During Christmas time we......

baked cookies at Grandma's house,
made our Mr. Hankey collection (Christmas tradition),
opened presents from Grandma and Papa Hatcher on Christmas Eve,
got some crazy musical shirts from Uncle Ryan,
got a very unnecessary beer holster,
put out cookies for Santa,
waited for Santa to come (and boy did he),
opened lots of gifts from Santa,
made a Geo Trax and Littlest Pet Shop city,
played chess,
took family pictures,
and more family pictures,
hung spoons from our noses,
and celebrated with friends and family!!!

WOW! It was a fun, action-packed couple of days. Ben didn't get much time off this year so we crammed all of our celebrating in. The highlight for me was watching the kids. They remembered a lot about Christmas from last year and it's just getting better as the get a little older. Now I just need to continue getting the house back in order. It may take until mid February or whenever it is that our basement gets done!

Christmas Celebration in Stevensville

Audrey loved feeding Carraig his bottles and his baby food.
Cousins
Check out Audrey's expression. Now check out the horse that is behind her.
Spartan carousel horse
Carraig loves his giraffe toy so this was perfect for him

Sawyer's garbage truck from Aunt Emily and Uncle Rod. He loves it.

We celebrated Christmas with Ben's side of the family in Stevensville a couple weeks ago. Audrey and Sawyer had fun playing with their newly interactive cousin. Carraig got a smile whenever he saw the kids. It was like he knew they were little people just like him and that in a couple years they'd be making all sorts of trouble together.

We visited the carousel at Silver Beach. The carousel had the biggest variety of animals I've ever seen. Audrey rode on a mermaid. The Spartan horse was a favorite of course. I like the flamingo but decided not to ride so I could take pictures. Sawyer decided to be his stubborn self and not ride at all, oh well, his loss.

On Saturday afternoon we opened presents and made sure all the kids were thoroughly spoiled. Let the toys begin! In the evening we had a great dinner and just hung out. The women stuck to one dinner but the guys had to have dinner part 2 at 11:30, Long John Silvers, GROSS! It is becoming a Christmas tradition. A little strange but kind of funny.

It's been a while....

I haven't updated since late November! Things have been very busy doing all the usual Christamas preparations. We also had some kind of stomach bug/flu that took over our house for the past week making me even more behind. It was BAD!

The first couple pictures are Audrey's dance recital. They danced to an old New Kids On The Block Christmas song. It was very cute and nostalgic, for me at least. We got to sit in the 3rd row so we really could see Audrey's great facial expressions. She has the cutest smile on the stage, maybe not the best dance moves, but definitely the cutest smile!

Ben decided to let Santa make an early appearance at our house to deliver our LEGO train. Santa brought us the engine, coal car and passenger car. We are going to start a LEGO train village under our tree. Each year we'll add a piece or two. I'm not sure who had more fun building, Ben or the kids.

We went to Ahrend's for our annual tree cutting adventure. We got a good one this year! The kids are both into decorating. Sawyer has certain ornaments that he DOES NOT want on the tree, he'd rather play with them. The had to relocate to the top of the tree.

Other news from the Rapp house is the construction of our basement. It's a work in progress. So far it's framed and about half of the electrical is done. We're hoping to have the dry waller out just after Christmas. You know we'll need it with all the new toys that will be arriving over the next couple weeks!!

We Are Thankful

Audrey made a place card for every person. It was her idea. I thought it was very cute.

Our family has so much to be thankful for! We had a great weekend with family. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. My parents, Ben's parents, Ben's grandma and Ben's cousin John came over. The food and company was great!

Let's Potty!

FINALLY! The child is potty trained, well mostly. He was convinced he wasn't going to go on the potty, ever. However, the day after his birthday party I told him that if he wanted to play with any of his new toys he was going to start going on the potty. That's pretty much all it took. In the first 3 days he had 2 accidents and that was about it. The only problem we are having is the #2. He's about 50/50 with that one. Sometimes he stores it up and waits to go when we put him in his diaper at night. I guess after Santa visits I'm going to have to use the same strategy with #2 as I did after his birthday party. Lord knows, I'm done wiping a 3 year old's butt. GROSS!

Happy (Belated) Birthday Buddy!

On November 6, Sawyer turned 3! We were at the Magic Kingdom on his actual birthday. Audrey asked if we are going to go to Disney for her birthday too, Oh GOODNESS! After returning from Florida we celebrated Sawyer's birthday at home. Grandma and Papa Rapp came for the weekend and we had his "kid" party at The Family Puppy; a place that is a pet store where the kids can play with the puppies and then they get to make their own stuffed animal.

At Sawyer's 3 year check up he was 31 1/2 lbs and 37 inches. He's pretty skinny but VERY active. He caught up on his vaccines and wasn't happy with me about that. Sawyer is still an easy going boy but stubborn at the same time. He has a good heart and is almost always willing to share with his sister or friends. He still loves anything transportation related, espcially trains and construction vehicles. It has been a great joy watching Sawyer grow. I love watching his curious nature and am so happy that he is HAPPY!

Bits and Pieces from Disney

There are a lot of pictures here but they really do tell the story. I actually could have put about 50 more on here but I restrained myself. We had a great 5 day trip to Orlando with my parents. We stayed at their timeshare which was only about 10 minutes from Disney World. It was a great 3 bedroom/3 bath condo so we all had our space. We were so grateful they used some of their vacation time with us. Ben and I even got to enjoy a dinner out by ourselves as my mom and dad generously offered to babysit for us. It was a great trip with lots of fun memories. I never thought I would care about going to Disney World with the kids, being that it's such a rip-off, but when you see how excited they get about everything you just can't help but love it. That's why they can get away with charging you an arm and a leg for everything!! Enjoy the pictures.

Sawyer's favorite ride. This was not at Disney World but at the Downtown Disney area and was only $2. Maybe we should have just told him that was Disney World. He probably still would have been happy. Trains are his life.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. We went to the T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney. Sawyer loved it but was not fond of the first meteor shower we witnessed. It was like an indoor thunderstorm.
Audrey with her favorite princess.
Sawyer got to drive Papa around the track.
I think Audrey looks like she's related to Sleeping Beauty.
This was the only princess Sawyer wanted to go up to. I guess he prefers brunettes.
Small World

The baby giraffe at Animal Kingdom - so sweet.
Bathing Beauty

Kindergarten party - Playing BINGO

Audrey's class

The night of pumpkin carving. Notice Sawyer stays at a safe distance from his pumpkin.

Love this one =-)

BATMAN!!

Cupcake Fairy

LOVE THIS!!! Batman showing his muscles.

Post game inspection!

Here are some pics from Halloween week. Highlights include:

• Audrey's Kindergarten Halloween party. I am one of the room parents for her class which means I help plan and run the parties. I didn't realize how much this job would entail. Basically, the teacher just sits back and the room moms do everything. It was a little stressful getting 25 sugared up, excited and costumed fiver year olds to listen. They were actually really good. We played BINGO, made a snack and did a couple crafts. Then I was ready for a nap!


• Of course, carving pumpkins is another Halloween tradition, well at least for 3 of the 4 Rapp Family members. Sawyer HATES carving pumpkins. The second we took the lid of his he started gagging and coughing. To avoid the puke fest that would have ensued, we evacuated Sawyer to his train table. He had to stay in isolation until we finished gutting the pumpkins. Then he had to take a picture with his pumpkin outside because he couldn't stand the smell of our kitchen after we carved. I guess next year we'll let him paint one instead.


• Finally, came the big day of trick or treating. Audrey got over 100 pieces of candy. Sawyer got about 40 and told Ben that he had enough candy and that he just wanted to stay in the wagon. The night was cool but not too bad as far as Halloween goes. It was dry and not windy. That's really all you can ask for in Michigan!

Notice I didn't mention the stellar performance of the Spartans this weekend (insert sarcasm). That's all that needs to be said on that topic.

Zoo Boo

Here are some cute pics of the kids at Zoo Boo. Sawyer picked out Batman this year. He had a definite idea of what he wanted to be this year. I wanted him to be Spiderman because I like the red better than the dull gray but I know when to pick my battles with the most stubborn child on the earth. I think he looks so cute in his Batman costume. It's fun to have a little boy to dress up as a super hero. Audrey wanted to be a cupcake fairy. I wondered why, but why wouldn't a 5 year old girly-girl want to wear a poofy, pink dress with cupcakes all over it? So, I don't really know what a cupcake fairy is but it sure is cute.