Little Stinker and OMGosh!!!!

So, I have the cutest story, well cutest in my opinion of course, to share. So, call me weird, but I like the smell of skunks, gasoline too, but a lot of people like the smell of gasoline. So, anyways....we have this family of 6 skunks living right next door to us in our neighbor's yard. They come out at dusk and roam freely without a care in the world. They get fairly close to you too. Larry even sees them out there in the morning before he goes to work. We can smell them too. I don't think they have sprayed Cooper--OK, I know they have not because that would be so obvious, but I think they might have sprayed in his direction hence the smell. Anyways--Bayleigh knows I like the smell of skunk and she thinks it is totally weird and funny. She is into Zhu Zhu Pets and they have come out with a new line called Zhu Zhu-Wild Bunch...of course there is a skunk in there! Every time the commercial came on TV she would get excited and show me. I was like, yeah--he's cute! :) The day before yesterday I was in the kitchen cleaning. She was trapped in the play room with Melanie's kids and my mom and I heard her yell for me. When I came back to see what she needed Tony was standing there as well. Bayleigh handed me a bag and told me that she had bought me something and to open it. (She was SO excited). Guess, what was in the bag...YIP! "Stinker" the Zhu Zhu Pet. I told her it was cute again and handed it back to her to play with. She promptly handed it back and told me that she bought that for me because I like skunks! HOW SWEET IS THAT???? Mom told me that every time she sees the commercial at her house Bayleigh would tell her that she wanted to buy that for me so mom and Tony have been trying to find this skunk and Tony finally found it. :) I just thought that it was so sweet of her to think of me and want to give me something like that. I have a good kid. SO, I introduce to you....

NOW, onto my OMGosh!!! So, I have to say right off the bat...LARRY WAS RIGHT. I WAS WRONG! Remember my last post when I told you about my bright idea to work on the family room??? What a mess! I should have listened to him and not started such a huge project prior to our appraisal. It is Thursday and this HAS to be done by the end of next week and we still don't even have all the wallpaper off the ceiling and we have a hole in one wall where we are taking out the closets. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew at this point. I have Laser Hair Removal tonight in Carmel so who knows when I will be home from that and even then I am sure I won't want to go in there and get all nasty right before bed. I know that if I have to then I have to, but man-oh-man I am very skeptical as to whether or not this will get done. :( Here are some pictures of our "progress" also known as our complete and utter mess....




See why I am so discouraged at this point??? I know that when it's all done I will be very pleased, but getting to that point is a lot of hard work and long hours. It will all be fine though...I just know it will.
Thanks for checking in. I would like to add....please ignore the quality of these pictures. I didn't want to take my big camera into that dusty room and risk it settling into the componets of the camera and damaging it. Until next time. Take Care.
Love,
Jenn

Swim Party and Bare Walls!

WOW-WEEEE! Momma's TIRED! (I'll get to that in a minute though).
Last night, Monday July 26th, 2010 the Waldron Home Health and Rehab rented out the Shelbyville pool for Bayleigh's little league team in honor of their successful season. I was so angry with myself because...I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! What is wrong with me?! Really???? I guess I can really look at it as a blessing. I found myself playing with Bayleigh in the pool rather than standing on the sidelines behind a gigantic lens. :) Bayleigh really impressed me. She really has a great desire to learn to swim and she was jumping in and doing a mean doggie paddle to get to me. I was really proud of her.
SO, onto the tired part....Larry has been working on the house. He hung dry wall in the small hallway and got the top part of the stairs painted. Needless to say, the drywall caused a huge mess that is never ending I swear. SOOOOOO, I get the bright idea that since there is drywall dust already on the floors--we should tear into the family room. ((Not a great idea)). What a mess! The walls are not really that bad. There are a couple spots that will require new drywall and for the most part the wall paper came off fairly easy. The hard part is going to be the ceiling...dun, dun, duhhhhhhh. (Me being dramatic). It has wallpaper on it and part of it fell down so it looks really bad. I say I dread it, but I know that ultimatly it's going to be Larry doing that part. :( I would like to have the ceilings textured in there and believe it or not--I can do that. NOW, whether Larry lets me or not is a different story. I know the work is tiring. I know it is hard and messy, but the end results are always so rewarding. We have a few touch ups to do in the first living room and those will be done when the this room is finished. We just have to get it done before the end of this week or the end of next week. I am hoping for the end of next, but who knows. When it gets done, it gets done and I am sure I will be very happy! ") So, this is what we have been up to so far this week. I am adding a picture that I took of Bayleigh before the swim party from my cell phone so the quality is crap, but a blog is always better with a photo...right???

Thanks for checking! Keep checking for updates on the family room!
Love,
Jenn

Kindergarten Ready!

Sorry it's been a few since my last post. Things have been busy around here. My father-in-law's birthday was Friday so we had another cookout on Saturday to celebrate his special day. We did the usual hamburgers and hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, chips, cole slaw, and I once again forgot to set out--the corn this time. (wouldn't be a party if I didn't forget something). :)I would say that the night was pretty uneventful, but I'd be lying. LOL! After eating we decided to play Left Right Center--a fun dice game. I think Tony ended up being the big winner. Then we decided on chicken foot--we made it thru two rounds before quitting. It had started lightning so we hit the garage to just hang out. I decided to bust out my dart skillz, and Rachel decided to bust out her wicked scooter ridin', ramp jumpin' skillz. OMGosh! We had so much fun and laughed endlessly. What a great way to end the night. (I think my mom and my niece thought we'd lost our minds)! It was FUN! Pictures below...
Sunday was uneventful. As a matter of fact, it was such a lazy day that I was sore from just sitting around, you know, kind of like when you lay in bed too long...Any how, it made me decide that I want Larry, Bayleigh, and I to go do something just the three of us before she goes back to school. I've looked into Holiday World, some campgrounds, King's Island...IDK if we will end up doing anything or not. We may just go rent a hotel room somewhere and swim, and we must just stay home. I'm sure we will figure it out.
Tonight ended up being kind of a sad night for me...I went school shopping for Bayleigh with her and Larry. It's official--my baby is all ready for Kindergarten. I can't believe how fast this day has gotten here. This week she and I have been working really hard on sight words, writing her name and her letters, and some spelling tests too using her sight words. She is doing so great. She has known how to write her name, but we have been working on keeping her work neat and straight and written correctly with upper and lower case letters. The good thing about tonight is Bayleigh is still little enough to wear the clothes in the infants section and just big enough to wear clothes in the big girl section as well. That's a plus because some of the infants stuff is TOO infant for her and some of the big girl stuff is TOO big girl for her. I couldn't believe some of the things I found in that big girls section--it looked so old for little girls. I thought, geeze I like Miley Cyrus, but not on my 5 year old. Get what I'm saying??? I know what I mean, but it isn't reading back to me the way I mean it....sorry.
I don't know if I am so anxious about Bayleigh going to school because I remember how mean classmates can be, or if it's just the idea of her growing up so quickly...whatever it is, I am really struggling emotionally with this. I remember the pressures from so many years ago when I was in grade school and high school and from talking to some friends the kids just continue to get meaner...:( I mean, I literally had a girl in the 1st grade that HATED, HATED my guts. Granted we are friends now, heck we even became friends in high school, but to be HATED in the first grade??? I'm not ready for her to go through that. :( You hope and pray that you instill goodness in your children. You hope and pray that you do them right by building them up and letting them know how important they are only to send them off to school to be beaten down by their peers because--well, because they can quite frankly. It's sad. I know that know matter what happens, I have an amazing daughter and as I set her off into this world of education I wish her the very best and the wisdom to grasp what she is being taught and to be a very successful woman. I have NOTHING but Faith and support for this little girl. :)
Ok, a few pictures from Saturday night and then I will close. :)

Preparing for my dart throwing performance...notice the stacked randomness to get the flame where I wanted it, yeah--it lead to this! (Please see below)

A Rapid Leaking Hole!

Please notice where Rachel's Dart Stuck--the the bottom of Lady Liberty's TORCH! LOL! I've tried and tried to load the video of her wicked scotter rampin' skillz...sorry, it won't load, but it was HILARIOUS!
Thanks again for reading! Until next time!
Love,
Jennifer

What A Season!!!

What a wonderful first season of Waldron Little League Bayleigh had. We ranked #1 in the league with only 2 losses all season. Also, all season long Bayleigh only struck out 1 time during one of the games--which happened to be the game that she did not have a nap for and was a puddle of tears a couple of different times throughout the game. Let's face it, Bayleigh NEEDS those naps!
Last night, July 14th, 2010 was our Championship game. The girls got the by from the first game because they won the league. My cousin plays for one of the other teams and Monday night Larry and I went up to watch her play. They did a good job, but still got beat. :( This made me nervous because that meant we played Long Trucking--the team that we lost to twice. They have a couple of bigger girls on their team that they stack up close to the batter which, if it were me batting, would be a bit intimidated by. :) Let's face it, they are good. Not to mention the fact that our girls hadn't played in over 2 weeks!
SO, anyways we go out and Long's gets to bat first--right off the bat, 5 runs! Way to go! It's our turn....right off the bat, 5 RUNS! WAY TO GO! Then out they come again. I believe this time they got 0 and then we come out and get 0??? I might be wrong. Then they come out again and score 3 and I believe then we got 5 runs. Then out again for them...0 or a 5 I'm not sure. I just know that the final score was 13 for them, 15 for us and we didn't have to bat at the bottom of the 6th inning. It was such a close and FANTASTIC game! I was SO VERY proud of all of the girls on both teams. You want to talk about a great bunch of girls--there you have it, on both teams! ((Let's just be 100% honest here--all 3 of the girls teams, ages 5-8 were full of wonderful girls and all of us parents from all 3 teams have every right to be so proud!))
We did have a bit of an accident with Bayleigh last night--nothing major, but that actually ended up saving her booty! During the 5th inning she was on first base and when she went to run to second the first base girl from Long's tripped her. (( I am 100% positive without any doubt in the world sure that it was an accident)). It saved her butt because the girl that got the ball didn't see her on the ground and turned and threw the ball to Steve (Long's coach). She laid there for a few seconds and we all yelled, "Bayleigh, RUUUUUUUUN"! So, she did! She got to second base and I could tell she was hurt. She kept rubbing her knee and checking her hands. I just kept telling her, shake it off--shake it off. The next girl went up to hit and Bayleigh was able to run over third and come home. I met her there with Larry and she started crying. She was SO mad!!! I mean, SOOOOOO MAD! She said, "that girl tripped me on purpose because she doesn't want me to win!!!" I again, am sure it was not on purpose. :) She said her hands burned and they were cut up some and had gravel in them. Of course everyone checked her out and Larry poured cold water over them to rinse them off. :( She put her mit on and headed back out there. While in the out field she kept looking under her mit at the hand that was bleeding. (Man I felt so bad for her). Luckily we were in the top of the 6th and the girls were done after that. We were SO excited when they won. Parents went out and got some group pictures and then we headed to the consession stand to get their pops and BOTH trophies! One for winning the league and the other for winning the championship game! :) They were all so excited and proud!
You know what, even if these girls never scored one run or won a single game--I still would have been extremly proud of them. They are respectful girls that lined up on the diamond each and every game for the National Anthem. They all worked together prior to games to warm up and NEVER left one person out. They had great attitudes even on the two games we lost. They won with dignity and always congratulated the other teams on great games played. One game one of our or one of the opposing team players ran to first base and the other team member hugged her. :) SO CUTE! And I think they all had a really great time the entire season! A parent honestly cannot ask for more! :)
Ok, Ok, Ok, onto a few pictures!

In the out field first!

Bayleigh up to bat!

Congratulating the other team!

Coach congratulating the girls and deciding the winner of the game ball. (Kylee Edwards for catching a pop fly and turning and tagging out another player running to second).

We're #1!



Bayleigh with her trophies!

Our winners! Row 1: Kylee Edwards, Bayleigh Rutherford, Aliyah Lewis, Heidi Stickford. Row 2: Molly Benson, Hallie Ross, Lauryn Thomas, Madalyn Hudnall, Kira Bernard, Cierra Williams, Haley Higdon, Aleah Aldrich, Hadlie Ross. Row 3: Derek Williams (Pitcher), Mark Benson (Coach), Anthony Thomas (Assistant Coach).

Bayleigh again! After I took this picture she said to me, "I wish papa was here". I said Papa who?, She said, "Papa Reynolds duh". I am sure that if he were still with us and he felt well enough he would have been right there. :) (she thinks about him and Candi on a daily basis and talks about them often).

This is a better picture of the girls on the field holding up #1! Taken and shared by Madalyn Hudnall's mom! :)
We are VERY excited for next season! Hope you have enjoyed the pictures and if you came--thank you SO much for your support and cheering Bayleigh on. She LOVED when people came to watch her play. :) Until next blog! Peace out! :)
Love,
Jennifer

Let Freedom Ring!

The title of this blog post is exactly what my heart is singing after such a WONDERFUL day with my family and friends yesterday! Larry and I decided that since Waldron has brought their 4th of July celebrations back after many years of not doing them, yesterday, July 10th, 2010 would be the perfect opportunity to get our family and friends over here for a pitch in cookout, parade, and fireworks! Anyone that knows anything about Waldron knows that this town used to be, and in my opinion will be again, THE place to be in Shelby County for the 4th of July. The activities started at 8 AM. Mom and I had to get up and go to the grocery store and pick up a couple last minute items. Lunch was to be at Noon. Larry stayed home and cooked our turkey for the turkey BBQ--which happened to be SOOOO good! All of the food was great and what screams 4th of July more than grilled burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw (which I completely forgot to set out), mac and cheese, green beans, tiny sausages, deserts--including apple pie, and more????! NOTHING! :)
The kids enjoyed the two kiddie pools and the bouncy house. We also had corn hole, yards darts, dice, and Euchre. At 2 the town parade started and I must say it did NOT disappoint! Well, I am not going to lie--I was just a little disappointed that Bayleigh's Little League team was not in it. It looked like the teams that were had a TON of fun. Don't be mislead, by this disappointment--Bayleigh had just as great a time collecting candy with Penelope and Elliot so it's all good.
After the parade we all walked back to the house and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing games, talking, going to and from the schools flea markets, and all that good stuff. Speaking of flea markets--I ran into my friend Courtney--who have missed greatly, and she and her beautiful new daughter Jenna walked back with Kim, Whitney, Kaitlynn, Jordan (my sister's boyfriends son), and myself. I am so happy to have spent some time with them too. I also got to see my other two friends Jennifer and Jennifer and their families as well. I wish I could have hung out with them longer, but I'm sure we will get together soon. :)
Around 9 PM we all decided it was about time to head to the school for the much anticipated fireworks show! My uncle Rick loaded his pick up truck with the kids and some of the adults as well. Another good handful of us walked up and met them there. Some of us sat up by the middle diamond and had the perfect view of the show! While we waited my mom and cousin Kelly let the kids play with sparklers--Bayleigh's favorite part of the night--and also these little popper things they threw on the ground and loved too. I was pleasantly surprised earlier in the evening to see my cousin Madison and Kelly in the garage. I think that Maddie really had a great time with Bayleigh and Penelope and I know Bayleigh really enjoyed her being here as well. They are all 3 great kids! Growing up it was often Jessica, Nikki (Penelope's mom), and myself playing and in the pictures of us as kids there is a lot of blonde hair between the 3 of us. Well, last night it was Bayleigh, Penelope, and Maddie--Lot's of blonde hair between the three of them. :) Colin, Cate, and Trent certainly had a BLAST with those 3 blonde babes too! :)

Ok, Ok, Ok, so I've done a lot of talking and everyone knows the photos are the BEST part of anyblog, so for now I will end. But before I go--I would like to send out a big Happy Birthday to Larry's friend Dennis. He celebrated his birthday with us here yesterday as well! :) (his actual birthday was yesterday, but it's worth mentioning again today). I was happy that Dennis, Julie, and Joe came out too! :) Until next time!
Love,
Jennifer



Penelope and Bayleigh sitting by the Methodist Church waiting for the parade to come by!

Chuck rode his bike up to the school for the fireworks--uncle Danny hopped on the back! (he ended up walking up with us instead of riding) LOL!

Bayleigh with her Sparklers!

Maddie and Bayleigh with Sparklers!

Larry and I before the fireworks began. Yes, we were hot sweaty messes!

Bayleigh again!

So, a lot has happened since my last post. First, Larry and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on June 30th. I can't believe it has already been 9 whole years. Not only that, in August it will be 13 years that we have been together. Larry is amazing to me. He treats me so well. He loves me. He puts up with me. I am so blessed to have him. I in return love him. (and put up with him, lol). We didn't do too much for our anniversary. Bayleigh had a Little League Game so we went to that, (they lost, but we think they still won the league), and then we went to Cracker Barrel and had dinner with the Burris family. After dinner we then went to Compton's with them to enjoy an ice cream cone. After returning home I ended up with an attack and went to bed. (it sucked). We never really have made a huge deal about our anniversary. I am not sure why, but it's ok. :) I was super bummed that evening too because I lost some cash at the ball diamonds. It must have fallen out of my pocket as I was pulling my phone or keys out or something.
OH! I forgot about the 29th! First, my nephew came to spend the night with us so that Eric and Rachel could go out. That was fun. Every year we do the Shelby County Fair with the Crouch Family. This year was different, Candi was gone. Candi and I used to go picture crazy at the fair. We still had a great time and I got the pictures that I needed. ;) It was fun having Max with us too. After the Fair we came home and Melanie and I met back up in town so that we could watch the third movie in the Twilight Saga Eclipse--best movie so far! It was great!
Let's see, I guess next comes Sunday, the 4th of July! We spent the day over at the Stephen's house. We have been invited over there for the last several years and we always look forward to going. The kids got to ride the 4 wheelers and dirt bikes. There was a big bouncy house to play in and then the adults played washers, and ate delicious food. :) After dark we had our own little fireworks show as well. This was another day of missing Candi. We always went picture crazy then too. It was fun and I am already excited about next year. A funny story from the day--Bayleigh wanted to ride the 4 wheeler so David took her. David wrecked a dirt bike with her last year down at Drews, and when David stopped the 4 wheeler she said, it's a good thing we didn't wreck! This one has 4 wheels and it would have hurt. LOL! I thought I was going to lose it when David told me that. LOL!
Yesterday, we went to Sam's Club to pick up supplies for out cookout we're having next Saturday on the 10th. Waldron is bringing back their fireworks celebrations and I am SO excited about that. :) It was supposed to be just the three of us going and then Tony showed up so he went too. After Sam's we ate at ihop for the first time ever. It was good. Bayleigh nearly drove us crazy with begging before we went because she wanted to go so bad. Tony ended up buying our lunch. I TRIED to buy, but he and I are just as hard headed as each other and I finally gave up. We brought him back to the house and was going to finally have some time to just the three of us and low and behold here comes another attack...needless to say I was done. I headed up to bed.
Melanie and I were supposed to take the kids to the Indianapolis Zoo today and Bayleigh woke up between 4 or 5 sick. It's now 11 AM and she is STILL sick so again, needless to say--that trip was canceled. :( She is disappointed too. As I am mopping the bathroom floor she is standing there shaking saying she is fine to go to the zoo. I told her that if she felt better in the morning I might take her and Trent. I hope she is, but it's not looking promising. Since I've sat down to write this blog she has been sick 3 times. :( Poor girl.
I do have pictures from the Fair and the 4th of July, but I'll post them later. With Bayleigh being sick it's too much work to drag all of the cables out in the chair with the camera. (Make the 4 times Bayleigh has gotten sick). I better cut this off and get in there and see if I can help. Up to this point she just keeps kicking me out of the bathroom saying she doesn't need help. :( Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jennifer