Kadyn's Violin

This past Christmas Kadyn heard the violin being played during a concert at our church. I saw her shift in the chair and as I glanced over noticed a light of excitement appear in her eyes. This was a big deal to observe in Kadyn. While she can surprise you with moments of great independence she is definitely the child who stays close to Mom, and in regards to new activities ventures no further than, "If Ryley's doing it, I will too". When I observed this reaction of excitement toward the violin I knew I must take action. She is most excited to begin piano lessons (Of course - Ryley is doing it) but since we are waiting to begin formal lessons around mid mark of kindergarten, I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce a new instrument to our family, while at the same time offering Kadyn something unique of her very own.

She has taken for seven weeks now and her favorite activity currently is attempting to "trick" Dad by playing various bow changes and having him guess their names.

OKAPS

Believe it or not, OKAPS is not an acronym for
O.K.
A post would be nice,
Promise to do it
Soon

Over the past few months our lives have revovled around these five little letters. During residency Steven has the task of preparing for and taking an extensive exam each April of his three year residency entitled OKAPS.

It's not something new for us to have Steven studying but due to the April exam however, around January, the usual studying becomes increasingly intensified until that fabulous day in April arrives. I call this day fabulous because many things happen at once. First, you get your hubby back and head out on that long awaited date. Next, your children get their, "wrestling/airplane" buddy back. Lastly, and best of all, the entire family returns to their less complicated and relaxed schedule.

I guess one of the beauties of life is that everything experienced becomes a teaching moment or reminder. I am so grateful for a wise Heavenly Father who understands the importance of both husband and wife. A fathers influence is tremendous. While our children may not have noticed Dad's increased absence due to the beautiful weather we have been enjoying, the "tag-team" help he offers mother is an incredible blessing not to be overlooked!

With a little extra time now on my hands I am more than happy to update the family blog with various Ballard happenings that have taken place over the past few weeks.

Strawberry Surprises

Strawberry season began. With our first pickings we turned these:

into this:

The kids had a lot of fun picking the strawberries. Granted, it doesn't come even close to Grandpa Ballard's garden where they can eat them right off the bush. With Utah out of reach though it will have to do. Since Ryley missed the first round we will return together Saturday and hopefully create more jam and make a possible attempt at pies.

Baseball Begins

After experiencing soccer we were under the impression that Ryley didn't particularly enjoy sports.

Wow. We're we off.

It's now clear that Ryley enjoys sports, just not ones that involve having to "fight" for a particular object, i.e. a soccer ball.

She therefore gave T-ball a shot and loves it.

Her age division is actually coaches pitch, where (of course) the coach pitches to each player.

She signed up with a good friend and is the only female on a team of twelve.

Is this a concern for Ryley? Oh no.

I love this picture. It was taken the same day Ryley "lost" her tooth and I love that she's so proud to show it!

Here's Ryley running to first after a strong hit to left field. She made it to third, with a teammate then hitting to bring her home.

It's great fun to watch. I will try to put video on soon.

Annual Aging

Steven and I both got a little older this month. One of us being three years elder than the other, but we don't need specifics now, do we?!

Here is Steven shaking his gifts. Yes, that's right. Shaking them. Each one individually.

He loves to do this, and then guess what's inside.

What's truly sad is his 99% accuracy rate.

These beautiful flowers were one of my favorite gifts.

The cute toes below them belong to me and are a picture of my first pedicure.

I learned a good lesson with my first pedicure.

If your feet are ticklish, don't get one!

Sun and Smiles

Spring has been a joy to experience.

On this day the kids took chalk and created an entire town complete with individual homes, a doctors office, and various stores. They played this for three hours before Mom's had to unite just to drag each "homeowner" inside for their baths.

I'm not sure the girls are very fond of large furry rabbits. Who is really?

Everyone was allowed 30 eggs but once Thatcher discovered candy inside he was more than happy to sit down and get started.

We had frequent easter egg hunts around the house but Haley J wasn't that impressed.

Easter is of course the best part of this time. While living in this area our family has had incredible experiences in sharing our faith and beliefs with others. Beautiful wooden crosses could be found in many of the front yards of our community, with the cross being an significant symbol of many friends and neighbors faiths. It was a wonderful experience to not only remember His sacrifice of death, but having opportunity as well to share our beliefs and gratitude

for the wonderful knowledge as well, that He lives!

Cherish Childhood

We are excited to have recently become the newest entry in the tooth fairies address book. Apparently Ryley's baby teeth really enjoy their current location because not a single one has decided to leave, and all of them are planted like steel. Last week however when an adult tooth was discovered making it's way quickly up behind a baby one the dentist decide to assist Ryley a bit and pull it.
She quickly learned the benefits of loosing teeth when a generous fairy left five gold dollar coins under her pillow. I would say she is pretty lucky with that reward seeing as the evening prior she returned to her questioning on the validity of such individuals. As with last Christmas we once again were asked questions of doubt such as, "I wonder if this is all legend?", and "Mom, are you the one who leaves the money"? I sat Ryley near and said, "Sweetheart, don't worry about how things happen. Just enjoy the magic and wonder of childhood while your still so young."
Ryley was happy with that answer, and I was happy that our eldest is still young enough to enjoy the simpleness of being a child.

My Girls

We just got our portraits back for the girls from JCPenny. We only ordered one high quality shot for each of them, but thanks to the thumbnails posted online and the magic of the iMac I was able to put the following clips together!

"No, I Do It"

I'll be the first to admit that there can be definite differences when raising girls and boys. Perhaps these differences are not solely gender related, but since we have only raised daughters who act the opposite of Thatcher in many behavior instances, we can only assume its his Y chromosome. Thatcher has certainly proven more resilient, much more independent, and by far more danger prone than all three of his sisters put together. We try to gently modify a few of the less desirable behaviors that appear with these particular traits. Don't get me wrong. In our opinion we have observed these traits to have an even larger upside that will be a benefit and help to Thatcher throughout his life. Especially being surrounded by girls.

Thatcher's "independent" behavior is the theme we dedicate in this particular post. Understanding that he is already two and a half I still find it an amazing accomplishment that this child has single handedly potty trained himself. Honestly, it hadn't even crossed my mind to begin the task of potty training. Our pediatricians always commented that boys on average were potty trained between three/three and a half.

Credit Thatcher, and Kadyn for his recent success. Kadyn you ask? Yes. About three weeks ago Kadyn came running into our room proclaiming, "Mama, Thatcher went potty in the potty." I go to see what all the excitement is about and sure enough Thatcher had gone potty in the tiny chair that's usually stored under the bathroom sink. Kadyn had decided to pull it out and while she went on the big potty she said, "Hey Thatch. Why don't I go in this one and you in that one. That way we can go at the same time!" Apparently Thatcher thought this was a great idea because that is exactly what happened.

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't take him very seriously at first. I continued to strap on a diaper and didn't exactly push the, "do you have to use the potty" question. When a few days passed and he was now scaling the big toilet in hopes to go, I figured I'd better hop on board and offer any additional help and incentive I could.

Congrats to Thatcher on this great accomplishment and to independent children everywhere who continually proclaim, "No, I do it".


I had to add these. With all his independence he is the kindest little boy I know.

He walks himself daily into his room to take a nap.



He LOVES his sisters more than ANYTHING. He loves to play whatever they want and they love that he is old enough now to join in their games and make believe. Now they can both be dogs and forever have a constant "dog owner".



At times he loves his sisters perhaps a little too much- I left the room to change out some laundry and upon returning noticed Haley J was even quieter than her normal little babbles. I glance over and realized that Thatch had decided to share his sucker. Wasn't that nice! The next day we were all eating lunch and he attempted to sneak her a fishy cracker. Apparently he feels bad for her. We are always eating good things in front of her and all she gets is milk. We are now in the stages of explaining babies needs and he doesn't seem quite as concerned since we began feeding her baby cereal.

Spring Has Sprung

There is nothing better than spending every possible moment of springtime enjoying the fresh air and sunshine! Even with the small "hiccups" of waiting out the rain, and occasional tornado warnings (don't let our Mom's read this post), these past few weeks have been nothing but perfect, "kite flyin', park playin', the ice cream truck is back, sunshine", kind of weather.