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.