Tree Down: CHECK!

Let me start today's post off with a shout out to heaven.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAPA! Today, he would have been 90 years old! He gets to celebrate with God today. Even though we miss him terribly here--knowing he is in a far better place really makes remembering him and his life really makes it much easier.

We have had one busy week and weekend! As mentioned in the previous post, Bayleigh's room is completely cleaned and organized! What a job!!! Getting her room done really motivated both Larry and me to get the rest of the house done. It was slow going and, as always, got way worse before it got better--way worse. LOL! I am happy to report that much of the evening involved sitting around and just simply enjoying the perks of a clean house!!! It feels great to FINALLY have things put where they belong after months, and I mean MONTHS of sitting in their respective places just waiting to be put away. AND, da da da daaaaaa----THE CHRISTMAS TREE IS DOWN! ANNNNNNND, it's put away! WHEW! I am so happy that is done. Now the biggest task left to do--my office! Oh, that overwhelms me just thinking about it. Don't expect a post anytime soon with cheers of my accomplishment in that room!

Other than cleaning not too much is going on. We did end up having a rough week last week with Bayleigh not wanting to go to school. After a few discussions with her teacher, including a final lengthy one I believe she has figured out what is going on and why Bayleigh has been upset. I won't go into that here. Let's just say....IF her teacher is right, then hopefully the problem will work itself out very soon and all will be well again. I remember how tough school was socially and I hate that Bayleigh is already having struggles with it. ((Even though I am not going into details, I can tell you it is nothing she has done to instigate or cause her to not want to go)).

Let's move on....SO, Indiana is due to be hit with some pretty nasty winter weather tomorrow night thru Wednesday evening. I have read, on Facebook, that it's supposed to be the worst storm we have had in 12 years and a big Ice event for us here. This is the first time this winter that I'm making sure we have emergency gear prepared in case of an outage. By that I simply mean simple foods, wood for the garage, candles, and flashlights. The funny thing is, mom lives directly across from us and we are on different power lines so if we go out we can walk over there and if she goes out she can come here. If we both go out, if it gets cold enough we will start the wood stove and play board games in the garage. :)

So, that is your Rutherford News! Not very exciting, but still it's news. LOL! Hope are are all doing well! Until next blog!

Love,

Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Goodbye JUNK!

The Rutherford home has been bustling these last few days!!! Friday night we headed up to the Waldron Basketball game to watch the Mohawks play. It was fun. It was the Homecoming game so it was cool to see the banners, the floats, and the court--even though I had no clue who the kids were on it. I was quite surprised to see the the skimpy dresses they are allowed to wear now days. LOL! Just 10 years ago, OK almost 11, we couldn't even wear spagetti straps and now they barely wear anything--seriously, one girl's business was barely covered!!!! Let's just say that there will be a mom inspection and approval before Bayleigh walks out my door at that age. I am sure Larry will be right beside me in that decision--like most I should add. LOL!
Saturday was LAZZZY! I spent most of the day reading and Larry spent most of the day watching movies. Sunday we went to Kim's for lunch and it was DELICIOUS!!! Veggie Soup if you are wondering. Then it was off to the grocery store and home.
I decided on Monday that the disaster we call Bayleigh's room was getting cleaned up from top to bottom! It was nice to see her so willing to help me go through her things and to decide what she wanted to have donated and what was actually just trash. She was proud to help me today unload the bag out of the truck to be donated. She really does have a HUGE heart. As far as her room.....it has taken us two days to go through it and get it organized and cleaned up! It's safe to say we live a spoiled life. My desire to get her room done has influenced both Larry and I to work on the whole house. He tore into the DC room and it looks nice and next to come is our family rooms and our bedroom. I'm tired of the clutter and I'm tired of being a Sagittarius Stacker!!! Yes, I just blamed my stacking flaw on me being a Sagittarius. LOL! Tonight Larry said we are taking down the tree, but to be honest---I am exhausted. I think I may see if tomorrow will be better so that I can go to bed early tonight. Not to mention, there's a bat in our attic and I have not desire to go back in there! LOL!
Hope this blog finds all of you well! Thanks for checking in and until next blog!
Love,
Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

Catching Up with a Random Blog!

So! It's been over a week now since my last blog. Not a fan of that. :) As you can tell from the title this is going to be a random blog that is all over the place because I have a lot to say. ;)

First off, last Friday, January 14th, 2011, two of my girlfriends and I met up at KidZone in town just to get the kids out of the house--and us moms too. It was SO nice! We got there and there was only 1 or 2 kids there and then I think 2 more showed up by the end of the night, but we basically had the entire place to ourselves. I of course forgot my camera! Luckily my friend had my back! She is a fellow blogger--to be honest she got me hooked on blogging--I snagged these pictures off her blog. These were taken before our other friend arrived.
Below is Bayleigh and Avery. This picture makes me laugh for a number of reasons. 1. It's true, they look like Sumo Wrestlers! LOL! 2. The suit that Bayleigh is wearing--that she is swimming in--fits Avery like a glove and he's only got her by a year or so. And 3....I'll explain below....

This is reason #3! Please note that if you ever go here and decide to do the sticky wall--ONLY ONE PERSON ON THE BOUNCER AT A TIME! This makes me laugh because Avery's mom and I were getting such a kick out of how the kids looked in their suits that when WE HELPED them onto the bouncer we both failed to see the sign that says only 1 person at a time! The lady working there was probably thinking....seriously, the sign is right there. Once she asked one of them to step off and told us the rules, we then seen the sign of rules TAPED RIGHT BY THE OPENING!!! LOL! This is Chaille with Bayleigh. It makes me smile reflecting on this photo because Chaille kept taking Bayleigh's balls and Bayleigh wanted to be a big girl and not rat her out and not take them away. She kept looking at me like mom....help! So, I explained to her just to watch her. She wasn't taking her balls, she was helping! She ended up being quite the little helper too. She LOVED handing Bayleigh the balls. She'd say, Here ya go! So cute! Bay couldn't even get the ball out of her hand and Chaille was already prepared with the next. I think she loved the task she assigned herself to and Bayleigh liked it too!

This next picture is of me and Chaille. I posted it because she is just SO DANG CUTE!!!! I know I don't often post photos of myself because I don't usually like photos of me, so I'm distracting you with her beauty. ;)

After going to KidZone we all split up and met up with our individual families and did our own thing. Larry met up with us at KidZone and then we drove over to Pizza Hut for dinner and to let Bayleigh use her Book It Reward and for us to use a gift card we had gotten as a Christmas Gift. It was nice!

Saturday was full of doing NOTHING!!! and by NOTHING!!! I mean, we did NOTHING!!!. LOL! Yes, we have a house that needed to be cleaned and a Christmas Tree that STILL, to this day, needs to be taken down!!! (anyone that knows me knows that I do not leave my tree up past New Year's Eve! I don't like the, for instance, 2010 tree up in 2011). It was NICE just hanging out and being together. That evening we decided to bust out the Wii and play Wii Resort. Bayleigh had so much fun and our family room was full of laughter most of the night! It's a night I know I certainly won't soon forget.

Sunday then brought our day of cleaning. Then it brought a late evening trip to the grocery store for me. YEAH! Not much to brag about there. LOL!

Monday--nothing to brag about.

Tuesday, Me being a clutz--I fell down the steps going out to the truck to get Bayleigh from school. I can laugh about it now because it happened SO FAST!!!! I fell and yelled out--(explicit) SERIOUSLY?!!! And then as quickly as that popped out of my mouth my mind was saying GET UP!!! IT'S RAINING!!!! So, I get up and painfully realize that that really did hurt. I put the box I had in my hands in the back of the truck and hobbled to the drivers seat. Brooklyn said, Jennifer--that box is heavy! Oh, she has no idea! Luckily the heat from my heated leather seats felt great on my stinging back.
Wednesday and now today, Thursday, I am feeling the pain from Tuesday's tumble. School is out for the day because it is snowing. I LOVE snow days!!!!

Now for a few ramblings....remember the book I mentioned in my previous blog called So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore??? I have finished the book and am personally recommending that all women read it. I went into reading the book with an open heart and mind and hoped to take away something from reading it and boy did I ever!!!! My faith in God is flooding my heart at this point in my life. Not that it isn't always, but I am thinking more clearly about my relationship with God and couldn't be more thankful for that. This quote below describes my biggest fault to a T!!! I consider myself a great judge of character and I have a wonderful ability to scense when something just isn't right.

...God had already told her what she needed to know and what her heart and mind could tolerate without self-destruction. But she insisted on knowing something she was wholly incapable of handling...

I am constantly digging for the answers to my Why questions. I am constantly wanting to fix things that I might not have even done. I am constantly worrying about what others think of me. After reading this, it hit me....I can't do that. I need to trust my intuitions and not dig any deeper. Because once I find out what it is that I am "wholly incapable of handling" I go into worry mode and it consumes my every though. I am working on this now and hope to do much better. How about this quote from the book...

We pry because we are insecure, and then we are more insecure because we pried.

Fits me to a T! Please do not take these two quotes and assume this book is not for you. There is something for all women in this book--I just know there is. Trust me on this one.

New subject--I don't want to get too deep on the above subject because I am not ready for that yet. I am still processing what I read in that book learning from it. SOOOO, on a new note--we knew prior to Christmas that Bayleigh's "frog" in Kindergarten had made it across all the lily pads to the swimming pool--did I lose you there??? There are lily pads hanging on the wall and frogs with each of the kids' names. Each lily pad represents a different reading level and then when the frog makes it across he gets to hang out in the pool and do AR--Accelerated Reader Program. Bayleigh finally got to start AR this week. She brought home her books yesterday and read them very easily to me. I was BEYOND PROUD of her. I was brought to tears a couple of times during the books being read because I was just so PROUD! I just remember my struggles in the FIRST Grade learning to read. My fear was that she would have the same struggles, but so far she is doing great and not showing signs of such struggles. :)

Ok, I am going to cut this off. It is a snow day after all and I want to hang out with my little chick a dee!!!! Hope all is well with all of you! Thanks for checking in!

Love,

Jenn
**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

These will take you back....(Videos)

You MUST scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player before watching these videos. Or the sounds will play at the same time!

I found these videos today of Bayleigh while I was backing up the desktop computer. The task took me all day long--to be honest I am still in the process, however, the stroll down memory lane made, or rather IS MAKING it so worth it. :)

This video is of Bayleigh helping take the bath tub out of our home. We were able to come over and do some work to make it somewhat move in ready before we actually moved in. As you can see from the condition of the bathroom--we needed that time. :) Bayleigh is 3 years old in this video.

In the below video Bayleigh and Hagen Shaw are playing with her piano book. Hagen is more of an audience member than a player. I wish I would have posted the video below this one first, but by the time I figured out this video uploading stuff I didn't want to wait to redo it. Uploading takes FOREVER! Bayleigh is 3 years old in these next two videos. Just ignore her bed head--she gets it honest from her momma! :)

I don't even need to say anything about this video!!! Her sassy attitude says it all!!!!

Thanks for Checking in! Until next blog!

Love,

Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. If you get to a video in the blog, you must scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and pause or stop the playlist music player or the sounds will play at the same time. Feel free to post comments too!**

So Long Insecurity

I know the picture above says to click for a look inside, but you won't find anything. I borrowed the picture from Amazon.com just to write this blog.

This book was suggested to me by a dear friend. She let me borrow it and I simply didn't have the time to read it, so after keeping it for quite some time--collecting dust on the desk--I returned it to her. Then, my other dear friend said, Jennifer--you need to read this book. I said, that's funny I borrowed it and never had the chance to read it and come to find out she had borrowed it from the original friend I had gotten it from. LOL!

Mom bought me a Kindle for Christmas and this book was the first book I purchased. I am not even half way done with this book and here I sit blogging about it.

When I was initially told about it, it was brought to my attention that at certain points in the book I would feel as if the author Beth Moore was speaking directly to me. Lord isn't that the truth! I learned about Beth Moore a while ago when the same dear friend that leant me the book hosted a Bible Study done by Beth Moore. That was the first Bible Study I had ever done and I LOVED it! Beth has a personality that is very fun and had our small group of women laughing out loud numerous times.

I have always felt like I have a terrific relationship with God. Wait, I say always, but really it's just been in the last 15-16 years that I have really become aware of God in a way that I should be aware of him and in a way that I feel I can open up to him. I don't consider myself a religious person. I certainly do not live my life up to the standards that I am sure God would expect one to live, but I am grateful for all the people and all the wonderful things in my life. I feel funny saying that I pray to God everyday because when one hears the word pray you often picture one down on bend and knee, hands folded together, head bowed by the bedside or sitting at a dinner table with hands holded together and heads bowed. I do not do that. instead, I lay in bed or I sit on the couch, or I sit in my car and I have full blown conversations in my head with God. Of course I don't hear him talk back directly, but if you could hear in my head you might think I am crazy chatting it up with God as if he were one of my girlfriends! I LOVE it!

I am going to be 100% honest about something and I hope that I am able to explain it in a way that you get without making myself sound like an idiot....Up until the last several years I have been really careful throwing the name God around. Not because I was afraid of what people would think of me, but because of how I felt about myself. I felt like because I don't live my life in a way that God wouldn't be 100% OK with that I am a hypocrite. (Not that I am a bad person, I just don't attend church on a regular basis and could always be a better person--can't we all?)Reading this book today I realized that I am not a hypocrite--I am human. I am human and God is forgiving. I have always known that God is forgiving and for that I am beyond thankful, but it hit me that I am far too hard on myself and if God is able to cut me some slack then I should be able to cut myself some slack as well.

I am not claiming to be this super religious person that crams God down the throats of everyone I meet, but I am proud of my relationship with God. I am proud that every single night I can chat it up with him about my day and give thanks and ask for protection for my family and friends. I am proud that I have God on my friend's list and feel comfortable enough to chat him up anytime I want to or need to. I also became aware that you don't have to find God the second you are born. Heck, there are people much older than me even that find God for the first time ever in their adult lives, but at least they do. At least I did!

In addition to learning that I am certainly NOT a hypocrite, I am learning that I am a VERY insecure person AND.....my insecurities must be pretty common--common enough to make it into a book written by a woman that one wouldn't really think would share the same insecurities. I am learning a lot. I am learning a lot about myself that I didn't think was possible. I have even found my eyes filling with tears for a moment while reading as I realize that Beth really hits close to home in certain areas. I am excited to finish the book and I am excited to find it in myself to let some of these insecurities go and be more forgiving of myself.

"By the grace of God, I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10)

I am learning much, much more by reading this terrific book as well, but this is what I feel comfortable sharing at this point. I went into reading with the idea of reading with a completely open heart and open mind in hopes of learning somethings about myself--whether they be good or bad. I am learning that I really am not too bad of a person and I should try harder not to lose site of that fact. :) I also believe that this book is being read at the right time in my life--A time I didn't realize just how much I NEEDED to read it. Funny how God works--God is Good. :)

Until next blog my friends! Love, Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. Feel free to post comments too!**

Christmas Eve!

First I am going to start off with our December 23rd day. Papa had the day off and so did Grammy so both came over to make cookies with Bayleigh, Trent, Colin and Cate. They all LOVED making cookies! Grammy got the messy job while Papa kept the oven going.

The first batch of goodies created by Bayleigh!

We always go to the Burris home on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Larry's family. It is always a good time and it is great to see family that is out of town. It is one of just a handful of times we get to see them each year.

Bayleigh got a Taylor Swift CD which was a huge hit!

This picture cracks me up because Kim is opening her gift from me and I am opening mine from her....we went the same route on gift ideas....necklaces and PJ's!

Bayleigh's shirt is the reason for the delay on my posts. We celebrate our Christmas with Larry's brother and sister-in-law on New Year's Eve and then ring in the new year with them. Last year we decided to do an ugly Christmas sweater party--Larry stole the show. I found these shirts on a website on the 23rd and had them delivered over night. Bayleigh wanted to wear hers and I wore mine on Christmas morning so I was hiding the pictures from our holidays so that if Rachel got on my blog she wouldn't see them. LOL!

Bayleigh liked Steve's hat we got him!

After leaving Kim's we came home to put out cookies and milk for Santa.

And then of course Daddy had to tuck Bayleigh in bed and read Twas the Night Before Christmas. Check out her cute jammies!!

Christmas Eve was fun and once again many great memories were made. Thanks to Kim for hosting the holiday! Until next blog...

Love,

Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. Feel free to post comments too!**

Christmas Day!

Our Christmas morning was a ton of fun! Bayleigh came running into our room and was excited to tell us it was CHRISTMAS! We called Grammy and asked her to come over and I asked Bayleigh to stay upstairs while I went and prepared the camera just in case Santa had been here.

He Came!!!! Squinkies was the requested gift from Santa this year, and I can tell you by this time--Mommy is SO sick of Squinkies she could scream. They are EVERYWHERE!

Bayleigh also wanted chapter books from Santa, especially Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. She was so excited to find it in her stocking!

This is when she came down and noticed her Santa gifts. Please make note of the giant gift by the window--story to follow...

Checking out the goods.

Bayleigh was so excited to get to buy me, her daddy, Grammy, and Papa gifts at the Santa shop at school. She bought Grammy a coffee mug, Daddy a Colts Teddy Bear, Papa a tool set, and me a necklace! She was just as excited to watch us open our gifts.

It was a huge hit with Daddy!

And, Papa liked his.

Christmas was full of DS games, including iCarly, movies, clothes, Zoobles, and much much more.

We seen this look several times!

Punky Brewster! OH YEAH!

Remeber the big gift I told you about? Well, after all the gifts were opened I told Bayleigh she had one more and was confused as to WHERE IT WAS!!! She NEVER seen it there. We even pointed out that it was by the tree and she stood right next to it and asked where! LOL! She was super excited to finally open it and she loves her new bike Larry and I got her. :)

Our Christmas was such a delight! After opening gifts Larry and my mom cooked breakfast. Soon after eating Bayleigh and I were feeling under the weather and ended up laying down for a SIX HOUR nap! LOL! Once we woke it was clear that a cold bug had hit each of us and our evening was spent hanging out not doing much of anything. We all here at home hope that your Christmas was just as terrific as ours. Next blog to follow soon!

Love,

Jenn

**On the RIGHT hand side of this page ABOVE the OWL you will find older posts if you are interested in checking them out. They are listed by month. Just click on a month and the posts will expand and you can click on each post individually or if you double click the month they will all pop up. Also, you can bookmark this page to your favorites and check back often for updates without having to look up the blog address. Feel free to post comments too!**