Basketball

Most of us have been watching lots of basketball around here.....Grayhawks basketball....living room basketball....Baker basketball.....(and of course, KU basketball).

...although some of us spend more time coloring and eating snacks than watching....

My sweet boy was usually the smallest on the court, but that didn't stop him from diving for loose balls and going toe-to-toe with those a foot taller than him :)

Kale says that basketball has now narrowly passed football on his favorite sports list (I have a feeling that will change again come the fall, but that's okay!)

 

Defense takes on a whole new meaning when little sisters are dancing around the living room...

I can't remember why they were making mean faces?!  Anyway, Baker made it to the NAIA National Tournament and had a great year.

March Birthdays

This weekend we celebrated Shay's 2nd and Dain's fifth 29th birthday with both sets of grandparents.  Shay was quite pleased with her new outfit, and both girls have been enjoying all the new toys.  After our little celebration Bailey asked who shared a birthday with her. When we told her Grandma Ballard's birthday was one day before hers, she said, "Can I share a party and cake with Grandma!?"  Guess we know what kind of a party we'll be throwing come June! :) 

Shay-Shay Is Two!

Two (plus a few bonus) reasons we love ya bunches:

You crack us up when you sing "Sooooomedaaaay I beeeee!" while you dance around to Taylor Swift's song, "Mean."

Your belly is awesome.

When ever I try and take your picture, you squint your eyes up and say, "Cheeese!"

After you've thrown a gigantic tantrum (don't worry, it's not often) and have gone to thinking time to calm down, you melt my heart when you say, "I sorry mommy!"

You copy just about everything your older siblings say and do, which is kinda cool and a little bit scary........

Daddy calls you our Utah souvenir....which pretty much makes you the best gift ever!

 Happy Birthday to our sweet Shay Lee!  You are our little ray of sunshine!

Published

I'm pretty sure if they gave out Dad awards, Dain would qualify for superhero status.  Let me break it to you this way: after a full day at the office, he comes home and actively plays with the kids, helps with housework, pitches in at bath time, rocks Shay to sleep, reads the older two a nightly Bible story, and still manages to make time for us to talk, and plan, and reflect, and sometimes even relax together!


Okay, okay, you get the point....I think that he is one heck of a dad :)  Well, I'm sure it won't surprise you to learn that he's pretty darn good engineer, too............


Dain co-authored an article that was published in this month's issue of Structure Magazine.  He received some very nice praise from the head of his department and the president of his district for his efforts on this publication AND a Research and Development Program that he and another engineer developed and are now implementing, all in addition to their normal project responsibilities. 


A link to the article is below (found on pages 15-19)...but be forewarned that about 90% of the text is pretty incomprehensible to all of us "non-engineer" types :)  That being said, I am extremely proud and I couldn't be happier that my hard working husband is getting some well-deserved recognition!!

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/ccf9bb78#/ccf9bb78/45

Favorite Weekend Moments

 Waking up from a nap to find this on the couch.....

Snuggling with my little sleepy head

Getting help folding the never ending piles of laundry

Our in house half-time entertainment (check out those boots!)

Super fantastic dance parties

Watching the little ones count during hide-and-go seek

Seeing them all calm and quiet...if only for a minute!

These two cutie pies dancing

Contraptions

Have you heard of them?

Dain and I gave them to Kale this year for Christmas, and let's just say that he was less than thrilled when he opened the package....and really, I don't blame him...a box full of wooden sticks and two small balls looks pretty lame when you had your heart set on Madden 2012 for the Wii ;) 

As a matter of fact, the box of Contraptions sat untouched for nearly a week before I told Kale that we were going to try them out (secretly hoping that I hadn't bought a dud gift). 

Luckily, it took all of about five minutes for him (and his sisters) to figure out that there are about a million things you can create with a little imagination and a whole lot of patience!
Best. Toy. Ever. (Until I find the next greatest toy, of course)!

 Shirtless?! He always does this even when it's 20 degrees outside and our house is freezing. I'm chalking it up to being a boy thing....

 Even princesses take time from their busy schedules to build :)

I helped him figure out the L-shaped turn, but the rest is all his work!

Christmas 2011

With mostly borrowed pictures because I took all of about five with my camera :)
Thank goodness my sister-in-law has her act together!

We spent the holiday in Hutchinson/Haviland/Greensburg this year.  It was such a fun, chaotic, whirl-wind of a weekend that the kids started begging to go back before we made it home :)  Special thanks to my mom and dad who worked so hard to make it a great weekend!!

Miss Shay was a bit under the weather a few days prior, so we decided it was in our best interest to stay home an extra day so she could rest, but we sent Kale up early with Uncle Neal and a car load of gifts.  Dain and I brought the girls up the next morning, and we started things off with a birthday party for Grandad Sutton.

Here we are after waaay too much food and cake:

That night we went to church and the kids got to open up their presents from Grandma and Grandpa B before making a sign so that Santa would know where to stop.

The next morning Miss Shay woke up a little too early and had to catch a few extra zzz's before the other's woke up!

 Santa did not disappoint....

Later that morning we headed to Haviland to celebrate Christmas at my Grandparents house (otherwise known as the ding-dong clock house according to the kids).  There were about 35 people....which you would think would be a bit much....but really, there's something so fun about it that I can't imagine it any other way!

 After another short visit with Grandad we headed back to Hutch where the next morning I was faced with the super-challenge of fitting 3 kids, 3 suitcases, 2 adults and this room full of stuff into our Jeep in such a manner that Dain could still see out a window or two.  Really, I think I should earn an award or something because my packing job was quite impressive ;) 

Christmas 2011 was so much fun....I can't wait to see what 2012 brings!