Enjoyn' Fall & Deer Huntin'

This weekend we loaded up the car and headed to "Banks Branch" in Campton, Kentucky. This is where Mike's grandparents, aunts and uncles live; plus it's a great place to get away to on the weekends for a relaxing time in the woods. It was also youth hunt weekend so the kids were able to spend time with Mike and Poppy Reed lookin' for a big buck to kill. This time of the year is so beautiful in Eastern Kentucky, so it was nice to enjoy the beautiful scenery and spend time thanking God for all he has done and created in our life.
This is a pic of the kids with Great Ivory (Mike's grandmother, their great grandmother).


The kids' great-uncle Anthony has three beautiful horses. Both of the kids love spending time with them and will sit for hours on the fence row petting them. The kids can't ride these horses yet, but they do enjoy riding the horses that Uncle Whitney has. Here are a few pics of the kids after they got back from the morning hunt.











This year's experience hunting was a bit different because in the past its always just been B & Mike together. This year though A is in the 2nd grade, which meant he gets his gun and he can go huntin' too. About two weeks before this trip when B realized that A would be going as well, we heard her in the bathroom crying. After some persistence she tells me that she hates the fact that A is hunting too this year. She says that this is always a special time for her and her daddy and now A has to butt in on it. She said she understood that A needs this time too, but it still hurts that now that time has to be shared. So to make everyone happy B got to hunt on Sat. morning with Mike and Poppy Reed on Sat. evening. A got to hunt with Mike on Sat. evening & Sun. morning. This way they both got a 5:30 time with their daddy.

The pics below are of B posing while holding her gun that she got in second grade. This is also the gun she used last year to kill her buck. The other picture is B with her Poppy Reed going out to hunt that afternoon.

In this pic A is holding his new gun (btw, we think he looks like Rambo).

This pic is of A with Mike going out to hunt on Sat. afternoon.

The last pic is the doe that A shot on their way back in on Sat. night. To hear A tell the story they were on their way back to the house, and Mike spotted the doe. He had A stop the 4-wheeler. They got off and got next to a tree and waited. Then the next thing you know A said he shot it in the side (which he says is the best place to shoot it at). He thinks he is the best shot around town now and of course rubbed it in B's face that he killed a deer on his first huntin' trip; B was very proud of him even though he had to rub it in.

Chicken Festival

We attended the Chicken Festival in London, Kentucky this past weekend. First off it was an experience! I actually love fried chicken, but when I saw the "Worlds Largest Skillet" frying the chicken I became ill and could not stand the thought of eating it.

B in the car with two friends

World's Largest Frying Skillet

Piece o' chicken

Wouldn't you know it, they had to bring one of Jr's cars to the festival. We walked up as it was being pulled out of the trailer. A just 'bout had heart failure. The guy was trying to back it out and pull it out so people could take pictures, but A walked right up to it to touch and would have climbed in if it was not moving. The guy was really cool about it and A was in "Nascar" heaven. BTW, Dale Jr. is our favorite driver!!

EKU Women's Youth Soccer Day

On Friday night at the EKU women's soccer game, they recognized the kids that attended the camp this summer.

During the half time show B & A played a game called "Survivor Goalie". They had five kids rotate in the goal as a goalie and the other kids took shots on them. The goalie who remained in the was the Survivor. Wouldn't you guess, my A won. He was the youngest goalie and saved the balls from kids up to the age of 12. He stayed out there the entire time of halftime, until the girls actually were back on the field ready to play. No one could cause him to miss a ball. I guess he takes this after his daddy who was a keeper in high school.

After the game that evening, they had an autograph session for the kids and a 30 minutes skills training. Here is a pic of B doing hitting the ball with her head. Nice job B!!! My little Mia Hamm in the making.

Cub Scouts.....Can I please go.........

A brings home a paper last Friday about joining the cub scouts. Now note that both the kids play soccer, B is on a traveling team, A plays soccer and will be trying out for the traveling team next year, he plays basketball, baseball, and they both play indoor soccer in the winter. We did not allow B to join girl scouts because their meeting times interfere with soccer, however cub scouts does not interfere with any of A's practices. This is just great!!

So, all weekend he talks about being a cub scout. I am just thinking its a phase he will forget and then we can get out of committing to another thing. I know that is wrong, but come on, I never have a free moment, we go, go, go, and go some more.

On Tuesday, A gives me a piece of paper with the phone number for the dad that leads the cub scouts. I am thinking, What the crap!!! He says I got his number so you can call and talk to him about what all we will be doing. So this means he really wants to be a part of it. After some long talks Mike decides that he will go, because I just can't do anymore. Plus this is cub scouts he needs dad, not mom.
Last night he tells me how the guy said they were going to go camp out on the Legends baseball field, learn to shoot a bow & arrow (a real one, he added), and do a lot of cool and fun things.

The meeting was last night, when I asked A what he thought he said: it was so cool, he gets to camp out, shoot BB guns, bow & arrow, and race cars. He even said a pistol, I said now I know that is not true. He said, okay not a pistol but it would be cool if we did...lol!!

Basically Mike paid the fees so now we have cub scouts every Thursday nights, so the we now don't have a free night during the week at home, yeah!!! I guess that as the ol' saying goes, "I'll get enough sleep when I am dead" will apply to us for the next 15 years while we have little ones in the house. I do love it and it really is worth every minute of it!

Another Bee Sting

Yesterday when I get home A asks, "When you get a bee sting, will there be a scab?" I am like no because you were stung on you tongue (read the previous post). He says no I have a bee sting on my arm now. I am like what?!?!?!?
He proceeds to tell me how there were a bunch of bees at the top of the playground equipment at school and that he and four other little boys were up there trying to the keep the other kids from entering that part of the playground so they would not get stung. In the process he along with the other four boys get stung.

Two hours later, Austin walks to me at the computer and says see mom this is my bee sting and I see that it's dripping with blood. I was like, well, yeah there will be a scab. Please wash it and don't touch it anymore.

My son and these darn bees will not leave my son alone!

Bees will sting, anywhere!!

Yesterday, A had a soccer game at Lake Reba at 1:30. This meant that in order to grab a bite to eat that we needed to leave church at 12:00, since our church services always tend to run till 12:15-12:30. We leave and on the way decided to stop at McDonald's for a bite to eat. We are sitting in the drive-thru and A decides that he would just like a blue powerade as opposed to food. He says he will wait and eat afterwards, I am fine with that. We arrive at the game and A plays the game and then at half time he takes big gulp of powerade. I look up to hear screaming and see A running across the field. He is screaming, "I GOT STUNG BY A BEE!!!" I am like okay, calm down. He is in a complete panic. I find out that he has been stung by a bee on the TONGUE, yes the tongue!!!! I check his tongue and yes there is the stinger sticking out of his tongue. Imagine a 7yr old in panic mode, a tongue that won't stop moving and me scraping and digging trying to get rid of the stinger. I got it and we give him a dose on Benadryl, because I am not for sure if he is allergic to them or not; he has never been stung by a bee before. After he is calm I ask how on earth did he get stung on the tongue. He says the bee was in his straw and he sucked it up in his mouth and that is when it stung him. A's tongue is swollen where the bee stung him at, but he is okay.
So this morning, we are ready to leave the house and he comes in my bathroom and says Mommy will you check my tongue. I am like sure, does it hurt? He says no, but I still see some black on it where I was stung at. Sure enough there is still a part of the stinger in his tongue. This time I used tweezers and pulled the rest of the stinger out. If I had only had the tweezers at the game it would of helped.
Moral of the story, don't drink from open cans or straws when it's hot and bees are everywhere!!!!

Keaton Douglas Benge

I just want to make a note that my prayers are with the Benge family during their time of need. I know that God will pull you through anything, if you just trust and put your complete faith in him. We love you Keaton and know that you are safe in the arms of the Lord now.
Keaton Douglas Benge
June 24, 2008 -September 13, 2008.