December

December came and went so fast!

We had lots of fun doing the ADVENT-ture of Christmas.

We also talked alot about the true meaning of Christmas and tried to remain diligent in sharing why we do the things we do at Christmas. We like to point our rituals and traditions to Jes

us. This is our annual get on the roof picture! We did it this year with friends. There was so spiritual significance to getting on the roof, its just what we've been doing for 8 years!

We enjoyed time with friends and family! Especially with cousins from out of state and with uncle Matt from California. Em FINALLY beat Uncle Matt in our annual Monopoly game!

The girls sang beautifully at their Christmas concert. And Tatortot was ecstatic to get a new bike! He sure can travel by bike alot faster now! DJ was just as ecstatic to get a skateboard!

Below are other pics taken throughout December.

Christmas at the Strickland home

Our home is gradually becoming more festive for the holidays. It's been a little hard to be cheerful and excited like I usually am this time of year due to a sudden death of a friend. In an effort to move forward we are pushing through and continuing on with our normal traditions.

Someone snuck this strand of lights into our home. They are sensored so when we set them off for the first time we were surprised!! Since they go off often, we put them on our front door. Sure is fun to catch guests off guard with lights and music!

Next is our tree and fireplace. The girls pretty much set up the tree this year. So thankful for beautiful creative festive daughters!!

Walked past this the other day and had to take a picture. Yes Buzz and dinosaurs can worship baby Jesus at the stable!

Hopefully I can find the time to post more about ADVENT and what Christmas means to us.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Introducing --->LILLY!

We are just so full of love that we felt the need to add another member to our family! This is Lilly!

She is a dapple dachshund. She and our Daisy get along just fine! It's so sweet how much they love eachother!

The kids love and adore her as well.

I think she is already spoiled rotten!

We just love the personalities and temperaments of doxies. Both Daisy and Lilly fit right in with our family!

Hire a Strickland!!

The 6 Stricklands are going to the Dominican Republic! In an effort to raise funds, we are working side jobs.

-Joel is a carpenter and so talented when it comes to working with wood. He can build decks, awnings, cabinets, and even kayaks. He can also fix just about anything. Check out his kayak website.

-Tressa can come clean or organize anything. She can cook a homemade meal like no other and will deliver. She is available to sew or repair clothing. Tressa can also help in the garden.

-Kayla and Emily are so talented! They have been making beaded jewelry(pics to come), and can sew and stitch. They are also very helpful when it comes to babysitting. They can do any kinds of in house assistance- they are skilled when it comes to home economics.

-DJ makes a great assistant and can help dad or mom with just about anything. He even has his own tools!

-Taylor, well, he is just cute, does that pay? :)

Colorado Adventure

For our 13th anniversary- my handsome hubby and I went on a road trip to Colorado. We had soooo much fun- the trip just wasnt long enough!

Here are my favorite pics of the 300 I took! :)

This is the sun rising up behind a mountain. So beautiful to witness!

We enjoyed our mornings by the San Juan Creek that flowed peacefully through the town we stayed in.

This is the river downtown. So beautiful!

We had the pleasure to sit in the hot springs that overlooked the river. We soaked inthese "healing waters" several times. The waters ranged anywhere from 70 degress to 109.

We fully enjoyed being in the mountains. We spent some time mountain biking- it was so hard to breath going up-we werent adjusted to the altitude!

There were several opportunities to witness water falls. This one was breath taking! We were so close to the falls that we were being misted on.

This was Papa Bears favorite part of the adventure. We climbed (by car and foot) up the Great Divide. He was so proud we were so high. Look and see if you can read our elevation.

On our road trip home, we stopped at the Echo Amphitheater in New Mexico. BEAUTIFUL and amazing!

And also saw Cadillac Ranch- very interesting.

Our last stop was at the Palo Duro Canyon. Just reminds me of how big our God is!

SCHOOL TIME!

We have been doing school year round, but took a little break and started everything back up the first week of September. Here are a few pics!

This was our first day of STRICKLAND SCHOOL. We wanted to stay in our PJs and pose! :)

This is a pic of the girls first day of CO-OP. These lovely girl's are taking art, choir, PE, and photography at the local co-op.

This is a pic of the boys first day of PRE-K. They are so proud of their backpacks!


These are a few random pics from the few weeks in homeschool.

SO THANKFUL to have everyone home learning!

The girls are going to "Journey Across America" this year. Everyone's (mom included) going to learn alot about American History.


We are actually doing PRE-K/Kinder curriculum with DJ. His first official year to be homeschooled.

Even Tatortot is enjoy his tator tot trays! (Things to do)

This is going to be a super year!

Ancient Artifacts

So we dug up our time capsule that we buried back in early 09-09. You can read our post back then here. Sure was alot of fun digging it back up and going through all the ancient artifacts within it. :)

We will be burying another this year!!

5

Our son DJ turned 5 today!
My how time has passed.

This is a pic of him enjoying his first birthday cake!
So thankful we have this boy in our family!


Papa Bear and I decided to write out 5 things we love the most about DJ. Just thought we would share these reasons with you all! And please understand.. there are a million reasons but we narrowed it to five....


1. He is so strong, that is why we call him SUPER DJ!

2. He is wonderful at bike riding and kayaking!
3. He is a great helper!

4. He is so smart in school and can write his name and draw pictures of his family!


5. He is a good brother in our family and we love him very much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DJ!! WE ARE PROUD OF YOU AND LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!