First Blood (of the season)

Joshua debated on whether or not he was going hunting this year. Since the season started, it seems as though we've had one thing or another going on, eating away at any available time he would have to hunt.

Our house is on the edge of the woods. He has a tree stand in the woods behind our house. It's in a good spot because the trees and brush provide a lot of cover for the deer. Plus, there's several streams nearby, and deer also want to be near a source of water.

Joshua did put out some corn a few months ago, and the deer ate that right up. One morning, when Joshua opened the front door, he & Daniel both saw 5 deer right there in our front yard, munching away on acorns! We have NEVER, EVER, seen deer in our yard. We just figured they didn't come around too close because of our two big dogs out back.

So Joshua bought a hunting license a few weeks ago. I think he went "hunting" just twice, if you call spending about 30 minutes in the tree stand actually hunting.

The kids' had their school Christmas program this past Tuesday, so I took a 1/2 day vacation. That meant we all got to sleep in. Joshua took up the opportunity to get some true hunting done, and he promised himself that he would stay out until 8:30am.

And guess what? He shot himself a doe! Just in time to bring it to the house (not an easy task considering he had to cross 2 streams, 3 logs, and climb uphill on his hands and knees!).

It was a small doe, and only the 2nd deer Joshua has shot (the 1st was a 4pt buck when he was 16). But we got 30lbs of ground venison out of it. We wanted some backstrap, but Joshua wasn't sure how to field dress it, so he left that part for the processor to do. And by the time it got to the processor, it was too late for backstrap. No big deal, we can still make plenty of chili and other yummy goodies. :)

Daniel's Santa Tracker

Daniel whipped out his Lego's a couple days ago and made a really cute sculpture. I saw it was outside, and brought it back in the house. Daniel informed me that this was his Santa Tracker and it had to stay outside so it could track where Santa was.

It has a radar, just like at the airport, so it can track Santa's sleigh and reindeer during their Christmas Eve run. And there's a yellow light to help guide Santa to our house.

Can you believe this??!! Who knew that our 5-yr-old was so creative? It warms my heart!

Decorating the Tree

We put up the Christmas tree and decorations this weeked--woohoo! And I'm happy to report that I finally got into the Christmas spirit. This time of year has really snuck up on me. I just can't believe that Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is on the way. Yikes! Where did the time go?!!

Friday was a holiday for me, and I decided to not go Black Friday shopping. Instead, my goal was to get the Christmas stuff out of the attic, get the tree up and decorated, and put up some of the decorations. I wasn't in the mood to do all the decorations, but I didn't want to not put out anything.

The kids helped me get the ornaments on the tree. That was a first. Daniel has helped Joshua set the tree & lights, but I always did the ornaments. But the kids are both getting older, so I asked Daniel and Raelee if they wanted to help. Duh! Of course, Mom!

Daniel insisted that he wanted to turn the light on in the attic. He got a little nervous going up into the dark attic by himself, but with a few encouraging words, he climbed all the way up and got the light on. He is growing up so fast! He loves helping and doing things that he once was too little for.

First thing was to get the tree put together. We decided to not put the bottom rung of branches on this year. They hang so low to the ground, and it's hard to get presents under the tree.

The branches are color-coded, so the kids took turns handing me the correct branch. I say "took turns" but it was more like trying to outdo each other! They were both eager beavers and kept arguing about who was giving mommy the most branches. They finally calmed down as we got closer to finishing the tree.

Raelee loved the beaded garland! Here she is posing for the camera. What a super model!

And here's Daniel, Raelee & Joshua hooking up the lights to the tree. We added shotshell lights in addition to the white lights. Joshua thought about letting the kids sleep under the tree one night, with the lights on. We'll see. I have this picture in my mind of one or both kids waking up scared and knocking over the tree.

The final result! We had most of the ornaments up by the time the kids went to bed Friday night, and I finished up the remainder as I went through the rest of the boxes. I forgot to take a picture before going to bed, but I got one tonight so I could share it with you.

Here's Santa, who can always be found under the tree. My Great Aunt Millie made one for my mom and her sister & brother when they were very little (I think mom was about 4 years old). When I was growing up, Mom always put Santa under her Christmas tree. I inherited him when she passed away, and have carried on the same tradition of putting him under the tree. I see one of my ornaments decided to join Santa on the floor--gonna have to fix that!

The kids also got to put a tree up in their bedroom. They really got a kick out of that! I had several small ornaments that worked nicely. They decorated the tree all by themselves.

They were both so proud of their ittle tree! They've been sleeping with the Christmas lights on (it's fiber-optic), kind of like a night light. I turn it off before I go to bed.

Such big kids they are!

Daniel & _____ Sitting In A Tree

Our 5-yr-old little man has a crush on a girl in his Kindergarten class. It all started at the field trip to the county fair. Joshua and I took both kids on the field trip with their classes. Shortly after we got there, this little brunette girl ran up to Daniel, shouting his name, then gave him a huge hug after which she proceeded to run around and around and around him. It was the oddest thing. I've never seen a child get so excited about my son.

Next thing we knew, Daniel brought a note home from this particular friend, Jenna. And he decided that he needed to write a note to her--he drew a picture of both of them with a heart. So sweet, but makes me a little nervous. He's 5! But I must admit that I was 5 when I had my first crush.

The two love birds have been writing notes back and forth, and Daniel has said more than once that he is going to marry Jenna, although he has also insisted that she is NOT his girlfriend.

And then there's this picture Daniel brought home a few days ago. Jenna's mom took the picture the day of the kids' Pumpkin Festival. Oh, our little boy is growing up. I had to remind him that he could not marry Jenna until he became a grown adult--gotta keep those hormones in check!

It's Not Every Day We Have A Visitor At The House

I brought in my Summer wreath that's been hanging on the front door. I thought I had checked it really good for creepy crawlies like spiders and such. Little did I know that the lizard hiding somewhere in the wreath (which I totally did not see!!) decided to come out and pay us a visit!

Joshua spotted him climbing up the wall. We got the kids' butterfly net and managed to grab the lizard and put him outside. Talk about a few exciting minutes for the kids!

Fall Garden

I was thrilled earlier this year when I learned that North Carolina had two growing seasons. I always thought that you planted in the Spring, harvested in the Summer, and that was it, you were done.

But no, I learned that here you can also plant in the late Summer and harvest in the Fall. Some veggies will even overwinter and produce long past the normal growing season. What a great way to continue getting fresh produce to supplement your groceries.

In our side of the world, the Fall Garden starts in late August, early September. I think it was the last week in August that Joshua planted carrots, onions, sweet peas, green beans (two flavors) and cucumbers. And voila! Our green beans and cucumbers are flowering...

...and our sweet peas are now taller than Daniel!

Won't be long and we'll be eating good!

The tomato plants had kind of stalled out thanks in part to the heat of Summer, but now they are covered in little green tomatoes. Joshua came close to pulling them all up, thinking they were done, but decided to hold on and wait. Good thing, too, because they were rejuvenated with the cooler weather that September brought us.

We still have a ton of bell peppers, jalapenos, and egg plants growing. Those have done really well. Our watermelon plant surprised us and has one or two little melons growing. We thought that it was done, but it too proved us wrong.

Rather than pull it up, Joshua just pushed the watermelon plant to the side to make room for some transplants--broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and 3 kinds of lettuce. We kind of missed the window for planting these by seeds. Just didn't have the time to do it, but Lowe's is definitely stocked up with Fall garden transplants, so Joshua helped himself and brought home a whole bunch. I can't believe how much lettuce he planted. That will be coming out of our years before we know it!

Above: lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower & broccoli growing alongside a really pathetic-looking watermelon plant. You can see the last large watermelon at the bottom of the pic. I need to harvest it. Up towards the top of the picture is the baby watermelon.

Below: More lettuce and carrots and onions (hard to see, they are up at the top of the pic) growing next to jalapenos, egg plants and bell peppers.

P.S.: Pay no attention to that squash plant down in the bottom of the above picture. It had a couple flowers and looked like it was going to produce more squash, but ended up just teasing us. It doesn't look too pretty, so unless it starts producing, it too will get pulled up. The cucumber plant growing along the left has given us a couple cukes, but the dogs took off the most recent cuke that was ready for harvesting...grrrr! They kept trying to poke their snouts through the fence to grab the cucumber until finally getting it just enough that they bit off part of the end and it was unusuable. Ggrrrr!!!! I don't understand their fascination with cucumbers. It is what it is. :)

H1N1 Virus Symptoms

I don't want to worry you, but with all the hype and attention in the media recently concerning the spread of H1N1 virus I decided to ring the Government's new Swine Flu Helpline yesterday just to check on what the Symptoms are.

Basically,

If you wake up looking like this…



…Don't go to work!!!

Gardening

We've been working on our Fall garden for about a month now, planting seeds of various types--carrots, corn, 3 different kinds of onions, sweet peas, cucumbers, green beans--on top of what's still growing in the garden. Joshua bought some transplants from Lowe's this afternoon. The kids really enjoyed helping to plant some green leaf lettuce.

Joshua showing Daniel how to plant the lettuce:

Raelee digging a hole exactly where her daddy said to put one:

In addition to the lettuce, we'll also transplant romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce (yes, we will have lettuce coming out of our ears in about 45 days), cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Our garden is definitely getting a work-out this year!

Dancing

I noticed one recent afternoon that the kids were laughing and giggling. They get along fairly well--usually--and on this particular day they seemed to be getting along even better than usual. So after heading into the living room to investigate, I found them having a great time dancing together, each with the absolute biggest grins. They were really pleased with themselves!

And I was pleased to see them being so kind and fun-loving to each other. :)

Isn't It Amazing?

Two kids...same mother, same father...different tastes.

One child gobbled down his vegetable and just nibbled at the main meal.

The other child gobbled down her main meal and just nibbled at her vegetables.

Gotta' love it.

Clearly Not A Celebrity

Yes, I am blushing while posting this pic. I'm the coordinator of our charitable contributions at work, and some organizations ask for a picture in the paper recognizing the donation. It helps to give the organization more exposure, but makes me nervous because I really don't care to have my picture on display for all the Goldsboro area to see. But here I am! One of the local non-celebrities who ends up in the paper at least 3 or 4 times a year. :)

Poison Ivy :(

Raelee has become quite the daddy's girl lately. With the cooler weather we've been experiencing, Joshua has been clearing out some of the overgrowth on the edge of the woods to expand the size of our yard. And Raelee's been helping him, carrying brush from one area to another.

Now Joshua knew that there was poison ivy in one section of the woods. He's highly allergic to it and got burned by it a year ago when he was clearing some of it out. Unfortunately, it never occurred to him that our little girl might come in contact with it while helping him clear the land.

And that' exactly what happened. Not on did Joshua break out all over, Raelee, too, developed a rash. Not as bad as Joshua's, but still, not pretty to look at.

It's all over her chin, forehead, left ear, and along her jaw line. She scratched herself really bad during the night a couple nights ago and has scratch marks on her chin. There's some on her left arm, a little on her tummy, too.

Her left leg also broke out with the rash. She told me that she's "itchy all over." We've treated with cortisone just about as much as we can, but rubbing it in makes the rash itch.

The good news is that it looks as though the rash is starting to clear out--thank goodness! I never in my wildest imagination would have ever guessed that I'd have a child this young get poison ivy. Oh well, bound to happen eventually!

School Days!

You know your kids are growing up when they start Kindergarten. I can't believe the day has finally come.

We decided to send Daniel to Protestant Preschool & Kindergarten instead of entering public school this year. He went there for preschool last year and loved it. We were going to put Raelee there for preschool and got a scholarship to help offset the cost. Which was really good because the other option was to put her back in day care full time so Joshua could find a job, but day care is really, really expensive. So instead we enrolled her in the preschool program, and Daniel in the Kindergarten program, and we're still saving a ton of money. Gotta love it!

Daniel met his teacher last week. Can you believe that he had homework before school even started?! Here he is working on a poster that was all about him--things he likes to do, his family, his favorite place to go, what he looks like when he's happy.

Time for the first day of school! Kindergarten at Protestant Preschool & Kindergarten started on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. A couple weeks later than public school, but he'll learn just as much if not more since he'll be in a small class-size.

Daniel was happy to be sitting next to Tristan, who was in his preschool class. There are only 12 kids in the kindergarten class, and most of them were in his prescool class, which is very comforting. He was rather nervous about having a new teacher, new room, and so having some of the same friends is something concrete and familiar.

And here is Daniel with his teacher, Mrs. Darden. He really likes her and I know that he's going to have a great year!

And Raelee started preschool today! She was so, so happy. Look at her big smile before we left the house! The preschool uses baskets instead of backpacks to carry lunch boxes & supplies. She picked this one out herself. It's a pretty creamy yellow.

Raelee met her teacher, Mrs. Owen, last week at the open house. Here she is today with Mrs. Owen in her classroom. Raelee told me earlier that she was not going to be shy. Well, that didn't last long because she was definitely shy going into her room! But she told me this evening that she liked her teacher and her class.

Here's a shot of the classroom. What a big girl she's turning into!

A Few Visitors

Click here to see who visited us recently!

Ballerina

Well, it's official. We put finally put Raelee into dance class. She's been begging all Summer, ever since her cousins' dance recital in June. Both cousins take dance at A Step of Class, and since they offer a Saturday morning class for Raelee's age group (3-5 yr olds), we signed her up. The first class began this month. We were the first ones there!

Raelee will turn 3 in October, and since her birthday isn't too far away, they didn't have a problem letting her join the class. They will practice ballet, jazz and tumbling before learning their routine and having their recital in June.

Such tiny little ballerina feet! She's the smallest and youngest one in her class.

Raelee definitely loves her dance leotards, tights and ballet slippers. She is very pleased that she gets to dress up and dance like her cousins. :)

A Time To Eat

I take pictures of the meals I make for my Balancing Act Basics blog. The kids always seem to want me to take a picture of them as well. Here are a few shots of them for you to enjoy. :)

Look at my tiny spaghetti!

I'm a walrus!!

Raelee trying really hard not to fall asleep (and not succeeding!)


A big smile for the camera.

Yes, please take my picture. But I will not smile!

Ok, now I'll smile, sorta'. :}

Canning Tomatoes

We canned tomatoes tonight, our first experience. I got the process started and quartered them up; Joshua finished up by filling the jars and letting them boil. You can read about it by clicking here. I posted the experience at my blog Balancing Act Basics, and since it's late, I just don't have the energy to upload all the pictures. I'm ready for bed! :)

Blueberry Pancake Day

Saturday morning, I decided to make breakfast for the family instead of the usual cereal or pop tarts. I asked the kids what they wanted, and the resounding result was pancakes. Joshua's not a fan of pancakes, but since I rarely make them, I decided to whip some up since the kids really were excited about getting pancakes.

I also had about a half pint of blueberries in the fridge that needed to get used up. So I decided to make semi-homemade blueberry pancakes. I call them semi-homemade because I used a pancakemix, but the blueberries were real. :)

Raelee helped make the pancakes. She mixed the batter and helped fold in the blueberries. As soon as one was ready, I had to cut it up so she could dig in!

Wakey Wakey Eggs & Bakey

Why usea blanket when you have a perfectly good pillow? :)

Glass Snow

Joshua was mowing the yard the other day and got quite a shock when he was done.

It looked as though our front porch was covered in snow!

And how did this snow happen? Yes, it is the middle of August, with temperatures hovering in the high 90's and 99% humidity.

The only thing we can guess is that the lawn mower picked up and threw a rock at a screen door. But even that's hard to believe. We can believe that the riding lawn mower threw a rock, but it would have needed to throw it up as our front porch & door are rather high off the ground.

Thankfully, it didn't take out the glass in the front door; it only broke the glass in the screen door. Joshua had the front door wide open, and just the screen door was closed. Both were fairly brand new, but it's much cheaper to replace the screen door than a steel front door.

There are 2 panels of glass in the screen door. The top panel is the one that broke. It had a hidden screen that you could pull down, and the panel of glass would slide down to the bottom panel of glass.