Christmas 2009

If you are a Facebook friend these are the same pictures you have already seen......

Trying to figure it out!

Charlie got a new game to play.

A headlamp just like daddy- now Rosty can read in bed.

Rosty liked his Transformer.

A new Leapster game.

Rosty got Battleship.

Charlie is excited about his playdoh!

Charlie got a new hoodie!

Rosty got Batman pajamas.

Christmas Traditions!

I love Christmas & I have loved Christmas with the boys. I have tried to start some traditions with them. One being making a gingerbread house. We did that this year and I did not take a single picture.....It would have been a partially decorated house though because the boys kept eating the candy off the house.

We also made Christmas ornaments this year. We had a kit to make stained glass ornaments. They are little teeny tiny colored beads that you put into a form and then bake in the oven. Charlie helped but it was pretty tedious. Me & Rosty had to resort to using tweezers. He actually decided to pour all the beads together and make a rainbow colored ornament. It was one of my favorites!!

We never did make Christmas cookies to decorate but we did make some pretty tasty snacks for Santa. Me & Rosty dipped pretzel rods into chocolate and then decorated them with sprinkles. We tried M & M's but they kept falling off the pretzels. We also made rum balls. I did the initial rolling into balls and then Rosty rolled them in powdered sugar. I can't tell you how many batches of sausage balls I made....

Even though we were here this year for Christmas I was just not in a decorating mood. I put the lights on the tree and the boys decorated both trees. They have a small artificial tree in the playroom and then we have a live tree as our family tree. I wrapped each of the boys gifts in one kind of paper (and they did not know which paper was theirs) this drove them crazy. They kept asking which gifts were theirs!!

Christmas Eve

Lee's family has always gathered at his grandmother's house for Christmas Eve. This year we had 16 adults and 9 children there. It was a lot of fun to visit with his cousins who we do not get to see very often. We even had a special visitor come over.....Santa Claus!

After leaving Grandma's house we went back to our house. The boys got their pajamas on that Rudolph had left them a couple of weeks earlier and then we opened all of our presents.

I'm not sure when we started opening gifts on Christmas Eve but that is what we always did at our house. So, Lee graciously lets me have my way and we open our gifts on Christmas Eve.

I remember Christmas Eve at my parent's house pre-kids (pre-marriage too). My mom had certain foods she always fixed and a family that I had babysat for years would come over with their 3 daughters and my best friend with his family. We always had the best time. Now we all live miles and miles apart from each other and those Christmas Eve's don't happen anymore but I have lots of fond memories!




Here are the treats we left for Santa Claus.

Petey

March 2002 - December 2009

With the holidays we have been so busy (just like everyone else). We have had many things that I wanted to blog about but just hadn't had the time to do it. The one thing that affected our family the most was the lost of our family pet, Petey.

You have to know Petey so let me start from the beginning.....

Lee had wanted a duck dog but for those of you that know us well if there is one thing we have plenty of it's dogs! He had seen a sign in someones yard "Chocolate Lab puppies for sell." At this point the puppies were about 5-months old and the owner wanted them gone. Lee hand-picked Petey. He like his siblings had been living in a dog lot at the edge of the woods and had learned to get out (a trait which he also used later in life). He also loaded with ticks. After a good washing and tick removal he was allowed in the house.

I mentioned Lee wanted a duck dog. He took Petey duck hunting with him one day. He said Petey did a good job until Lee fired ta shot the first time and Petey tried to climb in Lee's pocket. So needless to say Petey was never the duck dog Lee wanted.

Another memory I have of Petey is the first night Rosty came home form the hospital. Rosty was in the hospital for 2 weeks before he came home so I would bring blankets and clothes home for Petey to smell so he would know Rosty's scent. That first night we were home we put the baby gate up and Petey paced up and down the hall all night long. I think Rosty is the only one that slept that night!

Besides gunfire Petey was deathly afraid of thunder, cars back-firing or any loud noise in general. When there was a thunderstorm his 90-pound self would crawl up in my lap and he would be shaking like a leaf, I would pet him and tell him it would be alright. Another popular hiding place (which is also where he slept) was in our closet. Lee had a sleeping bag in the bottom of the closet and Petey pawed at it until he had it untied and would lay on that sleeping bag.....it's still there I can't move it yet.

Petey was also very loud.

In the mornings if we had not let him out he would come stand beside the bed and wag his tail which would hit the bedroom door and echo through the whole house. If anyone pulled into the driveway or was at the door (especially if he did not know them) he would bark & growl. He was our built in security system.

He also would do this howling sorting of barking thing sometimes too- just to let us know he was there!

He was also my babysitter for the boys. When they were outside playing Petey was always with them. He wouldn't let anyone near those boys!!

These are all the good things about Petey that we will remember.

We will always love you Petey!!!!

I may tell more Petey stories later but there are too may tears right now!!

Thanksgiving.....Part III

I have finally found the time to tell you about our exciting trip to my parent's house.

We left our house later then we had hoped we would but there was so much to get done. We had to clean up from processing turkeys the day before, we had to pack, we had 2 deliveries to make to Charlotte. I say we but Lee did all the work except packing (and he did pack his clothes). I tried to get the house in some sort of order so it would be nice when we got home. I vacuumed, changed all the bed sheets, washed all the dirty clothes, etc...

Lee was really hoping to get some fishing in while we were at my parent's house so we also took his boat along with us. We were all loaded up and he got back out of the truck and threw the jack and toolbox in the boat.

He said, "I hope we don't need it but you never know."

So, we finally leave about 8:30 on Wednesday night.

I call moma & daddy and let them know we are on the way. We have 2 little boys who were very tired and we knew would be asleep soon and 1 new puppy who we hoped would be asleep soon!

It's about 10:30 PM and Lee asks, "Did you hear that?"

Not good.

So we pull over to the side of the road. When I open my door I can smell the rubber. We were hoping the flat tire wasn't on the dually. It was dark and we were on the side of the interstate but I thought the tire on the boat trailer looked like it was leaning. It was and it was shredded. Luckily, I have a boy scout for a husband and he was prepared with the jack & the tool box. I helped him change the tire and we were back on the road by 11:15 PM.

We decided that we needed to stop at WalMart and get a spare tire. We stop at the only WalMart in North Carolina that closes at 11 PM. So we don't have a spare tire and still have about 2 hours to drive. So we processes slowly and carefully. I also need a restroom break. Of course, the gas station we stop at closes at 11 PM too. We drive about 45 minutes to the next gas station and guess what they are closed too. We finally find a 24-hour gas station (which is 30-40 minutes from my parent's house). It's about 1:30 AM at this point. Let's just say there was a lot of questionable people in there.......

In case I forgot to mention it the kids and the puppy slept through all of this!

We finally get to my parent's house at about 2 AM Thanksgiving morning! The rest is a daze. We unload (we have the turkey and a lot of the fixings with us) and literally fall into bed. I wake up at 7 AM the next morning & try to help moma but I am just exhausted.

We have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with my parents, my grandparents, my mom's sister, her husband and her daughter.

My Aunt and her family brought a cheesecake tray with a variety of slices it was yummy! I had made a pumpkin pie it was good but I used a little too much evaporated milk and the crust was soggy. I followed the recipe (I know, I know it's hard to believe I actually followed a recipe). The recipe said 1 can of evaporated milk. So I used the 8-ounce can that I had in the pantry. Not until I went to the grocery store and was buying a replacement can did I realize they also came in 4-ounce cans. Moma made sweet potato pie & pecan pie too so we had plenty of dessert.

The turkey was courtesy of Wild Turkey Farms.....and it was yummy & we had Wild Turkey Farms ham plus a Honey Baked ham.

We also had collards, sweet potato casserole, butter beans, dressing and homemade cranberry sauce. Me & Lee also brought some farmstead cheese & a summer sausage that we had made from our beef. I'm sure there was more food but I don't remember it now.

On Friday, I did not get up at midnight and go shopping. However, me & Lee did go to Toy's R Us at about 9:30 AM. The things that I wanted were all gone. So we went to Office Depot and I got a new digital camera!!!! Sorry kids no Christmas gifts...just joking.

We actually did do some shopping for the kids. It was nice to have Lee with me because I normally do the kid's Christmas shopping. We also got to eat at J Michaels Philly Deli- my favorite!

Then on Friday night me & Charlie were laying on the couch and he raised his head up and hit me in the eye. By Saturday morning I had a black eye. So for those of you that wondered but did not want to ask yes I had a black eye!

The rest of the trip was just spent visiting and trying to catch up on our rest. We had a great trip home but it's always nice to be back in your own bed.

Thanksgiving.....Part II

We had such a success last year with our turkeys we decided to do a few more this year. We started with a total of 50 and raised 47 to the end.

Just a few facts about the turkeys.

This year we raised Broad-Breasted Whites, which are commercial birds. They grow faster than the Heritage Breed we raised last year and do not eat as much. The 50 turkeys ate 100 pounds of feed per day.

We received the turkeys when they were 1-day old and they were processed at 4-months old. Their first 3-weeks they were raised in a brooder with a heat lamp. Their next 2 weeks was spent in a movable pen which was moved to fresh grass daily. Then at 7-weeks old they were free-range. At this point they are big enough that there is not much threat of owls or hawks taking them. The turkeys are kept in the pasture by movable fences. Every few days the fence is moved to give them fresh grass.

Tuesday

November 24, 2009

The day did not start out good. The alarm went off at 6 AM and Lee could not move his back was hurting. He laid on the heating pad for about 25 minutes & then got in a warm shower for about 20 minutes. It loosened up enough that he was able to get to the farm but he wasn't feeling his best.

I get the kids to school & go get biscuits for the help.

Including me & Lee we had 8 people helping us to process turkeys. I will leave out details but tell you the steps to processing.

First, the turkeys had all been caught and were waiting patiently in the cow trailer. Then they are prepared for processing (tried to put that delicate). They are then scalded this helps to loosen the feathers. The next step is the plucker which removes their feathers.

We had 3 tables set up one where T. would chop off the heads & feet. Then they came to me and Lee and we would eviscerate them. Then A. & R. would bag the gizzards, weigh the birds, give the birds a number and place them in ice.

The important thing we did was to keep good records.

After the bird was weighed an ear tag was placed in the skin. We wrote down the number, the weight and the location that the bird was placed in.

We finished processing the birds around 1 o'clock that afternoon. We had pick-ups at the farm from 1 to 5 and we also had 2 drop off points.

When we pulled back into the farm it was 9 o'clock. It was a very, very long day but well worth it!!