LEAVES!!!!

Ok, Ok, Ok...we all know that my wonderful Larry spoiled me with what I believe is the most amazing camera ever! I am loving it more and more everyday and you'll see why in a minute. (Please note that the photos in todays blog have not been photoshopped at all other than adding sepia--from the camera, not even on the computer).

Mine and Bayleigh's big thing these last few weeks has been watching the Maple tree papa planted change to yellow. It seemed all the other trees in Waldron had changed, but not ours. Well, it finally did! It's BEAUTIFUL! Candi Crouch and I took, Bayleigh and Colin and Cate Crouch out for some Autumn fun! They had a Blast with their leaf fights! You know, I complain about how much I don't really care for Fall, but I have to give it to God--he sure makes it pretty!

Not too much new has been going on. Just getting ready for Halloween and Trick-Or-Treating tomorrow night. We are having a small get together afterwards with a few friends and family. I am just ready to spend some QT with everyone!

Now, onto everyone's favorite part--The pictures!

Bayleigh watching Colin chase Cate.

Bayleigh LOVES leaves!

I am in LOVE with this picture of Bayleigh and Cate!

See why I love her so much?? She's beautiful!

Look at the beautiful yellows!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Jenn

Zoo Boo 10.18.09

On Sunday, October 18th, 2009 we visited the Indianapolis Zoo for their Zoo Boo events. It was Bayleigh, Larry, me, my mom, Larry's dad, and the Crouch family: Candi, Melanie, Colin, and Cate. It was a lot of fun. The decorations are funny and at times Bayleigh found them a little scary.

The great thing about the Indy Zoo is that now when you purchase a ticket--or membership in our case--you get into the White River Gardens at no extra charge. Right now they are decorated with Asian plants and flowers and it is simply beautiful in there. The greens are lush and vibrant and just amazing to take in. Bayleigh was a bit grouchy when we first got there. She tends to misbehave some when Grammy and Papa are around, but she straightened up quickly and found herself enjoying the day.

Speaking of the day!!! Let me just tell you---IT WAS AMAZING! We couldn't have asked for better weather! The sky was bright blue and beautiful, and the sun was shining bright, but best of all: The animals were more active. The Rhinos were running. The Lions were up on the rocks. THE POLAR BEAR WAS WALKING AROUND!!! (Can you believe that?)! The wild dog was running. Even the monkeys were climbing the fence. I think October was a good time of year to go. Usually we go several times in the dead heat of summer and all the animals seem to be melting right along with us as we check them out. OH! We got to see the new giraffe! I LOVED it! They are my favorite!!! So cute! If you get a chance to go while it's nice do! We had a lot of fun and it was a great day for the family.

Now, onto the best part of every blog! The PHOTOS!!!

This is Bayleigh in the Asian Gardens posing.

One of SEVERAL acorns that she collected. She thought there were cool. (I'm not sure she was supposed to bring them home, but hey--we have squirrels here that have to eat too.) =)

Papa, Bayleigh, and Grammy!

Grammy and Bayleigh.

Papa and Bayleigh.

Bayleigh and Colin.

Bayleigh and Daddy petting the snake "Bart". I snapped this shot and moved on rather quickly.

Grammy and Bayleigh petting "Tombi" the elephant--yes, on the rear!

This picture was actually taken tonight, October 20th, 2009. Bayleigh was outside at Grammy's and she was playing with 2 of the neighbors cats. She opened the door, excitedly, and said, "MOM, Come out here! You gotta see this". I hopped up and thought it had to do with the cats and she said, "Look at the sky! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!" Now seriously readers--I almost cried. What 4 1/2 year old thinks to notice such a wonderful thing??? I was so proud of her. I am happy that she is able to look at what this world and see what God has to offer and appreciate it's true beauty. Just one of the MANY reasons I love this child more than anything in this world. :)

Thanks for reading and until next time!

Jenn

She's Baaaaack!

She is back! Bayleigh that is. She is back to feeling 100% better. We are very excited to report. Luckily, not to jinx anyone, nobody else has gotten sick either. We have a couple of kids with colds, but nothing that won't cure on it's own time.

Lately, I feel like I just have NO time to do anything at all. I have my hands FULL with work and I think that it's getting better and routine is setting in, but the problem at this point is EVERYONE goes to sleep about 9:45 and I have to start loading everyone up to go get Bayleigh from school at 10:15. I must admit that when she was out of school for the week it was so nice not having to interrupt naps. I feel overwhelmed at times, but--not to toot my own horn--I am good at what I do and I just remind myself that and it seems to help.

We are in the midst of planning a 5th birthday party!! Good gravy where does the time go?? I tend to go overboard, but it only comes once a year so hey, why not right. We had planned on a carnival theme, but every thing is SO expensive. We still might, I don't know. Bayleigh said this morning she wanted it to be Halloween themed. I guess it would be cute, but her bday is November 14th. That would be better for an October bday. BUT, it's her party and very doable, so--I don't know--we may end up doing that. :) I'll keep you posted!

Larry is in the height of his glory--IT'S HUNTING SEASON!!! I know that it gets lonely on the weekends with him gone, especially since he has been working until 4 or 5 every night, but I am happy for him. I personally do not like winter or really fall either to be honest. It is too cold and well, unsafe--wait I mentioned all that in a previous blog--anyways my point I am getting to is this is Larry's favorite time of year so I will keep my complaints minimal for his sake. :) I am hoping he lands his trophy buck--not that it's hanging in our home for the world to see. LOL! No, just kidding about that--kind of--Larry has a whole room to his self--THE HUNTING ROOM! I hope he gets his buck to hang in there. The plan in the far future is to do a whole outdoors theme in there for him and all that, but those back rooms need gutted and they are last priority at this point.

Well, that is what is going on with us at this time. Tomorrow we are going to the Indianapolis Zoo for Zoo Boo. It is going to be cold, but the kids really enjoy it--so do I really. I am sure pictures will be coming soon from that.

The picture above is the Official school picture that will go into the yearbook. Thought I'd include it in this blog since a previous blog focus so much on preparations for the day. :)

Hope all is well with everyone! Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Until next time! Jenn

What a Week!!!

Wow! As most of you have already heard, this week has been a very bad week for us here at the Rutherford home. Tuesday, October 6, 2009 I picked Bayleigh up from school and as I was fastening her seat belt she said that her throat hurt. I could tell she was rhaspy and asked if they had yelled at school and she said no, her throat just hurt. I drove her into town and picked up lunch and when we returned home she didn't eat much saying her belly hurt. I said, eat what you can, but don't make yourself sick. She didn't eat hardly anything. So I told her to lay on the couch and take her nap. At 3 pm she woke and felt warm to me. I check her temp and it was 99.1. You could sit there and watch her face turn red, her eyes glass over, and start to droop. Within 15 minutes her temp. had shot up to 101.7. So, I called the nurse and told her the symptoms and she said it sounds like the flu and she needs to be tested. I had 2 options. 1. I could wait til the morning and take her to walk-in, or 2. I could spend a little more and take her to Priority Care. We really didn't think she needed to be tested, but opted with 2. bc I am a germaphobe--to an extent--and didn't want her in the waiting room full of sick kids in the morning, and we didn't want to take off work. Sure enough, she tested negative for Strep, but positive for influenza A. I said, Influenza A? You mean H1N1? The NP said, yes, 98-99% of Influenze A is H1N1. They gave her a script for Tamaflu and told us she does NOT go back to school for 7 days. Wow! Not what I expected.

So, we caught the temp at 3 and by 8 we were home with the script. At 12:30 am she woke up vomiting--(I am going to say violently bc of how it was thrusting her body around--I had NEVER seen anyone sick like that before). We couldn't get her temp to break and it was a mess. I ended up having to take her to the E.R. because she had gone over 12 hrs without using the potty. She ended up being ok, but they said if she didn't go by the evening she needed to come back. She went. We thought she was getting better that evening and her temp was down so she could wear her mask and watch t.v. in the family room--she had been isolated to her bedroom. Kimmie sent her balloons and a stuffed kitty and she LOVED that, but then after 12 she was sick again.
So, now we are into Thursday. She was really puny and her temp was like a rollercoaster, up and down, up and down, but here comes Thursday evening and she is feeling good again. YES!
Friday morning--she wakes at 6 vomiting AGAIN! My goodness poor girl! After that, she slept and seemed to be doing ok. Aunt Rachel and Max put together a care package for her and drove it out. Her and daddy sat and put the puzzle together. She thought her stuff was the coolest--Aunt Rachel scores again. :) This whole time she complained her throat hurt and then Thursday her legs were cramping, but Friday night--she was good to go! She isn't eating much nor using the potty, but from Tuesday evening to early Wednesday--she has improved.
So, today--Saturday--she wakes me up SCREAMING and CRYING that her ears are killing her at 4 am. I got her to go back to sleep and she woke and hasn't complained, has a slight temp--not much of one and ate a cup of peaches, drank some sprite, ate a few crackers, and a gem doughnut. YEEEES! I have her laying on the couch right now watching SpongeBob in hopes of letting her food settle to gain some strength. I am hoping at this point--she is well on her way to recovery! Lets keep her in our prayers and hope for the best. :)

I might add, that Larry and I are perfectly fine. No symptoms at all. Mom, whose been around her too is good too, as are the daycare kids. I was told as long as I spray Lysol and keep her isolated then I can stay open. Larry and I are just exhausted, but we are doing what a mommy and daddy should do and we just keep on truckin'. :)
Now, onto the pictures. One is of Bayleigh at Priority Care with a popsicle they gave her. You can see how red her cheeks are from her fever. The other is over her fever down, masked watching t.v. in the living room. (Sorry the quality is poor--they were taken on the Blackberry).
Enjoy and thanks for reading!
Jenn

Cowgirl and Pumpkin Patches!!

And so the time of year has arrived that I am not looking forward to. FALL--dun, dun, duuuuuuuun! UGH! I do NOT like the chilly air and I know that I have 3 whole seasons to go thru until my wonderful summer arrives again. :( I hope we have snow for Christmas, but not much more than that. I don't like the worries that are associated with driving in those conditions and knowing my loved ones are driving in them too. People are too careless and I just want everyone to be safe. Plus, I tend to get depressed easily and yah dah, yah dah, yah dah....whatever.
On to more exciting news. Bayleigh has decided that this year she is going to be a cowgirl for Halloween. Wal*Mart actually sold the costume so I was like SOLD--no need for over priced shipping cost! Cha Ching! I must say, as you will later see--she looks purdy darn cute partners! :) (ummm, that was my wild west talk if you didn't catch that--yeah).
Today, October 3, 2009, we headed over past Batesville to pick out pumpkins and to enjoy the activities offered by the little farm. We went to Vogt Farms and rode the trolly pulled by 2 Belgian horses out to the field and the kids had fun choosing the perfect pumpkins for carving. As we rode thru the field Bayleigh was full of anticipation. She kept saying, Ohhhh there's the perfect pumpkin--a BIG, SHINY one. I must add that she said that about 500 times so, according to Bay--the patch is full of the perfect pumpkins. By we, I might add ,that it was Candi, Melanie, Colin, and Cate Crouch, Larry, Myself, Bayleigh, and My Mom. It was fun. After we came back from the field we let the kids ride the ponies and go into the fenced in area for a petting zoo--very cute. OH YEAH! I forgot when we first got there the deer came to the fence for some photo opts too. Bayleigh actually fed them grass and got to touch them. Larry on the other hand was envious he didn't have his bow with him. YIKES! That would have made memories now wouldn't it?!
I am going to take the time to plug Vogt Farms really fast in case you are interested in visiting. Drive East on I74 to the Batesville exit. Turn Right off the ramp and go down to the stop light. There you will turn right. Drive until you see the 129 junction and turn Right onto 129. Drive a few miles down and the farm will be on your Right. Very easy to get to. Makes for a very enjoyable day too. It cost $1 per person to ride the trolley to the field and then it was $5 for the size pumpkin Bayleigh picked out that you will see later. Pony rides are offered for a donation and the petting zoo is free. Oh yeah, they have a corn maze, moon walk blow up, and an antique store too.
Now, onto the fun part of my blogs--the photos. Hope all is well with you and yours. Thanks for reading, Jenn