Ballard Bunch

Yeah! It's summer. No schedule, no school. So why am I ambivalent? Because the first thing I hear in the morning is... Where are we going today, Mommy? The kids are at the age now where they want to Do something, GO somewhere. We used to mostly be at home, and if we went somewhere it was a bonus. Now, we are always going somewhere on this errand or to that place, and it's unusual if we are at home all day. It's not that they are whining and demanding to be entertained, they just want to know what's going on today. SO...what are we going to do all summer??? A few weeks ago, I started thinking about this. I did some research of things around town, and made a list and a folder of library reading times for kids, $1 kids movie days, museum hours, and any other idea I could come up with of things to do this summer. Plus, it's SO hot, you can't count on being outside everyday, so an outside day or trip to a park or zoo is a bonus. Here are some of our plans: $1 movies ...

Everytime we went over to my Mom's, Walker would look outside and ask if we could swim. We had been telling the kids after my birthday, it would be time to swim. So, FINALLY, it was time to swim! And, boy, did they get into it. Walker was jumping off the diving board, going down the slide, and swimming from one end to the other on the paddle board. It was a fun day... Thanks, Gran and Poppa! In slow motion, thanks to the action mode on the camera Get ready... Take off... In flight.... Going down the slide Lucy had fun, too. Many thanks to the service men and women that make days like this possible. It's easy to forget how lucky we all are...

I saw this on someone else's blog, and well, we all know how I like to talk about myself... 1. What was I doing 10 years ago? (This question is really why I wanted to do this on my blog- 10 years ago right now was a HUGE time for me) I was graduating high school from SCS, and starting my relationship with my future husband. WOW! May of 1998 was a crazy time. I was so excited about graduating, so looking forward to TCU, and crushing SO hard on the cutest boy ever, Jason Ballard. I was best friends with Maggie, Katie, Rachel and Denee and nervous about being so far away from them after high school. Luckily, I can say 10 years later, I am still in contact with ALL of them! I graduated on May 18, turned 18 on May 23 and fell in love all in one month!! 2. 5 things on my to-do list today... 1) Call the man who is installing our new back door, and give him directions to our house 2) take a shower 3) drop the kids off at the in-laws so we can have my birthday date night. Cheesecake Factor...

Monday was the End of the Year program, and today was the last day of school. And it really is the last day. The church is going through major renovations, so it wouldn't be safe to have a preschool there next year. Program Night- "Under The Sea" First Day of School 9/07 Last Day of School 5/08 Walker with Ms. Colleen Walker and Austin Thanks, ARK School!! We loved it!

I love when a new season starts, because it means a new batch of recipes to make. I have often talked about how we associate seasons with certain food, and summer is no exception. Favorite summer recipes: chicken, pineapple and pepper kabobs with rice Grilled salmon Chicken Caesar salad Country chicken cobb salad Homemade ice cream I have been making a lot of chicken salad lately. I never liked chicken salad when I was growing up, and now I know why. I am VERY picky about my chicken salad. I like roasted chicken, cut up into chunks, not canned chicken (not that I have anything against canned chicken, honestly- just prefer the fresh roasted for my salad), apples and/or grapes (purple), celery, slivered almonds, mayo, salt and pepper. So, you can see I like a lot of crunch and sweet, rather than savory. Jason likes his with pineapple and a little apple for crunch. Summer is the season for salads in our family. I love Chicken Caesar and what I call the country cobb salad. It is chicken st...

May is SO busy for our family. End of school, 6 birthdays in my family, Mother's Day, not to mention one of those birthdays is MINE!!! I have had much I've wanted to post, but my downtime has been filled with lots of other stuff. Right now, I should be getting the shower to get ready for my Grandmother's birthday dinner, but I want to get this stuff posted while it's still news! Practicing his letters before he "signed" a card. I had him write a W and Lucy write an L on all the birthday and Mother's Day cards. He wanted me to take a picture of his L, even though he's the W. YELLOW DAY!! Thanks to Caitlin, she MADE that dress for Lucy! Our first dentist appointment. Walker was NOT happy. The nurse and I had to hold him down in the chair so the dentist could look at his teeth. He had a fall two weeks ago, and the tooth had started to discolor. The dentist couldn't believe it had turned in just two weeks, he said we might have to do a ROOT CANAL on...

The kids had fun making their Mother's Day Craft. We used fabric paint and put their handprints on kitchen towels. The grandmothers and great-grandmothers loved them!! We are so lucky to have so many women to honor on Mother's Day. Sunday, we had a great lunch. Tim Love is a local chef that has several restaurants here and has even been on Food Network a few times! He catered a special Mother's Day brunch at the Stonegate Mansion, which is empty and is now just for hosting events. It was yummy and the chef was even there! I felt like the stalkarazzi, but I still took a picture of him!!

Yesterday, I received two deliveries: Number 1: Blue Irises to remind me of Walker Pink Tulips to remind me of Lucy Number 2: An Herb Garden Thyme, Rosemary, Basil and Sage THANKS, HONEY!! I love you and the kids so much and being a mommy is the best thing there is!! Today, my Dad watched the kids and Grace and I went to lunch at PF Chang's. It's the BEST!! Then, we went to a Mother's Day Tea where my Granny stays. Granny and I Our table , with Granny's bingo buddy, Ruthie

My Grandfather turned 80 yesterday and my mom and aunts planned a surprise party for him at Esperanza's (the Joe T's bakery and restaurant). It was great! My grandmother and grandfather were completely surprised and it was a fun evening. The patio at Esperanza's My Grandmother came in first- her face was like, "WHAT? WHO?" Lea and my Grandfather. He had just walked in a realized, this is NOT a family dinner! Grandfather and former Mayor Bob Bolen Grandmother, Grandfather and Sharron Drury Grandfather, Lea, Mom, Galey and Grandmother The grandkids (minus 2, plus Jason) with Grandmother and Grandfather

Last week we went to the SCS Family Picnic. The kids had SO much fun running around the football field and playing on the bounce houses. Lucy running around on the Eagle in the middle of the field I couldn't even get a picture of Walker, he never stopped!! I was exhausted after an evening of keeping up with them. I didn't need to be right next to them, but I wanted to make sure I at least knew where they were. Goodness! One of me, and two of them running in opposite directions the whole night!!! I did get a break when they went down this slide...like, 50 times!!! Jojo came over last night, and took my camera hostage. She always gets some cute ones! Walker and his Speed Racer cars. All from General Mills cereal boxes!! Lucy and her Daddy