the sharp angles, but it was easy with forms on hinges. Who knew!

It's also pretty cool to see them use the forms as ladders. 

That's all for today!

Getting some work done!

The workers arrived today! We are officially getting our walls built. I'm so excited! Friday, they left us with trucks, but didn't do anything else.

Today they have finally started working!The trucks are super organized and they can form the wall however they need it to be by using their forms.

The workers are walking around the footers, drilling holes every 3 feet or so to put in the rebar. 

Kinda neat watching them drill the holes. 

Once they put the rebar in, they started choosing what forms they needed to make the wall.

 They should be finished making the walls tomorrow! Can't wait to see them built!

Waiting...Waiting...Waiting...

Nothing too exciting happened today other than the trucks arrived with the forms to build the walls. Because of yesterday's rain, the ground is too muddy for them to get started. At least the trucks are here though so they can hopefully start work bright and early on Monday!

Here's a closeup of some of the forms. 

Pinterest Challenge: Owl make you feel better

I had no idea that when the Bower Power blog & Young House Love blog challenged bloggers to a Fall Pinterest Challenge that the project I chose would end up being so perfect.

 I had a couple of things pinned in my DIY folder, the first of which was a mailbox post to be used for our address. I was really planning on making this my project. Tom and I got all the supplies, then ran out of steam. So it got put back on the shelf. We will be doing this in the future though, so stay tuned!

DIY Pinterest

The second idea I had was to make a tooth fairy pillow for my son. I really liked the Monster Tooth Pillow idea, so I ran out and got fabric for it.

DIY Pinterest

Then I saw some owl patterns and thought, hmm, maybe an owl tooth pillow would be better - a bit more gender friendly since I have 2 girls and only 1 boy. So I searched around until I found a pattern I liked (happened to be for a card) and printed it out.

DIY Pinterest

I cut out the template and looked at my fabric. I found some other fabric laying around at home that also went with the fabric I found at Joann's. 

Next I cut out the fabric using the template. This was not easy, so I have no pictures. I don't know how you are supposed to really cut out fabric using a template, so i just held the fabric up to the template and cut. Instead of appliqueing the owl to a pillow, I decided to see what would happen if I made it into a little pillow itself. Once I got the fabric cut, I put it in a plastic bag so i wouldn't loose the pieces. The only part that I wasn't sure about were the ears - but once I got everything sewn together (once again, no pictures of the sewing process - too excited!) the ears turned out fine. 

Turned out pretty cute if you ask me. I filled the owl up with rice and then to cover up where I sewed the owl shut, I hot glued the wings over the seams. Maybe not perfect, but it's perfect for my sweet little girl who ended up getting sick this morning. So when she asked if she could have it...

I agreed!