Hanging in the Ballance

washington ballance reunion

2010-03-05T16:52:00.000-08:00

well, we went to visit meemaw and papa b(allance) for the first time since the missouri move. when we got to the ballance house, the first thing we noticed was that sophia loved the deer shoulder mount in the living room. we spent a lot of time looking at that deer. it was pretty funny.

we started the week off at leavenworth, wa hanging out with friends and family. it's a small bavarian town with lots of shops and walking around. sophia impressed everyone with her eating skills! on the way back to grandma and grandpa's house, we stopped by her cousin's. it was the first time they had really played together and it was fun to watch.

we did all sorts of fun stuff while we were in colville. we went to the hippie store and got stuff to make homemade mozzarella cheese. delicious! we went to canada (sophia's first international trip) and walked around rossland. there are lots of shops and good things to eat there. we saw good friends and played in the yard. it was very relaxing a TON of fun.

despite some flight troubles, sophia was no trouble on the flight so we are ready for more traveling!

papa b and sophia hanging out

black kitty was one of sophia's favorite things at meemaw's house

sophia wouldn't ride with papa in the tractor but the whole family rode in the bucket afterwards.

sophia and meemaw b look alike contest.

sophia and some tronsen girls (aunt karen, grandma enid, sophia and meemaw)

sophia is ready to go again! she has to save up some vacation time first.

birthday girl 2010

2010-02-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

We had a birthday party at grandma and grandpa palazzolo’s house for Sophia. What a blast. Sophia loves animals but kitties especially. We had a kitty theme. She loved it. We had pictures of real kitties and she had a hello kitty cake. Her cousin Syd helped her get dressed in a kitty shirt and skirt with leopard trim. She got lots of awesome presents but her faves were the sled and an outfit. She loves clothes! We tied a BUNCH of balloons that Christina got her to the sled and Ben pulled her around the house. She was in heaven.

She was too cute eating her cake that grandma got her. Pink frosting was everywhere. It was a lot of fun and only a little sad that my baby is a toddler now.

getting big

2010-02-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

I think it’s genetic. You open the fridge in our house and either phil or Sophia comes running/crawling. Both of them are more than willing to stand in front of the fridge and check out the contents. At least phil is quiet about it. Sophia is ooohing and aaahing so loudly that I have to stop what I am doing and check it out. It sounds like she’s found treasure. Her new trick is climbing onto the shelf in front of the veggie drawer. Maybe she’s starving???

The other weekend she took a hard nap and woke up with a bad case of bedhead. I don’t think she knew where she was when she woke up. she is adorable.

There have been some sunny days, but it’s still pretty cold so Sophia has been getting bundled up to ride her tricycle and wagon around. I can’t believe how big she is! She rings the bell on her bike and if we take her off too early, she lets us know that she isn’t done. Miss Independent. And now she’s walking, too.

celebrations!!!

2010-01-15T07:40:00.001-08:00

it was a big weekend for our little girl! she turned one and was baptized! she is getting so big, we can hardly believe it. she is really developing her personality. she's become much more independent about eating (unless she's REALLY hungry, then she'll take some help), she wants to walk all the time (she took her first totally independent steps 2 days after her birthday) and she's really funny (we take all the credit for that). when she eats something she likes she says mmmm..., when she hears music she tries to snap and dance (mostly bobbing and kicking her leg out), she's crazy about animals (usually communicated with elated screaming) and she loves clothes: her closet, shopping, laundry, whatever. she ooohs over piece she can get her hands on. her birthday was a lot of fun. we took some pics the night before in case we could see an immediate change when she turned one (it was a little bittersweet for mom) and we made it a whole birthday weekend (that's how we roll, birthday weeks, months, whatever). she had lo mein (her favorite) and wore new clothes all weekend.
after her baptism we went to a restaurant in columbia called Sophia's. we had some delicious food but the best part was the cake that phil and i made. it was funfetti and shaped like a 1 with sophia's name on it. she LOVED it. when we tried to take it away, she pulled it closer. she is such a ham. she got some great birthday presents. her papa b (phil's dad) had the idea to have a rosary made for her special day and all colville was involved in making it. it is beautiful and sophia loved it. she got some new toys and a really adorable snow suit. she was exhausted by the end of it all (and quite full of food) so i think she enjoyed it.

on her actual birthday we got up, got dressed and went to church for her christening. my parents are her godparents, which was extra special and a lot of fun. her aunt heather came and her favorite cousin ben. he was awesome helping make sure she had a great birthday. the christening was beautiful. sophia wore a dress that was originally my mom's wedding gown turned into a christening gown. ben wore it too. towards the end of the mass, the priest introduced sophia to the congregation and there was a drum roll to which sophia raised her arm like she was pretty proud of herself. everyone thought it was hilarious and a few people thought we had trained her. she's a natural.

happy
birthday
to
our
little
princess!

a ballance christmas

2010-01-06T11:40:00.001-08:00

we had a great christmas and sophia was a blast. she is so cute. both phil and sophia really won big in the pajama department. of course, sophia also got a ton of toys. i got some swan valley copper dishes. they are so beautiful! i also got a cheese making kit and we ate some hot mozzarella last night. delicious! anyway, we feel very lucky to celebrate holidays with our little monster. she's our best gift! but maybe the best gift was cousin ben's motorcycle...

our first missouri hunt

2009-12-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

hunting for a christmas tree in montana is a real adventure. the perfect tree is on a hillside, about 100 yards up from the road, in 18 feet of snow and is pretty full on one side. so after 5 hours of hunting (you are frozen through by now), you settle. and are truly happy with your find. it is a totally different experience in missouri and it's a good change. first, the only place you can cut down a tree is missouri is on a christmas tree farm. this means that all the trees are beautiful and you can pick the best one out of thousands of beauties. they were actually groomed! you get to pick the kind of tree you want (unlike montana where you will take any tree that doesn't hurt when you touch it), you get to pick one out in less than an hour and they give you a measuring stick so you don't have to cut off five feet to get it to fit in the back of the truck. they even bag it and attach it to your vehicle for a dollar. a dollar? really? they obviously don't know the value of their service. it is not as exciting as the montana hunt, but we are willing to cut back on excitement for a safe experience that sophia is willing to do again. we went to the living windows in downtown columbia. it was fun although some of the windows were a little sexy for family night. luckily sophia didn't care. she wants a scooter though. they come with side cars...

gobble, gobble

2009-11-30T06:50:00.000-08:00

we had a great thanksgiving with my family this year. we think it may have been 5 years since we had thanksgiving in st. louis. it was much warmer than we are used to which was not such a bad thing. we had a lot of fun. we got lots of pictures of family (thanks to Syd, some of which i won't post). sophia had a blast and ate everything she could get her little paws around. she looked adorable in her thanksgiving dress. now, we start the christmas season!

fall festivals

2009-10-20T12:22:00.001-07:00

i finally figured out our internet and here is the latest...

we have been living up the "fall festival" mentality. it started off with Harrisburg's September Days festival. there was a baby contest and we entered our precious little monster. she dressed up like a mizzou cheerleader and was ADORABLE! there was a lot of stiff competition (and most of the girls wore dress up dresses) so we didn't even get an honorable mention. oh well, she looked great!

we went to a u-pick apple orchard. it was a beautiful day for apple picking. we pulled sophia in the wagon and phil and i climbed trees to get the best apples. most of the lower ones were already picked (apple season happens a lot earlier in MO) but we were up for the challenge. sophia and her dad are both apple crazy! we also got some pie pumpkins and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (thanks to Kim, they are our faves!). sophia ate most of the pumpkin so we'll have to get a few more. she loved it!

we went to the pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins to carve for Halloween, which was a blast. they had a petting zoo area, wagon rides, music, food. it was a lot of fun.

sophia was a blueberry for halloween (that's what we called her when i was pregnant). it was impossible to find a blueberry costume (there were lots of sexy blueberry muffin costumes though) for a baby so i made it. a blue ball with a green cap? you bet!

well, here goes nothing

2009-07-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

and to think i mocked my friends for blogging...
i've been wanting to do this since sophia (my adorable baby girl) was born 6 months ago and i am just now finding time, but that's how life goes. so much has happened to our family in the past 2 months: i quit my job (woo hoo!), phil (my fabulous husband) graduated from pharmacy school and got a job in missouri which prompted us to move to missouri (the weather sucks but my family is here and they are worth it!), we're trying to sell our house (if you are looking for a nice place in hamilton, mt, have i got a deal for you), we're renting a house in harrisburg mo (besides the enormous house it came with 5 cats, 2 dogs and 3 horses), phil passed his pharmacy boards with flying colors (of course), and sophia is being sophia.

so, more about sophia! i love staying home with her although since we have no neighbors (our rental comes with 130 acres and i am desperately missing our old neighbors) it's just the two of us all day every day. she'll be talking in no time since she listens to me all day long. she can roll from her back to her belly now and she can't be put down without showing off (there's a cute video with her ladybug panties showing).

she can sit up pretty well but i don't trust her alone.

we've been swimming in her baby pool and the above ground pool here and she's loving it. especially when it's 95 degrees and 90% humidity (i'm not exagerating!).
i can't believe she's 6 months old. we go to town a few times each week. by town i mean columbia mo. harrisburg has a 3-way stop where there is a merc, an antique shop, a bank and a service station like one out of a scary movie but not much else. we might have to get out there and make some friends.

phil is doing great at his new job. he's learning a lot about chemotherapy which is new and interesting for him. the government is great to work for. they got my vote when they sold us half price tickets to mizzou games! go tigers (we still love the cougs more)!