Hayden at school.

I think because I have the luxury of being with Hayden at school each Tuesday and Thursday, I kind of forget to blog about all that goes on with him at school.   I LOVE that I get to see him in action each day learning and playing with friends.  He has a precious teacher that he adores.   So, here is a little “catch up” on a few fun things going on at preschool.

All his sweet little friends in his class.  Wear RED day.

The firetruck came to visit.  Yep, our child is being held.  Posing for pictures with a group in a place out of his comfort zone isn’t his favorite thing. 

Last week we went on a field trip to Yesterland Farms.  They enjoyed train rides, roller coasters, a petting zoo, rubber duck races, marshmallow roasting, pumpkins galore, and so much more!

Hayden and Hayden.

Yep, that’s him again.  Have I told ya’ll how much I love his teacher? 

Pumpkin carving…

Pure sweetness!  

Where is the bear?

We spent last weekend at our Oklahoma deer lease.  It was so nice to get away, hang out at camp, and just relax.  I didn’t do any hunting.  Jeff did all the hunting.  I got to sleep in each morning with Hayden and just hang out around camp and play all day.   Oh and take naps too.   We have several friends on the OK lease with us.  It was extra fun because Hayden had some friends to play with! 

We discovered quickly that one of the guys lab had new pups.  The boys LOVED playing with the puppies. 

Jake and Ellie (the momma).  Crazy story.  Jake didn’t even know Ellie was pregnant.  He took her his other deer lease and then couldn’t find her anywhere.  He came back a week later and there she was at camp and had had puppies under someone’s travel trailer. 

Pretty cute huh?

We had some work to do at camp!  Jeff built a new porch for us. 

And here’s the tractor.  You know we never leave home without it.  Ha!

Headlamp.  One pant leg tucked in the boot.   On a mission to roast marshmallows. 

Priceless…

That’s face paint on Jeff’s face in case you are wondering.

All the boys were looking at a picture of a tarantula on Jake’s phone.  There are seriously huge tarantula’s.  We see them quite often on the road going to the lease.  I haven't seen one at the  lease yet.  Praise the Lord!

We did it right!  We ate well all weekend!  Cooked on the be wok every morning for breakfast!  I cooked biscuits and made coffee  and Allie and Micah made the eggs and sausage. 

We even bought a new coffee maker.  No more using paper towels as filters, boiling water, and dipping the coffee.

Back with the puppy.  We are kind of partial to the brown one.  :-)

A little afternoon football action.

Going for a ride.

So, the moment of truth. 

Did Jeff get a bear?  Did he even see a bear?  The answer is no.  Boo!  No one saw one.  It’s crazy that we have a ton of pictures of them all over the lease but when it came time to get one, no one saw one!  Jeff still has a little more time.  Hopefully he can get one! 

Have I scared ya’ll yet with all the bear and tarantula talk?  Ha!

Since I didn’t hunt all weekend, I went on Tuesday and Thursday here at home.  I saw 3 deer from afar on Tuesday and had 4 deer come into the feeder for about 30 minutes on Thursday.  Talk about fun to have them come in and not know you are there 20-25 yards away.  You can hear them crunching corn they are so close.  

We shall see what the next week of hunting season holds…

Yummy Chicken “Tortilla” Soup

It was that type of day.  Saturday was cool and cloudy.  Perfect evening to have soup for dinner!   I wanted to try a new chicken tortilla soup recipe, but found myself combing a few to come up with my own recipe.  It had the perfect combination of lime, cilantro, cumin, and garlic.  Yum!  I have to say that it was quite delicious!  You should try it.

What you need:

1 rotisserie chicken

1 32 oz. box of chicken broth

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

1 4 oz. can of green chilies

1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can of whole kernel corn

3 cloves of garlic

1 onion (chopped)

1 tbs. olive oil

2 tbs. cumin

2 tbs. chili powder

1 tbs. of garlic powder

1 lime

1/4-1/2 cup of cilantro

Crushed chips, shredded Monterey Jack Cheese, Sour Cream, Av0cado and additional cilantro for Toppings!  Green onion/chives would be great too! 

What you need to do:

Shred Chicken and set to the side.    Mince garlic and add to stew pot with olive oil and onion.  Saute until onion is soft.  Stir in chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, juice from lime, and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.  

Stir in corn, chilies, beans, cilantro, and chicken.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes. 

Pour it in your bowl and top with crushed tortilla chips, cheese, cilantro, sour cream, avocado, green onion or whatever else you might like! 

Hunting “weekend”

We  just got back from a hunting weekend at our lease in West Texas. With Jeff’s work schedule, our weekends are actually during the week.  Hunting is something we genuinely love to do as a family.  I grew up hunting with my Daddy, so it works great that Jeff loves it too! 

Bow hunting is new to me this year.  I got my bow last year for Christmas and have been preparing and practicing since then.  I am no where near perfect and still need a lot of practice but felt fairly confident that I could make the shot I needed to. 

Dad recently got a cross bow so he went out there with us too to try to get his chance during bow season!  But, Dad said he would watch Hayden on Wednesday afternoon for us while Jeff and I went out and he showed me the ropes of bow hunting out of a pop up blind. 

So, we suited up and headed out to our pop up blind Jeff set up several weeks ago.  Well, we got there, Jeff unzipped the blind and there he stood face to face with skunk.  We thought for a second on what to do to avoid him spraying and to get him out of there.  So, we opened up the blind and threw rocks on the outside to see if he would come out.  Well, he didn’t come out and sprayed inside the blind.  Jeff shot at him in the blind and he ended up crawling out the back and crawling in a hole after Jeff shot him a few more times.  There wasn’t any way we could hunt in there that afternoon.  So, we headed over to Dad’s blind to hunt that afternoon. 

It looks like we smeared grease all over our face, but it is camo paint so our face didn’t stand out as one big white spot.

Our view…

Hunting from a pop up blind is so different than hunting from a stand 10-15 ft off the ground.  In a blind, you have a very limited view.  You have to contain your scent so  you can’t open a lot of windows since you are so close to the feeder/area you are hunting.  With a stand that you rifle hunt out of, you can see so far and see what is coming your way long before they get this close to you.  This afternoon, we saw nothing! 

The next morning, afternoon, and following morning, I headed out to our blind by myself.  Jeff sprayed scent killer and opened some windows and let it air out.  Surprisingly it wasn’t bad in there at all!  The only real time I could smell the skunk was that afternoon when it was pretty warm.   I saw absolutely nothing.  And, Dad never saw anything in his blind either.  Kind of discouraging.  

While I was hunting, Hayden spent time with Granddaddy on Wednesday afternoon and Daddy (the rest of the time) shooting turtles with his bb gun, throwing rocks, riding our ATV, and just enjoying the outdoors.  He really wanted to go hunting, but that really isn’t an option in a pop up blind.  Friday afternoon, Jeff and Hayden went into town and explored a bit, played at the park, enjoyed a little Sonic treat, and imitated statues. 

They also went to pick up Jeff’s axis hide he had tanned from a hunt last December.  I am not real sure what we are going to do with it yet, but we think it is super cool.

Our boy was a little worn out on the way home. 

Friday afternoon after we got home, I decided I would go hunt in Dad’s tree/ladder stand about a mile from our house.  This is something I have never done before.  I have never climbed a tree to hunt.  Particularly climbed 15 foot up the tree, harnessed up and carrying my bow and backpack all by myself.  But, I did it!  I had to wrap/connect my harness to the tree in case I happened to fall.   I was so proud of myself and Jeff was quite proud of me too. 

And guess what, I saw deer!!!!  I had two does come in and one shooter (legal) buck.  He only came in within about 40 yards (I need him within 25-30 yards), so I didn’t get a chance at a shot.  In our county, their horns have to be wider than their ears or only have a spike on one side.  I think they all winded me. But, I was so excited that I actually saw deer!! 

It was pretty funny after I came home because Jeff  told me that he had to explain to the UPS man and some of our neighbors that saw me go by on our ranger why I was the one hunting while he was home with Hayden.  LOL!  He will get his chance this next week while we make our way to the OK lease for him to go (bear) hunting.  EEEEEK!