Front porch

Dear Gage and Gabe,

Our house doesn't have a front porch, but instead a small, uncovered cement stoop. Since buying the house in 2010, we have wanted to build an addition. Things happened (you boys aren't cheap) so the porch had to wait.  This year we decided it was time. We called several companies in town for bids on the porch addition, but we weren't very successful. The big companies didn't seem interested in such a small job. We were a little discouraged. One afternoon while driving down one of the back roads, we saw a home with a freshly built porch. Your Dada stopped by and talked to the owner and got the contact information for the builder. One phone call and a visit later, we had a bid. It was within our budget so we gave him the green light.

Dada went right to work getting everything ready for the new addition. While moving some of the plants around the front of the house, he made quite the discovery. Apparently one of our chickens had found a safe place to lay her eggs. We usually let the girls free range for a few hours each afternoon, but we leave the door to the coop open. One of the chickens decided she didn't like the nesting boxes and made her own place behind one of the azeleas. 

Three of the four hidden eggs 

Dada called up some friends down the road to help move out the old stoop. Johnny drove a tractor over and you boys watched so intently while the stoop was moved.

The original stoop 

The following week, we had the huge snow storm. In anticipation of the footer and block, your Dada moved a lot of the ice out the way so the ground would have chance to dry.

Our "make shift stoop" while we waited for the porch to be built

The pile of ice Dada cleared out

Removing the ice turned out to be such a big help. Mr. Overhault was able to dig out and pour the footer without any problems.

The footer and block

The block and cement

After the cement had a chance to dry, it was time to frame in the porch. Mr Miller and three of his men came out and knocked this out in a day. We were starting to get so excited about our new porch.

The framework of the porch

The next day, they came back out and roofed the porch. The siding was put in place, as was the trimming. There were a few small details that were left incomplete, so on Friday, Mr Miller came back out to put on the finishing touches. The porch was complete! There's still some (quite a bit, actually) landscaping to do and the step needs a little work, but the building is complete.

The finished product (minus some landscaping and step repairs)

We are very excited about the new addition. It has totally transformed our house. It's hard to believe we went so long without it!

Enjoying our new porch :)

I love you,

Mommy