Cade's Baseball Season

Cade did coach pitch baseball this spring and it was so much fun! It was our first experience with baseball (I could totally be a baseball mom! Wresting will take some work...). It made for a busy couple months but we really enjoyed it. It was fun to watch him improve and have fun. Cole was the coach and really enjoyed working with all the boys. He did such a fantastic job. Sorry for the huge amount of pictures. We are just obviously pretty proud of our little guy. And there is a video at the end.

Batting pictures:

I like this one with Cole in the background.

Running to first!

Running to second 

His favorite part of the game is getting the ball and throwing it hard to first (or another base). After he did that well he would be super proud of himself and reenact it in slow motion out on the field to himself. It was adorable. 

Here he collided with another team mate but he got the ball and threw it.

Waiting at second

 Team cheer at the end.

 

Cade and his coach :)

Video of a hit and slide to second

Birthday Buddies

Rylee refers to her and Cole as birthday buddies since their birthdays are 2 days apart.

On the 24th we celebrated Cole 32nd birthday. I asked him if he was content where is life is at age 32 and he replied "Yes." Everything is just how it needs to be. He requested a cheesecake so I found a recipe for a Butterfinger cheesecake that I thought he would like. And it did turn out quite tasty!

Next up was Rylee's. We had pancakes again and she was definitely the little princess for the day.

 Later she tried out her new scooter and played with all her new stuff. Cole's parents came into town that afternoon to surprise the kids. Later we had cake and more presents.

 She requested a pony cake. Having no idea how to do that I searched Pinterest and found something I thought I could reasonably do. I turned into more of a Pinterest fail. The end result was kind of creepy (she wanted eyelashes to make it a girl pony). But she loved it and that is what matters! Here is the picture from Pinterest.

 Here is my version:

 Haha! It makes me laugh everytime! I didn't have enough frosting to fill in the gaps or the tools to even try. But lets be honest-even if I did I am just seriously lacking in cake decorating skills!! :)

Happy Birthday James!

James had his first birthday on April 9th! Cade and Rylee loved having a birthday party for him. He actually got 3 parties. We went to Utah that weekend and decided it was a good excuse to get family together to party! So we had a party on his birthday at home, one with the Ratcliffe side, and then one on the Black side. It was great to see so much family.

Here are pictures taken in the backyard on his birthday. 

 That night we opened presents and had cupcakes. He was pretty excited about his candle.

Here is is first cupcake. He tried eating it but I am not sure how much he got in his mouth. He ate some but overall wasn't a huge fan of the cupcake. Just kind of hard for him to eat.

But this was his face after his first bite of ice cream. Definitely an ice cream fan. :)

These are at Grandma Ratcliffe's house at James' second party.

 James loved Dusty. He would actually lean to him so Dusty would hold him. He does even do that with Cole!

These are pretty terrible quality pictures but here is the final party at the Allen's house.

James is so much fun.
-He has a pretty intense character.
-He is very small-like the 9th percentile for weight and 1% for height.
-His hair is pretty bright red and big blue eyes. I get lots of comments on both.
-He has one tiny tooth on bottom. He hasn't shown interest in table food yet but I feel like he turned 1 and now he is totally interested! He is doing much better eating and showing interest in table food. -He knows one sign so far: eat. He is very good at it now.
-He loves balloons and balls. (and most things that are not toys).
-He actually is a terrible sleeper. We are working on that.
-He loves Cade and Rylee. He watches them and gets happy to see them.
-He is a proficient crawler and no where near walking.

That is a little it about James right now! We love him to death and are excited to continue watching him grow!

Little Tidbits

I just wanted to share a few tidbits of normal life. Nothing super interesting but things I know I will enjoy reminiscing about some day.

I caught Rylee reading to James after he had woken up from his nap this week.

James sitting up like a big boy while shopping with mommy! He is starting to do a cute scrunchy monkey face that the kids find hilarious. I was trying to get a picture of it but only caught a side view. And then I was blocking the tomatoes. :)

I was working on some sewing projects and Rylee found a scrap of fabric from a previous skirt I made her. She found a way to drape it on her to make an outfit. Then she posed on the stairs while Cade took pictures of her. She told me this week that she wants to be a mom and an artist when she grows up.

I have been wanting to update the kids room for a while now. I am also obsessing over quilts lately and really wanting to try my hand at one. So I thought making the kids quilts for their beds was the perfect project. I started super simple with Cade's. I involved him in the planning and colors because I really wanted him to love it! So here is his completed quilt. It is not perfect but I sure had fun making it. I hope to start Rylee's soon!