Christmas Celebrations

As we were a week away from moving near Christmas this year, we were welcomed to "Valerie in-law's" home for a lovely Christmas Eve dinner.  Having a big house full of people always make the holidays seem more like the holidays for some reason!  



A rare good pic of just Chris and I.



Family Christmas Pic 2010

Auntie Amy's famous deviled eggs, Avery not so sure.



Taste Test




Ballard Family (plus A): Corbin 4, Amy, Ethan 2, Caelan 6, Phil, Avery 3


Everyone was way too generous with Avery, clearing out much of her Amazon Wish list, but she had a lovely time and so did we!!

Snowflake Lane

What is better then getting candy from a real life toy soldier as you wait for Santa's arrival?  This has become our day after Thanksgiving tradition.  This year it rained and was really, really cold, but Avery had fun all the same!

Sometimes you have to go back to being a Kid

Thanksgiving is full of fun, traditions, family and food.  So, what better thing to do then introduce our kiddos to the silly fun of putting olives on your fingers?  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and it is a true reminder of everything we have to be thankful for!

Kiddos getting ready for this (adult) silliness!

Who do we think liked this the most?  Uh, Phil?

Busy, busy BEE!

Avery was a busy, busy BEE for Halloween and looked great!

Here she is after the daycare parade where we all got drenched, but she has her determined little speed walking face on! Outta my way people!

We headed over to our friends for an Annual Halloween soup evening and since Avery loves dogs, she immediately gave Ozzie a hug, who was also a bee for Halloween. As was his little sister Caelin, Avery's friend.As we headed out and hit up a couple of houses in the neighborhood for trick or treating, Avery thought the decorations were better then the candy and here she is off with someone's pumpkin.

The next day we had a potluck with our PEPS group and you can tell the kiddos were nothing less then thrilled to be in costumes and have their picture taken.