The Ballard Bunch

Just for the record:  I am not bored.  

I am constantly doing laundry and washing dishes, mopping floors and wiping butts.  

I clean mirrors and windows more than should be legally allowed.  I sit with each of my children after school and help with homework, we eat dinner together every night (almost always a meal that I have prepared at home) and we read at least 20 minutes before bed.  

I make lunches, volunteer in classrooms, take the car for repairs, hold church callings, and run a part time business.  

I do all the grocery shopping, birthday shopping, Christmas shopping.  

I pay the bills and balance the checkbook.

I don’t always get a shower or a sit-down lunch.

I can’t remember the last time I went shopping for me.

I pick up, drop off, call ahead and plan. 

I am not bored, anything but.

Exhausted?  Sure, but I will continue to celebrate ‘silly’ traditions

with my family, because that’s what we do.  And we all love it.

I don’t mind a late night here and there to place green food coloring in the toilet and milk jug and leaving a small bag or ‘better luck next time’ treats after spending the evening with my children making a leprechaun trap that they are convinced will work this year (it never does).  I love waiting for the quiet sounds of slumber downstairs every night in December so my husband and I can think of another fun (and free!) way our elf can surprise the kids in the mornings leading up to Christmas.  And even more, I love hearing them remind each other to make good choices because their elf Kit Kat is watching.  I am as anxious for birthdays as my kids are and secretly love the sounds of early morning voices unable to wait any longer.  The magic that they see reminds me, even if it’s just for a short amount of time, that there is good in this crazy, scary, chaotic world we live in - good that they can always find in our home.

Is our world overly materialistic?  Absolutely.  I think we go way overboard with lavish gifts and money spent on children who will outgrow/break/tear/loose items in a shorter amount of time than I could have ever imagined pre-motherhood.  But giving your children a little something to look forward to, giving them traditions and memories that last much longer than their childhood will, seems alright to me.  And if you don’t maintain the same traditions in your family, that seems alright to me, too.

What I do mind, however, is the judgment from other moms.  How about instead of being upset that other parents do it differently than we do (don’t even get me started on how much people pay for teeth or jeans these days), we teach our kids that traditions are family specific.  How about we all teach our kids to quit asking each other ’what did you get for Christmas?’ and instead work on being kinder to each other.  How about we stop with the mom-bashing and start showing our kids how to value their own traditions and quit worrying about what others do.

I will not apologize for being fun.

Someday my house will be quiet, clean and leprechaun-free.

That’s when I think the boredom will set in.

i'm now a mother of four.

that's so insane to me,

but really awesome, too.

and although he came into this world

a little differently than i'd had planned

{a c-section for my smallest baby},

i wouldn't change a thing because

if you don't believe me,

keep scrolling down for pictures

a baby has never been loved more,

{making mom late for church, or course}

Someday {soon, hopefully},

I'll feel up to posting about

all of the not-so-great happenings

of our family in the last month.

It's certainly been a month of trials;

trails of faith, hope, prayer and loss,

surrender and miracles, love

and struggles none of us were prepared for.

But if I've learned anything in the last four weeks,

it's been that if it weren't for my loved ones, I'd be lost.

I've seen family rally together {both near and far}

in ways I'd never imagined possible.

There is such amazing strength found in the simplicity of love.

And we, thanks to so many of you,
are blessed with love in abundance.

There are not adequate words of thanks to give.

The support and love we've felt
from so many of you can never be repaid.

But know that we

{and I feel safe speaking for our entire family}

are overcome with gratitude.

On days that I feel like I'm being pulled in every direction

{emotionally, physically, spiritually - you name it}

or moments when I can't find the right words
to say to my grieving Beau,

I can always count my three angels to keep me grounded.

The sweetness they possess should be bottled and sold.

Although it might not feel like it every moment

of every day {especially now}, we are all extremely blessed.

Some were into it

and some totally weren't.

{book now to save your date}