Grouse

Evan got his hunting day with Dad. Since the moose tag is already filled, they were after chickens. They got 5 grouse and Evan was proud that he even got to pull the trigger a time or two.

  Here they are with the meat.

You Alone

A quick peek into the current morning happenings:

Evan is unloading the dishwasher singing, "You alone are...my table of contents!"

It would appear that he's combining a worship song with a new piece of literary information.

Back to cleaning...  (I just had to take a quick break to write this down before I forget it.)

Moose Meat!

Yay! Kendall got a moose! Now we have a freezer full of meat once again! He went out hunting with some buddies last weekend and called me Sunday morning to report that he had just shot a calf. I was glad. (Partly because he used up his tag so early in the season!)

Yes, that is a piece of moose meat hanging from Kendall's mouth as he butchers.  I assure you it is cooked.  It is the heart- a Hochstedler tradition to cook and eat the heart as soon as possible.
Please ignore background clutter, but please do notice the house.  The outside is now finished except for the chinking between the planks on the entry. 

Evan wanted this picture to look like he had shot the moose himself:

And here the boys help wrap and label sausage:

Honestly, I don't even know how many pounds of meat we got from this moose.  I know that we cut more than 26 roasts off of it.  There are also a few steaks and some ribs to smoke.  Then Kendall took the rest off the bone and took it to a friends house to grind.  I have no idea how many pounds of ground meat and sausage we have.  Lots.  We're sharing some.  It's so nice to have and the roast we already ate proved to be WAY better than the tough old cow or bull from last year.

So, I'm happy for a freezer full of meat and perhaps even happier for an already-filled tag!

Party!

Here is Eli and Evan's birthday party with school friends.
They had it at the bike park after school.  Lots of fun.  Lots of boys.

2 of Evan's best buddies from school:

Kendall to the rescue with the tire pump:

And look at the gift-opening madness:

Like I said, Lots of Boys.

Birthday Boys

October 7 was Eli's birthday and October 11 was Evan's. So we've had lots of fun celebrating.

Nana and Papa were here, so we had a party with the boys' nearest (physically) relatives- 3rd cousin Dominik, 2nd cousins twice removed Candice and Karen, 1st cousin thrice removed Sue, and Great-Great Uncle Henry. (Or something like that.)

Evan helped me arrange the centerpiece. (That would be a pond with a guy fishing and a campsite.) Notice the three happy heads with story from Nana in the background.

Here is Cousin Dominik:

And a favorite babysitter, Candice:

And, ta-daa! The cake!