It’s been a big week for the Francis family! To start,  Miss Ellie went on her first big date this week.

PP0A0150.jpgPP0A0162.jpgPP0A0188.jpgHer daddy bought her a pretty dress to wear and brought her flowers. Then, he took her to Chic-Fil-A for a daddy-daughter date night. They also went to the mall to ride the carousel “TWO TIMES!” She’s been talking about their big night all week and asks me on a daily basis if she’s going on another date when daddy gets home. As if that wasn’t enough excitement for the week, we bought a house!! This has been in the works for a LONG time but it’s finally ours! Holy paperwork, batman! Some repairs had to be done to the house before we took possession and now that it’s ours, we will be doing a lot more work on it. Before we could close on the house the roof had to be replaced, the garage needed new siding, GFI outlets needed installed, the back room needed all new insulation, electrical, sheet rock, and flooring, some ceilings needed replaced, and a lot of chipping paint needed covered. We did all of the labor to get everything finished. When we first looked at the house, Austin went without me because I was still in the hospital on bedrest. These are the photos he sent me:IMG_2438.JPGIMG_2439.JPGKitchen

IMG_2440.JPGLiving room

IMG_2441.JPGMudroom/laundry room

IMG_2443.JPGIMG_2444.JPGBedroom 1

IMG_2445.JPGIMG_2447.JPGBathroom

IMG_2448.JPGIMG_2450.JPGBedroom 2IMG_2453.JPGBedroom 3

IMG_2451.JPGIMG_2452.JPGBackroom/Studio (was the back porch at one time)

I chose to trust Austin and let him make an offer before I had seen the house for myself and I am so glad that I did! As soon as we had Gran, we rolled our sleeves up and got to work! We expected to close back in April so at the end of May we packed up our tiny house so we could stay with my parents for a few weeks while we finished everything up. We are definitely going to miss that house!IMG_4736.JPG

Well, one thing lead to another and the repairs took a lot longer than we expected them to. We have had so much help getting things done and wrangling our kids while we do it.

IMG_4657.JPGIMG_4659.JPGIMG_4660.JPGIMG_4661.JPGIMG_4668.JPGIMG_5483.JPGIMG_5486.JPGIMG_5503.JPGIMG_5504.JPGIMG_5507.JPGIMG_5727.JPGIMG_5728.JPGIMG_5733.JPGIMG_5734.JPGIMG_5736.JPGIMG_5743.JPGIMG_5745.JPG

The Studio is now trimmed and pretty much finished. It will be getting a new exterior door this weekend and then it will be done! I forgot to get a picture of the pretty step that uncle Dan made for this room.

IMG_4662.JPGIMG_4785.JPGIMG_4786.JPGIMG_4787.JPGIMG_4789.JPGI’m not sure if we would have finished any of this without Dexton!

IMG_5065.JPGIMG_5066.JPGIMG_5729.JPGIMG_5730.JPGIMG_6036.JPGBedroom 3 (Gran’s room) is all done except for flooring. We plan to replace all of the carpet after the other big stuff is done. (Yes, this is Austin’s good side!)

I don’t have pictures of the new siding on the garage yet. Now we are tackling the bathroom, hallway, bedroom 1 (our room), bedroom 2 (Ellie’s room), and the mudroom/laundry room. Down the road we will be redoing the kitchen and living room. We are so thankful to have so many friends and family members that can help with these things.