One, two, BUCKLE my shoe

SO . . . . . Some amazing ladies in the county put together a local gymkhana for the rodeo game enthusiastics around the county. For those of you who are wondering, the definition of gymkhana is: a meet at which riders and horses display a range of skills and aptitudes. BJ and the kids all participated.

There were three meets, and the final meet was this past Saturday. (I wondered about a horse meet in November, but the weather was BEAUTIFUL!!!)

During the first meet, Brittany took 4th place.

The second and third meet, Brooklyn placed. BJ took 2nd in the last meet. (I was not very diligent in getting pictures of him. OoopS!!)

Jensen didn't place in any of the meets, but if you ask him, he doesn't care, because he was training FLOYD. (Floyd is BJ's 5 year old horse that Jensen has recently placed claim on.)

Preston and his kids participated as well, and Preston pretty much ran the show because he did SO well.

My family all did great . . .and had a lot of fun. (Unless you count the five minutes Brittany was upset each meet when she didn't do as well as she wanted to.) I was SUPER proud of them.

I was really excited to actually be home on a Saturday, and get some work done, but ended up spending pretty much the whole day watching the gymkhana. It was totally worth the filthy house I went home to!!

At the end, everyone who participated in all three meets received prizes. Brittany and Jensen picked cute saddle bags, and BJ got a halter/lead rope. Brooklyn, however, got something a little more pricey!! She was the Junior High Point Winner!! She received a belt buckle for her achievement. She promptly changed out her grand champion hog buckle for her new buckle.

Big shout out to Shauna Shumway and Wendy Benson, and all those involved in having such great prizes donated for these kids!!

BIGGER SHOUT OUT to my awesome family!! Way to go guys!!!

Frankenstein or a Mummy?

For Halloween, I told Jensen he should be either be

FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER OR A MUMMY

I would think that with stitches and a bunch of white gauze, both options would be great. Jensen didn't think so. I also would have thought that an accident invovling sharp instruments during the week of halloween would have taken place while we were carving pumpkins, but no, not at our house!!!

Thursday night I was at a R.S. activity and got a call from a VERY sad child. Through the crying, I heard the words, "running", "Didn't know", "open" and "CUT REALLY BAD!!!!" I knew it was Jensen, so I hung up immediately and headed home. On the way home I called Brooklyn to see how bad the cut was, and she didn't even know about it. When I pulled into the driveway, Jensen was on the porch, crying. I took him in the house, thinking it couldn't really be that bad. He had a wet washcloth on his left hand. I lifted the washcloth up, and between the spurts and gushing of blood, I could tell we were going to need some stitches. I asked the girls to please pick up the house and get to bed (It was 8:50 mind you). I told them I would be home soon. I called BJ on the way to the emergency room and let him know what was going on. (This was the third day that I had spent hours in the clinic by the way . . . . getting a little bit tired of that place.)

A quick assessment by the ER tech, and we knew we needed stitches. The doctor did a great job. Jensen was even greater. He didn't cry when they cleaned it out, gave him numbing shots, or put in the stitches. For a seven year old, I think he is pretty DANG tough!! I kept joking with him though, hoping to make time go a little faster, or keep him side-tracked. After the doctor started putting in the stitches, I told Jensen he could be Frankenstein's Monster for Halloween instead of a bear. (Did I mention he was wearing his costume when the accident happened, and thus, in the ER room too . . .kind of special.) Once they got the gauze on his hand, I asked him if we should just take a little bit extra gauze home and he could be a mummy. He didn't find my humor very funny.

So, six stitches later, we headed home. I was spent. Done For. Finished. Exhausted. Mentally KaPut. and knew I would be heading into a disaster area when I walked in the door. But to my surprise, Brooklyn saved me!!

I walked in to a clean front room, dining room, computer area, and clean kitchen. All of these rooms had been a WRECK when I left. Bless her little heart! (Yes, I am getting tears in my eyes just writing this.) What a great girl! She could tell I was stressed out (in my defense, it had been a long, crazy, sick child, busy work week). She had stayed up late to clean everything for me!! How did she know how much that would mean to me??

I never did get the full story from Jensen . . .. I am pretty sure it involved RUNNING with scissors, he claims he has something to do with CRAWLING with scissors. Hmmmmm..........

Jacks

We carved our pumpkins last Wed. night. (One would think that is where a child would get hurt with a sharp instrument . . .but no . . . . .). The kids really did this all on their own. I think this is the first year I haven't had to help. None of the them wanted to make "spooky" designs, they all wanted to make their own faces up. I think they did great!!!!!

Brooklyn got hers done and helped everyone else with theirs, including helping me make a big pumpkin eating a smaller pumpkin.

Brittany had some interesting carving techniques, including using a headlamp and her feeet. Not sure what the goal of using these techniques was, but her pumpkin was great . . . .must have been from the carving tricks.

Jensen was as independent as ever and didn't want any help with his pumpkin. He was a hoot, I couldn't believe the concentration this kid has!!

Mighty Hunter??

BJ took Jensen hunting with him this year, and they got a deer opening morning. I guess they saw a really big deer, but it was pretty far away. When they saw this deer, BJ asked Jensen if he should shoot it or wait and see if they could get a bigger one. Jensen was pumped just to be hunting, so of course, he wanted BJ to get one QUICK! SO, he told BJ to shoot this one. Jensen had TONS of fun!!! I hope BJ doesn't care if I post this HUGE MONSTER on here for everyone to see.