Eva starts Preschool

Eva is going up the street from us to Ms. Tami's preschool The kids all seem so tiny it is really cute. Leah went there last year and we are so excited for Eva to go also. Tami did a great job preparing Leah for kindergarten. Her teacher even asked did you work with her at home a lot. No I said she had a really good preschool teacher. Eva already is wanting to work on learning things when she is at home.

The first day she sat right down to work on making a necklace. She hasn't been so willing to go since. She does not love new situations hopefully she adjusts soon. The other morning she told me, "my head hurts, I think it is a fever."

More Trip Pictures

Whatcom Falls (I know I didn't spell that right but that is how it sounds) a beautiful park with walking paths all around.

Look how high they actually were.

On the swing Uncle Garreth created in the forest.

Just hanging out on the beach. Little tid bit of trip frustration. Leah had new shoes the cut her feet. They were actually tiny scratches, tiny. Each time we when to go somewhere there was a 5 minute drama of how she couldn't decide which shoes to wear or needed a band aid. I would tell her it's not that bad. She would reply, "how would you know I bet you have never had one like this." I can't count how many times I told Dave I hope she never actually gets hurt. What would we do.

In the canoe on the ocean. I waited for 5 minutes to get the boat in the light from the sun going down.

An amazing picture of all the kids looking at the camera at the same time.

Garreth's house is only a short walk to the beach. Ronan loved the rocks, water, and sand.

Uncle Garreth is genius for coming up with crazy fun things to do. This baby swing was hung from a tree in the state park only a few minutes from their house. They could camp and run home to pee if they wanted.

Butchart Garden's

The girls were promised that they could go to the Butterfly Gardens. An expensive tourist trap outside of the Butchart Gardens. If any of you are planning a trip there don't be sucked in by you children's plea as I was. Eva not following the butterfly rules caught this one in her hands. Leah now thinks butterflies are scary.

The whole gang at Butchart Garden's. For the first part of the trip Grandpa Tom and Merrily came. We were so lucky to see so much of our family together. The other Ratchford's have 4 kids. The weather could not have been more perfect. The gardens were absolutely the most beautiful I have ever seen.

This is how every picture of Eva went on the trip. Smile, no don't smile, alright at least look at the camera, good enough.

This is the stop and smell the stinky roses face.

Ronan finally out of his stroller proved to be dangerous to the flowers.

First Every Family Trip

Our first family trip was to Bellingham Washington to visit the other Ratchford's. Dave's brother, wife Erin, and fun cousins. We flew into Seattle then they live about 2 hours from there. Rather than my boring commentary I decided to let the girls leave comments for these pictures. Enjoy.

This was the best time riding the plane - Leah

Oh Leah smile please - Eva

Our second day there we took off for Victoria Island. It is a short drive to the Canadian border and then across the ocean on a ferry.

We are at the ocean- Eva

This is our first time going on a ferry on the ocean - Leah

I love taking pictures next to the fountains - Leah

I hated walking and made my daddy carry me on his shoulders everywhere we went - Eva

This is outside the Parliament building in downtown Victoria. We took an amazing walk around the harbor is was gorgeous.

Fisherman's Wharf where we had fish and chips and enjoyed looking at all these floating houses. Grandma Merrily is holding Eva.

I like this so much - Eva

Sorry mom Max and Ruby's on I will come help later - Leah

End of the pier at Fisherman's Wharf. Loving my new stroller already. Why why why did I wait so long to buy a decent umbrella stroller.

Will someone please let me out of this stroller - Ronan

Leah's First Day of School

Just before the big day

Eva started preschool the next week but had to be part of the photo shoot.

Just these two left at home every morning. Eva is going to have to learn to like her brother. Every time she holds him she yells for me to take a picture.

Leah started Kindergarten this year. I can't believe how fast time skips by. It is like I missed something along the way. I closed my eyes and she just grew up. I took Ronan to the doctor the same day thinking, hoping that he had an ear infection. The doctor had just opened an email with pictures of his grand kids going to their first day. His eyes welled with tears as he reminisced about how fast they had grown up. It was so sweet. I on the other hand didn't have the same reaction. I am I the only mom that celebrated a little thinking about how I will no longer have to take all my kids to the grocery store? I am sure that some day I will look at these pictures and tear up but for now I am saying wahoooo.

Ronan Loves Motorcycles

My nieces Kennedy and Kassidy came with their mom for a visit the other night. It was so fun to see them. They have gotten so big. I babysat them for a weekend when they were two. They both called me momma the whole time.

Pam Dave's sister's boyfriend brought his motorcycle. I always underestimate Ronan's boyness because I am so used to the girls. The minute Ronan saw this we could not get him off of it. I seriously had to pry him from it.

We Survived Big Kahuna

But it was a close call!!!!!

These are pictures from our Jackson Hole river rafting trip.

Anticipating! Looks like we hit it just perfect. No comments

about the dumb look on my face please.

Wow that was a lot bigger than it looked at first. Oh crap the look on Melissa's face says it all. She is the one screaming. Then look in front of her at Emily. She really is scared out of her mind.

Hitting the first wave perfect threw us sideways to hit the next bigger wave. At this point I thought we were going to completely flip our boat

Lost 6 of our 12 passengers. Who by the way were the newbies to the river

and most scared of falling out of the boat.

Caption me

Here is your challenge. Put on your journalist hat and pretend you were given the task of captioning the below picture for your local newspaper. What would you write? Go ahead, poke a little fun or even poke a lot of fun because the true story of this photo is sad and pitiful.

So go ahead and comment.

The real story. We arrived at 9:00 AM with the scouts for the beginning of our scout camp in the high Uinta mountains (10,000 feet). We were told by a scout "leader" (who had not yet graduated from puberty) to grab our trunks and head to the lake for "swim check". Knowing that in no way that I or my fellow leader Josh Carmack, had to swim I still choose to "represent" and "motivate" the boys and jump in the bitterly cold lake.

As my faced surfaced from the frozen abyss 3 feet from the dock, the sound heard around the valley was a mixture of shock, anger and fear, but mostly fear. I was asked to swim to a target not too far off, return, float on my back for 1 minute and tread water for 1 minute. Not a tall challenge for a strapping slightly husky lad as myself, right? Well this moment changed my life forever. Only Josh truly knows how close my kids came to losing their papa bear. There was a moment when the heavens opened and angels guided me to the dock. This is no exageration, I nearly died...as did the power craving dock scout that told me I'd have to start over if I touched the dock...how close you came to a swift death my young scout nazi.

The photo below takes place just seconds after I got back to the dock. After looking at it now for a week I realize that I have never had the expression on my face before. I've come to define my look as "anxiety ridden euphoric hate."

The good part of this story is that this singular event has caused a mighty change in my heart and waist. I've since started the Brittany Spears diet and have lost 5 pounds with another 35 on it's way off. So in a rather peculiar way I can thank the Boy Scouts of America for the hellish kick in the arse that was "Swim Check"

Sprinkler Fun

Simple fun. Sprinkler, no swimsuits, and an umbrella.

My Monkey

Dave came home from work with this Beckham jersey last night. It is going away for safe keeping until next year when it fits. Here is a few shots of Ronan sporting it in the front yard.

New trick of the week. Climbing up on the toilet, then to the counter to get to the toothbrushes. All my kids have had a love of Davy's toothbrush. It is never mine, which I think is hilarious. Sorry Davy it ends up all over the house.