In Search of Simple Living

Brooke and Matine!

2009-07-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Everyone meet Brooke and Matine!!! Brooke is a friend from high school and we are getting reacquainted through blogging. We have discovered kindred spirits with one another and wished we would have really gotten to know each other better then. Brooke is now living a dream life in Montana with Peter and their new baby, Matine. Brooke and Matine were in town seeing family and came by to say hi and spend some time with us! I couldn't resist picking up the camera for a few shots. Check out Everyday Brooke and Peter here and obsess over their beautiful and simple life...http://brookeandpeter.blogspot.com/

Thank you, Brooke, Kerri and Matine for stopping by to say hi!!!

Grace and Peace.

Baby Moon in Eureka Springs, Arkansas

2009-07-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here is in no particular order some shots from our "baby moon" in Eureka Springs. We really, really, really enjoyed ourselves. For the most part we lazied on our porch of the B&B reading, painting, eating...it was glorious. The weather could not have been more perfect, never above 82 degrees on a July 4th weekend - wow!

This was immediately following our couples massage. The massage therapy place was just a couple of blocks down the street so we walked. When we came out of our cozy hour and a half glorious massage heaven, it was raining the most beautiful, summer rain. We walked back to the B&B barefoot in the rain. How romantic!!!

Clay did a henna tattoo on my belly on the 4th of July. For those of you who aren't familiar with henna, it is not forever, it only lasts a couple of weeks, in-fact is already disappeared.

Final design, Henna is used in eastern countries as a blessing on many occasions. Mom's are tattooed with henna for a blessing of health and happiness before delivery.

Trying for a self-portrait.

Delicious Italian restaurant and my dessert to take back and eat at the b&b.

We ate 3 square meals a day - and I gained 4 pounds in two days!!!

More eating, this was our breakfast brought to the porch on our first morning there! YUM!!!

This is what Clay did with most of his time.

This is what I did with most of my time!

Yum - gourmet Mexican food!

Sitting in the main park down town Eureka.

We took in every moment possible, even getting up early to enjoy our quiet time. It has been almost three years since we had a little weekend to ourselves (one night at homeschool convention doesn't count) and we know it will probably be close to that before we get another one. It was heaven, but if we are honest we really missed our precious girls a ton.

Grace and Peace.

water play

2009-07-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

Call me the in-spurts blogger... here is a little bit of fun at another fun water park.

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Eden's 2nd birthday!

2009-06-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

My precious baby Eden turned two years old today. Where has time gone? It was just yesterday that I birthed her into this world. She was such an unexpected miracle in so many ways. She is a joy, a laugh, sweetness always when most unexpected. We celebrated a day early, yesterday evening at the splash park in town with family and a small group of friends. It was by far the most laid back, no preparation birthday I have ever put on for my kiddos and hands down the most fun!

Clay's sister Aunt Michelle taking a pic of E.

Zinnia's on the birthday table!

At the birthday girl's request, I made a pink ladybug cake. Her favorite color right now is pink.

This girl LOVES to swing, anytime we pass a park she says, "I swing!"

When did she get so big? Makes me want to cry.

We have been working for several weeks on getting her to say that she is "two". But when you ask her hold old she is, her response is, "I'm five," because that is what her sister says. So I asked her today on the swing before her party started and for the first time, her response was correct and I caught it in a photo!!

Our precious friend Alexa that was born one month before Eden.

Let's get this party started!

Our buddy (and Payton's self chosen future husband) Mason.

She had a blast with friends and family hanging at the water park for her birthday!

Daddy sneaking kisses from his birthday girl.

Anticipating the water drop.

Dishing up Ice cream!

Jo-Jo and Payton. Kaytie Jo our roommate/sister at heart has officially move out from our nest. She is greatly missed in our home, but is so sweet to come by and spend time with us during the week. (It helps that we have a washer and dryer she can use for free.:)

Opening birthday gifts with Momma.

The day (Saturday, June 20th). We snuggled in bed with our birthday girl and shared many giggles as the sun came up. Then continued our morning at Starbuck's (yes, one of her favorite breakfast places), Utica Square for a nice morning stroll, a visit to one of our favorite stores Eco Baby, a visit to the aquarium, lunch at Riverwalk and a splash in the fountain! All before naptime at 2:30ish.

A trip to the aquarium at Eden's request to see the "fishies".

Heading to Riverwalk for some Asain food and splashing in the fountains.

Huge soggy diaper!

Pure Joy!

I am so blessed to have a happy and precious family. Thank you Eden Grace for bringing more joy than we could imagine into our family.

I love you!

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Garden Treasures

2009-06-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Can I just tell you I am proud of our garden this year. It is lush and beautiful beyond my expectation. I honestly didn't know if we had it in us to do such an undertaking this season with me being pregnant and all. But we have and it has been such a joy. Every morning as the girls go out and feed the animals I take a stroll around the garden, talking to each little plant as though it can hear me coaching it to grow! It is actually so good for me on many levels to be in the garden right now. It feeds my soul and also allows me to do some deep squatting in preparation for the arrival of our sweet baby boy. I have high hopes this season to preserve a ton of the harvest for winter instead of gobbling it all up in season. So soon, before baby boy Colin gets here I will be doing some serious, pickling, freezing, dehydrating and more.

Here are some shots of the garden this past week.

Squash and Zuch's.

Strawberries and Black Diamond Watermelon!

Yum, tomatoes!

Okra, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.

Big view

My precious zinnias that I wait for all season! Our home is swarming with cut flowers this time of the year, I just can't resist taking them in and viewing them as well.

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Girl's trip to IKEA!!!!

2009-06-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

Oh man we had a blast. It was a quick 24 hours, eight were spent in the car driving and another nine were spent inside the walls of the beloved IKEA!!!!!!

This is what 4 women can load up in the back of a mini van. We would have strapped it to the top as well if I knew Clay wouldn't have killed me.

This is poor claustrophobic Megan in one of the side seats on the ride home.

Sweet Kaytie Jo surrounded by all of her new apartment furnishings!

Headed home. Notice Megan peaking out above my head.

Four girls, 6 carts, $2000 = priceless fun.

The second trip around the store, they had to push me in a wheelchair or Colin Michael was going to make his way into the world early and on an IKEA couch. I still had to push my own cart however. :)

YUM!!!! The other reason to go to IKEA - Swedish Meatballs!!

Breakfast at Starbuck's headed for IKEA.

The beginning of our trip. It was a late night trip to Braum's in Durant, OK. It was the fanciest Braum's we had ever been in! Oh my we had such a wonderful time, and can't wait to return!!!

Thank you girlfriends.

Grace and Peace,

Holly

month in pics backwards!

2009-06-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of events we have enjoyed over the past month or so...

Storytime at the park eating fresh peaches - yum!

Waiting for the storyteller.

Silliness.

This was officially a month ago. So imagine me four weeks larger!

Hanging out around the chimneia (sp?) after Gigi's (my mom) birthday dinner.

Gigi and her girls at the celebration. Payton is wearing some goofy hat that came with this "dress up" outfit that my mom brought her.

Many trips to the park. The girls enjoyed writing Daddy a message in the mud and sending him a picture at work.

Watching ducks.

Oh yea, here are the newest girls in our home!! This is Charolette, she is a favorite, one of the ones we call the old ladies.

Here Eden and Payton are standing in the chick's coop holding them. They are much bigger now and are out with the old ladies and teenagers. But they are like little pets to E & P, they just get their chicken poop boots on in the morning and run out to play with the chickens.

Payton is holding another one here that is a favorite. Her name is Sugar.

Mother's day morning! Look at that sweetness. Five official years of being a momma.

The kids got me a Borders gift card and a free night of browsing all by myself!

Payton at the last homeschool coop day. They were studying Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. So they painted laying on their backs to get the whole experience .

Me at our first homeschool convention. We LOVED it! We went book crazy! This was one of our favorites, "Backyard Homestead".

Breakfast at the hotel the morning of the homeschool convention. Delicious!

Clay is still not quite awake this early in the morning...need some coffee.

Our room, or at least our bed. This was our first night away in another town in over two years! It was wonderful...we thought about getting out on the town, but instead we

watched Cable (we don't have cable at home) and ate a pint of Ha-agendas ice cream!

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Puddles, gardens and the ones I love.

2009-06-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

You know I have decided God really does know what he is doing. :) This was a moment in the middle of a weekend from Hell(for reasons I will not mention) about three weeks ago. Since then God has been so good. He had the plans set in place for so long I can't even fathom it. We have been placed on a journey with many different areas of life over the last month and everyone of them has seen high and low points, and everyone of them has been taken in His hands and been repaired and healed beyond what we could imagine at this time. All that to say, He provided this random rainy afternoon and we did some puddle jumping and lounging outside. Our souls needed it. I have decided life is like a summer rain, you can either stay inside and watch it happen or you can go out and jump in the puddles. If you jump in the puddles you are going to get wet, but if you don't jump you will never know the joy of what it holds. Thank you for puddles...

Puddle sitting.

Daddy's girl.

View of my feet at 28 weeks pregnant. That blur in the foreground is my belly.

This picture sends JOY to my heart.

My children hardly ever have shoes on around the house and yard. As a mother it frightens me, however there is something about children, it is as if they understand and know that their connection with nature is holy...it is holy ground they are standing on.

This was a couple of weeks ago and it is amazing how much it has grown since then. Hope to post some more recent photos soon.

Front flower bed.

Couldn't you just eat her. I keep saying if they get cuter the more that we have, we may have 10!

I love this man more and more everyday.

She is getting so big.

Look at those curls!!

Please jump in the puddles...it is worth it even if it doesn't seem like a good idea at the time.

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Medieval Feast!

2009-06-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hello! About a month ago we had a medieval feast to celebrate the end of our homeschool coop semester. We had such a blast learning about Vikings, princesses, princes, squires and ladies, along with Shakespeare, DaVinci and so much more!!

Here are some pics from the event. Oh and by the way we did a class on dress making for the girls and we made their princess dresses! I think they turned out well, a couple of mistakes but nobody would know if I didn't point them out.

precious P.

Too Funny, during some of the long speeches the dad's were giving to their young sons, Eden thought they were praying so she would bow her head and close her eyes.

Clay "got" to be king at the ceremony. Basically he was the only father without a Son yet. The Fathers were "knighting" their sons as squires and taking them to the next step in becoming a man. So Clay was leading the ceremony for it.

He is going to shoot me for posting this pic. I just couldn't help myself. I love you honey!

The family.

I think she looks like an angel here.

Beautiful hair for a beautiful girl.

E on the go!

Grace and Peace.

Holly

Another Tree...

2009-05-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

He has a little finishing touch to add to his latest tree, but so far so good. Since we painted over our last tree we have had many sad people come through who loved the tree. We have wanted to paint one in our entry way as you walk in the front door for some time now. Last weekend was the day. We have searched for months for that "perfect" tree and at last it was found.

Grace and Peace!

Holly

New little girls's room!

2009-05-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

This is a sneak preview of the new bedroom colors and fabrics. I am working on making the pillows, curtains, and a few other things like art work. We are moving the girls into their "big girl" bedroom before the baby gets here. We have co-slept(in the same room and sometimes the same bed) with the girls for the past five years, but now that a little boy is coming along we feel like five in the bedroom is a little much. The girls have officially moved into the bedroom and LOVE it. They are sleeping wonderfully (much better than expected). I will share more pics as it comes together.

Below are pics from their bedroom before the "redo". It was really hard to paint over since it was Payton's first room. Even though she didn't sleep in there it was super special. My dear friend Darla and her sister came over and painted the artwork when I was huge pregnant with P.

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Guess What?!?! - If you are my Dad, DO NOT read this post :)

2009-05-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

We got CHICKENS!!!! Yep, we are crazy I know. We have been wanting them for sometime now, but it is official we have four hens!!! We had an son of a friend give them to us. The girls absolutely ADORE them. Payton even picks up one of them (Charlotte)! The would spend hours out in their pen area everyday if I would let them. We have had them for about a month now and we are all getting along just fine.

Payton found and ate the first egg!!

There it is!!!

That look on Eden's face explains it all!! She is still not sure how or why the chickens are "laying" eggs. I have failed to get a pic of the girls with the chickens or even the chickens alone, but will hopefully post here pretty soon.

For those of you who don't know why I wouldn't want my dad to read this...he is the City Manager in Jenks and I am pretty sure chickens are not allowed unless you have a certain amount of land. So shh....and Dad if you are reading, you always told me it is, "easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission" on somethings and I think this is one of those things.

Grace and Peace,

Happy Egg Eating!

Holly

Easter - A VERY Late post!

2009-04-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Late Easter! Here are some shots of our Easter events in the family. The first shots are from Palm Sunday actually with my Dad and Step-mom at their house. We went to service with them as well and had lots of fun!

Sweet girls in their Easter Dresses. They got them about a month early and begged me to wear them every day until Palm Sunday!

Nana and the girls.

Papa and the girls.

Sweet E, standing by the window watching the dog play.

Easter morning, they were being silly and would never give me a good shot.

Momma and her girls.

Dad and his girls, look at his and Eden's eyes...crack me up!

Gigi and the girls.

Nanny and the girls. They were done by this shot.

Dying Easter Eggs before lunch so we could hide them afterwards.

As you can see everyone had to have their picture made on Easter for some reason :) I guess the girls looked so sweet we couldn't resist. Easter morning was lovely. We got up and went to church, and then came home to have lunch with our moms!

Grace and Peace,

Holly and Clan

Payton is 5!!!

2009-03-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

On March 28th we celebrated the almost unbelievable birthday #5 of Payton Jayde Peevyhouse! Here are some pics of the celebration. We enjoyed a very small gathering of her sweet friends and family on Friday night and then spent the day Saturday going to Monsters vs. Aliens and then off to Purple Glaze for some painting and Pei Wei for lunch... meanwhile it was a blizzard outside and we received somewhere between 4-6 inches of snow!

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

Refreshed, Renewed, I'M BACK!!!!

2009-03-24T13:25:00.001-07:00

I am BACK!!! I think with a weekend in the mountains of Arkansas, and well on my way in the second trimester (yes, I did say that...we are pregnant) I can finally get back to blogging. So yes we have been busy and tired around here. I feel like I am getting a grip on things again and can put my brain back into blogging this Simple Life that honestly in the past several months haven't felt so simple. So we were invited on an annual trip with some of our dearest friends to a mountain cabin in AR this last weekend and we had such a wonderful time. I got a new lens for the camera and of course I played and now I must share some of our moments.

Mountain man - Clay. He was in heaven up there in the clouds. On our second day, he and a couple of others hiked a trail on one of the bluffs. It was approximately 6 miles long, and about 2000 feet above sea level. It took them around 4 hours but I think he would have been fine to be gone for four days.

This was on the morning we left. The fog in the mornings was just incredible. When it lifted you could see for miles, but you would never know it in the early morning.

Our cabin name.

Our Cabin.

The road to our cabin...just beautiful!

We stopped at a little Elk museum in the city of Ponca, just down the mountain from us. It was such a sweet little museum and very educational. Homeschooling dream for such a little place. Payton learned all about Elk and now can even make Elk calf and Elk bull sounds!

Can you believe this is the best sister picture I got all weekend. Eden is just on the move and won't hardly sit for anything. You would never know I was a professional photographer when it comes to my own family.

This was on the old, young and pregnant hike. Eden just took to "Papa Brown" like he was her own.

This is wild flower called Bloodroot we saw on our hike. They were beautiful!

This is the one and only photo of me the whole weekend. Thanks Jan for taking this shot.

This is probably my favorite shot of Payton the entire trip. It is in an old burned out tree.

This is our dear friend Jan. She was a trooper and carried Eden on her back for about 3/4 of a 3 mile hike.

"Papa Brown" tore off a big hunk of cedar root from a fallen tree for Payton to smell. It was incredible how fragrant it still was!

This was Payton's favorite pass time on the trip. Coloring pictures and drawing for everyone.

Eden stealing my reading glasses.

The puzzle and the obsessed.

OH MY- Mark this moment in time on your calendar folks. Clayton Peevyhouse ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I have known my dear husband for 14 years now and he has always claimed to detest PB&J's and never has eaten one in front of me. Well this weekend he was feeling adventurous and ate one. His reply when asked how is it? "Pretty good."

Lunch and Play dough with Jan and Marcia!

Payton's Playdough bird.

Eden's play dough ice cream.

And with that I am out. I promise to blog again soon! Hope you all are doing well.

Grace and Peace.

Christmas, Crafts, New Haircut, Trolley Rides, and Trykes

2008-12-24T06:12:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the delayed post...it has been busy around here. I began this post a couple of weeks ago and just now finishing it. We pray that all of your Christmas celebrations were delightful. Ours were - all five of them!

In my last post I showed the guys in our lifeline group putting together amtrykes for special needs kids. We gave them away to the kids on a Sunday at Church in the middle of December. Wow what a special moment!!! A couple of the kids didn't even know what they were there for until about 10 minutes before we gave them the bikes. How fun! In the photo above is a little downs syndrome boy who does not speak, but looked at this huge crowd of people and signed "thank you". What a tear jerker.

What is cool about this story is that we set a goal of buying one of these trykes with the change that mainly kids in our church collected at home and brought back with them. When it was all said and done we purchased 4 new trykes and one of the girls receiving a tryke was passing down her old one to someone else. In all five trykes were given away that Sunday.

A friend of ours, Mark Burt telling the story and showing a jar of change.

This is Payton's masterpiece for the week. It is a portrait of my dad. If you know my dad, it totally looks like him! Ha !

One of my latest creations!

I made this gift for a dear young friend. A friend of mine made one for me for my b-day and I loved it so much I copied it and made one to give away as well.

Model Kaytie Jo - I am going to have to start paying her for all of this modeling lately.

An odd picture. Payton and Eden were getting kicks out of Clay wrapping them up like babies. We laughed and laughed because Payton when wrapped up looks like a little baby with a REALLY big head.

Payton painting our cross ornaments!

Little Eden painting our annual ornaments that we give to the special people in our lives!

Eden learning to be a princess with her boa at a Christmas gathering!

Our gift to precious KTJO - a carrier for her sweet mac laptop! I made it! I made it!!!

Kaytie is so awesome she bought all of us a pair of "Tom's" shoes! If you are not familiar with "Tom's" shoes. For every pair of shoes you purchase they give a pair of shoes away to a child in a third world country who needs shoes. She also embroidered all of us a pair of socks. Mine said "grace", Clay's "peace", Eden's "Love" and Payton's "Joy".

Oh yeah, that is my new haircut. It has grown out a bit since this photo and I am liking it more. At this stage I was not a big fan. :)

My tea- towel gift for Kaytie Jo - since she watched me nearly make all of these dudes (all 20 of them) she got to pick her favorite!

Sew cute - from Kaytie Jo!

Kaytie Jo embroidered gloves for Eden Grace.

Eden's tiny socks to go with her Tiny "Tom's".

sweet socks Kaytie Jo made for Payton to go along with her "Tom's" shoes!

Clay and Eden Grace

Some dear friends of ours invited us to go Christmas light looking on a Trolley with them! We had such a lovely time!! The girls loved it as well.

Month in Review!

2008-12-10T06:34:00.001-08:00

Wow! What a month and it has flown by!!! Whew! So here is the quick month in review in pictures!

Payton got a big girl haircut. We love it, so cute.

The length before.
Payton making Santa beards and wearing them around the house.

Eden and I making silly faces.

Made a trip to Branson with our Mom's for their early Christmas present. We went on Thanksgiving (also my Birthday) and stayed through Sunday. Lots of fun.

Better shot.
Clay and his momma, Beverly, a.k.a. Nanny working on Thanksgiving dinner at our condo in Branson.
My mom, Brenda, a.k.a. Gigi with Payton playing at the condo in Branson.
The tea cups at Silver Dollar city.
The little roller coaster at Silver Dollar City. Payton LOVES the rides. See her and Clay in the second car back.
Clay being silly.
My Birthday cake on Thanksgiving at our condo. Can you tell the girls helped put the candles in?
Clay, Beverly and my mom Brenda getting ready to ride a really scary ride!!!
Clay and Payton on the big swings, she is in the green pants!
Christmas lights in Silver Dollar City.
Sweet Daddy Clay with Miss Eden in the sling. As I tell Clay, only real men are willing to carry their babies in a sling!
Our mom's on the swing in Grandpa's mansion at Silver Dollar City.
Clay and Eden in Grandpa's Mansion in Silver Dollar City.
The whole family in Grandpa's Mansion!
My Natural Mom's group that I go to once a month learning a new work out from home routine from Nikki. She kicked our rears!!! She's serious!!!
Our church, kids , friends and family have been collecting their change for about 6 months now. We collected about $1500 all in change and are using it to purchase special bikes for special needs children. We had enough $ to get four bikes!!! We will be presenting the bikes to them on Sunday morning at church. So if you were one of those people helping us collect change, THANK YOU!!! You have helped "Change a life with Change".
So last Thursday evening the guys in our lifeline group put the bikes together so that the kids could take them home and ride them immediately! HOW FUN!!

Just a sweet Dad and his girls picture, on the way out the door to something else...
Somewhere in the few moments of breath we have taken, we found about 2 hours to put up a tree. We have started a tradition that the children are to make our star for the top. So Kaytie Jo is helping put the glue on our star for Payton to glitter it.
Silliness.
We have always laughed at people's trees who have kids because either all of the nice, pretty ornaments are up top, or all the ornaments are clumped together because the kids helped decorate the tree. We have both...I totally get it now and I think it is sweet.
Precious.
Look at me hunting for just the right place...like it is going to make a difference now that Eden and Payton have pulled most of them off and repositioned them. What a wierd photo of me, I look about 60 years old, the light was doing something wierd and made me look all wrinkly.
Payton playing the part of an angel in our Christmas story at church.

Eden Grace enjoying some chocolate cake at our dear friend Jeff's birthday party!
Three of the four girls born in five months with their daddy's, did you follow that? Clay & Eden, Jeff & Alexa, and Daniel & Bella.

Whew - there is so much more I want to share with you, but to be honest, I want to go to bed even more...so more later.

Good night and Grace and Peace,

More Crafting!!!!

2008-11-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

Kaytie Jo modeling her sisters new apron we made her. It is double sided!

Back of Apron

Front Embellishment! My favorite part!

I will so be making one for myself! Sew CUTE!!!

This is finally something something I made for myself. I have been crafting for others all month and so I decided to take a night off and make something for me! It is a craft bag that I found in Stitch magazine. It has a ton of pockets on the outside and is perfect for carrying all of your goodies or it would be a great diaper bag as well. In my case it will probably be a cross between the two.

The other added bonus is that I found the fabric remnant at a "junk" store here in town for only $3.00!

This is Clay's latest piece of art! I love it! Sorry, my photography on this shot does not do it justice.

This is what the girls spent an hour or so doing one morning while I was crafting. We don't watch much T.V. at our house so it was an extra special treat!

These are sweet little stuffed doll patterns that I found under the freebie section on the wee wonderful site I mentioned in a few posts ago. They are for Payton for Christmas!

This is what got my crafting craze started. When we went to St. Louis back in September, this is what I did on the road trip down there and our trips back and forth to our cabin and the sites! Clay would tell you I missed half of St. Louis because I had my nose stuck in my embroidery! I was pretty happy with it considering it was my first attempt and no pattern used.

Grandparents DON'T LOOK!! Skip this photo!

These are photo cubes we are making for the grandparents that they can use as bookends, paper weights or nicknacks!

I know you all are probably sick of me showing off my crafty stuff but I am having SO much fun! Hopefully it will inspire you too to be crafty. Kaytie Jo and I are enjoying a crafty little weekend. As I write she is sitting at the sewing machine turning out her own little Christmas gifts! We stayed up until 2 am this morning making an apron for her preggo sister whom asked her to make one because her belly is getting so big that when ashe cooks all of her shirts are getting ruined. So about 9:30 last night we started in on it with the intentions of just starting and finishing some other time this weekend. Well four hours later we finished. It is beautiful and I can't wait to make one for myself!!

Grace and Peace!

~Holly

Happy 33 to Clay!!

2008-11-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

Sunday was Clay's #33 birthday! The girls and I greeted his morning with 33 reasons why we love him! If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can see them better.

I just had to stick this one in here. Eden totally passed out on me Sunday morning in church. I just put her in the sling and a sleep she went. I so cherish these moments because they get so big so fast. There are already times with Payton I miss cuddling like this.

For Clay's birthday gift this year we did an unusual thing, we bought him a gift! We don't really do this too much for the adults in our family. But on his 22nd birthday (11 years ago) I bought him a watch and had it engraved "You Complete Me!" Don't laugh, it was the time of Jerry McGuire. Well he has worn this watch as faithfully as his wedding band and it has seen better days. So the girls and I went and bought him a new watch and had it engraved "Our Prince, Love, your girls". He loved it!

Blog Crazy!!! and a Craft-tea!!!

2008-11-15T07:47:00.000-08:00

I have been gone for a while due to crafting for the holidays. We have also been very busy doing...well, I am not sure, it just has been crazy. However, late in the evenings when all has quieted down I have been searching the web for ideas of crafty ideas. So here are a few that if you even have a teeny-tiny bit of craftiness in you, you must check out these sites.

http://sewmamasew.com/

http://todayscreativeblog.blogspot.com/

http://lenatoewsdesigns.blogspot.com/

http://www.weewonderfuls.com/

oh there are so many more and I will try and find them again for you. We are in Noble, OK for an early Thanksgiving with Clay's family and I am busying myself while the cook (Clay's mom) is fluttering about in the kitchen. So when I get back home and have my own computer to look up my favorite bookmarks I will share more.

A couple of other things I have discovered within the last couple of weeks!

Stitch magazine - http://www.quiltingarts.com/shop/Stitch.html it is their premiere issue and I LOVE IT. I have already made a couple of different things out of the magazine! They are very easy little projects!

This is the other thing I have discovered..It is a book "Living Artfully". It is a wonderful and easy read. She has good reminders of how all of us have the ability and NEED to live artfully. I am about half way through it and it is wonderful! http://www.sandramagsamen.com/living_art_newsletter.html

Oh and another thing I had the pleasure of doing this week was attending a Craft-tea at the home of one of my friends. It was so sweet and scrumptious! We all brought some sort of tea-food and a craft to work on. It was a great couple of hours with friends. Thanks Kierlee!

I will get home and have a little slower week this next week so I plan to share some photos of my craftiness!

Grace and Peace

Holly

Halloween

2008-11-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

These are four girls born in five months of each other last summer. We all go to church together and are close friends. Eden, Gracie, Alexa, and Bella and their Dads. The look on Eden's little face is TOO cute. They were both so precious in their outfits. We went to our church's fall festival, then trick or treating to Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve's and home to make pizzas and open the door for other trick or treaters!
Just had to share.
~Holly

And the Votes have been counted!!! And Camera Found!!

2008-11-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

The votes have been counted...John McCain has won our popular vote here in the Peevyhouse home. McCain - 21 Obama - 3. Payton was a little disheartened when we counted last night before the announcement of the actual winner, but still kept her stance that Obama was going to win! Who would have known... My dad called this morning and asked to speak to our four year old about some stock tips and futures.

We took the girls with us to vote yesterday. We wanted Payton to see the real process since she took such an interest in the whole thing. I can remember going to this very same church with my dad EVERY time there was something to vote on since I was a little girl like Payton. It is kind of fun to carry on the tradition. I am pretty sure the same sweet little old ladies are still the ones working it as when I was young.

It is all this lady's fault. Our obsession with government and politics is in our blood because of her...my grandma Max. She gave it to my dad and uncles (2 of the 3 are city managers and have been in city government for a LONG time), and now it has run its course to Payton. Payton and her get a long great and found even more in common someone they both believe should be president. At somewhere between the age of 2o and 80 years old, she is still incharge of the voting precinct near her home and could run circles around me! She is an amazing woman and one of my role models.

OH - and we found the camera!!! It was locked in Clay's glove box. We have no idea why or how it got there, but we were sure glad to find it!

Grace and Peace,

Holly

Bicycles and Randomness

2008-11-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well if you have known my husband for very long you probably have known him to drive several different cars over that time. He has been known to drive and sell one vehicle a year over several years. He has owned 12 cars and one motorcycle in the ten years that we have been married! So now instead of cars, it is bicycles...at least they are getting less expensive. We do have a rule in our house, if you bring something new home, you must purge (get rid of, give away, or sell) something of equal value. So here are two bikes ...

So these are the two large trikes that are up for sale! If you are interested please let me know and you can take them for a spin!

Here is the latest ride - A Rhoades Car
It seats four! He found it on www.craigslist.com one of our favorite websites. He has wanted one for several years, but new they are outrageously expensive. However, this one was in Bixby at a price we couldn't pass up!
It needs a little love and he has plans to change up the seating a bit. We will add updates as improvements are made. Can't you just see our little family riding around town in this awesome car?
Isn't she lovely?!?!
She was finished with lunch and about half asleep at the table. She sat there for the longest time in this pose.
We held our first Annual Autumn Potluck Picnic last Saturday. YUM - look at this food!
We are looking forward to more gatherings with our neighbors.
Look at this big girl. She is making her own pb&j sandwiches these days.

Camera is LOST!!!

2008-10-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

We have lost our little camera!!!!!!!! We have been so lost. I know, I know, you are laughing that we have a "little" camera. We have a cannon digital rebel for my portrait work and then we have a little Sony Cyber Shot that we carry everywhere we go. Well it is missing, so I haven't been blogging. I have taken up the "big" camera more these last couple of days so that we haven't missed the special moments. So here are a few of the pictures to catch you up on what has happened in the world of the Peevyhouse Clan!

So our friends Amy and Calvin asked us to come and stay the weekend at Calvin's parents home in Spavinaw, OK. His parents have been on a several week vacation and Amy and Calvin were house sitting for them. We had no idea how incredibly gorgeous it was out there.

This photos is of the little pond that is fed by two natural springs coming out of the side of the hill they live on. This is right in front of their home, apparently it use to be a state park. SO BEAUTIFUL. We stayed Friday night, Saturday and came home Sunday. It was a great time, good food and wonderful conversation. The men turned some wood and went on hikes while the girls crafted, listened to music and laughed.

We also could not resist the temptation to take some photos of the family.

The best family portrait of the evening. Poor Eden just wants to run and sweet Payton is into the fake smile stage.

I just want to eat her up she is so sweet. Clay and I have agreed that this age (about 16 - 24 months) is our favorite so far!

A Mommy's life. Holding crying, grumpy babies.

This one makes me want to cry.

Daddy and his girls!

Crafting till all hours of the morning! Sew fun!

Communion between friends.

Cook & Friend - Amy. We had the most scrumptious food all weekend. I gained five pounds in two days just by eating her food.

We headed to the pumpkin patch late Monday evening. It was fun, but COLD. Our new family shot at the top of our blog page is from this outing. It is probably one of the best family portraits since Eden has come along. AND it was taken with a tripod!

This is Payton's favorite thing about the Pumpkin Patch!

Riding the Ponies.

Feeding the Goats. This one almost ate Eden's hand! She loved them eating out of her hand!

Sweet picture!

It was SO cold out there at the pumpkin patch! Eden is really into hugging this week, but I don't think she was really excited about her big sister's super squeeze.

She looks SO big here. SO grown up, not sure I like this.

We decided this was the year was not going to win best individual portrait for Eden. All she wanted to do was get up and run.

Grace & Peace

Holly

Please VOTE!!

2008-10-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

So our 4 year old daughter is VERY interested in our Presidential Election coming up. She has asked many questions about it and has even watched the debates with us. So to further her knowledge in this we decided to set up a "voting booth" in our home for friends and family. We will count up our votes on the evening of the election to see if our friends and family agree with the rest of the U.S. If you would like to vote and are too far to swing by and drop your ballot, please vote with your absentee ballot a.k.a. leaving a comment on this post. By the way Payton is for Obama. We have all been very tight lipped about who we are voting for in our home, probably more because we are still undecided, but she is a strong Obama supporter. When asked why she is for him she says, "Because I think he is going to win!"

Been taking LOTS of photos...mostly of other families

2008-10-12T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well I have been VERY busy this week doing lots of portrait sessions(yep, I quit the photo business, but it is hard to say no to the ones you love), teaching photography classes, among many other things. Here are a couple pictures I have randomly taken while shooting photos of other people families. I have captured a couple of mine running and entertaining themselves while waiting on me.

This is my all time favorite of the weekend! I just looked over and caught them sitting on this bench. As soon as I pointed my camera at them, Eden made this precious little face.
Fairy girl, Payton.
E.G. running up and down the parkway.
Sweet little piggies.
Ballerina girl.
Piggy back ride from Daddy to the car.

Grace and Peace
Holly

Hundred Dollar Holiday Challenge?

2008-10-06T13:48:00.000-07:00

Isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful....? Her name is Grace. Really, seriously. I bought her USED at the fair last week!!! Well she is only 12 days used but that counts as used and it also saved me $100 in purchasing her. She is a Grace, Baby lock! I am so pumped! I told Clay that I feel like I was driving a beater and now I am driving a Cadillac! She is SUPER easy to use and so nice. My old machine made me cuss like a sailor and I am not known to cuss, now this new machine makes me sing!!

Watch out Martha Stewart - make room for Holly Peevyhouse.

Stickers they had all over the machine so that nobody else would buy her!

Ta da!!! This is my first creation and it only took me a good hour to make. Guess what else, it was free material. My mom "Gigi" works for a furniture store and she had brought me some of their old "sample" materials to practice sewing. Practice nothing...Christmas presents here we come!

Which leads to me the hundred dollar holiday.

There is a new book out called the "Hundred Dollar Holiday". I haven't got my hands on it, but I am trying to find it via the library and it may be too new for them to have just yet. Anyways the premise is to challenge each family to only spend $100 dollars for Christmas gifts. That is total, not per person, per gathering, per couple that is total!

For several years now Clay and I have made our Christmas gifts. Most of our "gifts" tend to be food. However sometimes we have made calendars for our parents with the grand kids photos. He and I make gifts for each other. One year he made me a beautiful wooden box out of mahogany wood. It is my blessings box. Anytime I feel I have been blessed I write it down and put it in the box. When I have a down day or just need a reminder of how God has worked in our life, I sit down with my blessing box and read. Nothing he could have bought in a store would have been more special to me. Other things we have done for others in replacement of a gift is give the gift of time. 12 promised family dinners for my mother-in-law has been one of her favorite gifts, babysitting for friends, special "kids" day for nephews... Or we have done experience gifts for others, such as tickets with us to Discovery Land's performance of Oklahoma! Be creative!!

Here is a list of gift so far this year I am working on and how much they have cost me. Mind you I have a list of around 40ish people that we gift to each year so I have to keep each gift very simple and very inexpensive.

*Magnets - made from glass beads at the Dollar store (package of 50 for a $1) cuttings out of magazines around the house and some glue.

*Embroidered Tea towels - 49 cents each from IKEA and embroidery thread that I can do several towels with each spool 30 cents.

*Sweet little cuddly pancake creatures for the tiny people in our life - I am using sweaters that I have purchased from garage sales for no more than $1 each. Stuffing them with bamboo fill $5 per bag that should stuff several different creatures.

*Totes and other sewing crafts that I will make for dear ones from scraps of fabric, old shirts, sheets, and table clothes that I have gathered from here and there.

Mind you when I say sew...I am a baby seamstress...VERY baby...

I am asking you to take a step back and look at your holiday spending. Is it too much? Is it necessary? Are you putting it on a credit card? If you are putting it on a credit card then I would say it is TOO much and NOT necessary. When we first married 10 years ago we would put upward of $1000 on our credit card for Christmas each year. It was absolutely absurd, all to make sure people got "something" for Christmas! Do we really need "something" for Christmas? We finally decided about five years ago that we didn't care any longer about what others thought of our Christmas gifts. What we cared about was the heart that was put into the gift and that we weren't just buying more junk for people to stow away until the next goodwill drop off. Because seriously we were not buying anything for these people that they "needed" or even "wanted", it was just something that we roamed the Mall for hours wondering and hoping that this was the right thing for that person.

We are working on downplaying the gift factor in our own little family even more this year. I have a friend who celebrates the time between Christmas and New Year by doing something special each day. Something special meaning maybe a craft or watching a holiday movie not going in some expensive excursion.

So I am challenging you if you don't already to look at your holiday and downsize it. If you do celebrate the holiday in a simple way please share by making a comment. If you want to take the hundred dollar holiday challenge let me know as well. I would love to have others along with the ride!

Grace and Peace

~Holly

Too funny not to share!!

2008-10-06T13:41:00.001-07:00

I wish you could hear her laughing as she ran from the bathroom unrolling the WHOLE roll of toilet paper! She was hysterical...

Blogging in Spurts

2008-09-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Okay so blogging comes in spurts around here. It is called whenever I get more than 2 seconds on the computer. Please be sure to scroll down through all the posts because I have added a ton and did last week as well. This post in particular is pretty random with things that have been going on but don't fit into any subjects.

Ron Babbit and his crew. Kaytie Jo goes to church at Contact Church. It is a place for "urban ministry" to take place. So she has been asking us for years now to go with her and help out. The Church puts on a cookout for the families that live near by in not so great apartment complex. So yesterday we packed up to see what it was all about. For some of these people it will be the only decent meal they get all week. They were very sweet and the kids love all the attention they are given.

I could have taken this sweet little girl home with me. She was precious.

I did take this little girl home with me. She was very intrigued by the boys and girls playing basketball.

We had new windows put in our home a couple of weeks ago. This photo is of a carpenter we had come in and cut a hole for a completely new window!!! If you scroll down to the posting below this you will see my new window installed!
Payton was mesmerized by the whole process of the window cut outs and replacements.
A bicycle made for two? Well they think so.
One last Gerbera Daisy of the season from my garden!

ARTY CRAFTY

2008-09-23T13:41:00.001-07:00

So we have been in an artsy mood ever since we returned from St. Louis. It was a city filled with great art experiences. So I thought I would share some of the simple art going on around the house of late.

While Clay was at his art workshop this weekend, Kaytie Jo and the girls and I went garage sale-ing on Saturday morning. We got so many great deals, a new (old) nightstand for the girls' bedroom, a giant star for the front porch, a coat rack, some scrap material for crafty stuff, clothes...but this is my favorite of all!!!! We found this great art easel/drafting table. The lady was asking $75 for it when we walked up and by the time we were leaving she had talked herself down to $25!!! Well I didn't even think twice before we were loading it into the car. The best of all it that it fits great next to my *NEW* window in the den!
Beautiful flowers from the garden in the backyard.
A little embroidery for Christmas gifts.
This is kind of old, but a friend of mine asked me to post it because she is from out of town and wanted to see it. Yes, I painted it. It is just a sheet from Walmart hung on a wire with clips. We simply put a plastic shower curtain behind it on another rod and ta-da! - a fun and funky, one of a kind, shower curtain!
Kaytie Jo got us on this craft recently. She has been cutting up magazines and making sweet little magnets. So while watching movies during "nap" time this weekend I made some too.
Go get crafty - it feels great!
Grace and Peace
~Holly

Mud Balls!

2008-09-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Oh my! I am so stealing this recipe from my dear friend Keirlee! It is heaven. She is trying to get some fiber in her son's diet and ran along this scrumptious thing. She brought me one to OK Food Coop night and I made them for myself today. They are chalked full of delicious and healthy things.

Mud Balls
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup choc chips
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Cook the peanut butter on honey over low heat until melted. Add remaining ingredients. When cool enough to handle roll into oohey gooey mud balls.

Enjoy!

Life is a Journey Have FUN!!!

2008-09-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

So Clay got to do something this weekend that I am totally jealous over. He attended a "Garden Deva" workshop. Some of you may be totally unaware who the garden Deva is so check out her work at www.gardendeva.com. We LOVE her work and have several pieces out in the front of our home. Basically she told you how to work the tools and gave you a piece of sheet metal and let you go to work. He spent Friday evening, all day Saturday and a good portion of Sunday working on his piece. I was SUPER impressed. And how special to have a piece of art in our front bed that has been made by my sweet husband.

So it says "Life is a Journey, Have FUN!!!" It is kind of hard to read from the angle and background on these photos but I took some quick shots to show some details.

The artist and his girl.

He really did an amazing job. I didn't expect it be so big. I love it, but didn't think he would have enough time or trial and error time to make something so awesome.

Close ups so you can see the detail.

these are his flowers that are "planted" around the bottom. He said this was his favorite thing to make all weekend.

His signature.

grace & peace

~Holly

A plug for children's music.

2008-09-17T15:46:00.001-07:00

Okay - so we spent HOURS in the car with children over the 10 day span or so. We listened to lots of kids music. A friend of mine gave me some music for the girls to listen to in the car. I realized right before we left that I knew this artist!! His name is T.J. McCloud and I went to high school with him. If we are being really honest, I dated him for about half a second. :) He is an incredible and very talented musician and always has been. So anyways - my little Payton is now addicted to TJ "the cloud" as she likes to call him. I will tell you that not only does Payton like him, we as parents enjoy singing along and I do NOT feel this way about every children's singer. TJ also sings songs for big people too - check him out!

Meet me in St. Louis!

2008-09-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

So I have been MIA again because we have been on vacation! We went to St. Louis for 7 days! It was really a great time. We did a ton, and survived our first real vacation with kids.

See below for all the events. Be warned that I am still very confused on how to load these photos in the correct order.

ENJOY!!

So we roughed it during the night so that we could take a long and leisurely vacation. Clay talked us into staying in little KOA cabins. No potty, no kitchens, just beds and air conditioning. I was really preparing myself for really roughing it. But really we had a great time and I would not have wanted it any other way. Well...maybe softer beds.

Clay, Eden and I at Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO. We had to have this photo taken because 10 years ago we visited here and had a much similar photo taken.

Inside the Cave.

Kaytie Jo squished in the back seat of the Subaru wagon. We traded back and forth riding between the girls, but I will say that she spent quite a bit more time back there than I did.

Happy to be on VACATION! This was the first day - if you saw him on day seven he really didn't look like this at all.

Clay and Payton under the Arch.

We could never get far enough away from the arch to get a whole shot. Here Payton looks like a giant.

There were loft apartments EVERYWHERE in St. Louis!!! We just had to stop and take some photos outside of one.

This is the Soulard Farmers market. It is the the oldest Farmer's Market in the U.S.. It was pretty huge. However, I was a little disappointed because the produce was nowhere near as yummy as it is here in Tulsa. It was like what you find at the grocery store. :(

This is the City Museum - it was so incredible. There is really no way in the world for me to describe this place other than amazing. It is in an old warehouse and all the things in it are recycled and remade into climbing through, on and in obstacles. Even their gift shop is recycled - it is a thrift store!! It was a really awesome place and hours of entertainment. One area that they have is an arts area. We were in heaven...all recycled objects or donated art supplies and you could spend all the time and effort you wanted making collages, paintings, clay sculptures, magnets...

Inside the city museum in this area you climb through seven stories of roundabouts and then slide down a seven story slide.

Sumo Payton.

The art area - Eden did her first painting here and we thought we would never get her away.

The St. Louis Art Museum. Very interesting...

Payton playing in the Pizza Parlor at the "Magic House". It was a children's museum that had a ton of hands on stuff. She got to work as a librarian, fish, grocery shop, play house, and experiment with several different mediums.

Grocery Shopping - at the Magic House

Eden at the Magic House Crawl through space.

We visited a sculpture park that we all rated as on of our most favorite places to visit. This sculpture was pretty huge.

Kaytie Jo art.

This was the "new" cathedral in St. Louis. It is home to the world's largest mosaic collection. The walls, ceilings, paintings are all covered with mosaic tiles. It took them 70 years to complete it. It was truly an amazing site to behold. The photos do not do it justice.

My favorite piece in the St. Louis Art Museum.

A really great art project in the area of town called the "loop". It is down close to the university so it was full of really cool stores and restaurants. It was a shame that we found it on our last day.

Eden and Me walking through the trails at the sculpture park.

Payton in one of the sculptures.

Photographer Payton capturing Kaytie Jo's silliness - trying to hold up the sculpture.

On the way home we stopped in Springfield, MO at Lambert's -home of the throwed rolls! It is an oldie but a goodie. We have made this a stop for anytime we go through that part of the country. At this restaurant they are continually coming out with hot homemade rolls and yell"HOT ROLLS". If you look up at them you better be prepared for a roll being thrown your way. They are terribly sinful but worth one meal once in a year or two.

So this picture reveals our sinful nature while on the road. Yes, we had Starbuck's everyday. I did decide I am officially done with coffee though and now a lover of tea - chi tea. No Eden is not really drinking my tea, it is empty but she thought she might get some out of the deep bottom.

Oh - St. Louis was SO full of art. This was a random piece of art we came upon while driving around one day. It is an old church that is being used as art. As far as we could tell is that all of these things hanging were lampshade and were to be lit up at night. VERY COOL!!

One pooped kiddo - yes, she really is asleep.

Another really pooped little girl(s). This was down on the "loop".

So we came home from our trip and stayed in our bed one night and then got up to go to Dallas the next day. Kaytie Jo's sister was getting married and I agreed to do the wedding photos. So this was my sweet Payton's photo of us after the wedding.

Eden LOVING all the food at Lambert's. She ate and ate and ate...

and ate and ate....

Kaytie Jo's birthday!

2008-09-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Kaytie Jo's 24th birthday was the night before we left on vacation, so we had a simple little gathering of breakfast for dinner and peach pie!

This was my first ever peach pie to make. I have to admit it was incredibly delicious!

My mom - a.k.a. Gigi came to join the festivities.

Peevyhouse home gang. Wow - I was so consumed with getting read for vacation and cooking for Kaytie that I forgot to even look in the mirror!

Blowing out candles with help.

Yum - licked the platter clean.

Daddy's girl with her balloon. She was passing out kisses that night.

Sports girls

2008-08-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

You have to know that sports and my family do not necessarily go together. So I am happy to show off some sports happenings in our family.

The three girls got bike helmets for riding bikes! We look like a bunch of bobble heads.

Payton participated in our "home schooling" Olympics. We have join up with other home schoolers in our church and formed a coop. We meet up every Thursday morning for 1.5 hours and the kids go to different classes. For example Payton goes to music, specials(p.e.), and art class. So for the first get together we celebrated the kid Olympics!

Straw throwing!

Track!

There were several more events but some of the kids found some caterpillars and got really invested in them.

In my own little world.

2008-08-23T16:50:00.001-07:00

I really do live in my own little world. I am so sorry to have checked out on you all lately. We have been TOO busy and I am ready for life to settle down and to get back into a good routine. I have been made aware by many people this week ( two of which I had no idea they were readers) that I have a faithful blog following and they are dearly missing me! Thank you. I seriously thought nobody really read this stuff and I was just doing it for my therapy. So for all of you out there I have just posted six new postings below this one...enjoy.

BTW - One of my readers wanted me to advertise that I am teaching photography classes this fall through Jenks Community Education. So ya'll get signed up now ya' hear! For more info go to www.jenkscommunityed.com

Grace and Peace

~Holly

Bike riding for the whole family

2008-08-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

Clay's self-portrait on the bike.

Clay's awesome photography of me and Kaytie Jo from the back of his bike.

Payton and Eden enjoying the ride.

Clay found me a used bike online last week sometime. I am for the first time since 7 years old riding on a 2 wheel bike!! I LOVE it! He also picked up a bike trailer for the girls and they LOVE it as well. Last Saturday morning we went on a bike a ride because the weather here has been incredible. We rode to eat breakfast and then to Home Depot, Southwood nursery, Grocery store and then back home. Just a little eight mile ride - not bad for a girl who hasn't been on a bike in 21 years! What a beautiful morning and special memories we are creating!

First Day of Kindergarten!

2008-08-23T16:37:00.001-07:00

Payton and I had our first week of Kindergarten this week. It was wonderful I have to say. We have both loved our time together and she gets up every morning asking for school to start!

Painting of the Livingroom

2008-08-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

New olive gray fireplace.

Just to the right of the fireplace there is going to be the new window!

We are working on another photo display area behind the couch - not quite ready yet.

view of the kitchen from living area

New location of big black bookshelf. This is one of those pieces of furniture that if the house was burning down I would probably die in the fire trying to get it out with me. I found it in a going out of business sale for $75 about 9 years ago. It was a display case in the Sand Springs train depot years ago.

So we ordered five gallons of paint for the walls of the kitchen, dining room and living area to be painted all one color. We had hopes of it all looking like one, big space (loftish). Well, after painting all of those rooms we officially have 4 more gallons to spare. So to anyone out there who is wanting some off white paint for their walls - we have PLENTY and we will share!!! ha ha. And to anyone who is preparing to buy paint, Sherwin Williams paint is the best paint in the world and will cover like no body's business.

Once we got the walls painted we decide that the fireplace looked a little drab the same color. So that led to us painting the fireplace an olive gray and moving the furniture around!!! If you watch us long enough, you will learn that nothing stays the same around here. My living room has now been 4 different colors in almost 6 years.

The second week in Sept we are getting new windows in the house. No not in the used category; but well needed and we could afford them now so we are doing it. The even more exciting news on top of new window is that I get a totally new window (never been there before window) put in just to the right of the fireplace!!! Our living room is like a cave and I can't wait for the outdoor light to shine through!!!!

Grace and Peace!

Holly

Peevyhouse randomness

2008-08-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Papa Mike! Birthday dessert at Starbuck's with my dad.

For some reason our children are obsessed with our refrigerator. We have almost the exact same picture of Payton at this age.

Clay's mom was telling him about some "green" drink she heard Dr. Oz talk about on Oprah one day. So they decided to try it out. It just so happens that Clay had on his "keep it green" shirt on that evening. It was too cute and I had to take a picture.

Clay working on his latest piece of art!

Science,Bugs, food and broken arm! Whew - what a weekend!

2008-08-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

Unicorn Beetle - that is Clay's wedding band beside it so that you can get an idea of how big this thing was. It was so COOL for this home schooling momma to see and then come home to teach her little girls all about it!

Payton trying out the rotating wheel at the omniplex. This brings back fond memories for me. This was a place frequented by my dad and I growing up!!

Eden and her sad little bandaged arm.

OK Food Coop Meet, Greet and Eat event.

Well the night of our anniversary Eden was busy toddling around in the "school room". As she was going from table leg to table leg she fell and caught herself hands down on the floor. She cried as she does several times a day. About the same time my mom showed up to watch the girls for our date. But by the time we got home from our date, Eden was UPSET, crying and boycotting everything but her momma. So the next morning (Clay had taken the day off to go to OKC with his girls for some fun) we began the day off by getting x-rays of Eden's arm. Well our Pediatrician could not see the fracture but the radiologist saw a VERY tiny raised portion on her radius. So they gave us a small ace bandage and told us she would heal just fine over a week or two. Well after 3 days with an ace bandage, you would have never known she ever did anything.

So later that morning we made a quick trip to OKC to the omniplex. We completely enjoyed ourselves watching stars in the planetarium, trying out all different kinds of science experiments, toured the Grand Canyon via IMAX and much, much more!

Saturday we hosted the Oklahoma Food Coop's Meet, Greet and Eat event at our church building. It was SO great and scrumptious!!! Whoa - all new foods and good way of eating went out the window that day! There was SO much food and good food at that!!!! I am so thankful to be part of a great, happy and yummy group of people.

And last but not least, before the Food event we found a HUGE unicorn beetle just outside the church doors. Wow - it was so cool.

Quite a weekend and that was just Friday and Saturday. I don't know what I did on Sunday but I know I probably took a nap.

Dates, dates and more dates...

2008-08-23T14:42:00.000-07:00

Payton doing a little painting on our latest date.

Married exactly 10 years this evening. Dinner at the Garlic Rose.

Fancy desserts at KoKoa.

Borders date - ahh, what a calm evening. So good for my soul.

Dinner at Ale Haus on the Riverwalk.

Shot of the crowd at the Movies on the Lawn - Philbrook.

Us watching Pride and Prejudice.

Our view of the movie screen.

Our friends are starting to get sick of us saying, "well, we can't tonight because we have a date!" Seriously, it has been really great to spend three hours a week together and without children. AND we have decided that this must NOT end. Well maybe not every week, but certainly we are going to let the grandparents watch the girls every other week so that we can dance and romance each other.

Pictured in this blog is so far our most favorite date. We went and watched "Pride and Prejudice" on the lawn at Philbrook Museum. It was incredible. What a beautiful night, full of beautiful people, music, scenes and moments. We were definitely newbies to this because we did not bring our own personal picnic several hours before the movie actually started. But now that we know, this will be a MUST on the summer outings for the Peevyhouse family. And talk about a seriously dedicated audience...these people did not make a sound once the movie started!! It was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the summer.

On our actual anniversary we went to the Garlic Rose for dinner and had one of the most flavorful and rich meals we have had in a LONG time. Then after dinner we walked across the way to KoKoa-a chocolatier, and had even more rich ( both $$$ and flavor) chocolate that I have ever put in my mouth. A very fancy shmancy place - I honestly could not even pronounce the chocolate that I was ordering. I felt totally Okie.

Another shot on here is our date to Border's bookstore. Clay and I have quite an obsession with books. So one of our dates was a quick dinner to Charleston's and then some quite plowing through books for the rest of our time. It was WONDERFUL and we honestly could have spent another 3 hours there without even thinking of going home.

And the latest of dates was a work at home date. Mom came and hung out with the girls while we painted the living room. YES, the tree is gone, but soon to be painted again somewhere else in the house.

So we have about 3 dates left, but those won't happen for another two weeks because we are going on vacation late next week and will be gone for a week!!!

grace and peace,

2008-08-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

Here are just a couple of shots from some fun stuff we have been doing!

Happy Eden at the Porter Peach Festival. We got to watch a really old fashioned parade...it was really great.

Payton and Clay in their shades watching the Shiners in their little "funny" cars.

Eden loves Black beans and tomatoes!

Another mess - Eden decided that these inpatients were not growing too well and pulled them out mud and all. She was a mess from head to toe!!!

Date #2 & #3

2008-08-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of the date updates.

Date #2 was dinner and dessert at our local hang out - Riverwalk. We had dinner at Ale Haus outside area. We people watched, which is one of our very favorite pass times and has been since before marriage. We stole a couple of kisses and then went and had some coffee at Kaffe Bona. The photo of me with my coffee is pretty special because one, I am pouring over my new kindergarten curriculum for Payton and I to do for home school this year. Secondly it was one of the last regular bad for me coffees I will probably indulge in without feeling tremendous guilt or consequences for after drinking it. (Read the previous post - Coffee is very ACIDIC and something that I cannot have!)

Date #3 was a trip to the movies with Baby Eden. She had a little virus for a couple of days with the only symptom being a fever. So it being a Monday evening we decided to take her with us to see Get Smart. We thought she would simply sleep through the movie since she was not feeling well. We were SO wrong. She was feeling much better by half way through the movie and would not sit still, wanting to walk everywhere. We ended up leaving. Needless to say, there were no photos taken on this wonderfully worthless evening.

Well my photos won't post for some reason. I will try and get them into the next one.

Grace and Peace

Health Nuts

2008-08-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

So we have been a tad bit busy around here and one of the things that we have been attempting to hurdle is our health. In general we thought we were doing really great on the health matters around our house. However, we learned that we were failing miserably. Clay and I both went and had DBA's - Dried Blood Analysis done this past month. If you have never had this done we highly recommend it. It was like we were going to a fortune teller. She sat us down, asked us our name and squeezed some of our blood out onto a slide and looked at it under a microscope. As soon as she peered into the microscope she began to spout off all the problems and ailments that we have at this current time and have dealt with through the years. It was amazing. Apparently we have severe full body yeast issues, very acidic blood, tissue and saliva due to what we have been eating, and are very low in minerals. I'm also sensitive to wheat ( so all that personal wheat grinding here at the house that I thought was wonderful for me has been so terrible on my system). :) She loaded us up on supplements and some simple diet changes. Simple but hard all at the same time, no sugar, no bread, no yeast, no bad carbs after lunch. By diet, I mean a change of diet and behavior for the rest of our lives, not something that we do for just a bit and then go back to the way of eating. We have been doing this for roughly 3 weeks and feel great!! Better than I have felt in years and have lost around 7ish lbs already!!! On top of eating habits changing, we have both added some activity to our regimen. Clay had gone prior to visiting with this DBA lady and purchased a commuter bike for back and forth to work. He is commuting approximately 3 times a week to work and home. It is about a 25 mile ride round trip. He is LOVING it!!! And has lost a good amount of weight as well. I have joined our local gym and get there when I can to take some time for taking care of my self and watching a little mind numbing TV.

Back from M.I.A.

2008-07-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hello!!!!

Well I am back from a lovely hiatius and I have way too much to say and not enough time to say it. The photo I placed on the title was taken tonight in our front yard. I just love it. For those of you who don't know...no we have not married in another wife, that is Kaytie Jo our roomate of three years. She is great, like a sister to me and the girls and to Clay too in one sense. We fell in love with a similar photo that is found on one of the photo sites that I just adore and we had to dulplicate it for ourselves. Here are a few more to share with you!

As far as what has been going on I will have to blog and share from the mac and I am on the pc. The mac has most of our photos from the on goings around here.

Grace and Peace

~holly

Happy 10!

2008-07-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary too us! This is our 10 year anniversary month. Our actual date is the 31st but we are going to celebrate for 10 weeks total starting yesterday! That is my gift to Clay; 10, once a week dates without children. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal to most of you but to us it is a HUGE deal. We basically believe in attachment parenting for at least the amount of time that our children are still nursing. Well Eden is still nursing and so that means we have not been anywhere without her for over a year now. It was grand - however, we didn't know what to do with ourselves and we almost forgot how to carry on a real conversation.

So here is a synopsis of our first date.

Picnic at Woodward park - Crostini & Muffuletta Antipasto & smoke cheddar cheese with water. We people watched, ate, I read aloud, laid and watched squirrels, planned vacations and stole a couple of kisses.

Dessert at Shades of Brown Coffee Shop - A grasshopper for the Mr. and a Prague Mocha for the Mrs. We sat and people watched for a good hour. This is one of our favorite pass times is to people watch, it must be in our genes because Payton is a serious people watcher as well. :O.

Then back home to the kiddos. We are both still beaming today from our great date. It was kind of like our first date, because never had a "first date". We were friends for several years and always knew we were the ones. We basically courted and then just fell right in love.

I will try and document our dates as they happen over the next nine weeks!

Until then ....Grace and Peace

Harvest!

2008-07-03T13:15:00.001-07:00

Here is some harvesting that I did today!!! We have a ton of carrots and onions that came out of the ground and one lonely tomato. There are many more to come and I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful and incredibly long green beans I pulled as well.

Oh I LOVE fresh eating from the garden.

Happy Food!

Joy and laughter!

2008-07-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! Isn't she beautiful? When I took this shot of Payton it sent me into the future about 1o years. She looks so mature and brilliant in this shot. I just had to share.

The other day I was doing laundry and left the room for half a second and came back to find E.G. in this position! She is a little monkey these days. But isn't she cute. I think all of us probably have a pose similar to this one in our pasts. However, it does scare the poohey out of me and from now on the dryer door will remain shut unless I am standing next to it.

She is living my other life!

2008-06-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

I found a new blog today and I am IN LOVE with this lady already and I don't even know who she is or where she is. Here is a blurb from her blog on "Alternative" that so spoke to me and about who we are:
Parenting It’s a crazy thing…this parenting job. We are trying to do the best that we can with the information that we have…and adding a whole bunch of love and kisses along the way We are a home birthing, cloth diapering, non-vaxing, gentle disciplining, baby wearing, co-sleeping, extended nursing family…whew! That’s a lot of labels. I prefer to think of it as natural parenting. We believe that children are to be treated with respect and mercy. It’s not an easy road and we’re not perfect by any means…but we try to treat Bella the way we want her to treat others….with respect and kindness.
Isn't that great? She is a photographer who lives on the road with her family. I really think she maybe my "other life".
This is her blog.... http://walkslowlylivewildly.com/ WOW!!!
I hope you all are having a great week - I have been stewing on some things that I will share soon. God is working on me in many areas this week.
Love to all
~H

The Celebration

2008-06-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Eden Grace and her favorite "toy" gift.

Check out that sweet new dress - I wish they made it in "Momma" sizes.

The girls met Daddy Clay for a picnic to celebrate on E's b-day. We munched on many good things including E's favorite, Strawberries!!

Doesn't she look like you could just grab her up like a little strawberry and munch on her?

Mmm good.

The four girls born in five months last summer, came to help party with us at E's b-day party.

So proud of herself after eating her first cake.

She finally got the hang of it.

"What is that? You have spent the last year telling me that I can't have anything like that and suddenly you just set it out in front of me and let me have at it?"

E. G.'s B-day!!

2008-06-20T06:02:00.001-07:00

Happy #1 sweet Eden Grace. I love you beyond measure! I never knew how much I could love another child. You are so wonderful and fill my days with laughs and joy. I am loving every moment of watching you discover this world. Thank you sweet Jesus with blessing us with this amazing miracle of a child.

Stuff in the garden & Father's day

2008-06-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

So I have the most wonderful husband and father of my girls in the whole world! Get this he wanted to spend his Father's day in the garden. How great is that!?!? We went to Lowe's and loaded up on their greatly discounted "distressed' flowers, which basically are perfectly good flowers that need a little TLC. The following is an account of the beautiful things we did and enjoyed in our garden.

This is tradition in our family on Mother's day and Father's day to have your picture taken on the front porch with the kiddos.

This is the incredibly huge pot that was left at our home by the previous owners of the house. We thought it was a great thing until we first tried to move it. It took four men the first time!!! Well this weekend Clay (aka muscles) moved it all by himself to the garden center and filled full of my favorite flowers, Gerber daisies and sweet potato vine.

New "distressed" shrubs and blackberry bush

Garden View!

Cosmos - they are coming up everywhere!!!
Shasta Daisy - planted seeds two years ago and completely forgot about them because they never came up and suddenly they showed up.

Miss Green Thumb herself trying to get a peek out into the garden.
Black beans sprouting out of the ground.
Purple cone flower starting to bloom!
Black eyed Susan's - once again another that I planted from seed last year that are just poking their heads out for the first time. The are so beautiful and fun to watch.
Sweet peas!

2008-06-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

So for the past two days it has rained cats and dogs here. I LOVE the rain SO much, however yesterday I was in a severe funk and everyone knows "when momma ain't happy, no body's happy". Well I did some heavy praying for my spirit and peace to come back today. So this morning when we got up it was raining again. I prayed once again for it to be a happy day. Thankfully I found a book yesterday that gave me some ammo to keep the girls happy on a rainy day. And today I put it into action. We played in the rain puddles. It was SO fun - all of us sopping wet in our jammies and diapers. It brought back memories of playing the rain from my childhood that were so wonderful. I am just telling you it was so good for my soul.

Sweet E.G. learning to stand on her "land legs" as I like to call them.

Splish

Soaking it all in!

Mermaid Chick

So sweet, naked buns nursing after the play.

Puddle jumping

Sisters

Watch me MOM!!

I encourage all of you to go jump in some puddles very soon.

New Do ~

2008-06-13T09:16:00.001-07:00

Well do you think going from waist length hair to boy hair in less than a year is a little dramatic? I have done it. I think that I may truly be trying to stop the aging process. I feel younger, thinner, cuter, and a bit funkier the shorter my hair gets. I got it cut yesterday and hardly thought twice about it until it was all cut off and then began to hyperventilate on the way home. So I am back and forth on the scale of loving it one moment and just a little sorrow full the next because a part of me misses my beautiful long hair. My beautiful long hair was part of my identity at one time, and so was my profession, my maiden name...so it is an adjustment on the road of life. I really like who I am becoming and morphing into these days, I don't miss my profession or my maiden name and hopefully soon I will not miss my long hair. Another part of me is teetering on being excited about change, new hair, new occupation (mom/teacher), and some new dear friends. I am grateful for change for without it life would be so mundane and if you know me long enough, you know that just wouldn't do.

WOO HOO It's finished!!!!

2008-06-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well at last it is finished...well almost. We still have a little touch up paint here and there to take care of but for the most part it is over. It is SO nice to have my kitchen back. I never realized how much we really do live in our kitchen most days.

It is absolutely awesome!!!! I LOVE the makeover. And it feels bigger, much bigger. Clay laughs, that is our joke, no matter what you do to a room it always feels bigger!

Dining room - Clay is very happy with his scraping, mudding and re sanding of the walls in this room. Check out my framed posters. They are from our local farmer's market. I just love them! I am trying to talk Clay into letting me paint all the chairs black and he is not going for it. So comment on this blog and let me know your vote, to paint or not to paint the chairs!

Finished Kitchen with natural lighting. Of course I have moved plates and cups and such around a couple of times and I relearn the function of each area.

Finished Kitchen with flash on camera - you can see the colors a bit better! I was telling everyone that the cabinets were an "earthy green" and then I began painting them, I realized that they were definitely the color of my parent's first appliances - "avocado green".

just a reminder of what it looked like one month ago!

And five years ago!

Yep, this is me making out with my butcher block counter tops! Clay and I installed them all by ourselves!! However, I had no idea that I was taking on another child, you have to oil them every other day or so for two to three months!!!! Well worth the work - they are beautiful and incredible!!!

Clay installing our second light fixture for the kitchen, the first one I was VERY unhappy with. TOO Bright and looked out of place.

Eden Grace and me after a long weekend of finishing the kitchen!

Early on in the remodel. Payton's photography of me EARLY in the morning with my cup of joe.

Painting what felt like endless green cabinets.

Gigi holding sweet Eden while we worked our buns off. Payton went and spent one whole weekend with her Nana and Papa.

Clay and Dub (our sweet and incredibly good woodworking neighbor) putting the finishing touches on the cabinet they built above the counter. Look at sweet Eden Grace in her matching cloth diaper, check it all out.

Needless to say, we are pooped and ready for the next project all at the same time.

Take care!

A CRIME SCENE at the PEEVYHOUSE HOME!!!

2008-06-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

Scene of the crime, Cinderella was found DOA in the kitchen in her ball gown last Monday evening.

At just past midnight, it was discovered that she had lost one glass slipper.

This was the position she was found in when the police arrived.

If you know whom this princess was last seen with please contact us.

These were the people present at the scene of the crime. This man Clay Peevyhouse -A.K.A. "Daddy" looks as though he maybe holding a weapon.

This innocent woman, Beverly Peevyhouse A.K.A. "Nanny", came upon the scene when dropping by with her latest garage sale finds.

She may be the guilty one, she definitely has the look.

This is truly the woman we are looking for, if you recognize her backside, please contact us with her whereabouts.

Ha ha!!! Once again we were scrolling back through the photos on the camera and found a Payton photography exhibit. We immediately cracked up because it looked like she was photographing a crime scene!!! We hope you have enjoyed this made up story as much as we did!

The BIG Sin!!!!

2008-06-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

So here it is...we went to IKEA about three weeks ago with a mission. The mission was to purchase NEW things for our kitchen remodel. I know, I KNOW, we were doing so well on this buy nothing new in 2008 thing and then, WHAM!!! We did approve this by the board of purchase nothing new. All that said I am not going to tell you a specific amount but we spent somewhere between $1 and $1300 at IKEA in seven hour time period.

I am so NOT going to lie to you. It was SO worth every penny. Clay and I were introduced to IKEA by the Teague Family and they tried to prepare us for our first trip. Well I have to say it is kind of like child birth, no one can prepare you for either. ha ha. Clay loves IKEA as much as I do and we were like kids in a candy store on crack! So here are a few pics to share our day.

Clay and the girls as we walked thru the doors!!! Seriously he was as excited if not more than I was to be there.

Eden Grace and I so excited to be out of the car and walking into our favorite store. The closest one for us to get to is just north of Dallas, about a four hour trip.

Lunch, YUM sweedish meatballs and a side of steamed veggies. DANG there food is just as good as their stuff!! AND just as cheap. :)

We borrowed our friend's van since we knew the little subaru wouldn't even come close to hauling all the "Stuff" back!! The big boxes you see between the seats are our butcherblock counter tops!!

Look at poor Payton's face,"seven hours riding in a cart and now you are going to make me ride home four hours in a car and I can't even see my sister...".

Okay well there is the big sin. We loved every moment of it, however after we had loaded the car and started home, Clay looked over at me and said, " I feel like I just cheated on my spouse." I was on cloud nine and felt like poo all at the same time. My dear friend Justine reminded me after giving me a really hard time before going down to IKEA "that consumerism is a mind set, you and Clay don't have that way of thinking".

Although now that the kitchen is finished I realize that it was totally worth it.

Kitchen pics coming soon!

Kitchen Remodel Post

2008-05-22T15:29:00.001-07:00

Check two posts below this one for pics of the kitchen remodel. For some reason I started that post several days ago and didn't get to it. So now it is posting early. Whatever...I am still on the learning curve with this blogging thing.

2008-05-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

Well I have been "tagged" to list off seven random things about myself so here I go...

The older I get the less of a morning person I am. I really need a good hour to wake up before you should converse with me.
I keep a pretty orderly house but my car is a wreck.
I can't stand touching ice, it is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I love roadtrips.
I hate picking out clothes to wear everyday. Back in highschool I really pushed for uniforms so that we wouldn't have to worry about what we were going to wear everyday.
I would go barefoot most places if it were acceptable.
I can't stand for anyone to doubt that I can do something I love to prove them wrong.

So there's your randomness for today. We are working on remodling the kitchen and I am hoping to get some pics loaded of the process in the next couple days.

Grace and Peace

Kitchen Remodel

2008-05-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

So here are pics of the kitchen remodel!

It is definitely interesting living in this mess with two little ones.

This is the kitchen as we have lived in for the past five years. It kind of started out with an italian flare. Honestly back then I had not a clue what my "style" was and this is just what everyone else seemed to be going with.

This is a picture of a picture, that is why it looks terrible not to mention the fact that is a scary 1967 kitchen. This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in the house. Yes, take note of the lattice work, and the wall paper on the cabinet fronts.

Clay happy with is upper cabinets torn out! Take notice of him in his work clothes. That is how excited he is to work on the kitchen - he starts straight home from work and forgets to change his clothes.

The dining area before second remodel. Clay loves to tell people that this room has been five different colors in five years. It is the truth, I have never been happy with any of the colors. So now I am painting it off white. We shall see...

When we moved in the dining area was wall papered and we didn't want to take the time to take it off. So we did a little drywall texture technique that sounded good at the time, but now scraping it off...it was a REALLY bad idea.

We have a bit more done since these photos were taken. Clay is taking off work Friday so that we will have a four day weekend to work on it.

Also we have done some BIG sinning this last weekend...I will post more later and pictures to prove.

~Holly

New old things in our home!

2008-05-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

Well this past Saturday was the City Wide Garage Sale in Jenks. We are HUGE fans and every year get up at the crack of dawn to go and find the best deals. These are the two best finds of this annual event. Payton and Eden's bunk beds!!!! Aren't they cute? They are in great shape !! And our roommate Kaytie Jo got a new car that Clay found while picking up our bunk beds. Her old car died and she was on the search for a new one. She fell in love with this Ford Focus Hatchback and the best thing about it is that it is paid for in full!

Kombucha Monster

2008-05-09T21:29:00.001-07:00

Justine and Kirlee this is for you all! So I have been fermenting my kombucha for more than 60 days. Yea, I just fell off the wagon and life got too busy. This is how HUGE the scoby was after that long. NO WAY I didn't try the kombucha.

For those of you who don't know what kombucha is just do a google search on it and find out more. But the simple version is that it is a fermented tea that is really good for you. However, it usually only ferments for 7-14 days.

GROSS!

Dance like no one is watching.

2008-05-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we lost a dear neighbor of ours. It was so completely unexpected. Sunday afternoon she drove up to the front of the house and yelled at us from the car. This was our "thing". She had knee surgery early this year and hardly ever left the car to talk with us. So she sat in her car and we on the front porch and carried on a loud conversation. She was headed to have a burger with a friend. She commented on how beautiful and big the girls were getting and how great my flowers look in the front yard and so on. Marci was one of the best neighbors we have ever had. She has only lived in the home near ours for about 18mths, but I was bound and determined to be a darn good neighbor to her. Well she was a better neighbor than I had planned on her to be. I am so thankful to have been blessed with her short friendship. She would leave us snacks at our front door on a regular occasion after a visit to the grocery store, and would call once or twice a week to check in. Marci was a hoot. As a young person she had a brain tumor removed, well as we like to think, it also removed her "filter". She was a running commentary of whatever crossed her field of vision. She was great and as the priest said at her funeral, "We shall never forget her colorful language".

We were in the mist of a meeting Monday evening and noticed lights outside our house and I ran out the front door with Eden on my hip. About the time I got to her yard, I heard the police break open the door and the mourning cries from her sister. Oh what pain and heartache. My world began to run at a snails pace at that moment. This couldn't be happening...we had just chatted last night...she was fine...oh her laugh. I can still hear it and as I sat in the quiet little chapel on Friday during her service I could feel her presence and hear her laugh. Thank you Marci for being a better neighbor than I could have imagined myself to be, thank you for your laugh, and thank you for your colorful language.

I have hugged my kiddos a little tighter, and held my husband's embrace a little longer this week and realized that it is time to dance like no one is watching.

2008-04-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hello - see what we have been up to this week!

Baby tomatoes we started from seed and they are getting ready to go to the backyard. Payton has been amazed watching them grow from seed to this. I love the fact that we are teaching our children where our food comes from. I read some study not long ago that said that most children don't know where our food comes from they think that the grocery store makes it.

Our little hammock and out building (needs painting) we built last fall.

View of the garden from our back door! This all used to be swimming pool.

Well I haven't been blogging, I have been too busy digging and playing in the garden. I even convinced my sweet man to play hookie with us on Monday and we played ALL DAY long outside. It is looking so nice. I wish I had digital pics of what this place looked like when we first bought it. I may try and dig out the old photos and take a picture of the photo. You would never guess there was a HUGE, old nasty swimming pool in our backyard only two years ago.

Clay and his girls digging out the flowerbed.

Finished product!

One of Payton's artistic views - yes she took it. I am a proud momma.

Look at my Clematis's blooming like crazy!

spinach and sweet lettuce

Look at the new arbor Clay fashioned so that we can have morning glories on both entrances to the garden. Our climbing green beans will have a place to climb as well.

This is our tomato stake arbor that my sweet handy man of a husband built me. I found it in my beloved "Cottage Living" magazine.

The start of my perennial flower bed.

The girls and Clay digging in the dirt.

Look at those sweet dirty piggies.

This is my garage sale buy on Saturday morning...my retro watering can turned planter!

Only $2.00! It is one of those finds that makes your heart race when you see it and make you smile every time you see it in your home.

Eden and Alexa looking out the window. They are exactly four weeks and one day apart.

My sweet hubby making heart shaped flower bed in our newly rocked old flower bed.

Eden digging in the dirt.

Yep, it is what you think. We are teaching her to go and pee in the corner outside. Ha - there is no reason for everything to stop and everyone to go inside for just a little tinkle.

And this is the end. Now God is bringing us some rain to help my little peas, flowers and green beans grow into plants soon!

~Grace and Peace,

Holly

Rain

2008-04-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

It is permission to relax,
read a book,
take a nap,
watch out the window,
turn out the lights,
light a candle,
listen,
open a window,
pray,
snuggle,
just take a deep breath.
It is about to rain here and it is good for my soul.

2008-04-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well we survived!!! It was a wonderful trip and the girls had many new experiences from riding in airplanes, subways and being hit up for money from several homeless people. Below is our account of the weekend through photos. They are pretty much in order, I have not mastered how to get my photos to load in a particular order.

Eden Grace before take off in Tulsa!

Somewhere over Oklahoma.

On the Tram ride at DFW airport. Payton says this was one of her favorite things.

Payton on the trip from Dallas to Atlanta. We had quite a bit of bumps that about sent me over the edge but she didn't even notice!

The four of us on the airplane!

This reminded us of Payton's picture in the backyard. (See previous post.)

The subway ride in Atlanta. Wow - it made me realize how much of a little bubble I live in here in Oklahoma!

This was Payton watching all the different people on the subway. I am pretty sure she learned some new words that shouldn't be repeated.

Baggage Claim!

This was our view from the Mariott Marquis in downtown Atlanta, GA!

We were on the 34th floor.

The girls and me looking out our window.

This was inside our hotel and I didn't care for the elevator ride up and down to our 34th floor! Payton on the other hand went right to the window and looked out!

This is Baby Bella, she was one of four little girls on the trip with us.

This is another one, baby Alexa. Alexa and Eden are only 4 weeks apart.

Payton photographing her little people she was playing with in the hotel room.

The conference, that looks more like a concert and sounded more like a southern gospel revival - we are not sure really what we attended, we just know we had a ton of fun and learned a lot!

Sweet Eden snoozing in bed. Early mornings and late nights.

The beds were super nice!

Six o'clock in the morning - leaving the hotel to head for home.

Payton and Clay trying to run off some energy in between sessions at the conference.

A sweet note that Payton wrote and then took a photo of in the hotel room.

Dallas Airport lunch and babies playtime.

Kaytie Jo with us leaving the hotel.

We had so much fun and we were SO worn out by the time we got home!

~Holly

More moments and photos

2008-04-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

So we have been doing several fun things that we have taken photos of in the past couple of weeks and I thought I would share them with you! :) They are kind of in random and out of sorts order.

A fun visit from Nicole - Kaytie Jo's (our roomate) old roomate. She is so funny and great. We shared a wonderful meal of buritto bowl's with her.

This is cool mosaic table that we made as a community at church on Easter morning.

Payton eating honey seared chicken at Pei Wei on her birthday evening. It is her favorite meal!

The big happy family at the big party on Saturday.

Kiddos decorating cookies to eat!

Payton has been doing a little photography on the side these days and this is one of the pictures I found on the camera. I found it hilarious - hope you do too.

Payton photographing our garden bed with baby lettuce and spinach poking.

The four year old birthday girl on Friday evening.

Blowing out the candles.

Sweet Eden Grace swinging on the new swing set in the backyard.

Payton Jayde swinging and showing off her fruit leather in the backyard. The girls got money for Christmas from grandparents and other family members to build a swing set. So we finally got around to building it last week. When I say "we" I really mean my dad and wonderful husband. It is a legal buy for those of you questioning if it is new or not... "the panel" of judges said it was okay because it was money received before the new year for a specific gift. :)

Payton and Eden on the front porch Easter Morning

Eden at our Good Friday service.

Payton and her fabulous Easter Eggs!

Payton's Portrait of Clay on a picnic at Mohawk Park

On a hike at Oxley Nature Center with our friends the Ruckers.

Payton resting on bench already at the beginning of our hike. She is totally a city girl, reminds me of myself a lot. Hopefully we will get her past this city girl stage and into nature lover very soon.

This little thing was photographed by Payton in our house one day. When going back thru our camera I discovered it. We have been visited by some mice of late and I honestly thought this was one of them. However after I screamed upon viewing it, Payton let me know it was just one of her tiny toy cows she was photographing.

Well there it is in nutshell over the last couple of weeks. I am getting the camera all charged up and ready to head out for Atlanta tomorrow. I am sure we will be back with many more photos and tales. Between riding shuttles, airplanes and subways surely we will come home with some kind of fun.

~Grace and Peace ~

Holly

My Life and My Thoughts

2008-04-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

My sweet Payton that just turned four this weekend.

Eden Grace, my garden child!

So I have made NO time to blog in the last several weeks. It has been one thing after another around here. So here are some of my thoughts - randomness of sorts.

*I am overwhelmed

* Where does my time go? I am always cooking, cleaning, teaching, washing, gardening...but I have no time for what others seem to have time for in a regular day.

* I did plan a birthday party for Payton that was a hit! Kiddos came to the house in random intervals in a three hour time span and decorated cookies. It was great at times and then there were times where I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs and leave the house. The moment in time for me to want to do that most was when all my friends from all walks and seasons of life and family landed in the same spot at the same time. I didn't have time to spend with any or all of them. So I simply hopped from one to the next like a little hyper dog trying to make sure I gave my love to each one.

* Why do we do this kind of torture to ourselves? Are our kids going to remember these chaotic parties? I didn't have but one or two birthday parties in my lifetime and I remember those, but not to say that I am at a loss for not having more.

*I hope my kids remember how hard I work for them.

*This is why I don't have time for silly nonsense in this world - I am raising two precious girls.

*I went to a "Natural Momma's" group this morning. It was great. I walked in feeling a little out of place but by the time I left, I felt totally comfortable.

* I am hopping on a plane for the first time in 3 years. I hate flying!!! Well the whole family is going so if we go down - we are going down as a family. We are heading to Atlanta for the weekend for a Mona Vie confrence. For those of you who didn't know we are climbing the ladder in Mona Vie. I may have not mentioned to you yet. I don't want to be known as the crazy juice lady. I am sharing this product with people because it is doing incredible things for our health.

*I have a rollercoaster of emotions these days. I have given permission to myself to let some things go that I have been holding on to for a little less than a year now. However, this week I feel like I just picked them back up again. I am a little sad, overwhelmed, and jealous.

* On the other hand I am very excited, refreshed, and renewed with blossoming friendships all around me. Suddenly I have burst out of my bubble of life I have lived for almost the last ten years and have discovered that there is life outside of my world. It is great.

*So just between you and me - I want a housekeeper. Just like everyother week or so. I am really not a fan of "stay at home" moms having housekeepers - but now that I am one - I think we need them more than anyone else.

*My hair is getting greasier - maybe it is the shampoo or maybe it is just my hormones changing - but I have NEVER had oily hair. YUCK!!

*I wish my kids took three hour naps.

*I miss my husband. I feel like for the most part we pass each other in the hallway and sometimes get to have dinner together. Is it ever going to slow down?

*I am listening to a great book on CD - "Grace Eventually" by Anne Lamott. It is not a read for conservative christians. Or maybe it is - wow she is real - makes me feel a little more sane, or a little less crazy when I listen to her.

* I have to stop blogging and go pack - well wash first and then pack.

*I think five hours on a plane is not going to be fun with a four year old and a nine month old.

*Say a prayer for nice weather and smooth rides for us. I am really much more comfortable with both feet on the ground.
~H