Long Time No See

Well I am sure that you all thought that the Stroupe's have come up missing.... Nope we are still around and the Lord is still blessing us Daily!!!

It has been one eventful summer... Although we have not taken any trips other than a couple camping trips, it has still been a fun filled summer...

My husband came home with a pool at the beginning of the summer, and we have only been able to swim in it a few times because the weather has just been crazy around here, but the weather is starting to look better now, so the last few days the kids have been able to go swimming.

My husband also took our oldest son to Six Flags for some much needed one on one time... They had a Blast!!!

Now, I am gearing up to start some school... I will be having 3 at the table now so please Pray for me and my patience, being that in this area I struggle.

With the field that my husbands job is in they are doing a lot of cut backs... Last month there were to be some major lay offs, thankfully they decided to hold off on the lay offs and they cut everyone's pay. With that being said, with a lot of Prayer, thought, and talking it over, my husband has decided to lead our family into a different direction. I am very thankful for this because it can open up a lot of doors, but we are going to need a lot of Prayer this next year if you all can keep us in mind. I know that the Lord is going to take care of us, and that he is going to provide for what ever we may need..

Now for the fun part a few pics of our summer!!!


Fist of all I would like to make mention that Chloe turned 6 in July... My computer was down so I could not post pics.. We had a little surprise party with the family!!!




Deacon, I guess, had a little too much fun!!!



These two are buddies!! If you need to find Rissy all you have to do is call Chester and they both come running.



Here is Hunter, I believe, he is looking through his imaginary scope...




The kids and I had the privilege of attending my mom and dad's church's VBS, this is Gage, singing a song in front of everyone.... He was so excited he practiced the same 2 songs over and over the entire day!!

Homeschool Advantage!!

Our Pastor told us tonight about an option that homeschoolers are able to have...

http://homeschoollegaladvantage.com This is through the CLA. This is something that us homeschoolers need to look into. It is 79.00$ the first year and then after that 69.00$. If you are in a ministry or in the Army it is 59.00$.

If you have any legal issues they will provide an attorney and will pay for it all. If there is any homeschooling issues going on, they will warn you. They also have a newsletter that you can sign up for. This is something for us homeschooling families to be able to fall back on if we need any help in the future. Please at least check into this, I believe that this is something that we may need probably in the near future.

Camping Trip

I just wanted to post a few pics of the camping trip that we took down in Lesterville Mo.


Playing in the creek!



Picking up the rock!!


Throwing the rock!! I think she threw the same rock 50 times!!



Wishing that the day was not ending so soon!!



But hey at least I got to eat marshmallows!!




The camp site!!



Got to check the blog!!



Yep my God is awesome!!


Just hanging around chatting!!




What Gage does best, catching critters to scare his mommy.

Around The Stroupe Home

Clarissa learning how to ride the tricycle!! This can be a difficult task for a 2 year old.


We always find time for rest. This is Deacon all cozy with his blanky!


In my flower bed!!


This is the turkey, this was taken a couple of weeks ago, so they are much bigger now!! This is the first time that we seen him sitting on the side of the tub.

Daddy, taking care of a boo boo:(

Fighting The Battle Of Laundry

So I will be the first one to admit, after my 4th child was born I felt like I could never catch up with the laundry. It honestly was stressing me out, on a good day I would have only 4 loads of laundry left after doing a few. Everywhere I looked there was a piece if clothing somewhere, rather it be under a bed, behind the door, or stuffed somewhere in the corner there was LAUNDRY!! Oh, I don't want to forget to mention the dressers and closets, oh my, they were so unorganized and crammed you could not fit a thing in them!!

So a few weeks ago I told my wonderful husband that I was going to go through all of the clothes, throw away, give away, and store away this out of control madness!!

Guess what I DID IT!!! I am so happy and my days go by so much smoother!! Yeah!!!

Here is how I did it!!

First of all I went through and simplified all of the clothing and what ever was not needed, was thrown out.
All bedrooms have 1 dresser in it all 3 boys share, and the 2 girls share, and hubby and I share.
Then of course we have our closets!!

Each bedroom has there own little basket. After the children, are done with there changing they put in there own basket, girls with girls, boys with boys, and the hubby and I in another!!

The whites go in the basket in my room ( normally I pick out the whites as I do the laundry and put them in the proper spot )

The towels go in the hamper in the laundry room!!

Whatever basket has the most clothing is the baskets I do that day. I normally do 2 loads a day sometimes 3!! I do towels 2 times a week and whites 1 time!!

Every night after the kids have had there baths they know that they are to lay out the clothing that they want to wear the next day. The older siblings help the younger ones!!

As for putting away the clothing I use to struggle in this area also. Now I will not allow myself to put another load in the wash until the load that is on the line or in the dryer is folded and put away.

The children put away there own clothing, and help the younger ones. When they are not looking, mommy goes in and does it nice and tidy, or if it is really sloppy I call the children in to do it the right way with a little of mommy's help.

I am so excited to say that I have made it through the laundry battle for several weeks now. My daily duties are so much easier!!!

I would love to challenge some of you to try to become stress free from laundry!!
To the ones that don't really have a laundry issue, I would love to know how you all keep up with your laundry!!

While Washing Dishes

Ok, so lately I have been washing dishes by hand, and I have realized how much it can do for the family. I wanted to do a little post on " While Washing Dishes "....

While washing dishes I like to think about my day!!

While washing dishes it gives me an opportunity to talk, laugh, and hang out with Gage!!

While washing dishes it teaches my daughters how to become a good keeper of the home!!

While washing dishes I can homeschool!!

While washing dishes my children and I play the whistling game!!

While washing dishes the children and I sing, while Daddy and the little ones dance!!

While washing dishes it gives me a chance to be a blessing and a good testimony to my children!!

While washing dishes I get to hear what is on Gages mind!!

While washing dishes I can Pray, Sing, and just talk to the Lord.


I remember when I use to get so disgusted when my dishwasher went out..... but now that the kids are older, I am enjoying it so much that I am still washing dishes by hand and the dishwasher is working just fine.

Tonight, after supper the 2 older children and I were working together and doing after supper clean up. While I was washing, Gage was drying and putting away. I realized just how wonderful that this little thing that I use to dislike so much, has become such a blessing, and fun time for my family.

There was nothing better than whistling a song to see which family member can guess the right tune!!

My challenge to you before you go to put that dish in the dishwasher, grab a child and spend some time with them, play a game, or just ask them what is on their mind. If you don't have any children, take a moment and spend that time with God, Pray, sing, or talk to him like he is your best friend standing right next to you. I know that washing dishes has become a blessing to the Stroupe home!!

17 New Members

We recently have been enjoying 17 new members to our family!!!1




We actually bought 16 but for some wonderful reason they blessed us with 1 extra little blessing!!

We actually have 16 hens and 1 turkey.... The turkey is for fun!!!!

A Wonderful Husband!!!!

So in this post I have to brag a little....

I have not been getting a lot of sleep lately being that my youngest who is 5 mo old, has been very crabby at night.

This morning my husband blessed me by letting me sleep in till 9:15am and then woke me up with pancakes, strawberries and kiwi's in bed. Needless to stay I am still not out of bed I am snuggled up with Deacon and drinking a hot cup of coffee.

I am so blessed with a wonderful husband, Thank You baby!!!!

Clarissa Turns 2

Today Clarissa turns 2, and even though she has no idea what really is going on, we enjoyed spoiling her...

Here is Clarissa just a couple days old!!!


Another pic of her just a couple weeks old!!


About 4 months old!!!!



About 6 months old!!


About 8 months old!!


It looks like here she had some kind of juice bath!!


Just being here sweet self!!!




She must not have wanted her picture taken!!!


Out exploring the world!!!

Kentucky Times

The beginning of spring we went down to Ky to see Andrew's family and I would like to introduce you to them....


This is Andrew's Mamaw and she is a wonderful person. Let me tell you she is the hardest person to get a picture of . If she sees this I will probably not have a place to stay when we go back down.


This is Uncle Mike all of my kids love home. He is a big hunting guy, four wheelers and so forth so there for Gage loves chatting with him...


Meet Chuck, he will keep you laughing all the time

This is Mrs. Dolly, Chucks wife, she is such a blessing.



Aunt Darlene, giving our Deacon a kiss.


This is Miss Jenny, Chuck and Dolly's daughter!!



This is Shannon, Andrew's sister!!

And this is some of the crew sitting outside... I have missed a few people that I need to get some pics rounded up for.


This one is just for smiles.... he was sitting around the table with us while we are playing games!!!

Family Fun

The past few weeks have been very busy, but yet very fun. Yes, the laptop has been up and moving for a while now, but, it has been so busy around here that I have not had the time to sit and do a post.

Now that the weather is turning for the better, we have been outside most of the day, cleaning the yard, planting flowers, and trying to get a garden in, and of course when Daddy is home it is all about spending time with him.

Also Grandpa Dave was up here from KY for a 2 week stay. It rained a lot but we managed to still have a lot of fun.

Here are some pics for you all to enjoy....


The kids while on the camping trip. Someone pointed out to me that Chester looks like he is smiling in this picture!!!

Gage playing around on the monkey bars!!


Deacon and I !!!


My wonderful husband!!!


Go kart riding!!!


Bowling!!!

Tree planting!!!

We have been very busy, I am hoping to keep my blog up to date, but please be patient with me cause it also might be another 2 weeks. We are just enjoying the warm weather right now!!

Sorry

I just want to let everyone know that I am still around. All we have available right now is the desk top computer and for some reason or another it takes a very long time to upload anything on this silly thing. My husbands laptop is not available right now so I hope that you all don't forget about me and hopefully I will be able to be up and blogging soon!!!!

Gift...

Thank You Mr. and Mrs. Stuebs for my new Bumbo seat I really like it!!!!!