Trip to the M6's house.

Two weeks ago we took a few days off to go visit my sister and her family... well it wasn't exactly a 'just for the heck of it' visit. Twice a year there is a huge consignment sale in Raleigh at the state fair grounds. Yeah when I said huge I was serious! There is 145,000 sq feet of building space stuffed and stacked of kids things to be sold. That is almost three football fields! In clothes alone there is at least 100 yards of EACH size crammed in as tight as you can possible imagine. Mind blowing? YEP! I volunteer to work a 5 hour shift and Kristi volunteers to do a 10 hour shift. Why? We both get to shop the day before the sale starts. She gets to start shopping at 3pm and I start at 5pm. 

Traditionally we are some of the last out the doors that night and leave around 11:00pm. Is 6 hours enough? NOPE! I am always wishing their was more time. It takes so long to dig through all those clothes. (because I have to make sure I am finding the cutest things and the best prices!) And then there are the bikes, the toys, the shoes, the books... oh my! 

So anyway.. the point of this blog was really to capture the fun we had while spending time with the M6. We

put together puzzles,

did a little home repair,

beaded a few necklaces and braclettes,

played in the play room,

made tents under beds,

built race tracks,

did a little Wii dancing

watched some "She Ra"

Made 'welcome home' posters for friends coming home from Korea with their new son.

And yep we FINALLY got Pierson a new bike at the sale. I didn't realize until later that the seat could come down a little more than it was... That has helped a lot. The first few attempts were a little rocky

but he had a line of cheerleaders cheering him on!

And a little buddy there to help him up every time.
Pierson gave a thumbs up to let me know he was ok after this tumble to the ground.

Thanks M6 family for letting us crash at your house for a few days!  We had a great time!!!

Lake Day with the Praise Team

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the lake with our Praise Team at church. It was such a fun afternoon. We are so thankful to Jay and Shannon (members of the praise team who invited all of us to their lake house) there were 26 of us there for the afternoon. What a blast we had. We jumped off boat houses, jet skied, water skied, relaxed on floats, ate... and much more. I however didn't take a single still picture but a lot of video clips. 

So without further ado here are a few clips from our day of fun. 

10 second clip of Daddy throwing Pierson off a boat house. (at Pierson's request by the way) The first time went great. The second time ended up being a belly buster... not so much fun. 

This one is Pierson learning to water ski. That may be a little bit of an overstatement but I was amazed at how well he did and the determination he had. 

Carson was so kind to Maylin. He kept jumping in with her and helped coax her off the boat house for the first time. He is such a sweet kid. This clip also shows the result of Pierson's belly buster... :o

This one is Adam's first go at water skiing. Snow skis are like second feet to him, but water skis were something he had never tried. This clip (even though he is hard to see) shows that there must be some similarities between the two because he hopped up and never looked back.

Maylin (my little dare devil) was a little timid about jumping. We were all shocked. But each time she jumped she ended up with a grin she didn't want to show off.

These video's are a little out of order. This was actually Pierson's first jump off the boat house. (Their first go round we insisted that they wear their life jackets just in case they panicked!) As you can see he was all smiles!

Teniah gave both of the kids a ride on the jet ski (along with several other adults at different times). It is safe to say that both of my kids are water bugs is a gross understatement. They both love to swim, love to go fast on water craft vehicles, and love to just be lazy bums in by the shore. My kind of kids!

Thanks Jay and Shannon for having all of us over! We had a great time!

I love her Sense of Style.

Helmet, leotard, rain boots... not a cloud in site.
Just because. :)

Manic Monday! LOL

Some of my Favorite Pictures

which I have failed to post. 

For some reason these pictures have been sitting in my "blog" folder but I have never gotten around to posting them. I guess for the most part they don't have much of a story to them. They are just everyday moments caught on camera. 

 Spunky

 Daring

nature lover (oh how she loves to pick wild flowers)

music lover

 rock collector

 entertainer

precious

and adorable!

What a sweet spirit they both have! I am so blessed to be their Mom. 

Summer Magnolia's

I love Magnolia's

   

 And I love these two!

   

 Happy Summer blossoms!

4th of July

This forth of July we were excited to have cousins come to town from Atlanta. Pierson and Maylin love to have company come visit. They were super excited this time because we had just gotten to see these guys in Ohio two weeks prior. The memory of how fun they were was fresh in their minds. That afternoon we spent hours in the pool splashing around and having a great time. We had taco's for dinner and then headed out for fireworks. 

all smiles for the fireworks! 

 Maylin LOVES to take pictures! I'll spare you the dozens upon dozens she took but here are a couple that turned out pretty cute. Rusty and Cheryl.

Carol and Sara.  

 The kids waited in line for Italian Ice. Left from Right: Tatiana, Parker, Tyler, Maylin, Pierson and Carter.

 Full moon shining over the festival.

 Pierson video taped the whole fireworks show! He is so precious and always makes sure that he documents fun events so that he never forgets.

 Maylin insisted that I take a picture of every firework! Each time I put the camera down she would say "MOMMY! Take pictures!"
They both have a need to capture the moment.  I can't help but think that it has something to do with the fact that they have one small photo album with about 30 pictures from the first 4 and 5 years of their lives. They practically have nothing to document or prove anything from the first part of their lives. Sometimes it almost feels as if they are afraid if they don't document by pictures, video or drawings that they will forget it forever and loose control of their future again.

 A family God put together. I wouldn't have it ANY other way!

 A group picture after the fireworks! What a fun evening!

Cheryl picked some balloons for Maylin. Thanks Cheryl it made for a fun car ride home! ;) But Maylin was so pleased!

Thanks VBS

For a great week and great things to take home and play with. It was so fun to be there and be a group leader. I loved watching my kids grow in their understanding of God's love.  It was a busy HOT week, but worth every ounce of energy. I didn't take my camera with me to VBS but caught a few fun shots when we got home with some of the 'take aways'. 

 Maylin loved her kite. Unfortunately there was not one bit of wind, but it sure did provide a great form of exercise.

 Pierson enjoyed the kite but I think his favorite part were these little wings which he so cleverly stuck on his nose.

Look out world here come Captain Pierson!

On Sunday the kids got to sing some of their favorite songs for the congregation. It always amazes me because with 100+ kids there is so much hustle and bustle going on I never really think the kids are getting the songs and motions.  But somehow they always pull through and look as if they have been practicing for months. (these pictures were taken at the 11:00/traditional service when there were only about 7 or 8 kids there)

During the 8:30/contemporary service there were at least 40ish kids there but Maylin wouldn't sing. She didn't want anyone looking at her.  

Amazingly enough we managed to convince her to stay and help out at the 11:00 service. If only I could make her realize that when you are mixed in a bigger crowd less people actually watch you than when you are with only 7 or 8 kids... oh well I guess logic and reason come later in life... right? 

Ohio part II

Sunday, our last day in Ohio. After church we got the chance to go over to Grandpa's Farm. Honestly after Grandpa died last March I wasn't sure we would ever even drive by the farm again let alone get to walk the land. The farm was sold very quickly which was best for everyone but also a little sad. I have so many memories there, from slinging creek moss at my sister and cousins, to pulling weeds in the bean fields, to being chased by the bulls... oh the memories come flooding back. 

We were blessed to be able to take a walk one more time. Each step brought back a flood of memories. It wasn't quite the same without Grandpa, but definitely still a blessing.

Maylin and Kylie were having fun spending time together.  I couldn't pass up this picture I just thought it was precious.

We also couldn't pass up the chance to get, in all probability, the last picture of our kids on the leaning tree.  16 months ago all of the great grandchildren of Grandpa lined up on this tree. (scroll down a few pictures on the link to see it). It really is amazing the difference a few months can make. In March there are no leaves in June of course it looks completely different.

My kids crossing the 'telephone poll bridge'. There is no telling how many times I walked across this bridge. We used to sit out there and play in this creek for hours. Sometimes we stayed because we were just caught up in our own fantasy (especially after the movie 'Dirty Dancing' came out) we 'danced' back and forth across the bridge over and over again.  Sometimes we stayed there because we were trapped by cows on either side. The bridge really is higher than it looks in the picture... High enough to keep us away from cows standing in the creek. ;) Either way we have awesome memories and stories to share with future generations.

There is also the pond. We sat out here for as long as we could handle the heat that day. This pond is such a versatile form of entertainment. In the summer it was good for canoeing and fishing. Many bull frogs were chased down the banks and lots of minnows were swatted at with nets. It was also good for just having a peaceful place to sit and catch up with Grandpa or other family members. In the winter it was a great place for ice skating. We threw many rocks out there to test the thickness of the ice. We plowed many snow piles as we dove with a running start only to see who could go the furthest on our bellies. ...oh the fun... oh the memories.

I didn't take a picture of the summer house, aka a screened in patio area away from the house, this time but   we did take this picture which I love. Written in the concrete as you walk in the door is V. Shultz 1953. I am not sure who the V stands for Vernon or Virginia?  I guess they were clever enough to know they only needed one V for the both of them. I can only imagine the joy they felt when they wrote this nearly 60 years ago as a young couple building their family here on these grounds. This year it was cool to have all six (my sister's 4 plus my 2) of their little hands around this legacy.

All too soon it was time to pack up and head back to NC. But first we had to pass out a few little gifts that the kids picked out for each other.

Precious!

Ferocious!

A bit crazy! ;) We love you Uncle Ian! You bring a lot of humor to all of our lives.

We were blessed to be able to walk through one more time. Things have changed since the new owners have moved in but the spirit of the land has not. One last picture of sisters who have shared so many memories together in this special place. We can only hope to maintain the legacy of the one of the most special couples we know.

I did really love one addition the new owners added in front of the garage. Makes my heart happy to know that this place will continue to be a place where Christ is the center of all.

And it was time to go...

too bad that cape couldn't fly us all the way back to NC.