Here's a picture from Sam's little birthday party. My sister Sue had all the kids over for a little digging party. She buried treasure in her play area and had everyone dig. They had a great time looking for toys, books and candies. Sue even got them matching shirts so we could find them in case they buried themselves.
Currently we are in the midst of a great thunderstorm. The skies are lighting up, rain is falling, the gutters are overflowing and Buddy is shaking in his boots. Poor little guy does not do well with fireworks or thunderstorms. I used to hide under the bed with him, but since moving to Arizona I've overcome my fears since the storms happen so often during the monsoons.
People say that Arizona is a dry state, but in all reality we get a lot of rain. 
Unlike other regions I've lived, the rain is concentrated into a few months so that it falls hard and fast. Like the saying goes, when it rains it pours. These storms are nothing to joke about though as they can be very dangerous. We had a crazy storm the other day that seemingly came out of now where. One minute it was sunny the next it was hailing (my poor plants) and then it was raining so hard I can't even describe it. Perhaps the picture of my poor greenhouse will describe the force of the wind that came that day. The next greenhouse I get will be a little more stable and sturdy.
Unlike other regions I've lived, the rain is concentrated into a few months so that it falls hard and fast. Like the saying goes, when it rains it pours. These storms are nothing to joke about though as they can be very dangerous. We had a crazy storm the other day that seemingly came out of now where. One minute it was sunny the next it was hailing (my poor plants) and then it was raining so hard I can't even describe it. Perhaps the picture of my poor greenhouse will describe the force of the wind that came that day. The next greenhouse I get will be a little more stable and sturdy.The other project we're working on at the Strickler household is the front deck. It all s
tarted 3 years ago when we moved into this non-descript brick house. The outside was nothing exciting though the inside had been updated and is quite nice. So I got it in my head to transform our house from bland to English brick cottage. After 3 years we're starting to see good results. Balin did a lot of the work himself initially as he had time. He and a friend tore down the majority of the deck, created a raised bed near the driveway and moved tons and tons of soil. We had a contractor lay a patio and build a pergola. He is now working on enclosing the deck and building window boxes and bench seating around the remaining deck. I'm very much looking forw
ard to my garden room, though I still have a few things left to do. I'm hoping to fence it in this winter as there were a couple of nights this summer where the midnight gardener had to reappear. I was out in the middle of the night with the hose spraying down javelina to get them out of my garden. They eat everything if it's available so a fence is a must!
tarted 3 years ago when we moved into this non-descript brick house. The outside was nothing exciting though the inside had been updated and is quite nice. So I got it in my head to transform our house from bland to English brick cottage. After 3 years we're starting to see good results. Balin did a lot of the work himself initially as he had time. He and a friend tore down the majority of the deck, created a raised bed near the driveway and moved tons and tons of soil. We had a contractor lay a patio and build a pergola. He is now working on enclosing the deck and building window boxes and bench seating around the remaining deck. I'm very much looking forw
ard to my garden room, though I still have a few things left to do. I'm hoping to fence it in this winter as there were a couple of nights this summer where the midnight gardener had to reappear. I was out in the middle of the night with the hose spraying down javelina to get them out of my garden. They eat everything if it's available so a fence is a must! I've been trying to get out while the weather is nice and ride my bike, hike, do something as it's too beautiful to stay at home all day. As you can imagine Sam & Perrin definitely add something to the workout as they're not babies anymore. This picture reminds m
e of the time Balin and I went out on a ride with the kids when they were probably 2 and 6 months. We went across the street thinking these Burley trailers could handle single track. My mom ended up going with us, which was the last mountain biking I think she's done. All was good going up hill as we were going nice and slow. Then we turned around and started going a little faster and faster and faster. My mom is hollering, "Balin slow down your going to tip over". Of course Balin ignored sage advice and continued to go as if he didn't have a two year old in tow. Moments later I hear a loud cry and look back to see that Sam is totally overturned in the double stroller and crying. Balin calms him by saying, "Sam that was AWESOME!!! You are now a real mountain biker!" Much to my surprise Sam stopped crying and started laughing.
e of the time Balin and I went out on a ride with the kids when they were probably 2 and 6 months. We went across the street thinking these Burley trailers could handle single track. My mom ended up going with us, which was the last mountain biking I think she's done. All was good going up hill as we were going nice and slow. Then we turned around and started going a little faster and faster and faster. My mom is hollering, "Balin slow down your going to tip over". Of course Balin ignored sage advice and continued to go as if he didn't have a two year old in tow. Moments later I hear a loud cry and look back to see that Sam is totally overturned in the double stroller and crying. Balin calms him by saying, "Sam that was AWESOME!!! You are now a real mountain biker!" Much to my surprise Sam stopped crying and started laughing. One last thought for the day is Homeschooling. I have never been one to even think about homeschooling. Having taught in the public schools, I wasn't interested in teaching and I had pretty strong perceptions of what homeschooled kids were like. Recently I've met a bunch of amazing kids who are homeschooled and my interest has been piqued. 
One family in particular has 6 kids and they are the most interesting, well behaved kids that I have met in a long time. In talking with the mom I have come to a new understanding of what homeschooling looks like and that maybe it's not so bad. For Sam's birthday my mom got Sam a Phonics program to learn spanish so we tried it out as a basis for whether Sam could learn at home. He LOVED it. He spent probably an hour on the computer tonight and can say hello, good-bye, count to ten and say how old he is. I was so encouraged by his enthusiasm that I wrote out a lesson plan for the week for what we could do for homeschooling. We're going to give it a shot this month as his preschool doesn't start until September. I'll keep you posted.
One family in particular has 6 kids and they are the most interesting, well behaved kids that I have met in a long time. In talking with the mom I have come to a new understanding of what homeschooling looks like and that maybe it's not so bad. For Sam's birthday my mom got Sam a Phonics program to learn spanish so we tried it out as a basis for whether Sam could learn at home. He LOVED it. He spent probably an hour on the computer tonight and can say hello, good-bye, count to ten and say how old he is. I was so encouraged by his enthusiasm that I wrote out a lesson plan for the week for what we could do for homeschooling. We're going to give it a shot this month as his preschool doesn't start until September. I'll keep you posted.
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