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!!!