'Tis The Season....Deer Season, I mean!

Do you have hunters in your family?  We sure do. (*smile*)

I wish I could say Keith shot this beauty, but he didn't (hasn't yet).  This is a buck we saw a couple of years ago in August - full velvet.  Isn't he handsome?  (It's a copy of a copy, so not the best quality)

Anyway, on with the hunters.  I think everyone in our family loves to hunt, except Ashlyn, who is too small to know better. I don't hunt for deer, but I love picking squirrels out of tree branches from the dining room window with the BB gun. (*smile*) I can't stand it when I fill the bird feeder and these pesky critters come running as if it's for them. Hmph....

But Keith, of course, goes hunting for real and the kids love to go with him.  One day this week was Kristyn's day and they shot a nice doe and was she ever excited!!

She took her book with her (as always) and read the entire thing.  Keith said he told her to tap him if she saw something, so every little bit she'd "tap, tap, tap - Daddy, there's a red bird!"  Tap, tap, tap - Daddy, there's a blue bird!"  I don't know how she managed to read the whole book AND see all she saw, but she had a grand time and we have a nice stash in the freezer to enjoy!

I love my hunters!!

*Little Jeren Man*

Today was opening day of deer season and it was Owen's day to go with Daddy.  Nobody was paying attention to Jeren and he got himself all dressed and ready to go.

 

He was quite disappointed when Daddy told him (again) today was Owen's day and that his day would be another day.

 

But I told him that the girls and I were going to go hunting (good thing there's a little patch of woods nearby for occasions such as this) and he could go with us - that made him feel better.

 

So we walked down behind the school to "our" little creek and he made a bee line for the woods (tiny strip of woods along the creek)

 

He checked out every hole for rabbits, or foxes, or snakes, or bugs.......

He checked out the creek bank for tracks...

He navigated through all sorts of fallen timber - with much help from his older sister

Like with all hunters, I'm sure, nature calls at the most inconvenient times....

Then he hollers out, "MOM, A FISH"

When he figured out he couldn't catch the fish, he continued on with his hunting...

Not one leaf, or pebble was left uncovered - there might be creatures crawling under there....

Maybe a splash will bring the creatures out of hiding...

"Hello?  Anybody in there?".....

With the hours passing and no success on his hunting trip, he decides to head back home...

He was sure he could keep up with his big sister, because he tells me daily, "I'm big boy now"

Not wanting to leave his dear mother behind (or maybe he was a little terrified of the "big woods" he waited for me to catch up)......

With crossing the creek, the girls decided it was a delightful place to set up house keeping - with that thought, the mighty hunter heads back out to bring home the bacon...

Ever so quietly he creeps through the branches, hoping to spy out the big game...

"You can't see me, I'm wearing camo"

Then an obnoxious branch sends his hat flying... (and almost sends him flying)

Back on it goes and back to hunting he goes....

"Ummmm - are you coming, Mom!  I'm not scared if you don't want to, but please do come with me."

Another fish, or is that a lobster?..... (crawdad)

Hunters have to be balanced.....

And sure of every step....

Finally, he decided that hunting was not for him and it was time to go home for a nap, so he sneaked out through his secret passage way....

Followed by his three sisters.....

I love this little hunter with one ear in.......

And one ear out.....

Hunting is hard work, but he did a fine job of it.....

Momma loves you, Buddy, maybe next time you can bring home the bacon!

Megan Turns Five

Megan has been counting down the days for a long time!  She has been SO excited to turn five.  

Her HUGE disappointment for the day was when she got up and laid out her shoes and socks and asked me where her uniform was.  I asked her what she meant and she said, "You said when I'm five I'll go to school."  She was so very disappointed to realize that it wouldn't be until next school year. 

She soon got over it though - we visit the school often, so she was okay with waiting and just visiting for now. :)

She had a fun day of coloring and talking to family on the phone - both of which she loves to do.

She combed her patient sisters hair - Ashlyn will let her comb her hair forever and seems to enjoy it - Megan loves it!

She wanted to help me make her birthday dinner.

 For her birthday supper, she wanted a tea party

We have the dearest neighbor.  He is an older man, but remembers all of our kids birthdays - and we haven't told him when they are, he just remembers the day they were born.  Every year he brings them a cake.  I usually have made them a cake, too, but I finally decided - this man needs a family to love and we sure don't need TWO cakes, so I'm just going to let him have the joy of being the "cake man" and he just thinks it's the greatest thing. :)  

A couple of weeks ago, he came down and asked Megan what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. She told him she wanted a rainbow cake, so he ordered this cake and brought it down this week.

(*Side note: The cake did have in purple icing "Happy Birthday Megan" but some sweet little fingers got into the cake before I could get her out of the way, so I tried to fix it with little pearls.)

She got to Skype both Grandma's and meet Grandma's new dog, Ginger. :)

 Her brothers loudly singing "Happy Birthday"

Here's where the rainbow part comes in. :)  She was extremely surprised and excited!!

This is a bit of a rabbit trail:

Megan has a very sincere and trusting heart.  If there is something wrong, it is not uncommon at all to look around and find her off by herself praying.   She talks about Jesus and Heaven almost daily.  Sometimes it's almost like, "Oh yeah, I already talked to God about that....moving on"  She prays about everything.

So I asked her a few weeks ago what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said "a normal Sunday Dinner"  I knew what she meant, but I was surprised that *she* knew what she was talking about.  Keith LOVES roast and would have it every Sunday if we could!  But we haven't had one in probably a couple of months. Keith has searched our freezer and turned over every piece of meat out there (someone gives us meat every spring so we have quite an assortment at times) but there have been no roasts at all.

He looked at the store and said we couldn't get one right now, so I told Megan that I would pick out the meat and she could pick out everything else.  She said, "Okay, I want mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, carrots and rolls...and you can pick out the meat"

Tuesday, I went out to the freezer to get meat out for supper and there ON TOP of all the meat, laying face up was a package that said "Chuck Roast".  

It wasn't under all the chickens, fruit, veggies we froze from our garden, or the other packages we had in the freezer, it was right there on top and it was packaged like our meat is packaged.

I asked Keith if he had found it and put it there and he said no. 

I got Megan and said, "I just found a roast in the freezer"

She shrugged and said, "I know. Jesus put it there for me"

(Why can't I trust like that?)

I think that was the best tasting roast we have had yet.

She was excited all day - even when she went to bed.  She said, "I can't believe I'm FIVE!"

She has brought five years of JOY to our lives!!

We love you Megan Joy - Happy Birthday!!!!!