Our New Puppy

Raxtus joined us a few days after our arrival to NC. The breeders picked him to come to our family based on his relaxed personality and love of snuggling. He is all that and more. We have fallen head over heels in love with this little guy and can't wait to watch him continue to learn and grow. His final shots take place tomorrow, just in time for puppy kindergarten to begin on Saturday. With two "accident free" days, we fully expect him to be valedictorian of his class. 

Summer Catch Up

We headed for NC with half of the "waiting game" for our possessions already completed. With an empty home we were even more eager to explore our new surroundings, and yet, with a new puppy joining our family we also fully understood that the time period we could leave our home (at least for this summer) would be in increments of a few hours. Thus, we slowly (but surely) began to familiarize ourselves with the town. 

First stop....no, not the zoo - it's a few hours away so we're saving that for another day. The library. Our kiddos love books, and the older gals also love listening to books on CD, so, when we arrived and found some of their favorites ready to be checked out they were very excited.
We also spent countless hours playing fun games. "Father May I", "Simon Says", and "What Time Is It Mr. Fox" were among their favorites. I guarantee you - our kids could now beat anyone at these games.
Thatcher's real 6th birthday also arrived and a family celebration was in order. The splash pad, running through sprinklers, and taking Raxtus on numerous walks that ended with beautiful sunsets helped complete our weeks as well. When the moving truck arrived our kiddos grabbed the first box they could find and immediately went to "work" with their imaginations. 

Our Trek East

We decided to break up our trip Eastward into three separate days. Day one included a five hour drive with a quick stop to Memphis where we checked on our home and got the chance to catch up with some wonderful friends from the past. Day two was the longest stretch where we completed ten hours, then surprised the kiddos with a stop at Great Wolf. We felt very blessed with wonderful, resilient children and great weather - but for some reason - that was the longest ten hours ever! :) Steven put it best when he said, "this was the perfect ending to a horrendous day." :) We woke the next morning and played again for another four hours, then hopped in the car and completed day three with a short four hour drive before arriving at our new home in NC!

Thatcher's "Fake" Birthday

Three years have passed since we began moving year for year. By July 4th our home is packed, loaded on a truck, and the Ballard family is on their way -  somewhere between old and new. Thatchers birthday also happens to be July 12th, and thus, each year he has decided to celebrate with a family party.....mainly due to the fact that we don't know a soul! This year was different though. This year he completed kindergarten - and completed it well. This year he made new friends that he will remember forever. This year he turns 6 years old, and thus, this year his Mom was going to make certain that her little boy had a "friend" party to remember. Now, seeing as our house is packed and completely void of anything, I did have to get creative and find a location that could actually entertain a group of youngsters. Bounce U was his choice and I must say, it was a great one and definitely worth every penny. We love this kid. We love his never ending enthusiasm. We love his thought provoking questions and ideas. Most of all, we love his sweet smile and spirit. Happy "fake" Birthday Thatch!

Summer Time (Week 6)

Last week was one of "shakin' things up" a bit for the Ballard family. For starters, we decided to try a new pool located just down the street. I think the kiddos really enjoyed it, but I have hunch that the wave pool at our usual location would keep them at #1 if voting for favorite features. A few days later I was "shakin' up" again when I dropped Ryley and Kadyn off at the pool to enjoy a day in the sun with their good friend. Her nanny (who I know well) was watching over them for the afternoon. I mention this because it was one of those moments (for me) when you realize your kids are growing up on you. They are maturing and getting old enough to venture off and enjoy activities with their friends. Even though they had adult supervision, it was so weird that the supervision provided wasn't me. 

We also had a great evening at our favorite park and, of course, we couldn't leave St. Louis without visiting the zoo for their opening day of a brand new sea lion exhibit. We went in an hour before the zoo closed and enjoyed a fairly empty exhibit, plus, ended up hitting their evening feeding time. It was awesome.