First Day of School

This day was a celebration! It was the FIRST day of our SECOND year at TCS. We love this school because of the way the people associated with the school love Jesus! We are very thankful for the community at TCS and this education for our boys. I keep describing this year as a breath of fresh air. The start to our second year of school has been much smoother and much easier than last year. We know the curriculum, we know the routine and the boys have established friendships.

Carter Rapp - 5th Grade

Connor Rapp - 7th Grade

Colton Rapp - 3rd Grade

Hunter Rapp - 8th Grade

Four handsome Rapp boys.

TCS Owls!

Colton was excited to see his buddy Dylan the first morning of school. 

The last weekend before school

The last weekend before school began was packed full of fun activities! Friends from church invited us to join them at Lake McQueeney for some fellowship and time to play. Todd and the boys enjoyed the time on the water and I enjoyed sitting on the porch and reading my book while the little ones napped. Collins did get to go out on the boat for awhile later in the day.

Either "so cool" or "the sun is too bright!"

Hunter had wakeboard skills that we didn't know about from his time as a kamper at K2 this summer.

Connor had to work a little harder. 

The kneeboard was easy and fun for all the boys.

Look at this princess! I mean...she is just such a precious addition to our family. 

Before the day was done they kids had a chance to do some tubing.

Slower when the little sister was on board.

But faster when it was just the boys.

Carter and Colton had noodle wars out in the backyard.

A boat ride before bedtime.

After leaving the lake we headed back to Katy, TX where we had lunch with the Williams and Macks. About 4:00 we drove back to our house to unload and then Todd, Carter and Colton took the Metro downtown for the Texans game. They were playing the Broncos. Todd said the game was fun - but the boys liked it even better once he bought snacks. 

Gathering with friends

We had lunch with some friends from Branson who now live in the Houston area. It was fun to reconnect with Eric and Joelle Williams, and Antoine and Chantel Mack. It was fun to watch all of our kids - who didn't know each other - immediately start up a game in the backyard and play together.

One of the Williams's daughters had a minion doll that Collins really liked.

Left to right - Bronwyn, Todd, Antoine, Chantel, Joelle and Eric. I was definitely the shortest. You can see me standing on my tiptoes!

Activities in August

After lots of traveling this summer, the month of August provided a chance to just be home in Houston and do some fun stuff before school started. One morning I took the kids to the Art Car Museum. It was a little weird, but provided a fun outing.

Collins wanted to pose all by herself in front of this plane. Get it girl!

One morning while running errands I discovered that Colton had given himself a little haircut because he thought his hair was sticking up in the back.

Colton had a chance to be a wild animal with his buddy Colt. I think Colton Rapp is on the right. 

Holden went through a phase where every night he would get out of his bed and go sleep with Collins on her bed. Thankfully she liked it too!

We went shopping for tennis shoes for all the boys and Collins found these. She told me that she wanted to buy them for her cousin Maya.

We enjoyed Sunday night dinners at the church. This evening the boys dressed Holden up as a chicken.

They snapped this picture of me that same night. 

We had a swim and pizza party at the Park's house. 

We spent one morning at Discovery Green to play in at the splash pad and to have a picnic.

Collins started preschool on August 19th! She is so excited to have her own school and proudly tells her brothers about all of her preschool activities when she gets home. This was the first morning and she was delighted! We took the whole family to drop her off.

Ready to learn and play!

She was all smiles when I arrived to pick her up.

So much to catch up on!

I confess. I have neglected this blog for such a long time now. The pictures have been piling up and I just haven't taken the time to go through them. With a little motivation from my mom and Baba, I decided that I would start tonight to catch up a bit. The posts won't be long, but at least I'll get the pictures gathered.

Where have we been? Well, we spent a week in Colorado in late July.

The kids loved being outside. We did a lot of playing in the dirt and throwing rocks. Simple stuff, but really relaxing.

We've been pulling out hand-me-down pj's that now fit Holden!

We made a trip to Wichita Falls, TX for Cameron and Emily Pybus's wedding. We left the kids in Fort Worth and had a two night getaway for just the two of us!

Holden found a fort under the stairs at the cabin in Colorado.

Hunter and I took a picture together and laughed because we thought it looked like our faces were just superimposed on a nature background.

We spent quality time as a family.

Collins tried her hand at fishing.

So did Colton and really enjoyed it!

We loved being in Colorado.

We made new memories together as a family.