WWBD -- Digging Holes!

The rainy season began shortly after we moved to Arkansas. We had an enormous amount of rain in a couple of weeks, and our yard was overwhelmed with water! Unfortunately, it began to dribble into our laundry room through a pipe that comes up through the slab. Mark and another guy dug a hole in the back yard to give the water a way to get out. Mark had to go out periodically and pump the water out. Our new house honeymoon ended quickly! After everything is dried out, we will pay someone to put in better drains to solve the problem. As my dad said, "Into every life some rain must fall!"

WWBD -- Gardening

We left our square foot garden boxes at our old house, so we built some new boxes. Isaac helped with the hammering! We put out four boxes. I have a large box, Isaac has a medium one, and Bailey and Olivia each have a small box. I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and watermelon. I am trying out several types of tomatoes this year. Dad planted lots of herbs while he was here. If all goes well this year, I plan to expand next year!

WWBD -- Buying a New Dining Room Table

When Eli was born, we officially outgrew our dining room table. We could have made do, but we like to invite people over for dinner, so we decided to splurge on a new dining room set. Mamaw wanted a picture, so here it is! There is one more leaf not pictured, so it will seat ten.

WWBD -- Building a New Room

Well, we did not actually build the room, we hired someone to build it! The upstairs bonus room opened into the attic, and the previous owner had done some of the work of finishing it. We decided to hire someone to finish the space to make a bedroom for Isaac. We knew that if we did not do it soon after we moved in, we would never get around to doing it, so we called a contractor the second week we were here. They finished the room while we were in Baton Rouge, and Isaac and I moved his stuff in the day after we got back. He was very excited! He does not like the noises from the unfinished attic space on the other side of the door, but overall, he is very pleased with his new room.

View from the playroom.
Isaac's new bunk beds

WWBD -- Landscaping

Before: This picture was taken on our househunting trip.
After: You probably can not tell a big difference from this far away.

We have been working on adding some flowerbeds to the front of our house. The house had no landscaping when we moved in, which was new for us. We have been blessed with established flower beds in our other houses, so this has been a learning experience for me. The house looked naked to me, so I jumped right in! My parents helped our a lot when they were here visiting. It has taken a lot of topsoil and mulch (and elbow grease). I would like to add bushes, trees and maybe more beds around the yard as time goes on. It is a project I will be working on for years to come!

What We've Been Doing (WWBD) Part 1 -- Visiting

We have been doing a lot of visiting the past two months. My parents came the weekend we moved in, and Mark's mom came a few days later. They blessed us so much by helping us get settled in.

We made a trip to Baton Rouge on Memorial Day Weekend, and had a great time visiting with a lot of dear friends. We were able to catch a baseball game (no pun intended), have an informal birthday celebration with Olivia's friend Hudson, have dinner with special friends, go to church and see the amazing changes they have made in the children's' facilities, eat at On the Border (yum), celebrate Memorial day with dear friends, and spend time relaxing at the Morris' "retreat center" swimming and fishing. We stayed up too late, ate too much, laughed a lot and visited a bunch. Our time in Baton Rouge never seems to be enough to get to see everyone that we love!

A few days after arriving home from our trip, the Callahans (friends from Baton Rouge) came for a visit. It was great to get to see them two weekends in a row! The children had a great time playing, and Mark and I loved visiting with our dear friends!

The day after they left, my parents came for a long weekend visit. It was a blessing to have them here! I loved being with them, and they were a huge help! Mom did all of my laundry while she was here (that is no easy task), and Dad helped my tremendously in the flower beds. I missed them the moment they left!

We are now on "regular schedule" for a few weeks before we head to Tennessee to visit our family. I am so thankful for the blessing of friends and family!

Catching Up

Things have been busy here in our little world. As of Saturday, we have now lived here two months, and it has been quite a whirlwind. I think that my brain is still trying to grasp the fact that we now live in Arkansas and that Mark has a new job! Sometimes I think about the fact that on New Year's Day, we were enjoying life in Alabama, without a clue that in a matter of months we would be making a move to another state! It is enough to make my head spin a bit. God has been so faithful to us during this time of transition. Our new place is beginning to feel more like home, and we have had many people give us a warm welcome! I want to blog a bit about some of the things that have been keeping us busy during the past two months. So, I am going to start a "blog mini-series" about What We've Been Doing (WWBD). These are probably details that only a Mamaw really wants to read, so please feel free to skip these posts (except for you Mamaw!)!