Flowers

I know, I know, two posts in two days......it's unheard of on the hill!! It's been raining so much that I've had a little more time on my hands. The weather is beautiful this morning...a little cloudy, but 71 degrees. I went out this earlier and took some pictures of our Knock Out roses and our snapdragons.

I was really surprised that the snapdragons lasted through the winter and are so pretty this spring.

I tried to post the final touch to Anna's bedroom yesterday, but for some reason, Picasa wasn't cooperating, so I had to wait until today. The artist is Angela Anderson and she is from Russellville. I think this will be something that Anna will cherish for many years.

Angela painted a restaurant for Anna....

And a flower shop for Emily, her best friend for the last 6 years.

Well, I've got a lot of laundry and cleaning to get to, so everyone have a great day!!

Bye for now.....

Spring has Sprung!!

It's finally starting to look like spring on the hill!! I couldn't be happier.

April 14th proved to be the first sign, with the arrival of our first hummingbird...many have since followed. To date we have seen 15 at any one given time. During the construction of our house, 3 years ago, I was standing on our porch and a hummingbird flew by, pretty close to my head...I promised "him" that if he would return the next year I would have plenty of food for him and I have kept my promise. He apparently told a few of his friends!! We look forward to seeing them each year.

We also have a new family that has built a home in our flower arrangement hanging on the front door.

The mom is an Eastern Bluebird and she and her mate are beautiful. I can't wait to see the little ones when they hatch.

We planted our garden this past weekend. First, Joe plowed it for us...


Then, Jake rode while he established where our rows would be...

.
...last year our rows were too close together, so we made them further apart and didn't put the plants as close together.

Here we are planting.....




We planted black-eyed peas, kandy corn, watermelon, cantelope, okra, squash, and cucumber. Here are a few pictures after we finished. These are peppers...


and one of our tomato plants.



Last week we finally had our driveway chip and sealed. It is so much cleaner than that muddy-gravelly stuff.


Anna and Jake are busy with typical "end of the year" stuff. Anna had cheerleading physicals yesterday and it all went pretty smoothly. Joe has done the physicals for the last couple of years.

Jake is going to see Monsters vs. Aliens with his class on Thursday. They have their annual Field Day next month and he is really excited because this will be his first year to compete in the long jump. I hope it works out that I can go and watch (and maybe take a couple of pictures!)

That's really about all here....just loving life!!

Bye for now....

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Today is my Daddy's birthday!! Mamma made spaghetti and we ate with them tonight. We gave Daddy a little cash (happy lottering...is that a word?), some ink for his printer and 2 Old Crow Medicine Show CD's. Mamma gave him a new electric razor. I think he enjoyed it all. Joe even called him from his fishing trip and "sang" Happy Birthday to him!!


Joe is fishing all weekend and visiting with his buddy John, so it's just us on the hill.
We've played a little basketball and basically goofed off, but it has been a lot of fun!

We even took a couple of pictures.

I've done a little scrapbooking and been pretty useless in general.

We are going to meet Joe in Conway tomorrow and eat lunch at Fuji's Restaurant. It is one restaurant that we all enjoy going to.

I've started catching up with friends on Facebook and have enjoyed it so much. I used to think it was just for kids, but it is really a good way to catch up with old highschool and college friends. The only problem I have found is that it can be quite addicting! I told one friend that I think there should be a 12 step program for Facebook Addiction. All joking aside, it has been nice to talk to old friends that I would never have otherwise gotten to reconnect with.

I'll be getting on to bed now...catch up more later!

Bye for now!

Checking In

I don't have a lot going on...no (active) construction, not flooded with errands, no major appointments, I know, I know, it sounds like I'm complaining! We don't miss many nights getting in the hot tub and we build a fire in our new fireplace every night that the weather permits. Lately, though, it seems to be raining or threatening to do so! I believe Daddy told me we have had 3 inches so far this month!

Anyway, Saturday was beautiful. Joe and I worked some in the yard..mostly cleaning up after the workers outside. We moved our stacked wood to the wood boxes and THIS is what we found!!

Isn't she the CUTEST?

I felt so sorry for her...we had completely disrupted her nest. She had 4 little babies about the size of Jolly Ranchers and 2 of them were hanging from her underbelly. She was such a good mom, as Jake pointed out, trying to get her babies into a protected area. Joe and I helped her gather them up and placed them nicely in a new home along with her well-built nest. I hope they are warm and happy there.

Believe it or not, that is about as exciting as it got around here all weekend. We are STILL having misty-rain and I must say I am tired of it!!!

Anna has tumbling tonight. The kids are having Benchmark tests at school this week, so it is early-to-bed all week long. Joe is suppose to go fishing with a friend this weekend. My Dad's birthday is Saturday, so we'll have a party for him I'm sure! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!!! Anna has a birthday party (Happy Birthday EM!!) on Friday, so it will be just me and Jake on Friday night! Maybe we'll go to a movie or something!

Here is our finished fireplace.

Maybe, when it stops raining and the sun comes out, I'll get a better picture.

I hope everyone has a great week!!

Hello Friday!

It has been a fast week! We are still in construction phase around here...nothing major, but still construction. Our outdoor fireplace should be completed today.

Here is a picture from yesterday.

I can't wait to eat a roasted marshmallow cooked on that baby! I'm one of those weirdos that likes my marshmallow charcoal BLACK!!

Sunday, on the way home from Chicago, we stopped in Little Rock and made a couple of purchases that we had been talking about for over a year...

This is our new pool table.

And last night, we got to try out our new hot tub. Joe looked over at me after being in the water for 5 minutes and said, "Why did we wait so long to get one of these?" He is so right. It was so relaxing, even with the kids playing in it with us!

Here is Anna and Jake before Joe got home...he told me not to get in without him! He is so cute.

We don't have much planned for the weekend. I "work" at a crop at Memories by Design tonight until 10 pm, so I hope I can scrap some. It is suppose to rain, so we may not get to work outside much. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Bye for now.