I'm Thankful...

Thanksgiving is a time to remember and acknowledge things for which you are thankful. Here is a list of things that I am thankful for and feel blessed to have in my life (in no particular order):

I'm Thankful for...

My beautiful daughters, who give me a reason to laugh and smile each and every day

Brock, who keeps me grounded, loves me unconditionally and spoils me on a regular basis

My mom, who showed me many ways to be a good mom

My dad, who showed me the value of hard work

My step-dad, who loved me as his own from the beginning

My in-laws, who love me as their own daughter not just their son's wife

My brothers, who ask me for advice and value my opinions, it makes me feel like a really good "big" sister

All of my friends, near and far, who each add something special to my life

Scrapbooking, that enables me to preserve our family memories for my children

Our boat, that lets us share so much quality family time together

That we have a home that is always full of love and blissful chaos the rest of the time :)

My blog, that allows me to share the events of our family life with our family and friends

Audrey's love of music, that allows her to express her artistic talents through the piano

"Claireisms" (little remarks/phrases that she says), that show her colorful personality so well

Duke, our family dog, who filled a void that we didn't realize was there until he completed our happy little family

Starbucks, that it helps me get going every morning

Amy and Dori (my Pilates and fitness trainers) who push me to work harder, and have in the process helped me get fit and stay healthy

All of my books, that they give me the much-needed "Mommy Time" to sit back and relax

Facebook, that it allows me to stay in touch with friends from high school and college that I would have otherwise probably lost contact with

My life, like everything, is full of ups and downs, joys and pains, but you don't learn to appreciate the ups and the joys without the downs and the pains. So when I think about my life, I feel so very, very blessed!

Thank you to everyone who is a part of my life - without each of you my life would missing something! Love to you all!!!

New Moon... Yes I am part of the frenzy!

Many of you already know the story of me and the whole Twilight saga. But for those of you who don't here it is...

In May, no, no, no... let me back it up a bit further than that... For months before May, my best friend, Jamie, was trying to get me to read Twilight (Book #1 in the saga) with her. This is something that we would do regularly - read books together and chat about them as we did it. *Side note: this is something that friends who live 1,000+ miles away from each other must do!* Anyway, she was, I don't want to use the word 'begging', but... okay, "pretty insistent" that I read the book. "You'll love it Amy", she would say. My whole drawback with the book/saga was that the main characters were teenagers AND my babysitter and all of her friends were reading the books. Let's face it, I am not a teenager anymore and reading something that is all the rage among that age group was not on my agenda. So months go by, still Jamie is "pretty insistent" that we read the book together. So in May, I give in and bought "Twilight". Just Twilight though, there would be no further reading of the saga for me! No... Well, I ordered the book from B&N because I am a "book snob" as so many near and dear to me have pointed out. I only want hardcover books and I only want the original cover - not the movie cover, which was what was in the stores. So after the week it took to get to my house through good ole UPS, I had the book in hand and Jamie and I were reading together, yet apart. :) At this point, you must realize that my state of mind about the book is not very positive. At this point, I am only reading the book for my friend. Well that all changed on page 88...

"I may not give you back though," he said with a wicked glint in his eyes.

That did it for me, I was hooked. I was hooked on Edward. Bella. Vampires. The tiny town of Forks. I knew I had to read it all. So, I went to the bookstore and bought the entire saga (hardcover of course, with the original covers). I then proceeded to read all four books (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn) in eight days. Front to back, to the last letter, in 8 days. I lived and breathed Edward and Bella. Brock was traveling during my addiction (because that's what it was). He would kindly send me text messages reminding me to get my nose out of the book and feed the kids. Sweet, I know. I have to say that I did feed, bathe and care for my kids without the reminders, but the fact that he thought I needed them was quite funny. I mean, so what if they ate dinner at 4:30 and were in bed by 6:00 so Mommy could read... It was just a week and they survived! ;) LOL...

Now, with release of New Moon (Book #2) in the theaters, I am excited beyond imagination. I have successfully recruited friends and family into the addictive world of Twilight. My latest victim is my friend, Shannon. I feel like the neighborhood dealer... delivering a fix as I take the next book to her. No, I am not a drug dealer! Just a good friend with a massive amount of books to share.

So, tomorrow I am going to see "New Moon" with my wonderful husband, who has agreed - quite easily I might add - to be my plus 1...

And for those of you who want to know... Yes, I am "Team Edward" 100%!

Cheers to Audrey!

Audrey made the "A" Honor Roll for the first grading period!

Audrey has always been a great student, but being recognized for her hard work was quite rewarding for her. She enjoys school - Math and Art are her favorite subjects. She amazes me with how well she grasps the math concepts that are being introduced this year. She has also created many wonderful art pieces that are displayed throughout our house. Many visitors to our home ask where I found the art that is displayed and I love being able to say, with great pride, that Audrey made the art! I will dedicated a post to her art soon.

"Cheers!" to Audrey for a job well done!

It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving...

It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving at the Ballard house... My daughters and I created these whimsical turkeys last year using a wonderful fall-themed paper pack. There's a turkey for each family member, plus our dog (because he's a member of the family too!)

Brock likes to poke fun at the length of the turkeys' legs... But I think it adds to the whimsy!

Check back after Turkey Day to see what we have made for Christmas!

Witness to History

One of the benefits of living in Florida is being able to witness a little bit of history from our own backyard. Every shuttle launch is just as amazing as the one before. It amazes me each and every time I see it! We have watched a number of launches from a number of locations - our backyard, the park across from the launch pad, the side of the road (when I forgot it was "today"), the Target parking lot. My favorite by far are night launches. Seeing the night sky light up like it's daytime is, in one word, breathtaking!

But the most recent launch, we saw from our backyard. I took some photos and we submitted one to the local news, which was selected as one of its "viewer" shots! :) YEAH! The kids were very excited to see our photo on TV. Here are a few photos from the launch!

The Bet

So what do you do when you think your team is better than someone else’s team? You make a bet. What do you do when your child decides to cheer for the rival team? You make a bet.

Now, I am not talking about a bet with a bookie with juice and spreads and all that jazz– No… this bet is better than that. This bet is between Audrey (the Gator fan) and me (the Alabama fan). The terms are quite simple. The loser in the SEC Championship game has to wear a spirit shirt for the winning team during our trip to Alabama in December. This will be quite difficult for either of us should our respective team be the losing one.

So here is some of the background story about the inter-family rivalry that has developed in my happy family. I guess I should start with the fact that I have been an Alabama fan pretty much my whole life and fully expected my husband and children to be Bama fans too. I went to the University of Alabama, proudly cheered my team through probation, many different coaching staffs and some not so great seasons. We made a point to subscribe to GamePlan in Colorado so that we could watch all of the Bama games. Now, living in Gator/Seminole country, I still proudly cheer for my Crimson Tide.

Audrey was an Alabama fan too once upon a time. I do realize that this "fan-ship" was a direct byproduct of having two parents who were Bama fans and living in Tuscaloosa. However, Audrey remained an Alabama fan the entire time we lived in Colorado. No cheers for the Colorado Buffalos or the CSU Rams from this child.

Then we moved to Florida... Still she remained an Alabama fan through Kindergarten and 1st Grade. Then our lives were changed forever! Audrey was in Mrs. Appolloni's 2nd Grade class. Not only is Mrs. Appolloni a Gator fan but she is also a HUGE Tim Tebow fan - not that I am complaining about that because Tebow is a great role model for kids today. I want my children to like their teachers - it is good for many reasons - but this wonderful and amazing teacher played a major role in luring my sweet, innocent baby girl to the "dark side" of the SEC - becoming a Florida Gator fan! That said, Mrs. Appolloni was not entirely responsible for Audrey’s decision. Most kids in her class were Gator fans and Florida did have a great season last year. So there was a lot of peer pressure involved too. Audrey thought it was funny (and I did too at the time) that she liked the Gators and I liked the Crimson Tide. It was a running joke in our family until one dreadful Saturday in December, when the two teams met in Atlanta for a championship game and the joke lost its funniness. A huge loss for my team meant a huge win for her team. I swallowed a lot of pride and cheered on her Gator team as they played in the National Championship game (They are still an SEC team after all). She even received a Gator shirt for Christmas (I can’t stress enough how difficult that purchase was).

Now with the stage set again for another SEC showdown between my Crimson Tide and her Gators, the bet is on. So only time will tell if Audrey will be donning a fabulous “Bama” shirt or if I will have to wear the horrid orange and blue!

If you are one of those wondering how I could let this happen, then let me explain... It's actually quite simple - a mother's love for her children cannot be surpassed by anything... For more evidence of this, in relation to our inter-family rivialry, check out the blog post about Audrey's 8th birthday party - "Gator Style"

Trick or Treat

One crime fighting Bat Girl and a rosy-cheeked Princess made for a great Halloween! Audrey and Claire really enjoyed dressing up this year, especially Claire who is now old enough to understand the concept of trick-or-treating. She slept through the entire event last year so this time she enjoyed it to the fullest. We went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with our friends, James and Shannon, and their three children. The girls had a blast. Claire told me "This is the best!" Below are some photos of the my "incognito" children... :)

Off on the right foot

Our Caped Crusader
Our Sweet Princess

We don't have pictures of the actual trick-or-treating for a few reasons:

1) One camera battery did not charge
2) One Bat Girl went at mach speed leaving no time for photo ops
3) Sometimes you just have to put the camera down and enjoy the moment! :)