Wilson County Fair 2013

Wow -- two posts in one day!  What is the world coming to??

We've been doing a project with Cooper where we have him put a marble in a jar every time he obeys the first time we tell him to do something.    We told him when he got his jar filled up, we would do something special.  We didn't say what it would be, because we didn't know how long it would take him to fill it up.  You can read more about this here, if you want to.

So, his jar was almost full, and he has been talking about going to the Wilson County Fair ever since we went last year.  This week we were down to just a few marbles, so I told him if he could get his jar full by today, we would go to the fair.  He worked extra hard, and dropped his last marble in last night.

This morning it threatened to rain, but in the end it was actually pretty nice weather for the fair, so we went and had a good time.  He got a few extra indulgences, like a ride on a "stagecoach" (I'm not big into fair rides) and some cotton candy. 

His favorite part, I think, the thing he most remembered from last year and wanted to do again, was this:

Whatever.

There were lots of animals which he enjoyed petting,

and some big tractors for him to climb on too.

All in all, it was a fun day for all of us.  Even Nash, though he didn't get to go, got a special souvenir from the pet exhibit.

I think Cooper considered it a good prize for his efforts, and hopefully the new skills he has learned through this project will carry on for a long time.

Thirty-Four Months Old

Summer has been in full swing, and we have been making this most of it.  We've spent time with friends, going to water parks and other fun places.  Cooper is shown here with my friend Laurie, at the Bicentennial Mall.

Don's parents came for a visit, and we spent a nice weekend with "Mimi and Granddad."

Cooper and I went to Memphis with my mom to visit her college roommate and longtime-friend, Alice.  While there, we went to an orchard and picked peaches, which Cooper loved!  We are still enjoying them.

My garden is giving us lots of goodies, and  Cooper's sunflowers opened up.  We have since cut them down and are drying them so we can hopefully eat some of the seeds.  We've gotten some potatoes too, squash and LOTS of tomatoes.  We've had so many cherry tomatoes that I am just having to let some of them rot because we can't eat them or even give them away fast enough.

Cooper is so inquisitive, learning new things every day.  He is going through a very sweet stage that we are enjoying (almost) every minute of.

Still no news for Don on the job front.  Prayers are appreciated as he continues to search and fill out applications, waiting for a phone call or e-mail.  He gets very frustrated and discouraged some days.

We are looking forward to starting back to Community Bible in a couple of weeks.  I am so thankful that Cooper loves learning about the word of God.  He goes around the house singing Bible songs and loves our Bible story time each morning.  We pray daily that he will grow to know and love Jesus and live for Him, and we are blessed to see that happening.