Sunday, February 27, 2011

A Saturday at Home

Nothing (in my book) is better than living in the country a mile off the main road. There are many advantages and things that make it the life of luxury. One being you can mow the lawn in your bathing suit and no one sees you! : ) There are many of creeks and fields to romp in. Plenty of trees to climb. Lots of space for the animals to roam. Space for a garden. And, almost as important as the bathing suit, the kids can go outside and play and I don't have to worry about them getting in the road or being kidnapped. 
There is one disadvantages to go along with all the perks. Dusty cars! : ) The last 1/4 of a mile of the road  is dusty gravel. Actually I really don't mind the dusty car. But every so often after a couple of good rainy days pot holes slowly begin to appear. One of the chores of 'country' life is to keep the holes filled in so that  they don't become inconvenient sink holes. :) 

Pierson and Maylin have jumped right into life on the farm. They love exploring what it means to keep things running. When I told them to grab their (sand) shovels and come with Daddy and I to help fix the driveway they were ecstatic! They helped shovel the gravel that had washed to the side and filled in those holes like champs!
After a little hard work we couldn't think of anything better than to top off the evening with roasting a couple of marshmallows over a fire.













 Of course over the winter a few of the rocks around the fire ring had 'walked away' so we went in search of rocks that have worked their way up from the ground around the barn. 


Time for roasted marshmallows.
No one ever said that life on the farm was easy... but it sure is worth it!















It was a quiet relaxing evening... until Chaucer decided that he wanted to "fire walk".  Apparently dogs don't have the innate 'fire sense' that their cousin the wolf does. Chaucer wanted in on the family fun and walked right to the edge of the fire (inside the rock circle). As Mom and I lunged towards him to pull him out he started to sit! ???Fortunately, I think, just before he was able to sit in the flames he felt the heat on his back paw. In an instant he was scampering off on three feet with red embers glowing from his leg! We chased him down and swatted off the remaining embers and scurried him into the house to check out the damage. He only had a few little marks on the pad of his foot that seemed to be a little sore.  But man, the smell of all of that singed hair! WOW!  He's not going to need a hair cut on that foot for a while!

How do you put ice on a dog's foot? I can confidently say that putting his foot in a bowl of ice water while he is standing isn't the answer unless you have a lot of towels handy! Our second and best solution... lay him down and stick his paw in a zip-lock bag full of ice!

Lessons learned: Hard work pays off in the end. 
Children aren't the only things you need to keep out of fires! 

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Outdoor Chess?


The weather here has been unusually warm for this time of year and it has been WONDERFUL! We have been enjoying temps in the 60's and 70's for several weeks now.  
What does one do when your kids want to play chess but it is 70 degrees outside?  Yep pack up the game and make them sit outside and play!
Don't get me wrong... I wouldn't call the kids 'expert' chess players by any stretch of the imagination. But they are learning with the help of this child friendly chess set. Each piece has a 'map' with the direction it may move and how many spaces as well.

Pierson needed to double check Maylin's pieces to make sure she wasn't cheating. : )

Lesson's learned:
Everything is better outside.
Guard your Queen at all cost! :)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

"Are you talking to me?!"
















I don't think we will have to worry about her getting pushed around on the playground! :)

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

To Infinity and Beyond!

Move over Buzz Lightyear! There are new space rangers in town!


(Daddy is so creative!)

Cookie Crazy!!!

Around here we love cookies! I thought it would be fun for the family to cook up a batch of our favorite Chocolate Chip cookies... Well... it was fun for about 10 minutes. 
They helped mix up a lumpy mess  

and then Pierson helped scoop out one, maybe two cookies onto the tray.  Then I was on my own.
 
Until it was time to eat!  


Anyone else ever feel like the little red hen?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Learning to Love all of our Silly Holidays!

I am still not sure if Pierson and Maylin understand what Valentines day is all about. For that mater, I suppose I don't really either.
Maylin: "Momma, wats dat Vayentines day?"
Me:  "It's a day you tell everyone you love how much they mean to you."
Maylin: "Why?"
Me: "Um... because a little angel with a bow and arrow shoots you in the hiney and tells you too?"
With nervous questioning laughter Maylin walks away.

Oh how I make myself laugh!

 Even if they don't understand they sure did enjoy opening all the goodies everyone sent them! Pierson still hasn't been back to school to reap the benefits of Valentines from his friends but I am sure on his return tomorrow he will be greeted by a box full of notes!



Which piece to eat first?


(I love the chocolate drool running down Pierson's cheek! Now that is a good piece of chocolate!)

The kids made little gifts for the Grandparents.
I think all but one has been delivered now... (so if you are a Grandparent and you haven't received yours yet I am sorry the flu hit and we are behind! It is coming!!!)

Happy belated Valentines Day everyone... whatever that really means?   : )

Friday, February 18, 2011

Birthday Bowling Bash!!

Happy Birthday Kate! We had such a wonderful time celebrating with you! You are a great friend and going to be a great mother!!! We can't wait!

We are so fortunate to have such a great group of friends to celebrate life's joys, disappointments, laughter and tears with. What's even better is that even though Adam and I are the only couple with kids, our friends still plan kid-friendly birthday parties/evenings out.

Andy being silly carrying a 'girl' ball. (kind of matches his head ) HEHEHE Technically I didn't say it Andy... I crossed it all out! :)

Giving Maylin pointer's on the "Granny shot"! (This was the only time she actually knocked any pins down! Fortunately she didn't seem to mind that the ball always went the gutter.
Andy helping Maylin keep score.
Daddy helping Pierson bowl. He actually knocked 17 pins down over the course of the evening. (PS we did request bumpers but those lanes were already full.)
Katie and Brandon.
At least she enjoyed watching the ball roll down the gutter! :)

Hmmm... not where he planned that one to go. Katie is always there for a supportive gasp! :)

Much Better!!!! (yes it looks like it is going quite well... but it actually took a curve to the left.) I think he got 3 pins that time though! Good thing we just bowl for fun every 5-10 years!
Come to find out this is what the on-set of the flu looks like!

Maylin just had fun being the center of everyone's world!
(PS. To all the bowler's in my Ohio Family: Go ahead... it is OK to laugh at our skill! Love you!)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Too Much Fun?

I'd say Chaucer enjoyed Maylin's Tea Party a little too much. : )

Just kidding of course. However this is how the majority of our house has felt this week. It started last Thursday with Pierson. I picked him up from school with a low grade fever. It continued to stay low grade but with a YUCKY cough stuffy nose. On Sunday the 'bug' hit me. No fever but chills cold sweats, cough, sinus stuff, achy joints... Wednesday Adam took us to the Dr.'s. We both got some meds which seem to be helping... some.
Then today it was Maylin's turn to join in on the family fun! So off she went to the Dr.
Yep! It has been no fun around here! Pray for Adam and Mom that they continue to stay well!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Chinese New Year Celebration

Last weekend Adam and I decided to try and take the kids to a CNY Celebration. Adam searched online for several options before we decided we would go to a 'free' one at Davidson University. You can't beat free!!! Off we went! After a 50 minute drive we parked on campus and walked around until we found the building we were looking for. The kids were very excited because we promised them we would get to see a dancing dragon. We walked into the building expecting to find a lot going on... "Maybe we are early?" I said... "Maybe it is upstairs?" Adam questioned. While I kept the kids occupied Adam walked around in search of the festivities. When he came back I knew something was wrong. The sheepish grin on his face said it all. "Woops! It's tomorrow night!" 


At least we got a cute picture of the kids on the big swing in the middle of campus. : )

After a few minutes of contemplation we decided to head down to another college campus and see what was going on. We really didn't want to because it was going to cost $60 for the four of us but the kids were really worked up about seeing a dragon. So off we went. As it turned out we missed much of the evening (dinner and children's activities) but the evening show was about to start. Adam walked in to see if we could get tickets and the woman said "I sorry, the show full. No more tickets."
Disappointed Adam came back to the kids and I and suggested we at least walk in because the performers were all out in the hall practicing in costume. That would be better than nothing. As we stood in the lobby watching all the commotion the lady must have had a change of heart when she saw our Asian kids. She came over and said "You go in! Only $25 It Chinese New Year no one need to miss it!" Adam had to run back to the car to get money because we didn't think we needed it. While we were waiting for him to get back we could hear the Chinese Drums starting up. The woman came over and said. "Go Go Go! I tell your husband where you are. Is room upstairs! Don't miss anything! Go Go Go!"  Franticly she rushed us up the stairs to see the show. I just have to note there were plenty of seats available in the balcony.  Eventually Adam found us. (The lady wasn't there when he got back and he didn't know where we were! lol)
Overall it was an interesting evening. Some of the performances were really good, other's... well they were entertaining. Most were traditional... others... not so much. The rest of the night looked something like this...
Nontraditional street dancing. (This was Pierson's favorite act!)
The kids enjoying the show. I think Pierson was mesmerized by this guy!
Dancing.
Strange but beautiful Chinese instrument.
Cute little girls dancing with fans.
Singing.
More Dancing.
Violins.
And more dancing! These "Pink girls" were Maylin's favorite. Funny because they were also not traditional dance. Oh well. We try.
Happy Chinese New Year!