Some More NY

Some more pictures from our family reunion in NY this summer. It was great being there with everyone. We missed Becky, Doug, Tucker, Julie and Mark. Everyone else made it at one point or anther.

Here is Addy and Colt. Two of the three newest in the Rathgeber clan.

Colt trying to pull Uncle Dave's hair!

A little visit with Cindy.

It's always a pleasure Alli!

Painting some sea shells.

Rachel and her buddy Richie.

Colt filling in for Tucker with Grandma Lo until he could get there.

Snoozing in the car.

Hanging on the beach.

Playing with Aunt Katie. Everyone was awesome and helped out with Colt. There were only two babies here this year so everyone wanted to see them.

The girls both liked the beach this year. They didn't stay for hours at a time but they played in the sand and the water and loved collecting sea shells.

Rachel burying Jen like the good old days.

Alli toting Colt on a beach stroll.

Colt loved the water and the sand.

What we typically look like. A line of chairs and towels, people sleeping, reading, a few dogs, some fishing and group of others standing by the water chatting.

The girls loved the bay. We only went this one time but they had so much fun. There were no bugs and they loved the calm water. And the mud, they loved throwing it at each other. And as you can see they stripped off their clothes to enjoy the bay.

Livy playing with the killys.

Rachel getting a shower from a bucket.

Using the long net to drag for killys. (Small fish we use for bait, I thought everyone called them that but then Eric had no idea what I was talking about.)

Playing in the mud.

Colt having an ice pop with Grandpa. Grandpa made Colt do lots of tummy time and got him prepped for crawling. He was getting up on his knees and rocking when we left.

To be continued...........

Home

We made it! We are home in Houston now and I am happy to say I did my first solo flight with all three kids. (Erin flew with me on the way there since she was going to NY from CA.) Well four really because Hannah came home with us too. But she is self sufficient and I didn't have to do anything for her so really three kids. It didn't go bad at all. Pretty much exactly as I pictured it. Rachel slept for half the flight, Colt slept the last 30 minutes, and Livy didn't sleep at all. And they weren't interested in the movie really. I'm glad I have done it now and I am not so scared to do it again. Except for next time will probably be when Colt is walking and that might be even harder to contain him. The only incident we had was that in all the nervousness and craziness of getting out the door to the airport on time, I forgot my suitcase! I really don't know how that happened. How do you leave without your suitcase? We got all the kids luggage though so that's good. But the good news is I'll get it back when mom comes to get Hannah soon. It's been great having Hannah here so far. The girls love her to pieces and they are all playing so great together. Eric put her on the payroll, a quarter a day for her services! Poor kid needs to up her prices! She did good bargaining to get a dollar from him for a 5 minute back rub. It's great having an older kid around. Kind of makes me think we could have more when the girls get a bit older!

Some Family Pictures from New York

We have been in NY for almost three weeks now and I am just getting some pictures up. These are some family pictures from Grandma Ede's house and when we took family pictures at church. Of course there are many more to come when I get a chance.

It has been a great trip. We always love coming home to New York and hanging out with everyone. The girls really love having all their aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grammy and Poppy around.

Aunt Patti, Silken, and Fletch.

The Rathgeber siblings with Grandma.

Colt enjoying some food. He has really started eating lots of food since we got here. He wants everything and always ends up messy like this. He really loves bagels, which he has had plenty of since we got here. He has been so good and so happy. He goes to everyone and is a happy smiley baby all day. He isn't sleeping great so that's a bummer but at least he is happy while he is awake.

Enjoying the traditional yoohoo at Grandmas. For as long as I can remember every time we went to Grandma's house we had yoohoo. She always has a supply on hand for kiddos. I got to go to the cemetery with Grandma to put flowers on Grandpa's grave on his birthday, July 27th. I didn't remember to bring my camera so I didn't get a picture of the head stone but hopefully next time. It is always nice to go and

Hannah in her beautiful baptism dress. We are so proud of you Hannah for the awesome decision you made to be baptized.

Playing on the phone at Grandma Ede's house. She was obsessed with the phone there. We would have one of us call the house phone from a cell phone and she would love to answer it and talk up a storm, mostly about puppies of course!

And Rachel still can't get enough of her uncles. She wanted to marry Rich and then found out he was already married to Erin. Before he got here she would tell everyone he was a liar because he said he would marry me but he already married Erin. She didn't want to talk about him because she was mad at him. After he showed up she forgot all about it and was attached to his hip again. She then said she would marry Charlie! She loves playing with all of them. Josh and Katie have been really busy working on their new house so we have missed them at home lots of times. When Josh was around she loved hanging on him too. And not to leave out their aunts because these girls love their aunties too. They always have so much fun with all of them and love being with them, they just want to marry the boys! Rachel knows you marry boys, Livy sometimes wants to marry Grammy still!

Danny is so happy to have everyone around. He loves having all of his brothers here especially for the bus in the morning. All of the cousins came to our house for a few nights to hang out and Dan loved it. He walked around and said hi to everyone and was so happy in all the noise and commotion.

Colt loves the water. He didn't get to spend enough time in the water this trip but loved any time he did get. He loves just hanging out in it and splashing around. And of course loves watching the other kids jumping a swimming around.

 

Best buddies Katie and Hannah. These two did everything together including lots of sleepovers. When Silken came the second week then all three of them were always together.

I love the bangs girls. Makes me want to try some!

Livy!

Prayers Needed

I am putting a request out there for prayers. My sister in law Jenina had her water break earlier this week. She is only 33 weeks today and they are keeping her in the hospital until her baby girl Adelyn is born. They are trying to get her to next Friday so we are asking everyone to keep her and baby Adelyn in your prayers that she will get here safely and as healthy as can be for such a young baby. Check out Williams Highlights on my blog list to read more about whats going on. Thanks everyone.

Swim Lessons

The girls took swim lessons this year for two months. The both had private lessons for a while in an effort to get them some swimming skills quickly since we have the pool in the backyard now. Well the skills didn't come as quickly as I had hoped but it definitely picked up toward the end. Rachel was very picky about her teacher and would only work for certain teachers. Others she would cry for or just say no and not do anything. The last session of classes I put them together with one teacher and she did well. He got her comfortable with the water again and she started doing her work again.

This is their teacher Mr. Jeff, as they called him. Livy had him the whole time except for the first two weeks and this is who they had together at the end. He did really well with them and we are sad that he won't be there as a teacher any more when we get back from NY.

Working on super glides. Kickers, scoopers, fun jumps, Sammy starfish, monkey crawls and super glides. These were all terms they used at this place during swim lessons. The girls make their barbies do this stuff in the tub.

Livy was doing good the whole time but not moving forward much until we finally got her to put her face in the water a few weeks ago. Since then she started swimming more underwater and by herself a little. I am afraid she will lose it quickly since she hasn't practiced much in NY. We went three times a week so we didn't do much else besides go to the lake for the summer so far.

Rachel jumping in without crying!

Livy and her "doggles."

By the end Livy never wanted to get out of the pool. She loved it. Rachel did it but wasn't thrilled. She did enjoy herself a few times each class though. I'm so proud of you girls for doing something you were scared to do. Watching you learn and progress is so awesome to see.