Family birthday dinner.
A with some of the boys eating hamburgers and hot dogs.

Then cake and ice cream.

Our girls with all their 1st cousins...yes, all boys. We have 5 nephews.
Lots of wildness when this bunch gets together.

And finally...PRESENTS!

First Spend the Night Party

Last Friday, A had 3 friends come over for her first spend the night party.
They had a blast and I have to say it was a lot of fun.
We started off with dinner and cake and ice cream.

Then the girls decorated a tote bag.
I have to say that they turned out really cute and the girls were so creative.
They got to take these home Saturday morning filled with candy.

Next, the girls entertained M and I with some singing and dancing (Daddy and R
had to go to softball practice for a bit). This part I videoed and will enjoy laughing at
it for years to come. Then we put colored stripes in the girl's hair. They loved this and thought
they were so cool. Even M kept saying "My turn". We put a little pink in her hair too.
Don't worry it washed out very easily.

They finished the night watching HSM3, a gift from her friend R. A was the last one asleep around midnight. Not to bad if you ask me.
Saturday morning they ate waffles and then headed outside to play some kickball before everyone went home.

I think they had a great time. I know that I had fun watching these wonderful girls.

EIGHT is GREAT!!!

A is 8 today!
My how time flies!
We can hardly believe that she is 8. She keeps telling us that she is now halfway to getting a
driver's license. UGH! I hope these next 8 years go by slower.

A, we are so proud of you and the young lady that you are becoming.
Gone are the days of babyness, toddlerhood and "little" girl.
Now, you want to hang out with the grown ups a bit more, and
you do not like for me to show you much affection in public. (This is not fun for Mommy)
However, you do love to snuggle at night every once in a while.
You LOVE reading, softball, playing outside and riding your bike.
You are a perfectionist and like to have things where you like them (you get that from your Mommy). You don't care if your room is clean, but you could spend hours putting your hair up in the perfect ponytail.
You are a great big sister and you love to get a rise out of R and M.
You have taught and are teaching Daddy and I about parenting. Unfortunately, we have to try everything out on you first.

I can only imagine what the next 8 years will bring, but I do know that we love you very much and that will never change. Keep putting Jesus first, love your family and friends with all you have and know that we are so very proud of you!

Happy 8th Birthday, A!

R's First Published Book

Here is the book R wrote and illustrated.
Her teacher typed the words for her from her rough draft.
Isn't it wonderful?

We are so proud of you, R!

Way to go!

R published and illustrated her very first book this week in school.
She is so proud and we are so proud of her. It is titled "Valentine's".
Her teacher let her pick any class in the school to go and read to and
of course she picked A's class. So, this morning she went to read to A's class.
She did such a good job. She was really nervous and shy about it, so she was really soft.
It was so cute...

Our friend, Tyler, said "Hey, I know she can be louder than that?" ha ha...he is so right.

I know the picture is blurry, but I was trying to keep M from yelling at her so we could hear the story. Oh well...

Good Job, R! We are so proud of you!

Catching her off guard

M is into everything these days.
She is definitely keeping me busy and on my toes.
I can hardly leave her in another room on her own, for fear of what I might find
when I come back.

Here she is cuddling up with her BaaBaas one night watching Elmo...her most favorite
show to watch. She has her feet propped up on the entertainment center because
she watches her sisters do this all the time.

In this one, I had left the room for about 30 seconds only to hear the chair moving across the kitchen floor. I came in to find her standing in the chair at the island drinking my iced coffee...she is truly her mother's child. She thought she was so cute and turned to say "cheese"
when she noticed that I had the camera in my hand.

And about 10 times a day she gets hats, mittens, scarves out of the basket and puts them on.
Isn't she adorable?

I wouldn't have it any other way....I love that she keeps me busy.

A's New Look

A got glasses last week. Doesn't she look so cute?
She only has to wear them when she is reading or working on something at her desk.
So far she likes them and looks fantastic in them.

NYC Weekend...

was a BLAST!

We had a great time and are very thankful to our husbands for sending us.
I am waiting to get all the pics on a CD so that I can share them with you.
We were greeted Saturday morning at 4:45am with a limo waiting to take all of us to the airport. The trip up was uneventful (my kind of airplane ride) and were welcomed to NYC with 5* weather. It was COLD, but we did not care.

We walked, rode a tour bus throughout the city, shopped, went to the Empire State Building, dinner and to see Chicago Saturday.
Sunday we awoke to SNOW...beautiful snow. It was a bit warmer this day though. We walked some more, shopped a lot (got some great purses), cried a bit at Ground Zero, saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, the bull from the movie Hitch, Rockafeller Center, Central Park, and much more.
Monday we rode the Subway at an ungodly hour of the morning to try to see Regis and Kelly but they were not taping (despite what the internet and our hotel said), shopped some more, and headed back home. After 6 hours in the airport, 3 delay times and finally a cancellation and flight change we arrived in ATL around 1am.

I promise to post lots of pics as soon as I get them.

Christmas Day 2008

Santa came....

M on her Barbie 4wheeler...this is the only time she has gotten on the thing...she is scared of it.

All the girls got bean bags...they love them.

Wow, what a mess...too bad Santa doesn't stay around to help clean up.

Yes, we had a GREAT Christmas, and hope that you did too!

Christmas Eve 2008 Part 2

After we leave Granddaddy's house, we head to my parent's house to continue the festivities.
Here are my parent's grandchildren sitting in front of the tree with all their presents.
.

Aren't they a cute bunch?
Yes, we have all the girls.

And my parents with the little ones, including Magic, their dog and 4th child.

What fun times!

Christmas Eve 2008 Part 1

I know that Christmas is long past, but I wanted to make sure to post some pictures.

Here are the girls getting ready to head to our service at church on Christmas Eve.

Daddy and his girls...

Mommy and her girls...

After church we head to my Granddaddy's (my dad's dad and my only living grandparent) house. There are 37 of us now, so on Christmas Eve we have to use the garage to put tables for the Grands and GreatGrands to eat and then we all come out here to open presents. My Granddaddy has 4 children, 8 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. It can get quite crazy at times. Here are some pics of the girls and some cousins enjoying opening their gifts.

M with her Elmo...she loves this new Elmo.

A with 2 new books...it won't be long before she is finished with these...she loves to read.

M's Big Girl Bed

As promised, here are pictures of M in her Big Girl Bed.

I know they are dark, but you gotta get the picture while you can.

Guess M's new trick...

If you said climbing out of her crib, then you are CORRECT!

Yes, when I put her in her crib for nap today she was out within a minute.
She came out with the biggest grin on her face like she was so proud of herself.

We really have been wondering why she hasn't done this yet, since she climbs on everything.
Well, she kept doing it. So much so, that we took the crib down and put up the Big Girl Bed.
She loved it and loved playing on it...that is until I tried to make her lay down to go to bed tonight.
I am sure we are in for a long night...we will see.

She is the same age A and R were when we moved them out of the crib. A had to come out because R was on the way. R came out for the same reason as M. She was climbing out of the bed. However, she started doing it at 17 months and we were not ready to move her.
We really were not ready to move M today, but we were afraid she would hurt herself. She can already crawl under the gate at the top of the stairs to go down and many other things A and R could not do at this age.

Oh well, the sadness is setting in that the crib is no more. I am trying not to think about it too much so that I don't cry. Will post pictures soon of M in her new bed.

Happy New Year...

...from our family to yours.

We pray that 2009 will be all you ever dreamed and then some.
May God continue to bless you all.

Much Love, From The Ballews

Tagged...

My friend Jennifer tagged me...I think this is the first one I have done.

So here it goes.
1. Go to your pictures folder.
2. Go to the fourth folder.
3. Choose the fourth picture.
4. Explain the picture.
5. Tag four people.

This is M just after she was weighed on her BIRTHday! Isn't she just adorable.

I tag...Tonya, Holly, Sherry, and Denise. Good luck girls.

Merry Christmas...

from Our Family to Yours.

We hope this Christmas finds you happy and surrounded by the ones you love.
We are thankful for family, friends and most importantly
the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!

NYC here we come...

So last night we celelbrated Christmas with our group of friends (8 couples) and
had a blast. We started the night at an Italian restaurant for dinner...it was fabulous.
Then we headed to the White's for a white elephant gift exchange.
The gift exchange is always a time for lots of laughs and wondering who will end up with the
craziest gift. I have to say there were several.

However, this was not the end of the night. The husbands have been very busy cooking
up a little surprise for the wives. They gave each of us an envelope and we had to open them at the
same time. After a few seconds we realized that the guys were sending us to NEW YORK CITY for a weekend in January (no husbands, no kids). MERRY CHRISTMAS to us! So the 8 of us (Stacy,
Stephanie, Cassy, Kim, Tonya, Katie, Christy and I) will be leaving in about 3 1/2 weeks for 2 nights and days in the Big Apple. We cannot wait!

Thanks, B! This is the best gift...I love you very much!

Introducing Duke...

Meet Duke.
He is our Elf on the Shelf.
He showed up sometime during the day on Thanksgiving
and has been back in a new spot every day since.
The girls LOVE getting up each morning and looking for him.
Some days he has been easy to find, and some days we have to search for him high and low
(well really only high because if M could get a hold of him then we would never find him again - and well you aren't supposed to touch him either, or he will lose all of his magical powers).

So, we are counting down the days till Santa comes and Duke leaves again until next year.
But for now we are enjoying seeing him around the house, telling him our secrets
and showing him all the great things we can do.

I sure hope he is giving the Big Guy a good report from this house every night.

A's Class Play and Christmas Party

A's class did a Christmas play for the parents Friday morning.
It was so cute. They each had a part and were just fantastic.
Here is her teacher, Mrs. S giving directions before the show.

Here are A and her best friend R waiting to get started.

Here is the class getting anxious. They were also "starving" since they knew the Christmas party was taking place as soon as the show was over.

Here is A getting ready to get her food and enjoy her party with her friends.

Great Job, A! Your play was AWESOME!

R's Reindeer Ride

Thursday night all the Kindergarten teachers at the girls'
school went on a "Reindeer Ride". They went to each child's house
to wish them a Merry Christmas and give them a present.
R was so excited and could not wait.
She was the last stop (since we live so close to the school) and ran
out the door as soon as we saw them pull into the driveway.
Here are Mrs. F and Mrs. S with R.

What a fun time! Merry Christmas Mrs. F and Mrs. S.