Summer Adventure: Cagle Dairy Farm

STRIKE ONE!

Our first summer adventure was a bust. We headed out to Cagle Dairy Farm only to discover that they only do one tour a day starting at 10:00. We got there just as the tour was ending - 11:00. Oh well, we will have to try again another day. Here is a silly cow joke to commemorate the wasted trip:

Where do cows go when they want a night out?
To the moo-vies! :D

Also here are a few pictures:



The silver lining:
Nora was able to spend some quality time with her cousin Preston. As bad as this makes us look, I think this is the most the two kiddos have interacted at all. The played so nicely. Preston is a sweetie. He even played tea party with Nora. We love you Preston!

Mommy and ME!

Hip, hip, hooray! Tomorrow is the last day of post-planning. Then we can officially say "School's out for the summer!" I am so excited about all the time I will be able to spend with Nora. We plan on playing hard and having tons of fun. We are making plans to do some pretty exciting (but inexpensive) things. Lots of stories and photos to come. :D

Get it Girl!

Nora is adding moves to her list of dance moves. Check out this video. Too cute!


We have no idea where she the little ballerina turn with her hand in the air, but it is hilarious. I don't know if you get to see it in this video, but she also does some funky little diddy with her feet. As I said before she's a dancing machine.

Picking Strawberries!

Strawberry Shortcake sitting on a fence,
trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents.
She missed.
She missed,
She missed like this!

Today, after church, we went strawberry picking at a farm just around the corner from our house. We had a lot of fun. We got to take some awesome pictures, and we came home with a basket full of bright red, delicious strawberries.

Nora caught on to picking the berries very quickly. She knew to leave the green berries and to pick the red ones. Once she got started picking, it was hard to get her to even walk further into the garden. I think she thought we were making her leave. :D

It wasn't until we were about to leave that Nora finally thought to try to eat one of the strawberries, which gave her daddy a heart attack. :D (He's a worry wart when it comes to his little girl) Anyway, after we got home, we washed the strawberries, took of Nora's clothing, and let her go to town. This was $6 well spent. We will definitely be going back soon. (Harry Stacy Farm)

Strawberry patches always make me think about my great grandma Meme. I wish she could have been here to see Nora. She would've laughed so hard.

Hibachi

We took Nora out for her first hibachi experience. She was very interested and did not seem bothered at all by the fire and loud noises. I expected a bigger reaction to all the antics, but Nora did not really get excited until she began eating the rice. Boy, she loved it! I'm thinking if we install a hibachi grill in the house maybe that will solve all of our eating problems. How much do you think that would cost? More importantly, would that match our decor? - Food for thought.




Nora-
"Why does this lady insist on making me take pictures with strangers? Hasn't she heard of STRANGER DANGER?!?!

Oh Lord, we give you thanks!

Sunday, May 10, 2009 (Mother's Day) we dedicated Nora to the Lord.

We struggled with the decision to do this or not. To be perfectly honest, I did not know the benefit or the spiritual significance of getting in front of a lot of people and making public a commitment that we made to the Lord a while ago. However, after hearing the opinion of my wonderful husband and hearing a sermon that taught about the importance of the outward expression of our faith through baptism, we decided to go ahead and make public our commitment to raise Nora in a way that honors God. We committed to teach her the ways and the laws of the Lord and to live out our lives in a way that will encourage Nora to one day choose to make God her Lord and Savior as well.

As easy as it was to stand up in front of the church and say "I will" the reality is that this is an extremely intimidating task. I think this is the thing that scared me the most about becoming a parent. I just thought about how Nora would see EVERYTHING I do. I couldn't help but think that my words won't mean as much to her as the things that she sees me do everyday. I won't have to tell her what is important to me or what I value, she'll look at my life and my choices. Then she will make that judgement for herself. WOW! Now that is someone seeing you for who you really are. They see the good, the bad, and the ugly regardless of how much you try to hide it.

Knowing this makes me realize more and more that I NEED the Lord. There is no way that I can teach Nora the things she needs to become a lady that fears the Lord and a person that lives their life with conviction and purpose. I cannot do that without the Lord. I need HIS strength every day, every hour, every second.

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.


Here are some pictures of the blessed event