Card 2012

Merriest Photo Grid Christmas Card

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Trick-Or-Treat...

 

Smell my feet

 

Give me something good to eat

 

If you don't.....

 

I don't care.....

 

I'll pull down your underwear!

 

I'm so glad Uncle Brett teaches my kids awesome songs like that ;)

Happy Halloween!

Costumes, Worms, Football, Bowling, and Prayers

This is what happens when a month passes and I haven't updated the blog ;)
A clever person would find a way to weave all the random photos together into a coherent story, however, I'm a busy mom so you'll have to settle for a random hodgepodge of events!

Grandma Ballard came through again and a couple of weekends ago she delivered sparkly, hand made ballerina tutu's much to the delight of the girls.  Bailey's dark purple tights and shiny black leo kind of remind me of an aerobics instructor circa 1985, but she thinks it's wonderful and that's what counts!

 

The girls also convinced Grandpa Ballard to take them to the store to get supplies for chocolate milkshakes.  I'm pretty sure that was quite a scene given that they were still wearing their costumes!

 

Last weekend I decided it was time to dig up the garden and get it cleaned out for the winter, which of course took twice as long as I had planned because my helpers needed to collect every worm, roly poly, bug, and sunflower seed they could find.  On the bright side, it's nice to know my princess loving girls don't mind getting a little dirt under their nails now and then :)

 

Kale's football season wrapped up.......with a win!!! Yea!  Kale Bug scored two touchdowns, and it was a much needed morale booster after a hard season.  Here he is writing his own plays:

 

A random pic from the bowling alley...

Thank you for your support for my dear friend, Layne, who fell nearly 40 feet while mountain climbing on Monday.  She is doing incredibly well (all things considered), but faces several more surgeries and a long healing process. Our family continues to pray for full recovery, and that she knows this trial will be just a stepping stone on the path that God has planned for her.  Will you do me the favor of continuing to pray, too? ~Katie

Piles of Laundry

This week I've been a bit frustrated (and overwhelmed) by the chaos of our house.  Some times it feels like no matter how early I wake up or how organized I am, our home still looks like a bomb went off in it by the end of the week!  I'm pretty sure most moms (and dads) probably feel like this from time to time, so I decided that I have two choices: I can feel annoyed by the general state of things, or give thanks for the many blessing a house full of kids brings......

There is dirt and grass tracked all over my floors because my children have been  outside playing and not zoned out in front of the TV.

Tiny Lego pieces are scattered all about because they enjoy building all sorts of structures.

There are markers and stacks of drawings, stories, sticker art, and football plays on my kitchen table because they like being creative in their own ways.

 A bright red Kool-aid stain has found it's way to the basement floor... a side effect of of our house being a hub for neighborhood boys.

And of course, piles of laundry fill my baskets because we are fortunate enough to have  healthy kids and resources to let Kale play football,   Bailey take ballet, and give each child a clean set of clothes to wear each day.  In a world where so many have so little, I'd say that's definitely something to be thankful for :)

New School Year

 Kale started second grade....and tackle football.  I may suffer from heart failure before the end of the season (big boys tackling my baby is not fun to watch), but it's safe to say that Tom Brady is has been bumped to second place on my list of favorite QB's :)

 Shay-Shay had a lot of fun visiting her cousins in Tulsa.  (And yes, the camera is backwards...she got a lot of forehead shots)!

 

Miss Bailey started ballet and she loves it.  The first class poor Shay bawled because "She want go dance class tooooooooooo!"  It was pretty pitiful, so I promised her she can take a ballet class next year :)  Can't wait 'til Bailey's first dance recital in the spring!





Thirty

Approximately 30 seconds worth of facts about turning 30..............

• When we asked Bailey how old I was going to be, she said 23 (Yesss!).  Her second guess was 62.....(reality check) :)
•  My nephew Kaden guessed 18... so I'm still feeling pretty youthful.
•  Layne surprised me last Friday night (I should have known my husband was up to something when he insisted on pizza delivery).  All I can say is: BEST GIFT EVER!!
• Saturday night  I got another surprise: girls night out dinner!

 
•  Sunday concluded the weekend of surprises with a family gathering.
• I'm feeling pretty darn blessed (and spoiled)!
•  It's safe to say that if my thirties are half as good as my twenties, I've got a lot to look forward to!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surviving the Kansas Heat

 Due the general lack of size, talent, and desire to play, baseball was a bit of a lesson in patience this year....and by lesson in patience I mean for me, not Kale.  He worked hard and had fun.  I had to accept that the fact that no matter how hard my child tries, sometimes things just don't go his way :)  On the bright side, wasn't he cute in his uniform?

The girls started calling Dain "Daddy Paparazzi."  I have no explanation whatsoever why they do this, but I think it's funny.

The Kansas heat has been brutal, but we force the kids outside everyday 'cuz we're mean like that.  Don't worry, we've already gone through about eight bottles of sunscreen and we drink a lot of water around here :)

Dain's company picnic was at LiveStrong Park a while back.  It was before the heat got crazy, so we had fun!

Our life saver this summer.....a blow up pool.  It has caused a rather large dead spot in our grass thanks to some "baseball pool" games with the neighbor boys, but I'm still thankful we got it.  Dain may tell you otherwise...

Kale is learning all sorts of tricks from his father and will be a firecracker pro in no time.

The Children's Discovery Museum in Topeka was a big hit.  This machine blows balls and scarves through tunnels.  It was hysterical watching them try to catch them as they came flying out.

Thanks to this sweet girl I've now watched the movie "Finding Nemo" about 47 times.  I'm beginning to think God is trying to send me a message about something....or maybe I just need to invest in a new movie or two....

The kids and I went back to Hutch for a few days.  I think it can be summed up in about five words: Grand kids are spoiled rotten.  Oh wait, I mean: Do we have to leave?  Milkshakes, an I-Max movie, a mini-water park in the backyard....I don't blame them for wanting to stay the whole summer!

Dain and I played in a gold tournament with Jay and Traci Amyx last week.  If you've seen my golf skills, you'll understand why my main job was team cheerleader.  We have also managed to keep the garden growing for two months; by far our greatest accomplishment of the summer ;) 

Lake of the Ozarks 2012

Our vacation....instagram style.....:)