Holden Elijah

Holden is now 17 months old! He is such a great baby and we all love him dearly. He apparently is hoping for a new Rapp family record as he still is not walking. Right now Connor holds the record as my slowest walker. Connor was 17+ months when he finally started taking steps. He had some extra coaching from my mom and dad. Perhaps Holden is wanting to beat that record, but I sure would like him to start walking soon!

Last week I gave him a haircut because his curls were getting a little out of control. I combed his hair down straight and just snipped across the back.

 Thankfully his curls came right back once his hair dried.

Colton still seems to be the boy who is most devoted to Holden. He wants to get Holden out of his crib after every single nap and will often help me babysit when my hands are full. What a big help Colton is to me!

First Day of School (Ever!)

Monday was a big day at the Rapp house as the boys had their first ever day of school! They were excited...and very nervous. They are all students at Trinity Classical School in Houston. They attend school on Monday and Wednesday and then we have home school days on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We made it out the door on time and everyone had their backpacks, lunches and water bottles. They were all smiling when I picked them up - though it probably helped that I came armed with Chick-fil-A nuggets as an after school snack. We are very thankful for this school and God's provision that has allowed our boys to be students at TCS.

Colton Rapp - 2nd Grade - Grammar School

Carter Rapp - 4th Grade - Grammar School

Connor Rapp - 6th Grade - Logic School

Hunter Rapp - 7th Grade - Logic School

Confession! I love the boys in their Land's End uniforms.

With the Houston weather Colton will probably wear shorts to school all year long.

I thought it was cute how each of the boys stood differently and how they placed their hands.

Todd dropped off the older boys at their campus.

Girls' Weekend in Branson

This weekend I flew to Branson for a wonderful girls' weekend. What a blessing it was for my heart to be with dear friends who know me well. We had fun and ate great food, but the best part was all the conversation. We talked and talked and talked! I love these friends and look forward to the next time that we can get together.

This was Friday night! We spent the night at Chateau on the Lake. Kudos to the dads who were keeping all the kids - 28 of them to be exact - while the moms got away. Left to right: Rachel, Melissa, Ashley, Bronwyn, Cat and Amy! Melissa won the bet with 80 likes on Instagram by 11:00 PM.

We did heavy appetizers for dinner. Delicious! We snacked and talked until nearly 2:00 AM. And because we were upgraded to an Ambassador Suite at the hotel, we had a living room area where we could gather.

Amy and Bronwyn. Oh, I love this friend! Her five boys are best friends with the Rapp boys - and they all match in age.

Everything was so yummy!

Ashley, you are an intentional friend! Thanks for always wanting to know updates on the Rapp family.

*Disclaimer: I love all of these friends so dearly, but I only got individual pictures with Amy and Ashley. Not playing favorites, these are just the ones I had.

Amy, Rachel and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Chateau on the Lake. In fact, we were a bit too leisurely. I missed my flight on Saturday to return to Houston. Thank goodness for a very understanding husband and Grandad and Baba who could stay one more night. 

Time to head home. I did make it to the airport with plenty of time to spare on Sunday morning. Amy and Lincoln drove me to the Branson airport and stayed with me until it was time to go through security.

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Catching Up

There has been plenty going on at the Rapp house lately. At times I feel like I can't keep up with it all. Here is a quick recap of last week.

 Carter and Colton attended their Trinity Classical School open house. They saw their classrooms, met their teachers and got their TCS t-shirt.

 Carter Rapp - 4th Grade

Colton Rapp - 2nd Grade

 Todd and the kids, along with Grandad and Baba, went out for frozen yogurt at City Center.

Connor had a TCS 6th grade swim party where he had a chance to meet some of the kids in his class. Can you see him toward the right side of the picture doing a pencil?

 Is he making friends? Or creating enemies?

 Hunter rallied the troops to get all of our school books labeled before the first day.

 Holden was sick for almost a week. This little guy just wanted to cuddle!

Visit from Allison

We enjoyed catching up with our friend Allison Beene when she came to visit Houston last weekend. She joined us at GBC on Sunday evening. Colton had been running, playing and sticking his head in the fountain.

Dumplings

Today the Rapps had a brand new experience. We ate Chinese dumplings and they were delicious. We met some friends at Fung's Kitchen for some dim sum. Exactly...I had no idea what dim sum was before today. I decided a Wikipedia definition would be helpful.

Dim sum refers to a style of Cantonese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Dim sum is also well known for the unique way it is served in some restaurants, whereby fully cooked and ready-to-serve dim sum dishes are carted around the restaurant for customers to choose their orders while seated at their tables. 

Todd took these pictures of the kids. This fun gathering included twelve boys....and one girl. Yep, Collins was the lone girl in this group. All the Rapp boys tried something new and most of them liked what they ate.

The highs and lows of Houston

No, this post isn't about emotions, but rather a field trip that Todd and the boys took on Friday! First the boys headed to the JP Morgan Chase tower which is the tallest building in Texas. They cruised up to the 60th floor where they viewed Houston from the observation deck. Lovely view of this big city. 

 Then they headed underground. Did you know that Houston has a system of tunnels filled with restaurants, stores, barber shops, dry cleaners? The Rapp boys wanted to check it out and so they did! They even had Subway sandwiches underneath Houston.

Family in town

Last week my sister Brea and her three kids came to Houston! It was fun to have them here with us and to have days to play together. It makes me wish even more that our kids could grow up together. But for now God has us spread out from Tennessee to Texas.

On Saturday evening, we added to the family fun when Matt, Erica, Sophie and Audrey Winston came over for dinner. We enjoyed great conversation and Brea's delicious pulled pork tacos. On a side note, I want to know who photo shopped man legs onto Hunter? He is getting bigger all the time!

While Brea was in town, we explored Discovery Green. It was a perfect outing for a hot Houston day. The boys climbed this "sculpture." And we got in trouble for it!

The splash pad at Discovery Green was a blast!

This picture was before Collins went for it. She is still fairly dry in this pic.

Connor assured me that morning that he did not want to play in the splash pad and therefore did not need to take a change of clothes. This was him about 30 minutes after arriving at the park - soaking wet.

Cason manhandled Maya on the slide.

This was post splash pad so all the kids were drying off. Miss Finley is an expert baby holder...looks like Colton needs a little help.

Holden thought the fountains were delightful.

Exploring the playground before the fountains.

The coolest kid on the block - Maya DeTray.

We took the cousins to the neighborhood pool. This picture accurately captures Collins's 2014 pool accessories. When we swim she always takes one purple ring, one pink ring, a pink shovel and of course, her goggles. Unfortunately the goggles broke this day so we are on the hunt for new ones.

Ah yes, Connor climbed the sculpture too.

Cute cousins! When Brea saw this picture, she laughed because she thought it looked like an engagement photo.

Cason tried sitting on the water.

The gang at the pool - Carter, Hunter, Collins, Maya, Cason, Brea, Holden, Colton, Connor and Finley.

This was a funny thing that Holden did when they were here. He would hide from Brea when she tried to talk to him.

Collins was super wet, but super happy after the splash pad.

One more photo of Cason and Collins.

I think she was getting a feel for the water.

Brothers Colton and Holden on the slide.

My pretty sister Brea as she keeps up with Maya (who is walking) and Holden (who isn't even interested.)

More hiding from Brea!