Enjoying the Weather!

This last weekend was gorgeous! The highs were only in the upper 70s, so we spent quite a lot of time outside. Of course, our big boy LOVES to be outside!!! Mommy is planning on implementing outside play into every day (as long as the weather cooperates) because it helps wear him out...big time. Today he took a 3 hour nap! Yay!! We were blessed to get some really great pictures of our big boy playing this last week/weekend. Enjoy!

Strickland Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

This post is for my sister Cheryl! Just so everyone knows, I did this a second time using different pictures and it said our big boy looked 4% like his Daddy. It just means that the Lord created him from both of us! Have fun!

Haircut!!!

Today I had my very first haircut. Mommy and Daddy took me to a Barber Shop/Salon in a neighboring town where a nice lady cut my hair. I got to sit in a big chair all by myself and was able to watch everything she did by looking into the mirror! It was lots of fun! Mommy and Daddy said they were very proud of me because I sat all by myself and was able to watch everything she did by looking into the mirror! It was lots of fun! Mommy and Daddy said they were very proud of me because I sat all by myself and behaved while she cut my hair. Mommy only had to read me one book during the whole haircut. Otherwise, I entertained myself and watched the progress the stylist was making. It was hard to sit for the whole haircut, but I did it! When the hair cut was all done, I was happy to have shorter hair and to walk around again. It was so much fun that I just might have to get another haircut sometime soon!

P.S. Mommy wanted to me share with you that she kept a few of my curls! Yay Mommy!

Today's Activities

We had another big, exciting day of festivities! One of the festival's activities is that there was a city wide garage sale all day yesterday and part of today. While we went to garage sales for about 1.5 to 2 hours yesterday, there was only 1 garage sale on today's list. So, we were all out the door before 10:00 a.m. It proved to be worthwhile because I found more canning jars for when I can vegetables from our garden this fall. I love canning and the best part is that I bought over 25canning jars for only $4.00. What a bargain!! Afterwards we headed downtown for the annual turtle race. It was sooo much fun watching all of the childrens' faces as they cheered for their favorite turtle. Unbelievably there were 70 turtles entered into the race, so it took a good 45 minutes to complete the event. Our big boy fell asleep in his stroller (he hasn't done that for a while) and took about a 1 hour nap. While he was napping, we went to a local church's ice cream social and enjoyed some good dessert! Following the ice cream social we hung out with some friends until it was time for the "Grand Parade". We had great seats along the parade path and the parade was about 45 minutes long! So much candy was thrown to us that we had an ice cream pale filled to the brim with different kinds of candy. It was absolutely crazy! Once again, we are proud of our big boy!! He did an excellent job the entire day and we enjoyed some much needed family time. Please enjoy today's pictures. All pictures were taken at the parade.

Little Preacher

Every year, our city has about a week of festival days. Different activities and events are scheduled throughout the week and one of tonight's big events was the "Kiddie Parade". Basically, the children are invited to walk down 1 block on the main street of town. The children have the option of throwing candy or gum and an announcer shares the child's name and the parents' names. This year's "Kiddie Parade" had a theme entitled, "Real Life Hero", so the child's real life hero was also announced. Each participant was encouraged to dress up as their real life hero and a prize would be awarded to the child in the best outfit.

Our big boy dressed up as his real life hero....his Daddy! He was given the title of "Little Preacher" and I think it fits! Check out this picture we took before we headed downtown for the big event...

What a look on that face!

Our big boy did a SUPER job and we are soooo proud of him! He walked down the entire block all by himself. Even though Mommy walked beside or behind him, he walked that 1 block without holding Mommy's hand and didn't even stumble once!! He is getting to be such a great walker! Sometimes it's hard to believe that he's only been walking for a little over a month. He's made such progress in a short period of time! At the end of the block the children were asked to stand on a big "X" so a picture could be taken of each child in his/her outfit. We can go by the post office to pick up our picture on Tuesday. A friend of mine took the pictures and she said ours is a good one! It was so much fun to see our big boy walk down one whole block by himself and we all had a wonderful time! Can't wait to see what's in store next year!

Oh, by the way, our big boy did not win first prize! But that's okay, we all had a blast and he was so proud of himself!!

The Stairs

I know, I have previously posted that our big boy can climb up the stairs on his own. But, did you know that he can now safely go down the stairs on his own too? Yep. Just this morning he went down the stairs (feet first, of course) on his tummy. He went down all 14 steps by himself!!! He is getting soooo BIG and he reminds me of that daily!

Just so you know, our big boy helped me unload the dishwasher, water the vegetable garden again and walked with me to get the mail. He walked for a longer time than yesterday (got closer towards Daddy's office with the church's mail), but didn't quite make it to the door. That's okay...it's good to have something to work towards, right? Watering the vegetable garden and walking to and from the mailbox took a whopping 45 to 50 minutes with our big boy's help! Whew! The up side is that he was so tired when we got home that he took a couple drinks of water and then went down for a nap. Yay!! Let's hear it for nap time! Who knows how long (or short) of a nap he'll take :-) since he was up for 6 hours this morning.

Have a great day in the Lord!

Such a Helper!

Our big boy is such a great helper! He frequently loves to help Mommy unload the dishwasher...and today was no exception. After we had emptied the dishwasher, we both put on our tennis shoes and walked outside to water the plants in the vegetable garden. Our big boy helped his Mommy by walking with me to and from the vegetable garden and then watching me pour water onto the plants. I showed him all of the plants and told him the names of each vegetable as we walked along. As if that wasn't enough walking, we quickly continued and took on the challenge of going to get the mail. Our driveway is quite long and our big boy walked with me all the way to the mailbox and halfway back to the house. Then we dropped the church's mail off and played in Daddy's office for a short while and then returned home for some water and snacks followed by a two hour nap. Whew! What a morning! We are planning to take our big boy to the barber shop for his first haircut next week. Hopefully, we shouldn't have anymore questions about whether he's a girl or boy after he gets his hair cut. Don't worry, I will take some before, during, and after pictures. Have a great day in the Lord!

Surprise Visitors!!!

We were all just about ready to walk out to the car when Christian and I noticed a couple walking up to the front door. Christian got a better look at our surprise visitors than I did, and to our pleasant surprise it was Pastor and Mrs. Ahlschwede from Michigan! We met them during Christian's vicarage year and learned sooo much from them (along with all of the church's brothers and sisters we were fortunate to work with during that year)! They could only stay for a short while, as they were visiting us on their way to a relative's house, but it was WONDERFUL to see them! During the visit, they met our big boy for the first time, saw the parsonage, church and school, and my vegetable garden. We managed to take the above photo before they had to leave. Thank you Pastor and Mrs. Ahlschwede for the visit and we hope to hear from you (or maybe even see you) soon! God's Blessings on your travels!

Notice Something Different?

That's right!!! Mommy and Daddy finally bought me shoes! I've been walking for a little over a month now and I am VERY proud of my new shoes. Mommy and I went shopping for them together. We had to go back to the shoe store twice because Mommy didn't realize how big my feet are. We ended up buying shoes from the Boy's Shoe Section (size 7), not the Infant's Shoe Section. Boy was Mommy shocked! It's hard to tell in the pictures, but I have Thomas the Tank Engine velcro shoes that light up when I walk. Mommy looked hard to find regular shoes (you know, ones without the lights) but they didn't have any that were velcro and in my size. Oh well. Now I have super cool shoes and I LOVE them! I walk everywhere! Even outside (which is new since we bought the shoes)!! Watch out world, here I come!

Bummed Out

Twice a week, I drive 20 minutes to a nearby town to participate in water aerobics. Tonight, I drove all the way there just to find out that there is no water aerobics this week due to pool maintenance. I was a bit frustrated because I always look forward to water aerobics (I absolutely LOVE it!!!) and because I wasted all that gas driving 20 minutes to and from home. Oh well. There's always next week. May the Lord bless your week!