For the love of my hubs

I've had the sore throat_ congestion- thing going on for the last 2 days and so when the alarm sounded this morning hubs said "just stay in the bed, I'll take care of the kids".

But i did get up and help get them get out the door.
Something in me won't let me just lay there while they do everything on their own.
Plus i have to give hugs, kisses, & i love you's before they go. 

It's pretty chilly here so i grabbed my fav red hoodie and as i slid my hand down in the front pocket i felt this....

I have no idea when hubs put this in my jacket or for how long it's been in there. 

All i know is it stopped me in my tracks. How thoughtful is he.
To know that he was thinking of me and took the time to do this.

Then as i was going over my list of what i needed to get today at the store i saw this....

And an email i received randomly from him last week.

He never ceases to amaze me. 

I'm so thankful for a husband that pursues me with the little things. 

We can't afford to take big vacations together,

Or have scheduled, get away date nights every week.

Even though both of those things would be amazing and we'll eventually get there.

But i know that he loves me and he's thinking of me because of the little things that he does.
And that always makes life more lovely...

Happy Monday & Happy hope you get lots of candy night.;)
Heather :)

Linking up with

Carv 'n' out Memories

I’m so glad you’re here and hope that you will hang around_

maybe even introduce yourself…I would love to get to know you, too.

This blog of mine I started to document our life.

To share our loves_ our joys_ our pains_ our struggles_

our day-to-day_our randomness.

It has become so much more than I ever could have imagined.

This is our family of 5_ Jode. Heather. Grayson. Gabi. & Kayli_

and we are the holdens.

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 If you were to come and visit me today…walking up to my door you would find it decorated with a few odds & ends.

I’ve kinda gone Cra-z-y over all the bunting & pennants lately.

I’m shooting for a goal to have one hanging in each room of the house.

So of course, I had to add in one over the doorway.

The big ole’ pumpkin on the urn we bought like 3 weeks ago and he has lasted quite well.

 I was concerned he may not make it through, but he has,

and will hopefully be here for Thanksgiving time, too.

I decorate more for Fall that way when Thanksgiving is over I can go straight into my Christmas things. And Christmas is my fave.

This little guy I purchased from Wal-Mart around 5 years ago. 

He is fiber optic and the kids when they were smaller liked him because of all the pretty colors he would change into.

Well this year I hadn't put him out and the then unloading some more boxes the other day I found him and brought him in the kitchen. 

That's all it took, the kids got one look at him and said he had to be put out. 

I thought they were over him...but I guess not. I guess he's a keeper. 

I’m not exactly sure what the pumpkin roll is???

All I know is it sounded good and so I went with it.

We’ll just make it up as we go along... and have fun doing it.:)

This weekend we were invited over to some friend’s house for a

Pumpkin Carving Party.

The invitation said “BYOP”….bring your own pumpkin.

We arrived to find they had supplied all of the tools needed to carve out the pumpkins, tons of books with templates, and plenty of table space for all to gather round’

 and get to creating.

Middle didn't like the guts part. So she let youngest take them out for her.

After you carved your pumpkins it was time to have your picture made

by Mr. Frankenstein.

He was gi-normous and pretty spooky looking. 

They even had a smoke machine going for an added effect to your photo.

Hubs tried to do a mustache man and I tried to do a hoot owl.

Overall they came out pretty good.

We stood back admiring our lighted pumpkins and then...

we did the pumpkin roll.

Happy Friday!

Heather :)

Love in every step

I have a lot of quit in me,

Speaking from past endeavors as well as how I have felt recently

But I also have a lot of fight in me,

I want to know if I go down, it wasn’t because I didn’t put up a good fight.

And sometimes I HAVE to fight it out

Battle it out_ this faith of mine and the journey I’m on.

My family and I are at a different place in our lives, one I never anticipated

It’s uncharted territory for us

I’m frustrated

There are days when I feel alone

I’m disappointed

And at times I want to curl up and quit

And at others_ I want to swing_ spit_ and fight my way through

We are healthy

We have a roof over our heads

We have a job

We have 3 beautiful, healthy kids

We are extremely blessed and this is where my guilt starts to come_

I have absolutely no reason to feel funky_ to get the funk

But I do

Some days it’s just hard

Hard to get through

And I know it shouldn’t be

But the funk still comes

And so along comes the guilt that I feel

For me though, the questioning “why”_ “the wrestle” is a good thing

It’s where I am humbled

And I find out just how little I know

How very little control I have in all of this

But how much He loves and the fact

That He’ll never let go

I’m battling,

But I’m pressing on

I can’t afford to give up_ to give in

He (our all knowing heavenly Father) is the reason I can never quit

I'm thankful_ that He loves me every step of the way....

even when some steps take all the strength we can muster up.

.... for this too shall pass

Heather :)

Wordless Wednesday _ letting go

Heather :)

Fullness

This weekend was a FULL one.

We had a carnival_ a birthday party/sleepover_ and a pumpkin carving party.

Friday night started off with the kids’ elementary school having their yearly carnival. 

They raced big trikes_ jumped on some blow ups_ got to ring a few 2 liters_  smashed some
confetti eggs_ and threw shaving cream pies at their teachers. 

They ran around a lot... and me & hubs basically ran back & forth along with them just trying
to keep up with them all night!

Then Saturday I cleaned house all day like a mad woman trying to get it prepared

for  8 little girls_ 3 boys _ and a few adults that would help us celebrate Kayli’s birthday. 

Jode came up with the idea to do a hay ride and a scavenger hunt with them. 

Which I thought was super creative and so helpful for him to do.

On the list of things to find for the scavenger hunt were things like a flower_ an acorn_ 

but then he had put in a piece of fruit…and the kids got so upset because there aren’t random pieces of fruit to be found in the commons area of our subdivision. 

We had to explain to them quite a few times that they probably wouldn’t get everything on the list…. But it was just about the most items that they possibly could find. 

He also had some things on the list that we all learned about. Like a Maple Key… 

I've seen the little round pokey balls all over the ground but never knew that they were called that.

Hubs is an outdoorsman to say the least and so he got to explain to the

8 little girls what all the items were… such cuteness.

Then we all piled into the trailer for the hayride that Jode drove us on around the neighborhood. 

The girls sang really loudly and the neighbors could hear us coming from a mile away… 

they would wave, or stop to stare and the girls would bust out in hysterical giggles 

and then start the songs all back over again.

Next up was the bubble gum blowing contest…. this idea was courtesy of my SIL, Steph. 

She used to do this when all the nieces & nephews would get together and they always loved it. 

You just get dubble bubble gum and we let them have 3 pieces at a time and you try and see who can blow the biggest bubble. Once again Jode was the measurer of bubbles and our own Gabi girl wound up being the queen bubblegum blower. Blowing a bubble of 6 inches she was the proud winner….

In the treat bags I had made each of the girls a fabric flower bookmark.

My girls right now are all into reading, which I so love. 

They have something called AR and all these different reading challenges at school where they are constantly trying to beat their last score. And so a bookmark seemed to be the perfect little treat.

It’s the simple things, you know…. And sometimes I think it’s those things that they will probably always remember. Probably not the gift that we got them for their 9^th birthday but the singing & giggling on the hayride_ the hu-ge bubblegum bubbles that were blown_ trying to find moss_ mom cutting the cake into too big of pieces for everyone_ the spooky night hayride that they talked dad into_ staying up and giggling after the lights were all turned out… it’s probably those simpler things that they will wind up always remembering.
Hopefully that... and the fact that they were_ and are extremely loved.

Because carnivals_ birthday’s _ and pumpkin carving parties help to make life a little more lovely.

Heather :)

beholden...

Source: https://pinterest.com/pin/197567403/

- the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

grateful- adjective - feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.

When thinking this morning about all that I am thankful/grateful for 

my list kept growing…

: the weekend almost here

: celebrating youngest with a birthday party tomorrow

: being invited over to friend’s home

: crisp morning air

: hearing son yell “ I love you mom” before he goes out to play football

: and hearing him say it again as he comes in to get a drink of water

: gas in our cars

: balloons {cause they’re cute & colorful}

: favor with my hubs job

: healthiness

: the heat that warms our home

: leaves on the ground

: sun shining through the trees in backyard

: the warmth middle exudes

I also learned a new word this morning when getting the definition for grateful_  beholden... and this is what it said:

be·hold·en

Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted

Now I think i’ve heard this before but probably didn’t pay it much attention until today.

So I feel indebted to show my gratefulness towards my sponsors/friends on here….just because I don’t want to let the opportunity ever pass me by..

With that… here is a random_ off the top of my head_

reasons for my thankfulness towards them today.

Katie and her encouragement always

Kinze and her beautiful heart

Jami and “we encourage Tuesdays”

Laura for her pursuing something she’s passionate about

Hanna and her wise words

Heather and her creative inspiration

Chelsea and new life in her belly

Ruthie for a starbucks card sent & always being uplifting

Kim for her awesome recipes

Kelly for her sense of humor

Heather for inspiring me

Meredith for newlywed marriage

Kim for her openness & honesty

Kelli Diane for new friendship

Pamela for her sweet soul

Ashley for challenging me

Leslie for her wisdom

These lovely ladies inspire_ challenge_ encourage_ are all so beautiful_ and I am thankful.

have a happy weekend!

Heather :)

Tourin' the Youngest & a Curtain Tutorial

Little by little we continue to fix-up and make our new house "ours".

By putting our fingerprints on it_ in it_ by weaving them through the walls as we paint, or on the floors as we scrub…

The people inside are what make up our home

of this I'm sure.

But this process of taking what the Lord has given and turning it back over in anyway that we can is exciting and fun and I can’t wait to see ultimately how He chooses to use it.

It will be a process that we’re in no hurry to finish.

We just want to take it one step at a time and do a little as we live... we haven't had that option since renting/leasing most of our lives.

So it feels nice to paint my sons' wall purple because he loves LSU...ha, kidding, I mean he would absolutely love that, but I told him we've got to find a happy-medium here.

That's the thing when they’re little, you can do their room really cute and such...but not so much as they get older and have their own likes/dislikes. They think they know what looks best and so i have to take the back seat with my great ideas and go with their great ideas and sometimes i have to bite my lip...hard, real hard...and just bare it..because after all it is their room and i want their creativeness to shine through.

Ok. anyways, moving on..youngest had a trundle that she

slept on until moving here. Her and middle shared a room and there

wasn't enough space for 2 beds so it worked perfectly.

She used that for the first couple of weeks and we knew we had to find her a bed. 

That.. and she kept reminding us that she didn’t have a bed and everyone else did. Craigslist is the bestest sometimes and we were able to find her the cutest kind

 of Pottery Barn-ish looking one.

Then came Target's hu-ge clearance in their bedding dept. and waa-lah her 

bedroom is pretty much completed on a very limited budget.

This is one of my fav things..the ruffly cotton sheets...pure sweetness..

and $4.94 from the Target clearance things.

For her curtains I bought a $5 twin flat sheet from Wal-mart and cut it in half.

I'm not big on measurements and in hindsight probably should have measured her windows or thought about getting a Full sheet for the extra width...but i was thinking cheapness and doing it for less and so the $5 seemed to be the better choice at the time. If you want more coverage I recommend going with the

Full instead.

Next i found Fabric tacks at Hobby Lobby and then i got 6yds of red pompom fringe and hot glued it onto the inside edges of the sheet.I was pleased with how it came out and $11 for cuteness window treatments isn’t too bad.

Now we're on to getting middle's room done. 

Then we'll do oldest's and lastly I'll think about me & hubs. 

Until then I'm just enjoying the process ...
Heather :)