Saturday, January 31, 2009

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Come back for a new look soon! (As soon as I can remember how/what I'm doing!)

Friday, January 30, 2009

Measuring UP!

These two girls are 15 months apart.
Throughout their years together, there have been times where one is taller, or they are the same height.
Recently, Kayla and Emily were standing next to eachother- both talking to me and I realized- they are almost the same height!
I made them get back to back for a picture! Who knows what this could look like next month!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

New Post!

Wow, the last time I posted something on our site was on Jan. 4th. I have been a very distracted momma lately. I would upload pictures to share, but haven't been taking many pictures lately either.

As some of you may know, I am now homeschooling TWO 3rd graders! Which of course, has taken alot of my time. I love this opportunity to be able to teach and sow into my daughters and have them close. Im not gonna lie- its hard! But I know it will all be worth it to have these girls home during these formative years. No telling how long I will continue this path, we are just taking it a year at a time. We are re-evaluating for the next year-who knows!

We are also spending alot of time on remodeling our home. The kids bathroom needed help. Our amazing dad has retiled the tub, and the floor. We are in the middle of painting the walls and sealing the tile. I will post pictures later.

We are also putting up a big rectanglular fence in the back yard for our garden. We are starting to collect all of our gear, and will be tilling the earth soon! The girls are so excited about having our own garden. In science we are studying Creation through Botany. Im learning so much too about Gods design in plants!!

Another project around the corner is to pull up our living room carpet, which has been so abused, and we will be laying down wooden floors. SO EXCITING! The Lord knows the desires of our hearts and He provides!!

We are gearing up for WORLD MANDATE. A huge conference held by our church. I think this is the last year I play a lead role in World Mandate with the childrens department. Sad, but relieving in a way.

We are about to send out the invitations to our daughters 10th birthday party! TEN! My oh my how much she has grown! It will be a "garden party" to help equip Kayla for her first garden.

Emmy is happy to be starting soccer soon. She has been outside practicing and getting ready. We think she is going to be an amazing player.

The boys are doing great. They are really happy to involve with eachother these days. They can also fight too! Whew!

Thats the Strickland update! Hopefully I can find more time soon to post pics and share more of our happenings soon!


Sunday, January 4, 2009

Value Tales

We are excited about a new book collection we got the kiddos for Christmas. We had expected to have the entire collection (43 books) but there was a miscommunication in one order where we received duplicates but didn't keep. So we have 31 books.









Joel remembers reading these books when he was a little boy, they have been around since the late 70's, but they are no longer being published. Actually, a new line of books are being published with new values and new people.

Each of these books give a simplified and somewhat fictionalized biography of a historical figure, illustrating the value of a positive characteristic. These books help build character as well as teach about historical figures. (Click on the picture above to see who each book is about. Its written on the far left of the book binder.)





So the book "The Value Of RESPECT" is about Abraham Lincoln, and "The Value Of Creativity" is about Thomas Edison....

Here's the list of all the value tales books we have:
HELPING,
BELIEVING IN YOURSELF,
CURIOSITY,
PATIENCE,
SAVING,
RESPECT,
RESPONSIBILITY,
FORESIGHT,
FAIRNESS,
FRIENDSHIP,
FACING A CHALLENGE,
LEARNING,
TENACITY,
CARING,
GIVING,
SHARING,
DEDICATION,
DETERMINATION,
IMAGINATION,
BOLDNESS,
UNDERSTANDING,
KINDNESS,
CREATIVITY,
FANTASY,
ADVENTURE,
HONESTY,
COURAGE,
LOVE,
HUMOR,
TRUTH AND TRUST,
CREATIVITY

What I the most excited about is we will be reading one book a week in homeschooling. I made up a review sheet, where Kayla will write about each book. She will define each value, summarize who the book was about and how they exercised that particular value, and then will write how she could apply this value to her life. We are starting with the book "The Value Of TENACITY" which is about the hockey legend Maurice Richard.

I'd encourage everyone to own some of these books! Or if your in our area, and ever want to borrow a Value Tale- we'd gladly share!