Christmas has come and gone...

.... 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

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

It's Christmas Eve!!

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!!

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....

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?!?!?!

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...???

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!!

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...

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!!!

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

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

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

Kelton's flag football pictures

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

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!!

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

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...

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

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

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

(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

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!

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!!!

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!)

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!!! :-)

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

"Dear Mr. Obama"

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

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

Craziness!!

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!!

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

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...

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

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!)