"Ye-Key" and "El-Ye"

(Copied from Erin's blog but I saw it just the same way!! Thanks Erin!)

Zeke and Ellie are just 3 months apart.  And they are two peas in a pod!  They both have great personalities, so full of life and laughter!  They are crazy, rambunctious, silly and goofy and are even more so when they are together!  They egg each other on and feed off of each other!  They are quite entertaining to watch!  They LOVE to laugh with each other!

Always full of mischief together!  They were partners in crime!

There was always a "my" that proceeded their names when talking about each other.  It was "my El-Ye"  or "my Ye-Key".  They would ask for each other first thing in the morning or when waking up from naps

They usually did great at sharing with each other and would have each others back

Always together

If one starting doing something, the other would quickly follow

Eating shredded cheese by the handfuls!  Zeke was so sweet most of the time, making sure Ellie had some too, of whatever he was eating

I'm sure there were a few rough times between them, but I honestly can't remember any. I just remember them always together, smiling, laughing and playing great!

Bothering Poppy while he was trying to clean out the hot tub!  

If one of them was missing, they both were missing!  Always sneaking off together to play

Enjoying their ice cream together

Playing in the club house

And they loved swinging together.  And if you gave one of them a treat, don't even think about not giving it to the other one too!  They would make sure each other got all the treats they each got.  Always looking out for each other!

This was a very common scene.  They would just look at each other and crack up in this crazy laughter!  I think laughing together was their favorite activity!

The conversations between these two were pretty hilarious.  They seemed to totally understand each other, they have their own little 2 year old language!

Trampoline time with Grammy

They had a lot of dance parties together every night before bed, and many times throughout the day

They were just so cute together!  Acting silly and copying each other, then falling over onto each other, laughing hysterically! 

I LOVE Zeke and Ellie's relationship!!   They are totally twin cousins!  Makes me sad that they don't live near each other!  I wish they could grow up together and go to school together!  I know they would always have each others back and help each other out!  We will just have to try to get them together as often as possible!

Summer 2013 in New York Continued

A Family of Swingers 

(Again borrowed from Erin's blog, she rescues me when I just can't get these long long posts about our family trips done! Thank you!)

This family loves swinging.  It's pretty hard not to love the swings when there are 3 of them right in the house!  Lots of good times had on these swings!  Lots of cousin bonding time

And sibling bonding time.  Ezra's face in this picture cracks me up!

Not only are there swings inside the house, but, naturally, there are more in the back yard too!!  A homemade swing set built by Poppy!  Baby seat swings, recliner swings, a horse swing and regular swings....something for everyone!

The master swinger of all though is Uncle Dan!  He is the original swinger!

We all love hearing Uncle Dan sing while he's on a swing!

We just load the kids on the swings, wherever we can fit them and start pushing.  

You'd be hard pressed to find a kid on a swing alone.  If one kid is swinging, another one wants to join in as well.   Always two kids per swing

And then it gets really fun when Grammy comes in with treats!

Because that makes all the kids happy and puts them in the mood to dance!!

Cousins

This is the best part about being home, all the time with family!  They got along great and played so nicely together!  It really is a shame that we all live far apart.  I love watching them building relationships with each other. 

Took a few pictures at church one Sunday of all the kids, except Cora who was at her own ward

And with Grammy and Poppy too

Then the last day we did a little photo shoot of all the kids in their matching swimsuits from Grammy!

In age order: Hannah (11), Livy (6), Rachel (6), Colt (3.5), Zeke (2.5), Ellie (2), Cora (1), Ezra (7.5 mos)

I think this one is my favorite

Then I guess Ezra was just over it! haha.  Love how Zeke and Ellie are looking at him

But Grammy jumped in to make him feel better

Thanks Grammy for the suits and just for being a really great Grammy!  You've got some adorable grandkids and they all adore you!!

I really love all these kids!!  They are such great little people, with unique personalities and qualities.  

It's always great to see how each of them have grown since we saw them last.  I love seeing them interact with each other and care for one another.  They are all so special in different ways.  They are just a great group of cousins!  Excited to see their relationships develop and grow even more throughout the years!!

Summer Trip to Grammy and Poppy's 2013

We went to New York for a whole month this year and had lots of fun with all the family around, beach trips, pizza, dancing, lots of kids, fireflies, trips to the city, swimming and on and on! It wasn't the usual big Rathgeber Reunion with everyone there. Grandma Rathgeber wasn't up to traveling to New York this summer, so without Grandma, there was no reunion. But all of our family came home, and so did the Rathgebers. It was basically just the New Yorkers going home. (Thanks for this post Erin, I copied her post and edited some lines to fit ours, thanks for doing all the work Erin, my blog wouldn't be complete without you!)

Night time bike rides and firefly catching!

Watching their iPads!  There were a few fights over them, but they got along for the most part.  They loved watching movies on them every night.

Mr. Softy ice cream  on the grass!  Doesn't get better than this! He plays the music when he rides down the street and all the kids have finely tuned ears ready for him to pass by and sucker Poppy into ice cream!

Ezra with his buddy, and twin, Pop Pop

Ezra got lots of cuddle time with everyone!

But mostly with Rachel.  She took a real liking to Ez and spent lots of time with him.  She was always trying to help Erin feed him, get him dressed, hold him, play with him, etc.  She was just a little Mom.  And Ezra loved her too!  They were pretty cute together!

Grammy trying to get some actual food in these two before bed time.  They were on a healthy diet of M&M's and ice pops!

Grammy bought some fun yard games for us to play.  

We had a birthday dinner for Doug and Julie at Bellagio's one night, with cannoli's for their birthday desserts!

Grammy hired a couple of babysitters to help out with all the kids.  It was very nice.  Sometimes they would take all the kids to McDonalds for lunch and then let them run around and play in the play place.  The kids loved it!

Enjoying their ketchup!

And of course iPads in the car, having a dance party

Grammy and Poppy's backyard is grandkid central!  It's the perfect backyard for kids!  So many fun things to play on!

Ezra and Cora had some fun playing together.  Just 6 months apart.

Lots of gathering in Danny's room to put him to bed.  Always turns into a 30 minute talk sesh and sing-a-long.  Everyone loves hanging out with Uncle Dan in his room

And Dan is such a good sport about letting the kids climb all over him and playing horsey for them.

Lots of water balloon blowing up and popping!!  

Snapping some pics to send to his Dad, right after Ezra said his first word, "Dada"

Plenty of Italian Ice to eat!  Zeke loved them, as you can see

Snapping a few pics at church when everyone is looking good.

Zeke got to go on a special date with Aunt Jessi to Gino's Pizza while Mom, Dad and Ezra took naps!  She even spoiled him with some Italian Ice! 

A quick bath in the kitchen sink

Zeke wanted in on it too.  Love those buns!

Lots of family meals eaten outside, while keeping an eye on the kids playing

Got a visit from Karen, always a treat.  

Love this pic of Richie and Dad.  They look like twins

Katherine was one of our babysitters.  The kids all loved her!  She was so good with them and just a competent girl, which is very nice in a babysitter.

She would always send me cute pictures like these of Ezra when I was out and she was home with him.  I loved it!

The glasses club!  Rachel has glasses now, but doesn't love wearing them.  That is until she hung out with Hannah, Emily and Sam, who all wear glasses.  So then she thought they were alright and started wearing them more.  Then of course Livy and Colt wanted to wear glasses too!

Silly Colt

We were up late one night and Richie decided he wanted to go to the diner.  Erin was the party pooper and said no way, she was exhausted!  Good thing he has fun sisters that went with him.  

We went to Splish Splash water park one day. Livy was the only little kid who wanted to come and she and I got to spend some fun time together on the lazy river because the other rides ended up being a little to scary for her.  We had a good time!

It was such a great trip.  Seriously, smartest thing to hire babysitters when on vacation!!  We Mom's even got to enjoy some relaxing time by the pool, just laying in the sun, jumping in the pool and talking!  It was really great!

Sending pictures to Richie once he left to make him jealous!!  Mmmm, I miss that pizza!

Family trampoline jump sesh!

Grammy reading bedtime stories

The siblings

Aunt Marlene was in town too so we got to see her a few times, which was nice to catch up and visit!  Ez loved her!

And Uncle George was in town too, so we had to get a pic of Grandma with her 3 living kids!

Kathleen was one of our sitters, and it was her birthday the next day, so we took this pic of her with all the kids and put it in a frame that the girls painted for her.  She was awesome too!  Great with the kids!

The two Psillos Dads and their babes

And hanging out with Grandma Ede

Grandma Ede with the kids!

And with Grammy and Poppy too!

It was such a fun trip home!  But this is just the start of the pictures!  Lots more posts coming from our time in New York!