My Bay-Bay!

He has refused to wear a bib since forever ago, but for some reason today was the day he decided to wear one. At least he chose a good one.

He hasn't taken a pacifier since he got the ol' snipity-snip on his little man parts when he was a few hours old. I mean to say that he has never taken a pacifier or even a bottle for that matter.  And what I mean by never is actually... NEH. EH. VER. ER.  But again, there must have been something in the yogurt or pediasure this morning because look at this... 

My Bay-Bay!    

*sigh*   

I love him so!

Birthday Dinner of Champions: Fried Bananas topped with Rice and Sausage

The other night I had a dream about my brother. It was bizarre. To say the least.

You see it's been THREE YEARS since I've seen my brother.  ***GASP!!!*** How can that be!?!?!  It truly is a tragedy. Life has made if difficult for both of our families to get together.  We live a thousand miles apart. Literally. And both he and my husband have demanding jobs that don't allow for a whole lot of vacation time.  The times that we do get we all spend it visiting parental units.  Siblings get pushed to the back burner.  It is what it is.

BUUUUUUUTTTTTTT!!!  In just a few very short, and fast approaching weeks, we are road-tripping it to see my awesome bro and fabulous sister-in-love and amazing niece and nephews.  

I.

CAN.

NOT.

WAIT.

I'm not the only one either.  I got this cute text from my SIL...

My baby girl cannot wait to hang out with her Uncle Josh! She even put it on our Summer To-Do List along with hug cousins!

Anyhoo...there's excitement a-plenty coursing through our homes! And what better way to say...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE GUY!!!!

...than a post devoted to how much we miss him, love him, and are so excited to see him?  I can't think of any. 

Unless perhaps this is better...

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MONSTER Revelations and other nonsense

I made a HUUUUGE batch of cookies the other day.  (And by huge batch I mean I used a dozen eggs, 18 cups of oats and 4 cups of sugars!) We have a bake sale this Sunday at church to raise some money for the Worship Dept.  So I'm making MONSTER cookies.  And let me tell you!  They ARE MONSTERS! Easily as big as the Boy Wonder's head.

This is just half of the batch and the smallest cookie up there is still 5 inches in diameter! Those Amish sure know how to double, triple, quadruple a recipe!

Here's the funny thing...when I tasted them, I was instantly transported back in time to Valentine's Days as a kid.  That's when my grandparents would send each of us kids a monster cookie of our own.  VERY special memory for me.  These cookies have such deep roots in my heart.

See, my grandpa who made these with my grandma every year passed away a few years back and now my other grandpa is really struggling with his health.  I don't know how long he'll be with us.  Loosing them is like loosing a piece of my heritage; so treasured are they to me!   I know it's inevitable--death, but losing a whole generation is hard.

These cookies represent so much more than just sugar and calories to me.  They're family.  They're connection.  They're my past and they'll be my future.  They're everything that's good in life and make all the hard stuff easier to handle.

So today, I will eat a MONSTER cookie in honor of my grandparents.  And Sunday I will sell the rest of the giant buggers.  I hope the legacy my grandparents left me with will raise much money to support the next generation of heritage-builders.

:::

What foods evoke strong emotions and memories for you?

The Boy Wonder Turns TWO!!

This digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Another Priceless Gem

From time to time, the Music Man will send me links to things that he finds on the internet. I've talked about it before. Sometimes it's a really thought provoking article or a funny anecdote on life. Other times it's pictures that make him laugh, like this one that he sent me this morning....

Afrcka-bound...

In the Music Man's words...

Dear Friends and Family

I sit here this morning completely overwhelmed. Its been 2 weeks since I made the appeal for funds for our two missions trips in the new year. I have been on the receiving end of God's blessing in the past, but never quite like this. Our need was GREAT! Our God IS GREATER!

I had spoken personally with some of you, and when asked how the Africa trip was coming, I said, "well I don't have the funds, but I was willing to God, and God sees my heart." I had pretty much counted out the Africa opportunity. Well, yesterday at 4:30 PM was my deadline to raise 2700.00 before the plane tickets HAD to be purchased. I had in my account 1950.00 at 3:59PM.

The short story is, at 4PM yesterday afternoon, $750.00 came in to cover my trip. Yes, you read correctly, with 30 minutes to spare. So, thanks to you I will be able to GO and minister to a people that in my wildest dreams I would have never thought I would have the opportunity to minister to, lead worship in nations I NEVER thought I would be going to, and take the NAME OF JESUS to the uttermost parts of the earth!

You guys are awesome! Thank you for your faith-filled support. We still need your help raising another 3000.00 for our Spain trip in April, but thats for another email!

So this means, I have 13 days to: get immunizations; learn music from a band that I have never played with, much less EVEN MET; get the music department of First Assembly ready for my 2 week absence (I have 1000% confidence you guys will handle it! You wont even know I was gone); and pack!

The whirlwind has only just begun, but as it begins I wanted to say a humble THANK YOU for your overwhelming support of Melissa and I. In tears this morning know I am overwhelmed at your love for us and your support for our ministry.

Thank you!
PS and Melissa Ball

:::

I gave him a new journal for Christmas.  He asked The Girl to write a note to him in it for when he's gone.  What she wrote is beyond precious! 

If you can't read it here's the translation:

To: Daddy

From: Natalie

I heart you.

I hop that you

have a varvr Good

tom at Afrcka

I wat you to

say her bee kus

I heart you.

 

:::

 

What else could I possible say after that?

Obedience at its Finest

Two Kosher Pickles....*

The Music Man has been working on a surprise for me since August. If you know him you understand the magnitude of that statement. For him to plan and KEEP a secret this long goes against every fiber of his fine being! From time to time he'll ask me if I want to know and I always say no. He's worked so hard on this secret and has been so proud of himself or keeping it that I just can't take that from him.

So Saturday night we were headed to his work Christmas party and he once again asked me about the secret and if I really had no idea what it was. I really didn't. I could not think of anything that I would be so excited about that he would be willing to keep a secret for 4 months just to see my face when I saw it. What could it possibly be?!?!

So we're sitting at dinner chit-chatting with some friends and one of them says, "so are you excited for Cirque du Soleil on Friday?" I was all "whaaaaaat???" And my man was all "months and months of trying to keep this a secret down the drain." Needless to say there was much disbelief and sputtering as everyone tried to salvage the botched secret.

I. Was. Thunderstruck. You see I have a special place in my heart for the beauty that is Cirque. I have wanted to go for YEARS, but living in central Wisconsin doesn't afford one many opportunities to see such an elaborate display of acroatics, dance, and plain and dimple awesomeness. When we moved to the East Coast there were chances here and there but by then we had kids and a mortgage and more important places to spend our money. To be honest I had kinda forgotten about going at all. Don't get me wrong, I still get the newsletter every month and know what the new shows are all about.

So when this sweet, well-intentioned woman spilled the beans of my man's hard-fought-for secret he was devastated! SIX days to go after months and months of building up the BEST, LONGEST KEPT secret of all time and it was gone in an instant. I felt terrible. For him. For me. For the months of anticipation.

BUT I was beyond thrilled! I gave him the most honest an heart-felt reaction of my life. There were shrieks and squeals and laughter and tears and hugs and screams and woo-hoos. I think it was all he had hoped for and then some. So even though the method of revealing his secret was not at all what he'd been planning months for, he was still pleased. I didn't get off the train at Penn Station, see the signs, and beg him to bring me back ASAP, but I can hardly sleep for the excitement I feel for Friday.

My man is amazing. I'm so tickled that he has kept this secret for so long AND that he made everyone who knew about it keep it as long as he did. He is simply the best.

Four more days....








:::


*For the Music Man...

Why snowboots are a waste of my money.

We have finally come into winter here in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Nothing crazy like when I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin. Check out those piles of snow...

That's me there about the "ss."  I heart my big winter denim coat.  

(That boy in the front on the left... See him there?... He tried to kiss me about a month after this picture was taken.  I didn't let him kiss me until a couple years later at my junior formal.    I haven't heard anything about him in years.  Do you suppose he's on Facebook?)

We got snow (and mass amounts of ice) this past week.  Schools were cancelled and children went sledding (on 2 inches of snow!  Those poor deprived children!).  They built itty-bitty snowmen and forts perfect for a toddler.  I've been looking at all the snowy pictures of my friends on FB and Google Reader.  

Unfortunately I have no pictures of my children playing out in the bits of snow from this week.  We've been quarantined inside with all sorts of RSV-related illnesses.  So I thought I'd post my pictures of the last snow we got...the first one of the winter, which fell a few weeks ago.

The girl wasn't too sure about eating the snow, but I convinced her it was a part of winter.  Just stay away from the yellow stuff.  That's bad, man!

For this mid-Atlantic girl, running laps in the snow is as good as it gets.  

Poor thing doesn't remember the 2 feet of snow we got on Christmas day the one and only winter she spent in WI.

A shot of me and my boy...

What keeps me on my toes... (Would you just look at the love in that boys eyes!!! The feeling is totally mutual Little Man!)

And more snow eating...Trust me! Once you start, you won't be able to stop!

:::

Hopefully in a couple weeks when we go to Wisconsin the tempuratures will be bearable enough to take the kids sledding.  Obviously they've never been.  We'll have to get her a pair of boots and some snow pants.  She's never had snow pants.  The first year we lived her we bought her a pair of snow boots.  She wore them once.  
We haven't wasted the money on any since.  

(Maybe someone in Wausau has a pair of snowpants and boots she could borrow...hint...hint...)

2008 in Review

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?Became the mother of two children.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I didn't really make any. I was pregnant so I couldn't really use lose weight as a resolution.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, my neighbor, Jen had a baby girl, Anna, as did my friend Stephanie, who had Brynlee.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

The only person that I knew personally that died was Mrs. Allen.

5. What countries did you visit?

No over-seas travel for me this year.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A flat stomach. Okay, I'll even settle for a semi-flat stomach.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

May 14, the day my not-so-little-anymore man-child was born.


April 10, the day I left my 20's forever and joined the "adults" in the 30's.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Having and nursing my son.



9. What was your biggest failure?

My personal blog and LazyMom

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I will forever remember The Great Plague of 2008. It wiped out my entire family for 3 straight weeks.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

New Living Room furniture!!!!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My dad! He retired after 30 years! Congratulations to him!!!!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Politicians!!!!

14. Where did most of your money go?

Bills, bills, and more bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The ease of delivery with Jackson and the simplicity of nursing him for the past 7 months. AND!!!! How quickly I fit into my skinny jeans after having a baby!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

Found, Travis Cotrell (actually the whole cd)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:


a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner
c) richer or poorer? The same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Blogging

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Mindless surfing of the internet

20. How did you spend Christmas?

At home, which is where I hope we spend the holiday next year.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Absolutely!!!  How could I not?!?!


22. What was your favorite TV program?

Heroes, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No.

24. What was the best book you read?

Just one???

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Agustana, Amos Lee

26. What did you want and get?

A perfectly healthy, beautiful baby and new living room furniture

27. What did you want and not get?

Pre-baby skinny

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Juno (not sure if it came out this year, but I saw it this year)  The Music Man and I watched it the night Jackson was born.  We cuddled together on my hospital bed with the tiny, squishy, bundle of pure bliss slept in our arms.  It was by far the BEST night of 2008 and certainly the BEST movie to watch while laying in a hospital after giving birth.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 30.  I wanted to go to DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival, but it would have been too much walking/waddling for my 9 month pregnant body.  So instead we went to Lancaster.  It was great.  I shopped for the kids (of course! what else does a mom shop for on her birthday?!) We had dinner at the Red Lobster.  A F150 truck fell off a tow truck and smashed my van.  Happy Birthday to me!

  
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

One more day of preschool each week.  Working on that for 2009.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Same, pregnant or not.

32. What kept you sane?

Jesus, my husband, and my mom.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Will Smith.  He's my best friend, you know.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The terrifying bias of the media regarding the November elections.  They voted in our new president.

35. Who did you miss?

My brother and his family

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Jackson Warner Ball

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

"Look cute" when you go out in public.  Your family will thank you, even the little ones.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I'm Over by Travis Cottrell

"I lived so long in darkness.

 Fighting all I believe.

 I've questioned everything you are.

 But faithful as the morning star you never leave.

Oh, I'm over living life in fear and doubt. 

Oh, I'm over. I won't resist the One I can't live without.

I'm over.

I don't know why you chose me,

Knowing I would be weak.

Just as I am torn apart,

You run to me with open arms and hold me.

Oh, I'm over living life in fear and doubt. 

Oh, I'm over. I won't resist the One I can't live without.

And I know You love me even when it's hard to see.

I'll follow and chose to say I'm over.

You never said it would be easy,

But you promised that you'd stay.

You give me rest.

You will be here with me.

You'll never walk away.

I'm over.

Fighting.

Doubting.

Losing.

Drowning.

Running.

Fearing.

Oh, I'm over living life in fear and doubt. 

Oh, I'm over. I won't resist the One I can't live without.

And I know You love me even when it's hard to see.

I'll follow and chose to say I'm over.

39.  2008 in one word.

Jackson

40. Hope for 2009.

To enjoy each day as it comes.  To live life to its very fullest.  To please my husband.  To embrace the pure bliss that is being a mother.  To be a better person.

What surprise awaits me today?

So The Music Man sent a link to me this morning. Bless his heart! I love when he does that. I know when he does that whatever is on the other end of the link is important for me to look at. I mean my man would never send me anything that wasn't edifying and meant to encourage and build me up. I mean he's my husband. His sole goal in life is to see to my needs.

{{snort. snort.}}

This is where the link took me this morning. Be sure to click on the picture to enlarge it so you get the whole picture.

Isn't he the best? EVER?!

:::

Yeah, the other day this is where the link took me.

:::

No one can ever make me believe that he doesn't have my VERY BEST in mind with all these links.

Hahahaha Hoo hee hee hee hee...

Ok, I could not NOT post this right the second it happened.  I just sent my girl off to school with her beef-cake of a daddy.  I'm still in my jammas, because, let's face it, I just rolled out of bed.  We have a play date with a friend of hers from school this afternoon.  She's been looking forward to is ever since I told her about it yesterday.  So as she was walking down the front steps a minute ago she turns back to me and says, "Make sure you look cute!"  

Wha?????

"MAKE SURE YOU LOOK CUTE!!!!!!!!"

HA HA HA HA HA HOO HOO HEE HEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's four!!!!  I then asked her if I wasn't cute enough to go to her play date as I was and she said "NO!"  

"Just make sure you look cute again!" she clarified.

Ha ha ha ha ho ho hee hee hoo!!!  {{gasping for breath}} Stop! Child! My sides are killing me!

:::

Oh and about 10 minutes prior to this exchange, she was going potty when we heard this come from her mouth...

"What the hell are you doing?"

Yep.  She said it.  

We both jumped down her throat asking her where she had heard that.  I think we freaked her out, because she clammed up like a mob boss.  

My guess: some HGTV or TLC  show--no joke.  I've noticed more and more soft cuss words being dropped on those channels here lately.  It's a sad day when you can't watch Design on a Dime, What Not to Wear, and Real Simple. Real Life. with your child.  

:::

Ok, I have to stop now...I need to go get in the shower so I will "look cute" for our play date this afternoon.

Did You?

Family Fun

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Family Fun Day

We spent Sunday afternoon at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.  It was a beautiful day, not to hot, a tad on the humid side but not too bad.  There were a couple bands playing and so much to look at.  

The Aquarium is right behind us and those dragon boats are the coolest paddle boats I've ever seen.

Jackson's taking the picture.

Say "cheese."

Such a ray of sunshine.

The typical shot of Jackson--sleeping in his car seat.

I caught them dancing to the music.

Nati and a giant duck.

Me and the girl.

Loves

I call Natalie my little LOVE MUFFIN.

The other day Scott heard me call Jackson that.  He hollered to me that Jackson was too chubby to be a muffin.  He said he was more of a loaf.

So now I call Jackson my little LOVE LOAF.

Natalie's New Bike

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First Sunday

She reminds me of this...

Happy Birthday Natalie!!!

At this time four years ago, I felt as though a machete had been shoved inside me and was hacking it's way through my uterus.  (Thanks for the potocin sans epidural!)  It would be another hour and three minutes before I was dilated enough to start pushing.  Twenty minutes later, at 1105pm Natalie Lauren Ball came dancing into this world.  As painful as it was I wouldn't have it any other way!

April 25, 2004

April 25, 2005

April 25, 2006

April 25, 2007

April 25, 2008

Happy Birthday my precious little princess.  You have blessed me in so many ways in the few short years we have known each other.  I can't imagine my life without you.  May you follow our Lord and Saviour all the days of your life.  He will never let you down!