Ladies of the Palace Arcade

Tucker preformed in the middle school play titled "Ladies of the Palace Arcade."  With the world changed because of Covid the drama department has as well.  The play is really twelve separately recorded performances performed only for the director and a video camera.  Which was then made into one video play.  

This was Tucker's first time having a part that wasn't in the ensemble.  He was nervous for the audition but once he had the part it was considerably much less work then the past high school plays he has done.  I am grateful for the work that the teacher has done on this.  It is awesome that he found a way to continue even without gathering together.  I do feel a little bad for the kids though.  They were originally going to watch the performance all together socially distanced of course.  But even that had to get cancelled.  We had our own little viewing party in our house with just our family.

It is about half an hour long, and Tucker is the very last one.  So if you don't have time to watch the whole thing just skip to 28 minutes and watch the end.

Ladies of the Palace Arcade from Travis Ratts on Vimeo.

Tucker's 12 Year Video

Check out the compilation of pictures and videos from when Tucker was 12.

Scarlett's 8 Year Video

I put together clips and videos of Scarlett when she was 8-years-old.  Check it out.

Calista's 2

This video is so long.  I worked hard to cut things out but I just couldn't get rid of anything else.  We had a ton of pictures and videos of Calista to go through.

Leon's 6-Year-Old Video

It was a fun year for a six-year-old! 

Beatrix Baby Video Compelation

Putting and going through all the videos of Beatrix's first year of life was pretty much the most nostalgic thing ever.  Newborns are so sweet.

Penelope's 9 Video

I have less then a month left of summer before school starts again.  That means its time for me to hurry up and put together my yearly compilations of the kids pictures/videos.  First up is Penelope.  Check it out.

Koala Challenge

Koalas are probably my favorite animals.  They are just so cute.  My friend posted a video of the koala challenge on her facebook and so we had to give it a try.  I'm pretty sure the tree person is not supposed to help so much, or at all, but we had fun.

Coach Bob's Gym Class

Bob and the kids have been working hard all week to put together kids work out videos.  I've wanted videos like this for a while now.  It is nice for homeschool kids.  Now that so many people are homeschooling and Bob had this week off work it seemed like the perfect time.  They are going to try to do a new video each school day.  Check out the latest one.

Beatrix's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Beatrix's first birthday after church today.  She had no clue what was going on, but we all had a good time watching her. 

First up was where we laid out a few items to see which she would go to.  Whichever she chooses will be her future occupation.

It was a little funny because she didn't seem to want any of them.  I'm guessing we didn't put out the right item or maybe she just doesn't want to work.  I had to move to behind the items because she started crawling toward me instead. 

In the end she chose...

 the spoon.  Maybe we have a future baker on our hands.

Next up we tried out a Japanese tradition called Isshou Mochi, which means first birthday rice cake.

 I made a 1.8 kg block of mochi, which is about 4lbs.  We then put it in Calista's backpack and then onto Beatrix. 

According to the internet, "This ritual symbolizes the parents’ wish that the child will successfully navigate the travails of life while remaining in possession of good health, food and emnan (a word meaning peace, harmony, integrity and other such attributes) throughout."  And, "Life is never a smooth ride, it is full of ups and downs, so it is better to let your buttercup know that it's ok to stumble along the way."

Here we go.

 She was not a fan.

We left it on for about two minutes and then freed her.  Check out the video.

 Isshou Mochi


Ok and lastly onto our American tradition of birthday cake.  Beatrix was mesmerized by the candle.

Once Bob blew it out she wasn't sure what to do.  It took some coaxing but we were able to get her to eat a little.

After a couple minutes we just cut it up and put a slice at her seat on the table.  She was much more receptive to that.

Happy birthday Baby Girl!

Beatrix's First Food

We officially gave Beatrix her first food the other day.  I say officially because I know she has gotten snippets of food here and there off the floor a few times before now.  Anyway, it was homemade greek yogurt.  It went ok.  She is over nine months old, so older than we fed any of the other kids. I really just don't see the point in it right now and I don't have a lot of extra time to be dealing with baby food.  But I know that eventually she will need to transition into eating table food with us so we do need to start sometime.

Keeping Busy

Life has been so busy lately.  This is sort of a random post from pictures on my phone from over the last few weeks.  Enjoy.

Penelope wither her awesome sequined scripture bag that her grandma made for her.

Roller blades have been a big hit, even though they couldn't get the timing down right for this picture.

 French fries in a can... who knew?

Calista can now pic the locks!  I locked her out of my room one day so I could feed Beatrix in peace and about three minutes later the door popped open and this was my view.  She used a quarter and she was so happy with herself.  She has since locked me out of my own room a few times, which is really annoying.  Oh and notice the dress?  She insists on wearing it every day.

 We made elements with marshmallows for science one day. 

 Tucker brought some mermaid cookies to his final cast party to celebrate the end of their play.

Beatrix is such a sweet baby.  She now has started to lay down on the floor randomly when she gets tired.  It is really cute.

We had our ward primary program so here are the kids parts.






Baby laughs


Calista and the neighbors dog that she loves.


And a song to finish it out.

Beatrix Crawling

She's Mobile!

Update

While walking to church one week the kids noticed seven dollars in a drain.  They were actually 100 yen coins, which are about a US dollar.  So I told them to see what they could come up with during church and on the way back if they were still there we would try to get them out.  

After church we had a stick and 3 pieces of tape.  The kids were semi successful and got one coin but ran out of tape.   

It was fun so we went home and I told them to make a contraption to get money out of the drain.  I personally loved Scarlett's straws all stuck together, even though all attempts to suction them out did not work.  The best was just the broom handle with tape on the end.  We were able to get six of the seven dollars out.  Just enough for all the kids to each have one.  The kids had so much fun using their imaginations and being creative with a goal in mind.

Tucker built a little fortress for Beatrix.  She really was liking it until she saw me.  She does this thing now where she will play happily by herself or with others until she hears or sees me.  Then she starts crying until I pick her up.  Babies are the best.

Penelope had a couple away soccer games that she needed to ride the bus on with the team.  She was very nervous about the lunch part.  I guess she has never ordered her own food before.  She can walk to the grocery store and buy her own food, but she says that is easier because you don't have to talk.  So we went to McDonalds and I gave the kids each money to order while I sat down and watched.  They probably need a few more practices to feel comfortable (except Tucker).

Beatrix was not a fan of Ronald McDonald.

Tucker's 11 Year Video

I'm officially caught up on videos, at least until Penelope's birthday in September!

The Princess and the Pea

All last week the four older kids went to Missoula Children's Theatre and put on a play.  They auditioned on Monday and went to practices all week then had two performances on Saturday.  The audition on Monday was pretty scary for the kids.  They didn't need to have anything prepared ahead of time, but the directors would ask them so say specific lines and do a couple different things.  I was really proud of my kids for just doing that.  It was hard for some of them to say lines in front of people.  I heard from others that in the past lots of kids get cut, but thankfully this year they had room for everyone who tried out.  I hate the idea of kids getting cut from activities they want to do.

Scarlett was a Winter Wind Worker.  Penelope was a Blizzard Bringer.  Tucker was a Grinder, and Leon was the cutest dust bunny ever.

Practices were at different times for different kids so it was a lot of back and forth to and from base for me.  Leon also had the least practices so we got some time together without the older kids.  I had most mornings all week with just Beatrix and Calista.  Having only two kids at home was soooo easy.  I got a ton done!

Another cool thing about they play was that everyone had speaking parts.  My kids each had three lines and they were nervous.  But they didn't forget them and I could even hear them!  Great job guys.

Here are a few videos from the play