A field day in fall

The girls school had a field trip to Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham A few weeks ago, I joined them and I am so glad I did! It was a beautiful day and there was so much for them to do including hayride, corn and sorghum mazes, a giant hay mountain with a slide and a HUGE 'cornbox' - a box filled past my knees with corn, like a sandbox, but with corn.

From the corn maze we picked several ears of corn and brought them over to a hand-crank corn cobber (to remove kernels) and they then fed their corn to the goats (who were full, but they got the idea). Also, they picked their own pumpkin from the patch, Hailey was determined to find the biggest one and Norah was determined to find the smallest one (she must have known she would have to carry that sucker all the way back to the car!).

All in all the girls were EXHAUSTED, we missed lane who had to work, but we had a lovely day :).

Projects

I have idea's of grandure of being completely and over-the-top domestic, complete with homemade everything you can think of and a clean and tidy house. Unfortunatly I am faced with reality where our busy lives prevent most of that...ok all of it. BUT I did manage to fit in two canning projects this year that I was proud of - it was my first year attempting canning and I was happy with my efforts :). I made pickled beets from our garden using the one and only Alton Brown's recipe as well as some tomatoes that my mother and I picked one weekend. The beets turned out delish and although we only got 4quart jars and one pint jar of tomatoes, one of which did not seal, I was happy with those as well. I think I will try to do both of these again next year and hopefully expand to at least one more thing...I'm thinking carrots. Anyway that's all for today!





I guess I don't have any pics of my tomatoes, I thought I did - they look like tomatoes in jars, in case you're wondering! Also, I almost forgot one other mini-project! I made the most delicious apple pie using my pie-bird!! This lovely pie was another of Alton's classics, and it couldn't have been possible without the pie-bird, given to me by Mrs. Shirley Harrelson, thanks!!

Summer Lovin' - Had me a blast....

Well, the weather can't make up it's mind, but we all must admit the summer is officially over. We had a wonderful summer around here, and very busy! Hailey started at a new school/daycare in August and we LOVE it thus far; Norah should start in the spring if all goes well. Norah has learned SO much, I think she learns a new word every day! She also is a great little helper at whatever I need her to do be it loading the dishwasher, cleaning up, making messes, ect. Hailey is such a great big sister and I love hearing her be such a little mother to Norah, they play very well together for the most part and Norah just LOVES it!






We took a delightful vacation to good 'ole western Pennsylvania for my Grandmother's 80th birthday party in August. I had a lot of fun showing my girls all the things I did a gramma's house when I was little including swimming at the 'beach' (Lake Erie Peninsula), the Erie Zoo and my all-time favorite, 'The Camp' (my grandfather's 50yr old hunting camp where I spent so much time as a child). All of my side of the family was present (except 200month pregnant Gina, who we missed) and we had a wonderful time, and I think my Grandmother was surprised and delighted by the whole thing!

We also recently took a day-trip to Boone/Banner Elk NC to attend the Land of Oz festival on Beech Mtn. We had lovely mountain weather and enjoyed time visiting our old home...makes me miss Boone!! (not THAT much though ;) )

We've had a great summer overall and I'm excited for some fall weather! I'm not much of a writer so here are some pics that document our fun and my beautiful children :)

Onward!

Well, it's been 2months since my last post and that pretty much sums up how my future posting is likely to unfold...but, it is what it is so here we are.

We have been very busy the last few months, and I put off blogging because I never think the little things are interesting enough to really post, but when I think about it a lot has happened! Lets see...April flew by without me even noticing then it was May - the birthday month around here. Me, Lane and several other family and friends all have May birthdays so we had lots of cake! Also, Lacey and Drew have acquired 23.5acres in southern Guilford Co. and we have spent some time out there.

We had a lovely picnic with family over Memorial Day and the weekends have been full of swimming, bible study, cleaning (blah), and enjoying our beautiful NC blue skies... The girls are as delightful as ever and I try to soak up every minute of them in my free time because I know when they are older I'll miss them as my babies...Hailey is really interested in time lately, "what day is it?", "what time is it?", ect. She also has been doing really well with playing by herself for longer periods of time (this has not been her strong point thus far), maybe having been at preschool has helped, or maybe she is just getting older :(. She told me the other day that if I wanted her to stay 4 forever we could just cancel her birthdays, but that she really did not want to do that, and I couldn't stop the growing anyway....so wise for 4yrs old!

Norah has learned how to say "NO" and its pretty much all she says! She is repeating a lot of words in an incoherent way, but likes to just tell you "NO" all the time, then pinches you. She's pretty much a VERY strong willed child who knows what she wants and especially what she does not want and lets you know...strongly. She loves to run and eat everything in site including sand, dirt, lint, houseplants, rocks, crayons, playdoh, ants and lately caterpillars (only once, and mommy almost lost it on that one...); she really is not interested in real food, just everything else. She is so different than Hailey in a lot of ways - equally lovable though.

Here are some recent pictures, sorry they are not narrated, open to interpretation. Love my life :).

1 Year Old!

Norah is 1 year old! This is very relieving for Hailey because it is difficult for a 4 year old to understand that 'yes, 11months old is younger than 4 years old'. It is also apparently great for Norah because she has decided to do a million new things the last 2 weeks since she has turned 1 year old. Norah can find her tummy and her nose, she can give kisses and hugs (and LOVES to oblige), she can say uh-oh, baby, Dada and papa and if you are really listening you might hear 'all done, mama and sissy'. She can sign 'all done, more, milk, swing and baby'. She also understands when you ask her a few questions like 'do you want to go outside?' and 'can you find your baby?' and she LOVES to play peek-a-boo and chasing. She is walking like a champ and can climb up and down the stairs (with supervision of course); lately she pretty much tries to run everywhere. Norah is extremely cuddly, cute and lovable and VERY stubborn (just like her daddy). It's great when she gets mad and slowly sits on the floor, then lays back on the floor so she can kick her feet and yell (she used to throw herself down but learned quickly to control her descent or pay later). Her first year has been a flash; we just can't get enough of her! We love you peanut!