We are here and alive!!!

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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!!

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

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!!

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!

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

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!!

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!!)