Random In January

January never fails to be a random month for the Ballard family. We're all coming down from holiday highs, and yet, excited for the brand new year that lies ahead. Due to this, the month flies by and our activities within that time make for a very sporadic post. So, without further adieu...

RANDOM #1

The weather.

It's warm, it's cold, it's snowy, it's dry?

We're not complaining though!

We spend warm days at the park and cold days enjoying games and hot chocolate,

(after the first snowman is built of course.)

RANDOM #2

We have spent multiple days in Puerto Rico!

(Alright, we of course don't actually go there)

It's a fantastic game of trading, buying, and selling - we highly recommend it!

The older girls caught on quickly and play with us into late hours of the night.

It's been great bonding time with the girls, but destroys any hope of Steven and

I being social with other couples. Oh well, we now have "built in" game players!

RANDOM #3

A great check up for our rapidly growing baby.

8 months old already! What is going on?

For "stat" purposes Azure is....

80 percentile weight, 80 percentile head circumference, and 60 percentile height.

We're lovin' her chubbiness!

RANDOM #4

We had "girls day out" last weekend.

After visiting the local animal shelter for our hundredth time,

(the kids know we can only window shop right now)

we stopped in at TGIFriday's.

Haley was enjoying her ice cream to the extreme.

They are ALL growing too fast!

RANDOM #5

You know that "growing too fast" comment above?

Here's more proof!

Kadyn lost her first (THREE) teeth during the week of Christmas.

Number 1 came on Monday, number 2 Christmas Eve,

and number 3 just a few days later.

For Kadyn it truly brought new meaning to the song, "All I Want For Christmas."

Good thing the tooth fairy doesn't take off for holidays!

New Year's 2011

So fun! We chased the kiddos at the park in 62 degrees and finished the year off with a buffet of Ballard family favorites. What else could one ask for?

8:45pm

10:10pm

11:40pm

12:00am!

The Magic House

Six months left in St. Louis and two entire weeks with no school.....

we gotta live it up!

Missouri Botanical Garden

The physician that's training Steven in fellowship has a great family. They have been super kind to us throughout our experience here and have made us feel comfortable and welcome from the beginning. On Thursday, while our husbands worked hard in surgeries, we were playing hard in the beautiful botanical gardens. We stayed nearly three hours, with a large portion of that being spent in an amazing children's maze. The kids just ran and ran. We also loved their biodome, which is a climate controlled rain forest. The plants and flowers inside are amazing! Seriously, if you ever make it to St. Louis visit the Ballard's and the Botanical Garden.

Entertaining Azure

Individuals will ask me all the time, "how in the world do you entertain FIVE children?" I have to say for the most part, they truly entertain one another. In this video they had been "entertaining" Azure for over ten minutes before it crossed my mind to grab the camera, and yet ten minutes later, she's still lovin' it!

St. Louis Science Center

The pictures alone will give you an idea of how awesome the Science Center is here. Would you like to know what makes it even better? As members of KU's Natural History Museum, (thanks Tamara!).....we get in free. We had a fantastic day and only made it through a few sections, and thus, our return visit is already on the calendar.