Pretending it's still summer...

When I asked Xiaoyun on Friday how school was the first week, she said, "Well, I'm taking 7 classes in English." haha. There's an extra level of difficulty when every class is being taught in a foreign language!  So we played all weekend and pretended it's still summer break! ☀️

Friday night, Alex picked up pizza and our besties came over for a relaxing evening. We chatted on the back deck while the girls played badminton and jumped on the trampoline.

Brielle's new glasses! Same as before. Let's just hope this pair lasts longer than a couple of months.

Saturday, Braylee had an invitational on our home course. It's so fun getting to take our golf cart out and follow along with her! The best part was watching her birdie #18! Her first birdie!  Gramma & Pappy took the other kids to Lark Ranch for the evening.

Looking adorable at a baby shower.

Braylee's 1st Birdie!

Finished her 1st Invitational

Sunday after church, we decided to take Pappy's boat to Patoka. The girls had a blast! It was really fun to see Xiaoyun relaxing and laughing with the kids all weekend.

Our Golfer

We first took Braylee to a golf course when she was 6yrs old. It was just a par 3, but it was still a long 9 holes for a little girl. Alex offered to hit a few of the tee shots for her, but I remember she was determined to finish the course by herself.  Living next to the golf course, she would go out and hit balls with Alex and the other girls from time to time. Then a couple of years ago, Alex signed the girls up for golf camp, but still none of them seemed to take it seriously until this past summer. Braylee decided to join the girls golf team at school (which is just her and one senior) and started practicing at the end of July.  Last night was her first match.  She was really nervous and on an unfamiliar course, but the first thing she told me about her night was "The girl I was playing with from Pike Central was really nice."  This girl. Her performance didn't matter nearly as much as her interactions with the other players. ❤️ She had another match tonight on our home course and improved her score by 6 strokes!

Braylee's 1st High School match ~ Pride's Creek Golf Course

First Day of School!

We are representing the primary, elementary, middle, and high schools this year! 😄

Beilyn was fired up! Not sure if 1st grade was ready for her, but she was pumped!

Beilyn gave two thumbs up when she climbed off the bus after school, much better than last year! The other girls were all smiles too. Xiaoyun had a great first day! She said some of the teachers are difficult for her to understand. We are looking to get a translation app (Google translate works great to translate to English but not as much to translate back to Chinese) on her Chromebook to help her.  The girls were all talking a mile a minute! Overall, it was a successful day!

End of Summer

The last week of summer break was just what we needed! Lots of cabin and lake time with family, introducing Xiaoyun to farm life, wishing our sweet Mattinglee a Happy 5th Birthday, and soaking in the sweetness of summer. Today, I took the girls for manicures (a big treat around here) and out for lunch as a special surprise for the last day of summer break.

Tuesday ~ Alex brought home Chinese food for dinner and then we played Farkle.  Xiaoyun is super quick with math and would know everyone's totals before we even started to count. 😄💪🏼

Meanwhile, Beilyn wrapped her ankle up and made a wheelchair for her foot. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Friday ~ The little girls had a quiet day at home. They played in the pool and road bikes.
The big girls had lots of plans though!

Our family friend Hannah had come over to meet Xiaoyun on Wednesday, and they spent 3 hours talking! Hannah invited her to the movies on Friday evening. I'm so thankful Xiaoyun has such a sweet friend already! 💗

Brynna spent Friday at Liv's 13th birthday party!

Brielle spent Friday at the cabin with Tracee's kids. 

Braylee spent Friday night at her "friend's" 16th birthday party. 😉

Saturday ~ We spent the entire day at my parents' cabin. 

Xiaoyun lives in a city with almost 26 million people. We've been showing her the stars at night and all the animals by day. 😊

Xiaoyun and Bria fed Mabel but BellaMei was too scared.

We taught her how to fish and she caught a huge crappie!

Sunday ~ These two are best buds and so cute!

After church, we went back to the cabin.

Braylee, Maddi, Xiaoyun, and Brynna played a lot of Kan Jam over the weekend.

Goodness. 😍😍😍

Happy 5th Birthday, Mattinglee! 💜

Xiaoyun is a whiz at rubik's cubes and has been giving Brielle some tips.

Special treat on the last day of summer break.

Meet the Teacher Night!

Beilyn has Mrs. Stuckey! She sits behind us at church and Beilyn calls her "mom with the boy baby." 😄

Brielle has Mrs.Schutz! This teacher is a rockstar!
Braylee & Brynna grew so much in her class. We were so excited that Brielle got her too!

I can't believe my BrayBray is going to high school!