Recent

Reading books at the Park's house.

Dressing up as a ninja!

Second time to see Star Wars this weekend. This time with more friends!

Please Lord, let me remember!

I do hope the Lord allows me to remember many of the funny and wonderful things that my kids said and did when they were little. Here are some recent funny stories. We were eating breakfast this weekend at a hotel in Shreveport, LA. There was a "tip jar" on the breakfast buffet. Connor walked over to the jar, tipped it to one side and said, "Nothing happened." His mind works in such a clever way. This morning before the boys left for school we were reading Proverbs 10 from a Children's Living Bible. I had read from verse 1 to verse 6. As I began to read verse 7, Holden came running into the room yelling, "I'm poo poo!" The next verse, (verse 7) says, "We all have happy memories of good men gone to their reward, but the names of the wicked men stink after them." The boys burst out laughing. Such perfect timing. Collins and Holden share a room. At night Collins often complains that Holden won't be quiet and he won't stay on his own bed. So Monday night when I put them to bed, I told Holden, "Now Holden you need to stay on your own bed and no talking." About 20 minutes later after he got home from the church, Todd went in to say goodnight. He spoke to each of the kids, but there was just silence. Todd asked Holden if he was OK and he said, "Mom said no talking." He was being very obedient!

Collins and Connor

These two share a special friendship and really enjoy one another. Connor will stop just about anything he is doing to listen to Collins or participate in some imaginary game that she wants to play. I'm thankful for both of them!

Weekend to Remember

Todd and I ran away this weekend - to a Family Life marriage conference. The conference material was OK, but the time with my husband was GREAT! This is the only picture we took during the weekend. This was our Saturday night date at The Blue Fish.

Colton and Football

Oh, Colton loves to play football! This season was sweet as he had the chance to play with several TCS friends and for some fantastic coaches. Amanda Jenkins sent me these pictures that she took at one of the games. This top picture is my favorite as it captures Colton with his friend Dylan.

November

We spent a fun afternoon at the Houston Zoo. Holden really like the carousel.

Connor and friends photobombed Dr. Mr. Scholl's school picture.

Praise for Connor

Our school uses Sycamore Education as an online school management and student information system. There is one part of this program called Pass-A-Note and I think it is generally used to let teachers inform parents if there has been a discipline issue at school. But apparently it can be used for other purposes. I received this last week. It made me very proud of Connor!

You've received a Pass-A-Note from Lindsey Scholl at Trinity Classical School.

Subject:  Discipline Log Created

Student: Rapp Connor Violation: Exemplary Behavior Description: I really appreciated how Connor helped me with set up for Creative Writing yesterday. All the students will help when asked, but Connor and another student took ownership of helping me and did not sit down until the room was set up. Resolution: Please give him my thanks! He did a good job representing the House of Maxwell and TCS.

Halloween 2015

We aren't big Halloween people. But every year we find something fun to do as a family. We spent most of the day at home working on school projects, but we raided the costume box for something to wear so that we could get $3 burritos at Chipotle for dinner tonght.

Such a cute picture of the kids eating at the counter.

On Friday evening our four big boys went to a Trunk or Treat event with some friends. Hunter, Carter and Colton opted out of costumes, but Connor and his buddy Tyler were all about it! They wore clone trooper costumes...that were probably size 5T. But these skinny boys squeezed into them and totally rocked the outfits. Here they are with Emery on the way to the event.

Just a little too tight. Ha! Three quarter length sleeves...and pants.

Here is the whole Rappbuck gang! (Rapps + Harbucks): Ellie, Carter, Trevor, Hunter, Tyler, Connor, some boy we don't know, Collins, Colton, and Emery.

The Littles

Just some cute pictures of the Rapp little ones.

In the past month...

I did some baking. Look at this! When I cracked the eggs they formed a smiley face.

We got a new car. It is a used car, but new to us. Our Toyota Sienna minivan had served us well for 10+ years, but when another driver hit the side of the van the insurance company decided it was not worth fixing.

Star Wars fun at Five Below.

Inflatable fun at...? I can't remember.

GBC's evening of Dancing Under the Stars included lots of yummy barbecue.

Collins and Holden had their first visit to a pediatric dentist. They sat still and enjoyed the experience.

At a birthday party for a friend, Connor taught Noah and Caleb some new Star Wars facts.

Individuals

Sometimes I just need to fill a post with photos that have nothing to do with one another. This is one of those posts.

I took Collins and Holden with me to TCS lunch duty at the Grammar School and Collins got to see her friend Sarah. She was excited and obviously had her pose all planned out!

Date Night. Special thanks to Robert and Alie Santini for feeding and watching our kids. We had dinner and then went to a performance at Miller Outdoor Theater.

Shopping at Kid to Kid and Holden eyed this jacket. He said, "Chewbacca!" He thought it was just like the Wookie from Star Wars. So we tried it on.

Colton built this molecule for science class. I think it was C5IO6.

First 5K of the season

This year both Connor and Hunter have joined the TCS cross country team. The team's first 5K was this weekend and Connor chose to run, but Hunter decided to wait one more week. It was such a delightful morning for the 5K. Lovely weather - it felt like Missouri - sweet friends - TCS teachers and administrators who ran the race with the kids - and a chance to support Every Village.

Two of Colton's best buddies were there to run - Josiah and Dylan. I should have signed Colton up for the race too!

Connor being funny before the race - he didn't want me to take his picture.

Closing in on the finish line.

All done! Connor ran well and finished strong. Unfortunately his chip didn't register when he crossed the start/ finish line so he didn't get his official time.

Collins

Last night after church we came home and had leftovers for dinner. I heated up some green peas and put a few on Holden's plate and on Collins's plate. Holden was protesting because he did not want to eat the peas. In an attempt to help, Collins told him, "Holden, I have good news and bad news. Jesus died on the cross for our sins - that is the good news. The bad news is that if you don't eat your peas you have to go to time out." We had not threatened time out, but apparently Collins thought that would be a pretty good motivator for her little brother.

Hunter's Writing

This is a paragraph that Hunter wrote for a composition assignment. I wanted to save it to remember this hobby that he loves and because I love the way his writing skills are developing.

When people hear the word "exploration," they tend to think of some daring adventurer chopping his way through the jungle with a machete. What they don't envision is an everyday guy pedaling around the urban jungle on a bike. One of my favorite pastimes is biking. I really enjoy riding my bike around my neighborhood of the Heights. The Heights is an area of Houston that is home to all sorts of people, restaurants, parks, shops, and museums. I love exploring via bike what I consider to be one of Houston's most interesting neighborhoods. Chuck Norris may be able to pop a wheelie on a unicycle, but I'm content keeping my pedal-powered vehicle on the ground- and all around the Heights.

Colton

Colton and Jace - friends at school and on the football field. Plus extra bunny ears for good measure.

Funny Things

As we were leaving the library on Wednesday evening we saw a frail, elderly woman headed in to the library. I smiled at her, but Collins was really staring at this lady. Finally Collins loudly said, "Mom, she's so old!" I tried to redirect the conversation by telling Collins that that lady was very nice. But Collins said again, "No, she's old!"

This week at preschool Collins got in trouble for bouncing on a couch with two other kids in her class. I asked her how it made her feel when Miss Tyler had to ask her to get down off the couch. She paused, then said, "It made me feel brave." Hmm....

Colton has a sweet friend at school named Josiah Wu. We were talking about the Wu family today and I told Todd that I would really like him to meet Mr. Wu.  Todd asked, "Are they Japanese?" Colton quickly jumped in and said, "Don't worry, they can speak American."

Collins took her teddy bear to preschool for show and tell. When I asked her about it later, I wanted to know what she had told her class during her presentation time. She told her class that her bear's name was Daddy Daughter Dance. That girl is so excited for the GBC daddy daughter dance....which is in February. She has awhile to wait.

Collins told me about a little girl at preschool named Lucia. She said, "Lucia never talks. She has a mouth, but she never talks."

I took Holden to the playground on Wednesday while Collins was at preschool. One little boy (probably a bit younger than Holden) started following him around. Holden wanted none of that. Every time the little boy approached him, Holden would turn around and holler, "NO!" I told Holden that the little boy was nice and he just wanted to play with him. Holden disagreed. He said, "He's mean."

On the day that Connor received his TCS Maxwell tie, he had a funny experience. He was definitely smitten with his new tie and the way he looked wearing that tie. During the school day he asked to go to the bathroom. After using the bathroom and he decided that he would re-tie his tie. You know, just check his appearance. Well, when he was back it the classroom his teacher approached him at his desk and asked if he was alright. Connor was confused. "Yes," he said, "Why?" She answered, Well, you were in there for fifteen minutes." Connor had totally lost track of time as was fixing and admiring his tie.

Communitas

Each year Trinity Classical School takes the 8th grade students on an overnight trip called Communitas. Hunter was excited for this trip! It was a chance to get away with his classmates and some of his teachers. Here they are playing Octo-ball. Hunter is in the blue shirt with his back to the camera.

TCS teachers and 8th grade class.

Colton

Todd left Sunday morning for Cuba. He and a small team from Grace Bible Church are putting on a marriage conference for the staff members of a ministry called Oasis. Anyway, Colton chose to spend the night on Saturday with his buddy Colt Hurley. So before he left I told him to hug his dad because Todd would be leaving for Cuba before Colton came home. Well, Sunday night as we were getting ready for bed Colton said, "When is dad getting home?" I told him that dad wouldn't be home for a few days because he was in Cuba. Colton's face got really sad and he said, "I though Cuba was a restaurant." The brothers lost it. They were laughing so hard- which made Colton even more upset. Apparently, Colton didn't understand that Todd was leaving the country. He must have just thought that Todd was having a long lunch with someone from church.

Off to see Abe...

Connor left yesterday for his trip with Granddad and Baba. He flew from Houston to DFW, spent the night in Fort Worth and then departed this morning for Washington, DC. They will tour many sights in DC and get to hear about the spiritual heritage that America was founded upon as part of this trip. Connor can't wait to see the Lincoln Memorial, especially because Abraham Lincoln has long been his favorite president.

TCS House Induction

Monday was a big day for Connor. He and all the other seventh grade students were inducted into one of the four TCS houses. Ever since Hunter received his tie last year Connor has been excited for his chance to join Maxwell. The school had Hunter present the tie to his younger brother - which made it even more special. So now we have two young men who proudly wear their Maxwell colors to school each day.

Now I must tell you about what happened after the boys received their ties. School officials wanted to take pictures of each of the four houses so they asked the new house members to put on their scarves/ ties. When I walked to the front of the room I found Hunter teaching his younger brother and another young man how to tie a tie. I mean it sounds like such a small thing, but my heart just swelled up with pride as I watched Hunter teach these two. 

House of Maxwell

Chris, Robby and Connor.

Carson and Hunter - 8th grade Maxwell men

We let Collins skip preschool so that she could come to the House Induction ceremony. She thanked us profusely and then told me, "This is so exciting!" as the ceremony began. She was really happy to be with her brothers.

Later in the day we had lunch duty at the Grammar Campus and Collins got to see her friend Sarah.