Abe’s Buck!

After approximately 13ish years of suiting up, climbing into a stand, applying Scent Away and Dirt Smell, and waiting patiently for hours and hours and hours for the perfect opportunity to take a shot – Abe killed his first buck.

A close up of the rack:

Lest you start to believe Abe is hunting only for sport, rest assured we eat deer meat like crazy. Abe got over fifty pounds of meat from the buck: 20 chops, 16 steaks, 20 lbs of ground meat and a little left over meat we’re going to use to make summer sausage. We butcher the deer ourselves, then package and freeze it. It makes some killer chili. Yum yum!

Yum Yum, Eat ‘Em Up.

As promised, I’m attempting to get all caught up here on the blog. I didn’t get it done by Christmas, sorry ’bout that, but I’m going to post a couple entries now So, that’ll have to do

Abe and I went out for a celebratory dinner at The Melting Pot up in Greenwood a couple weeks ago. Oh my goodness! It was AMAZING!

Before dinner – feeling like we could eat an elephant each. We prepared throughout the day by having small meals early in the day. We new the battle of food vs. stomachs that evening would be a tough one!

First, we had our cheese fondue. We had garlic and artichoke cheese with many different breads and fruits for dipping. It was SO GOOD. Then, we had our salads. Abe had some crazy mushroom salad and I had the house salad. Mmmmm… at this point, I felt like I had died and gone to Heaven!

Then, out came the meat plate. We chose the coq au vin to cook our meat and veggies. It was delicious! We had scallops, pork, chicken, beef, lobster tail, mushrooms, squash and a variety of other choices to cook. We had a TON of dipping sauces, too! Our favorite was this apple butter concoction that we dipped our chicken and pork in. Delicioso!

We pretty much tore that meat plate up. YUM.

At this point, we were feeling a little like this:

Then, out came the desert tray. Abe literally laughed out loud when he saw it He said “No person should ever eat this much.” Haha. Too funny. Yet so true!

Our desert consisted of a milk chocolate fondue and a plate with cut strawberries, bananas, cheese cake, marshmallows, rice crispy treats and a few other bits I can no longer remember. Dear goodness.

I’m ashamed to admit that, even after all we’d eaten prior to desert, this was all that was left of the desert plate:

Oink, oink is all I have to say about that.

The Melting Pot definitely received our approval and we hope to head back again sometime… I don’t know about soon, but sometime.

Happy Christmas!!!

TeddyClaus wishes you a happy and blessed Christmas with the ones you love!!!

What’sa Happenin’?

Apparently, the return of Abe has led to the decline of the number of posts on this-here blog. Sorry ’bout that.

Since it’s been a minute or two… or a few days… or maybe even a couple weeks… since ya’ll have been updated on what’s happening here at the homestead, I’m going to just go ahead and throw all of it at you at once! Hooray!

So, Abe came home and for about a week, we didn’t do anything but sleep, eat dinner wherever people wanted to take us or cook for us, chat, etc. In addition to all that hard work (haha) I finished up my six classes by taking finals and giving presentations. It was a joy. (and not to be all “like that” but I finished the semester with all A’s and B’s, just so you know)

This past week has been packed FULL of fun activities!

Last Thursday we went and chopped down our Christmas tree! Hooray! It was fun. We went to Tower Family Tree Farms just outside of Columbus – where we always get our tree – and picked a tree that isn’t much taller than me. And I’m not much taller than 5′! It’s perfect for our tiny space.

We brought it home in the ol’ front-wheel-drive sleigh, Griswold style:

That’s right! We to the Boo and strapped the tree to the top of the car using twine. Aaaaand we couldn’t top 40 mph on the way home for fear of the twine snapping. We couldn’t stand the thought of losing our tree!

Abe freed ‘er from the roof of the car…

…and up she went! The tree is in a very tight corner in our bedroom in the basement. I love it there It’s so cozy, watching movies at night all snuggled in tight with the tree lights on!

In other news, Abe bought a truck! Woohoo! An ‘06 Chevy Silverado Z71. It’s a quad cab and can hold six comfortably. We wanted something he could drive for awhile, that he can use for hunting and hauling and other “man” stuff, that could also grow with our family in the future. I think it’ll do! I don’t have any pictures of it, sorry. We didn’t officially bring it home till the day after we got our tree, hence the strapping of the tree to the top of the car

I’ll have more photos of our dinner at The Melting Pot and of Abe’s first buck SOON!

Hopefully, we’ll be caught up on this ol’ blog by the time Christmas rolls around – next week!

Baby Gabe

Words cannot begin to express how precious this little guy is! Oh my goodness! He and his mommy and daddy will always hold a special place in my heart… without his mommy this past year, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this deployment! She was such a source of strength, comfort and encouragement for me. I will forever cherish our friendship

Man… I’ll cut the sap now and get to the part I’m sure you’re all waiting for – the little man himself, Gabe!!!

I could eat.him.up.

But, I won’t

I hope everyone is having a great week! And sorry I stink at blogging lately. Having Abe home is still so new and refreshing I’m taking my time getting “used” to him again! I’m pretty sure he feels the same about me!

God bless!