Pa-Paw comes to town

Bennett has been asking to see Pa-Paw since August, and he finally got his chance in mid October. Julia is a little less sure, but I think he won her over by the end of the weekend, as evidenced in these photos.

More fall fun

What we've missed in college football this year, we've more than made up for in pumpkin patches. It seems like we hit one nearly every weekend in October. But you have to love fall in Kansas City.

No jive, he's 35

Jeff turned 35 on October 11 and we celebrated with cake--for breakfast, that is. Bennett helped make and decorate the cake (not that I wouldn't have added equally as many sprinkles).

Bennett's first bike!

We were trying to hold out for Christmas, but the weather was so nice this weekend (and so was Bennett), that we decided he might, afterall, outgrow it by next spring, so we'd better go ahead and hand it over. Now, he never wants to come into the house again. In fact, last Sunday he asked if we could drive to church while he followed on his bike.

Good hair day!

Sometimes, it happens that your hair will simply cooperate. It's usually on a Saturday when you're slated to paint the basement. But Julia got lucky and for her, it happened on a Sunday (also known as photo-op Sundays at the Ratcliff household).

Piano Lesson

Obviously we come from a musical family. These things skip a generation, so Bennett and Julia should be extremely talented. I can tell that their banging has a certain ability associated with it. :)

First pigtails

You can't possibly wear a Dallas Cowboys cheerleading outfit and not have pigtails! (Well, at least not if you're under 10.) These were a first for us. Julia was fairly accommodating--at first. Obviously they didn't last the day.