Her name is McKinley Joy.

This is her on June 28. We were thrilled she finally decided to join our family. She came late and fast and loud and excitedly and then she slept a lot.

This is McKinley yesterday. We are so glad God allowed her to be ours. You're sitting there, grinning at the computer because she's so dang cute, aren't you?

Let's just overlook the fact that I haven't blogged in 6 months, shall we?

We've been cleaning.

We have a lot to do before Baby Rath #3 arrives. At the top of the very looooong list was scraping the popcorn beauty off of the kitchen ceiling. Eric and a few friends set about that task this past Saturday night. It was a mess. Ceiling dust was everywhere. 

This picture reminded me of the episode of Full House where Danny Tanner vacuums the big vacuum cleaner with the small, hand-held one.

Thankfully, this handsome little fella came along to help me clean it all up.

8 weeks and a lot more to do.

He's going to have to grow another arm.

Friday mornings

Last week we met our friends Tiffany and Eli at an indoor playground at a local church. It's free and the kids had a ball running wild.  I wish I had known about it earlier this winter when the weather was so cold and the kids and I were going stir crazy. Oh well, at least we can enjoy it on the windy days now.

The garage sale is over.

Ginormous Dora dollhouses and mongo sport gyms are enjoyable. But when trying to find room for a new brother or sister, it's best to say goodbye to the junk that they rarely play with toys taking up too much room.


I actually enjoy having garage sales, which should be fairy evident given that in our almost 7 years of marriage, we've had 5. There's something rewarding about people giving me money to take away my crap. Eric thinks I'm crazy, but secretly, I think he has fun too.  I am glad that it's over, though.


9 weeks to go.

Little boys don't grow whiskers.

But they do open the dishwasher, climb onto the door and grab Daddy's razor from the counter.  And after all that work, why not at least try the thing out?

Let me whisper something in your ear

If Regan whispers in your ear, you're bound to hear super special secrets involving princesses and fairy wings and baby brothers and sisters.

Grant, on the other hand, has yet to catch on to the actual concept of the whisper.  If he's whispering it's going to be about one of two things.  a) Papa or b) food

10 weeks

I still have 10 weeks to go. And already my ankles look like this:

But if the end result is a baby who looks like this:

Then I guess it's worth it.

10 weeks is a long time. But it's not long enough. How is that even possible? Either way, we've got a lot to do. Every Tuesday I'll start posting one thing we've done to get ready for his or her arrival. Check back. I'm sure it will be exciting.

Easter 2010

I just love these blond headed, hand holding, cheesing out, Easterly clothed children of ours.

Did you have an Easter hat growing up? When we were at Mom and Dad's a few weeks ago, we came across an Easter picture from 1987. You could barely see our family through the 3 mongo Easter hats my sisters and I were wearing.

Next year there will be another little Rath in the picture. I can't wait to meet him or her.

Easter 2009

Easter 2008

Grant was just 11 days old; Regan was thrilled with her brother, not so much with the camera.

Easter 2007

I had to do some pretty smooth talking to get Eric to let Regan wear that bonnet. It was worth it.

It's been awhile...

Yeah. That's right. I took a 4 1/2 month blogging break. Intentional? No. But you see, we've been very busy around these parts...

We discovered that we can color our bath water and it stains neither us nor the bathtub.

Some of us have been taking cooking lessons.

Some of us have been growing a baby...

One of us turned "doo"...

The rest of us enjoyed the cake!

Some of us needed a haircut quite desperately. Others of us gave in and decided that for now, a buzz cut will just have to do.

We discovered that buzz cuts, while handsome and charming, don't ward off bronchialitis. However, bronchialitis = lots of cuddle time.

We visited Papa and Nana and wore our Easter clothes. Although some of us (Harlee) don't like to look at the camera...

One of us was baptized...

And one of us got to have a sleepover with her twin cousin (who is four years older, but I know I'm not the only one who sees the resemblance??)

We return now to our (ir)regular posting schedule... :)

Been gone awhile....

The kids and I have been battling the flu the last few days. We're on day four of our five day quarantine and we're all about to go stir crazy! There's only so much cleaning we can do....

And only so many naps we can take... (well, Momma could take naps all day... the kids, however, missed that memo)
After so many days spent with just the three of us, our goofiness has risen to a whole new level. :)

GREAT-grandparents

Gigi and Papa Sammie came to visit us the other day.

Regan and Grant were pleased.

How to have a happy heart.

Look at this picture 17 times a day.

Things I love about this picture:

• Grant's little rolls on his legs
• The way Regan's feet are curled up
• That Grant is trying to escape the cuddle
• Grant's hand on Regan's knee
• Regan's head on Grant's shoulder
• Regan's crazy hair
• Grant's double chin

Reading Rainbow

Did y'all watch that growing up? We did. Sometimes I turn it on just long enough to hear the theme song. (sigh)

Last week I took the kids to the library at the perfect time. We were honestly the only people in the kid section. It was great. It was also when most moms have their kids at home eating a healthy, home cooked lunch, but we had already eaten lunch with Daddy. And it was Fazoli's. Yum.

Anyway, here's Eric reading a nighttime story to the kiddos.

Grant was very interested.
How stinking cute are they????

Meet Regan.

She likes to wear heels.

She also likes her brother. His name is Grant. Regan likes her brother Grant to wear heels too.
Grant is happy to oblige.... for now.
Thanks for that, Regan.

FIrst Day of School

The kids started Mother's Day Out 2 weeks ago. Regan really likes her teachers and is enjoying being with her friends, especially Emma. Grant..... well, he didn't cry as loud when I dropped him off today, so maybe we're making progress??

Here they are on their first day with their new nap mats and school bags. Aren't they so stinking cute in their sunglasses and hat!?

One of the nice things about this school year is that I will have every other Tuesday off from cleaning houses. I'm looking forward to actually having some time to myself, especially during the fall when Eric works long hours and I don't get a break all that often.

Farmington

The first week of August, as if we hadn't been in the car enough, Sarah and I packed up our minivan (making the decision as to whose minivan to take is an entire story in itself) and drove out to visit Brandi and her brood. Overall, the drive wasn't too bad. Having four tv's for the kids to watch didn't hurt things....

We made quite a scene when we stopped. Which we did. A lot.

Here are three of the five kiddos eating at the non play area at McDonald's in Bernalillo.

Once we got to Brandi's, though, we had a great time! I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did. Oops. Just believe me when I say having seven kids plus the two that Brandi babysits is.... well..... it's a lot of kids. And they're cute. And loud. And there's a lot of them.

Here's Regan swimming in Aunt Brandi's new pool. She is quite the fish.

Kyle, Regan and Grant enjoying their pudding.

Grant and the twins playing in the tent.

Grant liked Maggie.
Regan, Kylie and Aubrey enjoying their healthy lunch of pigs-in-a-blanket, cheetos and green beans. :)
Grant and Shyann liked sitting in the Diego lawn chairs.
Aunt Sarah and her babies. Harlee is on the left, Shyann on the right.
Brandi and her baby.
We had a small campfire one night and made smores. Regan was a fan.
The Sensational Seven before we went to the Aquatic Center. That place was awesome. Regan loved going off the small slide. Grant seems to have taken after his daddy and after about 5 minutes of splashing around, he looked at me and showed me the sign for "all done".
We didn't like being away from Daddy for so long, so we checked in with him every night.

And now that we're home, we're back to our usual antics.....

Grant somehow unplugged the salt shaker and within seconds, had its entire contents spilled out all over the table, himself and the floor. I love the look on his face. It must not taste the way he was expecting it to taste. :)

I put a smiley face now because I was certainly not smiling that day.

I took this picture with my phone, so it isn't the best quality, but Regan built a train for her animals (not Grant) and was reading to them.