The Big Day

Santa came... (and no, the dishwasher is not pictured here).
Anxiously awaiting
Audrey's big gift, her Leapster 2.
So cute in her new hat.
Home Deopt tool bench that is REALLY loud.
Dino Castle and a dino face.
Looking' pretty snazzy at Grandma and Papa's for Christmas dinner.
Carrying on the tradition of balancing spoons to the 4th generation! She's a natural!

Fortunatley, Christmas morning still starts at the same time as every other monring, about 8:00. The kids are still too little to think of getting up extra early but I have a feeling that year is drawing very near.

It was great fun to watch the kids open their gifts. They still take the time to enjoy each one instead of just tearing through their whole pile. Audrey's big ticket item was a Leapster 2. I've held off on any kind of hand held device until now. She's allowed to play 1/2 hour a day and it seems fairly educational, at least for a video game. Sawyer's big ticket item was the tool bench. It's loud and annoying so it will be moving from my family room shortly. His favoirte gift is probaby his Hot Wheels track that you can build into different configurations. Of course I suck at the engineering and he already knows that Daddy is the one to ask for help.

My big surprise was a new dishwasher. Most of you know about our old dishwasher and how badly it SUCKED. You had to wash the dishes before putting them in, what's the point in the dishwasher then?? Ben really surprised me. I had NO idea, not even when I saw the big box in our family room. I was super excited and have already ran several loads. It makes my life so much easier.

In the evening we went to my mom and dad's for dinner. My mom is a great cook so we always enjoy a wonderful meal. In the last picture you can see Audrey has learned the family tradition of balancing a spoon on her nose. Usually this is done after a few cocktails but it doesn't take any of that to make a 4 year old be silly!

We had a great Christmas and feel so blessed with our family and friends. We feel like some of the luckiest people in the world! We hope you all feel the same way!

Christmas Eve Festivites

Watching the Grinch before bed.
Goodies for Santa and his Reindeer made by Audrey.
Audrey and "The Great One".
Sawyer happy as a clam opeing more cars.
Uncle Ryan building Duplo trains with Sawyer.
Audrey and Kit's bed. She was VERY excited about this one!

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner with some traditional polish food - Dearborn Ham and sauerkraut and kielbasa made by my 83 year old grandpa. Having my grandpa come on Christmas Eve is such a blessing. He's 83 and acts like a 30 year old! We always went to my grandma and papa's house on Christmas Eve when I was a kid so I feel very lucky that I now get to have him at my house! The kids were very happy to see their Uncle Ryan since he made the trek from Boston. They opened their gifts from my mom and dad on Christmas Eve. Grandma and Papa know how to over do it just a little but then again, that's what grandparents get to do. Audrey was very excited to get the bed for Kit and more Kit clothing and accessories. Sawyer got two different Duplo Thomas the Train kits that he really likes. He tells me how to put them together and knows if I'm doing it incorrectly. He'll say, "NO Mama! Do this way."

After the company left we set out our cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Audrey got smart this year and said we had to put out 9 carrots, one for each. We watched the Grinch, read The Night Before Christmas and sent them to bed. Audrey took going right to sleep very seriously, so seriously that I forgot to make her go potty. I went up there to get her after 15 minutes and she said she really had to go but didn't want to get out of bed and make Santa mad. Good thing I took care of what would have been a middle of the night disaster! After that it was time for Mr. and Mrs. Clause to get assembling and arranging, that part is so much fun! Next was to try to sleep even though we were so excited for the morning!

Christmas with the Rapp's and Eddy's

Audrey and her cousins - Katie and Meghan.
Radio Flyer Big Wheel
Giving Grandma a big hug after opening her American Girl Doll.
Audrey and Kit
Papa having a snowball fight with Audrey, or was it the other way around.
First snowman of the season.
Love the pics with the new camera, especially close ups!
Watching for Santa with their headlights from Grandma.
Brunch with Santa.
Audrey and her favorite man.
Sawyer finally sitting on Santa's lap for the first time, notice his eyes.

Last weekend we spent 3 days in Stevensville with Ben's family and had a great time. It really helped start the trip out on the right foot when Sawyer was a good boy for the 3 hour car ride. I think the DVD player with the movie Cars was the key. It was so nice not to have to listen to his screaming the whole way.

On Saturday we celebrated our Christmas. We had a nice dinner and then dug into presents. Audrey got her first big American Girl Doll from Grandma and Papa Rapp. She was so excited that she ran into Grandma's arms saying, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" The doll's name is Kit, she's the 1930s depression era doll and as you can see from the pictures, highly resembles Audrey. Kit has not left her side since that day and she's even forgotten about her beloved Doggy a couple of times.

Sawyer got an awesome Radio Flyer Big Wheel that is sure to get some use in our basement this winter and then lots of use outside when the weather breaks. Most of you know he loves to go flying down our hill so I better get my nerves (and a new helmet) ready for this one!

The next day we went to brunch with Santa. There was breaking news at the brunch - Sawyer actually sat on Santa's lap. He looked extremely nervous but stayed there none the less. He did shake his head when Santa talked to him but wouldn't really talk back. He also accepted Santa's gift of a candy cane. I count that as a big success.

We also got to visit my Aunt, Uncle, cousins and their kids for a few hours on Sunday. Audrey loves playing with her "girl cousins," as she calls them. They are in 2nd and 4th grade and Audrey thinks they are SUPER cool.

We came home last Monday and had another peaceful car ride! It was a great trip and really fun to relax and spend time with family.

Rapp/Ward Christmas Celebration



Things have been a little crazy around here lately so here goes a random blog with some of the things that have been going on at the Rapp House:

-We finally got a new camera but I have no clue how to work it yet. I had to borrow my mom's camera for a couple weeks to get these pictures. I didn't want to miss all of December. We settled on a Cannon SX-20 Powershot. It has a 20X zoom and a super fast shutter speed so it should work out with the kids. It's big but I hope the pictures will be worth the size and weight.

-We are all decorated and excited for Christmas. Audrey gets everything about the season this year. She knows all the characters in her manger set and can tell you their names and "jobs". She is very dissappointed about the 3 Wise Men. She has asked me several times why there isn't a wise girl. Explaining the Bible and sexism to a 4 year old can be difficult so I just told her she can pretend one of them is a girl if she wants to. She was happy with that and picked the one dressed in a melonish color because she said that was what a "girl wiseman" would want to wear. Sawyer likes to take the manger people and put them in his cement mixer and mix them up, good thing they are fabric and not breakable. Yet another one of the big differences between boys and girls.

As for Santa, Audrey still loves him and Sawyer can't stand him. Sawyer wouldn't go near him and ran back to his stroller when he realized I was going to make him sit on his lap. Audrey then said, "Dude, don't you know he brings you presents!." I'm sure Santa got a kick out of that one.

-Audrey had her dance recital last weekend. It was SUPER cute. They did Rockin' Robin by "Jackyl Mackson", in Audrey's words. They are getting much more coordinated and I think most of the girls knew the whole dance.

-Breaking news on the Sawyer front - he's pooped and peed a few times on the potty. Audrey was trained by this point but I know that I still have SEVERAL months until I am there with Sawyer. He is more interested in saying bye-bye to his poop and watching the pee come out of his penis. He, like most men, is in awe of the new discovery.

-The last picture is just a random picture that I thought was cool. My mom and dad have woods across from their house and a bald eagle has taken up residence there. It is really cool to see it fly. It's wings are enormous. We just have to watch out for our little, wimpy dogs so they won't become the bald eagles dinner.

Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. We had both families here and cooked the feast for 13 people. I think it was our biggest year yet. Audrey was so excited to see her Aunt Emily and Uncle Rod, Uncle Ryan and Justin, both sets of grandparents and Great Grandma! She was in heaven bossing everyone around and telling them how to play with her.

We cut down our tree this weekend and did most of the Christmas decorating. Unfortunately I do not have pictures from our weekend at all. The decision to get a new camera was made for us when Ben dropped ours. It is now dead. It's OK though. We were planning on it anyways since ours is very outdated and not taking great pictures. We're ordering a new one today because I don't want to go through December without a camera. Any advice on a good one?

TWO!

On November 6 Sawyer turned 2! It's hard to believe that time goes by so quickly. On his actual birthday he got some construction trucks and a tractor from us. On Sunday we had a small birthday party, truck themed of course, and he got many more trucks, tractors and trains. He's enjoying all of his presents but the train table is his favorite. When he saw it at the party he ran for it saying, "ooo ooo oooo". Every morning he comes down stairs saying "train table". It's the first thing he thinks about in the morning. It used to be milk and now it's trains.

The 2 year dr. appointment is tomorrow. I'm guessing he's about 28 pounds or so. He's very active and doesn't care much about eating. He just doesn't have time for meals. I'll update the dr. appointment when I get some time. I know one thing, he will be strapped in his stroller in a straight jacket to avoid all the crazy germs that are going around right now!

Trick or Treat

Strawberry and Dino ready to go.

He actually liked his costume on Halloween.

Showing off her Strawberry moves.

The neighborhood gang.

Best Buddies

Zoe the pumpkin. She actually likes to wear this and gets excited when I take it out.

Sawyer having the paper from the Reese's cup extracted from his mouth.

Their loot. Audrey got 117 pieces of candy. She counted!

It was so fun to watch the kids on Halloween. It made me remember how exciting it was when I was little. Next to Christmas, I think Halloween was my favorite day as a kid. The anticipation was so exciting and then the aftermath was just as good. My brother and I would dump out our pillow cases that were FULL of candy on the floor in our den to sort and trade. Audrey and Sawyer did their own version of this with Audrey trying to steal some of his candy and Sawyer eating the wrappers as well as the candy. He has no patience for candy wrappers. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all of the candy lying around my house before I gain 20 pounds!

Preschool Party

Audrey's 4 year old preschool class. Note the large number of boys, a rowdy but fun group.

Audrey got to be calendar helper. She loves being the weather girl but calendar helper is her 2nd favorite job. She had to count all the way to 30, and did it!

Audrey telling the class about her costume, no modesty here.

Listening to a Halloween story. The pirate next to Audrey is her "friend", Alex. Much to Ben's disappointment, she says that she loves him.

Pumpkins

We had to do our annual pumpkin carving a few days early due to Ben leaving for NC to golf at Pinehurst this week for work. I'm not sure if they'll still look good on Halloween, time shall tell. Ben usually like to get very creative with his pumpkins but since we only bought 2 and we have 2 kids with opinions, Ben didn't have much choice but to carve what they wanted. Audrey wanted rocket ships, stars, moons and Saturn on hers (don't ask me why) and Sawyer wanted Mickey. I was surprised he didn't ask for a digger, tractor or a school bus, his three main obsessions. Neither one of the kids wanted to touch the guts much so Ben did the dirty work. Maybe if Ben gets really motivated on Halloween he'll do one of his creations. I'll be sure to post it if he does!