In the tradition of posting a update on activities before I head off for a trip, I thought I should take a moment before things get crazy around here and give a brief (hopefully) update of the comings and goings of the Strickler household.
In regards to projects, I was trying to get Perrin's room finished, which I think I'm pretty close to doing. She wanted a French/Paris theme and I wanted something that wasn't going to break the bank. She and I are both happy with the end result.
I had figured that when we returned from Costa Rica things would be a little crazy in the home stretch of school. I was right. May was a great month of family, school trips, friends and adventures. It started out with Balin gone for a week for work and us starting the season with entertaining. We do love to gather people at our home and we have done a lot of it in the past 7 weeks.
People are such a blessing and I'm so thankful that I have so many people to do life with. And as the saying goes, "Quality is better than quantity." We've been attending a small group through our church for the last 6 months and this group of people is pretty spectacular. A couple of weeks ago we went and served at the Union Gospel Mission in Spokane, feeding homeless men and women. It was so great to smile and serve people from all walks of life. We all walked away realizing we are no better than anyone else and everyone has a story. I worked next to a couple of guys in the Recovery program and asked them their stories. It wasn't so different than the plot that could have happened in my own family had my dad not made the decisions he did. This week we're meeting again to tour the crisis center UGM just purchased to help women and their children who are in crisis. We will also be going to the women's shelter at Annie Ogden hall where women who want to get off drugs and alcohol commit 24 months to the program. Our small group is very excited to serve here and we're hoping it turns into a monthly commitment. Pretty cool and I'm looking forward to see where it all leads.
The kids have been building up their relationships along the way and are learning to really enjoy people. Well, that might be stretching it for Sam; more on that later. As I look back at our May calendar I see that almost every day the kids have someone over for homework, dinner and to hang out with. We've attempted to get almost every kid from their class over at least once, but by the end of the school year it's pretty clear who their good friends are. Perrin has Davy and Sam has Rhorke, with a few others thrown in. I ask the kids to stretch themselves relationally at least once a week and invite someone other than their best friends over. The results have been pretty neat to see.
The third week in May Susie came to visit us and to participate in some of the events the kids had at school. I have to say that I have a pretty great mother-in-law. We went exploring, hiking, out to coffee, all sorts of fun things that I normally don't get to do. She even went house hunting with me one day in Coeur d Alene. Towards the end of the week she went with me to the kids' school for Grandparents day where Perrin had her performance as Joan of Arc at the wax museum, followed by a lunch in the gym. That night we attended Seusical the Musical which was produced entirely by Oaks students. It was spectacular! That Saturday Susie took us out to tea and Perrin and I were in heaven - tea, scones, cakes. Deliciousness.
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| It was even warm enough the first couple of days to go surfing with the pooches. |
The last week in May was the 5th grade Oregon Coast Trip, which was pretty fun. The school rented a charter bus and 51 kids and their parents headed the 9 hours to Twin Rocks Camp on the coast near Tillamook. The trip was a great mix of education and historical visits and just playing and enjoying each other. The weather was spectacular which allowed for evenings to be spent on the beach, bon-fires included. I have to say it was a little bit like heaven as the people and parents at the Oaks are really amazing. There was no gossip, or complaining. No misbehaved children - and I'm not exaggerating here. People truly love one another and look out for each others' best. Of course there are people that you prefer hanging out with, but everyone is respectful and kind to one another, which made for a delightful trip. We got to go to the Maritime museum in Astoria and the fort where Lewis and Clark camped out near the coast. We toured the Tillamook factory (including tasting of their wares) and had a great science class at the camp where we stayed. All in all it was a spectacular trip.
I am reading a parenting book currently called "Gist" which talks about raising life ready kids. One of the ideas they put forth is giving your child 2 tasks at a time that are important for them to know as adults. Great idea. We started off with 1) get yourself up and out of bed 2) make your bed. Simple. Yet somewhat difficult to master. It's taken a couple of weeks but it seems their getting the hang of it. The next two items are going to be 1) read the bible every day 2) exercise. With summer officially starting yesterday, I told the kids they had a few things to do every day: Make their bed/tidy their room, read 1 chapter in the book of John, read 1 page of their latin book, 15 minutes on Kahn Academy for math, exercise - either run a mile or do the 7 minute workout. So far they are doing really well with it and seem to be excited about it. It's day 2 so we'll see how that roles.
Perrin and Sam both have done a great job lately at making dinner. I gave the kids recipes that I had bought the ingredients for and they went to town on dinner, without my help. Sam made lemon pepper Salmon with green beans and the next night Perrin and Davy made Enchiladas with black beans the next. The meals were amazing and the kids loved cooking. Definitely something we'll continue this summer.
We had to run up to Schweitzer to pick up some hiking gear we needed for Switzerland so Balin threw the dogs and the mountain bikes in just in case. Such a smart guy. Sam was pretty cranky that day but Balin convinced him that he wanted to go riding. Sam and I went down he X-country trail and met Balin at the bottom, after Balin ran up from the bottom. It was super fun and afterwards Sam wasn't cranky. Love how the outdoors can make even the sourest of moods sweet.
The weekend after the Oregon Coast we were blessed with my mom, sister, niece and nephew for the weekend. It was my aunt's 80th birthday and they came up to sunny Spokane to celebrate. Mom got an opportunity to hear all of Perrin's grammar jingles as well as listen to Cantable at school. That Saturday we all headed out to Tum Tum to be with the Abrahamson clan in celebration of Aunt Do.
Thankfully the weather has gotten warm enough to start playing in the lake. It's so fun to have friends over to go swimming and tubing. It's exactly why we bought the house we did.
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| Piper got her hair done and has a bow in it. |
This week we are enjoying the absence of school, schedules, lunch making and driving everywhere. Last night we celebrated summer with a cocktail party at our house, where we had 10 ladies hang out until 11pm. Again, I am so thankful for all these lovely ladies. Today we spent the day with various friends and just enjoyed being home. Balin and I leave for Switzerland next Thursday, with Susie and Michael coming in on Monday or Tuesday to visit. We're looking forward to this next adventure!
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