Happy Birthday, Mama Bear!

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday to Mama Bear (aka Mom)!!!

We hope you have the best day ever and can't wait to celebrate with you on Friday! May all your birthday wishes come true.

P.S. Wouldn't it be fun to be doing this again?

My play date with Caden

Stetson was very excited about his play date today! The whole way there he kept telling me that he was going to play with "K-Dance". I'm not sure exactly how Caden became K-Dance, but that's a little one for you.

We stopped at picked up lunch to take over to Caden's house. Stetson was a little confused about why we couldn't just sit down and eat as soon as we got our food. I tried to explain that we were bringing food for Caden's Mommy too (Amber) and that we were all going to eat together. If only you could have seen his facial expression. It looked something like...."WHATEVER!"

Once at the Ivey's, we all sat down and ate together. Caden sat in his exersaucer and entertained Stetson who was sitting at his little table, while Amber and I sat at the "adult table". The whole time we were eating Stetson kept staring at Caden and smiling and laughing. At one point, they were grunting back and forth at each other. It was the cutest thing ever!

When lunch was over, it was play time! The boys were set free and the playing began. It looked a little something like this...

Then they warmed up to each other and it looked more like this...

And the playing continued...

Until they were just too tired to continue...

Thank you, Caden, for a very fun afternoon! We'll have to get together again once I catch up on some zzzz's!!

It was bound to happen

Stetson and I had a great morning today. Daddy went to work bright and early and then headed to the lease for some quail hunting. So, Stetson and I slept in a little. When we got up, we had breakfast together (Fruity Cheerios...yummy!) and then played until it was time to get dressed for our big date...play date, that is.

Stetson started to get a little grouchy and started pushing his boundaries, but he's almost two so that is fairly normal these days. He got corrected a few times but only ended up in "time out" once. That's not too bad. If you ask him, I'm sure he would say that he has the meanest Mommy in the universe, though.

I needed to take a shower and let him have "free reign" of the upstairs as I did so. He played in his room, read some books, and kept coming in the bathroom to check on me. He is such a sweetie. Well, I guess he decided that this was the PERFECT opportunity for him to get revenge. Mommy was mean to him so he could be mean to Mommy! An eye for an eye, right?

Here is what revenge to a toddler looks like...

Like Father Like Son

A picture (or two) is worth a thousand words...

Too good to last

When we put Stetson in his "big boy" bed, he stayed in it and we were so excited! We thought the transition to the bed would be more difficult than it was, and the bonus of him actually staying in it was fabulous!! What were we thinking? This is a child we are dealing with.

Over the weekend, Stetson began to sneak out of his bed after we put him down. He would just sit on the floor and read his books, or dig through his drawers to see what was in them. Harmless, but he was supposed to be sleeping. So, we have entered the "consistency" phase of parenting now. I can't even count how many times we have gone back upstairs and put him back in bed. The funny thing, is that he sure knows how to get out of his bed but he is too short to get back in. I can promise you that if he could figure that part out, he would run and jump in bed as soon as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He is quite sneaky....wonder where he gets that?

Last night was a first, though. Around 3:00am I heard Stetson talking in his room. I thought he had woken up and was just chatting to himself as he went back to sleep. Not five seconds later, I heard him laughing and his basket of books get tumped over. It was then that I realized he was out of bed and playing....at 3:00am!! Oh, to be a kid again and have absolutely no concept of time...

Boys will be boys

Even though it was cold today, Stetson still wanted to go outside and play...shocker. So, we bundled up and braved the cold. Stetson got some brand new sidewalk chalk from The Carlson's for Valentine's Day (thank you!) and we were headed outside to try them out...or so I thought. Mom had the camera and the chalk and Stetson had a ball...again...shocker.

Once outside, I opened the chalk and illustrated to Stetson how to use them by drawing a heart. He pulled out the blue chalk....shocker...are you sensing a theme here?? He drew a little and then he was DONE. The ball was WAY more exciting! I mean come on, Stetson can throw the ball and watch Mommy chase it down the street. Who wouldn't choose that over sitting down calmly and coloring???

Daddy joined us and that was the end of playing with Mommy. Why is it that little boys LOVE playing with their Dad? Whatever the answer, I think it is precious. Stetson gets so excited. So, the boys played catch while Mommy sat on the cold concrete and snapped pictures (not one of my brightest ideas).

Well, after about twenty minutes it was just TOO cold...not for Stetson, of course. He could play outside all day every day and it wouldn't phase him. Boys will be boys, I suppose. Now, here's where the exception to the rule comes in....J. Now, let me start this by saying that I unwrapped all the chalk and put it in the container but it didn't quite fit. Instead of re-organizing it, I just brought it outside and starting playing with it. If you notice in the first picture, I had all the chalk on its side. My precious hubby pulled out each and every piece of chalk and organized them to perfection. They all fit in their little space and there is even room for more. He was smart enough to put them in the container standing up. Why is it that the woman of the house can't figure that out but the man can?? I just love J!!

Welcome to The Ratt Pack!

Welcome one and all to the The Ratt Pack! We are very excited to share our lives with you and hope you enjoy our blog. We will try to post updates often but wanted to let you know that we are here.