Where The Orange Blossoms Grow....

Hello! Welcome to the Stricklen's blog. We hope to keep our family and friends up to date with what is going on with our family. You will find a variety of experiences posted here -- you may find pictures of the never ending project of building our house, Callie helping William with his first steps, Mary studying a rare insect species, or perhaps you may be terribly bored with Molly's numerous fruit trees, berries, vegetables and rare plant pictures! Who knows what we may find Chris and CJ doing -- probably something having to do with a tractor or machine of sorts. Abby and Margaret will keep us entertained with costumes from other lands or a fairy story. Whatever we post, we trust it will lift your spirits and bring honor and glory to our Lord!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Day at the Sarasota Plant Sale -- Molly's Dream Come True!







A few weeks ago Chris surprised me and offered to take me to a Plant Show/Sale in Sarasota! I was, needless to say, delighted by the offer. We found several native plants for our recently planted Butterfly Garden and we found some beautiful and unusual plants (my personal favorites!!) We found a "Sausage Tree" like the one at the Edison Home in Ft. Meyers. They say it will grow fast. We will see.... We rewarded the children for being good little troopers by taking them to the Florida Aquarium afterwards. We had a great day! Thank the Lord for His mercy on our family.






What in the world?? Pretty!!Me with the Angel Winged Begonias -- Lovely!


A SAUSAGE TREE???!!!
Hmmm... I wonder if you can eat it???

At a Pizza joint!



Nice, big smile, Deeda



Chris was SOO sweet that day -- Awww!!



Wills and his entourage sunning!Mary's pic of a Passionflower

BEST BUDDIES!


Callie and William

What's THAT???

All of Us except Chris (Chris took the picture)



Mary

C.J. and the Horseshoe Crab.

Mary's picture of the stingray!

Posted by Molly





On the 10th we had the McClendon family over for dinner.
We had alot of fun!




This is Margo, Callie and I making brownies

Mrs. McClendon with "Little Johnny" and Willie
The jailbird and his companion!!!

(This picture was actually at the Mom's meeting)




On Oct. 7th was Grandma Sue's birthday!
Everyone gave her a plant for her birthday.
We all had a great time!


Happy Birthday, Grandma Sue!

Us kids with Grandma Sue!







Abby presents the Birthday cake!



Grandmother with Grandma Sue.

Happy Birthday!



On the 14th. was Markie's 10th. and Gracie's 16th. Birthday
we celebrated it on Sunday after church




~Sparky Markie!~

With the doll quilt that Margaret

and Grandma Sue made for her.




Momma and Daddy with Grace

On Saturday, the 13th, we-the "Country Cousins" had a performance

in Wachula, FL celebrating their 100th anniversary.

We had a great time together!




The Little Cousins
The "Country Cousins"

Posted by Mary























Saturday, October 6, 2007

Bok Tower

Howdy, everyone!
On........uhhh.......what day was it? On.... Wednsday we went to Bok Tower in Lake Wales. We had a pleasant afternoon together. We all have wonderful memories of Mama taking us all to Bok Tower on many a sunny afternoon. Most of us share a love for plants and gardening, so we have always enjoyed and looked foward to those days!
(Dedicated to our dear Mumsy:)

Callie, Mary, Abby and Margaret
Mama and Abigail
Margaret and C.J.
Us Kids
Willie and his "Mamasita" (Little Mama)
(Help me, please, Grandmother!)
The gorgeous swan!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

A Few Pictures from last Saturday

Callie, Mary and Rachel at our house
The Chefs
The Littles having a good time The Big Kids saying Hi!!! Brother against Brother :)