It All Happened Yesterday........

Yesterday Abby got her cast off! It has been a long five weeks but she is doing well and she is glad to be free once again.

After we got back from the doctor is when everything happened...............I told the kids I would make them milkshakes after lunch because they did so well on the trip to the doctor. Chocolate peanut butter was the choice of all. Samuel set his cup on the counter (where he was supposed to)and walked away. It only took a second for me to realize that the Puppy was now just barely big enough to reach the counter but a second was too long.......Jake had jumped up and with his paw he knocked the cup off the counter and there went Samuel's drink.......all over the dog, all over the floor and the wall and then the excited dog stepped in it as he was licking it up. As I ran to grab the dog he saw me coming and started to trot away. So, now there was chocolate peanut butter milkshake all over the kitchen. Now I had to mop and give the dog a bath and make Sam a new milkshake because he was very upset.
After all that was done it was nap time for the younger three kids. Eve and Jack went outside with the dog. It only took 5 minutes.......Jack came to the door to tell me he had stepped in dog dodo! I thought it was no big deal but..... Then he said he wiped it all over the driveway and the sidewalk and it got all over his Basketball. Clean up #2!!
Long story shortened.......Next, The kids played with the hose outside and got all muddy. Clean up #3!
After nap time Katie got into the kitchen pantry and dumped a whole box of pancake mix all over her and the freshly mopped floor.......Clean up #4.
Samuel dirtied his diaper right after nap time and the tried to change it himself! Clean up #5!
All this happened from 1pm to 5pm. Then I cooked supper and cleaned that up. I don't think I even sat down to eat for more than 15 minutes. It is a good thing this stuff doesn't happen every day........Only Yesterday!!
I did not take pictures of everything because at first I was just plain frustrated. But When Katie got into the pancake mix I couldn't help but take a picture. I had been running around trying to deal with everything else and she was so quiet I didn't want to disturb her. Sometimes you just have to breathe!!

Blahh days...

Sick! That's how I feel these days.........It just started around Wednesday and will be here for the next 10 weeks or so. Yes, I get nausea and sometimes vomitting during the first 15 to 17 weeks of pregnancy. It usually doesn't start until sometime around 7 weeks (which is next week) but this time it started early.......ugh!! The worst part is I feel sick day and night. It is not just in the morning or one part of the day, it is ALL day. And the smells of, well, everything make it worse! But, time will fly and it will be over before I know it. It is just that the days seem to drag on forever right now................At least I have the kids and the dog to keep my mind otherwise occupied. I wish I had some frozen meals stored up this time. But I have not been that organized for a while. Oh, well! Pray for me!

Grandparents visit.......

My parents were here this past week and we had a great time. We took the kids to the beach (even though we can go anytime my parents can't) and we spent some time at a State Park. We walked an old Cypress swamp trail at the State Park and got to see some alligators up close. All in all it was a nice visit. I wish we lived closer so we could do it more often. Here are some pics....................................

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Strunk News......

So, as you might be able to tell by looking at my side bar........We are expecting!! God willing, number six will be here sometime in mid November. We are still at the beginning but Joshua was so excited that he started telling everyone as soon as I took the pregnancy test. I will go to see my midwife on Friday and we will plan another home birth. We just told the kids yesterday and they are all ecstatic! We feel truly blessed.

In other news.......we put in an offer to buy a house. The house is on the market being sold as a 'short sale' so it may take some time for us to hear back about our offer. This will be the first house we have ever bought if things go through. God willing, it will not take much longer.

Katelyn was sick 2 weeks ago and no one knew what was wrong with her. Finally, after some tests we found out that she had salmonella. She is doing better, thank the Lord, but now the health department has to get involved. Hopefully that will not be too bad.

Abby gets her cast off on Friday! She can't wait. Hopefully the new x-rays will show a healed elbow so they don't have to put another cast on. She has been a real trooper. It hasn't stopped her from being her daring self.........

Joshua will start his Doctoral studies in June. We are so proud of him. He graduates in May with his second Masters Degree (Master of Divinity) and he will Graduate with Honors! It has been a long journey for us to get to this point but as we look back we feel it was worth it.

Even though the events that led up to our coming to Florida were hard and painful at times, God was there and He showed us his hand of protection and provision along the way. He is still taking care of us every day and it is a blessing to be where He wants us..............

Happy 1st Birthday!!!

Katelyn turned one today! It is hard to believe that her 1st birthday is already here. When I look at her I still see my little baby. Time seems to fly by when you have so much to fill up your life (like 5 kids, a dog, ministry, homeschool and all the day to day things). I looked back at some pictures of Katie and I feel like I can't even remember when she was an infant. It is amazing how they grow so much in just a year. We had a small informal celebration today with some pizza and cake for her. We will have a Family celebration next week when my Parents and Sister come for a visit. Here are some pictures of our cute one year old.........

Super Hero Sam...........

Samuel is following in the footsteps of his older brother. He LOVES Super Hero stuff.

Samuel Only knows about all this stuff because Jack tells him. Jack is a big fan of Marvel Comics. So, Samuel identifies everything using a super hero as a reference.........For instance, When Samuel wants something he says, "Mommy, I wan my geen Hulk bam cup," Or "I wan my blue Superman fork," or " "Mommy, dis is a wed (red) Spiderdman crayon." Everything from dinnerware to his bubble bath is somehow (in his mind) tied to a superhero. Even if there is no picture on it he describes it that way. The other night I made green beans for dinner and when I set them on the table I could see all the little faces looking kind of disappointed. When I began to dish out the 'horrible' vegetable Samuel opened his eyes really wide and exclaimed, "WOOOW, geen Hulk Bam fench fwies!!" And then he ate them up and asked for more. That was all he ate that night! I wish it was that easy all the time. Sam also loves the color Green. He thinks that if it is green, it must belong to him. Here is the run down of Sam's favorite super heroes in case you were wondering.........

Green (Sam's Favorite)- The Incredible Hulk

Blue- Super Man

Red- Spiderman

Yellow/Orange- The Thing (from the Fantastic Four)

There are several more that he likes but they don't get a color. At least not yet...................

Meet Jake!!

We added a new member to our family over the weekend. Meet Jake! He is a golden retriever puppy and he is soooooo sweet!

Fun in the Sun...........

The last couple of months have been great as far as the weather goes and the kids have wanted to do nothing else except play outside. I welcome this since they will be begging to stay inside when summer time hits. I guess it is good that we homeschool and have some amount of freedom to structure our days the way we want to. As long as our kids get the instruction time they need and learn the material we are doing o.k. But unfortunately, we are not getting much school work done right now. So I announced to the kids that I have determined we will be changing everything as long as we live in South Florida! Our Summer vacation will be from Thanksgiving through Easter and we will attend school strait throughout the actual HOT, HOT summer months. Since the kids don't want to go outside anyway and going to the beach is not relaxing when it is so hot, and we don't have a pool, we will just stay inside and do school work!! When I announced this, however, they did not really like that idea. So I guess I need to think of another way to explain our being behind in formal lessons. Fortunately, the older two kids can read and they do Math and English (reading) most everyday on their own. Maybe one day I'll be super organized and be able to do 100 things at one time. Pray for me!!!