Hello March

March is here, and it is hard to believe that the first round of TAKS is this coming week. Where did the year go? We are already looking forward to Spring Break and summer. TAKS testing season is our least favorite time of the year.

Josie has one more cheer meet and her season is over and another will be beginning. She is so excited about getting her roundoff-back handspring, and she will be moving up to an older team for next year.

Cody and I are still competing with exercise and diet, but I have been boycotting because when I finally did win the weekly exercise challenge, I still had to do the laundry. With things getting busy at the golf course and at school, we haven't been doing too well getting daily exercise. At last check, we both had lost 15 pounds. Hopefully we'll get back on track and keep going.

Tumbling

Let It Snow!

Not the usual weather for our area, but the kids were loving it!

Sausage...the rest of the story

For those of you who are waiting for the conclusion to the sausage-making process, here it is. Keep in mind that I really know next to nothing about it since I have only actually watched once--this past weekend.

After grinding the meat twice, some of it was vacuum sealed to freeze as pan and breakfast sausage.

The rest of it goes into this nifty machine that stuffs it into the sausage casings.

Austin got the job of turning the crank. I wonder if he is sore from hours of cranking.

You don't want to know much about the sausage casings.

Toby had the job of tying the rings.

Then the rings are hung in the smoker and smoked overnight.

Josie finally let go of her nose to pose for a picture.

Jake had fun hanging out with Uncle Toby!

Here is the brains of the whole operation, the Big Chief and her husband.

Making Sausage the Spivey Way

Each year the Spivey men meet up to make deer sausage. They use a mix of pork and deer. The first step is to grind all that meat.

The learning process begins early! I'm sure Cody was imparting some very important sausage wisdom to Jake.

Cody's job was to stuff the meat into the grinder.

Josie was not amused by the smell of raw meat. I'm not sure if she will ever be part of the sausage process.

Each pan is seasoned differently depending on whether it is going to be made into rings, dried sausage, or bagged up as pan sausage. This is just the beginning of a long day of work.

Our Weekend at the Lake

Granny has a new toy...her name is Betsy.


I'm not sure who loves Betsy the most...the kids or the grown-ups.

One of the best things about visiting Granny's house is the abundance of firecrackers!

They provide hours of fun all year long. Thankfully Granny is not going to run out any time soon. She showed us her stockpile, and we don't have to worry about a firecracker shortage.

Thank goodness this sweet boy is back home with us. We missed him!

Day 5 at Camp Granny

I laughed out loud when I opened the email with this picture.
What a treat for Jake to spend the week with Granny and PaPa!

Jake's Vacation

Jake's taking the week off and hanging out at Camp Granny. He may never want to come back home. We sure are missing him, but Granny has been sending us a picture each day.

Quote for the Day

"It's just hard to be good all day!"
-Jake, age 5

Unstitched With Love

The stitches are out - thanks to our favorite nurse!