Our Strong Family: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

30

Happy Birthday to my love. I know you feel old, but we are just getting started! I praise the Lord for His faithfulness to you for 30 years. We have been blessed by all that you are and all that He has purposed for your life.

We have been so busy having boys that we haven't gone camping since college. Hopefully that will change this summer : )

Looking forward to visiting more ball parks (next stop Fenway, you will LOVE it)

Graduation from Multnomah Bible College.

You brought me back to my hometown to raise our family. There is nowhere I would rather be.

Will you be in college forever? AA, Bachelor in Biblical Studies, Minor in History, FA, future MBA, ... etc.etc. God has given you more than the ability to excel in school. You manage your time so well that you can work full time, raise a family, serve and love me, and lead at church while you go to school. I could never wear all your hats. I am so very proud of you.

Our trip to SF when I was pregnant with Maddo. We traveled light back then ...

We love how goofy (yet, good looking) you are.

Remember when you were 23?

Remember when you were 25?

Remember when you were 29?

Your legacy.

We love you so much and can't express in words what you mean to us. Happy Birthday!

ECILOP

Look at the POLICE, POLICE, ECILOP man.

He's a little teapot

Monday, June 27, 2011

Masked Men

Aren't these masked men awesome? It is a new favorite of mine. I found this in a pile of Maddeck's drawings as I was tidying up the house after the boys had gone to bed. It put a huge smile on my face.

Father's Day Cards

Maddeck's Father's Day card he made at school.

Maddeck said he wanted to "go to London" with Kyle someday and go to a castle.

The boys made little books with pictures of things they like to do with Dad. Maddeck told him he likes it when he cuts and styles his hair in a faux-hawk. He likes to wrestle too. Evan told him he likes to ride on the lawn mower with him and wrestle. He likes his yummy cookies and pancakes.

AppleSox

Kyle took Maddeck and Evan to the AppleSox game in Wenatchee on Saturday. They lasted 4 innings before they were ready to come home. Evan was scared of the coyote mascot.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

teeth and teeth

Evan is cutting the last of his two year molars (tops are coming in and the bottoms have been in for quite some time)
Miles just cut another bottom tooth. He now has 5 teeth.

Sprinkler Fun!

Outdoor Breakfast

The boys ate their breakfast outside this morning.

Cute pics of the boys. Not so cute of me, but a typical and realistic stay-at-home-Mom look (without makeup, without my hair fixed, and living in my sweat pants). If you are a stay-at-home-Mom and you look cute everyday, all I have to say is "WOW". My floors get cleaned more than I do.

Wanna come over to my house?

Was that a "no" ... I couldn't hear you over all the crying.

(FYI- typical day at the Strong residence)

Father's Day Pie

We love you Kyle. Thanks for being an amazing Dad to our three boys. They will learn what it looks like to be a Godly leader, a husband, a hard worker, and a family man from you. They will see what it looks like to be serving, respectful, generous, kind, studious, forgiving, faithful, repentant, diligent, thankful, self-sacrificing, long suffering, God fearing, and loving from watching you. Thank you Kyle for being the leader and provider for our family. I look forward to many more Father's Days and seeing the boys bond with you over camping trips, hikes, sports, road trips, school, and church. I love talking about the things we will do as a family and things you will do with the boys as they grow and mature into young men. Happy Father's Day!!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

weights

"I am going to lift up some weights and get some exercise. My Dad is too. Evan will probably just watch a movie in the basement with us."

2 Year Old Wisdom

"When I get better I won't feel sick anymore"

Friday, June 17, 2011

Miles Update

Miles says "nigh-night". This morning he grabbed his blanket and looked at me and said "nigh-night". I asked him if was ready for his nap and he nodded his head and giggled. He gets so excited when I give him his Nuk and put him in his crib. He is also saying Mama, Dada, and Papa. When he sees Remi he makes a squealing, high pitched, "kitty" sound. I think he is saying "please" now as well. He tries really hard to say Evan but it doesn't sound anything like Evan. He also tries really hard to say Maddeck but it just sounds like Mama.

He loves the slide on our new swing set. He doesn't like the swing at all and cries every single time I put him in it. I thought if we had a swing at home he would get used to it and start to enjoy swinging. He still hates it. He loves to ride our small Radio Flyer push bike. He rides all over the driveway and sidewalks with his brothers. He is clearly trying to keep up with them.

He is climbing more all the time. Miles climbs up on the kids chairs and gets on the small table. Climbing into Evan's toddler bed is his favorite. Sometimes I walk in their room and find Miles sitting in his bed playing with something. I think he will outgrow the crib early.

Miles gets into EVERYTHING and FAST. He walks around opening cupboards and drawers and pulling everything out and then moves on to the next thing. It is crazy how fast he can make messes.

When he is finished eating he starts throwing his food. He used to sign that he was "up" and now he just throws food when he is full. We are working on changing this new habit.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Lessons and Crafts

This past Tuesday was flag day. We learned about our flag and listened to kids singing Grand Ol Flag on YouTube (I sang that song in my 8th grade choir class. I wish we had it on video so the boys could see it). We studied 27 flags belonging to the European Union too. Maddeck drew several of the flags and I had planned on making a flag with the boys to put on our window but didn't get around to it.

This afternoon we decided to do our weekly craft and made paper airplanes from a kit Mimi got for the boys. Maddeck was thumbing through the sheets of paper and found an airplane with the Spanish flag on it. It was pretty cool he recognized it right away because of our study on Flag Day -- Good job Maddo!

We made two planes today: USAF Stealth Fighter and a Concorde jet. After making the planes we did a lesson on planes and read about both of them. We also looked at pictures and talked about our friend Max's plane that he flies in the Air Force; the KC135 refueling jet. Maddeck wanted to know what the fastest plane in the world was and we discovered it is the Blackbird (which is also in our paper airplane kit) and can fly Mach 3.5 (2500 mph). The Concorde flew Mach 2 (1350 mph). The Stealth Fighter flies 617 mph.

The Concorde could hold 100 passengers and 9 crew members and set a record time from New York to London in 2 hours, 53 minutes. A regular passenger plane takes 7 to 8 hours!! Wowza ... that is FAST!!!

The Stealth Fighter deflects radar signals and uses laser guided bombs. Each plane cost the Air Force 42.6 million dollars!!