T'was the Night Before Christmas....

Well almost. I can't believe it is almost Christmas. I am having a hard time excepting that and I feel so unprepared. I love Christmas and meaning behind it, but I just feel lost this year. I can't explain it. You would think this year would be more special then the past years, with Ella, but she doesn't know the experience, the feelings, the excitement. I guess it is up to Jeramy and I to help her with this experience. I'm getting there. Maybe by Christmas Eve I will have the spirit...

Last night, as we put Ella to bed, we kept hearing a thump, thump, thump...
I peak through the door to see her thumping her head on the back of the crib. It was more comical than anything else, but you have to think "What in the world is she doing that for?" I tried to grab my camera to do a video, but she soon settled in to sleep, until I disturbed her when I was standing over her, covering her up with her blanket. I gave her another kiss and laid her back down, only to hear more thump, thump, thump... Silly Girl!

Ella is 10 months now. She is full of attitude and determination! She is a stair climbing master, not by Mommies and Aunt Missa's choice though. She enjoys high fives and making smooching noises! She is learning so quickly. I know she doesn't understand the meaning of Christmas this year, but next year should be super fun...we'll have to start a Christmas fund for next year :) hehehe...

To all of our friends and family, we love you and wish you all the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year!

What do you do when you are called out by your Hubby?

You Blog! Last night, Jeramy called me out on my family blog. He told me that since I've been running/training I have just abandoned the family...blog, that is :) Well I'll show him...

In all seriousness, we have been very busy. My running blog, I can hop in and update real fast. This one I need interesting stories and pictures. hehehe... So this time of year is just crazy! Christmas Parties, work, friends, family, I could go on all day. To be perfectly honest, I am being quite the Scrooge. Jeramy and I are doing really well on our budget, but in return we are cutting back on a lot of things, like gifts for example. It took everything I had just to decorate my house!

That is sooo not like me, but I have just been busy and with our sweet little girl, spare time is few and far between.

First weekend in December, Read Christmas Kick-off! It was a great way to kick-off the Holiday Season.

Second weekend in December, Tyson Dinner at Miller's Grocery....YUM YUM! Followed by the Riddle Christmas Party

Every year we play Dirty Santa and the gift has a theme, this year the theme was to bring a "T" gift. A gift that begins with a "T". Good times had by all! It was also Holly's and Allison's Birthday so of course Katy, the Hostess with the Mostest, prepared a Birthday Cake and we all sang "Happy Birthday!"

This was a pretty early night for Jeramy and I, but I heard the Dianna's showed up and the party carried on to the wee hours of the morning...maybe just a little jealous ;) Oh I have to tell you about our Dirty Santa gifts...

I got a James Taylor CD with a pack of Trident and Jeramy got a Toupee! Yep he stole it, such a goof :)

This weekend we FINALLY get to see the Pippengers! I am so excited!!! We have been trying to get together for a while, but Ella has had a couple of colds and we don't want Tinsley to catch anything. Also, Saturday I am going to Hermitage to Crystal's Christmas Party. This is going to be such a fun night! $5 Dirty Santa, wine and some of my best girls!

Merry Christmas to all.... We hope your Holiday is filled with many blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ella and I went to Heather's house to make our Apple Pies. We started this tradition MANY years ago. Sometimes we get special helpers and sometimes we don't. This year our helpers were Rylee and Reagan! It is always so much fun and I'm sure it will be a tradition passed down to the girls!

This is me trying to make Sweet Potato Casserole! It was a mess. I just don't do a great job at cooking anything. Especially in large quantity. I think this will be the last time I volunteer to make this... It was all over my kitchen!

Happy 9 Months Ella Jean!!!

9 months ago today our sweet Ella Jean came into this world. She has totally exceeded our every expectation and she is such a blessing in our lives!

Newborn

9 months

(Photography by Crystal Potts)

Some traits that she has developed:

She does not sit still! But in a good way :)
She really only snuggles when she is sleepy.
She naps best with her momma ;) hehehe
She loves her daddy so much and just the sound of his voice excites her!
She LOVES to eat!
She is very impatient when it comes time to eat.
She REALLY enjoys suckers, thanks Auntie Angel ;)
She loves other kids, especially her cousins and Mr. Henry!
She is a gift from God and she shines everyday!!!

We can't believe she is 9 months old. For some reason, that seems like a huge milestone! Before we know it we will be celebrating her 1st Birthday!!!

Can she get any cuter!!!

Yes, I'm totally biased. That Ella just amazes me every day. This is a video clip of her walking with her toy. She is also quite fascinated with my wheeled rack in the kitchen, she pushes it all over the room...

Last night I was cleaning up after dinner, Ella was playing in "Her Drawer!" She had bottles and cups spread across the kitchen. I left to take some things to the bedroom and came back to find...




Ella had crawled into "Her Drawer!" I immediately grab the camera. By far one of the funniest things she has done.

MTSU Homecoming 2008

Bet On Blue!!!!

November 8, 2008 Ella and I loaded up bright and early to go down to Murfreesboro for the Homecoming festivities.
First stop -- The Parade!
We met Katy and Jody and enjoyed a beautiful morning sipping Mimosas and eating Sausage bites, yummy!

After the parade we headed over to our tailgating location. MTSU football is great and there were so many tailgaters!

Holly Jane joined us later that day...

We never made it to the game, it was just too cold for Ella, but the Raiders defeated Louisiana-Monroe! Woot Woot...

Running on a Prayer

I am completely out of my mind, but this week I am starting to train for a half marathon. With God's help, because only he can help me stick this thing out, I will be running a half marathon on March 1, 2009. The thought of it all scares the be-geeb-bers out of me! I don't want to bore all of you with boring training talk, so I created another blog for training purposes.

Running on a Prayer

I will also keep up with this blog to clue you in on all of the fun things in our lives! I would love for you to check out both blogs, if you have the time. I need lots of prayers and lots of encouragement. This is going to be a hard journey, but maybe in the end I will be able to say "What was all of the fuss about Bethy?"

Ironman Lana!

I just want to take a moment and praise our friend Lana. This past weekend, Lana completed an Ironman Triathlon. For those of you who are not sure what this is:

it is...
2.4 miles swim
112 miles bike
26.2 miles run
Ford Ironman Florida

All back to back, all in one day! And she completed the Tri in 11:58. We are so proud of her. She has put long, hard hours into training and now she is an Iron woMan! She will be posting her race report as soon as she is recovered and if you want some inspiration, be sure to check it out!

Lana's Blog

Way to go Lana!!!

Tennessee White Trash

I use this title loosely... I love my state, my town, my home, but when you go to Wal-Mart and come out to find that your windshield has been shot, it makes you think twice about the people around you.

True story. Some jerk went around shooting windshields at Wal-Mart Saturday morning and mine was one of the lucky ones chosen! Talk about ruining your day. Then on top of that I have to pay $100 to get it fixed, my deductible. Life is not fair...

I got a phone call yesterday from a Manchester City Policeman and he needed me to take pictures of my windshield for evidence. They have the suspect and are almost certain he is the guy. So I ask him "Will I be able to get my $100 out of this guy?" Chances are no! He is a 30 year old male, with out a J.O.B. and it wouldn't be likely that I would get anything any time soon. Here I am busting my butt to support my family, my husband works multiple side jobs and we barely have enough to keep our heads above water. But then there is this guy, who is putting me out $100 and all that will happen to him is a felony behind his name...you know where I'm going with this... It's not fair and frankly it just hurts my feelings!

But that's Life! Right? God help us all...

Here are some pictures:

Fun Halloween Stuff

Halloween is Halloween...

Here are some pictures of most of our kiddos this year. We started the holiday at WOC the Sunday before Halloween at the Hoedown. Then on Halloween day I met Heather, Melissa and the kids on the square for trick or treating, lots of cute kids, lots of fun! That evening we went to Moms, it was like Thanksgiving, we had mounds of food, I guess that is a great thing about a big family! Enjoy the pictures :)

This sweet dress was made by Karen Crawford, my mothers friend!
Isn't it gorgeous!

Nana made this adorable pumpkin for EJ

Reagan and Campbell

Campbell, Ella and Carson

Rylee

Maggie

Dylan!

Jeramy and I went to our first Halloween party, together, on Saturday evening. Our costume was silly and a little risky, but it was all done in good fun.

GGW Mtsu Co-eds and Joe Francis

Christmas Cards and Photography

My girlfriend Lindsay has lots of new things happening in her life, she is starting up her own photography business and she is also designing cards, i.e.) Christmas Cards, Invitations, Birth Announcements...

Please send her a message if you are interested in any of her services. She is an extremely creative person and I wish her the best in this new venture!

Check it out here:
http://lindsayreneephoto.blogspot.com/

There is a light...

at the end of my tunnel. It all began with a bad day at work and let's just say since then I have been struggling. I have been struggling with that fact that I spend 5 days a week behind a desk, away from our daughter and yet I still have no money? I enjoy the first two weeks after pay day and then it's no life till the next payday... I will tell on myself here, I'm not the best with managing my money! So with the bad day at work and the fact that I have no money left to spend freely on I have had pondering thoughts as to why I am even working? Ok, I know there are many great reasons why I work and probably the most important reason is because my income is needed to pay the bills. I am going somewhere with all of this...

So after a long, boring day at work I come up with a plan, a goal, a life changing matter! I immediately get home to talk to Jeramy about my goal:

"I want to be able to stay home in a years time, therefore I think we need to rearrange how things are being done and do a mock run on our finances over the next twelve months!"

This one sentenced turned into a night long discussion, lots of quiet moments, almost tears and a lot of stress...And that is all of Jeramy's emotions! ;) hehehe

The final result of the conversation is this: My new car, that I got in August, has to be paid off before I even think about being a SAHM! So I am going to continue to pay our normal bills and I will also pay $1,000 a month towards my car... Jeramy is going to continue his normal expenses and pick up grocery money and gas money. This whole thing will be putting a strain on him and I am very grateful to him for being so open to the situation! As a result of this 99% of our leisure activities will be no more. This is a sacrifice we are going to have to make eventually, so why not start now and get ahead as much as we can. Now doing this in a year will be hard so our goal is to pay off my car, then ultimately we will have to save money for our next child, once that is done the light at the end of the tunnel is that much closer!!!

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family and I know each and every one of you will be so supportive to us and will understand why this is so important to us. Starting this in November is going to be a huge challenge because of the Holidays. Jeramy and I are not going to be able to give as much as we would like and as much as we are used to giving! (This will be very emotional for me, as well as stressing) The Holidays are about spending time with your family and friends and we are going to have to take that to a whole new level, but I know you will all understand why...

I am open to any wonderful ideas you may have as to how I can make extra $$ and please feel free to give us any support you can offer up! With all of our strength and with the power of prayer I know we can accomplish this. Please keep us in your prayers too :)

Tinsely Brooke Pippenger Is Here!!!

** Before I go on, I promise I was given for permission from Jill to post pictures of Tinsley! ;)


Let me just start by saying, I have been so excited for this baby girl to get here! I consider Tinsley and Cade and Kent and Jill, family. Those two kids have the most wonderful, compassionate Father and the most devoted, loving Mother. What a blessed family they are!

Tinsley Brooke came into this world just after 2pm on Wednesday October 8, 2008. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and she was just over 19 inches long almost exactly the same as Cade.

For me emotions were high. It just brought back so many precious memories that were soon forgotten. Tinsley is absolutely beautiful! She has this sweet little peach fuzz hair and cute little button nose, like her brother. She is a peaceful little girl, who is eating and sleeping so well. I am so anxious to watch her grow into a beautiful young lady inside and out!

Jeramy and Tinsley

Me & Tinsley

Sweet Tinsley Brooke!

Me & Jill

Judy and Tinsley

Kent and Jeramy

A Mother's Love

A Mother's Love

A Mother's love is something
that no on can explain,
It is made of deep devotion
and of sacrifice and pain,
It is endless and unselfish
and enduring come what may
For nothing can destroy it
or take that love away . . .
It is patient and forgiving
when all others are forsaking,
And it never fails or falters
even though the heart is breaking . . .
It believes beyond believing
when the world around condemns,
And it glows with all the beauty
of the rarest, brightest gems . . .
It is far beyond defining,
it defies all explanation,
And it still remains a secret
like the mysteries of creation . . .
A many splendoured miracle
man cannot understand
And another wondrous evidence
of God's tender guiding hand.
by Helen Steiner Rice

To my sweet friend, with whom I love and adore!
Bethany

Just like her Daddy!

It was clearly identified this weekend: Ella is her Father's daughter! They are just alike...

My little monkey does not hold still for one minute. She is at her best playing with other kiddos or even just playing with her toys. She is crawling from room to room, exploring her new world. She enjoys cords! Go figure and blinds... (why do kids enjoy the things that they are not suppose too?) Ella tries her hardest to pull herself up on things, like the coffee table. At times she succeeds and you should see the look on her face, Total Amazement! However, she is not steady enough yet to accomplish this task each time and especially with out supervision! Below are a couple of fun videos taken in the past couple of weeks:

Ella crawling across her room:

Bath Time:




New Toys:
(It amazes me that she figured this out all by herself!)

Oh, how I love this time of year!

Camping, football, tailgating....It's officially Fall!


This past weekend we had wonderful time camping down at Sugar Camp. This is our favorite camping spot and over the years it has been taken over by a group we like to refer to as the "Train Wreck!" But we're taking it back.... jk :) We usually enjoy tent camping, but with a youngin' we thought it might be a little easier with a camper. The boys prepared for this event all week long, hauling campers, cutting fire wood, cutting the grass and even trimming out a volleyball court. We enjoyed a wonderful evening with our closest friends and a few others, but none the less, it was a great camp out! The boys even got in a jeep ride...

(insert) Ohhhhh!

Volleyball

Boys Love Jeeps!

First Date?