The Ballard Bunch

On Saturday night we held our second (we're hoping monthly) craft night. Chelsea, Karen and I all met up (with husbands and kids in tow) to make felt stockings. I was determined to finish mine and, although I had to work a little later than the rest, was able to complete all of my stockings! The only thing I had to do was tea stain them the next day. I only will need five (once the baby arrives), but made six so that if I ever need another, I won't have to reinvent the wheel. Here's how they turned out:


Also, because I was the lucky winner of Chelsea's blog contest, I was given these amazing hand-made crafts. Chelsea - you really are the most talented person I know! Thanks so much - I love them!


Lastly, a few weeks back I got a wild hair and decided I wanted to attempt to make a small family tree for our house. It has yet to be completed (and may need to be altered in years to come), but I was really happy with how it turned out. Now I just have to decide where to put it!


Oh! And for those of you still waiting to see, here is a picture of the "oven" Beau and I constructed for our Halloween costumes. Beau was a baker and I was an oven with a "bun" inside. We had a great time playing with friends at Lisa and Ryan's house. Jami's got the picture of us together - as soon as I can get my hands on it, 'll post. :)

Thanks Shannon for another fun tag! Here goes...

This one is about my sweet hubby, Beau
What is his name? Beau Ray Ballard
How long have you been married? 3 1/2 years
How long did you date? About 8 months
How old is he? He's a baby - 27!
Who eats more? Usually he does, but sometimes this pregnant girl can surprise!
Who said I love you first? I think it was Beau - that's bad I can't remember!
Who is taller? Beau
Who sings better? Beau - I'm terrible! 80's rock all the way...
Who is smarter? He's probably more street smart, I'm more book smart. And, I'm a sponge for useless trivia (he's constantly amazed) - haha!
Whose temper is worse? We're about the same - he's probably less patient with the girls, though.
Who does the laundry? Usually me
Who does the dishes? Usually me
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Beau
Who pays the bills? Me
Who mows the lawn? Beau
Who cooks dinner? Me
Who drives when you are together? Almost always Beau
Who is more stubborn? Beau! :)
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me
Whose parents do you see the most? Typically Beau's...most of my family lives far away.
Who proposed? Beau did, and it's all recorded on a cop's dashboard cam.
Who has more friends? We're about even - and we've become friends with the spouses of our respective friends - so it continues to be even as we "grow".
Who has more siblings? I do if you count step-siblings. :)
Who wears the pants in the family? Totally depends on the issue
Tag: Jami, Amanda, Lisa, Tanya, Yvonne, Megan and Kendra

Have Fun!

After a few weeks of a very frustrating cell phone situation, we have now passed the contract deadline with Sprint and have got new phones (and numbers)! (I sent an email out with the new numbers for both Beau and I, but if you didn't get it, let me know)

A big thanks to my mom for the gift of phones - we love them!

So who of you out there are with Verizon? I'm excited about the mobile-to-mobile minutes - especially considering that most of my family and Beau's family are Verizon users.

Ahhhhhh. Bluetooth headset. No more multi-multi-tasking in the car. :)

...for amateurs!

As you can tell in most of her pictures, Hayden wasn't feeling all too "photogenic" today. I think my most favorite of her is where she's crying and has her hands to her eyes. Ugh, I die! Still, crying she's cute as can be! Minus, of course, all the bumps and bruises evident of a new walker. Photoshop, here I come!

My sweet Tate looks so grown-up and pretty in these pictures! I can hardly believe she's going to be 3 in March. And she was relatively cooperative, compared to past photo experiences (those of you who know her know that she tends to lean towards the disagreeable side of requests). I think it helped that her cousins, friends and especially her BFF "B" were all there to play along.

Enjoy!

Today Karen, Shanna and I took our kids up to Copperton Park to see if we could possibly take good pictures of our kids. I'll post the pictures of mine that I love (and that were taken with Karen's awesome camera) in my next post. I snapped these with my camera before we got started. Just thought they were cute!

Beau and Hayden playing before church on Sunday. She loved it!

It's been brought to my attention that I neglected to tag a very important blogger the other day.

Shannon, you asked for it! :) You know I love ya...let's hear your six!

So, I'm obsessive-compulsive, I know. You'd think a girl could wait at least a couple of weeks after finding out what she's having to get rolling on decorating plans, but not me!

I've found some bedding on eBay that is super cute, but not exactly what I'm looking for. BUT, it's super cheap (I'm getting it all for $40 - bumper, quilt, sheet, bed skirt and a couple other random items) and has never been used (still in packaging), so I figure it'll work perfectly for a foundation. One side of it is this beautiful chocolate brown faux suede material and I'm going to cover the other sides of everything (except the bed skirt and the fitted sheet) with these fabrics:




I love the idea of the retro-cowboy material. Plus, Beau's got loads of stuff from Texas (hats, ropes, long horns, etc.) that we can decorate with, so why not go for it? Plus, what fun colors to coordinate with, right?

The kid will have bedding galore, but no name as of yet. We're thinking that when we decide, that might be the secret we keep to ourselves to announce at the birth. Then again, if you read my post from earlier today, you'd know that I'm not the best at keeping my own secrets so it might be told sooner than March. I'll try my best, though! For the record, nothing has been decided, so that makes it much easier to keep. *haha*

Last post today, I swear. I forgot that I had video of Tatum trick-or-treating. At the end you can see her bow, but it's not the best shot.

I've been watching our friend's little boy a couple of days a week for the last couple of weeks. He and Tatum are quickly becoming fast friends and had a blast playing in the backyard yesterday. I had to post the pictures - they turned out so cute!

You'll notice the beautiful hair both of my girls have in the morning. I once saw somewhere a mom who posted a picture of her daughter's hair in the morning and then a picture of the same daughter with her hair done cute with a caption saying, "This is how I know I'm a good mom. I can turn this...into this." That's exactly how I feel some days.





Tatum's always been into dress up and it's fun to see Hayden getting in on the fun now. And, to make for even funnier pictures, Hayden's started saying "cheese" and flashing the silliest smile ever. I'm just glad they get along...sometimes!

Thanks Jami, this was fun!

The rules of the game should be posted at the beginning of the post. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I am 95% complete with my Christmas shopping for the girls. Mind you, I haven’t been on a major shopping expedition, I just watch sales all year long and stock up. I’ve had clothes and toys saved for both of them since this spring. It’s all a matter of keeping your eyes open at all times. All I have to buy now are stocking stuffers – tights, sipper cups, crayons, candy, etc. I’m thinking that I’d be smart to save some of the Halloween loot they gathered on Wednesday and throw that in the socks. Is that horrible?

2. I’m addicted to the afore-mentioned Halloween candy. It’s bad. I wake up and I want to eat Smarties. After breakfast, some Laffy Taffy would do the trick. A Snickers? It always satisfies…for a few minutes. I’m anxious to get rid of it soon, I just hope that my way of getting rid of it isn’t me eating it all. You know what sounds really good right now? Sour Patch Kids…

3. I’m very anxious to get going on the baby’s bedding. Like, I want to make it today. I’ve got an idea of what I’m doing and have won a few items to work with on ebay, but I really just need to dive in. If I can tackle that part of the prep work, all I’ll need to focus on after that are the dreaded clothing needs. Where do you find cute boy clothes?

4. I’m terrible at keeping secrets. Keep in mind, I am really good at keeping other people’s secrets, just not my own. Christmas is especially hard for me – I’m the girl who would open presents and re-wrap them and could still act surprised. I can read the last chapter of a book and still totally enjoy knowing how it’ll end while reading the rest. It’s a sickness, really.

5. I have the CRAZIEST dreams! Especially when I’m knocked up. I dream about everything and anything, but they all seem to be more vivid when I’m pregnant. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up totally affected by a dream. Several times at night I’ll wake up and talk to Beau and he’ll have no idea what I’m even talking about. It’s usually about one of the girls getting hurt or forgetting something. Totally weird, I know.

6. I’m so pumped already for the Day After Thanksgiving Sales. It’s not even about the great score to me. I love the thrill of it all! I love having to push and shove my way to a desired purchase and I LOVE that Shanna’s got my back. Every year we seem to get into it with someone and it’s secretly kind of fun. That probably makes me sound horrible, huh? Maybe there is a little fighter in me after all. Look out ladies; I’ll pull your hair!

I tag: Amanda, Kim F., Kimm H., Chelsea, Megan and Tanya