New House

Two posts in one week.....a Miracle has occured!

Not quite sure what happened to this post, but I spent a LONG time uploading these images and writing captions only to post it and see that some of the photos deleted themselves (?!) and the wording no longer fits with the pictures...how frustrating! So instead of redoing it all I'm just posting it as is with this little cautionary caption.......................

Justin, myself and Emme went house hunting in Kansas last week. Despite record low temps (seriously, coldest day in 25 years!) we were successful. We toured 30 homes before 3:00 in the afternoon ! I told our realtor I was fast and decisive....I just don't think she realized how fast! Then Justin joined up with me and we toured my 5 favorites. As always we both loved the same house, and after some quick negotiations we bought a new house! We were so lucky to have quickly sold our house here in Iowa, so it looks like March 1st is our moving date! Here are some photos of the new house.....















The house has this great little hearth area in the kitchen to just sit and relax in











View of living room and the outdoor living space. We are having a mantle built on the outdoor fireplace and then wired for Justins outdoor Tv. Also we're having privacy screens installed so it's all enclosed and we can keep all the doors open with NO bugs!










Kitchen - there's good work space and we're having double ovens installed...finally!















View from front looking through the living room and into the hearth room and dining area. The house is well laid out for entertaining (which I love) and has a great casual feel without being to formal.








View of hearth room looking into the dining area.
















Cute little half bath off the kitchen area






















Downstairs living area...we're having some finish work being completed down here and then it'll be perfect for kids, toys, wii and gaming!













Sorry the photos are so crappy....I quickly went around the house and snapped some photos on our way out the door to the airport! We're always wanting visitors though so please come see us!

Disney Cruise

The week before Christmas we went on a Disney Cruise! We met my parents and my sisters family and we all embarked on a week long cruise to the carribean! It couldn't have come at a better time because Iowa get hit with a blizzard the day before. Thankfully we made our flights and we were ready for some fun in the sun! The week was spent eating good food, hanging out at the beaches and pools, watching the nightly stage shows, and playing games throughout the ship. We all didn't want to leave and would do it all over again in a heart beat....here are some of our photos!

In a Nutshell....

Due to the HIGH DEMAND of complaints, I am updating the blog. You all have been asking for pictures of Emme and here they finally are! She is almost seven months (unbelievable!) and is such a cute, sweet baby.
And how is the rest of the family? Well, in about the smallest nutshell ever, here it all is....get ready: -we've gotten to do some traveling to chicago, kansas, minnesota, missouri and florida - and upcoming is a disney cruise, utah for christmas and kansas again. For those of you who don't know, we're moving to Kansas in the spring. The house is for sale and that is definetly no fun! The kids are good, Anna is in kindergarten and Cameron is in preschool. We had a great Halloween despite a few fevers and earaches. Thanksgiving is already this week which we are spending with friends (aka...I don't have to cook!) We are all healthy and happy and if you need more info than this...send me an email - I'd love to hear from you!

Busy Summer....

We've been so lucky to have had family visiting us for the past month! My sister was here with her kids, my parents came back out for another visit, and my brother-in-law was here for awhile as well. Everyone left yesterday and it is all kinda sad....so if you've been waiting to call, now is a great time...I could use some cheering up! Anyways, here are a few of the MANY things we've been up to------

We visited the movie site from Field of Dreams which took place here in Iowa.
The infamous corn field from the movie. Cameron has this giant baseball bat hanging on the wall in his bedroom so we brought it with us to take photos with....we got some good ones!

We also visited the home site of Mark Twain in Missouri....here is the fence he had to white-wash that stands next to his house

While at Mark Twains homesite we climbed up to the top of a local lighthouse for some pics. This one is over looking the Mississippi river with an old paddleboat floating by. I climbed all the steps up and down with Emme strapped to me in the babybjorn.....lets just say my calves were VERY sore the next two days!

My sister and I took the kids to Minneapolis for a few days. We ate at Rainforest, rode some of the rides at Nickelodeon Universe and did some shopping....we were exhausted when we got back from that trip!

And of course a few photos of the kids!

Emme is growing so fast!

I've got more photos from our adventures to post, so look for the rest tomorrow!

Another Update...

Sorry for doing another group update, but here's what we've been doing.....

We spent the weekend in Minneapolis two weeks ago for both Anna's birthday and to do a little "getaway". It was the first time traveling with all three and it went pretty well. We got to do some great shopping at the Mall of America. Here's Anna checking out some lamp shades!

This is the kids this past Sunday. I was excited to put Anna and Emme in their first set of matching dresses and I think Anna was just as excited. At church she kept telling everyone that she and Emme matched!

A rare moment of affection

Here they all are! Don't they look cute? And even Cam smiled for the camera on this one.

For Anna's birthday we did the whole American Girl thing at the Mall of America. Anna was soooo excited - Cameron was not, but he put on a smile for the camera.

Justin feeding Emme at the American Girl restaurant.

Here is Anna and her American Girl Dolls at the restaurant. It was really cute because they have special chairs for the dolls to sit in and they serve them their own drinks. Anna loved it and she had a great 5th birthday!

What we've been Up to....

Emme is now three weeks old and we've been up to so much! Here's a quick recap of all our recent doings....

My parents were visiting when Emme was born. They took great care of the kids while I was a the hospital and Cameron just LOVED having Grandpa around!

Went to a game place to play some games. Here's Cameron and Grandpa playing my favorite.....Skee-Ball!

Justin's mom visited right after my parents left. The kids' favorite was playing American Idol with her!

This past weekend our little community of Robins had a pancake breakfast at the fire station. The kids liked seeing all the fireman's gear.

It was also Justin's 31st birthday. Here is a picture of Anna after eating one of his messy cupcakes......remind you of the Joker?

That's it for now...we'll post more photos of Emme soon - I know you all have been asking!

We got to welcome the newest baby Strickland this morning! I had a C-section this morning that went for the most part well.....no complications. And boy what a relief to have the baby come out and hear that first cry. So this is Emme Rose Strickland.
















She was born at 7:56 am. She weighed 7 lbs. and 15 oz. and 21 inches long. She looks just like Anna and Cam when they were born. We can already tell she has an easy disposition about her. She loves to eat and suck on things ( at 5 minutes old she was sucking on two of her fingers). The kids went to Target and bought her a gift. Anna got her a nice, soft cozy blanket and Cam bought a light-up musical monkey. We are so blessed to have her in our family. More pics to come and hopefully video!

Easter

We had a very mello Easter weekend: Egg dying, Easter Egg Hunts, Church and of course a Ham dinner.

Here the kids are posing infront of their Easter eggs after Church on Sunday. We didn't actually get to see them find all the eggs Easter morning, but we heard their feet running all over the house while yelling, "I found a blue one" or "I found a yellow one!"

On Saturday morning some friends invited us to an Easter egg hunt at one of the local Country Clubs. It was a lot of fun and the kids were split up according to age group. The kids were both in the first age group (under 5). Their were two special "golden" eggs hidden with a prize inside. So we told Cameron to find the gold egg. What did he do? He only picked up yellow eggs off the ground and bypassed all the others....that's the reason he only collected 3 eggs.

And here is Anna running to the eggs!
Anna was one of the older kids so she was really able to clean up! After the egg hunt they had donuts and cookies inside....needless to say the kids left there on a sugar high!

Happy Birthday

I know this is a day late but.... yesterday was Jeanna's birthday! Yes, one more glorious year as a twentysomething and then next year a much more mature 30 year old lady. I would like to borrow an idea from our friends, the Hoekzemas, and list ten things you may not know about Jeanna.

#1 She is deathly afraid of scary movies. In fact, if a preview comes on the television she will mute the TV and hide her eyes. She then will ask me shen she can start watching again making sure the commercial has passed.

#2 She is a great cook. She didn't start out that way but has become a great chef. This week she made one of my favorite meals... pancetta, arugula, and mozzarela panini with a basal-herbed mayo. As Cameron would say... "DELICIOUS!"

#3 She loves video games. We intentionally do not have a gaming system because otherwise the kids would starve, I would starve, the house would be a mess and we would all be fighting for mommy's attention ... and the video game would win everytime.

#4 She hates all kinds of seafood except crab legs. Otherwise if it comes from any source of water she will not touch it.

#5 She is a great piano player but she doesn't like people to know expecially at church. She does not want to be asked to play because whe gets very nervous in front of others.

#6 She loves massages. Mostly her feet and back. We have a deal in our house. I rub her feet and then I can watch any sporting event I want. Not a bad deal for both of us.

#7 She has grown to like country music.

#8 Her favorite restaurant of all-time is an Asian noodle place in Cincinnati named Shanghai Momma's.

#9 If she could take a vacation anywhere she would choose a beach location everytime. She loves the sun, sand and ocean.

#10 She has a good basketball shot. We have a basketball court in the park behind our house and sometimes we will shoot hoops. She has good form and is accurate. I am quite impressed.

Anyway... something you guys know.... she is great mom and wife. We all love her very much. She is very loyal and loves her friends and family. Happy 29th Birthday!!

Trash Collectors...

The kids have a new hobby...trash collecting! We have a great park behind our house and have taken it upon ourselves to keep it clean. The kids drive their car to the park and then drive around the entire park looking for trash.
Here they are posing in their Monster Truch....which Justin has renamed the "Garbage Truck". There is a walk path that goes around the park and we use that as our route.

Yesterday we collected an entire truck full of garbage. Can you believe that someone actually left an entire box in the middle of the park?! Anna is so funny, she calls all the trash 'glitter' and I keep correcting her and telling her that it's called LITTER, but for someone reason she can't get it through her head......so it's glitter!

Parked the car and spent some time playing at the park.

They love it! During the days no one is at the park so it's their own personal playground.