The Rapp Kids

Today Collins wanted to get in some practice time on the piano.

And tonight we took the boys to the College of the Ozarks Tree Lighting. It was a delightful evening with the family.

More pictures from Thanksgiving

Collins was perched on the counter at Grandad's house, eating some honeydew melon. She is such a happy little girl!

Hunter and Grandad at work on a new swing. The old one broke when Hunter sat on it the day before.

The Rapp family has grown. Connor is now the proud owner of a teddy bear hamster. (I know, it is a terrible picture of the hamster).  The hamster used to belong to the boys' cousin, Dalton...but Dalton's mom was ready for the hamster to move to a new house. So Connor was more than happy to bring him home to Missouri. In fact, Connor had put a hamster on his Christmas list so we are considering this an early present. The hamster's name? Hamster Dame. It started as Hamsterdam...but the hamster is a girl, so we changed it to Hamster Dame.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Today we enjoyed a day of Thanksgiving with all of the Rapp family in Texas. I am very thankful for my in-laws and love getting to be with them. We had delicious food and near perfect weather. As you will see, the boys played ball outside with their shirts off!

Time to eat. Connor, Dalton, Hunter and Carter were at the first kids table. Colton and Emory were right behind them. Hunter had an added surprise today - he lost a tooth right as he bit into his ham.

The cousins played outside all afternoon! They played basketball, soccer and some baseball with a soccer ball. It was fun to watch the kids play.

We did manage to get a couple of family pictures outside before the meal.  I couldn't get this picture to zoom in any more.

I liked this picture...but Collins' hair obviously had me distracted!

All the Missouri Rapps. Thankful for so much today - especially that we have a relationship with Jesus!

Hunter and Collins

One thing I didn't imagine when I was pregnant with Collins, was the special relationship that little sister would have with her oldest brother Hunter. He is so much help to me in the way he cares for her, looks out for her and rescues her when another brother just isn't holding her right, etc. Collins loves Hunter! I pray that this will continue as they get older.

Picture this...

Tonight we kept the Houston kids and as they all gathered around the table for dinner, I couldn't help wonder what this might be like in six or seven years. A table full of teenagers?! I hope they are still great friends then like they are now. And for sure, Tred, Bennett, Collins and new baby Rapp will  be in the mix too!

The Rapps as Legos

Hunter decided to build our family, using Legos. He picked out a specific minifigure for each family member and even gave each of the kids something to hold. Here we are:

Todd, with a bit of a five o'clock shadow
Bronwyn, I think the hair is a bit short.
Hunter, holding Legos (of course!)
Connor, holding a turtle
Carter, holding a Hero Factory figure
Colton, holding a tennis racket and ball
Collins, with a pink flower next to her

The End of Soccer Season

Carter was so pleased to receive a trophy at the end of his soccer season. He loved his team and said he even made a new best friend. He has great energy on the field and was quite a Barnabas as he encouraged other players.

Carter and Coach Aaron Webber.

With his 2012 soccer trophy.

Finally...Halloween Pictures

I am glad to finally get these pictures on the blog. We had a fun Halloween celebrating with friends at two different parties. I wish I would have captured a picture of all the Rapp kids together in their costumes, but I didn't get that shot. On our trip to Florida the Rapps, Houstons and Engrams brainstormed Halloween costumes.  Here we have the four Lego Ninjago characters. They loved being ninjas.

Avengers anyone? Colton was Hawkeye and Max was Captain America!

Todd was a prisoner and I dressed up as a police woman. Collins wins the prize for "Cutest in the Rapp Family" in her cupcake costume!

This may be my favorite! The Chipmunks and Chipettes! The Houston girls made a fantastic trio of Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor. We only had two of the Chipmunks though - Carter as Alvin and Jake as Simon. None of the boys wanted to be the chubby chipmunk.

Tradition at the Halloweenie Roast - a dance party. Looks like Max has the Sprinkler action working!

How low can you go? Carter/ Alvin, took the Limbo to a whole new level.

Such a fun group of kids!

Some life updates...

Well, I still have Halloween pictures that I would love to share, but I am having some technical difficulties with our camera and the SanDisk card. I'll keep working on it.

In other news: Collins has been standing independently for a couple of weeks. She doesn't stand for long, but we all get so excited when she does it that she starts clapping and then usually does a seat drop. No walking yet though.

We sold mammy's car. Yep, the old blue Buick now has a new owner. Just trying to clear the garage and save some money for a bigger vehicle for our family.

We held our first ever Kids Voting event on Election Day. We had 32 home school kids who came to cast their votes for President/ Governor of Missouri and some other funny categories. It was a big success and let me just say that in our election Mitt Romney won by a landslide!

This Saturday is the final day of soccer. I am so glad it is coming to an end. But the Saturdays won't be free for long...all four boys are signed up to play Rec Plex basketball.

We made a chain to count the days until Thanksgiving. The chain is quite short. Can't believe that we are well into November.

I rejoined Facebook. Why? Some days I'm really not sure. But at least now I know what is going on in your life...even if I never talk to you. Weird.

Next week is the collection week for Operation Christmas Child. I love this opportunity and the ministry of Samaritan's Purse. Can't wait to pack boxes with the boys.

Pregnancy wise I feel great, but this pregnancy seems to be taking its toll on my body. Ugh.... Also, Todd and I have decided that we don't want to find out the sex of the baby with this pregnancy. We want to be surprised at the delivery.

Friends!

These two girls are sure to be best buddies as they get older! Collins Rapp and Ansley Hampsch.

Hunter

Our family loves Adventures in Odyssey from Focus on the Family. Nearly every time we get in the van we are listening to another audio adventure. The boys can't get enough! Last week we listened to a funny episode that featured a cranky librarian who decided to recite her list of "100 Things I Don't Like" at a poetry open mic night. Well, that must have stirred the creative juices in Hunter because today he began working on his own list. I'll just give you the first half. I really don't think he was trying to be negative, just trying to be funny. I told him that next he needs to make a list of 100 things that he DOES like.

1. PB&J's
2. Rubber duckies
3. The color pink
4. The drawer in the bottom left corner of my dresser that doesn't close.
5. Dr. Pepper
6. Kids' toothpaste
7. Boring books
8. Pillows that are too hard
9. Pillows that are too soft
10. Pillows that look like bunnies
11. Bunnies
12. Robot bunnies
13. Graham crackers
14. Tooth pulls
15. Booth tolls
16. Bridge trolls
17. Bobble heads
18. Glow-in-the-dark, neon socks
19. Sid the Science Kid
20. Cooties
21. Dunkin' Donuts
22. Jokes that aren't funny
23. Long lists
24. Stuffed animals
25. Yoda's ears
26. Bananas
27. Peas
28. Nuts
29. Peanuts
30. Lawn gnomes
31. Baby wipes
32. Burps
33. Lipstick
34. Negative people
35. Brenda Shurley (referring to our Home school English curriculum, Shurley English)
36. After lunch jobs
37. Figgy pudding
38. The name Bob (So sorry to anyone named Bob)
39. Bob the Builder
40. Hula hoops
41. Clowns
42. Poodles
43. Pillow pets
44. Commercials
45. Ballet
46. Ballet dancers
47. Ballet Ninjas
48. Ballet babies
49. Ballet Barbies
50. The heavy guy named Little John (from Robin Hood)
51. Broccoli
52. Speed Racer
53. Speed eraser
54. Flowers
55. People who make stale cookies
56. People who steal cookies
57. People who toss cookies
58. Barf bags
59. Corn 
60. The Cat in the Hat
61. The bunny in the hat (I have no idea!)
62. Long waits
63. Peanut butter crackers