Rankin Christmas - Joplin

We spent Christmas with Nana and Granddad in Joplin this year. We had so much fun and really enjoyed the holiday. Christmas eve service was nice and Ainsley held her very own candle. Andrew also participated in the candle lighting by repeatedly blowing out my light. Here's Ainsley in her Christmas dress.

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Christmas morning was exciting and we got started as soon as Aunt Katherine was up. Ainsley wanted to get into it early and tried guessing a few of the gifts that were hers under the tree.

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Andrew was excited and really into gift opening this year. It's such a joy to see their excitement and then the contentment with the new things they receive. Andrew got a new barn and played with it all morning.

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Ruby and Bella

Ruby met her cousins over the Christmas holiday! We got some great shots of her with Bella, Aunt Katherine's dog. The initial meeting. Ruby was excited from the start. By the end of the long weekend they were good friends. Ruby also met Charge, cousin Will and Chanie's dog.

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Ruby Rankin: Aussie-poo
Charge Rankin: Cocka-poo
Bella Rankin: Malti-poo

Lazy Days

We had a wonderful morning doing some things around the house and then the kids took a break. I thought it was awfully quiet in the basement....check out what I found.

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I've never ever experienced this. I think I sufficiently wore him out. Ainsley thought she'd take a break as well and rest with Ruby. Thankfully, Ruby was willing to have some down time as well.

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Christmas Crafts

This year we started so many new traditions for the holiday season! We have really enjoyed focusing on advent and studying both the old and new testament scriptures. We have also incorporated some new crafts and other things to pass the time in the cold weather. Ainsley has taken some art classes at our local art museum and we have focused a lot on baking.

Here is our first gingerbread house ever! (Mom's too!) We thought this would be so much fun and it really was. It did take significantly longer than we had planned but it made a great centerpiece for our table throughout the season!

Here Ainsley is hard at work. I piped the icing on and she decorated. Her skills were clearly better than mine.

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We are almost done. Ainsley is creating a fence with our leftover gum drops.

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Finished product! The gingerbread house is next to our other craft project, a shrinky dink Christmas tree. I made an advent calendar for her filled with shrinky dink ornaments. Each morning, Ainsley would color and bake a new addition for her tree. It was a lot of fun and a non-candy way to go through the Advent season.

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Here are some of Ainsley's baking goodies. We went through the cookie magazines again this year and Ainsley picked out quite a few. We made it through all of them on her list except one.

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Continuing on from last year, a Happy Birthday Jesus cake. Ainsley asked to make it this year, which warmed my heart. She drew the picture she wanted on it and picked out the flavor. This year's creation was a mint chocolate cake with mint frosting.

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Early Christmas

Christmas came early for Ainsley with the arrival of Ruby. Andrew also received an early Christmas present. Timing just worked out for us to celebrate our own family Christmas on Saturday. There was no lack of smiles to go around!

A train! A train!

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After many a tear after leaving the Barnes and Noble Thomas the Train play area, Andrew now has his own train play area. It's not nearly as elaborate as Thomas but it's perfect for him and he loves it!

Christmas PJ's

We have that tradition of Christmas pajamas in our family. Each year on Christmas eve, we've had the kids open their pajamas for the night and the opening of our presents the next morning. This year was no different, except that we celebrated Christmas early.

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Andrew patiently waiting. Is it time yet?

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Ainsley is excited. Ruby is here and there are still a few presents for her under the tree.

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It's been fun with two children to have them in matching PJ's. I'll soak up their joy in this as long as I can. I know it won't last forever.

Meet Ruby

After many years of praying. After countless pretend dogs that numbered in the hundreds at times. After many stuffed animal puppies. After sleeping with Bolt, the super dog, for a year every night without fail. Ainsley now can tell all of her friends that yes, "I have an alive dog that breathes!"

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Matthew and I finally committed to a puppy this year. We discussed it for awhile and decided that it was time to get Ainsley (and the rest of our family) a puppy. We had a few incidents this year at the pet store while caring for our fish that had Ainsley leaving in tears because an adoptable puppy loved her and needed a home. So we are now happy owners of a 9-week old Australian Shepherd/Poodle, named Ruby.

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Ruby has been having some separation anxiety. Ainsley is helping out here by singing "Jesus Loves Me" to Ruby. Ainsley would have slept on the floor next to the crate Ruby's first night if we would have let her.

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Ruby on Day 3 is still getting all the loves she needs from her new "pack."

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Christmas Nativity Pageant

Can you guess what I am going to be in our Christmas Nativity pageant? I have wings, but I will walk, not fly.

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Yes, Ainsley was an Angel in this years church nativity pageant. It was such a cute "production." It was a blessing for her to be able to participate and fun for us to help her learn her line.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"
Luke 2:14

Play Day with Mom

Ainsley has been attending a few art classes at the Nelson-Atkins art museum. So today, dad dropped her off and I got a whole morning along with our "little man."

So, out came Fort Rankin, complete with Christmas gaurd dog.

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We did some vrooming with the cars. It was a fun and totally new way to play without Ainsley's girly touches involved. I relished each moment and took lots of pictures since one-on-one time with him is rare. We started off playing fireman, complete with fireman coat. I didn't realize how much he would love this raincoat. (You'll see what I mean later.) Thank you, Aunt Marigene.

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Andrew's car garage! He particularly likes the tow truck, Ford Mustang hot wheel, and Porsche hot wheel (circa daddy's playtime era).

It's puzzle time! He loves doing puzzles. More than I ever thought he would. Especially if they are of cars.

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Andrew's new favorite thing is turning on the lights. He turns on every light on our first floor and then says, "I did it!" Look at how proud he is. He's growing up too fast. I'm thankful that he still needs the stool!

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Sufficiently worn out. And yes, that's his jacket in bed with him. I was lucky to get it off but it wasn't going with me!

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Bubbles, Bubbles Everywhere

Tonight Andrew took his first bath with real bubbles! He was amazed as they continued to pile higher, and higher, and higher. Ainsley was right there with him showing him how to make mustaches, hair do's, and more bubbles by swirling the water. Here are some of my favorite moments from our special bubble bath time.

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Singing together. The more Ainsley sang, the louder Andrew got! It was so cute to see them making melody together.

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Sheer joy! Andrew loved having a bubble hair do. Ainsley styled it for him.

Tree Raising 2010

The Christmas tree raising was extra special for me this year. I had two helpers!

Here's Ainsley fluffing our branches. Yes, we have a fake tree. I'm not up for the mess of a real tree. We do put evergreen car fresheners in the tree to give us the full effect!

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Hooray, we can start hanging ornaments!

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I was really nervous to have Andrew help us, but they're just ornaments. He did a great job and only one ornament went to the repair shop. I was also wondering how the "no touch" rule would work after he had put the ornaments on the tree himself. It took a day or so of correcting, but he knows to only touch with mom there.

This is Andrew's favorite ornament. Rocket, from Little Einsteins, complete with theme song. This was also the ornament that went to the repair shop this year. Rocket almost lost his antenna. Crazy Glue to the rescue. I'm positive the battery will be dead by the end of this season.

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I'm now the official unwrapper for the ornaments. The kids had the whole bottom 1/3 of the tree decorated in short order. Then I got to hang a few while Ainsley unwrapped.

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It's hard to believe that Christmas is upon us. I am so thankful for the holiday season and to see it through the eyes of our children is a double blessing!

Happy Halloween 2010

It was a blustery evening and the kids were recovering from a rough week of colds and a stomach flu but they assured me they were well enough to go trick or treating with our friends. Here's our sweet dinosaur.

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And our roaring dinosaur.

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And of course, our sweet pink dancing ballerina.

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Andrew only made it about 10 houses. It was more mom's call than his. The cold weather sent him in to visit Pap and Gigi in the warmth. Ainsley, however, made it a whole two hours! I think that she would have stayed out longer if her friends weren't packing it in. We were so far from home, our friends sister came and picked us up in the mini van. It was a happy but sniffly halloween. (Mom trick or treated for Kleenex and a wonderful homeowner gave her the whole box! It came in handy.)

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Today was a beautiful fall day. Fall sun and temperatures in the morning and the graying sky this afternoon. Our Monday playgroup ventured out for our annual pumpkin patch trip. With Ainsley and Andrew ready to find the great or perfect pumpkin in a 60 acre patch!

We had a great tour of the farm and learned about pumpkins. Of course there was a hayride, the picking, the playing, and pumpkin donuts! The kids were thrilled and had a blast. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from our outing.

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Ainsley found her perfect pumpkin. She let me know it had a good stem, was very round, and just the right size. She even managed to carefully carry it all the way to the wagon for the trip back.

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Look mom, I'm so strong! Andrew found his pumpkin, and then another, and then another, and then another. Is it a pumpkin or a ball. Better yet, it's both to him. Thankfully the pumpkins weren't damaged and we came home with a round and unscarred pumpkin for the little man.

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Family picture time! It never seems to be easy these day to capture both children looking at the camera and smiling. This was my best shot. Ainsley seems to be striking a pose all the time.

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Andrew loving the pumpkins!

Challenger 3985 Steam Train

Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985 was designed by Union Pacific and built in 1943 by the American Locomotive Company. It is one of 105 Challengers built for Union Pacific between 1936 and 1943 and is the only operating engine of its class in the world today – the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive.

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We were able to visit this train at Union Station. We took the trip down on Sunday afternoon because we had been studying steam power earlier in the week. Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel was the story of the week. I had no idea how big the train would be. It was pretty neat to compare the train wheels to Ainsley. We also met a boiler inspector and watched as they cleaned some of the train parts.

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Ainsley also had the opportunity to meet the trains conductor. He told us all about his journey from Cheyenne, Wyoming with the train. He punched an old-fashioned ticket for Ainsley and showed her his pocket watch. He came from a family of conductors (dad, and grandfather) and his pocket watch was still running from 1906.

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After waiting an hour, we finally got to go up and see the inside of the engine car. We saw the whistle pull, the bell wheel, the gauges, the speedometer, and got a quick lesson in watching out the train window. It was probably a once in a lifetime experience to see the train this up close and working.

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Apple Picking 2010

We went a little late this year but we still fit in our annual apple orchard trip. Up to St. Joseph we went again. This year we picked Jonagold's, Jonathon's (Ainsley's favorite), and some unknown variety of very hard apples. Again, we had beautiful weather and so much fun!

Mom, I've never seen an apple on the tree! How do I get this thing off? Andrew pulled so hard a couple of times that he fell down on his rump. He didn't quite get the whole idea of twisting off the apple from the tree.

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Mom! Look, an apple apron.

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Ainsley with the apples. We were shocked at how full the trees were this year. There were plenty of apples to be had at all heights. No need to use mom as a ladder this year.

Once we got going, there wasn't a moment I can remember when Ainsley wasn't chomping on an apple. She tried each variety, each tree we picked from, and a few more.

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Picking and eating.

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Andrew had the most fun running in the aisles between the tress and in the treehouse at the end of our picking adventure!

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