The Ratliff Family

We are here and alive!!!

2010-06-15T15:00:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize that it's been MONTHS since I've been on here and updated what was going on with us!! Man, that's crazy! I don't even know if anyone will read this, but I figured I might as well update so that at least I could look back on it later and see what happened in June, 2010. :-) You can completely blame Facebook for taking up all my time and effort- I update everything on there, so I guess I just don't feel the need to update on here. So lets see.... What has happened since January?!? ;-)

The boys have all finished school- Kelton graduated from Kindergarten, Jace is done with 1st grade, and Daylon is done with 3rd. They've already gotten tired of summer time and are ready to do something else- anything! (And honestly, I'm already ready for them to be back at school or something!)

Jace turned EIGHT in March, and I turned 29. Yuck! We had a few of Jace's friends stay the night for his birthday, and they hung out and watched movies. Easy birthday party for us!

Daylon also had a birthday, and turned 10. Matt took him, Jace, Aaron (Matt's friend), and Aaron's two kids (11 and 9) out on the boat for his birthday. Daylon and Jace actually missed the last two days of school for it, but they caught tons of fish- mostly red snapper, but also a small shark and a mix of other stuff. Matt has loved having his boat and would be out on it every weekend if he could- he's been super busy with work though, so he's not been able to go out like he'd like. I'm ready for a trip with just him and I though- we took all the boys in the middle of May, and, while it was fun and we caught lots of fish, it is HARD to go with the boys!!

We got Daylon a huge blow up slide for him for his birthday (he picked it out so that his brothers could play with his gift too) so they've spent a lot of time on that!! It's been hard to get them outside in the heat (it's already in the high 90's) so it's nice to have an incentive for them- they can play on the slide!! They just have to put it up after every use so it doesn't ruin the grass, so that's kind of a pain for them.

Kelton is still so the third child, and its him who drives me the most crazy during the days (he can still be the sweetest of all my boys though, and loves to cuddle with whoever happens to be sitting down!) It seems like "everyone" (ALL his brothers) likes to pick on him, and since he's the loudest and whiniest, (and the one who tattles the most) we always know about it. This summer has already been long because of him!! ;-)

Blayden is also a handful. He's completely potty trained finally, but is such a little stinker!! Daylon just came in here about 30 minutes ago (I'm hiding in my room!) to tell me that Blayden peed and pooped on the floor in the living room. What in the world is that about?!?! He did it just to do it, and that's how everything is with him. He'll pour out a box of Nilla Wafers just to do it and see the mess on the floor (which I make him clean up!) He's exhausting!! But still so cute that it's hard to stay mad at him for too long. He's very much the baby of the house, and he knows it.

I've been doing well. I finished Spring semester with a 3.85 (darn one B!!) so I was happy. I'm taking one class this first summer session- an online statistics class. So far, I'm making a B in it, but we've only had one test (out of 5) graded, and 4 assignments (out of 12). I'm afraid it's going to kick my butt!! It's taking a LOT of my time, especially since the tests are on Monday evenings at 6. I've been spending Monday afternoons at the library on campus just so I can get my work done.

To that note, Susie (my babysitter/nanny) is back!! She left in the middle of March to teach English in Italy, and I have missed her like crazy!!! I had another nanny watch the boys while Susie was gone and while I was in school, etc, whose name was Mandy. She was sweet and good with the boys, but Susie has been with us for 2 years now and she's like family. The boys were all SO glad to have her back (especially Blayden!!! He's always called her "Suey" before she left, but when she came back, he started saying "Susie" the right way. I thought she was going to cry!!) It's been awesome having her back, especially in the summer. She's been able to help take the boys out- to the movies, the pool, etc.

So... since Susie was in Italy, and had 2 weeks at the end of her teaching time there "off", I went to see her! It was my first trip ever out of the country (except Mexico) and it was a blast!! It was a little nerve racking traveling by myself to get there (there was a layover in Paris, so that was different!) and I had to navigate the train station in Rome by myself, and with no phone service (AT&T didn't turn on international when they were supposed to!) We went to Florence (which I loved!), Lake Como (in the Northern part of Italy, and in the southern part of the Swiss Alps), and then we went up to Zurich Switzerland for a few days. Zurich was weird, but we were able to go into the Swiss Alps and see Interlaken (beautiful!!) and the top of Junchforjach (or something like that) which is the highest train station in the world. It was absoltely beautiful!! I loved being in the snow while Matt and the boys were at home, sweating in the Texas heat. :-) Matt did awesome with the boys while I was gone, but I think they were ALL happy to have me back home! :-)

Matt's been super busy with work, and they've sold tons of pools. SOOOO awesome! Our TEN YEAR anniversary is coming up on July 3 (whoop!!) and we have planned a trip to Vegas. We also have ordered my diamond ring that Matt has been promising for me- we are getting it designed and have found a huge diamond to go in it- I'm just waiting for everything to get completed!! I would like to have it before Vegas, but I don't think that's goign to happpen.

Speaking of rings, I also got my Aggie Ring in April!! It seems like that was a long time coming too, and I feel like I've really earned it. I love it and am so proud of myself for making it this far (and for Matt who has honestly made it ALL possible!)

Well, I think that's a pretty good update of everything. The boys have Vacation Bible School tonight at A&M Church of Christ (where BB goes to preschool) and Susie is going to come watch them so I can run a few errands before they go. So I guess I'd better get going and get ready to go. I've been lazy today and need to at least get dressed.... :-)

Matt's boat

2010-01-06T18:35:00.005-06:00

Well... "OUR" boat!! :-)

It's a 2009 Bay Cat- which is made by Bass Cat, but is actually a bay boat- so it can go in salt water AND fresh water. He's taken it out twice already with "the guys" and is taking me fishing the weekend of the 16th (we're going salt water fishing though.... maybe shark fishing??) Here's a few pictures of it though- it's SOO nice!! :-)

On another note, I got Skype set up today, with the web cam. So if anyone wants to chat- let me know! :-) (Skpe ID is kelli.ratliff)

Ruidoso, NM Dec 27-Jan 2

2010-01-06T16:53:00.015-06:00

Enjoy!!

Daylon, Jace, and Matt waiting in line to go tubing

Blayden

Kelton

Handsome Jace

Blayden loved this train at the tubing place

Kelton playing in the snow

Boys at dinner

Beautiful snow!!

Not the best, but it's the only picture I have lately of me and Matt!!

Blayden's "mean" face- wrestling with Matt

Jace, Kelton, and Daylon about to race down the hill

Christmas with the boys!

2010-01-06T11:39:00.010-06:00

The boys had a wonderful Christmas this year and got SOOO much stuff! We had a great time with my family on Christmas day as well and the boys got to see cousin's from California they haven't gotten to see in a while.

Here are a few pictures we wanted to share- I also have pictures of our trip to Ruidoso and Matt's new boat that I will post soon too.

See?!?! LOTS of stuff!!!

Matt holding my cosin's little girl- Sophia. She LOVED Matt!!

My living room set up for 20+ people to eat

The kids

Christmas with Matt's family

2009-12-24T13:21:00.006-06:00

We had Christmas with Matt's family last Saturday and the boys had a blast. Kathy got the three older boys a sled thingy each for them to take to New Mexico this next week. They are SOOO excited to try them out!! She got me some pj's and a book (yay!), and got Matt some snow boots. She also got BB some snow boots and ski pants/bib. Too cute on him too!!! :-) I can't wait to see what he does with all the snow! :-)

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the boys at Kathy's house.

Blayden playing with Matt's step-brother, Travis:

Me and Matt: (I know I looked horrible and was SOOO tired! Ugg!)

Ready to open presents!!

Blayden helped out passing out presents- he brought this one over to me to hold for him so he could open it.

Matt's little sister, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Josh:

Holiday parties, sing a longs, etc.... crazy life!

2009-12-17T09:06:00.002-06:00

Well, the big boys only have two days left of school before their Christmas break. Yippee!!! I can't WAIT to sleep late!! LOL

BB had his last day of school on Tuesday and had his little Christmas party. He's just so darned cute!! Of course, I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of him there, but I'll get plenty over the next few weeks. The other boys have their Christmas parties tomorrow, but they have a Christmas sing-a-long this afternoon. Daylon has been asked to help "lead" the school in the sing-a-long so I'll be taking pictures of that too and I'll post them this afternoon.

Anyway, I've been cleaning house like a crazy person, trying to get everything done before the boys are home for the week. I'm doing baseboards, fans, etc, so I've been pretty busy. I'm getting the house cleaned normally tomorrow morning and then getting the carpets and the slate tile floor steamed tomorrow afternoon so I'm really excited about that. And then Matt and I get a date night tomorrow night- I can't wait!!! :-)

I'll post pictures as soon as I can though... hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!

Disney World Pictures

2009-12-11T13:35:00.003-06:00

I also have a few pictures of Daylon playing football that Matt bought from Pop Warner that are really cool. I'll have to scan them though, so I don't have them on here just yet. Enjoy these though!! (They were taken from Matt's phone so not the best pictures in the world!)

Daylon standing in front of a huge tree!

Just some of the Christmas lights at Disney

Beating on the drums with his friend Peyton

Right before his first time driving a race car

Thinking of their Queen Mommy at home...

Football- our life for the last 3 months!!

2009-12-11T13:22:00.012-06:00

Since we've spent SOO much time with Daylon's football, I took a lot of pictures of the boys at the games- inlcuding Daylon of course! Here are a few:

Blayden and Reagan watching their brothers play!

Handsome Blayden

"Coach Matt" being serious and watching the boys play... I just had to take a picture of him!

Daylon waiting on the sideline for his turn to go in and beat some football booty

Matt and Daylon after they won the Division Championship

Daylon- waiting for his game in Dallas to start (for the Regional Championship)

Matt and Daylon after they won the Regional Championship game in Dallas

That's all of the football pictures I have. The last game, which was in Tyler, I videotaped for the coaches to watch, so I didn't take pictures. They won that game though, and made it to Florida after that. Matt and Daylon took pictures and videos at Disney World so I'll post those next. :-)

Halloween pictures

2009-12-11T13:12:00.007-06:00

Yeah, these are really late, but here are some pictures of the boys from Halloween!

These are from a Halloween party we went to at Miramont Country Club.

Blayden- my little rock n roll star!

Jace- scary ghost!

Kelton after getting his face painting done. He was a ninja this year!

Daylon- he just wanted to be something weird and scary so we put "blood" on him. He WAS weird but not too scary! ;-)

All of the boys and my mom and nephews on a hay ride at the party

This is from Halloween night- Trick Or Treating around the neighborhood. Jace's eyes glowed from some glasses he got, but he only wore them long enough so I could take a picture! ;-)

Busy, busy, and more busy!!

2009-12-11T12:02:00.002-06:00

I honestly thought I would be better about keeping this thing up, but I guess not. Things have been SOOO busy this semester! I haven't had time to do anything that I wanted to get done!

Daylon has had football practice every other night for 2 hours each night (at least). And Matt is one of the assistant coaches so he's been going to help every night. What a pain! However, it worked out really well because Daylon's team made it to the "Super Bowl" of Pop Warner football. That means that they got to go to Disney World in Florida for a week! They left last Thursday morning, and then Matt and Daylon flew back yesterday and I picked them up in Austin. They had a blast though, and ended up 5th in the nation out of 8500 Jr. Pee Wee teams! The boys worked their butts off though and really deserved everything that they got! Matt and Daylon were the only ones in our family to go though- I just had so much stuff to do here, and we would have had to take Jace and Kelton out of school for the week as well and it was just too much for all of us for that long of a time period. I think Matt and Daylon enjoyed going by themselves though- and they brought back presents for all of us! :-)

Jace has been doing really well in school. Matt and I met with his teacher last month for a conference and she told us that she thinks Jace may be GT- Gifted and Talented. She's keeping an eye out of it though! I'm not completely sure that he doesn't have dyslexia like Daylon though. Spelling comes easy to him- as does most stuff- but he will constantly write and read his letters backwards (w's and m's and b's and d's, etc). If he keeps it up, I'm sure we will have to get him tested this summer so he can get extra help for it next year- they start getting help in 2nd grade.

Kelton is doing great in school too. He's the one that will get into trouble though- pushing other kids, talking when he's not supposed to, etc. What a stinker! He's doing good academically though, so if we can just get him to behave, we'll be doing great. I think it'll come in time- he's just a little toot! He's the same way at home- the instigator in almost everything- so I'm not surprised he's like that at school. He's not as whiney as he used to be here though, so hopefully he's getting over that. I can't STAND the whining!! It makes my jaws clench and just causes a lot of stress in our house. It's annoying!! But he's the sweet one who loves to cuddle as much as he can. And he's all about doing and getting everything that Jace and Daylon get and do. He wants to be older so bad!!

Blayden is a little stinker!! He's stubborn and all of 2 years old! But he has found out that if he makes funny faces and noises that he'll get his older brothers to laugh at him. He's such a clown!! He LOVES to make everyone laugh! He's talking up a storm and says some hilarious things! I'll have to make sure I post next time he says something! My mom bought him a train table for Christmas and already gave it to him since it was too big for her to keep at her house. So it's already in his room and he LOVES it! He's been really into trains lately so the table is just a hit. Jace and Kelton have enjoyed playing with it as well, and it's even fun for me to set up the track for him. I met with his teacher at school yesterday and she says he's doing great! He's sweet, gets along with all the other students, and loves to play with everyone. And he loves singing songs (I've noticed that!)

Matt and I have both been busy lately. I've had school every Monday and Wednesday. I was taking 18 hours so I could order my Aggie ring this month (I'll get it in April). So I've been crazy lately. I still have one assignment that I have to finish for my classes and two finals- one next Monday and one on Tuesday. After that I'm done for the semester and I'm THRILLED!! Hopefully I'll get a 4.0 again, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see! :-) I have also been an intern in Navasota this semester, working with 4th graders in a reading/social studies classroom. It was a LOT of work and I would come home exhausteed. But the kids were awesome (when they weren't being lazy and telling me something was "too hard" that I knew they could do!!) and I already miss them. I'll have to go back and visit soon- they loved me and I loved them!

I think that's a good updated on us though. I'll try to get a few pictures uploaded from things that have been going on. We'll see! It's just me and Blayden home today, and I am working on potty training him so I'm spending a lot of my time taking him back and forth to the bathroom. Fun for me! ;-)

Yeah, right!

2009-09-15T15:27:00.002-05:00

So I thought I might have MORE time to blog after school started. Yeah, right!! Even right now I don't have the time for this short blog- I just wanted to say that I'm here, I've been sick (bronchitis), and everyhthing is still going well (except for the being sick part. And having a sick baby part. That part sucked.)

Other than that though, we're good!

And I'm off to do more homework!! :-)

School, school, and more school

2009-09-01T22:00:00.002-05:00

I'm here, I'm just taking 18 hours this semester and am trying to get on top of everything BEFORE it gets to me that I'm nuts for taking this many hours.

So I'm just checking in, and now I'm going to get off the Internet and work on a paper that is due on the 9th. See? I'm a good student!! (Honestly, I'll probably get off the Internet, lay in bed, watch TV with Matt for a little while, and then go to sleep.) ;-)

Pray for my sanity, my grades, and my neglected children who will be eating a lot of take out this semester... LOL ;-)

1st day of school!!

2009-08-24T21:38:00.008-05:00

Well, the boys had their first day of school today! Daylon is now officially a 3rd grader, Jace is a 1st grader, and Kelton started Kindergarten. How fun!! Blayden and I spent the day helping a good friend of mine (Claire) move into her appartment for the semester. I'm hoping to get away every once in awhile and be able to chill out at her place, just to study in peace and quiet!!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the morning! :-)

Jace (7), Daylon (9), Blayden (2), and Kelton (6)

Kelton was complaining about his backpack being too heavy. You know how heavy a towell and a lunch box can be....

All my boys going into the school

Jace getting all ready to go!

Kelton's big excited grin!

Daylon wouldn't let me get a picture of him in his room! LOL

And then there was one... (and I think he looks a lot like Matt in this picture too!!)

Kelton is SIX!!!

2009-08-23T20:29:00.011-05:00

I can't believe that Kelton is 6! His birthday was actually on the 14th, we were just able to have his party yesterday. We had a swim party at Miramont Country club and it was super nice! (Well, other than the fact the kids only got to swim for about 35 minutes before it started thundering and we had to get out! That SUCKED!!)

I have pictures that I'll share in a minute, but I just have to reflect on the last 6 years of his life. He was born 6 weeks early, and was in the NICU for 9 days. For the first few days, it was 1 step forward and 2 steps back for him and he was dangerously sick. They had to induce labor though because my fluid levels were low and he wasn't thriving (he barely moved the last few weeks of my pregnancy which freaked me out constantly!) He had 3 shots of surfactant (sp?!) which is a shot to help baby's lungs develop, and usually they only have to give 1 or 2. 3 shots is NOT good (and the most they'll give at all is 4). So he was pretty bad off. He had a tube down his throat breathing for him, which was just horrible.

After the first 7 days though he started to pull out of it, and by the time he was 9 days old he was well enough for us to take home. He was really an easy baby for the most part, but a horrible toddler and is still very argumentative!! BUT, he is one of the sweetest boys in the world and is always wanting to give us hugs, etc. He won't let either Matt nor I leave the house without giving us at least 2 hugs. He loves to cuddle and just hang out next to us too.

He's starting Kindergarten tomorrow which I am SOO excited about, and so is he! He's thrilled to finally be a "big boy!" and go to Pebble Creek like his older brothers. We met his teacher the other night and I think she's going to be the perfect match for him- sweet and soft spoken, but also strict enough where he can't get away with doing things he's not supposed to do! ;-) I'll take lots of pictures and post those tomorrow too.

Since school is starting, I should have more time to blog (at least that's the plan!) so hopefully I'll keep better track of all of this now. My school starts next Monday (the 31st) and I'm really ready for that too. Oh! And Matt passed all of his captains license stuff, so as long as his application goes through alright, he will officially be "Captain Matt!" ;-) Anyway, here are a few pictures from Kelton's birthday party!!

Swimming!

Blayden

They all went to school together last year- Haley, Kelton (in back), Abigail, and Aiden

Cookie cake (Kelton loves monkeys!) Yummy!!

Waiting for some cake...

Daylon and his friend Brenen

Opening presents

The parents getting to talk some too... ;-)

Pictures

2009-08-11T10:15:00.005-05:00

Blayden

Daylon

Jace

Kelton

Videos of Blayden singing- the first 3 videos that were just uploaded.
http://www.dropshots.com/SunshineFunKel

Updates- yes, we are here!!

2009-08-11T09:40:00.003-05:00

So, it's not like I have been busy. In fact, I have been the opposite of busy the last few weeks. I've been too relaxed and lazy- I haven't done ANYTHING!! (Except read and the few other little things I've had to do!)

The boys are doing good.

Daylon started this season of Pop Warner football. He's on the Pee Wee team this year, which has a max weight limit of 106. You ask why I even mention that?? Because Daylon, my NINE year old, is already 107 on a good day. He's 4'8" (I'm 5'3" so he already comes up to my chin), and is SOLID. He's got a little tummy on him but he's already lost a lot of that after 1 week of football practice and running for 2 hours every night. We've had to cut him back on food (although honestly, he hasn't been eating a lot of bad stuff this summer anyway), trying to get him down to around 100. Because they weigh them every time before every game (with pads on), if he doesn't get down to the right weight then he can't play on this team- he would be moved up to the next level with kids who are 12+. Not gonna happen!

Daylon's been pretty upset the last few days. We found out last week that Daylon's good friend from school and flag football was killed in an accident. He was in Ohio visiting family and was riding a bike. He went in front of a truck. Apparently, he was on life support for a few days before they declared him brain dead and took him off the life support (after deciding to donate his organs- which I am so impressed with, I can't even say). Dalton's funeral was on Sunday up in Ohio, and so I have been in a serious funk since then. I can't imagine loosing a child and I have had two good friends who have lost theirs (and another friend who had a stillborn). All within the last four years. You are just not supposed to bury your child. That's not the way it is supposed to go. And it just sucks. I'm pretty sure that Dalton's family will be coming back to College Station soon, as they have triplet boys who are 6 and are supposed to start Kindergarten this year. I'm sure I'll see Jeri (Dalton's mom) around the school. What do you say?! "I'm sorry" is just stupid, and it seems like it's something that she's going to get tired of hearing. My heart just hurts for her, her husband, and the triplets. Daylon is doing better with it all, but I think that once school starts and he sees that Dalton really isn't there, it's going to be hard.

Jace is doing good, he's just Jace. He's soooo dingy! LOL He's been enjoying not having to do anything except watch TV. He had school the last 2 weeks as a "Jump Start" to the school year and he thought that was cool. He loves school and I think he's really looking forward to starting 1st grade. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what sport to put him in, and he changes his mind about it on a daily basis. Soccer? Flag football? Tennis? Golf? Karate? He's thought about them all and then he changes his mind about it. Good grief! This kid is going to drive me crazy!!

Kelton is good, just looking forward to his birthday on Friday. I can't believe that he'll be 6!! I think I'm going to get him an iPod Touch so he'll stop taking Jace's. :-) He's starting Kindergarten this year and is SOOOO excited about it. I can't wait to have 3 of them at school either!! We're having Kelton's birthday party not this weekend but next weekend and he's really excited about that! :-)

Blayden is good too. He's just a typical 2 year old with 2 year old tantrums. I try to ignore him but he's got 3 older brothers that, when he starts to scream, they run to him and give him what he wants. He is SPOILED ROTTEN! I've moved him into a toddler bed. A friend of mine's husband made a frog bed for their son years ago, so I'm borrowing it for BB. I moved BB out of Kelton's room, and moved Jace back in since they were both going to be going to school. So BB is in his own room right now and is back to the frog stuff. I love it!! (And he thinks it's cool. He tells me that his bed is "awesome!")

Matt has been SUPER busy. He is working on getting his Captain's license (as in a boat Captain) and so has been in Houston the last 2 weekends (Friday-Sunday) taking a course and learning stuff. He's got a LOT of stuff to learn and is actually home today studying and trying to figure out plotting and navigation stuff. Apparently this stuff is not easy! He has one more weekend of it before he's done and I'm more than ready!!

The business has been going well, but I think it's starting to slow down a lot. It's still super hot outside, but I guess people figure that they aren't going to be able to enjoy a pool long enough before the school grind starts, so they aren't going to buy one.

As I said, I've been able to be LAZY! Too lazy, honestly! I've been reading a lot, which I love, but I really need to move around and be more active. I've got to loose this weight!! I've considered buying a treadmill, but I'm afriad I wouldn't use it either. Uggg....

School starts for the boys in less than 2 weeks (on the 24th), and I start that next Monday, the 31st. I'm ready for both their school and my school. I'm ready to get out of the house and use my brain for something other than Facebook or reading pointless books! (Although I just finished "The Time Travelers Wife" and it was pretty good!) :-) Blayden doesn't start Mother's Day Out until September 10 though, so Susie (my nanny), and I, and probably my mom are going to have to figure our schedule out until then. Fun stuff.

I think that's about it for us right now. I'll post a few pictures and a link of Blayden singing a few songs in a new post in a few minutes. Gonna try to help Matt work on his navigation stuff. Yuck!! :-) Hope everyone else is doing well!!!

I Am

2009-07-10T16:15:00.002-05:00

I am stealing this from Marie... ;-)

"I AM"

I am: ready to go buy new couches and am trying to decide how to talk Matt into doing so.

I think: I have too many kids and they want too much from me. I just like to CHILL OUT and they want to GO.

I know: that it's my fault I have too many kids. ;-)

I want: someone to come pick all the weeds out of my flowerbeds. They are bad. I mean REALLY REALLY bad. I bet our neighbors are tired of trying to look through the weeds to see our house.

I have: an amazing husband. He is wonderful MOST of the time. ;-)

I wish: Blayden would grow out of the 2-year old tantrum thing TODAY. He seriously throws himself on the floor screaming and crying. He's the only one of the boys to do that. Yuck.

I hate: people who are skinny and don't have to work at it at ALL. Skinny people suck.

I miss: having quiet time in my house where it is actually quiet.

I fear: big thunderstorms. I like watching them and listening to them, but I don't like the really big ones being right over us. Especially with a threat of tornados. But, ya know, it's been so long since we've even had RAIN, I could deal with being scared of a big thunderstorm, just to get some rain out of it.

I feel: tired and yucky. I've been doing house work and paying bills all day and haven't gotten to the shower yet. Yeah, I know. Gross.

I hear: the TV on some kid show. And Kelton saying "here's your snack, BB." Kelton is AWESOME with BB and is so sweet sometimes it makes me cry!

I smell: beef jerkey. I had a piece earlier for my snack and the smell is still on my fingers.

I crave: carbs. Thats it, just any kind of carb. I'm doing low carb right now and I just want a piece of bread! (Sushi also sounds REALLY REALLY yummy!!)

I search: for good books. It's my summer break and I plan on spending it reading anything and everything I can that's good. Any suggestions?!?

I wonder: how much longer it's going to be in the 100's. It's hot.

I understand: how people can get addicted to Facebook. "Hi, my name is Kelli, and I'm addicted to Facebook...."

I regret: not taking more pictures and videos. (I'm going to keep Marie's answer for this one... I'm trying to take more but I need to do better at this!!)

I ache: in my back.

I care: for my family and friends, even if I don't say it all of the time.

I always: wash clothes on Mondays and Thursdays, and wash sheets on Fridays. It works for me and that way I'm not doing clothes every day of the week.

I am not: eating carbs. Which sucks.

I believe: that one day I'll either loose all this weight or just go crazy and end up eating every carb in sight.

I dance: NEVER!! I'm not a good dancer and never have been. Although I would like to learn how to do actual dances! :-)

I sing: in the car. It drives my kids crazy, (but I think secretly they love it).

I cry: easily. I almost always cry watching "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" as well as any other show that's emotional. I am avoiding going to see "My Sister's Keeper" because I know I'll cry.

I worry: that Matt will stop selling pools. And then what would we do?!?!

I don't always: tell the truth. :-) (But really, who does?!?! LOL)

I fight: almost every day with BB to change his diaper. I need to potty train him, I just don't feel like it.

I write: not very often. I'm spending too much time reading right now.

I listen: to music a lot. I love putting on my iPod and tuning everything out. You can sometimes find me at HEB shopping with my headphones in my ears, enjoying not having my kids with me.

I never: thought I'd be married with four boys and going to school. If I saw a woman who was like me a few years ago, I would think she was crazy. I am crazy.

I need: to loose a LOT of weight. And then I need a vacation to make it all really worth it. I also need to learn how to run. I think that would help me with need #1.

I am happy about: My life. My friends, my family, my husband, my kids, and me. I'm doing okay. Despite being crazy.

So who are YOU and what do YOU do?

So much to do....

2009-06-18T13:44:00.003-05:00

Well, Matt and I have decided to take the boys to Galveston for Father's Day Weekend. So we'll leave tomorrow after my class and after Matt gets home (it'll be late though because he has "pool school"- which is where he goes to his customers house and shows them how to use all of their equipment, chemicals, etc.) I just feel like I have tons of stuff that I need to get done before we can leave tomorrow, so, to help myself I thought I would just make a list while I was up here at the library waiting for my class to start (at 2:00). :-)

~ wash clothes
~ pack (this includes: packing for me, Matt, Daylon, Jace, Kelton, & BB; packing up the fishing gear and tackle boxes, etc; packing up the beach toys, chairs, towells, etc; packing up food and drinks(I'm hoping to stay in a house- waiting on the owner to get back to me on it) and THEN somehow getting all of that into my car, which has the smallest storage space in the back. I have to lay down one of the seats back there, and then whoever is back there has to climb over the 2nd row of seats to get to their seat. Ugg!!
~ do books and pay bills
~ pick up the house, then LEAVE the house so I can get it cleaned (and be gone for an hour or so, of which time would be better spent doing something on this list!)
~ make sure the dogs are good for the weekend
~ and a million other little things in between!!

I've missed my boot camp AGAIN this morning because I was so tired!! I woke up briefly, and Matt even woke up and nudged me to ask if I was going. Ugg! I just wanted to sleep!! I seriously could have slept until 10:00 and been good- maybe even longer. I hate when I get like that, especially after having paid for this boot camp. I NEED to go to it, there's just something wrong with me and I really like to sleep!!

And... I just realised that the time I've spent in here has gone much faster than I thought, and I am now late for my class that starts in 2 minutes (and it's a good 7 minutes away). I think I'm going to skip. Don't know what I'm going to do instead, but I don't feel like doing logic and I don't want to go. I need a break!!

Pictures

2009-06-17T12:36:00.006-05:00

I know, I should be doing homework... but I wanted to post these while I had a break! LOL (All of these were taken from my phone, so they're not the best quality).

Daylon at Texas A&M's football camp with some of his buddies (he's on the far right)

The boys all on Matt's back (it's not very flattering to Matt, but it's a cute picture!)

Blayden after playing on the slip-in-slide in the front yard:

Matt and Daylon after shark fishing:

Me and Matt at a Dave Matthews Band concert about a month ago:

I'm here, I'm here!!

2009-06-17T12:17:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I didn't realize it had been SOOO long since I updated! I really thought I would be better at this. I'm making time right now though (actually, I'm putting off doing my homework for my logic AND my strength training class!) :-)

We're all doing good, just, of course, been busy. Matt keeps selling pools so that's awesome. I've been super busy with school every day and the business stuff in-between. It seems like I hardly have time to do ANYTHING anymore. I've been going to boot camp in the mornings again, although I've missed the last two days (yesterday because Matt needed to leave the house at 6:15 to go to a job site, so I knew I wouldn't have time to get there and then get back home, and then this morning because I was sick to my stomach all night and didn't want to chance it.) Oh well, I'm trying and I've changed my diet, so that's good. I've GOT to loose this weight!! I do have an awesome nanny, Susie, who comes everyday while I'm in school, and there is no way I could do what I'm doing this summer without her. She's been SOOO much help- I absolutely love her (and the boys do as well).

The boys are good, just getting used to the summer. Daylon is working on saving money so he's got a chore list and he tries to get stuff done every day. I think Matt and I are going to be broke by the end of the summer if we pay him as much as he wants. I think we'll have to set some sort of limits! He helps Susie a lot with the other boys, so that's nice. But he's also the one to push the limits and drive us all nuts too.

Jace is good, just Jace. I think he really likes summer because it gives him a chance to lay around and do nothing except watch TV a lot. He LOVES to sleep and be lazy, so this is just awesome for him. ;-) Him and Kelton have done two VBS's around town though, so at least he's getting up for that. (I just realized I make it sound like he hasn't done anything, and that's not true! Susie takes them all swimming two times a week, they do the library reading time on Wednesdays, they swim in the backyard ALL the time, and they usually have a few other things they do during the days as well. He's not THAT lazy! LOL)

Kelton is taking swim lessons two times a week at Miramont, so Susie takes him and the rest of the boys swimming for that. I think he's doing well (I haven't been to a lesson yet!) and he really enjoys it.

Blayden is a very out-spoken two-year-old with his own views on life. He's SOO cute and funny so it's hard to get mad at him, but he can defintely throw a fit when he doesn't get what he wants (I know, I know, he's the baby and he is SPOILED and it's only our fault and he's not THAT bad, but it's bad enough!) He loves to do whatever his big brothers are doing, but he's also good just going into his room and watching Barney. Yes, he's on a Barney kick and LOVES it when Barney is on. It's so cute! I asked him the other day if he liked Barney and he said "yessth" (he's got a small lisp that is too cute, but only when he says yes), "and Baby Bop too!" I just thought it was so cute that he likes Barney AND Baby Bop!

I think that's about it for us though. I'd better get off my computer and do some homework, considering that I have some due in an hour and a half and I haven't even started it yet. ;-) Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!!

Video from Jace's graduation from Kindergarten!!

2009-05-29T14:00:00.002-05:00

Well, Jace graduated from Kindergarten this morning. I have to say, he's just so darn cute!! I have pictures as well, but I let Matt take my camera with him to Freeport. Him and Daylon went down there for today and tomorrow so Daylon could go fishing for sharks for his birthday (which is on Sunday). Anyway, here is the link for the videos. The first one is of Jace's Kindergarten class singing a song (Jace is in the top row wearing a maroon and white striped shirt), the second one is of Jace getting his diploma, and the third one is of Blayden being a little stinker while we were there. Enjoy!

http://www.dropshots.com/SunshineFunKel#

I'm still here!! :-)

2009-05-27T19:55:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in forever! Seems like with 2 kids out of school (Kelton and BB) that I don't have any time to myself anymore. Matt is out of town in Austin for tonight though, so I'm going to put the boys to bed, take a little swim to cool off (I worked in the backyard and mowed both the front and the back) and then chill out to a good movie (I rented Seven Pounds!) Hopefully I can come back on here tonight and post again.

School update on me....

2009-05-15T10:37:00.002-05:00

Well, I just wanted to brag a little bit about myself!! ;-) I got a 4.0 this semester (I had 4 classes- so 12 hours.) I'm a little bit proud of myself for doing this while having four boys, helping run a business (I pay all the bills, do the book-keeping, fax stuff to contractors when needed, and a few other things), and still be able to take a shower every day!! ;-)

Way to go ME!!! :-)

Kelton graduated from preschool!!

2009-05-15T10:32:00.006-05:00

Even though he's old enough to have graduated from KINDERGARTEN, we've held all of the boys back one year (probably won't for Blayden though! LOL) and he graduated from his preschool last night. Here are a few pictures of the program:

Getting his diploma from Ms. Penny:

Hugging his teacher, Mrs. Laura:

Kelton and Blayden (he was in part of the program too):

Congratulations Kelton!! Now you're a Kindergartener!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

Off to go fishing!!

2009-05-15T10:24:00.002-05:00

Matt and I are leaving today to go to Freeport to go fishing in the Gulf. We were planning on going off shore (like 60 miles out) but the wind is too high so the waves are huge and we're not going to be able to go out that far. Oh well! At least we'll still get to go out some and I'm sure it'll be awesome! This is Matt's birthday present from me, (his 30th birthday is on Sunday) so I just want him to enjoy it. He LOVES to fish so I think this will be good. :-)

Welllllll......

2009-05-04T20:42:00.002-05:00

Daylon's teacher just called to let us know that they have closed their school (Pebble Creek Elementary) for the rest of the week because of a probable case of the H1N1 flu. Apparently they sent off for a test of some kid on April 25 and they got the results today that it is "probably" the H1N1 virus. So.... no school for the boys. And now I'm just freaking out a little bit more about this stupid thing.

Should be studying...

2009-04-29T18:03:00.002-05:00

I have a test first thing in the morning, but I just can't study for it. I'm already making a REALLY good grade in this class, so even if I bomb this test, I'll still get an "A." So I know I should still study and try to do my best, it's just TOUGH. Especially since I've been messing around on Facebook, and now here. LOL

We're all doing good around here though. Still really busy with the boys baseball and tennis. Blayden is starting to really tell me when he needs to go potty, so that's nice. Maybe he'll be potty trained before the end of summer- I sure hope so!

I love spring time!! I have two birds nests- one on my back porch and one on my front. The ones on the back have hatched and are so ugly they're cute. Not sure about the ones in the front- I haven't looked lately. I just try to avoid the flying parents when I leave the house. They get pissed every time we go outside.

Alright, I really need to do other stuff besides blog, look on Facebook, check my mom's board, or anything else on the computer. I NEED TO STUDY!

So I'm off! Hope everyone is doing well!!!!

No motivation!!

2009-04-20T11:53:00.002-05:00

I have TONS of stuff that I could be doing for school, but I just want to lay in bed and do nothing at all. I have a test on Wednesday that I need to make a decent grade on to keep my 'A' in his class. I have two essays (one 2 pages and the other needs to be between 4-6 pages) that are due NEXT Wednesday. Then I have to "teach" to a group of people in my class on Thursday morning and I need to get everything finalized for that. But I just don't feel like doing ANY of it.

I also have non-school related things to do. I need to get everything together for Matt's "surprise" (yeah, he knows about it) birthday party in May. He's telling me he doesn't even want to do it now though, so I don't know what I should do. Should I try to cancel it and get my money back, or just stick with the plan?? I know he'd have fun but it is REALLY expensive, and I'm also taking him deep sea fishing the weekend before that for his actual present, and he says that's enough. Ugg. Men!

I'm also washing clothes and all that normal stuff today, and it just feels like that's enough for me. I can't get motivated to do ANYTHIHNG. I've been sitting here at the kitchen table with my computer in front of me, just messing around on the Internet, downloading pictures and videos off of my cameras, and not doing anyhing important. Yuck. And to top it all off, it's a beautiful day and I would love to just go lay out (minus kids) and chill out. I had a great weekend, but still!

Oh! And that leads me to my next little issue... Matt and I went with some friends of ours to Houston on Saturday. Now, if you've been watching the news AT ALL, you have probably heard that Houston FLOODED on Saturday. That's right. And we were in the middle of it! I just knew that my car was going to get flooded and stall out. It didn't, but I think it was close a few times! The water was easily to the bottom of my doors on my car.

Anyway, I guess I need to stop jacking around and do something productive. Fun for me.

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL day!!

I love Spring....

2009-04-09T19:07:00.002-05:00

.... except for the allergies!! We're all running around with stuffy (or runny) noses, itchy eyes, and asthmatic coughs (BB!) It sucks!! I love Spring, I love being outside, but I hate having to deal with this crap. And then, to top it off, it's been REALLY windy for the last few weeks and you can't even be outside and enjoy it. I never thought I would say this, but I'm ready for Summer!!!

I'm still here!!!

2009-04-07T16:00:00.003-05:00

Yeah, it's been a little bit crazy around here!! Between my school, the boys school, my HOSTS, Kelton and Daylon's baseball EVERY NIGHT, Jace's tennis on Thursday afternoons, and everything else, I've barely had time to sit down and do anything, much less blog!!

Everyone is doing good though. Blayden is becoming more and more "two" so that's been just a blast. Kelton has his good days and his bad days (he can be an argumentative stinker!) He has t-ball at two days a week, and he loves it. Jace is doing good in school, and enjoys tennis- I think he likes having something that just HE does! Daylon is doing great in school, and he has baseball (machine pitch again) two days a week as well. So that's anywhere from 4-5 nights a week that we are doing sports. It's entertaining stuff.

Matt has started working out more too, (3 nights a week) so we've had to work around that too. It usually involves me taking the boys to sports and actually having to stay for all of it- no matter how tired or hungry the other boys are there. I think Matt's fixing to really have to work out a different schedule for his working out though.

I am doing good. I had a bad infection and have been on antibiodics for a little over a week, but am finally starting to feel more like myself. I also bought me some new shoes, so I'm hoping they'll help me not get shin splints and then I can work out again. I'm going to sign up for the next morning bootcamp. Hello 5:30 am again!!

Some more news... my step-grandfather (my moms husband, Tom's dad) died on Friday from cancer. He was 87 years old and had been married for 68 years. (I can't even imagine, but it really gives me something to work for- I think it's awesome!!) So that's been hard on my mom, and so it's been hard on me. I hate seeing anyone in my family upset. The funeral was yesterday morning too, and that was hard.

Other than that, everything is pretty good. We're going to go to my grandparents house on Lake Buchannan for Easter and I'm really excited about that! It's going to be great!!! I love going, even just for a few days. And there's just something about having Easter there with my family. We've been going there since I was a little girl (they didn't live there at the time, we just had a place there that we all went to) and it's just special to me. I'm really looking forward to it- and as soon as the boys know about it, they'll be thrilled too! :-)

I think that's about it though. Hopefully I'll be a little better about blogging and keeping up with everyone else's blogs! I haven't forgotten about you guys!!

Videos of the boys

2009-03-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

Well, I got a new video camera for my birthday, and I LOVE it!! I also uploaded a few other videos onto Dropshots, so I had an online database for all my videos. Here's the link- enjoy!!

http://www.dropshots.com/SunshineFunKel#date/2009

7 years ago.... AND 28 years ago....!!!!

2009-03-04T16:54:00.011-06:00

Well, it was 7 years ago today when I had my handsome Jace. I BARELY made it to my birthday- he was born at 12:30 that night. My birthday was on a Monday that year, and I told Matt Friday afternoon that I had a feeling he needed to take me out for my birthday that night because I didn't think I was going to make it to my birthday. So he took me out that evening.

My contractions started Saturday evening but weren't anything bad. My mom had come down to take me shopping for my birthday, so thank goodness she was already there. On Sunday afternoon my mom and I went to the mall where I walked all over the place (and she bought me a beautiful ring), and then we went to the hospital around 4 that afternoon. They broke my water around 9 or so, and then Jace was born at 12:30 on March 4. He weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces (my biggest son by almost a pound- Daylon and Blayden both were 6' 12 ounces, and Kelton was only 6 pounds!!)

Jace has always been such a joy to Matt and I. He's SO cute that it's always been really hard to get mad and stay mad at him. I'm not sure if he's ever had a serious spanking (and even when he gets a "spanking" he walks away laughing! Little stinker!!) He told me this morning that he's now the oldest person in his class. And when I tried to tell him that he's ALWAYS been the oldest person, he said "no, they're all still 6!" It was really cute!

He's had a good day so far, and has already said his birthday has been "fantastic!" He'll be REALLY excited after he sees what Matt and I got him- an iPod Touch. (He's been wanting an iPod, so I just figured why not get him one he can play the games on! LOL)

As for me, I've had a great day so far as well. Matt picked me up from campus and took me to eat lunch, and then took me to Best Buy where I got a Sony Handycam. Like the REALLY small one with the hard drive memory. I'm so excited to use it!!! :-)

Anyway, Matt's fixing to be home so we can go eat dinner so I'd better get this finished up and the house cleaned a little bit so I can get it cleaned tomorrow. :-)

I'll finish with a few pictures of Jace!!

Happy 7th birthday my big boy!!!!!

Why is it...

2009-02-27T08:43:00.003-06:00

... that when one of your children gets sick, you generally get it too???

Yep, I've got the virus or whatever it was that Blayden had. And if he felt HALF as bad as I do, I feel really bad for the little guy! I started running a fever yesterday, throwing up and all that fun stuff. I went to bed at 6 (thanks, Matt!!!) and didn't get up until 7 this morning. I'm still feeling bad, but nothing like I did yesterday.

The good news is that Blayden seems to be feeling a LOT better, and once he gets completely over his diarrea, we'll be good to go with him. :-)

Sick baby boy

2009-02-24T07:39:00.002-06:00

Well, Blayden woke me up at 2:15 last night, crying. I figured something was "off" from the cry, and sure enough when I got in there he had thrown up everywhere. NOT a fun thing to find at 2:00 in the morning, as any mom will tell you! So I got him up, took him to my room, cleaned him up, gave him to Matt (Matt was thrilled too) and refixed his bed with clean sheets. Again, not the most fun thing to do in the middle of the night.

He's still sleeping right now though, and I'm hoping he'll feel better today. I'm praying it's just a 24 hour thing, or maybe just something he ate (although he didn't eat much at supper...)

I was supposed to have class at 8 this morning, but since he's sick, I can't take him to MDO, so I'll have to be with him today. I guess we'll hang out. :-) Crossing fingers he doesn't throw up in my car though- I HAVE to run some errands! This is my only day to do it!!

Random pictures

2009-02-18T13:30:00.004-06:00

Here are just a few random pictures of the boys since I haven't uploaded pictures in FOREVER!!!

My little BB!

Jace and I had our first "date" together. We went to see "Cirque Dreams" at MSC Opus. SOOO much fun and so cool!!

Blayden's birthday

2009-02-18T13:21:00.006-06:00

Well, Blayden's birthday was January 27 and I just haven't had time to even comment on it much less make a whole entire blog! I do have pictures uploaded though and I'll post some of those. He had his party at The Bounce and he had a blast. He's SOOO cute, but such a little two-year old. He throws some awesome tantrums and he has the CUTEST "No!" looks!! He has his two-year appointment today, so I'll post those stats as soon as I know them. I can't believe how fast my baby has grown.

Here's a few pictures from his party though:

Getting into the ball pit:

He LOVED the big slide:

Yumm! Cookie cake!

Everyone jumping!

First test of the semester...

2009-02-18T13:20:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm up on campus, and I just had my first test of the semester. It was 5 short answer questions, and I'm just not sure how I did. Guess I'll see, but I know I just made some stuff up (but that's what partial credit is for, right?!?) Good news is that I got back a paper for the same class and I made a 20 on it (out of 20 possible points.) Woo-hoo for me! ;-)

Ready for Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-12T14:36:00.002-06:00

Well, Kelton and Blayden had their Valentine's Day party at school today, and Daylon and Jace will have theirs tomorrow. I've gotten all of the boys class Valentine's cards done (except Daylon's- he has to help me do his this afternoon) and I got all of the boys teachers Red Hot Jelly that we made for them all ready to go.

I also went today and got all of the boys (even Matt!) their big mylar balloons. I get them one every year for Valentine's since they don't really like the "girly" Valentine stuff. So they each have a HUGE balloon that is taking up a lot of my closet space right now until Saturday morning. (I know I won't have the time to go get them before then, so I got them today while everyone was at school!) :-)

Matt and I have a romantic weekend planned in Kemah, looking at boats (reminder, ours went "down" in Hurricane Ike, and Matt has been looking every day for a new one! We're JUST LOOKING though, and have no plans to buy one. We're mostly going so I can see just how BIG a 53 foot or 60 foot yaught really is. I've never been in one that big!) We'll also get to sleep in, go to dinner without ordering 4 kids meals (or 3 and then having Blayden eat off of our plates!), and sleeping in. Oh, and did I mention that I get to SLEEP?!?! I think I'm more excited about that than anything else!! Susie (our nanny) is going to keep the boys for us all weekend, and they are SUPER excited about that! They LOVE Susie (or "Suey" as Blayden calls her!) and she's promised to make cup cakes with them, so they're even more thrilled. (But not as thrilled as me!! I love my kids, but oh-my-gosh! There's a lot of them!!!)

Schools going good for me, just a lot of work and time. In fact, I'm trying to talk myself out of skipping class tonight (it's a 3 hour long class that starts at 5:45 and ends at 8:35, and I just don't feel like doing it tonight AT ALL.) I'm tired, and I really just want to chill out tonight. We'll see though, as it counts as two absenses if I skip. Ugg...

I think that's about it. Hopefully I really can get pictures up soon! I promise, I do have them. It's just that I barely have time to do ANYTHING much less sit there and upload pictures, organize them, etc. I know I need to though!!!

Update

2009-02-04T10:16:00.003-06:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Things have been SOOO busy the last few weeks since school started for me. I'm up at 5 to go to boot camp (except for last week because my shins were REALLY bad I could barely walk, and I've missed two days this week), I come home, get ready, get the boys ready, then head to class. Most days I'm done by 10:00, but on Wednesdays I have my "long day" and I have class until 3:30. Still not as bad as last semester where I was there until 5:15 two days a week.

Everyone is doing good. Blayden has figured out that he IS two now and has hit the "terrible 2's" hard. He's a little stinker!! He'll yell at his brothers (and Matt and I sometimes too) to "stop!" or "no!" or "mine!" And he's even laid on the ground for a full out tantrum a few times (yes, I just walk away and ignore him.) ;-) He still can be SOO sweet though, so it really makes up for the stinkerness of his 2-year old self.

Matt's been VERY busy with work which is just awesome. Things have really picked up in the last two weeks or so, and they've sold 4 pools lately. Which is really good for February. I just hope it keeps up (and continues to increase) for the rest of the summer. :-)

The older boys are doing good. I have a meeting with Jace's teacher today to discuss his progress so I'm hoping that goes well. Daylon is doing much better with his reading and spelling words, so that's good. Jace LOVES to read, I've just noticed him having a few problems with some things, so I'm sure that's what his teacher wants to talk about too. Kelton has been very good and sweet lately, but boy! can that kid argue!! He comes up with these really logical arguements too, so it's hard to not take him really seriously. I think we may have a lawyer on our hands.

I think that's about it though. I STILL haven't uploaded pictures from Christmas and now I need to upload pictures of Blayden's birthday party too. I promise I'll get those done today and post them. :-)

School starts for me tomorrow...

2009-01-19T19:59:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm going to start my second semester at A&M tomorrow at 8 am. Yes, that's freakin' early!! LOL (But, in this case, I'm glad I'm doing Boot Camp at 5:30 in the morning, so I'll already be up and going!!)

Anyway, wish me luck- I'm actually really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, just nervous about taking so many hours (15). And I'm a little nervous about leaving Matt alone with Kelton and Blayden in the morning and letting him take them to their MDO- he's never had to do that before so we'll see (I left all of their clothes out and ready and I've gotten their bags ready, so surely he can at least figure out how to take them, right?!) LOL

Wish me luck though!!!!

Blayden-isms

2009-01-06T11:35:00.002-06:00

Man, this kid is really starting to talk a LOT! I can't believe that he's going to be 2 this month, it's really pretty sad knowing that he's my last baby and now he's leaving the "baby" stage (although he's spoiled rotten so he might be a baby a little longer!) :-)

Anyway, his absolute favorite thing to say is "oh my gosh!!" If something falls down, breaks, makes a loud noise, looks weird, etc, etc, etc, he'll say "oh my gosh!" He says it a LOT.

He'll also ask me several times a day "Daddy home?" It's the cutest thing in the world when he does it- he LOVES Matt and when Matt gets home he'll run to him saying "Daddy!!!!" with the biggest grin on his face!

He also really loves Jace although, honestly, Jace is the only brother that doesn't really "cater" to his every need (Kelton and Daylon both really love on Blayden a lot, get things for him, etc.) But Blayden loves for Jace to play with him and he'll spend ten minutes calling "JAAAACCCEEEE" at the top of his lungs to get Jace to come play with him.

Blayden LOVES to play with his big brothers and if they are doing something, he'd better be involved in it as well or you're going to hear about it. LOUDLY. The boys got a new trampoline for Christmas from my mom and they can spend hours outside jumping on it, no matter what the weather is. Blayden just wants to be out there with them.

On weekend mornings, we let the older boys get up and play while Matt and I sleep in. They've also gotten to where they just get Blayden up when he wakes up, then they'll get him breakfast and a drink and they'll all play together. However, when Matt and I wake up, Blayden is the first one in our room with us. He'll crawl into bed (usually on Matt's side, right next to Matt), point to the TV, and say "on!" He'll then lay there for however long we let him, watching TV with us (otherwise, he could really care less about TV and doesn't watch it much at all).

Anyway, those are just a few of the things off the top of my head that my big boy is doing now. He's just been so much fun- we're both really trying to enjoy him as much as possible since he IS the last one for us, ya know?!?! :-)

Rainy Blahs

2009-01-06T10:25:00.002-06:00

It's been cold and rainy since yesterday morning, and now I'm just getting tired of it. I don't think I could live in a place like Washington State where it rained a lot and was always dreary. It makes me tired. And when I'm tired, I would rather spend my days laying in bed with a book rather than do the things that I need to do. Blah.

Happy 2009!!

2009-01-01T10:44:00.002-06:00

Well, we didn't do anything last night, and in fact Matt was asleep by 10:30 last night (he woke up at 3:45 this morning to head to a friends house to go fishing with him). I went to the living room and read until midnight, went outside to listen to fireworks, people yelling "Happy New Year" and lots of those annoying blower thingys. I was honestly happy to be hanging out at my house by myself at that time! :-)

Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Years Eve last night. And I hope you all have a GREAT year in 2009- that all of your hopes and dreams come true and you and your family are, above all, happy.

Love you all.

Christmas has come and gone...

2008-12-27T16:51:00.003-06:00

.... and I've already put up all of our Christmas stuff in the house. I was just already tired of it, and my tree was dieing (Daisy kept drinking all of the water!) so we put it all up yesterday.

The boys had a WONDERFUL Christmas of course, and got way too much stuff. My mom bought them a trampoline (their other one was falling apart- they use it a LOT), and a Razor PowerWing, which is really cool, and then all of them some new pj's.

Matt's mom bought Daylon a real guitar and a lego set. Jace got a microphone thing (he loves to sing), and a Kid's Tough digital camera. She bought Kelton got a lego set and a Nintendo DS game. And then Blayden got some wooden puzzles and a car from her.

Then Matt and I bought them all a Nerf gun each- which whas been a huge hit... they've been going around the house shooting each other constantly! We got Daylon a K'Nex set, an iPod speaker dock (it has radio too and he's been listening to it CONSTANTLY!!), a new game for his video game player.... and a few other things... I don't even remember. Jace got a Playmobil pirate ship set, a Pirates of the Caribean pirate ship, and a radio control car that goes up the wall (yes, it really works! LOL) Kelton got a new game for his Nintendo DS, a remote control car that goes on the wall, and something else but again, I don't remember.... :-) Blayden got a big coloring book and crayons, a book, and a small piano.

Santa brought Blayden a Black and Decker workbench, and a tricycle. Kelton got the big Kota ride-on dinosaur (which, BTW, does NOT move, it just "bounces" and growles at you.... Blayden still isn't sure about it yet!), and a few other small toys. Jace's "big" present from Santa was a Nintendo DS and 3 games. And Daylon got a new bike and an Erector build-a-car thing. He's been working on it almost constantly! They all got more than I've listed (I think they had 7 presents total each from us and Santa) but I just can't remember what all they got.

So they really did all walk away with way too many toys and stuff!!

Matt and the boys went shopping for me the other day and apparently each kid (except BB) got to pick out something for me. Kelton bought me some camoflage stuff- a shirt, pants, and a jacket, and then a pink "fishing shirt." I didn't even know that they HAD fishing shirts, but apparently they do! And now I have one!! :-) Jace got me this REALLY soft blue robe that I absolutely love- it's wonderful and soft and comfortable! Daylon picked out a bunch of stuff from Bath & Body Works- bath soaps and lotions.... yummy!! And then Matt got me a new iPhone. I've been saying I wanted one but I'm surprised that he actually got it for me! :-) I LOVE it too!!! And then I got a gift card for Barnes and Nobles from my MIL, and my mom just gave me $100 cash which is ALWAYS nice!!

I just got Matt a cover for his grill (which apparently is the wrong size- go figure!), and a camo backpack. Before you feel too bad though, remember that he just bought himself (with my go-ahead) a new Rolex watch last month when we were in The Virgin Islands!! :-) So his Christmas was taken care of early....

I think that's about it though. I do have pictures.... that would just require me going out to my car and getting my camera and then downloading them. Which is something I don't feel like doing right this second! :-) But I'll get to them soon, I promise.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas as well!!!!

Track Santa

2008-12-24T10:24:00.001-06:00

You can already track Santa at Noradsanta.com I just checked and he's in Indonesia at this second. :-)

It's Christmas Eve!!

2008-12-24T10:14:00.002-06:00

Despite the fact that it's 60 degrees outside right now, I'm really in the Christmas mood and I can't WAIT until tomorrow morning!!! I finished all of my shopping a few weeks ago (except for a few minor little things) and had everything wrapped.

Matt took the boys (yes, ALL FOUR!) with him yesterday to get gifts for me. (I ran errands with my mom, got my eyebrows waxed and my hair trimmed, had lunch with my mom, etc. It was nice to be able to do those things without worrying about the boys or having to mess with them. Lovely!) But, anyway, Matt came home with stuff for me, and the boys "wrapped" them with Matt last night. I say it like that because instead of actually wrapping, which Matt HATES to do, he got regular boxes, and got the boys to decorate them (he decorated one himself, with a picture of 2 people- one with obvious boobs!- holding hands, and then a heart with our initials in it. How sweet is that?!?!? I'm in love!!) :-) They also put bows on the boxes, and then put them all under the tree. All EIGHT of them. Yeah... I know. I think he put one item per box so the boys would have more to do. LOL

Anyway, I'm having my mom, maybe my stepdad (he had total hip replacement last Thursday on his left hip, so it depends on how he's feeling), my sister and her family, and us for dinner tonight. Everyone is supposed to show up at 4:30, we'll eat an early dinner, then head to church for the 6 o'clock Christmas Eve service (Central Baptist if you're wondering!) :-) Then we'll head BACK to my house to open gifts, have dessert, etc. My mom bought the boys a trampoline so I'm SUPER excited to see what they think of that. And of course, that's what Matt and I will probably be doing tomorrow afternoon- putting that thing together! LOL

So... I'm off to fix stuff for dessert for tonight (Chocolate chip cream cheese ball), and cookies for Santa (Peanut Butter- Santa LOVES Peanut Butter, don't you know?!?!) and clean up the house some more (Gunner got feet prints ALL over my floor last night. And I just got it cleaned on Monday!! Great!)

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!! Take LOTS of pictures and videos, etc. and share them!!

Love you all!!!

Boys, boys, and more boys... and one poor little girl!!

2008-12-20T22:22:00.002-06:00

Well, I thought I would be creative tonight so I decided to invite my sister, her kids, and then our friends the Stuarts and their kids all over to our house tonight to decorate Christmas ornaments. Yumm.. yeah.

So Julie Stuart and I went to Hobby Lobby this morning to get all the stuff and we kind of went wild- and didn't really get all that we should have. And then they all came over around 5:30, Aaron (Julie's husband) cooked chicken fajitas (remember, Matt is still out of town!), we ate, and then we (the women) helped the kids decorate the ornaments.

Now, think of this. It's me, my sister Becca, and Julie. And we have....

Clay- Julie's oldest who is 9

Daylon- who is 8

Tyler- who is Julie's 2nd son who is 7

Jace- who is 6

Caden- my nephew who is 6

Kelton- who is 5

Aubry- who is 4 (I think??) and Julie's daughter. The ONLY girl!!

Kyle- my other nephew who is 3

and Blayden- who is almost 23 months

So we had 9 kids, 9 years old and younger. And all but one of those were boys. My kitchen table was a disaster!! (It really wasn't too bad and didn't take too long to clean up.)

Oh... and just in case you ever need to know..... rubbing alcohol takes permenant marker out of wood tables REALLY easily. You can't even tell that Blayden decorated our fairly new kitchen table with a black permanant marker anymore!!! :-)

I'm exhausted and am going to bed.

(Oh, and just in case you are wondering- I know you are.... here's exactly what Matt's been doing... Yes. It's gross. I know.)

It's going to be another LONG weekend....

2008-12-17T16:10:00.004-06:00

Well, first off, my step-dad is having his left hip replaced tomorrow morning, so he'll be in the hospital at least until Sunday with that. Please pray for both him and my mom and her sanity.

Matt is leaving EARLY tomorrow morning (like 5:30ish) to head to S. Houston to meet up with a friend to then leave for Del Rio to go deer hunting for the weekend. He'll be back at some point on Sunday. So I'll have the boys with me for the weekend (thank goodness Daylon will be going to spend the night with a friend on Friday night, so that will be one less kid to take care of for the evening.) It's not like I don't enjoy spending time with the boys, it's just that by the end of the day when Matt comes home, I'm ready to relax and let him take care of them a little bit and help me out, ya know??

And then on Sunday we're having Christmas with my mother-in-law (Matt's going to have to meet us there at her house when he comes back to town). So that should be a lot of fun. I just need to get her a few things and then wrap the gifts for Sarah, Matt's little sister- who is 17 now!!!- and for Travis, Matt's step-brother who lives with Matt's mom and step-dad. Maybe Matt can watch the kids tonight so I can go and do that before he goes out of town. Sounds nice to me!! :-)

Now for a few updates:

Blayden and Kelton both had their Christmas parties at their MDO yesterday. Fun stuff! (And I'm room mom for both of them so it was a lot of running back and forth for me. Thank goodness for all of the moms that were there and did most of the work!!) So they've been at home with me and Kelton is already asking when he's going back to school. It's going to be a long break. (They go back January 8 and I can't wait! LOL) Blayden has been super fussy yesterday afternoon and today, so I'm not sure what's up with him. No fever or anything, just gripey.

Jace and Daylon are both having a super busy but fun week at school. Tuesday was Kindergarten movie day so Jace got to take a pillow to school and they watched "Polar Express" in the cafeteria. Can't beat that! And today was pajama day for both of them. Apparently, Jace got made fun of because he wore his Ratattoili (sp?) pj's. Poor kid (I did warn him though.) Still, it's always fun and different to go to school in your pajama's, right?? And then tomorrow is their sing-a-long. I'm going to try to make it to that with Kelton and Blayden. We'll see.... and then Friday they get out early after a morning of Christmas parties. And THEN they'll have a few weeks off (they go back to school Jan 5.)

As for me.... I finally got all of my grades in and I finished the semester off with a 3.75 GPA. (That's 3 A's and 1 B). I'm happy with it but tried really hard for the 4.0. Maybe next semester!! I'll be taking 15 hours instead of the 12 that I took this semester though, so we'll see. And one of those classes in an online math (calculus) class and I'm just not very good at math. So I'm a little concerned. Oh well, I'll do what I can and try my hardest!! :-)

I think that's about it. Still finishing getting ready for Christmas. I have all of the boys presents and everything is wrapped... just waiting until the 25th! I need to get Matt a few things too, (again, hoping he'll watch the boys tonight for me!) but other than that, I think I'm good. I'm ready for Christmas though!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and weekend!!!

Snow?? In College Station?!?!?!

2008-12-11T16:57:00.010-06:00

Yep, you heard it straight from the sorce. It actually snowed quite a bit yesterday!!! We woke up yesterday morning to about 1/4" on the ground (hey, it counts, right?!?!) and then all day long it sleeted and then started snowing again right around 3:00 (RIGHT when I went to pick up the boys from school- doesn't that figure?!)

By 5:00 or so, it was a regular blizzard, (at least for us!) and it didn't slow down for quite a while. It was SOO beautiful and the boys had a blast (so did Matt and I for that matter!!!) We were able to build SEVERAL snowmen and had a few snowball fights. It was already starting to melt when we woke up this morning, and was completely gone (except for the snowmen- but those had fallen over and were looking pretty sad) by 10:00 this morning. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted!!!

Here are a few pictures of our snow experience. I have determined that I would LOVE to live somewhere where it snowed in the winter. Well, as long as I didn't have to drive in it- just the idea of that scares me!!! :-)

Enjoy!

Blayden playing out in it when it first started to snow (he kept saying "bubbles!" as the snow was coming down. Poor, confused kid!!)

Even Gunner enjoyed it- see his grin?!?

The house when it was really starting to come down good:

Jace's snowman (yes, he did a lot of it himself!)

Kelton (stupid thing wouldn't stay out of his face and he wouldn't be still long enough for me to fix it):

Daylon's big snow ball. Yep, he threw it. At Matt!

Jace's HUGE snowball. Matt had to take it across the street so he could get more snow. And then had to carry it BACK to our house. He said it must have weighed at least 80 pounds!!

Matt's truck:

Why is it...???

2008-12-08T07:29:00.002-06:00

Why is it that my kids will get up at the butt-crack of dawn on the weekends, but then want to sleep in on Monday morning (and sometimes other days of the week as well)??? What is it that makes them do that? I KNOW that Daylon and Jace are old enough to figure out that since they don't have school on the weekends, they can sleep in. But they can't sleep in on Monday mornings!!

This morning for instance; I was exhausted, and slept until 7:05 and had to get the boys up for school. Well, neither one of them wanted to get up and get going. At ALL. But this weekend?? They were all up at 7:00, ready to play!! Ugg!!!!

Anyway! I'd better get off here. I have 2 finals to study for today. One's at 10:30 and the other one is at 3:30. So at least I'll have a break in between the two to study for the second one. Fun stuff!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!!!

I'm such in the Christmas mood!!

2008-12-04T17:11:00.000-06:00

Well, today was awesome for me!! I got up, got Daylon and Jace off to school, took Kelton and Blayden to their MDO at 9, and then met my mom at Academy to start a day of shopping. After finding the trampoline we wanted for her to buy the boys for Christmas (they have one, but it's old and falling apart and they LOVE it so she's getting them another one), we went to Target, where I did really well on stocking stuffers and a few Nintendo DS games for Kelton and Jace, and spent about 2 hours or so there (at least it felt like it!)

Then we went BACK to Academy, met Matt there so he could pick up the trampoline in his truck, and got Daylon a new bike (from Santa) while we were there. So that worked out.

Then over to Toys R Us to find a Razor dirt bike for my nephew (who's birthday is today- Happy Birthday, Caden!!) My mom got that for him for a birthday and Christmas combined gift. Then we went over to the other Target to find pj's for my boys (my mom bought them for them for Christmas, always nice!), ate a REALLY fast lunch of Pizza Hut there at Target, then had to get back to my car so I could go pick up Blayden and Kelton.

I LOVE shopping for the boys!! We decided to not go to New Mexico this year like we had originally planned, so now I get to spend a little more money on gifts. I love shopping for them, finding things I know they will like, and anticipating them opening up the gifts on Christmas morning. Fun stuff!! Matt and I still need to go and get the "big" stuff for all of them, but I got some of the little stuff done, (and already a present for each of them actually WRAPPED!!) I just can't wait until Christmas!! (BTW, Matt has sold TWO pools in the last 4 days, so that's a big help to us right now!!! Go Matt!! LOL) :-)

I love Christmas time!! And this cold weather (it's supposed to get around 35 degrees here tonight) is SOOOO awesome!!! I need to live somewhere where it's always cold!! LOL

Getting a little break...

2008-12-03T10:58:00.002-06:00

Man, it's SOO nice to be out of school for a little while!! I have a few finals left, and then I'm out for the winter break. I needed it too!!! But, my finals should be pretty easy- one of them is on Friday and is online, open book. The next one is Monday morning, and that's really the only one I'll have to actually STUDY for- the other one is from questions that we (the students) came up with ourselves. And we've made a nice Facebook group to share those questions and answers, so we just need to study that. Gotta love it!! :-)

Kelton and Blayden have MDO every Tuesday and Thursday until Dec. 16, so I'll get a few days in there where I won't have to worry about them- maybe get some much-needed Christmas shopping done! LOL

Jace and Daylon are doing good in school- Jace just loves going and loves playing with other friends. He's learning to read pretty well, and I'm just hoping that he's not dyslexic as well- so far he seems to not be. Daylon's going well, just struggling with spelling words. He's really improving on his reading though, so that's a nice change.

Matt's been really slow at work- no one ever wants to think about a swimming pool in the middle of winter. He sold a pool the day before yesterday though, so that's good! And he's got 3 more people that are very interested, he just has to convince them it's a good idea! :-)

I think that's about it for us. Oh! Blayden is becoming a little toot and talking SO much. Matt asked him to "come to Daddy" last night (he was clinging to me, and I was trying to leave to see the Rockapella holiday concert at MSC with my mom), and Blayden looked at him and say "No way!!!" We just had to laugh (which caused him to say it over and over again!) He's just such a fun age!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

2008-11-27T09:25:00.000-06:00

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!

May you have a wonderful day, spent with family and friends!!

(And don't eat too much turkey!!) :-)

Love you all!
~ The Ratliff Family

Pictures of our trip to the Virgin Islands

2008-11-17T09:52:00.003-06:00

We left last Saturday, the 8th, and then got back the 15th. So it was a really long trip, but SOOO nice!! We were able to sleep late everyday, lay out on the beach, shop (I got a beautiful aquamarine ring- which is my birthstone, and Matt got a Rolex watch. He's been wanting one forever, so we couldn't pass up the deal we got, especially since it was duty free! LOL), and we ate WAY too much!!

We were definitely ready to be back home though. We both missed the boys and they missed us (although my grandmother said they were really good!!)

Anyway, here's the link to all of the pictures. Enjoy! :-)

http://mkdjkrat.shutterfly.com/3204

Daylon's championship Pop Warner game

2008-11-15T19:20:00.008-06:00

Sorry, I'm not sure what happened to the original post! It just didn't get published right. Sorry about that! :-)

Well, last Saturday Daylon had his final Pop Warner game for the season. It was held at Consol High School because it was the division championship game. And they WON!!! Daylon did awesome- got a few sacks and was just super tough. Here are a few pictures of that...

Out on the field (he thought it was HUGE!!) :-)

Daylon's fans (he had a LOT!!!)

College Station Raiders Mighty Might Pop Warner football team- Division & Regional champs!!

Daylon, Matt, and head coach with the trophy:

Daylon

2008-11-15T19:20:00.000-06:00

Kelton's flag football pictures

2008-11-03T11:03:00.008-06:00

Here are a few pictures of Kelton's flag football stuff. We have our last game tonight and I'm SOOO glad! (And just a few more games of Daylon's and then we're DONE!!) Also a few pictures of Kelton's end-of-season party at Double Daves (getting his trophy!!) :-)

Kelton and my nephew, Caden:

Jace was VERY intent on the game he was playing!!

Daylon and his weird face!!

Blayden:

Halloween

2008-11-03T10:52:00.009-06:00

Here are some pictures of the boys on Halloween. I didn't get many because my battery died on my camera (Marie, you and I are just good like that!)

Daylon- he was a Pirate skeleton person. Was pretty cool looking (Blayden finally got used to the mask and would look at Daylon and say "Bubba?" when he was wearing it!)

Jace- he was the alien from Toy Story:

Kelton- he was a ghost. (He was supposed to be Buzz Lightyear but Disney sent the wrong size and I never got him another one. This was Daylon's from a few years ago!) ;-)

Blayden- he was Peter Pan. He looked way more cute than this picture showed!! (He's got a sucker in his mouth. He found the candy REALLY fast!) LOL

Kelton and Blayden also had a party at their school. Here are a few pictures from that (Kelton wore his Stitch costume from last year for that.)

Kelton and some of his friends in their class:

Little "BB" having his snack:

Yes, I'm still here!!

2008-11-02T20:36:00.002-06:00

Man, I keep thinking life is going to slow down and it just never does! We're all doing really well though, and the boys had a blast on Halloween (and yes, I do have pictures I just need to upload them and then post them- I promise I'll try to do that really soon!)

School has been crazy for me of course. I'm trying to get everything done before Matt and I go out of town next weekend (we're leaving on the 8th and then we'll get back in town that next Saturday, the 15th.) I'm SOOOOOOO super excited about going and I can't wait. But really, I just have so much homework to get done beforehand so I haven't been able to really look forward to it as much as I normally would. I think it's going to be so relaxing for us to go though. My grandmother is going to come and stay at my house with the boys, and then my mom and nanny will help her whenever she needs it. I'm going to miss the boys like crazy (especially Blayden, just because he's still young enough that we really just enjoy him- he doesn't argue, fight with his brothers, etc!) LOL I'm going to miss them all though, and I know Matt will too. But it's going to be worth going and getting a break from life.

I think that's about it for us right now. I'll try to post pictures of the boys tomorrow, and try to keep updated on everything more. :-)

My Songs

2008-10-14T17:09:00.002-05:00

Stole this from a friend (thanks Marie- and Christine too!! LOL) Thought it sounded fun. :-)

A pal of mine blogged about an email she received asking her for a favor. Apparently her friend's social anthropology class project for the semester is finding out what makes people tick. The idea is to tap into people's play list and see...well, what makes them tick. What's their jam? What makes them get going in the morning or for a run?

So, I've posted 10 of my songs, chosen at random thanks to iTunes shuffle and explained my reasons. I thought it was sort of fun and hopefully not too embarrassing. You should do the same!

1. "Take You There" by Sean Kingston
I love the idea of someone (preferably my husband) coming to take me to the tropics, letting me sit on the beach, and sipping a colada with me!!! Fun beat too!! ;-)

2. "What I Got" by Sublime
Reminds me of the 90's. Need I say more?!? It's a great chill-out song.

3. "Numb/Encore" by Jay-Z and Linkin Park
Linkin Park is about as Rock as I get. I can work out forever when I listen to this one. And I love to jam out in my car with it when the boys aren't in there with me. ;-)

4. "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson
Oh god, I don't know WHY I like this song- I just absolutely love it!! And I always think of that movie with Sandra Bullock in it (the one where she's a witch-type person...) Good movie and good song!

5. "I Want to Know What Love is" by Foreigner
I listen to this one when I want to relax and try to go to sleep. LOL And besides, I like Foreigner (sometimes).

6. "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol
Have you ever listened to the words of this song?? "If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world? I don't quite know how to say how I feel. Those three words are said too much, they're not enough...." Love it.

7. "Jessica's Theme (Breaking the Colt) by Bruce Rowland
"The Man From Snowy River" is one of my all time favorite movies and I LOVE this song. I can play it on the piano (not as good as this song is done) and it's just so beautiful.

8. "Far Away" by Nickelback
Loved this song from the first time I heard it. Now when I listen to it, I'm reminded of Kyle, and it always makes me go and hug my boys extra hard.

9. "It's Alright (a Capella)" by Sara Hickman (CD is called "Newborn")
Her voice is just AMAZING!! This song relaxes me and I love to play it for the boys before bed (drives Daylon nuts though! LOL)

10. "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson
Well, as Marie said, who doesn't love Jack Johnson?!?! LOL I loved the movie Curious George and can't help thinking about it when I hear this song. Great words too!! Everything is possible!!!

Ya know, I kinda have a cool music list here! LOL ;-)

10 Things I've Learned From Being a Mom...

2008-10-12T04:35:00.003-05:00

1. There are certain things that don't change once your child eats them. Corn, crayons, and hot dog weenies are just some of those things.

2. The best way to get rid of a fever is a dose of Motrin, followed a few hours later by a dose of Tylenol, then a few hours later followed by another dose of Motrin.

3. Motrin generally works better than Tylenol.

4. I WILL be like my mother and answer my child with "because I said so!" the 5th time they have asked me "why??"

5. My fourth child will probably not have to do things that my older children had to do, and will be allowed to do other things that my older children could not do at the same age. It sucks, but it's life.

6. A child CAN learn to talk with a pacifier in their mouths for the majority of the day.

7. Said child will not go to Kindergarten with that pacifier in their mouth either.

8. A child will start going to the bathroom in the toilet when they are ready- NOT when you are ready for them to do it!

9. A child will bypass 3 bathrooms when they are sick to come and tell you they are sick, and then to throw up by the side of your bed.

10. "Goodnight Moon" is just as awesome to read the 100th time as it was the 1st time. (And "Goodnight Goon" is a cute knock-off for Halloween!)

And, although I already have my 10 things, I'll add one more--- Kisses from boys are not "yuck"- they are the most wonderful things in the world. Especially the open-mouthed kind from a baby just learning to give kisses!! :-)

Update

2008-10-10T11:14:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been so long, ya'll!! It's just been crazy busy around here!

The boys have had sports EVERY night, I've had tons of school work (major group project due today that I finally got everything for last night and stayed up putting it together and printing it out until 12:30), and just about a million other little things going on.

And then one big thing.... Matt has been out of town all this week- from Monday until yesterday afternoon. His dad died on Sunday evening, so he and Sarah (his little sister) went to Arkansas to take care of the things there and to visit with that side of the family. I've been meaning to post about that, I just haven't had the time. The whole thing was very unexpected, so it's been a big shock to everyone. The boys and I were very glad to get Matt back home with us though- it's so different with him gone!

I think that's about it for the updates though- nothing else is really going on except the day-to-day gride of living. Things are getting slower with the business (it always does this time of year, but with the financial problems going on no one wants to buy a pool right now, so it's even worse!) The boys are all doing good (I think Blayden had a virus on Monday night and Tuesday, but he's doing better now), and we're just staying busy. I promise I'll be updating more and I'll post pictures from Kelton's football games soon!!

I'm exhausted

2008-09-16T16:20:00.003-05:00

I think all of the school and everything with the boys is starting to catch up with me. I'm SOO tired. On top of the every day stuff we have going on, I'm also having my lovely time of the month, which just makes everything so much worse.

I have my first test tomorrow and I haven't studied at ALL for it (I've read the chapters we were supposed to read, and I've been to all the classes so I've gotten all of the lectures, so at least I have that.) But I need to study and I just can't make myself for anything. I have a headache, I'm tired, and I don't want to study (would you?? The class my test is in is "Educational Phsychology")!!!! Ugg! No, it's really not that bad of a class, and the prof is awesome, I'm just so tired.

Oh, and I started back up on my Boot Camp this morning. Matt texted me yesterday to ask if I wanted to go to the Virgin Islands in November (all expenses paid) and of course I said yes! I'll miss a whole week of school, so I need to start planning that out with the profs soon, but still! It'll be AWESOME!!!! But now I REALLY need to get to loosing the weight I've been hanging on to.

Okay. Now I really do need to finish helping Daylon with his homework and getting to studying MINE. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow- I'm going to need it!!!!

Pictures of the boat

2008-09-14T14:20:00.004-05:00

(And of Matt's trip down there yesterday- lots of downed power lines, trees, flooding, etc.)

And yes, we do have insurance on it- just hope it's really good insurance!! Matt and his friend, Aaron, just left a little while ago to head down there to try to get everything they could off of the boat before looters got to it. I'm sure I'll get more pictures later of all of that and with the water down.

Here's the link of all of the pictures Matt took: http://mkdjkrat.shutterfly.com/3099

And here are just a few pictures of the boat so you would know which one it is.

You can just barely see the top bow of the boat, right in the middle of the picture. The windshield had been blown out completely. And see the boat to the left of it that's upside down?!!

The boat

2008-09-13T15:49:00.002-05:00

Well, Matt got down there just fine, no problems getting there at all. BUT... the boat is completely under the water. They were redoing the rudder on the boat so there was a hole in the boat. The water came up and over, and the boat is just gone. Matt said he could just see the top part of the boat and one of the lights. Matt took lots of pictures and I'll post them once I get them.

Oh, he was interviewed by Fox News (not sure if it was the local or the national Fox News) so if you happen to be watching the news, you might see him on there (and if it's shown and I can find a link, I'll post that as well.)

But, that's that.

We're all good!

2008-09-13T13:37:00.002-05:00

Everything is fine here. We actually didn't get as much rain or wind as they originally thought we would. It started getting windy here around 3:15 in the morning, and of course it woke me up, and then started getting really bad around 7 or so. We were on the west side of the eye though, so it wasn't too bad.

HOWEVER, my husband has lost his mind and has left here to go down to Kemah to check on his boat. The Kemah Boardwalk is COMPLETLEY closed down though, so I'm not sure how far he's going to get towards the boat. That, and a lot of the gas stations are closed so I don't even know if he can physically get down there without gas.

Our cell phones don't take calls right now, but we can MAKE calls and make and recieve texts. So I'm trying to keep in touch with Matt that way. I'm just a worry-wart and since "they" are telling people to NOT try to come home or go towards the Gulf/Galveston Bay, and my husband IS trying to do that, I'm just really worried. I swear, he's crazy!!!

I'll keep you guys updated on that. And he took the camera so hopefully I can at least get some pictures to post of all of the damage he comes across (since he's going down there anyway! LOL) :-/

We're under a HURRICANE watch!!!

2008-09-11T07:42:00.002-05:00

Yep, Brazos county is under a hurricane watch until Sunday morning. Apparently Ike is going to hit around Galveston (yes, the boat is still in Kemah- should be fun), and then head directly towards B/CS. And we'll get the east side of the storm here, which is the worst side. I'm freaking out just a little bit right now- we've been under Tropical Storm watches/warnings several times before, but not a Hurricane watch- at least that I can remember (maybe Hurricane Rita- I remember everyone freaking out about that one too!)

Anyway, it's just a little scary! I'm going to work on the garage today and get it cleaned out enough so that I can park my car in there. And then Matt wants to find a place for his truck. Hopefully we can get it in somewhere too. And I have to pick up the backyard enough where we won't have toys flying around, etc. Fun, fun, fun!!

Well, I'm off to get ready for school. Kelton and Blayden don't have thier MDO today because the church they have it at is an evacuation shelter for the Red Cross and they already have quite a few evacuees. They don't want the kids there at the same time those people are there (I don't want them there either!) So my mom is heading over to watch them while I'm in class (gotta love mom's!!) :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday!!!

Pictures- Aggie football game & Daylon (my big football player!)

2008-09-09T14:53:00.009-05:00

Matt and I took Daylon and Kelton to the first A&M football game of the season on August 30. They both LOVED going and have been asking to go again (we have season tickets this year, so we'll see!) :-) Anyway, here are a few pictures from that football game. (Too bad we LOST!!! UGG!)

All of my little Aggie's (before the game):

Kelton watching very closely to see what was going on:

Me and Daylon:

Matt, Daylon, and Kelton:

Daylon also had his first Pop Warner TACKLE football game this last Saturday (the 7th). He did pretty good for his first game, and I think he had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of him (not very good- sorry!)

Daylon- #88 ("Ratliff") ;-)

He's bent over on the left side and has one of his hands kind of raised in a "five" thing:

I just think this is kind of cool!! ;-)

Introducing the Amazing Jace!!! :-)

2008-09-09T14:09:00.004-05:00

Jace is very much the singer and entertainer of the family. He LOVES to sing, but he has found out lately that his dad and I will pay him for his services. So... to get a free concert is an awesome deal! :-) This one was free, and right before he went to bed one night (hince him wearing his underwear! LOL)

Enjoy!!!

http://www.dropshots.com/SunshineKel#date/2008-09-09/13:57:50

Awesome video

2008-09-09T14:09:00.002-05:00

"Dear Mr. Obama"

(Sorry, I don't know how to put the actual video in here!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8

Craziness!!

2008-09-06T18:03:00.002-05:00

Well, between my school, the boys school, Daylon's football, Jace's tennis, Matt's work, and all of the little things in between, we've been going NUTS! It's just been absolutely crazy (which I knew it would be, but still!!) Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know that we are all good, just insanely busy. I'll be posting soon another, better update!! :-)

FIRST day of school!!

2008-08-25T08:38:00.010-05:00

Today was Daylon's first day of 2nd grade, and Jace's first day of Kindergarten. Daylon wasn't too thrilled (I think he's over the "excitement" of school, and just dreads the work of it), but Jace was SOOO excited! Here are a few pictures of their first day back (more of Jace than Daylon since it was a little bigger deal to Jace!) ;-)

Eating breakfast (healthy Pop Tarts- whatever, it's what he wanted!) LOL:

Walking up to the school:

Handsome boys!

In Jaces' class:

Leaving:

Updates

2008-08-19T14:17:00.003-05:00

Well, the lady came to look at the piano, and wouldn't you know that after YEARS of having it, now all of a sudden I have like 3 or 4 keys that are sticking!?!? I have no idea why they are, or how to fix them, or how much it would cost to fix. Ugg. So, regardless to who I sell it to now, I'm definitly going to have to take off the price for those to get fixed, ya know?? AND most people are going to have to hire a moving company to move it as well, as we just can't move it ourselves. Fun stuff, fun stuff.

So... Otherwise everything is going well. I'm still going to Boot Camp every morning. Well, okay, I took off ALL of last week!! (Well, Monday I went but sat in my mom's car because my eyes were super dry and killing me), then Tuesday I had a migraine, and then Wednesday I was still sleeping off the shot they gave me on Tuesday for the migraine. Thursday Blayden woke up at 3 something with a fever, stuffy nose, and super fussy. And then Friday I had a virus. Seriously, not fun!! (The rest of the family got the same virus on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday- it's made it's run through my entire family- even my MOM!!)

But, I was able to go to Boot Camp yesterday morning and this morning, even though it was raining this morning (we moved camp to an elementary school under a basketball pavilion.) ;-)

I've also been getting ready for school- mine AND the boys. I've found a nanny (her name is Susie) and I'm hoping that works out okay. I have talked to another girl who will be moving here as soon as her mom has her 6th or 7th younger sibling. ;-) So LOTS of experience with her!! And she just seems super sweet too! So, we're kind of having a trial version with Susie to make sure it'll all work out, and if so, we're good to go! And if not, then at least I do have a back up that seems like it should work. Always good to have a Plan B, right?!?!

I'm getting more and more nervous about going to school for TWELVE hours- almost the full day on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one more class on Fridays. I'm just praying it won't be too much for me- school, the boys sports (more on that), book-keeping and paying bills for Matt, plus just the upkeep of the house, etc?!?! I feel crazy just thinking about it!!

Oh! And the last thing about me and then I'll move on to the rest of the family- my eyes are still doing GREAT! I can tell towards the end of the evening that they are getting dry and tired, but I can still see great and don't have any problems. Well, okay, I don't see great at night (horrible glare- "star-burst effect" is what they call it) but it's not too bad, and I can tell it's gotten better. And they say it should continue to get better over the next 3-4 months. ;-)

Onto the boys!!

I'll start with Daylon. He'll be starting 2nd grade this year and I'm praying they have all of the help set up already for his Dyslexia. I hope it won't be too hard and discouraging for him!!! He's had football practice (we're doing TACKLE this year!!!) almost every night for the last 2 weeks. I'm tired of it, and I've only taken him once! LOL (No, it's not too bad- I just miss Matt being home because he's out there with Daylon!!) I'm ready for the games to start though- that should be fun!!

Jace is doing good too. He's going to start Kindergarten next Monday and he's super excited. I think he'll do really well. Once he's focused on something, he's SUPER smart, so I just hope he actually gets focused on school. I think he'll surprise us all and be more like me- the dreamer, reader, and quiet one. YEAH!! I'm also going to sign him up for tennis pretty soon so he's really excited about that.

Kelton is going to be in Pre-K three days a week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays) and is thrilled. His "girlfriend" is going to be in his class again so I think he's really excited about that. I just signed him up for flag football and I think he'll do great in that- he's such an athlete! However, I can't wait until the Spring to get him signed up for T-ball. I think he's got his grand dad's genes in him and will do GREAT at baseball!!!

Blayden is our little stinker!! He's almost 19 months old now (will be on the 27th) and is learning new words daily. Here's a list of what I can think of off the top of my head that he can say:

Daisy (our dog)
Puppy
DaDa
Mama
Bubba
Bye-bye
Night-night
Mine
Stop!
Diaper
No
Come on
Baby
Jace
Bath
Snack
Juice
Hi
Up
NiNi (my mom)
Shewy (like, stinky!)

And I'm sure there are others that I can't think of right now! He wants to do EVERYTHING that his brothers do, and Daddy is still his favorite person. He SCREAMS when Matt goes to work without him every day and as soon as he sees Matt at night he goes right to him and attacks him. It's too cute, but also sad! He'll be going to MDO 2 days a week too (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and I'm hoping that works out good and he does good at it- he's just at that age where new things are NOT okay with him!! I'm fixing to start sitting him on the potty at random times just to see what he does. Hopefully he'll be more like Daylon and potty train early (Daylon was 22 months) than Jace or Kelton (Jace was 3 1/2 and Kelton was 3!!! Lazy boys!)

And last but not least is Matt. He's been super busy with work and taking care of me and the boys. (He had to take off early last Tuesday to take me to the Express care place so I could get a shot for my migraine and then take care of the boys while I slept it off.) He's not been feeling well the last few days either, so it's not been too fun around our house. Other than him being busy and building lots of swimming pools and going to the boat whenever he can, that's about it for him!! (We're going to try to take the boys down this weekend to the boat to go fishing, etc.)

So... that's just a recent update for everyone on what's been going on in the Ratliff household. If I can just survive this next week.....

Oh, and Kelton's birthday party was this last weekend- pictures to come soon!! :-)

I like the rain and all...

2008-08-19T13:20:00.001-05:00

But man, it's making me SOOO sleepy!! And getting up early to go to Boot Camp hasn't helped it much either!!!

I'm just hoping that the lady that is coming to look at the piano we have for sell gets here on time so I can take a nap while the boys are still laying down!!! ;-) (Ans wish us luck on selling it!!) ;-)

Kelton and Blayden's Alien room

2008-08-15T14:44:00.009-05:00

Now, this is one of my favorites!! I think it's just too cute!! I have the bedding for Blayden when he gets to a "big boy bed" but for right now, he's still using the frog stuff. Oh well, it's still cute! :-)

On the wall as soon as you walk in:

Blayden's bed and dresser and UFO:

TV stand, books, etc. and rocket ship above Kelton's bed:

Kelton's bed: (I love his bedding too- I LOVE Pottery Barn Kids! LOL)

Above Kelton's bed: (Also Pottery Barn Kids) ;-)

My alien above their toy box: (I need to fix his eyes! LOL)

A planet and stars: (there are a few "planets" and stars around the room too!)

Jace's Pirate themed room

2008-08-15T14:33:00.008-05:00

Well, I finished Jace's room and while it's cute, it's not my favorite. I just could not BARE to cover up the frogs and stuff (from Blaydens' room) with paint, so I just put big stickers over it all. And these sticker things just aren't sticking very well!! I'm going to have to figure something else out pretty soon to get them to stay.

Anyway, he loves it and it really is okay. Here are some pictures, what do you think??

Above his bed:

His bed (I LOVE his bedding!!):

His desk: (Just ignore the ladder- I'm going to put glow in the dark stars on his ceiling so I have it in there to motivate me to do it! LOL)

Above his dresser:

On the wall as soon as you walk in (kind of behind his door, actually):

My 3rd baby boy is FIVE today!!!

2008-08-14T11:01:00.015-05:00

Kelton is 5 today!!! I can't believe it either!!! He was born on Thursday, August 14, 2003 at 4:42 in the afternoon. He was 6 pounds even (and that's big for 6 weeks early!) and 19" long.

They had to induce me that morning (after 2 weeks on bed rest) because I had low amniotic fluid and he wasn't doing well (low heart rate, and wasn't moving much.) He was put on the ventilator (tubes down his throat, LOTS of wires and IV's hooked up to him) and was on it for 4 days. I got to hold him for the first time on August 18, and he got to finally come home on August 23 (9 days old). I had never been so scared in my life- he was VERY sick from the beginning, and had to have 3 shots of Serfactant (sp??) which is just about the max a baby can have (to develop his lungs). He had to have his lungs "beat" and cleared out of fluids several times a day for the first 5 or 6 days (which he hated), and had a heart murmur that we worried about for awhile. Like I said, it was VERY scary!!

But he's healthy now, and has grown SOO much!! He's always been very tall (always at 90-95% for height) but he's my skinny boy (weighs 41 pounds right now!!!) He's our sweet boy who LOVES to cuddle with anyone, and gives tons of hugs and kisses (he's also the whiny child that you just want to SHUT UP sometimes!!!)

Here's some pictures of him growing up:

One of the first days at home:

About 3 months old:

1st birthday!

Halloween- 15 months old

At Lake Buchannan- around 18 months old:

Kelton at park- 2 years old:

Christmas 2005:

Finally a BIG brother!

Christmas 2007 (silly face!)

School program in May:

For Father's Day:

This morning (taken from my camera)- him seeing his new "big boy bike!"

Matt's fishing trip

2008-08-09T21:26:00.003-05:00

So Matt took "the guys" down to Kemah to take the boat out "deep sea" fishing yesterday. They've been gone out all day today, and one of Matt's friends that went with him took this picture on his phone of the "fish" that Matt caught and sent it to me. What do you think???

(And yes, they let it go and it wasn't hurt!!) They also caught a LOT of King fish, trout, a small shark, a few other sting rays, and ALMOST caught a sail fish!!! It came after their bait, and jumped out of the water, but they didn't catch it. Too bad!!! I'm going to have to go with Matt next time and REALLY take the boat out far like they did.... they actually had clear BLUE water, and not the dirty stuff you normally see in Galveston Bay and the Gulf! LOL

LASIK uptdate

2008-08-08T14:54:00.003-05:00

Well, I got there yesterday at noon (Matt drove me), and they got me right in. I had to pay for it all, then they took my blood pressure and pulse (a little high- I was getting nervous!), and then explained (again) all of the eye drops, etc. They then gave me 20 mg of Valium to help calm me down. After that they took me to the back room and sat me in a really comfy recliner and told me to listen to my iPod (they had told us to bring one if we had it), and read or whatever to help me relax. They then put 2 rounds of eye drops (numbing stuff, etc) in my eyes, and then after about 20 minutes they took me back into the surgery area.

I got in there and it was FREEZING. They gave me a blanket, got me situated under the Laser machine, and then covered my left eye and taped up my lashes on my right eye. Then they put this thing to make it even more open. After that they put this "sucker" kind of thing on my eye, and I felt a lot of pressure (no pain) and then it went completely BLACK for a few seconds (that was when they were cutting the cornea.) I could then see them pull the cornea flap back (weird!) and then a few seconds later they started the laser. I could hear it, and see little blue flashes, and you can SMELL that laser smell (kind of burning, ya know??) After about 40 seconds of that, they put my cornea back over my eye, smoothed it down, put some drops in my eye, and then that was that. They did the other eye, checked both eyes to make sure the corneas were still down and then they walked me out to get my beautiful googles (had to wear them until this morning, and have to continue to wear them at night for the next 5 nights), and Matt took me home.

I slept all afternoon yesterday which was REALLY nice- didn't have any pain, just some itchiness and dryness, but that's it. I went back in for a check up this morning and they said it all looked great and I already have 20/25 vision in both eyes (that will get better over the next 2-4 weeks.)

I'm SOOOOO thrilled with the whole thing and so glad I was able to get it done! I just can't believe that I don't have to wear glasses at ALL anymore!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!!!

Kelton and Blayden well check ups (& Jace dentist)

2008-08-06T16:23:00.003-05:00

Kelton and Blayden both had their well check ups on Monday afternoon. (Kelton for 5 years, and Blayden for 18 months.)

They're both doing really well and are very healthy, of course. ;-)

I don't remember the exact measurements for Kelton, but he is at 90% for height (always has been!) and is at 50% for weight. He's my tall, SKINNY boy!!!

Blayden weighs 25 pounds, and is 34" tall. So he's at 50% for weight, and 90% for height as well. I'm just glad Blayden is finally catching up on the height thing- for a long time he was like 75% for height and I was really afraid that he was going to be shorter than his brothers (they've all been at 90% I think.)

Anyway, again, they're both doing really well.

I took Jace to the dentist this morning because he has a "grown up tooth" coming in BEHIND one of his baby teeth on the bottom, and that baby tooth isn't loose at all. He has no cavities and did really well at the dentist, but he has to go back on the 26th (of course that's the 2nd day of school!!!) to get THREE of his bottom teeth pulled out (the one that is in front of the permanant tooth coming in, and then the teeth on either side of that one so his teeth won't go to one side or the other.) And then they want to do an X-ray to make sure all of his other permanant teeth are coming in good. Going to me an expensive visit!!! It looks like he's got a pretty good chance of having braces in the long run though. Fun stuff!!! ;-) (Neither me nor Matt had braces, but having 4 kids we figured that we would have at least ONE that would have to get them!!!)

That's about it for the updates on the kids right now though... just growing, being boys, and all that fun stuff! ;-)

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-05T15:15:00.002-05:00

Well... it came a day early!!!

Now I just have to finish up with the book I've been reading and I can start on Book 4 over here. I can't wait!

LASIK

2008-08-05T15:07:00.002-05:00

So, I went to the eye Dr. this morning and was told that I'm a great canidate for LASIK eye surgery!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!

I have HORRIBLE eye site (so bad that they told me that I do have a greater chance of having to come back in 3-4 months to get the LASIK redone (but still only like a 5-10% chance of that happening)). I can hardly see at all without my contacts, and I've had to wear my glasses the last few days so they could do all of the tests to check if I could even get it done. (For those of you that know what it means, I have -6.0 vision in my right eye, and -6.5 in my left.) ;-)

Anyway, I'm already scheduled to have the LASIK done on THIS THURSDAY!!! I am so super excited, I can't even explain it!! I'm hoping that it'll be an easy thing, and I won't freak out having something come to cut my cornea open! LOL My mom is going to be around all day on Thursday to take care of me and the boys (I'm supposed to come home and just sleep it all off- they even give me sleeping pills to help with that!) and Matt will drive me too and from the surgery.

I just can't wait!!!! Wish me luck, please! :-)

Thought I was doing good....

2008-08-04T14:10:00.003-05:00

I figured I would get "Breaking Dawn" faster if I pre-ordered it on B&N before the release, right?? So, I ordered it (and got a great deal) but now I won't get it until Wednesday!!! I almost went ahead and bought it last night at Kroger, but figured that I would just go ahead and wait a few more days....

But man, the suspense is killing me!!! (Maybe I'll spend the next few days re-reading the other three books....) :-)

Girls weekend

2008-07-28T13:13:00.008-05:00

Well, I got back home around 6:30 yesterday (Sunday) evening. It was SOOO much fun to go and hang out with the girls.

We got down there Friday around 5 or so, hung out in the room (there were 10 of us in 2 rooms- with only 4 double beds. You do the math!) ordered pizza, then walked to a bar next to where we stayed. It was pretty boring there, so we met up with some friends of the one of the girls we went with, and they took us in their Suburban to a dance hall (called "The Watering Hole"). We stayed there until last call at midnight, dancing and just having a blast. (And of course, there are always at least 2 girls that stay up late drinking and driving everyone else bonkers. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep that night.)

Saturday we got up, got our 'toobs' all rented and situated, then the lodge took us in their bus and dropped us off about 15 minutes away. We then floated on the river until 4 or so. (There were SOOOO many people on the river, it was crazy!!) We all got ready (another fun thing to do with 10 girls!) and went to the Gristmill for dinner. After an hour and a half wait, we finally got to eat! By this time, Kelli (the girl I went with) and I and another girl I went to high school with, were EXHAUSTED (remember, we were kept up the night before!) so we went back to the room to chill out, and the rest of the girls went to the Aaron Watson concert. I think they all got back around 1:30 or so (but I'm not sure on this one.) ;-)

Sunday we got to sleep a little later- 9ish- and then we got up, got ready for the day, and then Kelli and I left to go to the San Marcos outlet mall (no one else wanted to go so it was nice to have the car to ourselves!) We ate lunch at The Cracker Barrel (you know, I had NEVER eaten there before then!?) and then shopped until 4 or so (I spent WAY too much money, but it was a ton of fun. And I got Jace & Kelton just about settled for school clothes! (Daylon already went school clothes shopping and Blayden just doesn't need anything right now.))

Anyway, we had a blast but I was so glad to be back home. I can only handle so much beer and then I'm DONE!!! ;-) Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The back of our shirts: (The front says "2nd Annual Girls Weekend, New Braunfuls, TX")

Hanging out at Billy's Bar on Friday night:

Me and Kelli at Billy's Bar:

Dancing at The Watering Hole:

Waiting outside for our table at The Gristmill Saturday night (left to right: front row- Meagan, Tara, me, Amanda. second row: Kelli, Christy, Carrie, Blessing, BJ, Ashley, Randy. Then 2 random guys butted in on it as well.):

Me and Kelli at our table:

I also have pictures of us on the river, but I'm going to have to get them developed, then put on a CD (had to use a waterproof camera.) Hopefully I can get them done pretty soon, and I'll post those as well. :-)

I'm leaving!!!!

2008-07-24T17:50:00.003-05:00

Well, for the weekend that is! ;-)

My friend Kelli and I are leaving tomorrow with a group of about 15-20 women to head to San Marcos/Gruene for the weekend. We're going to hang out by the pool, drink without worrying about kids getting into it or having to drive anywhere, and then we're going to float on the river Saturday, go to the Gristmill Saturday night, sleep late Sunday, have breakfast, stop at the San Marcos outlet malls, then come home.

You have NO idea how excited I am about all of this!! I have NEVER been away for even a night without at least 1 child or a husband. I know it's going to be different, but it'll be so nice to be able to relax!!!

Now... as long as Matt can REALLY take care of all of the boys on his own, we should be good!!!! ;-)

Pictures to come soon!

Why I hate summer....

2008-07-23T17:55:00.002-05:00

1. It's HOT. I hate spending the majority of my day miserable and dripping sweat. So gross.

2. The boys are all home and they are "BORED." I wish they all could read, all enjoyed reading, and could/would spend their days in their rooms reading. That's MY ideal summer break, why can't it be theirs?!?!

3. Matt works CONSTANTLY in the summer. Enough said.

4. I like soups and stews. You can't enjoy soups or stews in 100 degree weather. I've tried.

5. The light starts earlier in the morning and lasts longer in the evenings. So, my children assume that their days should start earlier too. And then they don't want to go to bed at "bed time" because it's not all of the way dark yet. And I need a break from my children by that time of the day. Or I go crazy.

6. It's really, really, really, REALLY hot.

7. The boys want to go swimming every day. I don't want to go swimming every day. Swimming while watching 4 boys, messing with at least one of them at all times, holding a baby b/c he can't swim by himself and hates the life jacket, and stressing over one of them drowning, is just not all that fun for me. I'm happy with swimming once a week or so. By that time my stress level has gone down from swimming the week before.

8. The structure of school and activities is gone. I LIKE having the boys in school so they know what comes next, at what time, etc. Yes, we have a little structure here (lunch at noon, then nap time, then usually running errands, then supper, then baths or showers, and then bed time) but it's different. I need school. For my sanity.

9. I have too much time on MY hands. Even with the boys in camps, etc, I find myself being too lazy (minus the boot camp every morning at 5:30!!) ;-) I spend too much time on the couch, reading (thank goodness Blayden is still taking 2 naps a day!!) :-)

10. It's hot. And humid. And hot.

House pictures- FINALLY! :-)

2008-07-22T09:44:00.014-05:00

Okay, I had taken pictures as we went too, and then took some more this morning of the (almost) finished project.

My living room with EVERYTHING in it from the kitchen and living room, and the carpet gone:

The slate tile when they first laid it down:

Kitchen before they put in the granite countertops (we touched up the paint in there and actually finished the paint job- went all of the way to the hallway you can see in the back of the picture- with the yellow paint):

Kitchen countertops installed (new black sink too):

My front yard with the tile (and the mess) in it:

Finished kitchen (with the flowers that are not looking so hot! LOL):

View from the dining room (new chairs and we brought in our black fridge from the garage- we had been using a white one):

My dining room and new table:

Living room with new floors (and we brought in the big chair from our room- I love it in the living room now!):

View from the front door (I still need to refix the curtains- the boys pulled them down):

I think the hardwood floor looks really good next to the tile (we still need to put in the "transition" pieces between the hardwood and the other flooring next to it- tile or carpet (in the boys rooms):

Crazy life!!

2008-07-21T13:46:00.002-05:00

Seems like it's just been super crazy around here the last few weeks.

Daylon and Jace finished Camp Miramont on Friday and had a BLAST. I'm seriously thinking about putting them both in it again for the next two sesions (but it's $150 a session per kid, so we'll see.) It gave them something to do though, and they really enjoyed it. Soo....

Anyway, after they were done on Friday, I picked them up, brought them home, and then Matt loaded the three older boys up with him in his truck and took them all to Kemah to go out on the boat. Blayden and I weren't feeling well so we stayed at home and chilled (and man, let me tell you- having one kid is SOOOO much easier than four!!! LOL) I had to meet Matt in The Woodlands at 2:00 on Saturday to get the boys from him, and I was supposed to get my new table Saturday morning. After waiting ALL morning and no table, I had to leave. Thank goodness for my mom- she was able to come over and let the guys in when they got here and I got my new table!! It looks AWESOME and I love it! It's so incredibly nice for all of us to be able to eat at one table at home!

The boys and I went to a birthday party on Saturday evening at the swimming pool and had fun there. Then some friends came over to hang out and watch the UFC fight. It just wasn't the same without Matt there too, but it was nice.

Matt came home early yesterday (Sunday) morning and was just worn out from the fishing and driving (he met a few of his friends in Kemah on Saturday and took them out on the boat- they went WAY out there and caught quite a bit of fish). We were able to chill a little bit yesterday afternoon, and then went to Red Lobster for dinner. (That's what happens when I see a commercial for food- I REALLY want that food that day!) :-) Red Lobster was okay, but we had to wait for over an hour for a table because Fire School is in town this week (and apparently the Fire School Olympics are being held here... fun stuff and hot guys= GREAT EYE CANDY!!!)

Anyway, I got up early this morning for boot camp (yep, still doing it and going strong- I've lost a total of 15 pounds in like 6 weeks or so, (today started the 3rd week of boot camp though) and am building muscle. I can tell a difference in the way my clothes fit, but I still have a ways to go!!) and then came home and layed down for a bit. Since then it seems like I've had a million phone calls, I did some book-keeping to get everything up-to-date, and paid bills. Now I'm just waiting for my mom to get here to watch the boys so I can go to a Dr's appointment and run a few errands.

And I'm sure I've got about a million other things to do the rest of this week (although, not near as much as Matt has to do- I think over the next 2 weeks he's digging like SEVEN pools or something crazy like that. And that't not counting the pools that he's already started and are at different stages of the process. Crazy!!!)

So... I'm off!! I think I'm going to get my camera and FINALLY take some pictures of the house all finished. Hopefully I can get those taken and posted by tomorrow. :-)

New books!!

2008-07-12T17:01:00.002-05:00

So, I haven't bought any new books in awhile so the boys and I made the trip to B&N after lunch today. They each got to pick out a book for themselves (I picked out like THREE for Blayden just so he would sit quietly in his stroller- something that he has learned that if he gripes enough, I WILL let him out of, because, you know, he's the baby and everything!!!)

Anyway, I'm excited by what I got!

I'm going to start off reading "The Shack" by William P Young. This book sounds AWESOME and already seems like something I'm going to be recommending to everyone. I have a feeling it's going to be one that I just can't put down. Here's the description from Amazon:

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgment he arrives as the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant 'The Shack' wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book.

Doesn't that sound like something that is going to be REALLY good??! I've read the Foreword already, and I'm hooked. I can't wait to read more.

I also bought "Twilight" by Stephanie Myers (I figured that if SOOOO many people really like it that much, maybe I will as well, although it doesn't really seem like my "thing!") And I bought "When You Are Enjulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris. I think these three books are all completely different from one another, but that's what makes life fun and interesting! :-)

Already a "Boaters Widow"

2008-07-12T16:42:00.002-05:00

I picked up the keys and the title to Matt's new toy (see post below) on Thursday (had to meet the guy in Conroe because Matt was super busy and I'm a good, sweet, kind, caring wife.) ;-)

So Matt went down to Kemah yesterday with a friend of his so he could figure out how to drive it, etc. Neither one of them has ever driven a boat that big or in the ocean. From what I understand it is a serious miracle that Matt didn't wreck the boat within the first 5 minutes of having it out of the boat slip. It apparenltly got really bad for a few seconds and Matt honestly thought his heart was going to come out of his chest it was beating so hard. I am SOOO glad I wasn't around to see that- I think I would have been freaking out a LOT.

Anyway, God was watching out for my husband (and his friend and our boat!) and everything was fine. They figured out how to do most of the stuff on the boat, and Matt got pretty good at driving it.

He got home around 12:30 or so last night, and then left again this morning to go back and work on a few of the "kinks" in the boat. (He let me sleep in and took all of the boys to McDonalds for breakfast, and then brought me back a coffee- sweet hubby!) He'll stay on the boat tonight and then the boys and I are going down in the morning to join him. Honestly, I am just NOT looking forward to it at all. Four kids 8 years old and younger and 2 adults on a 33 foot boat just does not appeal to me. Especially since I know Matt doesn't know how to drive the boat THAT good! I guess as long as we keep the shore line in our sight, we'll be good. Hopefully we can just take the boat over to one of the restaurants on the Kemah boardwalk, get out and eat and let the boys play, and then we can all come back home! LOL

No, I really am excited about the boat and happy that Matt has a "hobby" but I'm just exhausted. I haven't slept much in the last few weeks (especially the last week with getting up at 5 a.m. to go to the boot camp!) and I'm just so tired I don't want to do anything but SLEEP. And that's just about impossible with 4 kids. ;-)

Late Night TV

2008-07-08T13:06:00.001-05:00

So last Saturday night Matt went to watch the UFC fight at Buffalo Wild Wings with a friend. He gets home around 12:30 (or something- don't even remember!)

Anyway, I was still awake watching Grey's on my iPod (BTW, I'm finally caught up and now ready for the new season!! LOL) so when he got home we turned the TV on to watch for a bit. I don't remember what channel it was (maybe QVC or something like that) but they were selling DILDOS and vibrators and such!!!!! It was SOOO funny!! And these girls were just so matter-of-fact about it all too!

They did have some really pretty glass dildos they were selling, and I swear to God, one of the girls said "it's so pretty, you could set it on your mantel for a pretty conversation piece!!!" Matt and I were like, seriously?!?!?

The funniest thing about it was some of the guys things. They had this one thing like looked like a flashlight. Then when you took the top off, it had a "mouth" and it vibrated. The girls were talking about how you could take it camping and no one would know!!! Matt and I just about died laughing!! Can you imagine your husband going camping with some guys, and one of them bringing a flash light vibrator?!?!? If the other guys found out, I think they would kill him!!!!!

Anyway, I just thought it was too funny and something to post about. Now I KNOW I will not be getting cable TV for the boys rooms for a LONG LONG time!! (However, we have the rating protection on all of the TV's anyways, so they couldn't turn it on. But still!!!)

Oh, the things you can learn on late night TV.....

Adventure Boot Camp

2008-07-07T17:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I started a boot camp this morning at 5:30 (!!!!) :-)

It actually went really well and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get up (I was up just about every hour from 12:00 on though, afraid that I had slept through my alarm going off!!) The workout was tough, and I was definitely sore and tired after it, but I did feel a lot better getting up and then having it DONE for the day.

My mom is going to be joining me tomorrow so that'll be nice to have someone with me. And then on Wednesday we have a timed 1 mile run and a push up test so we can compare where we're at now to where we'll be at the end of the camp (1 month).

Wish me luck- I'm going to get hot and sexy! Or sexy and hot.... or something. :-/

(the website for this camp is collegestationbootcamp.com)

Kid Safety Bands

2008-07-03T11:19:00.002-05:00

I just got the boys two of these each. (Just in case we loose one!) The price is GREAT ($4 each!!) and I will feel a lot better taking them to Sea World, etc, with them wearing these. Just wanted to share.

http://www.kidsafetyband.com/index.htm

House Update (again!)

2008-07-02T12:06:00.003-05:00

Well, it's still slow going on the house. The guys started working on the slate floors around 11 on Monday morning and are still going at it. We're putting them down at a diagnal and so it's a LOT more cuts and work for them. It's absolutely beautiful though, and I'm so excited for it all to be done (they have a small bathroom, small hallway, and my laundry room to finish laying tile and then about that much to finish the grout. So really not too much- they should be done today around 5 or so, I would think.)

We also got most of our granite countertops in yesterday, but apparently they didn't measure a small part of the counter between the oven and refrigerator. So they are cutting that piece right now and will come back later this afternoon to finish it. So far it's awesome looking though!!

Once all of that is done, Matt and I will put sealer on the slate tiles this evening after the boys are in bed (apparently it's REALLY strong and stinky! Ugg!!) And then I can move everything back into my kitchen tomorrow and we'll start on the wood floors. Woo-hoo!!!! I can't WAIT!

Oh!! And I ordered a table yesterday from Ashley Furniture. It won't be here until July 17th or so, but I don't care. We have a glass top table right now that only has 4 chairs with it and I HATE it. This is the table I ordered:

(It has a leaf with it to make it bigger). And then I ordered 2 extra chairs with it and 2 barstools.

Okay, I'm sure ya'll aren't too interested in all of this, it's just exciting to see it all getting done. I'm SOOOO ready!!!

Well, we're off to run some more errands. I do have pictures of the house in progress so I'll try to post those this afternoon. You can see the mess I'm living in right now!!!! It's going to take me a few weeks to get everything cleaned and back to normal after they're all done here!

Matt's new toy

2008-06-30T10:11:00.004-05:00

Well, Matt has REALLY been wanting a boat!! He's been looking for awhile, and he found one on ebay that was a good deal. He went down to Kemah where it is docked, met with the broker and the owners (who are 87 and 85 years old!!) and he LOVED the boat! These owners haven't taken the boat out at all in the last few years that they've owned it, so it's in great condition.

It's a 300 Sea Ray Sundancer, 33 ft long, and sleeps 6 adults (it has two "bedrooms," a dining room table thing that makes out into a bed, a bathroom with toilet, etc, a kitchen with a stove, microwave, fridge, and a/c- very important!! LOL)

It's awesome and he got a better deal than he thought he would because the owners liked him!! LOL

Anyway, here's a picture of it:

It's just really nice and awesome- the boys (and Matt!!) are super excited!!! We are hoping that all of the paperwork gets done this week and we can go and ride on it this weekend. We're going to leave it at Kemah for awhile, just because it's easier to do that than get a trailor and take it somwehere else (and I love the ocean!!)

Nice, huh?!?!? :-)

Painting, painting, and more painting!!!

2008-06-30T09:51:00.002-05:00

Well, UGG!!! My house is still a complete disaster right now!

We've cleaned up a lot of the dust and stuff around the house (Matt and I both vaccummed it all up the other night!) but it's still pretty bad.

We decided to repaint the living room too while we didn't have any flooring down (it was really nice to be able to paint without worrying about getting it on the carpet or tile, etc!! LOL) So our living room, the hallway to the boys room, and the front hallway off of our kitchen is all a dark caramel color. It was a mauvish color before- which was pretty, but we were just getting tired of it and thought it might not look good with our darker wood floors.

I'm sitting here right now waiting for the tile guys to get here to put the tile down, and the counter top guys to get here and put in the new granite countertops. Woo-hoo!! Once they're here and started, the boys and I are going to a few furniture stores to pick out a new kitchen table. Right now we have a glass top table that I HATE (you just can NOT keep it clean with four kids no matter how hard you try!!!) We also only have 4 chairs that go with that table and I HATE not having everyone sit together at supper!!! And I just might pick out two new sofas while I'm at it. Matt and I have had these dark maroon colored sofas for almost 9 years now, and they're just showing their age.

So, once they're done with all of that, I'll go and repaint all of the white trim work around the house, and then we'll put in the wood floors. I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY hoping that everything will be completely done by Saturday or so. And then I'm going to clean all of the rooms really good so we can actually live here without horrible allergies from all of the dust!

Okay... so I think that's about it for now on the house. I can not WAIT for it to all get done!!

Trip to Galveston and house updates

2008-06-24T14:56:00.002-05:00

Well, apparently Matt had taken my camera to work with him last week so I didn't have it with me when we went to Galveston! Ugg!!!

We got there Saturday night and went to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. That place is SOOO cool and the boys loved it (they have been before but it's been a couple of years.) Then we went back to the hotel and watched the lightening over the Gulf. It was awesome- the lightening was going sideways all across the sky. Seeing something like that and you can't help but KNOW that there is Someone out there bigger than us, ya know??

We got up Sunday morning, ate the contintintal breakfast (gotta love those with four kids!) and then went to Schitterbaun. We had never been to that one and we really enjoyed it. Blayden actually fell asleep in his intertube (it was a double one so I was on one side and he was on the side that had the mesh netting so he wouldn't fall through) and slept for about 45 minutes while we went around and around the wave "river" there. Too cute!! We got home at a decent hour on Sunday night too, so that was nice.

Now for the house update! :-) Monday (yesterday) evening Matt and I took out all of the carpet in the living room and hallway that leads to the boys rooms and cleaned it all up. Matt has a crew coming tomorrow morning at 5:30 am (!!!!!) to tear up all of the tile in the kitchen, entry way, hallway off of the kitchen, dining room, the extra half bathroom, around the fireplace, and the laundry room. We are getting slate tile for all of that, and then we're going to get wood floors down in the living room and hallway. I'm SOOOO excited!! We also went today and picked out the granite countertops that we want for the kitchen, and we'll go tonight and get a new kitchen sink. It should all be done by next Monday or Tuesday, so I'm super excited, and it'll look awesome. I'll be SURE to take pictures of that and post them!!

Off to Galveston!

2008-06-21T14:29:00.002-05:00

Well, the boys and I are sitting around waiting for Matt to get home so we can head to Galveston for the day. I was sick 2 weeks ago with the "parainfluinza virus" for about a week, and then Jace got it and is getting over it, and the Kelton kind of gets it. Blayden's got yucky eyes, but I think it's just allergies, but that's been sucky. So, we decided that since the boys have basically been stuck in the house for 2 weeks, we would take them somewhere fun for the day. Oh! Matt just got home so we're off- pictures soon to come!!! :-)

Barack Obama

2008-06-11T15:40:00.001-05:00

This video just terrifies me.

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?RsrcID=2036

Daylon's Room

2008-06-10T10:28:00.007-05:00

Well, I'm finally finished with Daylon's room!! WOO-HOO!!! Here are some pictures of the final project.

Shark mural above his bed (with shark sheets):

Above his closet door (he painted his name): Sorry this one is fuzzy!!

His fish tank (new stand), shelfs with all of his stuff (organized!), hat rack with trophies, and then you can see some of the coral I painted next to his dresser, as well as some of his sports pictures:

Looking from his bed to the door- dresser, pictures, punching bag (he loves it!), and some coral that I painted:

Turtle on the wall right as you walk in his room:

Coral and fish under the turtle: