Alisea's big bed

We moved Alisea into her "big girl" bed a few days ago. I know it's a bit early (20 months) but we want to use her room as the "guest" room so we got her a daybed with the pop up trundle which makes into a king size bed. She's actually doing quite well, I say that, and she's in her crib tonight (It's temporarily still up as a "threat") which worked till tonight. SHe was being mischevious and kept sneaking out tonight. It was actually very funny, but I had to be "mean mommy" and put her in the crib after the 3rd time. She looks so tiny on the bed, and I can't help feeling sad that she's getting to be such a big girl already.

On another note: Caitlyn got the part of Rooster in Annie. I remember so well the need to cast girls in the boy roles. She's taken to singing in the shower, and I can hear her trying to sound more "manly". Too cute.

we've been telling Ethan he can only turn four next month if he stays in his bed with the lights off (he's taken to getting up in the middle of the night and coming into our room) and drink his milk. It's funny how he stopped instantly. I guess he really wants to be a big boy. Are we bad????

I'm a victim of facebook

I have seriously neglected my dear little blog because what little computer time I have has been eaten up by facebook. I can't believe how many people have come out of the woodwork of my past in just a few short months. Holy Moley!! It's been fun, but I realize that a good number of my facebook "friends" are merely acquaintances and I don't need to read up on their daily thoughts or conversations. Anyway - here's what's been going on lately....

My computer CRASHED. I'm so sad, and angry that I didn't back it up when I kept having a feeling I should. So now, many pictures are lost, unless my dear brother-in-law Tim can save them. The rest of it isn't so important. In the meantime, I've been fighting with the internet and wireless connections and finally got the darn thing to work on Caseys laptop. My digital card doesn't work in his, so I'll have to figure out how to get my pictures on here.

Caitlyn placed fourth at the tournemant of Champions in her Oration. We are so proud of her. She's just beginning practice for Annie in her school play. More on that when I know it. SHe's also going to start swimming again with the base/community team.

Ethan and Alisea are my little monkeys. We are working to get Ali into her "big girl" bed. She's doing so-so in that category. She's had some boughts of illness, ear-infection, possible UTI, stomach bug, bad cold - so we're ready for her to feel better.

I'm off to pick up Caitlyn now. More to come - soon.

Hugs and Kisses

For several weeks now, Ethan has let us know, regularly, that he's "mad at us" for various things. Usually, it's because he doesn't get something he wants right away. Anyway, at first, he wouldn't give me a hug or kiss after he said he was mad. I would act very sad over this. Then the other day, instead of the usual "I'm mad at you, and I'm not giving you hugs and kisses" - he changes the last part and hugs and kisses me. "But I'm still mad at you" he says. Now he always says, "I'm mad at you, but I'll still give you hugs and kisses!" I know, he always seems to be mad at me for something these days, but at least I'm still getting my hugs and kisses.
Casey laughs and says I hold out on the hugs and kisses too, when I'm mad. No way.

Ethan is our snuggle bug. He gives and gets hugs and kisses all day long. He tells me he loves me all the time - at random moments. I love it. I was at my friends house the other day, and Ethan was running around with her son on a playdate. He comes running after Derek around the corner, sees me and stops to say, "Mom, I love you." and off he went again. She thought it was the sweetest thing. I agree. In fact, he just walked over from his movie to put his arms around me, for no apparent reason. How lucky can a mom be?

Skinny Winnie

If only I could have a doctors orders to add fat, butter, cream, mucho calories to everything I eat because I was too skinny. Alas, it's not MY doctors orders, it's for Alisea. She's just a skinny winnie. She has had some craziness on the growth chart, so off to the nutritionist we went. I think she's just gonna be skinny, because even with all the added fat, she's still just getting taller, but not fatter. We have a weight check tomorrow - so we'll see if what we've done so far has made any difference. If our home scale is somewhat accurate, it's not gonna be pretty. I wish I had a good picture of her Uncle Darin - then they'd shut up and let her just be skinny - it's in the genes! Needless to say, we were off to Old Navy for pants with elastic waist cincher thingys!

So that was our news.

The Gift of Gab

We have known Caitlyn had "the gift" since she was a little munchkin. She can talk, and talk, and then talk and talk. Her kindergarten teacher told us - and I paraphrase part of this, that she was such a mature little girl, and very intellegent, yada, yada but she sure is, and I quote "a chatty Cathy"! Nothing changed over the years - always the same thing - she's so smart, so intelligent, but she sure likes to talk! Well, it paid off!!!

Caitlyn got first place in the Oration competition at the UIL (University Interscholastic League) meet. I wish I could have been there to congratulate her on the spot, but we celebrated to make it up to her. She got a chocolate cake with green frosting and Christmas tree sprinkles (it was cheap!, and Ethan picked it) We're so proud of our "orator". Maybe she'll be the first female president -Good speeking ability seems to play a pretty big roll in who gets elected ????

The competition invoved choosing from a list of topics, researching and writing the speech, memorizing it, and delivering it to a panel of judges. She has worked very hard on it and we're super proud!!! Now she will be in the tournament of champions in February against winners in the other tournemants across the state!!!

I don't have time for a picture now, but stay tuned.

We're paci free! and other stuff.

It has actually been 2 weeks, but we are completely pacifier free in the Ratliff house! We went cold turkey (that always seems to work best for my clan) and just stopped giving it to her. I figured it was best to do it before she was old enough to really ask for it. She did fine. Other than laying in her bed a little longer to fall asleep, she hardly seemed to notice. I also managed to get two little pony-tails in her hair this morning. It was pushing it, but she looked so darn cute. I also caught her trying to give her "baby" a drink of her water. I love this age!






Caitlyn is at her first UIL competition. I wanted to go so badly, but it was almost 5 hours away, and too much for the little munchkins to sit through. Anyway, she just finished her oration competition and is anxiously awaiting the awards ceremony later this afternoon. We're keeping our fingers crossed. She also got all A's on her semester report card. We're very proud of her!

Is it Really Jan 6 already?

I can't believe the whole month of December is gone already. We stayed very busy!

I hope we aren't taken off anybody's Christmas card list for not sending one out this year. I don't know what happened - it just never got done.

We got to go home for Christmas this year. It was great to see all of my mom's family - aunts, uncles, cousins and oodles of new kids for the first time in 4 years. Then we enjoyed our Hancock family party where Santa visited once again, and we got to try our hands at chimes. Big success, I would say! Then we were off to Sierra Vista where we dwarfed Grams and Gramps tree under way too many gifts and enjoyed waking up Christmas morning and watching the joy in our children's faces. Then we were off to Bisbee for still more family reunions. Back in SV, we got to see old friends who were also home for the holidays. It was quite a treat.

After returning home, we got it all put away, and hosted a game night with some of our friends here. A barbecue with the neighbors and lots of yard work on our 82 degree jan. day rounded things out. Whew!

I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas season, remembering our Saviour and being with the ones you love.

Casey's back to work, Caitlyn in school, appointments abound, and life is back to normal after a wonderful 3 week break. Stay tuned.