Christmas

We had a great Christmas!  I really missed being with our families, but it was nice to not have to pack and travel long distances.  Filipe and Joei came up on Christmas Eve and the kids got to open two presents, the ones they got for each other and these great rodeo pajamas from Papa and Nana.  

Here's the best picture we could get at 6:30 am while waiting on the stairs to come down Christmas morning - they were SO excited!

I can't believe I only took one picture of the kids opening presents,

but I was a little better at the video camera.  Here's four minutes of a Ratchford Christmas morning!

We spent the rest of the day playing with all the new stuff and eating some good grub.  Joei made us a great breakfast and we had a big Christmas dinner, complete with a ham.  Cooking a hunk of meat that big is unusual in our half-vegetarian, half-carnivorous family  and Sam was especially fascinated with it.  All day he asked when we were going to eat our "roast beast," and then he told me that he couldn't wait for us to "feast and we'll feast and we'll feast, feast, feast, feast!"  (Can you tell we've been reading "The Grinch" a lot lately?!)

We played "Life" and a lot of Wii (thanks, Nana and Papa!) and had a fun, relaxing day.  The only thing that could have possibly made it any better was getting to see more of our loved ones.  We love and miss you all and hope you had a great day, too!

December

Wow, this month just FLEW!  Here are a few things we've been up to.

We got to go to Sam's preschool Christmas program, which was adorable.  He is getting so grown up, and I don't just mean physically, although he was a full head taller than any of the other kids!  He is such an amazing kid.

Here he is with his teacher, Mrs. Johnson:

And with his Santa cookie:

And with his best friend/worst enemy, Josie:

(I love the oreo teeth in this one!)

Garreth got an emergency deployment with his work IMAT team to go take care of a pipeline break and oil spill in Montana.  He's been on the team for years and goes to training for it two weeks a year, but this is the first time he's gone out on a real emergency, so it was a pretty exciting week.  When he came back, the boys had a little fun with his gear.

We've made several trips to the Aquatic Center to swim.  They were so cute getting ready that I had to snap a few pictures.  (Nacho even came over to pose, too!)

This one is so great of Evan that I had to add it, too.  Filthy from his dinner, cheesy grin, and holding a plastic Halloween eyeball.  Classic.

A boy after my own heart

In second grade the past few weeks, Liam has been learning about grammar and is seriously loving every minute of it.  Here's how I know he will probably love English class as much as his mom did:

Walking out to the mailbox with me, he said, "Mom, do you know that what we are doing right now is a verb?"

He also taught me that what has already happened is the "past tense,"  what will happen is the "future tense," and what is happening right now is the "gift tense."

And last, but not least: The other night at dinner I was asking the kids what they wanted to dip their veggie corn dogs in.  Sam said, "Ranch and ketchup and mustard."  Liam sighed, shook his head, and said, "Sam, you're old enough now that you really should be using commas.  It's 'ranch comma ketchup comma and mustard." 

Festiveness

Here's what we've been up to the last few weeks.

We went down to the Holiday Port Festival and saw the big ships, but missed the lighted boat parade again this year.  We also missed Grace, who was at a birthday party that night.

Inside the terminal, we went to Sam's favorite Christmas event ever - the gingerbread house display. 

There are always some really amazing entries,

but this was our favorite:

These two were bummed out that the "No Touching" rule meant they had to view the houses from the buckled safety of the stroller.

After the festival we headed over to the foster family party.  It is always fun to hang out with other foster and adoptive families.

The boys loved getting their faces painted...

...and decorating cookies, along with the dinner and other activities they had there.

And there were loads of cupcakes, which kept this guy happy.

We also tried our own hand at making a gingerbread house.  Maybe it wasn't as fancy as the ones we saw at the festival, but for the first time ever, we let the kids eat it when we were done, and they say it was delicious!

Sam had a preschool field trip to a local elementary school, where sixth graders helped them make houses of their own.

And last of all, here's O Tannenbaum in all it's top-heavy glory:

Last night we watched "White Christmas" and I told Garreth that I want to live in a world where you can burst into song at any time and everyone around will immediately join in and harmonize with you.  He said, "There is such a place.  It's called the Beckstead house."  He's right!  That movie made me really miss my sisters!  I love and miss you guys so much!

A little something for you grandmas out there

Sorry about the shaky part.  I busted up when he went into his Napolean Dynamite impression.

Catching Up

A few weeks ago, Garreth and Liam went to a drum circle/workshop and had a blast.

Liam feelin' the beat.

Much of our time these days is spent coming up with new ways to entertain four little boys who really only want to run around outside but alas, can't, due to poxy weather.   

So we wear silly hats...

...and race cars...

...take long, entertaining baths....

...and play (or pretend to play) a little Playstation.

On Monday, we went to cut down our tree.  I sure miss going to the mountains to cut it down, but until we have a four-wheel drive vehicle, we'll have to stick to Christmas tree farms.

It is up and decorated (well, the top four feet anyway - too many curious hands and paws make it difficult to have a balanced tree!)  so we'll post more pictures soon.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving at home this year, and we were lucky to have the Muffolettos and Tom and Merrily (Garreth's dad and his wife)  come up to spend it with us.  They both brought so much food that our job as hosts was easy - thanks, guys!

Tom brought two beautiful Adirondack chairs that he built and this darling picnic table for the kids.

Thanksgiving morning was beautiful and clear, so while Tom and Merrily got the turkey and stuffing ready, we took the kids on a walk to the beach.

Then it was home to get everything else ready...

...and eat...

...and eat...

...and eat!!!  (Some people ate way more than others!)

The next day was also clear (two days in a row!) so we went down to Semiahmoo with the Muffolettos for a nice walk.

Then it was home for some Rock Band (we're so predictable, huh?)...

...and leftovers!

It was a great weekend.  We have so much to be thankful for.