A 5-Pointer

Lee has not had much opportunity to hunt in the past 7 years..... So this morning he decided to walk back in the pasture. He has seen a pretty big buck back there a couple of times but today he got a 5-pointer. He has already done the "skinning" & tonight we will cut it up and freeze it. My rule when we got married was "if you kill, you clean it and then I'll cook it." Although, there are some things that Lee is better at cooking like quail & squirrel.

I can't wait to have some roast with potatoes & carrots;-)

I have a really good Venison Meatloaf recipe if anybody is interested let me know.

Slapped Cheek

I was informed this morning by Charlie's preschool teacher that he had "slapped cheeks" or Fifths disease.

This is from kidshealth.org:
Especially common in kids between the ages of 5 and 15, fifth disease typically produces a distinctive red rash on the face that makes the child appear to have a "slapped cheek." The rash then spreads to the trunk, arms, and legs. Fifth disease is actually just a viral illness that most kids recover from quickly and without complications.

When Charlie woke up on Saturday he had a rosy red left cheek. I thought it was something that he had slept on but it never went away. He was also outside with us at the farm feeding, etc so I thought maybe it was from the wind. Then he still had it on Sunday morning but I was not sure what it was until this morning.

I have been told that Fifths disease is going through the preschool..yeah. If you remember Charlie also got hand, foot, mouth disease (blisters/skin rash) from preschool. I know things go around and it's really hard to get a 2-year to cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze but Rosty was never sick with these things. I guess with Rosty they were super protective because of him having RSV.

Be warned that it is going around.

On another note..... Me and Lee made summer sausages yesterday. It was really neat. We used our meat grinder which has a casing attachment. I fed the grinder and he held the casing. Then we baked them on low heat in the oven while I took to boys to Christmas play practice and Lee had a meeting. Lee then finished them off by smoking them on the charcoal grill. We had a test taste this morning- yummy!!

Bad Mommy, Good Charlie

We all have those moment when we do something and then our next thought is "Oh, no!!" I did that on Saturday morning.

Me and the boys were at my parents for the week-end. We had a fun night of trick or treating on Friday night and on Saturday morning we were off to celebrate Rosty's birthday. Our day consisted of an hour of play at Chuckie Cheese, then off to Toy's 'R Us for Rosty to pick out his birthday gifts from my parents, next we ate at Arbys and ended our day at Monkey Joe's.

I had taken Charlie outside to put him in the van so we could get ready to head out for our big day. I had cranked the van up to warm it and then put Charlie in his booster seat and slid the van door shut. You can probably imagine what happened next I heard the locks click. I tried all the doors and the hatch everything was locked.

I went inside and told moma, "I have a situation. I just locked Charlie in the van and it's running."

Normally, Lee would be with me and we would have 2 sets of keys. Lee was at a conference in Anderson, SC. None of us were really sure what to do. Daddy kept walking around the van looking in the window and moma went to look for a clothes hanger.

I was talking to Charlie through the window. At first he would wave to me and then he started saying "Mommy, get me out!" The whole ordeal was less than 10 minutes but he started getting a little anxious.

I told him to mash the red button on the seat belt. He tried but he couldn't then he started saying "Out mommy, out mommy." I told him I was trying. Then I had that light bulb moment. I said, "Charlie stand up in your seat."

After getting a little twisted in the seat belt he finally stood up. Then I told him to go to the door. I tried to get him to unlock the sliding door but he couldn't figure it out. Thank goodness Popa Donald was there because he told Charlie to go to the front seat and roll the window down. And he did!!

Needless to say my brave little boy got to pick out a special toy of his own when we went to Toy's 'R Us.

I still have not figured out why all the doors locked. Normally, the van has to hit 15 MPH before the doors automatically lock & I warm the van up all the time and the doors never lock on me. I am just very thankful that the situation had a good ending and my baby is safe.

Pumpkin Carving with daddy

Charlie scooping out the seeds

Rosty & Charlie with their Jack o'laterns

Rosty helping with the face design

Scary pumpkins!!!

NC State Fair pics

Rosty

Rosty is the leader (in the red hoodie). He went on several of these maze/slide type activities he loved it. He actually did this one twice in a row.

Rosty is in the middle train. He would not look at me.
Lee & Charlie were checking out the vegetable exhibit.

Rosty, Charlie & Lee in the Dizzy Dragon.

Rosty, Lee & Charlie on the merry-go-round.

I was sitting on the bench behind them.

Pictures from the farm

Turkey

Feeding the baby calf

Charlie & Rosty

Rosty was helping Charlie get through all the turkeys because

he still gets a little scared sometimes.

This is one of our sows.

She had just recently given birth (if you couldn't tell).

The babies would not come out of their house for a picture.

Charlie helps to bottle feed the calves.