The Strickland's: July 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Happy.

"The view I love the most, is my front porch looking in.."

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Ella at Four.
You are smiley and spunky. You know what you want and you work hard to figure out ways to get it. I think you will be a great leader one day! You have the most wonderful, pure, imagination. I just love it! You're often found sitting in the playroom surrounded by Barbies and playhouse toys lost amid a great adventure. Sometimes I like to just stand in the hallway and listen ;). You are so smart and you love to learn! I love to see how natural your learning process has been. First you learned the letters, then you became so curious about the sounds they make. Always trying to see what you need to learn next! Your sweet smile and "belly laugh" are hard to resist. You're are the best big Sister ever! You are a little Mommy to Noah and it shows in how much he loves you. Every morning Noah wants to see Sissy right away and you always greet him with a nice, warm, hug and kiss! You are always so concerned for him when he is hurt or has to have shots. You are such a great listener and the best helper to Mommy. You stand out in a crowd and are so secure in who you are. I hope that never changes. I'm so proud of the sweet, kind hearted, little girl you have become. I love you more then words!

Four years that passed by in an instant. I always tell Ella that she has a special place in my heart, because she made me a Mommy. I am so thankful that God saw me fit to be her Mama. What a great privilege to take care of her and watch her grow and learn! She gave me the best job in the world! I hope for many more wonderful years watching her grow!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Let Freedom Ring!

Dear Ella, this story is for you. And for us grown ups to enjoy. But mainly for you so I don't forget! My sweet Ella had Randy and I cracking up the whole way to see fire works. Instead of the usual, "are we there yet??" Ella would ask us, "Are we almost to AMERICA??" Randy and I exhausted every idea we had trying to help her understand that we live in America and we were only going to drive up the road to Little Washington for fire works, but she didn't understand. She kept saying, "but you guys said I live in North Carolina?!" Randy won the "Most Creative" for his explanation......he used the analogy of a house. He said, "Well, you know how we have our house, right? And inside we have our bedrooms and the kitchen? The living room and the bathrooms? If you're in your bed, you are in your bedroom, but you're also in the "house". That's how America is. There is one big piece of land that is America and a bunch of states inside. We live in North Carolina which is in America!" I thought for sure we had a break through....but nope! Not even five minutes later a little voice from the back seat said..."okay....but when are we going to AMERICA??"

We had a great 4th though! We enjoyed watching the fireworks at the Washington waterfront. We took the wagon with us and the kids enjoyed getting to ride around while we strolled the downtown streets. It's one of our favorite places! We met up with some friends and enjoyed live music and great fireworks. It was a perfect night....except that we had to hustle pretty quickly after the show was over to get in our van and avoid some much needed rain. We made it though!

Here are some pics from the night!

My "big boy" Noah! 2 Years old sporting his red, white, and blue!

It's nearly impossible to get a good group shot with everyone smiling! We also didn't have anyone to take a family pic, so we took turns taking pics of each other with the kids and then forgot to get a group shot later that night!
My most precious gifts!