Halloween Headaches

For Halloween this year, I just wanted to go back in time and have my children dress up as their younger selves. I wanted a sweet little cowboy, a darling little cowgirl, and a good green faced witch.

Awww, the good old days when I had time to be domesticated and actually put time, energy, and thought into costumes for my kids. (And when they were so young that they agreed to be anything I could make - just give me some felt, iron on adhesive, and face make-up!)

This year, I was not domestic. In fact, we spent 2 Saturdays searching the thrift stores to see if I could find someone else's past domestication. I was tired after driving to 4 different smelly stores that were filled with loads of other people searching for the same things.


Success was had with Payton's costume (just don't tell anyone his shirt was found in the girls' section). Score at store number 2. Not so for Kourtni and Lindsay. After several more attempts at second hand shops, I called it a day and offered many suggestions: a pirate, a gypsy, a scarecrow, a white trash gal, a hippy, a nerd, a UPS girl, a dead football player, and the list went on. We had the parts for those outfits at our house, for Pete's sake. Lindsay relented and a dead football player it was. Yippee!


Not so easy for Kourtni. We drove around and around on Saturday the 31st to see if there were anymore ideas out there. NOPE! After several "I told you so's" and "why don't you just take my suggestions", we headed home with no ideas.

After going through my closet, trying on different shades of acid washed jeans, and going through my drawers of old "Stuff", Kourtni decided that she would take after her father and deliver the goods for Halloween by posing as a gangsta UPS gal. Thank goodness for "snap decisions"...

Thank goodness that there will be no more trick or treating for the girls next year.
Thank goodness for UPS clothes.
Thank goodness for patient friends.
Thank goodness Bill and I had an extra 40 bucks to pay our kids to get rid of their 10 pounds of candy.
Thank goodness I can take all that sugar to school and give it out to deserving 1st graders for the rest of the school year! (Yes, there is that much.)
Thank goodness Halloween comes only once a year.
Thank goodness for soft bristled toothbrushes, Crest toothpaste, and Glide floss.
Thank goodness for Dr. Wagner when the toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss don't do the trick.

Thank goodness I'm done.

Tin Grins are In!

Yes, it's true. We have another brace face in the Ball household. Little Miss Lindsay Lou donned her tin grin this past week and now joins Kourtni as a patient of Dr. Jarvis. (We just hope Lindsay doesn't get the violent feelings toward the doctor like Kourtni does... After each appointment Kourtni wants to "punch him in the face"... Yeah. Having those things on your teeth for 18 months gets old.)

She was a real trooper and I got the mother of the year award for making her walk to the orthodontic office during the school day, sit in the chair for 2 hours with no motherly love sitting nearby, and walk back to school for the rest of the day. Lindsay is awesome and she didn't even utter one word of complaint at having to deal with a delinquent mother who was busy teaching her 24 "other children".

Come back in about 18 months to see the big after reveal! 'Til then, no pop, no carmelly candy, no jerky (poor carnivore!), no Skittles, no sugary gum, no hard shell tacos or Doritoes, etc. etc.

You can do it, Lindser!

Fall Pictures

So I've discovered this thing called Facebook. Do you know what I'm talking about? This online phenomena where you can reconnect with old friends. Where you can spend limitless hours perusing their photo albums, profiles, and such? Yes, I've found it and I'm not sure that it's a positive thing for me. You see, lately many of my Facebook friends have posted new fall family pictures, complete with beautiful autumn colors and leaves of breathtaking beauty mixed with a perfectly coordinated family who have gorgeous (the girls) hair and make up, and (the men) great outfits to go along with the rest of the gang. Hmmm. My thoughts go back to last fall when it was like chopping fingers off to find something, anything, for my family to wear for a family picture. It was like herding cats to get the entire group to decide on a pose and to maintain that pose while I quickly balanced our pathetic digital camera on a rock, set the self timer, sprinted back to my spot, and tried to smile like we were all so relaxed and happy to be there. Yes, we haven't taken any cute fall family photos. Reason number one is that we need each member to be here (unlike my mother and father who had a family picture taken while I was at Ricks College...yes, really.) and Alyssa is definitely not here. Reason number two is that we are slaves to everything football. College football, Optimist football, Sunday night football, ESPN football, etc. Football takes a lot of our time. Reason number three is that I feel like a fashion dork most of the time and I am really not sure what I would have our family wear. I was thinking that we might look good in coordinating Snuggies? Reason number four is that our little camera has been taking pathetic pictures lately (or maybe I just need to read the unopened manual that tells me how to use it) and I just don't want to sprint around setting self timers in a park with lots of unbalanced rocks.

So there you have it. Four reasons why the Ball family just doesn't have any fall pictures that depict our cuteness. You'll have to settle for the grainy, unfocused, candids of what we've been doing lately.

Try not to be jealous if you see them on my Facebook.

Doin' the tummy rub dance on Dad's birthday. You had to be there.

Lindsay's city cross country meet.

Kourtni's choir concert.

Number 81!

Sweaty, sisterly love.

Little Broncos Optimist Football Team 5-2!

My view from the worn out desk chair at the computer.

The cat and Kourtni.

Another running picture with lots of grass in it.

A very muddy practice. The mud did not come out of his shirt but it did come out of his pants!

Bill's 44th birthday!
(See what I mean about grainy?)

Bill's newest friend and my newest nemesis...

My zebra snuggie. We should all get them, look like we've just woken up, and have a family picture taken. What do you think? Sorry you have to turn your head to see this fashionable photo.

Church Thingy and Kourtni

You've gotta love Kourtni. I mean, who doesn't? She is nice, fun, positive, in tune with her mother's emotional needs, funny, happy, and on and on.

She keeps us laughing. She keeps us shaking our heads. She keeps us driving to pick her and her friends up at late hours in the night. She texts almost all the time. She has 8 million friends. She is a character.

Ever since she was a young girl, she has said funny things. We've laughed at mixed up phrases she's gotten confused so many times.

For example: Upon hearing that Bill was going to the landfill to drop off some large hunks of junk, she perked up her ears and said, "I want to go to the land mine!"

When talking of rude people overhearing another's conversation, she proclaimed, "I don't like ear droppers!"

After watching her sister intently, she announced, "I'm watching you like a duck!"

There was a point in time when Alyssa and I started to write down these funny Kourtni-isms. They were that humorous and I wanted to remember them! Too bad I don't know where that hilarious list is.

I guess I'll have to start a new list beginning with her latest proclamation from yesterday (General Conference Sunday) when she asked, "What time is that church thingy on today?"

Yeah. That's our Kourtni! We totally love her sunshine and silliness in our family!

The Secret

I've always tried to be a positive person. Tried to be tactful about something negative. Tried to look for the good in unhappy situations. Tried to cheer up the sad. Tried to be a shoulder to cry or vent on. I was really good at positivity (is that a word?) when I was younger and my kids were smaller and had smaller problems.

As the years have crept up on me and my children have grown, I've become less of a positive person and more of a snark. More pessimistic. More sarcastic. More "half-empty" less "half-full". More judgmental. More cynical.

I decided today that I have to change back into the positive person I think I used to be.

If I want to live longer, be happier, be healthier, and just plain more pleasant, negativity needs to become a thing of the past for me. You see the light when on today as I was sitting in a crowded high school auditorium listening to a fabulous presenter about how "worksheets don't grow dendrites". Her comments were very applicable to the classroom - as they were intended to be - but her comments were also highly applicable to typical non-teaching-professional as well.

Did you know you will live 8 years longer if you laugh at least 3 times a day?
Did you know that your brain doesn't recognize the difference between a fake laugh and a real belly jiggling one?
Did you know that everyone needs to wake up each day with a purpose in mind for the day?
Did you know that people who lose their purpose tend to die within 24 months of that lost purpose?
Did you know that most famous comedians live or have lived well into their 80s?
Did you know that most professional successful athletes use visualization to make themselves more confident?
Did you know that it is imperative for your health to get at least 7 - 9 hours of sleep each night for important body repairs?
Did you know that you were born with 100 billion neurons in your brain?
Did you know that when you learn something new you grow a new dendrite? (It's part of your brain that talks to the axons which promotes healthy synapses... makes you smarter.)

I love teaching, but some days it's so nice to be the one being TAUGHT! Thank heavens for October Idaho Teacher Inservice Days! Thank heavens for Dr. Marcia Tate! Thank heavens for her secret! I'm sharing it with you, right here, right now, in hopes of passing along the vital information I learned today... Hope you can use it in your life!

The Secret

Find something to look forward to
Something to love
And, something to do!
Don't worry! Be happy!
Eat as you should
Exercise makes your life all good!

Here's to having a purpose and being positive.

John Deere or Massey Ferguson???

Wow, 17 days of school have passed and I've definitely learned a lot about the typical first grade student:

1. They are like lemmings - if one laughs at the funny part of a book, THEY ALL LAUGH.
- if one has to go to the bathroom, MOST ALL OF THEM DO, TOO.
- if one tells a story to Mrs. Ball when she has asked for "QUESTIONS" THEY ALL HAVE A FUNNY STORY TO TELL.
- if one is praised for a beautiful job of writing his or her name - THEY ALL NEED PRAISE FOR THEIR SCRIPT.

2. They like to blurt whatever is in their brain OUT LOUD - my dad is IN JAIL.
- I losted a tooth LAST NIGHT.
- It's not fair she found the MAGIC PIECE OF TRASH.
- Move YOUR clip, Mrs. Ball.
- I'm the smartest in the class since I WAS DONE FIRST.
- When is it lunch? - (THIS SAID AT 2:00...)
- I'm done now what? Now what? Now what?
- Mrs. Ball, Mrs. Ball, Mrs. Ball... (adinfenitum...that means FOREVER)
- The slug has escaped from his cup that Missy brought in this morning!

3. They know A LOT for being 6 - Mrs. Ball, he just said a bad word - whispers: moron
- Mrs. Ball, she just said a bad word - whispers: crap
- Mrs. Ball, was that tractor in the apple book a John Deere? Or was it a Massey Ferguson?
- They can read like no one's business! Some up to 90 words a minute - sheesh!
- They know our routine down to a science and DO NOT LET ME FORGET IT!!!


Yep, I've learned about 3 things during the past 17 days.

Now what I need to do is: take it all in, remember the funny stuff, breathe regularly and consistently, keep my voice level and slightly syrupy, give daily hugs and/or high fives, recognize good behavior, and be prepared for ANYTHING! ('cuz it just might happen!!!)

Klutzy Kris

This was the summer of the klutz. That would be me. No ice, no snow, no slick surfaces waiting to suck me down. Just pure ditziness on my part.

You've seen the pictures of what that dreaded bolt did to my leg. I now have a garishly colored purple scar on my thigh. One that gets more and more purple after a workout or a run. Good thing that leg is covered up most of the time...

I haven't posted my second incident of the summer:

With the sidewalk.
Broad daylight.
In my childhood hometown.
In front of a school parking lot filled with children and parents.

The sidewalk reached up, grabbed my foot, pulled me down in an instant, left me bloody and in shock, feeling like my hip and shoulder were a 90 year old woman's. I was in town to help Lyss move into her dorm and, needless to say, I was not a very huge help since I could barely gimp along!

Thankfully, these other road rashes that are finally healing. Four distinct areas on my body with four distinct (and disgusting) scabbed over areas.

I'm ready to look like a 42 year old and less like a 4 year old who doesn't know how to remain upright on a bike.

I'm practicing how to stay upright on my feet from now on!

Lumpy and Bumpy

About 21 years ago, on a very lumpy, bumpy double bed, in a quaint house Bill and I called home, I made the decision that would affect the rest of my life. (No, it was not to get a queen bed either...) There were 2 options for my future employment: teaching or nursing. I chose the first and have really never regretted that decision. After all, there are many good things to like about teaching: June, July, and August. And that isn't just something you read on a teacher's mug, either. It's very true and right now the third reason is almost over and it's time to bite the bullet and get back at it.

My kids have always been real troopers when it came to the classes I taught. When they were young and needed a babysitter, I loaded them (Alyssa and Kourtni) up in the car with a babysitter in the front seat, and headed out to school. Now babysitters are no longer needed and their actual help is very much appreciated! They have always been interested in the funny, sad, disgusting, and interesting stories I told them about the children in my classes.
"Miss Kris, my dad thinks you look like a dinosaur...but I don't think you look like a dinosaur!!!"

or

"Mrs. Bald, your make up is soooo pretty!"
or
"Mrs. Balls, your earrings are beautiful!"

They have had to compete, in a way, for attention from me - I have had an additional 20 to 25 kids in my life as well as the ones I gave birth to. They have always asked me about my students. They have been interested in my days. But most importantly, they have always been quite willing to help me out during the middle part of August when my classroom needed to be moved into, rearranged, put together, etc. etc. I've been lucky to have great helpers who, only occasionally, will barricade their brother in the square crawl space in my room...

They are excellent at organizing my things.


They are wonderful at resting when it gets too hard to handle.

And they'll hang posters 'til the cows come home for a new pair of jeans from Hollister or American Eagle...
Thank you, Ball children. I love you and appreciate all that you put up with from having a mother who is also a full-time teacher. You are the best! Thanks for your help again this summer.

Thank goodness for that lumpy, bumpy double bed in the quaint house in Rexburg where Bill and I called home 21 years ago. I know I made the right decision!

Lucky Lindsay Lou!

Awww, feel the estrogen in the air!!!! Mmmmmmm! We have another female teenager in the Ball house as of August 12, 2009. Lindsay turned 13 which explains the picture above! It seemed only logical that we eat her birthday lunch at one of our favorite local places of pure yumminess - Lucky 13!

We enjoyed a fun day of helping Mom in her classroom, eating lunch out (the best part of the birthday!), making the Funfetti cake (requested by the birthday girl), eating Chicken Alfredo for dinner, going to Young Women and winning the Fugitive Game (yay, Lindsay!), then returning home for a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday singing, ripping open the birthday gifts, and the devouring of cake and ice cream...literally devouring. (We love cake in this family.)

Lindsay, we absolutely love you in this family! You are most excellent in so many ways!
Since you're now a teenager, I thought I'd list some totally awesome things you're, like, so good at:
- You are the bomb at setting goals and following through on them.
- You keep a most excellent room in most excellent order.
- You like to hang with your Mom - STILL!!!
- You are, like, the best cook at breakfast time - often making eggs for you AND Kourtni...
- You know how to prioritize your to do list - fer sure!
- You are a totally excellent mix of serious and silly.
- You are still happy without a cell phone - yessssss!
- You are so awesome at keeping a ultra cool journal with ultra cool illustrations and keepsakes.


There are many more ways to love Lindsay, but I'm sounding a bit cheesy so I shall stop for fear of further embarassment from our newest teenager.

Love you mucho - Lindsay Lou!

It's Over! (And I'm still alive)

Well, I'm baaacck! Back from good old Girls' Camp, back from the all-summer-long-dreaded- 4th-year-overnight hike, and back from sleeping in my cold car to my nice soft warm fluffy soft warm fluffy nice soft bed...

As you may remember, at the beginning of the summer I blogged about dreading 2 things: running at 3 in the morning and hiking into the wilderness and staying overnight. Yay! Those two events have come to pass and I am still alive and kicking! I'm also deliriously happy to say that I had a fabulous time during both of those said events!!!

I have to give a huge Kudos to my darling of a husband, Bill.


He prepped me, previewed the hike with our family and hiked by me, talked lovingly to me, filtered my water, cleaned up our camp, hung up our food to keep it away from the bears, allowed me to freak out a few times in the preparation, and still managed to love me in my states of mental unsteadiness that occurred as we got ready for this. He. is. a. STUD!!! I love him mucho mucho!



We hiked with 18 girls and 5 of us adults. The scenery was breathtaking, the experience was one every young woman should have. It helps build character and lets a young gal know she can do hard things - like carry all of her possessions for 2 days on her back! Sure we sweated through our clothes as we carried 35 pound packs on our backs for 3 hours. Sure we had no bathroom facilities. Sure we had to sleep on the hard ground. Sure we were not able to have a campfire since we were in the wilderness. Sure we had to be careful with our water so we didn't get any giardia. Sure we had to listen to the high mountain winds howl around our tents all.night.long... But we all made it! And I think that all involved are better people since we did it.


It sure is good to be back, though. Payton is glad to have a mom again, he's glad to have company during the day, and he and Bill are glad to have something for dinner besides cold cereal...