CCC Golf Tournament

Each year CCC holds an annual golf tournament. For some that means playing their yearly round of golf. For others it is a real chance to win some prizes (those who play a little more frequently). But for the real thrill seekers like myself and some other great volunteers it is our chance to drive a golf cart around passing out drinks and snacks. Sounds not so "thrilling"... I have learned that no matter how far away the person yelling "FOUR" sounds you should always duck and cover! :) That, my friend, is thrilling!

 I do have to say that the kids of the volunteers however, seemed to have the most fun! Ring Around The Roses just never gets old! Thankfully they entertained each other most of the day. The other part of the time was spent being entertained by Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and friends!

 I can still hear the laughter these girls shared for hours.

Maylin desperately wanted to learn to hit the ball. She said, "I go do dat!" Meaning she wanted to go play with the grown ups. I think she needs a little more practice.

 

 Swinging as fast and hard as she could over and over... for some reason that little ball just wouldn't move.

 Exhausted, she finally gave up, shook her head and laughed out loud at herself! That is a trait she got from Mommy. It is always more fun to laugh at yourself than get frustrated! She does a great job at that!

 Why wouldn't you run full force and dive headlong like a kamikaze  into this sharp grassy stuff? Caleb did! and he thought it was awesome! He is hilarious!

 The golf tournament kids.
Left to Right: Pierson, Caleb, Maylin, Darcy, Kathrine, Susannah, Kylie and Emma.
It is such a blessing for us to have such great friends!

Happy Golfing!

Sleep Tight Tooth Fairy

Yesterday was quite a day for young Pierson! He had to have one of his molar teeth pulled. It was decayed down to the gum line. The dentist was afraid that it would abscess and become very painful. So... off we went. He was very brave. He cried a little when he got the Novocain. :( He did really well while she pulled. It came out in two pieces. (it was that bad!)  After the pieces were out the dentist put a cotton swab on it to stop the bleeding. It was then that Pierson lost control! He began crying, almost screaming! None of us could calm him down. He kept saying "Dat hurt!" After a minute the dentist pulled the cotton out to look and see what was happening... immediately he stopped crying. It was the cotton that threw him over the edge???? Really!?
This morning he woke to find some "pennies" in his tooth container the dentist gave him. His eyes about popped out of his head when he saw it under his pillow! He was very excited and asked if the tooth fairy would come again tonight. "Only if you want to go get another tooth pulled out today" I said.  With a wide grin he said, "OH, no shank you!"

Sleep tight little tooth fairy hopefully we won't see you for a while!

Goldfish in my Jello!

 Pierson and Maylin have a very clever Daddy! Not only is he the best guitar playing, tickler in town but he is also pretty creative. Tired of giving the kids ice cream for a treat he decided to be a little more fun.

Sunday afternoon I woke from my nap 'with' the kids to discover that Daddy and the kids had gone to Wal-Mart to get some groceries. (oops I slept a little longer than I intended) The next thing I know Adam is calling me asking if there was a large glass bowl in the house? "A what?" I said. He said don't worry it is for the kids treat.  ??? OK ???

As it turns out daddy was making a 'fish tank' of jello! He put rocks (otherwise known as grapes) in the bottom. Floated a few pieces of seaweed (parsley) around and after it congealed the kids got to push goldfish crackers down into the 'water'!

 I have to admit. I got a little queasy at the thought of eating soggy fish in my jello but it wasn't bad! And they were easy enough to pick out.

 We did pull out the 'seaweed' before we consumed our fish tank. It was totally for looks.

You can see for yourself that it was a BIG hit with the kids! Daddy is so clever! What a blessing it is to be able to share a bowl a jello with my kids! Family fun which we will cherish for years to come.

Which One?

Light socket or Crazy Hair day?  Fortunately it was the latter!

For those of you familiar with Christian music artists all he needs is a goatee and you have an Asian David Crowder.

Pierson didn't understanding why I was doing this to his hair. He looked at me with wrinkled eye brows and said "Why you do dis?" It is kind of difficult to convince a child that this is 'normal' and that everyone else will be doing it too. By the time he was ready to go to school though he was excited about his "kayzee haiw"

 When we picked Pierson up from school that afternoon Maylin (who had slept through the morning madness) said to him, "Why you look like dat?" After we explained, she was terribly disappointed that her school didn't do crazy hair day. So what does a crazy mom do? Give her daughter crazy hair too!

I know I am partial but I think she looks pretty cute with her crazy hair! It matches her personality!!!

Jumping off the diving board by themselves! :0

 How do you make two kids who have lived all but the last 6 months of their lives on a subtropical island understand that all too soon swimming will not be an option? The leaves are going to fall off all the trees, and it will be cold all the time. Experience... that is the best solution I have come up with. So for now we are enjoying the water as long as we can and taking in all of the vitamin D that we can.

The last time Maylin and I went swimming she shivered and said, "Mowum, why it so cold?" Tired of giving the answer, "just because" I said, "Well, you see, the sun is moving further away from where we live on the earth and that makes the air colder." Maylin looked at me with eyes squinted and brows furrowed and said, "Oh, I know." ...of course she does? What 4 year old doesn't know that? :)

As the summer has gone on the kids have gotten stronger as swimmers. They have also gotten braver! On one of our last big pool days this summer both kids decided they wanted to jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder by themselves. I nervously stood by with a pole to pull them out if they needed help. Fortunately neither one needed me and they both did it all by themselves!!!

I think she was happy with herself?!

Is that a proud face or what?!

Great job Pierson and Maylin! We are so proud of you!

New-to-us Car! :)

Finally we have gotten a car that can sufficiently haul our family plus a few! :)

Chaucer is so pleased! :)

Another Wedding!

This time it was Grandma Ann getting married. I am not sure but I think my kids are beginning to think that weddings are everyday occurances. We've been to our share of friends and family's weddings this summer. Maylin continues to say she wants one. Hopefully that will be WAY later than sooner! :)

 I didn't get a chance to take many photos but it was a nice quaint little wedding.

Between the 5 kids there is only one way to keep them quiet during a wedding... bribery! Grandma Shultz promised them presents if they were well behaved during the wedding and reception. And that they were. It took a little coercing but over all they did very well.

So here they are in no particular order showing off their gifts!

 

Darcy with her flashy new purse!

Caleb with his new Cars cars.

Maylin and a cool frog puzzle. (She had gotten the black shoes she was wearing the night before so that she had a pair of shoes that fit for the wedding. Grandma being the thoughtful lady she is didn't want Maylin to feel left out when everyone else got thier presents so she stuck in a puzzle for her.)

Pierson with his new Cars dinner set. (It took some convincing to get him to actually use the dishes. He didn't want to get them dirty! :)

After opening his presents he went to thank Grandma for the gift and he got another gift! A big kiss! (Notice just to the left of his mouth).

Kylie got a cute new pair of shoes!

And just like that it was time to go again. It seems like our visits with cousins always end too quickly! It was nice to see everyone again! Many family well wishes!!!

Happy Gotcha Day!

It has been 6 months today! Happy Gotcha Day Pierson and Maylin! We Love you!!!!

County Fair

Each year in my hometown the fair comes in September. I love fair time for several reasons.


1. It is that time of year when things are starting to cool down for fall and you know the leaves are about to start changing.

2. School has kicked back into to high gear and normal schedules are falling back into place.

3. One gets to see/run into lots of old and new friends.

4. FAIR FOOD! :)


Yes I know that is it is not good for me... Yes I know that it is full of saturated fat. It is grease on a stick... and I love it! Maylin opted for pizza, not exactly fair food if you ask me. Pierson had a foot long corn dog! He ate all but about two bites of it. Adam and I had delicious sausage dogs!!! YUM. I could eat another one right now if it weren't for the heart burn! :)


Then it was off to the barns.



I am not sure who was trying to lick who? (notice Pierson is still carrying around his corn dog stick which finally mysteriously disappeared. :) ???)

This little petting zoo let you feed the animals for a small fee. The kids had a great time feeding the goats, alpaca, cows, and ducks. Pierson rationed his food out only allowing each animal a little nibble so his feed lasted a LONG time! Maylin on the other hand let them eat until they got butted out of the way by the next goat in line... until this cute, patient, friendly little goat ripped the cup out of her hand shook it violently and spit it to the ground! You should have seen her face! She didn't know what to do.

After seeing what Maylin's goat did Pierson decided not to let them do the same to him. He poured little bits in his hand and offered the other goats as a peace offering.

Maylin couldn't understand why the ducks backed away from her when she YELLED for them to come! Hmmm I wonder why they didn't want to be pet by this overzealous little one?

She also noticed the tall animal in background. This is how that conversation went.

Maylin: "Mouwm, what dat?"

Me: "What is what honey bun?"

Maylin: "Dat! It's biiiigg. It's five!" While holding up her hand to indicate how tall it was.

Me: "Oh that... It is a camel."

Maylin: "Oh YEAH! I know her! Her nice."

:) ??? OK?

How do you explain that these cute birds will be your thanksgiving dinner? My kids don't even know what Thanksgiving is! I guess some things are best just left to experience.

Pierson and Maylin got to milk cows. Thanks Kate and Andy for paying for their tickets. Pierson loved it. He thought it was funny. Maylin... not so much. She tried it and then sat down... she had had enough of that.

After milking the cow the kids were given a carton of milk. It was HILARIOUS to see the connection clicking. At first I thought "oh no, we are done with milk." Pierson slightly wrinkled up his lip and nose, pause and then asked for me to help open it so he could drink it. Maylin didn't bat an eye. SHEW! :)

They both loved watching the baby ducks.

The ducks would climb up the ramp then stretch as far as their little necks would reach trying to get feed out of the swinging trough (what the guy is holding still). Then before they know what is happening they have lost traction in the water and are sliding down this water slide at break neck speeds just to splash into a pool of water at the bottom and then climb back up the ramp to try it all over again! Over and over they tried. It was funny but I felt sorry for the little guys. (After a few minutes the guy did put them back in their warmers and feed them for real!)

Pierson liked this 'dotty' cow.

Watching baby chicks!

A trip to the fair is never complete with some form of dessert. For me that is funnel cakes. Maylin decided on cotton candy. Pierson went for ice cream, and of course Maylin then decided that she needed ice cream too. So Mommy, Kate, Andy and Daddy volunteered to munch on the cotton candy so that Maylin could get ice cream and not 'waste' the cotton candy. :) Aren't we nice?!

Each kid got to play two games. They both chose this and both won a stuffed frog. "Oh goody another cheap stuffed animal!" i thought. :)

They also chose to throw baseballs at a target. Pierson made all of us stop in our tracks at his accuracy and speed in which he threw the ball. I guess the Taiwanese is still in him! (Baseball is huge in Taiwan) I suppose we'll be signing him up for coach pitch this spring.

These guitars were the prizes for the efforts in the baseball game. I wish we had our video camera because here they were giving us a concert! Song of choice: David Crowder's Undignified. "ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, HEY! I yill dase, I yill seeng,..."

They sang over and over while we waited for the pig races to start. If you haven't seen racing pigs you... aren't missing that much. But it is kind of cute and the kids loved it. Before each race a representative is chosen for each pig. Maylin got picked to cheer on pig number 3!

And what do you know! Pig number three won!!! He must have been running extra hard for the cute little girl cheering him on!!!

For being the best cheerleader she won a blue ribbon! You would have thought that she won a million bucks. She held onto that ribbon as if her life depended on it! That is until she nodded off in the car on the way home.

Well that is is for the county fair! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we did!

Happy fair days!