tree trimming

I feel as though nothing has happened and much has happened at the lot. We have been clearing and cleaning and hauling for months now, but it never seems to look very different, until you look back at how it began.

The lot was pretty heavily treed, which is one of the reasons I feel in love with it. Even though most of them would be coming down, some would remain and remind me of that enchanted feeling I had from the first moment I walked that property and knew without a doubt that somehow, someway it was meant for us and that we would indeed build a house there.

The trees that were left needed a good trim. 

There was a lot of old, dead growth.

before

after

And this maple! We wanted to save this maple. But after years of being surrounded by bigger trees, it grew long and lean to get that sun. At the advice of our tree guy we cut it down to what is now referred to by our builder as "the flagpole". 

We were promised a full tree in a few years. We'll see if we can wait that long. If not, it too will go, but for now it stays and we wait.

Tate then took over the documentation, 

I watched,

and Violet made dirt pies at my feet.

Apart from the fact that we actually get to build a house, what I love the very most is that we get to do this as a family. All of us pulling and sweating and building together. Faces do not always adorn a smile, but at the end of a long, dirty day we leave our lot reluctantly, knowing we have all had a hand in our future and (hopefully) forever home. I imagine my kids returning here in the years to come, to this very house, built with love by all of us. From the big boys who run the equipment to the little girls picking up sticks and playing in the dirt, this house is a labour of love.