Back to the grind!


Thanksgiving was a good time. Steve had to work, and was missed, but the holiday went on. We spent the day at his parents house in Lincoln, then went to mom and dads later that evening. The kids were a little weary by that time, so we ate pie and had to leave earlier than expected:( It was great to see Heidi and hopefully she will come back for Christmas. There is never enough time to catch up with all the siblings! We went back to mom and dads on Sat. Steve showed up and suprised me with a cell phone. I've never had my own own cell phone before,well not if you count this bag phone I had in the 90's, it was a huge corded phone in a bag. I think it was the first "cell phone" ever made! I am giddy with excitement over my new toy. Heidi was shocked, maybe you all are? I'm so old!!!!
It's back to babysitting today, this picture is me and Ally along with two of the three kids I watch on an on-call basis. I really love it because it's flexible and gives Ally some playmates:)

Hayley is 9 !!!

We pretty much celebrated Hayley's b-day all weekend long this year.
Friday, I was invited to eat lunch at school with her. Wow! It tasted nothing like the hot lunch I remember. They served a traditional Thanksgiving feast. The turkey was real meat, not the rubbery stuff we were served. Hayley invited her whole class to eat with us. At first she had only invited the girls but then the boys begged her to let them join us too. So we all took our lunches into her classroom for a private lunch party. It was too fun!
Fri. night Zach had an overnight campout and Steve had to work all night so we headed for blockbuster and rented some girl movies and had a little slumberparty.
Saturday(B-day) Hayley received some money in the mail and she wanted to spend it right away so we went shopping. She picked out all sorts of fun craft kits that will surely keep her busy most of the winter. When we got home she made her cake. We had a small party for her that evening because Steve had to work that night.
Since Steve worked on Hayley's b-day we all went out for brunch on Sunday and that night some friends came over to hang out and butcher more deer so Hayley had quite a full weekend! (ME too, birthdays wear me out!)
Well, only two days of school this week for the kids and then Thanksgiving!

More from the garage...



You know you're a redneck if...
-your kids race to get there homework done so they can see all the dead deer!

Yes, we had another little deer gathering last night. Kari and her gang came over around 6pm to check out all the blood and carnage. Our kids are pretty desensitized to the whole thing, even little O.J. When Kari first arrived OJ ran over to the dead, bloody deer with it's tongue hanging out and tried to step on it. There were about eight kids running around in the garage at one point, and as one of Steve's friends' put it "Holy Romper Room".

How many guys DOES it take to slaughter 4 deer? Well, we counted eleven, but some of them looked like drunken wallflowers hanging out far away from the actual work. One guy fell twice by the side of our garage where just last week I stored about 10 tomato cages:) they make great booby traps!

Sorry about giving some of you nightmares and near hurling lunch experiences, but this stuff is just too cool. Also, if we do have a bird flu outbreak you all know where to come. Steve, Jarrod and their possy won't let us starve!

Here are some more pics from last night.
-Steve has cut up so much meat that he's growing antlers! (Ed is too funny) Jarrod posed so cute in the second photo. TTFN

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!!!
Steve's friend Cole shot this one tonight. It's not rifle season yet so the guys all go out and sit in tree-stands with their bow and arrows.
I'm not quite sure where the other leg went on this deer. Yes, it's as gross as it looks, but hey, I really do like the taste of deer. What could be better than free meat?

A Hunting we will go...

Well it's that time of year again! Steve has two weeks off and is determined to get a monster buck this year.

I am finally getting into all the excitement that hunting season brings. Not being from a "hunting" family, it has taken some time.

Here is Steve, Ally and our Lab "Sadie" you can't see all the pheasants in this pic, but the guys did good last weekend. My kids all love hunting and even the girls can't wait to go with Daddy some day:) Zach can take hunter safety classes starting next year, he already goes out with Steve sometimes, but can't get his permit till he's 12. He even learned how to gut a deer last year, he turned white as a ghost, but he thought it was pretty cool.

Steve's garage is more like the slaughter house come Nov. He already got everything cleaned up and ready to start cutting up the deer. He usually gets around three and then all his friends bring theirs over and have a big deer processing party. I will definatley have to take pictures so you all will see what I have to go through! Although the beer drinking part is quite fun:) So seriously, if anyone wants to come out during the festivities just let us know.

Happy Halloween(a day late:)

We had a marvelous time last night! The whole town of Panama really goes all out for the kids. There were hayrack rides, hot dogs, hot chocolate and lots of games and of course candy! It was pretty darn cold here though, but I think the kids handled it better than the adults. I am really sorry but I forgot to take pictures of the gang. Zach wore a creepy mask that scared the crap out of the little ones, Hayley dressed as a geisha girl and Ally was Strawberry Shortcake. They all had to wear hats, coats and gloves though because of the weather.