Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Jack...........Jack turned 8 on the 19th. I was just so busy with Christmas that I forgot to put a post on here. Jack enjoyed himself helping to make his cupcakes and decorate a little. We usually try to do something for each kid around their birthday so Daddy took the older three kids to the small town theatre to watch a family movie. Jack wanted to go because he thought it would be cool and they enjoyed the 'big screen' experience. Even though it was cold and snowy I think Jack had a great time on his birthday.

Jack made and decorated his own birthday cupcakes. He used star wars figures to put on top...An 8 year olds dream........ Legos and Nerf stuff for your birthday.................

Merry Christmas!!!

Just a note to say Happy Holidays!!! The kids had a great day with grandparents and seeing it snow outside was exciting. We hope all our friends and family have a Great Christmas!!!

All the kids (except Noah) In their new Homemade PJ's they got on Christmas Eve.............

The color White.............

When we woke up this morning the only thing we could see was the color white. About 6 inches covered the ground. It was exciting (for a moment)..................

The kids love, love, love it!!

I wish it was not so cold.

Joshua says he loves it and then always seems to disappear when there is shoveling to be done.........How does that happen??????

It is very beautiful in its own way and it does set the mood for Christmas. So now instead of just 'dreaming of a white Christmas' we will actually have one.............

Luckily, My Dad has a snow blower because Joshua was MIA....................

Eve could not get enough of snowball throwing...................anyone that was near got pelted.....Someone plowed the driveway creating a huge mound..... Jack is planning to build an igloo......Abigail would stay outside all day if I never called her in.......even if her extremities were numb...

Sammy and Katie just wanted to eat the snow and make footprints...............................

NOAH......

Noah is one month old today!! It is amazing how much time flies as I get older.......... He is now 8lbs and 4oz and growing like a weed. The kids love having a new baby brother and for Joshua and I it is a joy to have a little baby in the house again. We love having kids!!!

Introducing............................

Noah Isaac Strunk

Noah was born yesterday, November 9th at 7:15 am. He weighed 6 lbs. 4oz. and was 19 inches long................................. Welcome baby!!

Happy Birthday Abby!!

Abby turned 5 on the 26th. She is excited to be one year older! The only thing she wished for was to have 3 hands so she could do more at once because 2 hands was not enough. She is glad it only takes two hands to ride her new bike. Anyway, happy birthday to you, Abigail! We love you very much!!!

More Fall Pics................

The kids have been enjoying Autumn. It is still not quite like going to the beach but they have enjoyed 'swimming' in the leaves. Here are some more pictures of our fun..............

It's Fall!!!

Every autumn we try to do something as a family. We have kind of made it a tradition to go to a farm or some place that has fun stuff for kids and treats and pumpkins. This year we went to a family farm where they had hayrides, petting animals, a corn maze, a playground and a little local restaurant. We planned to stay for a couple of hours but ended up there for approx. 8 hours due to the loss of a car key somewhere on the large hillside farm............... Joshua didn't realize it was gone from his pocket until we were getting ready to leave. Then he thought if he just retraced his steps he would find it. After a while I was finally able to convince him that we should just call a lock place so we could hopefully get home at a reasonable hour. Of course, the lock guy who was on call would not answer his phone and the owner of the lock place had to come to our rescue from about an hour away so we waited and waited. At least there was plenty to do and it didn't cost that much. We went on the hayride which took us to the pumpkin patch and the kids got to pick a pumpkin right off the vine. The older two went through the mazes and down the underground slide. Samuel fed and fed and fed the goats with this special pulley contraption. I'm not really sure what it was but you put the food in a little box and then wind the handle and it would take the food to the goats. Sure, you could just go over to the fence and feed them but Sam was enthralled by this thing and fed them for about an hour (maybe more). Katie and Abby played in the hay and in the sandbox and then we all ate at the restaurant. We really had a good time and the kids did really well. And in the end we got ice cream cones even though the sun had gone down and it got a little cool (the jackets were locked in the car).All total we got 7 pumpkins.........We will be canning and freezing and making a lot of pumpkin stuff...............Muffins, cookies and maybe a cheesecake or something, YUM!!!The kids all got to go on this barrel ride pulled by a lawn tractor through the corn field. They loved it!! I might have to try to build one........................
Sam played on the tire swings before he found out about the goats.............

Is That............

Yes, that is snow!!! We had the first snow of the season yesterday. However, Indian Summer is supposed to grace us next week with temps in the 60's (OOOOOOOOHHHHH!!). Then it will probably stay that way for a couple of more weeks until winter comes to stay! The kids rather enjoyed going out to play in the snow for about an hour until they got too cold and wet to stay out. It felt kind of like being on vacation but now I think the novelty has worn off and the kids are asking to go back where it is warmer. Hopefully, God will provide Joshua with a job soon so we can concentrate on settling down. But for now we are grateful for the things that keep us busy like canning homemade applesauce and vegetable soup and going outside in the snow!


Eve, Jack and Abby went out to play but Samuel wanted nothing to do with the snow. He said he wanted to go to the beach.............

Jack made a mini snowman on the railing of the porch.............Abby smashed it!They built a snowman that was kind of lopsided. After I took the picture they smashed it and came inside...........I think they were cold or something!

Zoo Fun!!

We went to the zoo for Eve's birthday! We had a great time. I made a quick scrapblog............Enjoy!!

Happy Birthday Eve!!!!!

We say it all the time.........'I can't believe my child is getting so big,' or 'It seems like just yesterday...............' or 'Where has the time gone.' Although I didn't think much about those things they did cross my mind for a brief moment on September 18th. My oldest, Eve, turned the big 10 last Friday and she is so excited to finally be 'double digits'. I asked her how it felt but she really didn't have an answer except that she would let me know soon. We went to the zoo and then had a small family celebration with the usual pizza, cake and ice cream. She asked specifically for hot wings, a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and chocolate peanut butter ice cream (she really likes chocolate and peanut butter)! It was a good day!!!


Eve at 10 years old!! Turning into a little lady!!
Eve made herself a birthday hat...........She was princess for a day!Grammy helped by making the cake which was quite good!!

staying busy........

The weather here is sooooo not like Florida. We have been enjoying 78 degree days with a few scorchers in between (like 85 or 86 degrees HA HA)! The kids have not been inside at all for most of the last two weeks. Of course, when winter time hits it will be a totally different story I am sure, but for now we are staying busy outside.

Since Joshua is unemployed and money can only stretch so far we have been learning how to garden and can from my mother. My parents have a small garden with all kinds of vegetables and the kids have been helping with that. In the last two weeks we have gotten green beans, lettuce, tomatoes and a few squash from it. We also went with my mom to pick blueberries. We picked over 60 lbs. of blueberries. We went to a farm and got a bushel of corn (approx. 50 ears) and a bushel of peaches to can (we got about 21 quarts of canned peaches from all those). We plan on getting more but not until we rest from all the canning and freezing and picking. We didn't get here in time for strawberries but maybe next year!!

It has been a lot of hard work, especially for my mom, but it is well worth it when we can look at the cupboard and freezer and see them all full with fresh fruits and veggies to last us through winter.........YUM!

Here are some pictures of the 'FRUITS' of our labor..................................

Jack, Eve, and Abby helped pick blueberries. They were really a big help and they seemed to enjoy it. This was only the first trip to the blueberry patch..........................................

Everyone is pitching in to shuck the corn. We had one bushel that we cut off the cob and froze but we will probably go to the farm and get some more........................................................This is only one bushel of peaches (it is really a lot) but my mom wants to go back and get another 1 1/2. Eve and Abby helping their Grammy make relish from all the cucumbers and onions in her garden.....................Grammy then canned it all.Sammy had his turn to grind stuff for the relish. He loved doing it sooooo much he stayed at it the longest out of all the kids...................................Only one row of green beans and still three more to go.........Not to mention that tomorrow there will be this much more in each row...............................After many long days of VERY HARD work, Farmer SAM found some nice quiet music to put him to sleep................No one even knew how long he'd been there......................