Five Things for Friday: Catching Up!

- 1- 

Conrad at 2 months

This sweet little guy is growing up so fast! He is honestly the easiest, most content baby, and he has brought so much joy to our home. Conrad loves looking at his mobile, being held by anyone (and everyone), and his pacifier. He took his first bottle like a champ! At his check up he was 11 lbs 4oz and 23 inches long. My absolute favorite thing he does is carry on long conversations with you while flashing his sweet smile.

- 2 - 

Thanksgiving

We had a low key thanksgiving with another family in our ward. The girls acted out a play of the first thanksgiving while Orson shredded things with his bear claws. It was a perfect day, especially with this cute little turkey bum!

- 3 -

Dates

Michael and I both caught a few dates in with the kids. I took Hazel on an amazing hike here in Berea one morning. We chatted and enjoyed the last beautiful traces of fall. Sadly, she's already beginning to see and experience meanness, gossiping, and foul language at school. But she has such a clear sense of what is right, and what she wants. Hazel is a wonderful light to many! Michael also took her out to do some Christmas shopping and to go shooting. She wasn't at all sad they weren't actually able to go shooting because the range was full. She's terrified of guns (in fact I was shocked she agreed to go at all). 

Eliza and I enjoyed a fun morning of hanging out and grocery shopping. Followed by huge muffins! She told me all about the stories she's been crafting at school. She loves to create and nurture. I love that about her! 

Lenora and I get alone time nearly every afternoon while the big girls are at school and the boys nap. We play lots of board and card games, and she helps me with whatever chores are on the agenda that day. She is my most quiet child, but then out of the blue I find her singing songs word for word with perfect pitch, spouting math facts like 5+5=10, and telling me wonderful ideas. There so much more depth to Lenora than we realize and I love catching glimpses of her brilliant mind! 

- 4 -

Life

Super girls!

First Kentucky snow!

Troll's hair

No terrible twos here, but the Tornado Twos are alive and well!

Daddy presented at Career day! 

New dresses from Grandma!

Bed Head!

- 5 - 

Christmas prep

Hazel's Christmas concert, Christmas cookies, caroling, gingerbread houses, and hideous Christmas suits. 

Sad Deck, Happy Deck

When we moved in our deck was in sad, sad shape. Without some serious TLC it was going to need to be replaced in a few years. So when I was 34 weeks pregnant we started tackling this deck project. First we power washed...

Then we stained... 

I thought we'd be able to get it done in 2-3 Saturdays. If only! It ended up taking forever! I finally finished the last of the staining the day before Thanksgiving. But, now it's done, it looks nice, and it hopefully will last a bit longer. Whew! Glad that's done so we can move on to more fun house projects.

First Broken Bone

With five kids, it's inevitable that one of them will break a bone at some point. Poor Eliza got the award for first broken bone in the Ballard house. She was playing on a slide at the playground a slide off in a weird way landing directly on her arm.

The initial x-ray didn't show the break and the poor thing had to wait a day and a half to see the orthopedic doctor. She was miserable and in terrible pain. Sleeping was especially rough.

The Ortho treated her for a broken elbow (which did show up on the x-ray the following week). She had a splint for a week while the swelling and bruising went down, then a cast for about 3 weeks. Thankfully once it was immobilized it wasn't painful for her any more.

 One funny story, on Thanksgiving I heard Eliza calling, "Mom, help!" I looked over to see her with a dollop of whipped cream on her finger. "Just lick it off," I told her. Then I realized she couldn't get her finger to her mouth with the cast!

 Now the cast is off and she's nearly back to normal. She's had a few physical therapy appointments to get it moving again. We're glad our little monkey is all healed up again.

Halloween 2017

Five Little Pumpkins!

Halloween is such a fun holiday for kids (and a slightly exhausting one for adults! Getting all the kids in costumes to go places was a feat, hence I didn't get many pictures of them all dressed up) I declared this year we were picking a costume from the dress up box. Eliza and Lenora wore something different for every event. They were mostly cute princesses! 

Orson had a batman costume that he got from Grandma and Grandpa for his birthday, but he wanted nothing to do with dressing up. For the ward party and party at Michael's work he went as a cowboy. On Halloween, Michael finally convinced him to give batman a try. He was adorable! He quickly learned the joy of saying "trick-or-treat" and getting candy. I loved watching him struggle to carry his big bucket while keeping up with the girls. It was just TOO cute! 

Grandma and Grandpa also got Conrad a matching Robin costume! Too bad Batman refused to hold Robin for a picture.

Hazel wanted to be Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter. She even made her wand (with a bit of help). Conrad went as Harry Potter complete with glasses and a scar that we drew on him with washable marker. He was SO cute! I played along with the theme and dressed as the Nimbus 2000 racing broom and carried Conrad in the wrap. Again, we never got a great picture.

Pumpkins from Walmart aren't as cool as pumpkins you grown, but we still had fun...

I also finally got smart and realized kids younger than five couldn't care less about carving a pumpkin. So Lenora and Orson painted their pumpkins. Much more fun and much less stress for everyone.