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!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Summer Days

Collecting the summer rains - How exciting!
Something is wrong with this picture
I don't know what
Just something!
A child shouldn't be sitting beside a TV
IN a cabinet
Son and Father
Grits: "What am I going to do with this child?"
Growing in the Word
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How to Get Dressed
in  4 Easy Steps"
By William Stricklen
Age 2
Rip drawer open at the risk
of it falling on your toes
(Wear cowboy boots every day as a precaution)
Choose the slobbiest shirt in there
that would go best with worn out sweat pants
Give your older sister a glance as
she tries to make you smile
Proceed in getting dressed -- But be prepared
to choose another "favorite" outfit in about an hour!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Future Pilot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lazy Summer Days
Brothers always have a good time outdoors
"Cotton Top"
Friends Always
Rain Lilies
A view of Bok Tower from our deck
Excitement!  A New Liner = Clean Pool!
...And Summer Nights
Old Glory flying proudly on Memorial Day
Those stained glass windows finally doing what they were intended to do!
Dreams really do come true - Thank you, Lord!
 Callie took this beautiful Sunset picture in our yard
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Wild Children
(Whose are they?)
and where have their parents been??
Well, there is Daddy!
Daddies make the best horsies!
*********************************************
In the Kitchen
Hmmm, What to do with lots of jalapenos?
Get your gloves and goggles.....
And make some "Stuffed Jalapenos"!! 
These were absolutely divine!
Hava sum PIZ'ZA!
(Ok, bad Italian accent!)
Callie has become quite good at her homemade pizza :)
Margaret's first pie
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homemade Dill Pickles
We ended up with loads of pickling cukes from our garden.
Callie made some dill pickles and I made some sweet ones.
Callie's Dill Pickles - Sorry, no pictures of the Sweet Pickles
===================================================
Church Picnic in the
"Enchanted Forest"
and Blackberry Picking
Making preparations for the church picnic
Home grown peaches and lots of other goodies
Mary decided to make a chocolate cake
It was delicious!
We have to bring some freshly brewed iced tea!
Our family at the picnic
My parents enjoying the beautiful property the
Lord has provided for them.
This property has become a very special
place for their grandchildren ~ Lots of memories here!
The Waldmans and Dischers along with Terrie and Amanda
William's bucket never seemed to gain any berries!
Sweet Friends
I love this picture!
The end of a lovely day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unusual Visitors!
Argghh!!! I'm here to seize the tea!
Hand it over!
Ahh, Yes, Darling!
Oh, no!  I think they have affected my child!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four Bad Mice Come for a Visit!
(The bad mice play while Jane and Lucinda are away)
We came home one day and found these pictures on our camera!
They came just looking for mischief!
Smile big, Mandy, You'll regret it later!
They incriminated themselves
by leaving these on our camera!
I see Hunca Munca,
but where is Tom Thumb?
(Or is that Grace modeling for the latest oudoors line of clothing?)
(Or could she be stealing peaches - She is known for that!)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Disclaimer: Now, now girls.  Don't be too mad at me!
This was PAYBACK for something (?) long ago.
  You know Aunt Molly doesn't do stuff like this
very often :) 

8 comments:

Whiddon Family said...

Hahaha! Y'all are so funny! My favorites are the ones of William getting dressed and the silly Discher girls (and Mandy's) visit. ;) Our Timothy is just like William in the getting dressed -and re-dressed department.
Have a wonderful summer!
Blessings,
~Mallory~

Jason and Ashley said...

What cute pictures! The one of Mary cutting up Jalopenos with goggles and gloves cracked me up!
There were some sweet pictures as well, thanks for sharing.

Love,
Ashley

Whiddon Family said...

Y'all's puppy sure are growin up fast. I guess it doesn't "dawn" on me that dogs don't stay puppies forever. ;)
Yeah, like Mallory said, y'all's Wills is just like our Timothy used to be like- ripping open his drawer, and re-dressing so many times.
My! Little Wills is growing up too quickly! I guess babies gotta grow up too. ;-)
Y'all's pool looks SOOO nice... especially since up here the heat index is 110. :0
ummm.. Mary? Goggles to cook? Just jokin, funny pictures!
Hilarious pictures of the girls! ;)
Thanks for posting!

Laney

The Miller Family said...

What funny pictures!

Matthew wants to know if William ever wears a shirt.

Mary and the goggles/gloves--very bright, my dear--we just used some of our jalapenos and Rachel wishes she had worn gloves!

Callie, the pizza looks WONDERFUL! Can you tell I'm hungry?

I love the pic of William resting his head on Grits.

Love,
Aunt Katie

The Stricklen Family said...

Hi!
To answer Matt's question Wills does wear a shirt most of the time.
He wasn't wearing one cause he had just gotten up from a nap.
Love ya!
Abby

Bonnie said...

Oh, this is so funny! You know what? I am having a ball clicking on each picture and enlarging it huge! It is amazing what you can see! You can actually see Bok Tower. And notice the floor behind Mary in her goggles -- well, I know it's from all the productive sewing these girls do!

And the picture with the yellow Kitchen Aid -- you can read the Bible verses and chore chart on the wall. And I believe those "bad mice" are really just . . . ummm, "pet food" deliverers, if I read the jug labels correctly!

What fun I have had with this post! And, Katie, please tell Matthew that I agree with him -- William wasn't just getting up from a nap in every one of those pictures!!

Thanks, Stricklens. This was fun!

Love,
Mother/Grandmother
who thinks the rain picture
looks wonderful after our
heat index today was 110, too!

The Dischers said...

Great post, Mama Stricklen! It's fun to see daily life at the Stricklens. The one with Grits and his "child" is so cute. I also like Wills laying his head on the puppy. So sweet.

Well, you sure caught those Discher (and MacCauley) girls in the act of being silly alright! Kind of like a surveillance camera ha ha!

Love,
Beth

Amanda McAuley said...

I enjoyed the post.
Uhh.. except for that last part... :)
I guess we asked for it didn't we?
The one of William with "fat boy" written on his belly was hilarious!

Love,
Mandy Sunshine
(who will not be playing with y'all's camera anymore!)