month in pics backwards!

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.

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!

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...

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!

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 :)

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!!!

E

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!

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