Welcome Ethan Mitchell!

Ethan Mitchell McGrath arrived Friday, March 6th at 10:28 am! He weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 21 inches long. He's 2 weeks old today & doing great! Patrick & Nate adore their baby brother and we're having fun getting used to being a family of 5. wow!

Here are Patrick & Nate playing Dr. Patrick & Dr. Nate! They've had a lot of fun with Brian's surgical wear.

And, of course we've had St. Patrick's Day! Here are my boys...

And, here's Nate giving Ethan lots of hugs & kisses. We lucked out with beautiful weather and Ethan's already spent plenty of time oustide!

How blessed are we!

Breakfast with Santa

We joined Brian's family for Breakfast with Santa last Saturday and had a great time! Patrick was very excited about seeing Santa... for the last few weeks, every time we asked him what he was going to tell Santa he wanted - he said a "power pal." Neither Brian nor I knew what that was - so when I casually asked "Patrick, what does a power pal look like?" He replied..."Oh, you'll see when I get it." We laughed so hard at that one! After much research & discussion - I think he means Power Ranger (let's hope!)


Here's Patrick with Santa... it was magical for him.

Nate was a bit hesitant at first - but when he realized Santa likes chocolate (just like Nate) - he warmed up fast! Later - Santa fixed Nate's balloon and he was really impressed. This Santa could do it all!

They even got to meet a reindeer! This is "Misfit" - the antlers were amazing, as was his super soft fur!

Here are the boys at breakfast... I think Santa had just walked in the room and Nate was looking at him, very excited!

This is Patrick with his cousins - Evan & Ryan. They are so silly!

And, here's all the grandkids with "Memom." Just before this picture, Nate had crawled under/into the tree! It shook and the lights flickered... it took some cajoling (and Brian lying down flat on the ground) to get Nate out! Of course - leave it Nate.

Thank you Memom for a wonderful time!

Halloween Fun!

Halloween is like Christmas in our house - I LOVE it! We had so much fun... kicking off our neighborhood parade with the firetruck... trick-or-treating... bonfire with roasted hot dogs, ham & beans and of course - tackle football in the dark! (Safe, right?!) Fortunately - no broken bones - just a few tired kids (mainly me) and possibly a few extra pounds! Here's a glimpse of the fun!

First- here's Patrick & Nate during my "dress rehearsal" on Thursday night. Patrick made all sorts of silly faces & poses - but Nate would have rather been playing. You can tell by his glare - he's just not that into it! But, once he realizes candy is involved - he changes his tune on Halloween night!

Here are the boys looking at the firetruck and waiting for the trick-or-treating to commence!

And - they're off!

Here's Nate giving a very good pirate face! He was so funny - after every house he'd stop to check out what he got, and then he'd want to eat it right then & there! Nathaniel LOVES his candy - and did not miss out on one house!

This is my favorite photo -it was one of the first houses and they were SO excited! Here they are running back to show me what they got!

This is the Beam Reach "gang" - posing after one of the last houses. (Ava, Patrick, Max, Nate & Will!)

After hours of running non-stop (in the dark) playing football and soccer - we finally got the kiddos inside for dinner. Here are some of the kids who joined us - starting with Zach Lemming! He & Nate are in the same class at Learning Time!

To calm them down - we finally put in the Lion king. Nate is about ready to fall asleep here! This is Spiderman (aka Jake), Ava & Nate!

And finally... Patrick & Max!

This last photo is classic! I found Nathaniel lying on our kitchen table (with chocolate in his hand and halfway in his mouth!) - just about asleep! He didn't make it much longer. What a fun night!

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

At the Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend, we joined our friends the Watkins at Stony Creek Pumpkin Patch! We all had so much fun.... playing in the straw piles and picking out the "perfect" pumpkins. Here are the pics from that day!

Here's the Watkins family - Ben, Julia, Abby & Ella. Afterwards we went back to their house for yummy chilli! But, the kids weren't very hungry after eating about 2 pounds of sweet kettle corn - who can resist?!

Here's the pumpkin patch! Patrick loved his tall, curvy pumpkin! And Nate picked out one so big he had to roll it around.

Silly daddy!

Can't wait for carving time! Happy Halloween!

Our Man Mitch!

We've taken the boys to a few of the Governor's rallies & hog roasts! My mother thinks it's funny Patrick just calls him Mitch. Here are some of photos from their first political experiences!

Here's the Governor in the middle, with the campaign RV in the back. The boys LOVE to play in the RV - I'm thinking we need one at our house for something to do this winter!


Here are the boys sitting on an old fire engine at the Firefighters for Mitch event... Notice the sign above Nate's head that says "please don't let children climb on the firetrucks" Oops!

Patrick & Nate both loved pretending to slide down the old poles - talk about a dream come true!

Another favorite event was the Hog Roast in Thorntown. It was at a real farm, and the boys discovered what cows really smell like! Not good...

The piles of gravel were the best entertainment of the night. They were yelling here - Yee HAW!

Just a reminder - if you live in Indiana - vote for Mitch on Nov. 4!