"W"

Here are a couple videos of the kids being ADORABLE. The second video is the first video I have of Scarlett crawling!!

I can't figure out how to make this video bigger... I happily accept tips!!!

The Truck Arrives!!!

After a week and a half of sitting on the floor, eating on the floor, sleeping on air mattresses, and using a cooler rather than a refrigerator, our stuff is here!! The movers came today and unloaded the HUGE semi-truck (we were only a quarter of it) into our carport and bedrooms. Our mover's name was Darrell, and he brought his cousin Rhonda with him. Rhonda is from Trinidad and is here in the States for a two month vacation. She is wonderful! She played with Silas and helped me with the move-in documents while I was feeding Scarlett. She told me all about Trinidad, too, and  I think we have our next vacation spot :). Darrell and two men from Hot Springs, AR moved everything in for us in about three hours... now we've got about THIRTY hours of  unpacking ahead of us!!! When David got home, about half way into the move, he filled a cooler with water and let Silas play in it like he used to on our back porch in Georgia. Here, though, he found the dirt and rocks and made a very impressive mud inside the cooler. I think David gets to clean that one :).
After the movers left and the babies went down for naps (which were three hours delayed) David and I got crackin' on the boxes. We unpacked about half of the kitchen and half of the pantry, and have decided that we look like bona fide preppers. I have so much food canned from the summer, and that along with my massive Costco trip just before I left Georgia leaves for a very impressive stash!!
We've still got a LOT ahead of us, but I'm so excited about having a CHAIR to sit down in (!!!) and my rug on the floor. Something about that rug just makes it feel like home!!
Here are a few pictures from the day!!

River Market and Tunnels

Saturday was full of new things. We started out the incredibly comfortable 65 degree morning by going to the River Market. It seemed like it had not been below 80, even at night, since we got here, so today was perfect for a morning out. We went to downtown Little Rock and walked to the market. The city really made the area nice with a huge pavilion with vendors lined up underneath and an indoor food court. We walked around and I think Morgan talked to everyone there about 20 minutes each trying to find organic milk and beef and chicken and whatever else. Scarlett and I walked on to explore. After hours upon hours of conversing with hippies and "country folk," we bought a couple of peaches and a few veggies. Silas and I moved on to explore the bridge across the Arkansas River. It was windy and awesome.

Morgan found a bench down below and stumbled upon the most awesomest playground ever! It had sweet downhill slides, climbing nets, rock walls in big 8' deep pits connected by tunnels, and a staircase cut out of an old tree. So, basically kids could really get hurt there, and that's what made it awesome! Silas had a blast ascending the perilous staircase of doom to reach the slide. I had to help him climb the rock wall in the pit and he needed a little moral support to make it through the tunnels which were a little more hazardous for me. I hit my head several times.

Starving from our plight through the playground of sure injury, we ate at a 50's diner, and then headed off to the nature center. It was totally not on the schedule for the day, but it was free! The fish had Silas captivated for a solid 45 minutes. The stuffed animals, not so much.

It turned out to be a great day. The Hogs lost to ULM, the Dawgs won, bama I think beat somebody, and the babies slept all the way home.

One Week Down!

Our trip out to Arkansas was looooooooong... My mom drove with me and the babies, which made it much easier, and we stopped in Alabama at my grandmother's house. Our plan was to drive through the night while babies were sleeping so as to make the trip easier on them, but it didn't exactly turn out that way. Wednesday night we drove to my grandmother's house despite warnings of impending weather due to Hurricane Isaac. We landed around 3:30am, and were in bed by 4:30. My bright and chipper Silas was up and at 'em by 7:30, as usual. We planned to nap during the day on Thursday and head out Thursday night, but Isaac was looming ever nearer and stronger. That, combined with Mom's and my weariness from our 3 hours of sleep, caused us to rethink our trip and leave early Friday morning. We slept so well Thursday night, and were well rested and ready for the trek on Friday. We chose a course through Memphis to keep us out of Isaac's immediate path, which was a smart move, because we only hit one patch of intense rain - and THAT only lasted for about 15 minutes! The Lord definitely kept us safe that day. In total the trip took us 17 hours (that's just drive time), when it should have been about 11, but such is life when travelling with a 4 month old and a 2 year old! Jenyfer, my sister in law, saved the trip for us, though! She informed me just before I pulled out on Wednesday night that the reason Scarlett didn't like her pacifier is because it was too small! She gave me a sanitized pacifier that Heidi wasn't using, and - oh. my. word. - Scarlett was happy in the car for MOST of the trip! This is a far "cry" from the screaming that usually ensued the second I strapped her in.

When we got to Arkansas, we were greeted by my amazing hubbie AAAANNNNNDDD Jimmy and Sarah! They came out from Texas to help us settle in. Mom and Sarah helped me scrub and plan out the kitchen the first day. Our stuff is STILL not here from Georgia, so there was no moving-in to be done, but we got a lot of the cleaning taken care of! We also played with Jimmy and Sarah's remote control helicopters a lot, and played frisbee at a (rather desolate) state park nearby. It was so helpful for me to have the distraction of loved ones right away.

My first hard day wasn't until Tuesday after all the family was gone and David went back to work. I was alone in an empty house without even my rug to make the space feel homey. It didn't help that I felt ill. That evening we went on our family walk, and Silas said over and over, "Go home... go home... peas, Mommy, go home..." I cried and cried as we walked on. We got to the high school football field, our destination, and as soon as we entered the gates a couple approached us and started talking to us as if they'd known us their whole lives. We stood there for an hour or more chatting, and the woman played and played with Silas. We made our first friends, which eased the pain of missing home. God is so faithful.

Since then it's been getting steadily easier. I've realized that I'm going to have to live event to event for a little while. Last night we got a new TV stand off of Craigslist, so that was exciting; today the babies and I are going to visit David at his office for the first time, Saturday we're going to the Little Rock Farmers' Market (sooo exciting!), and Sunday we're trying out a new church!! With that list ahead of me I don't get as homesick. After a few weeks of looking forward to things I think I'll be settled in enough and it'll start to feel like home (especially after the movers get here!).

Tomorrow'll be one week since the babies and I have been here... honestly it doesn't feel like that long. I'm just so grateful to have my family all together.

Oh!! And Scarlett crawled for the first time on Sunday!! She took one tiny crawl forward and fell back onto her belly, but it was the cutest thing ever! I've been trying to get it on video ever since, but the little stinker won't do it again!! She's army crawling today for the first time since then, so I'll get some video of that, and perhaps she'll treat us all with some real crawling again soon!

Somehow we made the whole trip out here and subsequent day or so with Mom without a single picture of her!! So... when you see these pictures, be sure to imagine her face next to whoever is featured!!

I'm pretty sure David and Jimmy were trying to fix the helicopter controller here... Good thing Silas was there to help.

Nope, he's not blinking, this is Silas' "smile for the picture!" face :)

Arkansas, Anyone?

So, now that we're in Arkansas we figured we would start up the old blog again. The thought is that we will post something about our lives every week with some pictures, too.

We made it out here last week. I came out on Monday and Morgan and the kids followed Friday, barely missing the hurricane that dropped over 8 inches in Fordyce, AR. Kathy came out with her and made the 17 hour trip much more manageable. After staying a night at Grandmother's, they made it here Friday evening. Jimmy and Sarah came up and stayed the weekend and helped us clean, organize, and take care of babies. Uncle Jimmy wowed Silas with indoor remote-control helicopters. They were pretty awesome. Jimmy and I went up to Diamond Bear Brewery in Little Rock Saturday and took the tour. We sampled much and listened little. J&S left Sunday after picnic, frisbee, and puddle jumping (Silas). Labor Day, we went to the park and pool. Before we got to the car, though, Archie dragged his chain leash across Silas' ankle and gashed it open pretty bad. The picture is very deceiving. It was deep. The town has a great civic center, but the pool closed today. Dern. Anyway, I hope this will do well enough for grandparents et al. Here are some pictures.

Last Hoorah

We went to the mountains with some friends as kind of a "last hoorah" before we leave for Arkansas. We had a good time! It was great for Silas and Talon to get a little time to play together, and good for David and I to get some time to play with OUR friends, too! Here are some pictures from the weekend...