Ballard Bunch

Thanksgiving was Excellent!! Great food, fun with family and the Cowboys won!!! The fried turkey was delish, it was our first time to try it, and Jason did a great job. Family time Had to go outside for some Peepaw pitches: He swings... He hits!! Our placecards. Walker wanted to write everyone's name. Fried Turkey!! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, too.

I told you I love fall!!! We have had some fun this week. Jason is home on vacation, and we have been having some yummy fall food, fires in our newly-cleaned fireplace, holiday music and great family time. What else can you ask for??? I am so blessed, and try to remind myself that every night. Something that really helps me do that is the prayers I say with the kids each night. We have the same thing that we say, but I try to add some different things in when we are on the "Thank you for..." part of the prayer. This is our prayer. The kids have actually made most of it up, and since we are such creatures of habit, they like it the same way every night. Dear God, Thank you for this day, and thank you for (this is where I say different things each night to remind them and me that are SO MANY things to be thankful for) . Let us have a good night's sleep with no animals, dinosaurs or monsters coming into our room, so that we can have a good night's sleep and a good day t...

Jason is on vacation now until Thanksgiving. We are so excited to have Daddy home, and see him more. We decided to decorate for Christmas now, since he is home and we could enjoy it longer. I am all for putting the decorations up early. It's such a big job to get them down and put them up- at least I have a month to enjoy them! People talk about Thanksgiving getting looked over, but I am not overlooking it. I LOVE Thanksgiving, I just don't have any Thanksgiving decorations... It was really fun this year. The kids are old enough to actually help!! I am so used to having babies, but they are big kids now. And they really were helpful yesterday. We got everything down from the attic and into the dining room. Getting into the spirit!! During the process (it IS a process- we moved furniture around and everything) I couldn't believe I got Daisy to stay in the picture. If they had been wearing their Christmas jim jammers, we would have had our Christmas card picture!! Lucy said, ...

Lucy is 3, and loves to play pretend. Either she is the mommy and Walker is the baby or she is the baby and Walker is the daddy. We are very used to this, and do not run right away when we hear "MOMMY!!!!!" or "DADDY!!!". Today, Lucy was yelling Daddy repeatedly, and finally, she started yelling, "REAL DADDY!!! REAL DADDY!!" Her and Walker had been playing pretend, but she wanted Jason, and she knew he wasn't coming, so she knew she needed to change what she was saying. Today, she said she wanted her hair "all twirly". She meant braids. She said, "Mom, I saw this on a TV show. I want my hair like that." (She saw it on Jon and Kate plus 8, luckily I was watching too, so I knew what in the world she was talking about) - That was not a good askadent -because is a reason, mama (If I ask her why she did something, she will say because, and then I say because is not a reason) Besides pretend, this is the other thing I hear from her: - ...

We went to the zoo Saturday morning. It is member appreciation month, and they sent us coupons and have specials at the zoo for members. It was cold!!! YEAH!! I mean, high 40s. YEAH!! It will still be a month before it's cold here all the time, but today it was fun. The sun was out, and the kids were bundled, so we were fine. I feel like I do zoo posts all the time, but we did some different stuff today that we don't normally do (because it costs money!). Holding hands- so cute!! Riding on the carousel. We have NEVER done this. The kids don't even bother asking anymore, because I never let them. Today, they were giving FREE rides for members, so they finally got to ride!!! Walker named his horse Walker, and Lucy named hers Rila. *Sidenote- She does this funny thing with naming her friends. If she was naming several friends, like Rila, then another would be Rula, and Rala and Rola. She just changes the first vowel- it's so funny to hear her try to say all the names when...

I paid $1.68/gallon today for gas. Thanks to my favorite grocery store , I get an extra 10 cents off from their already low price. I filled up my SUV for $30!!! I hope your area is enjoying lower gas prices, too. Happy Weekend!

Fall is by far my favorite season. The weather, the food, the football- everything great happens in fall. I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving, but I am excited. I am getting my recipes in order, and getting the long sleeve pajamas out for the kiddos. What I love about fall- - fall clothes. Sweaters, tights, boots, jeans. I love fall clothes. My kids always have an abundance of fall clothes because their birthdays are in fall and I love to get them stuff here and there. - fall colors. This also has to do with the first one, I love orange and red and brown and green. I love fall colors, so of course I love the clothes! Outside, the trees are starting to turn and the sunset tonight was GORGEOUS! - fall food. Pumpkin, sweet potatoes, spiced tea- I love fall food. Roasted veggies (I just discovered roasted acorn squash, mmmm, it was good), turkey, buttermilk pie, gingerbread- so many great flavors during the fall. - FOOTBALL! Oh, Cowboys, how sad I am. My kids keep asking if To...

I was so looking forward to this week. Nothing on the calendar, and getting caught up on blogging and housework. So what happens? Walker comes down with croup and Grace's dad passes away. Croup is scary. It won't be so scary the next time one of my children have it, but the first time you experience it, it's scary. The worst sounding cough- he literally sounded like a seal barking. And when he would get to coughing, he couldn't breathe because his airways were so inflamed. The doctor gave him a steroid shot, and he is finally somewhat improved today. Next time one of my children gets this, I will be prepared, but I was pretty worried about him earlier this week. When someone is suffering, it's always easy to say, "Oh, they will be so much better off in heaven." Then it actually happens, the Lord takes them, and your so sad and hurt you didn't get to see them "one last time". It's always sad when someone passes away, even when they were su...

Sometimes, you just DON'T want to cook. Sometimes, you have been cleaning and laundering all afternoon and your kids are hungry and you just want to give them something. Or your sick and not really up to it. Regardless, everyone has those times. I thought I would share my go-to's for those times, my guilty pleasures. I know these aren't the healthiest lunches or dinners, but it's not a weekly thing. Put a banana on the plate next to it- those things are crazy good for you. I discovered this stuff at the Dollar Store. I bought it for myself, made my kids pb&j, then started in on my noodles. They ended up taking over- I think I got 2 bites. The teriyaki beef is the best flavor. My kids love cereal, and Lucky Charms is their cereal of choice, although they are not picky. Who doesn't love this?? You can always make it a mac-n-cheese kind of day, and it's a good day.

I say Halloween week instead of weekend because we were celebrating from last Tuesday thru Friday!! Tuesday was a Halloween party at the house of a child in Walker's class. Wednesday was Boo at the Zoo and dress up day at school, Thursday was another dress up day at school and class party, and Friday was actually Halloween! UGHHH! I am so tired (and so were they...) A full week and weekend, plus my high school reunion- so Halloween wasn't even the only thing going on!!! We have a ridiculous amount of candy, but the kids HAD A BLAST. They loved everything we did, and it was fun to see them enjoying everything. They already dress up at home alot, but the pirate costumes were their special just-for-Halloween costumes. Walker switched with a friend one day and wore his Power Ranger costume, and he loved that, too. Getting ready to trick or treat School party I am so glad it's November!! October was so crazy, and I am looking forward to being at home more, catching up on laundr...

Well, we had our 10 year reunion this weekend. We were saying how 10 years sounds like such a long time and it didn't seem like it could have been that long. But, at dinner, going through our senior yearbook, it did feel like a lifetime ago. I really had a great time in high school- awesome friends, incredible memories and opportunities. It was nice to see who I saw- we only had about half show up (8 couples on Saturday night, 11 class of '98 alumni at the game). Pictures for Maggie (missed you, hon!!!) Christy, me and Rachel Me and Rach with a class photo from left: Heather's husband, Jimmy Gresham and his wife from left: Susie (Kyle's wife), Carly's husband, Carly, Heather What I loved about high school: - first and foremost is the friendships. I have yet to forge the kind of friendships I had in high school, and luckily for me, I am still in contact with most of them. Too many memories to recount, but my best friends and I were always together and looking out for...