Maylin and a Campfire

Well she isn't as interested in the "fire" as Pierson,

 unless of course it involves marshmallows. ;)

 She does love her sweets. But as soon as those are gone she is pretty much done with the fire.  She might poke a stick in from time to time but for the most part she would rather play on the swing set or on this night...

 pretend she is Merida from the movie Brave. She is super excited about the Merida dress Grandma Ann has made for her for Halloween.

 And you better believe she is practicing her archery skills with her homemade bow and arrow. Yep this little girl made her own bow and arrow out of a stick and yarn. Her arrows... they are made out of smaller sticks.

 Believe it not it actually works pretty well.

Come Halloween she will be a pretty awesome Merida!

Pierson and a campfire.

Pierson is a bit of a pyromaniac. He loves having a campfire. 

We have had such a wet summer that we had only two or three fires as opposed to last year when we had at least one a week. 

 Each weekend Pierson asked, "Can we have a fire PLEASE?"

 So this night when we said we were going to have Pierson was VERY excited! As the fire got going it was hot and drying his eyes so...

 He ran inside to get his Buzz Lightyear goggles.

 Then the battle began! He began using his new Tae Kwon Do moves on the falling ash!

 Then he began to catch them like snowflakes.

 He went back to his martial arts moves... that was until one that was still red fell towards his face.

 Luckily that not did hurt him..

 unfortunately it just strengthened his resolve to take down ALL the ash!

 I couldn't believe how long his power struggle went... I was begining to wonder how we would get him to ever stop.

In the end it only took one word...

 Marshmallows!

Gotta love a backyard campfire!

Where Oh Where Has My Little Squirrel Gone

Apparently we have a squirrel nest behind our basketball goal. Occasionally we can hear it scratching around.  I thought it was cool and tried to see the squirrel. Pierson thought it was interesting and stood around for a while to see if he could get a glimpse. 

Maylin on the other hand became... well... obsessed. She wanted to see that squirrel! Not just a glimpse of it, but she wanted to see the whole thing. She pulled her ipod out and tried to use sounds to scare it out...

When that method didn't work she started trying nice music to lure it out.

She called to it and she whistled.

Pierson came back by and tried to knock on the wall and get it out.

A lot of time went by but Maylin's resolve to see that squirrel didn't waver. There aren't many things that keep Maylin's interest... apparently, however, squirrels are... well... just that interesting.

Here's to hoping that squirrel makes an appearance soon. :)

Welcoming Home the M7

I can't believe that I forgot my camera when we went to the airport!! But what an exciting evening! It was a  fun celebration with friends and family waiting for them to de-board the plane. There we all stood waiting for them to come though the security barrier. We watched the majority of their flight members exit, and we waited... You might ask yourself how we knew the strangers walking through were on the M7 flight? 

Well... those of us who were there to greet the M7 were made up of Caucasian adults with mostly international children who were all holding up welcome home signs. I guess it was obvious. Several strangers said, "Their coming!" or "Their right behind us."  One woman even said, "They stopped in the bathroom!" 

We laughed knowing what a spectacle we were but oddly appreciated their consideration to let us know the M7 had actually been on board and were about to make their way to where we were!

It was chaotically fun! Once the M7 arrived there were 13 kids who were all tired as it was 11:00pm, 5 of whom were deliriously tired, running around playing tag. There was an equal amount of adults hugging and chatting. Yeah we stuck out a little bit but I don't think anyone minded. However it was time to get the M7 home. So we left. I drove the Grandma's back to the M house. We unloaded luggage and then the C4 family headed to a hotel for the evening 

 Pierson and Maylin were up early in the morning ready to go play with their cousins.

 We got there and the chaos resumed! Even though they were all TIRED we still had a fun afternoon filled with playing in the backyard. Lunch from Chick-fil-a (brought in).

 Swinging.

 Natalie thought Uncle Adam was funny.

 Maylin and Kylie apparently needed some down time. We found them in the girls room reading books.

 Caleb and Pierson... they don't know what 'down time' is. They built some pretty cool things though.

 Before long it was time to get the kids OUT OF THE HOUSE for a while! So we loaded up and drove over to the neighborhood park.

 It was a great day with a nice breeze. The kids played and played.

 These girls are two peas in a pod!

 The boys played hide and seek for a while.

 Ian saved Daniel just in the knick of time! Daniel was about 1/4 of second away from doing a face plant!

 This was our best attempt at the first picture of all 7! Not too bad... could have been A LOT worse. ;)

 But it didn't last long!

 Adam trying to teach Natalie how to get a bit of a work out.

 And of course the day wouldn't be complete without the boys putting the girls in jail at least once!

 The girls were enjoying their ribbons brought home from China. Rhythmic gymnastics anyone?

 Pierson enjoyed his new gift... a tiny remote control car!

Thanks M7 for the cool gifts!
We are so glad you are home and pray you have now fully recovered from your jet lag! We can't wait to get to know Natalie even better!