Today we focus on a blizzard and also on turkeys.
Our week began with several college students coming over after church for lunch on Sunday. We set out a big Build-Your-Own-Burrito Buffet, along with bowls and jars of fruit, and two different desserts. We found this meal to be a perfect way to accommodate allergies and taste preferences – plus it was really easy. Win!
Monday morning during our breakfast/Bible time, our kids looked outside and what did they see? Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. Just three turkeys strutting through the yard.
Malachi declared that watching turkeys for five minutes was his science lesson for the day. Good try, Buddy. But it was a fun school connection for him since he’s currently reading The Great Turkey Walk right now. (Have you read that book? It’s a very fun read!)
Ironically, I had a turkey thawing in the fridge to bake this week. I’d picked it up during the holidays when it was on sale. For so many reasons, this was a big turkey week at our house.
The Blizzard
Everything in town shut down on Tuesday when Nebraska received a blizzard that resulted in 18-inches of blowing snow. Matt and the boys had their work cut out for them digging people out for days (Matt runs a snow removal business). Just about the time they got people’s sidewalks cleared, we woke up to more snow on Friday. It was a small amount in comparison, but guess what we found in our yard that morning?
Turkey tracks!
I guess those turkeys have been wondering around town all week, poor things.
I’ve tried a couple of the recipes from the Paleo Freebie this week. The first was a Bacon Roast recipe (which I adapted slightly by using stew meat and adding green beans). I cooked it low and slow all morning for Matt and the boys to eat when they came home from moving snow. It got devoured!
I already mentioned the Chocolate Ganache I made. Wow. It’s low enough in sugar that I can eat it without feeling crummy. I’m not sure if this is a blessing or not. It is soooo good. (If you got the free Paleo package, the Chocolate Ganache recipe is in the 5-Minute Paleo Recipes book and the Bacon Roast is in the Paleo Crock Pot Entrees book. If you haven’t gotten these yet, it is still available and it is completely free. Sign up here and you’ll get all the recipes! You can read my thoughts on the Paleo diet here.)
Over the weekend, 130 teenagers came to town from all over Nebraska, and even some from Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. Our church hosted a Youth Rally from Friday to Sunday – one of our favorite (and most exhausting) weekends of the year. Here we are worshiping together on Saturday morning:
Friday and Saturday nights, 15 teenage boys crashed at our house. Aside from not getting much sleep, it was a fantastic weekend. (I took a nap today and I’m taking tomorrow off to rest too!) Most of their meals were hosted at the church fellowship hall, but we did get to feed our guests snacks each night and breakfast Sunday morning!
Did you have snow at your house this week? Turkeys in your yard? Anything fun to share? I’d love to hear about your week too.
Over a foot of snow piled up here in the blizzard this week. We have about 300 wild turkeys spending the winter along the Wood River north of our corrals here on the farm. Watching the wildlife is our entertainment out here. This morning 6 deer were just outside our back door licking the salt we had put on our icy steps.
That is really cool!
I just have to say I LOVE “The Great Turkey Walk”. One of the best homeschool books ever. :)
Also, I’m totally doing a make-your-own burrito bar next time I have to feed a group. Thanks for the tip!
Wow, that’s a lot of food to fix for that many kids!
Do you have to fund all these get-together’s yourself, or does the church help out?
The church does offer to help families like us who are hosting big bunches of kids! We said “no thanks” though this time because we were able to fund it and I’ve been stock piling for the past few weeks as I’ve found sales. :)
This winter started off much more mild than normal for New England, but now seems to be catching up! We got about 6-8 inches and a “snow day” this past Friday, followed by today’s second “snow day”, which promises another 6-10 throughout today and tonight.
It has been SO PRETTY! I enjoyed taking some of the most beautiful winter pictures with incredible skies! I also built a snowman, and blogged about the whole experience.
No turkeys here (except for the ones in my house ;) ); but sometimes when there is a lot of snow they do come out of the woods to find food near our homes.
God’s creation is so awesome!
We have flocks of wild turkeys roaming our property all year round. In the winter, they like to fly up into the branches of our crabapple trees and eat the crabapples – but they’re so heavy that they usually end breaking lots of branches. In spring, the mama turkeys lead their flocks of chicks around and they are very cute!
My children are dreaming of snow. It’s been a mild winter, even by south Louisiana standards. My 4-year-old keeps asking how many more days til it snows. I tell her it could be years! We don’t see turkeys in our yard but see them and deer sometimes as we’re driving to town.