January it is!!

I like to think of myself as a patient person.
I may not be all the time, but I like to think of myself as one.

But, as one who loves a good, gloomy, rainy day, last year's "nonsoon" season (I heard this clever term on the news and thought "That's so cheesy") (and have been using it ever since)...I was really craving days like that to no avail. We have been having lovely weather this winter, had a couple rainfalls here or there, but I really got a treat a couple of weeks ago.

Whether I was patient or not in waiting for it to come, come it did.
We started hearing rumor of heavy storms coming our way and as we anxiously awaited the torrents, I cleaned up clutter (don't want to trip over toys if power goes out), got completely caught up on laundry and dishes (don't want to be caught off guard without opportunity to utilize appliances), cleaned up the back and front yards (don't want debris flying from our yards into neighbors' yards ), made sure we were stocked up on groceries (don't want to have to go to Walmart with all the kids during a tornado warning...ended up doing this anyway...), had extra water on hand, and had then fulfilled all the tasks on the checklist I pulled from my Ballard Family Preparedness Plans Binder from the Severe Thunderstorms section which is in the Severe Weather Section which is in the Disaster Preparedness Section.
There is more where that came from.
This is what I can't help but turn projects into. This is why I don't do things.
And anyway, after all that was done (and I text my family, instructing them on what to do if electrical lines fell on their car while driving...couldn't help it)...the storms weren't that bad here in our area.
Hahaha, but at least I had peace of mind. That NEVER happens. :)

Here is what we were able to enjoy:

Bethany splish-splashes through the ever-increasing puddles!

Ben does the same.

Bethany wonders at the water gushing out of the...oh heavens...what is this called?
I definitely live in Arizona.

Up to this point, James had been inside, laying on the floor, naked and screaming. I won't bother with that story. Rest assured it was of his own will.
But, luckily, we eventually gained the pleasure of his presence and Ben demonstrates what exactly the game is at this point:
Puddles.

The rain brought out the wild side of Bethany and she gave a ferocious growl for this picture!

The boys found some of these bungee cords and put them to good use as water snakes!
These puddles got so deep so fast! It was a great rainstorm.

Here's some wildlife shots for you...
Our precious peach tree is our smallest tree by far yet gave us sweet, edible fruit in his first year and pulled through the summer and winter strong! This week I was so happy because he declared his survival by sprouting these lovely green leaves!
When I say I was so happy, I mean take-a-thousand-pictures, giggle-and-sing-a-song kind of happy.
(Wait until I get around to posting what has happened with him since!)
But, anyway, he loved the rain.

I also found this guy. I was NOT happy about this. I found him crawling out of our garden area (um...future garden area), along with a gazillion crickets, trying to escape the downpour.
I thought it was a strange looking spider. So I took a picture. Black widow, turns out.
Dead now.
(I couldn't bring myself to kill it right then because the kids were watching and I wasn't in the mood for "what happened mama, what happened?" and the "why did you hurt the spider" eyes they give. And also, a little bit because I saw another smaller version of this spider near it and thought it might be its baby and even though I'm sure it doesn't make sense to any other grown adult, I couldn't bring myself to act as the spider family murderer in that moment.)
But like I said, they are dead now.
Along with a bunch of bugs that had decided to nest up in a gap in the stucco on our back wall.
Gross.

Ben didn't want to come inside when it was time, even though he was soaking wet from head to toe and freezing cold.
He wanted to watch the crickets climb up the wall.

It was great to have a really really fantastic rainfall!! We just love the rain and after all the time I spent getting the house in order that week, the kids needed something fun and out of the ordinary!

I am so grateful for the beautiful weather we have been having. Storms, overcast skies, some sunny days mixed in, beautiful breezes, trees starting to breathe life again, soft ground under our feet.
I adore this earth and everything it has to offer us. I marvel quite often at the beauty, sustenance, and responsibility we have been given in it. I try to be grateful for it every day, to remember that it was made for me. (and all of you too) :)
Without it, we couldn't become what we are meant to become.
And without the rain, the earth couldn't become what it was meant to become!
Maybe that's why we love the rain.
(that and puddles)

Daddy time

Last week, in what was a rather unexpected turn of events, JC was laid off from his job. Yep. No more work.
We've gone through all kinds of ranges of thoughts with this new development, and I won't bore you with all of them. :) But, I will tell you that we feel that, as always, we are being placed in the situations we are meant to be in and are being taken care of by a loving Heavenly Father. It will be exciting to see what new opportunities come forward in the near future. Though there are definitely challenges surrounding the situation we are in, we feel fully confident that our family will pull through and hopefully we can learn some lessons along the way!
On a lighter note, while JC has put an incredibly stellar effort into his job search and that takes some of his time, he has also been home more, giving all of us a little more time together.
Some of my favorite moments are when the kids get to rough house with daddy. It's so fun to watch how excited they are! There have been a lot of these moments lately...
Here's some of them...

He manages to tickle Ben with his hands and James with his feet.
Talent that comes in handy with two little boys!

So happy!

This is what we call a flip-de-doo.
At least, it's what I call a flip-de-doo.

James decided to turn the tables on Daddy for once and give his feet a tickle.

Which resulted in...this.

Occasionally, Bethany gets in on the wrestling. Though she usually doesn't last long due to the high intensity of the activity. :) But here is a fun moment:

Ben begs and begs to be tickled, then begs and begs for Daddy to stop!

James is always willing!

Such fun!

In addition to wrestling their cares away, the kids have enjoyed some story time. I caught this picture of them on some morning this week while I was working on breakfast. I love Ben's focused face, James' snuggling, and Bethany's tendency to be involved in the storytelling.

It's been a very different week, but all the extra time with Daddy has been lovely. He gives so much to us in so many ways!

Celebrating with Aunt Katie!

I have a super fun sister Katie...which means the kids have a Super Fun Aunt Katie!
This year, Katie has launched a new project called 365 in 2010.
It is the kind of things genius minds come up with. During the year 2010, Katie is celebrating a holiday per day. You know all those random holidays you see on your calendar, get emails about, and general wonder if anyone actually celebrates them? Katie is celebrating them.

A few weeks ago, we got the privilege of being in on the festivities! It was National Balloon Ascension Day on January 9th and Katie arrived at the Ballard Homestead with plans to share balloons and watch a lovely little film called "Up!" Have you seen it? You should.

The Distributing of the Balloons

Katie is excited about Ben and the movie. Ben is mostly excited about hanging out with Katie and gazing at his balloon floating overhead.

A little playtime...

The kids held their balloons through the whole movie. They were so thrilled at the novelty of it all! Truth be told, Katie and I were too.

The next day, JC snuck this shot of me planning my lesson for Sunday School.
Although it appears I was doing so for my own amusement, I promise I was holding those balloons under order from the kids so they wouldn't float "up-a-da-sky" and be lost.

Whatever my reason, it is abundantly clear that we all enjoyed and benefited from taking the opportunity to celebrate!
To learn more about Balloon Ascension Day and many other less-observed holidays, visit Katie here! It is the most fun.
We are looking forward to celebrating with Katie again!

More of Summertime in January!

We have started walking again as a family. We had gotten pretty good about taking evening walks and then JC went and got injured. :) But, the weather is still great, he's feeling great, and I am getting insanely antsy and ready to get back to workouts of some sort! So, we are easing back into evening/afternoon walks (it would always just depend on when JC got off work)
This particular day, he got off in the afternoon so we headed out for a walk to a nearby park we hadn't explored before.
Turns out it's a good one. It feels like it's been forever since we played at a park, so I had to...you know...take a bunch of pictures and treat it like a holiday or something.

Ben and his shades. Something about babies in sunglasses is hilarious to me.

James worked hard at mastering the monkey bars...with help.

As well as the zipline thingie.
What do you call this?

Whatever it's called, everyone got a turn.

Bethany loves to pose for pictures! So lovely!

And so very brave!

Just a little shot of us enjoying the sunshine!

...and one of James hanging upside down, which he does any chance he gets.

Bethany kept wanting me to take her picture trying to climb this pole. I kept trying to get her to try to climb up some other way to no avail! Not sure a four-year-old has the upper body strength to accomplish the task at hand...but doesn't she look cute trying?

We are really so lucky to live in the neighborhood that we do. Though, I shouldn't call it luck. We felt very much like we were meant to be in this house, in this neighborhood...like everything had been prepared just right so that we could find our way here. So...we are very blessed to live in this neighborhood with so many wonderful places - like parks - in walking distance, beautiful tall trees to shade us, safe streets and fantastic neighbors. These reasons may not be why we were meant to be here but they sure are perks. :)

Is this really January??

After we got our Christmas lights put away this year, we moved on to other winter activities.
We had a spur of the moment car wash in the driveway. It was some Saturday and we had wandered into the front yard, ran around a bit and discovered things were heating up quite a bit. JC had the idea to let the kids 'wash' the cars.
Now, we all know that spraying vehicles down with water and letting preschoolers rub wash clothes all over them is going to move the general cleanliness of the car in the other direction, but it was something to do!
They had so much fun...it felt like a nice summer day (though not by Arizona terms!), right in the middle of January!

Ben was a pro!

Look at those hard workers! (Man, won't it be awesome when they can actually do this for real?)

This is the moment when James discovered JC was chasing him with the hose.

This is a moment not too long after that.

Pretty Bethany let me catch a sweet picture of her in between all the washing and running around.

Ah...refreshing! Doesn't this picture just make you feel like summertime?

Handsome Daddy

Cheesy Mommy

James hid out in the garage a lot after JC started chasing him with the hose.

Woohoo!!!

After everyone was done with the cars and working on getting dried off (and worn out for dinner, baths, and bedtime), the kids took to running around some more...this time in our neighbors' yard. For some reason, they love to jump the little fence between our driveway and our neighbors' yard. The little plot of grass they jump into acts as a magical land or something. It is way cooler than anything on our property. Luckily, we have wonderful neighbors who endure all of this.
Ben likes to go over there to march.
He usually does this while sing-songing "I am Woody! I am Woody! I am Woody!"
Yes. He still loves Toy Story.

The brave jump into the magical land! I love how they are holding hands.

A little behind...but brave nonetheless!

Shadows!!

James has taken a liking to our Sissoo tree out front.
JC and I love this tree. We all have high hopes for our future with this tree!
He shall bring us shade, beauty, and...no leaves on the bottom half if James has anything to do with it. Um, also, he will bring us no seed pods spread around our front yard. The guy at the nursery assured us of that.
The other day JC told me that there is one reason and one reason only that he is looking forward to the heat of the summer. And it is that our Sissoo will take off like crazy. He is so excited to see this! (Though, just now when I told him we needed to take a moment and make sure we agreed on the gender of our Sissoo Tree, he ignored me and was purposely very involved in something else. I also think he laughed at me a little when he thought I wasn't looking.)
Perhaps I will document the growth of our Sissoo. You know how I like to document things
Anyway...
Aren't they both lovely?

The day itself was quite lovely.
Even if it was a strange one for January.