Calm after the Christmas!

Ahhhh, all is well in the Ball household! (naptime is occurring!) Christmas was fun and busy. We were gone 2 weeks and are happy to be back home. We are waiting to hear from Children's Hospital in Birmingham about a job! We hope that will be in the next 2 weeks! We really really want to go back to Bham and our old familiar ground.

I am starting this week volunteering at a home for teen moms, Hope House. I will be a mentor for one of the moms and help her get the things she needs and find the resources she needs to survive. I am really excited about meeting the girl I will be mentoring!

Carter has started talking much more. Things we have been trying to teach her for 6 months have suddenly clicked! She is saying "please" and "help" much more these days! I think she is destined to be in Pediatrics though! We have a blanket with all of her baby dolls on it and she goes around to each one, gives them their bottle (they share the same one....we'll have to work on the contamination issue!) and burps each one! She (and her Daddy) also does "rounds" on each one at night and makes sure they are OK. She is giving lots of hugs and kisses these days and when you have a camera handy she really puts on a show!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Last night we took Carter to see Santa! We knew it would not go as well and as quietly as it did last year, but we did it anyway! We waited for about 30 minutes and it was finally our turn to visit! As we got closer to him, I felt the hold get tighter and by the time we were upon him, I was being choked! She got a bit upset with me when I put her in his lap and looked at us like we were absolutely crazy! It was that silent cry for about 5 seconds, where you know the next noise is going to break some windows when it finally gets out! We got the picture and she is all better now! We got home and let her open her gifts from mommy and daddy! All 2 of them! She was so excited to rip the paper! She got a Noah's Ark Little People set with all of the animals.

We leave on Thursday night at midnight to fly home for Christmas for 13 days! Wish us luck with the all night flight! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

San Francisco Treat!

We visited San Francisco last week! It was a blast! We got there on Thursday and stayed our first night at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Half Moon Bay, about 30 minutes from the city. Our room faced the ocean with a fire pit on the patio of our room. The hotel sat on a huge cliff that dropped into the ocean. It was super cool, but a bit fancy for us! And we felt a little out of place with a 16 month old running in circles around us! Carter got to run on the beach and play! It was her first trip to the beach ever! She was a bit intimidated for about the first 5 seconds, then she was ready to dive in! On Friday we drove to San Francisco and stayed at Fisherman's Warf. We had our first cable car ride that night!! Carter held on tight like she was a pro at cable cars! Brad had a conference to go to a couple of days, so Carter and I shopped til we dropped! And what a place to shop--6 story Macy's and 8 story malls! It was pretty cool shopping! We took Carter to visit the Macy's holiday window a few times! They had small houses set up with cats and dogs for adoption in the windows! She LOVED it! She would shout "DOG! DOG!" when she saw them. On Sunday we saw Ghirardelli Square! mmmmmm...and had a big butterscotch and caramel sundae. On Monday we (well it was kinda my idea that I regret now!) went to the Haight and Ashbury area. It is where the hippie movement began! My guess is that it hasn't changed much since the 60's! It was quite frightening for my southern sheltered self! We quickly boarded a bus soon after arriving there and headed back to "our part of the town!" We went to Pier 39 and had lunch and got a ticket for the boat ride under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the island of Alcatraz! That was really fun to see the bridge that close and go under it. We saw the sea lions at the pier and Carter learned what a sea lion says! "Arrr, Arrr!" We rode the cable car again that night to eat and on the way back to the hotel, Carter was yelling at people walking across the street "HEY! HEY! HIEEE!" It was pretty funny! We really had a good time there, but I am sure glad we don't live there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Breckenridge with most of Brad's family (14 of them). We rented a big log cabin close to the base of the ski slopes. Carter sledded for the first time (she laughed the whole time!) and Brad and I went skiing! We got about 10 inches of snow in 2 days. It was pretty fun, until the drive home! It is about 76 miles to Breckenridge, but it took 6 hours to get back to Denver. 3 hours into the trip home, we had made it about 8 miles! The snow was blowing and traffic was at a stand still. We sat outside of the Eisenhower tunnel (about 11,000 ft) for about 2 hours waiting to get through! We were oxygen deprived and feeling a bit nauseated! But it was a pretty fun time!

The cabin had a juke box! Carter LOVED it!! We turned it on and she danced like a wild woman! Her favorite song was Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier!" She now goes around saying "ay ay ay, ay yayaya!" It is pretty funny!

Carter laughing with her daddy!

TREAT....TREAT

We went trick or treating! We planned to be gone about 45 minutes....but Carter really got the hang of the game and we were gone about 2 hours!! We had been trying all week to teach her to say "trick or treat," But she never got it. But about the 5th house we went to she started saying "treat, treat." She started running from door step to door step collecting her candy, putting it in her bucket, and telling everyine "Hi-eee!" She especially loved the houses that had dogs! We had to tell them "Hi-eee!" too before we could leave!

One of the last houses we visited, she went to the door and Brad knocked for her and no one came. Their door was all glasss so we could see in and see people. So someone realized we were there and 2 ladies came to the door. Carter immediately started saying "Hi-eeee!" and they fell in love with her! She got a piece of candy and we thought we would be on our way. But Carter stepped in the door and while they were going on about how cute and aadorable she was, Carter bolted down the hall in their house, right in to their party in the kitchen! Imagine a random 15 month old pumpkin just running in to your party! We felt bad, but they laughed and laughed! So we had to chase her down in the house. By the time we caught her she was going upstairs! The funny thing is I got it all on video!

We had so much fun trick or treating with her! We can't wait for next year!

"DOG!"

Carter is learning new animal sounds everyday!! Brad has made a powerpoint presentation for her to look at every day with animals (17 to be exact). She knows most of the animals and what noise they make. She knows the sign for them too. Elephant has got to be her favorite one! But anything with 4 legs is usually a "DOG!" first. She is learning to say her name too!! We come down the stairs every morning and there is a picture of her at the bottom. She starts pointing to herself and saying "Car-ka, Car-ka!" It is pretty cute.
We are getting excited about Halloween!! Carter is going to be a pumpkin! (unless I can find a "DOG!" costume before Friday) We are going trick or treating on Friday morning with our playgroup at a nursing home! That should be fun! I have decided I am going to give out toys when kids come to our house trick or treating. HAHAHA! Just kidding. I am giving out toothbrushes and I am going to tell scary stories of my root canals! MuHahahahaha!

Well, more to come later!! I am sure we will have a load of pictures after Friday!