Princess for a Day...

What a fun weekend we had! The kids traveled to Kansas City with my parents to celebrate my niece Ellie's 5th birthday and here's a picture of the start of the party! I don't have the after photos yet. Ellie and Lydia went to a Kiddie spa where they had manicures, pedicures and their hair and make-up done. Then it was off to a fancy lunch--they wanted McDonald's but settled for the Dinosaur restaurant at Legends instead! Not a very girly place to eat, but lots of fun anyway! Thank you Aunt Gina and Uncle Kip for a great girly date and a super fun weekend! Oh, and Nana and Papaw too for letting the kids go along on your trip!

Mark said, hey if we are going to be kidless for a weekend let's get outta here! So we took off to St. Louis for the weekend and had a blast just shopping and hanging out in the big city. We saw the movie Leap Year too and it was sweet, funny, romantic, cute--my favorite kind of movie! Now it's back to the real world today with school, work, laundry, homework, schedules, etc. It was fun while it lasted, but as Dorothy says, "There's no place like home"! By the way, I bought the cutest plaque for my wall this weekend at Kirkland's that has that exact quote.

Saying Good-bye...

What a busy weekend! Friday night, Lydia went to her first birthday sleepover at a friend's house and had a fun time. She made it all night without missing her Daddy! Caleb had some friends over to sled, eat pizza and hang out in the basement. Saturday morning we all went to watch some of Caleb's friends play basketball at the Jr. High. That afternoon, Mark and my dad installed my new dishwasher and it looks great! Can't believe I'm so excited about a kitchen appliance but our dishwasher was ancient and rusting out so I am thrilled to have a shiny new one!

Sunday was a busy day at church since we had our annual Missions lunch where all the committees and their families have a meal together then have a planning meeting. For the past 6 1/2 years Mark has been the Missions Director at our church. This has been a volunteer part-time job and he has loved organizing the mission efforts of the church since he is so passionate about missions. But, it takes so much time along with his full-time engineering job that he just feels like he cannot keep up anymore. We've been praying about this for several months and Sunday at the meeting he announced that he would be stepping down as Missions Director of Lynwood at the end of the month. When he spoke, I could tell that he was sad to be letting it go, but he says he feels a peace that this is the right time to step down. Our family is growing up and getting busier by the year and he doesn't want to miss out because he was too busy with other "good" things. He has done a great job trying to juggle work, church and family but he can only do so much. We are not going anywhere and plan to stay actively involved in Lynwood missions, Mark just won't have to be in charge now and we're all excited about that!

I just thought I'd share that so those of you from Lynwood who read this could hear from us about his decision. We look forward to what God will continue to do in the Mission ministry of the church and to what he has in store for our family in 2010!

Friends on the Fridge!

It was another freezing cold day here yesterday and Lydia wasn't feeling too great so I kept her home from school to see if she was getting sick (which she never did thank the Lord), so we were stuck inside again and needed an easy project for the two of us to accomplish. I'm trying to think of at least one task per day I'd like to accomplish for sure and then if there's time for others that's great, but at least I will feel like I did one productive task each day!

Our project was to get our Friends on the Fridge! Each year when friends and family send us a Christmas photo card we tape it to our refrigerator so we can look at them, talk about fun memories with them and most of all pray for them throughout the year. I think this year I'm going to have one of the kids close their eyes at dinnertime and choose the family we will pray for. It makes my fridge look a little cluttered and I usually don't like clutter (although if you looked around right now you'd think I love it!) but I figure it's for a good cause and the kids love it. And when people come over they always look through the pictures and ask who is this or what are they up to these days? It's fun! So, if you sent us a photo card, thanks so much and know that you will be in our prayers sometime this year! If you don't see yours in the picture, don't worry it's probably just on the other side!

Oh, and by the way, my one productive task for today is to survive a trip to Wal-mart to stock up for the snow that's on it's way. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year!

I thought I'd welcome 2010 with a new look for our blog! It's from Leelou Blogs and it was totally free! Just delete the old one and copy and paste the new design, so easy! I can't believe my last post was in November. How do some girls find the time to post everyday? I spent December catching up from working in November and getting ready for Christmas, then the kids have been on break for the last two weeks so like everyone else we've been super busy. We had a great Christmas and New Year's with both sides of the family. The weather was good with only a few snow flurries and everyone stayed healthy. I was sad to say good-bye to the kids who returned to school this morning. Usually, I'm so ready for them to go back and return to our normal routine. Not sure what's wrong with me, maybe just getting older and realizing my time with them at home is growing shorter! You know, I am turning 40 in a few short months!

It's sunny today, but freeeeeezing cold outside so I plan to stay in and try to tackle this mound of laundry, find a home for all these new Christmas gifts and put a few decorations away. I'm going to try not to think about how quiet my house is, but instead watch the clock for 2:30 when it's time to go get my sweet 3. I bet I won't be ready then! Happy Monday, friends!

I'm Back...

Well, we made it! We all survived 6 weeks of me teaching 1st grade! Let me just say it was an interesting 6 weeks with a bunch of crazy kids and I am so glad it's over. It was a great learning experience for me and I was challenged to be a better teacher because of it, but I am not ready to be a full-time teacher and part-time mom anytime soon. I'd much rather work for free as a full-time mom and keep my sanity than make "lots of money" teaching and end up in the funny farm! Maybe I'll share some of my crazy experiences in the classroom in a blog post soon. I'm sure you'd love to hear my stories about everything from head lice checks to shoes being thrown at me to finding "sexiest fantasies" perfume in a 6-year-old's desk! Let me just say I am so thankful for the life, husband and kids God has given me. I am blessed!

I am scheduled to sub for them again several days in the coming weeks as the teacher will be out getting treatments. I think I can handle a day here and there. Maybe that won't be quite as exciting!

We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home this year just celebrating with Mark's family. My side of the family will spend Christmas together this year so we didn't get to see them for Thanksgiving. We spent the weekend decorating the outside of our house for Christmas and now I'm starting to work on the inside since the kids are back in school. Thought I'd decorate our blog for the season too. Enjoy the Christmas music!

Workin' 9 to 5!

Just a quick note to let you know the Strickland's are fine! Sorry we were stuck on that sick day post for so long, but I have not had one extra minute to post anything new. I was asked to sub at Lydia's school for a first-grade teacher who will be out for surgery for six weeks and I still can't believe I said yes! Am I insane? I haven't taught school in 14 years! I just finished my first week and am beyond exhausted, my house is a total wreck and my boys are even having to help do their own laundry! So, we are in a serious period of adjustment in this home and you probably won't hear much from me until Thanksgiving when my job is over. I'm just praying this teacher returns because when my 6 weeks is up, I am outta there! Wish me luck and that I won't catch any of the flu germs that are flying around my room!

Sick Days

Fall is here and that means cooler temps, colored leaves, apple cider, flu shots and the arrival of germs! And we are not happy about it! The school nurse called Monday afternoon and said Levi had a fever and cough, please come get him. She was sure it was the flu since she'd sent 5 kids home that day with the same symptoms. The flu test showed NO flu so we are super excited about that. Just a virus that acts like the flu. So, the last couple of days Levi's been going puzzle-crazy and finished three 550-piece puzzles! He's been pretty bummed because he hates to miss school and he hasn't been able to play with his cousins who are here visiting from KC. He's much better today and should be back to school tomorrow. Now, we're just crossing our fingers that no one else gets it!

We don't have time for sickness around here with our crazy life. We've been busy with soccer tournaments in St. Louis, getting a new heating and air system installed at our house, Mark having to rebuild the computer system at work due to a virus, and just the normal daily stuff for school and church. I've been subbing quite a bit and still trying to get adjusted to this "working mom" thing. I think I got spoiled being home for 14 years! I still can't complain since I'm only working a couple days a week, if that.

We are off to the pumpkin patch tomorrow with Lydia's Kindergarten class--IF everyone stays healthy and the rain stays away! Stay tuned for pictures!