Spinach Can Soothe The Soul

Smoothie season is upon us and I have utilized this machine more than ever.

I am currently participating in an eight week challenge of health to better one's mind, body, and spirit. It has been an amazing experience for me and couldn't have come at a better moment in life as the stresses and trials of selling our home were about to overtake me. :)

I was in desperate need of drawing my attentions to more important and uplifting avenues and this challenge has brought all things back into their proper perspective - and I'm only on week four!

Don't let the color of the above smoothie fool you either.

It delicious in it's taste, and if you don't believe me we have four children under the age of eight who suck it down in all it's entirety and then proceed to beg for more. There are a number of great smoothie recipes too, all of which you can add a few handfuls of fresh spinach, and no kid will be the wiser.

Spinach Smoothie Recipe

Baby Spinach stacked to the top of the blender - just pile it in.

1/2 Can of Pineapple (*in pineapple juice, not syrup)

1 Banana

1 Cup Water/Pineapple Juice

1 Cup Ice (or you can freeze the banana/pineapple and skip the ice)

Sprinkle in a little Splenda

Enjoy!

Quick Update

Sun, Sprinklers, and Smiles.

What more could you ask for?

Ryley's class field trip to the Botanical Garden's.

We celebrated the 10th anniversary of Steven's 25th birthday!

I brought home Thai food and made creme brulee.

Yummy.

I also had the opportunity to attend a conference this past weekend.

It was amazing to say the least.

A big "thank you" to my wonderful husband for a weekend of major multitasking.

(His huge OKAP test is this Saturday too, and he still sent me off)

Lessons Learned

I recently made these "bees" to give our primary children, but the experience made me recognize so much more.

They have been short of teachers for the primary classes at church due to a large number of moves that have recently taken place. Due to this I have been filling in as an honorary sub to assist a girl who teaches a class of nine 3 year olds - known as sunbeams. The lessons are of course wonderfully simple and each Sunday our focus is to keep them in their chairs and, above all, teach them that their Heavenly Father knows and loves them.

The girl I am assisting (Suzie) is one of my greatest friends and their family has many roles that interact with ours. She is an amazing pianist and has taught Ryley for the last two years. Her teenaged girls are wonderful examples to our children and have been their regular babysitters. Her younger sons are around Ryley's age - but play with all of our children with great kindness and love. Suzie was recently released as Stake YW President - where you interact largely with girls ages 12 to 18. She is now teaching a rambunctious group of 3 year olds and her abilities to do so are an amazing thing to watch.

We focus all lessons around a large amount of music and Suzie has every item imaginable to keep them entertained. If the lesson is about rain - Suzie has cloth raindrops hooked to strings and each child gets one to sing songs about rain and earth. If the lesson is about insects she has spiders made of yarn, string, and eyes so that each child gets one to climb up their leg during songs. She has birds on sticks, frogs for their fingers, fish for the sea, bees in a "hive", and much more. We trade off lessons each week and she continually offers her talents and creative ideas.

I look back at these past (almost) three years and am truly amazed at the things that women in this area have taught me. It doesn't stop with my above example either - teaching me about music and creative ideas is just the beginning. Different women have taught me how to garden, keep food storage well, stay organized, do family history, cook even healthier, use coupons and shop smartly, and the list just goes from there. I am so very grateful for all of these women who have truly made an impact on my life during our short time here. Memphis will be missed!

Spring Break 2010

With the exception of Dad being away for the week of spring break, we had a wonderful time together and thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather.

An entire day was spent at the zoo - which was so nice

after a long and uncommonly cold winter.

We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed seeing all of our

favorite animals.The best part was watching Haley experience the

animals for the very first time.

While she has been to the zoo a dozen times already, her current age is perfect to "spy" the animals and enjoy the excitement.

We went roller skating twice.

It was so fun to watch Ryley and Kadyn take off - and even hide from me at the end of the session just so they didn't have to stop.

Thatch loved the food and games and Haley loved running back and forth on the carpet.

One of the days was a birthday party.

In hopes of a picture I placed Haley on the bench near Ryley and asked her to set her arm behind Haley's back so that she wouldn't fall.

Ryley did just that and clever little Haley "spied" her cupcake and quickly helped herself to a chunk.

No hands!

Kite flying has become a favorite family activity.

Kadyn And King Arthur

Our elementary school hosted a children's traveling theatre company this past week. The company gives children the opportunity to be in a production complete with lights, sets, and costumes. Ryley and Kadyn were both very excited to audition. They only had forty parts to offer over a hundred children and when names were called, Kadyn was cast as "the raven" (a vital role in a play about King Arthur and his knights).

Ryley, on the other hand, experienced her first encounter with rejection. My heart broke for her. Although she was disappointed in the short term, her positive attitude completely blew me away. She went to every rehearsal to support her sister. While I entertained (i.e. chased) Thatch and Haley outside, she sat, watched, and clapped for every move her sister made.

Kadyn did a wonderful job with this new and exciting experience and we had a great time cheering her on when the curtains went up. As her reward for a job well done we returned home for an ice cream feast in her honor- everyone picked their own half-gallon, plus toppings, and cones.

When Steven was asked about the experience- he pointed to the kids jumping off the walls from their sugar high, gave a wry smile, and simply said:

"Quoth the raven- Nevermore!"

What they did was actually quite clever.

They wrote the play so that all parts had a "mini" character, or a double.

That way when King Arthur and his people (who were played by much older and bigger kids) went off to fight the giant and dragon, the "mini's" could come on in their place - thus making the giant and dragon appear very large in size.

This clip makes me laugh every time.

Kadyn looks out at the audience in hopes of spying our faces

and you can tell the exact moment that she does.

It's priceless.

Reverent Rewards

Our church primary recently started a "reverence spotlight" to try and get the kids to stay quiet. Right before the lesson they turn out all the lights and read a cute poem about reverence while waving a flashlight around. At the end of the poem they point the flashlight at the child felt to be most reverent (or trying their hardest) during the meeting. The chosen child then gets rewarded with a mini flashlight of their very own.

Thatcher is in his first year of primary and is adjusting to the idea of being reverent beyond Sacrament meeting. The first few weeks that the spotlight took place, Thatcher (and all the other three year-olds) weren't all that interested in the poem. That changed a few weeks ago, when Thatcher realized he could earn a flashlight of his own if he worked as hard as he could to sit quietly during the meeting. This is NOT an easy task- training and controlling such an active body through the prism of a three-year old's mind and focus is beyond my comprehension. The degree of improvement in his reverence he showed during his first week of realization was incredible- and when the reverence flashlight shined on a boy across the room instead of him his head dropped for just a moment, but he left that day with even greater determination to win that flashlight.

The next Sunday, Thatcher sat as still and reverent as ever. His arms were folded and he sat without a single wiggle in his chair. The lights turned out, the flashlight began waving throughout the rows of children and the poem was being read. Thatcher looked up at me from his chair and without speaking a word seemed to ask, "Do you think I'll get it Mom?" I looked at him and just smiled, hoping so badly that he would indeed be rewarded for his hard efforts. Suddenly the poem was over, the flashlight stopped and the name was announced, "Thatcher Ballard".

The room was silent from the great reverence that was being expressed. Thatcher heard his name and with great enthusiasm (and a very loud voice) he jumped to his feet, threw his arms in the air and while jumping up and down yelled, "YES"!, "YES"!, "I WON", "I DID IT", "YES"!

The room exploded with laughter and you couldn't help but smile at the excitement he had for being able to control his wiggles and win the reverence flashlight.

Update: That was last Sunday. . . Today Steven and I sat in primary wondering if it would have been wiser to hold off rewarding Thatcher with a reverence flashlight a little while longer (perhaps a few years).

Moments Make The Month

Two weeks have flown by and February is about to come to a close. I think the months of January and February are always the hardest. Various holidays that packed the months prior have come to an end and the cold weather becomes even colder - drastically changing the amount of time we can spend outside.

I attempt to fill our days with cleaver games and various ways to release pent up energies (that being a much harder task when trying to keep a home spotless for possible showings) but I must admit that in my attempt to keep things positive, I am secretly counting the days until spring.

I have found myself debating throughout the entire month of February on whether various Ballard family happenings are "blog worthy".

In most instances I decide that the games of paper battleship or Haley discovering the hidden stash of markers and drawing a lovely mural on the newly painted wall can be saved for another day.

Then the thought struck me.

The greatest "gift" I receive from the efforts of keeping our family blog is the journal/scrapbook that I have printed out at the end of each year. If I fail to add events, regardless of how trivial they may seem, I will with certainty forget the silly moments and wonderful experiences that this sweet family creates, thus, making February not only bearable but enjoyable.

Having said that, below is a "wrap up" of our last few weeks.

First, we just found out that our next stop will be Fort Riley, Kansas.

The physician at each opening spot gave a "run down" of their particular location prior to choosing.

The Fort Riley doctor and his family loved the small town, the great school system, and best of all,

the light amount of call.

For those reasons and more this was our top pick and we are very excited with the outcome.

The small college town of Manhattan, KS is seven miles from Ft. Riley and home to Kansas State.

(which apparently plays some pretty good teams throughout the year - I think Steven liked the idea of that too!)

Steven will take over for the Ophthalmologist there.

It will only be for a short year before heading out for his fellowship

but we are very excited for this new area and adventure.

Grandma's Valentines.

We had fun treats and Dad gave his usual cards and gifts to the family.

This year he also gave a "kids" gift - the game Operation.

He mainly chose that game due to the heart inside - thus relating somewhat to Valentines.

We had to giggle when the kids opened it and we realized they have changed many of the body parts - replacing them with a phone, a frog, and Thatcher's favorite - gas bubbles.

It even comes with sounds now that fit each item within his body.

Oh well. It's been very fun to play, and with most of their board games in storage the kids have loved it.

This kid cracks me up.

While not quite as classic as the piano picture, I cannot believe the various positions that this angel can actually fall asleep in.

And yes, she did find markers and it was quite a lovely mural.