Ratcliffe

Sunday, February 22, 2015

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!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

All about James

I intended to write a bit about the family in general, but as I scrolled through my picture to jog my memory pretty much everything surrounded around James. But isn't that the way it goes when there is a baby in the house? Everything revolves around him. And the whole family is okay with it. We love this guy to pieces.

Rylee loves to help feed James (who loves eating from a spoon). Sometimes while I am trying to get dinner ready and Cole is not home yet, I really do need her help in feeding him. She is more than happy to help.

Cade reading to James

Or trying to anyways...

Rylee, James, and I had lunch with Cole in his office.

James loves to do whatever everyone else is doing. So when the older ones are playing Legos, Legos it is.

He is very persistent.

James has made some milestones this week. He started crawling for real. He has been flopping and scooting around but he finally figured out how to use his knees. He is not very fast yet but I am sure it won't be long.

He also has learned to pull himself to standing. He did it once by his toys. Then the next day I found him after his nap waiting for me like this...

He is getting better at napping and sleeping for longer periods of time. He has started doing better when he discovered this position:

He loves it. The kids and I will sometimes sneak in while he is sleeping just to ooo and ahhh at his little baby bum in the air. Baby bums are just the cutest. :)

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Job Update

Currently Cole is in a temporary teaching position. A full time position opened up in his department which is what we have been hoping for. He LOVES working at BYU-I and could totally stay here permanently. (Yes I am aware that means living in Idaho the rest of our lives. I am slowly becoming more okay with that...)We are just glad the opening came while he was here rather than after we would of had to move on when his 3 "temporary" years were up.

So it came available, he applied, got an interview and now we are playing the waiting game. So not fun. But grateful to be at this point. A lot of qualified people applied. 29 to be exact. Although being in a temporary position can be stressful it was a blessing that Cole has had a chance to get to know the other faculty, know the students, learn how the university works, and have insightful opinions about the department. The Board (i.e., the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) approve the names of all faculty hires. They meet in March so we won't know anything until then.

In the mean time Cole also applied and got an interview at Utah Valley University. They paid his way there which meant a free trip to Utah for everyone! It was quick but we were able to see lots of family, which is a plus for living in Idaho. The kids got a little bored of the drive and we found James like this when we got him out of his car seat. He sits in between Rylee and Cade.

Hard to tell in the picture but the kids drew with pen all over this face. He never complained! I think he liked the attention.

Aunt Shan

Playing with great Grandma

Dusty braiding Rylee's hair.

Cole and his brothers.

Aunt Kayla! I feel like Kayla's name always needs an exclamation mark after it :)

James wanting to be one of the big boys.

Tea party for the girls.

Catching up with old friends from Kansas! Megan was visiting her family in Utah.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

December 2014

The holidays are always so fun. The kids, of course, were so excited to do anything holiday related. We decorated the house and put up the tree. I furiously finished the advent calendar I started last year but didn't finish. All the while James is getting more and more curious and mobile.

I found the santa costume we randomly bought when Cade was a baby. So James was our little Santa baby.

Christmas Eve finally brought buckets of snow. Then it continued to snow all day Christmas. It was a perfect white Christmas.

Grandma and Grandpa sent the kids Christmas jammies.

Then we acted out the nativity. Can you tell who everyone is? Everyone happily played out their parts.

Then Christmas morning!! It is so fun being a parent at Christmas time. Cade and Rylee were up before James. We were going to get started but then they said we couldn't start without James. So they had breakfast while we waited for him to wake up (I am super anti-waking-up-the-baby. Even on Christmas). Then when he got up I needed to feed him. Still the kids were intent on waiting for him. I thought that was so cute and thoughtful of them. Then we finally got things going.


James was actually pretty sick that morning. You can tell he feels horrible in the picture. He really didn't care about anything except the Tylenol bottle you can see him holding. He thought that was a pretty cool toy.

The next day, as always, was Cade's birthday! I cannot believe he is 7 already. I made sure to get a picture of him and I together. He requested tacos for dinner and a raspberry cake with blueberry frosting. Basically, he was wanting a red cake with blue frosting. It was more like pink cake with blue (food coloring) frosting with his named spelled with blueberries.

Cole's parents came into town that day and stayed the weekend. So nice we live close enough to be able to do that. They brought all their Christmas stuff so we had another little Christmas. James was feeling much better and was more into it.

Then New Years Eve! We got invited to a party but we opted not to go. The whole month of December, at least one or more of the family members were sick. So we were still on the mend and just wanted to to our own thing. We had nachos for dinner and then Cole and I planned a simple but fun evening with the kids. We played with balloons, glow sticks, and New Years Eve bingo. They had a blast. Love that they still totally get excited over simple things. Then kids went to bed about 8 and we watched a movie till midnight, kissed at 12 and went to bed. Haha. Super simple for us but we enjoyed it.

Here was our Christmas card photo and bio.

James: I joined the family in April and totally love my family-Mom’s definitely my favorite. I’ve figured out how to use my arms and legs well enough to scoot, love to have slumber parties, and enjoy keeping up (almost) with Cade and Rylee. Not sure why they keep taking away those delicious little legos from me…

Rylee: I’m probably the most fashionable person in this family. I mean, who else can pull off a red shirt with pink leggings, mustard skirt and teal shoes? I love to go to preschool (especially in the aforementioned outfit), take care of baby James, and fill my home with dancing and spunk.

Cade: This year I totally conquered kindergarten and started 1^st grade. I’m a pretty good big brother if I can say so myself. I love to ride my bike and read books. I’ve also learned a pretty sick spin move to help me beat my dad in our backyard football games. I am a Hot Wheels lover and paper airplane connoisseur.

Jenna: I’ve realized that Rexburg isn’t as bad as I thought. In the daytime it is fun to have baby in the house-I finally got a red head! I’ve tried to keep Cole busy with new house projects and Masterpiece shows. I’ve also realized that a 4 year olds fashion statement isn’t the end of the world, snow boots go with everything, and making friends isn’t just for kids.

Cole: I love giving tests rather than taking them. I’ve enjoyed having a bit more time for family and Jenna’s projects (cough, cough). This year I have learned that kids are here to teach us as least as much as we teach them. I have also realized that much of what I teach BYU-Idaho students are things I’m still trying to figure out myself (i.e., marriage and parenthood).

We are so thankful for how persistently our lives have been touched by the Savior this year. We know He lives. We wish you the very best and a very Merry Christmas.

Movin' on to 2015!!! :)

Thanksgiving 2014

Since we are now living in a home that we own I was really wanting to host something. So Thanksgiving it was. I thought if I invited all of my family to come then at least someone was bound to come to Idaho. But everyone came! I was so happy! And it was the perfect excuse to finish up some house projects. That week people trickled in and trickled out but we were all together for Thanksgiving Day. Super fun week. Kind of crazy with all the planning and prep work for that many people but I really did enjoy it. We had 16 people here (9 extras sleeping over). Here is a picture walk through.