# 4 on July 28th!!

Yep, our little man is FOUR today! My oh my how time flys by! Look at how he has changed over the years! (Doesnt he just look 4 is this recent pic?)



















I was getting sentimental and going through some of his pictures. Just wanted to share a few pics on the site.Click on them to enlarge.







Newborn pics










1st Bday




















DJ in India. He had hurt himself- was teething, and down to his last pacifier- which was strung around his neck with yarn- we did NOT want to lose that thing!














LOVED greatly by his sisters!













A big brother he became, a very good one at that too!























1st Big boy bed!
















Peter Pan at Halloween!
















A boy who truly loves all modes of transportation!





















Is always willing to hang out!














DJ's train party- for his 2nd bday!













A boy for adventure- just like his daddy!















An an expedition to the zoo.












Riding the metro with mom in DC. Such a good traveler. LOVES adventures!




















This boy LOVES to eat. This was DJ at the luau a few months ago. I was sitting next to him and noticed he looked like this. He was shoveling in about 30 grapes! Just couldnt get enough!!








This is Dylans best bud! They are a little less than a day apart. They had a joint bday party last year. FUN!












This boy loves his rubber boots! Even in the heat of the summer without socks!



















Carpentry work, figuring out/and fixing and building things are a passion both DJ and his dad share!
















Has always been a fish! LOVES the water.

GO J-MAN!

Our dad, who we have lovingly renamed J-MAN, has been training for a long time for the local Triathlon, which was this last weekend! He did so amazing we are just so proud! He placed a 94 in overall place!

The cool thing about this race was he had to wear a micro-chip on his ankle. It recorded all of his stats throughout the race. Click here to read those stats. If you click in the brown box to show all, you can see everyone's stats from the race. There were 324 people in the Sprint Triathlon race.

All that hard work paid off! At first, his goal was to finish the race, and when he finished 7th during the trial run his goal changed to be in the first 100. He did it! Now he is thinking of how to improve for the next traithlon next year! ;)

Of course our Papa came and took lots of wonderful pictures. Click here to see the pictures.

Joel was so blessed by all the prayers, enouragements, and praises! Especially this morning when he found 9 signs all in our yard saying things like "WAY TO GO!"

Letting the creativitiy flow!

I just LOVE to see creativity flow through through people, especially my children! Give your kiddos a few items, and watch their creativity flow, I tell you- you will be amazed. But be open and ready for a mess, and allot for some serious cleanup time.

Recently, while the boys were playing in their little pool on the back patio, I gave them washable paint, and some paintbrushes. Everything (including the play car, the pool water, the back door, mommys feet, and eachother) was red and blue, and eventually purple! They had a super colorful time!































Then I gave the girls a bunch of blocks to lay out and build. I was shocked with the end product. They built a village for their Littlest Pet Shop animals. They got flowered branches off our Crape Mrytle trees, and added all kinds of things. We had this set up to enjoy and play with for days!














































And last, mommy got THIS! Havent started getting creative with the machine yet, just still trying to figure out how in the world to make it work!! Soon, I will make my first pillow, or curtain, and when I do, I will post it online!

4th

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!
















"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." ~Elmer Davis

Another magnificent post....

There is so much stuff I want to post and so little time to do it. My sweet hubby gave me some time to attach myself to the computer to write a post. I dont necessarily want to write a bunch of posts- so here is a nice big fat post!!

I will start with the big 3-0. To my gladness, Joel worked super hard on putting together a pool party to celebrate my birthday. It was SO SWEET!


Lots of family and friends showed up and we had a splashing good time! Janice made my cake- I felt like a little kid again when I saw it- I was so excited! We grilled, enjoyed cake, swam, had duckey races and enjoyed eachother. It was a great birthday indeed! I am SO blessed! And 30 isnt so bad!












































We recently went and got all of our hair cuts! Momma was tired of dealing with nappy hair this summer! The pool is just making our hair so naughty! ;) I also got my hair permed and cut! Definitely a new look for me- I love it!






















A week or so ago, we took Taylor to see his 1st movie ever! We saw the movie UP in a small town called Clifton where our Granny and Granpa live. This place was so cool because its Texas' oldest continuously operating movie theatre. The owners were so nice, they gave Taylor his own shirt in honor of his 1st movie showing! Check out their website.







We are enjoying our garden. Its growing so nicely. Just tonight, we pulled off our first watermelon. Last week we ate our first cantaloupe. Our pumpkins are starting to turn orange! We've been storing all the herbs and okra- just cant eat it all enough.



Our sunflowers grew so tall, bloomed, and made their seeds. We were able to dry them all out and harvest the seeds. SO MUCH FUN! We cannot wait till next year to plant them again!

















The Strickland School is ramping up for another great year. I was able to attend a conference in Austin to get encourages, inspired and do some curriculum research. SO EXCITING! I went with a good friend who also homeschools. We ate at Cheddars for lunch (which was out of our way-we almost didnt go to this one) and as we were walking up to the entrance, a car parked up front had this sticker on the back of their car. Unbelievable! I took this picture as a sign. Its official, we are going strong for another year! I looked it up and there is a Christian school in Austin called "The Strickland School". Not sure everyone here will want to read about our homeschooling adventures. SO! I started another site called The Strickland School. It will be a journal of our adventures in homeschooling, our opinions, experiences, trials, and triumphs! I will post on this site when we have a new post over there. I have a few posts up, my most recent: 9 REASONS WHY WE HOMESCHOOL.


Its summer! We are enjoying our swimming, art, adventure, gymnastic, family, and lake days. Good times!


"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world." ~Ada Louise Huxtable