We city girls were so excited to see these nearly every morning in my sister’s backyard.

These little beauties were passing through during our Thanksgiving dinner. I still don’t know how people look into those big, brown eyes and then shoot them.

On our way up to Michigan last week we (the girls and I) were talking about how Alexis (the girls’ cousin) had gone out “to catch a deer” with her Daddy the day before we got there.

E: “So when they catch a deer, Mama? Do they tie them up?”
(Before I can answer – I’m taking a long time because I am trying to figure out how to answer this, and wondering if she had maybe seen a deer “hanging” up after it had been shot, she answered her own question. Sort of.)
E: “Oh, maybe they will just tie them up in the yard. Then they can all stay in the yard.”
(Then I realize that she thinks they are just going to “catch” the deer, like roping a horse or something.)
M: “Mmmmm…I don’t think that they actually catch the deer, baby. Um…”
E: “But some people eat the deer? Right, Mama?”
M: “Yep. Some people do eat the deer meat for food.”

So she does “get” that people eat the deer for meat. I think that the whole “where meat really comes from” is a difficult concept for kids to figure out. I didn’t really know how to tackle the fact that her hamburger comes from a cow.

But J. is very adamant that since we have all girls, he is absolved from the difficult girl talks and I “get” to do all of those talks. So I think it is only fair that he should get to tackle this one, right?