Leah mad at mom

Transcript of what you are hearing after Leah stole Rachels iPhone and recorded her disgust with Rachel, no food and Eva hitting her with a leash.

Leah: Hello this is Leah. Now you can see the rudest mom of all. Now, her name is Rachel, she's my mom, Rachel Ratchford... and she won't let me eat anything. And now to see the rudest sister in the world. She hit me...with a leash.

Rachel: Don't go to sleep yet Eva

Leah: And that is Eva...The Terrorist

Home Remodels

So I haven't taken the time to post the projects we have finished around the house in the past few months. We have a few family and friends out of state that have requested pictures. For those of you that live close by sorry. Also I wanted to say how handy and awesome my husband is. We love doing projects together and aside from a few disagreements on paint color these were so fun to do. Besides these pictures Dave has been working on putting together a shed in the backyard. So maybe sometime soon my garage wont look like a train wreck and we may be able to park in there. I am not sure how he finds the energy to work 50+ hours a week, attend to his church responsibilities, keep me and the kids happy, plus do all these extras. We definitely would do more projects if we could find the time. We are kinda home improvement junkies. I still have some finishing touches to do here and there. But we love how it turned out.

Our family room

The living room

The chair that started the whole living room remodel. We found it and loved it. Loving it required painting the red in the living room and kitchen to a nice green. But we are happy with the result.

Dave put the bead board on the entry wall. And we finally found an entry bench. It opens up to store all the kids shoes that used to be thrown all over the floor.

Weekend Happenings

Ronan ran away... to the front porch.

Eva's self portrait. Pretty cute.

Leah was not entered in a child pageant. We had a dance competition on Saturday. She and I got to spend the day together. Leah loved our mommy daughter date time.

Her team did a jazz routine to Me and My Shadow. It was quite darling. They were wonderful .

Where I was this weekend

Thanks to Shannon for planning and putting on our annual shopping extravaganza. I am not sure how this tradition started but I sure love it. We head to California and shop to we cant walk

This year we got to stay at Shannon's sisters apartment in Huntington Beach. Steph was the greatest host and even cooked for us. Her apartment was dreamy only 2 blocks from the beach. We explored the downtown and beach area. And had to rent bikes and take them for a spin. Shannon is holding onto the double bike that was much harder to ride than it looks. There was sure a lot of screaming and yelling at people to get out of our way because we couldn't stop. We loved it. I cant wait to take my family there and try the family sized bike.

The beach we hung out on until my legs were ice pops. We got dressed in our swimsuits thinking it was warmer than it was.

Here are my beautiful friends and personal shoppers. Steph, Shannon, and Melissa. Thanks girls for the best trip. Oh and by the way I was having some major shopping remorse until I tried everything on again at home. Now I am guilt free, just in case you were worried for me.

Oh and I cant finish without saying a huge THANKS to Dave who worked and watched the kids so I could go enjoy myself. He is the best most supportive husband. Also to my mom and mother in law who also helped out too.

Big Changes for Ronan

He sported his new suit to church Sunday. I couldn't resist a few photos.

And the biggest change of all.....dadadada. Dave finally talked me into it.

I keep looking at this big kid and wondering where my little boy went. I miss running my hands through his soft curls. I wont miss getting yelled at ever time I had to brush his hair. My comment on the hair cut, "that is not my son, who is that kid." Hopefully I adjust.

Day at the Zoo

My sister-in-law Erin was in town with her kids from Washington. We were able to meet them and Grandma Flo at the zoo for the day. My kids were soooo excited to see their cousins. Other than the zoo being busier than I have ever seen it it was a perfect day. The weather was nice and the animals were lively.

So much for the real elephants. All Ronan wanted to see was this one.

I think Ronan gave this poor turtle a bonk on the head.

The handsome Ratchford gang of kids.

Thanks for the great day other Ratchfords.

And may I say I am officially pooped from Spring Break. If this is any sign of how the summer is going to be I better get some wrinkles ironed out. Like how do you run your errands or even get anything projects done. I had so much fun doing things with the kids that we don't normally have time for while school is in. But I can say my house remained a mess and nothing I was suppose to do got done. But for the record we went to Vegas, sledding, swimming at Clearfield pool, baby animal days, and the zoo. No wonder my legs ached so much yesterday. Hello schedule I am happy to welcome you back.

Baby Animal Days

We love going to Baby Animal days in Logan every year. This year was the best yet. The weather had just gotten nice that day. And somehow we picked a less crowded time to go. My animal loving kids had a bawl.

Does it worry anyone else that they let thousands of kids a day hold these baby chicks? These were the highlight of the event. Leah said hers slept when she cuddled it close to her.

Say goodbye to these sunglasses. Because right after this photo Ronan managed to drop them and step on them.

There was so many baby animals to see. Horse back rides, wagon rides, a mini-train ride., and more.

The special guest this year were 3 baby bears. They were quite darling and worth the wait in line to see.

Always happy with a day at the farm. My three rug rats.

SCORE

Conversation before going to the soccer game today. Leah lamented, "I really want to score a goal. I am the only one in my class that hasn't scored." This has been a wish of hers for the 2 years she has been playing soccer. Last year I bribed her to kick the ball more than a few times in a game. This year she is doing much better but the competition is too. The cute thing is that she loves to play. Smiles the whole time she is running up and down the field. Last year she would run circles around the bunch. So imagine my surprise today when she scored in the first quarter of her game. It wasn't by accident or a lucky shot she worked for that goal. It took her a minute to realize what had happened. And when she did had she ran half the field to me on the side line and gave me the hugest hug. There may have been tears in my eyes. In fact I am tearing up typing about it. One I am so happy for her excitement and success. But two I don't think I will ever forget that I was the first person she thought about after she scored. Thank you Leah for making me feel like the most important person in the world.

Vegas Trip

We were lucky enough to spend the weekend at our good friends the Wirths house in Las Vegas. They are in trouble because we had such a good time we are definitely going back every few months. Our kids get along so well it is like they were all split at birth. Ronan enjoyed playing outside every second of the day from the time he woke up. Leah and Truman had a ds playing marathon. And Kate and Eva played all day. The adults enjoyed some Clearplay movie watching at night. Dave and Joe golfed. We had a babysitter and went out to dinner and a movie. Oh and I wont forget the spray tan that Dave and I got from Suzie. I have never been so tan in my life. And while we are talking about Suzie she is an amazing cook so each meal was like eating out. And the best discovery of the trip. Our kids can drive long distances now without driving us crazy. The kids have added the captions below.


This is me Eva. I was jumping on our vacation in Las Vegas. And after Easter egg hunt we came home.

This is us at our Easter egg hunt. Me, Leah got 3 money eggs. I gave two away. The last one flew away.

Here are the kids looking for the money egg. This is Truman, Leah's buddy.

This me and Leah and Kate and we were on our Easter egg hunt.

This is me Leah. You see my Easter egg basket. This is all the eggs I got. You see how I have a money in there. That was before it flew away.

This my egg I found but I really wanted the money dollar. Then my sister decided to give me one of hers.

Ronan here, "I got more than that see. I got that much ok"

Ronan, "that me."

This is our dad when were going on our Easter egg hunt. Me Eva is doing it.

What to do when your Spring Break is covered in snow

I am ashamed to say that I haven't taken my kids sledding yet this year. But mother nature gave me one last chance. Plus my kids are driving me crazy inside and stir crazy. It is Spring Break after all..