Halloween Trick or Treating

This year we went to my cousins house again for the annual Halloween party and the trick or treating. It's always a late night packed with loads of fun and I couldn't wait. It was an unusually warm day, but pleasant for everyone when it cam to the evening activities. Here I am getting ready for the trick-or-treat run.

From The Rankin Family

I was a big time runner, track star almost, as we dashed from house to house. The only problem was, I kept forgetting to stop to go to the house! Good thing there were people there to remind me, or I probably would have missed out on all of the candy! I kept looking for my cousin Will, but he's even faster than I am and I just couldn't keep up.

From The Rankin Family

Mom and dad both came with me this year along with my cousin Chanie and her cousin Keely. I looked a little misplaced among the princesses, but I didn't notice.

From The Rankin Family

It was a great night and I came home with a small bag full of "hot-chocolate time" for my after dinner treats.

Pumpkin Carving 2008

Oh no, not again!

From The Rankin Family

I ran from it, I cringed at it, and then I said "No thank you." Yes, similar to the year before, I had no desire to get messy or participate in the carving of the family pumpkin. In fact, I wouldn't even get close enough this year to feel that it was messy. Dad did the messy part and mom carved the face. It was exciting though that I got to pick the design. It's a pretty good resemblance I think.

From The Rankin Family

Baby Rankin - 28 Weeks

Hi everyone! We had another Dr.'s appointment today to check on Baby Rankin and to see how mom's placenta previa is doing. We are happy to report that the placenta is moving! We aren't in the clear yet (it still needs to move at least 1.3 cm) but the Dr. seems to think that our chances are good for a normal delivery. We'll check again in 4 weeks to see if there has been any further progress. Praise be to God for that wonderful news. We also saw that baby is keeping up on his/her growth, measuring exactly to date and weighing in currently at about 2.6 pounds. Baby Rankin also has some visible hair on their head already!

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

We want to thank you all for lifting up our family in your prayers. Please keep praying that the placenta would move and mom can carry this baby to term without any complication.

Boo at the Zoo

What a cool idea our Kansas City Zoo has. They do "Boo at the Zoo" where we can go trick or treating and see some of the animals get a few teats of their own. This year was the first time I've gone and boy did I fit in. My favorite animal lately has been...

From The Rankin Family

Yep, you guessed it, a giraffe. And that's what I am for Halloween. I let mom know that my neck isn't quite long enough to be anything more than a baby giraffe. And of course, I also said that I prefer candy over leaves.

I also got a chance to ride my friend the giraffe on the carousel. I thought we made a really good pair. He sure was nice to me. Much better than my friend the live sumatran tiger who was eyeing me up like dinner. Hmmm, could it be because I was in costume?

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

Mom and I had a good time at the zoo together and then it was off to the pumpkin patch with my dad. Here we got to ride on the train, feed some animals, go one a hay ride, and pick out a pumpkin. But the best thing of all was my big surprise for sleeping in my big girl bed over the weekend, I got to ride a pony! I've been waiting for a whole year since there's an age limit usually, but not here. It was definitely the highlight of my whole week!

From The Rankin Family

Halloween Baking

Mom has started the holiday baking. No, not Christmas, but Halloween. We had a cold spell here and some rainy weather and I've been making pretend recipes for dough so she made some homemade cookie dough, my favorite! We made some Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns complete with orange sugar decorations.

I love rolling the dough. Mom's been letting me help everyday in the kitchen. But this was a real treat, I got to bake with dad. We had so much fun!

From The Rankin Family

And of course, though I love the finish product, I'm just like mom, I really like eating this cookie dough unbaked. For some odd reason, I really like plain flour too. So, I had my fair share of both, in my mouth and on my shirt!

From The Rankin Family

Here's our finished product. These pumpkins sure are a lot friendly then some of the ones I've seen lately.

From The Rankin Family

Faulkner's Pumpkin Farm

Today my play group went to Faulkner's Pumpkin Farm for there special play group time. There were lots of things to play on, a special scarecrow story time, a hay ride, and a pick you own pumpkin at the end. Mom and I had such a good time! Mom also can't believe that these next couple months are the end of the "free activities," a perk of still being just 2 years old. I'm excited to turn three though, a pony ride is in my future at that age as well as that new baby "that's going to come out of mommy's tummy and right into my lap on January 19th". (This is what I tell everyone who asks if I'm going to be a big sister.)

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

"Check it out, I'm 3 feet tall!"

Some of my favorite activities outside right now are seeing horses and swinging. I was so excited to see barrel rocking horses to play on and horsey swings as well! I spent quite a bit of my playtime on these two items alone! Yee-Haw!!

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

Here's mom and me on the "red hay wagon with blue tractor." Here lately baby and I have been competing for lap space. Baby pushes out from the inside and I push back from the outside. Mom's been a pretty good sport sharing her lap with the two of us. I love feeling baby so I always make sure I get right in front.

From The Rankin Family

The corn maze was a bigger hit than mom thought it would be for me. I loved running around and trying to find my friends. (Luckily, it was kid-friendly and mom could see above all of the corn stalks.) I got lost a few times, definitely made my own path a few times, and loved finding and being found by my friends.

From The Rankin Family

The highlight of the whole trip though was going out into the pumpkin patch. I got to pick out me very own pumpkin to take home with me. I walked around for quite awhile before finding a perfectly orange, perfectly round, only slightly dirty pumpkin. I checked under all the vines, tested the weight, and then decided I needed to carry it "all by myself" to the car. It was heavy than I thought and mom carried it half-way for me.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

I can't wait to go back with dad and pick the pumpkin's we are going to carve this year! Plus, I know I'll get cider and donuts too on that trip.

Rankin Baby - 23 weeks

Well, we hit the 23 week mark with Baby Rankin. We went in this morning for our sonogram that showed us that we have a healthy baby growing exactly to the date! It was very exciting for all of us to see, we especially felt blessed when we watched the baby yawn. Technology is so amazing! All the vitals and development looked wonderful. Praise be to God! Ainsley is excited and anxiously awaiting when the baby will arrive.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

We also would like to ask for your prayers though at this time. During the sonogram, they discovered that I have placenta previa. I've switched to a high-risk doctor and have had an appointment with him. He is a wonderful doctor and very reassuring. We'll be monitoring the situation every 4-6 weeks to see if the placenta migrates away from what Matthew refers to as "the exit hatch." If not, I'm looking at a C-section for this baby. We ask that everyone would pray that both mom and baby stay healthy, that we would be able to deliver naturally, and that the doctors would have wisdom in our management plan. Thank you in advance for your prayers, we'll keep you posted.

Old-Fashion Cider Donuts

Old-fashion cider donuts right out of the fryer our mom's favorite past-time from when she lived in Michigan. Now that it's fall, we definitely were ready to get a taste of these from our favorite old-fashion cider mill here in Missouri, Dunn's Cider MIll. It's not too far from Papa and Gigi's house, so Papa met us for some pre-lunch donuts.

It was neat to watch the donuts being made. I got to stand at the window and watch each one come out, get flipped, and then go up the conveyor belt. It was so fascinating. The ladies even let us pick out some of the ones that had just come out of the fryer!

From The Rankin Family

These donuts are finger-licking good!

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

I love the donuts coated with cinnamon and sugar. Actually, I love lots of things with cinnamon and sugar: toast, apples, donuts, cookies, and anything else I can convince mom to put it on! We'll be going back for sure at least once or twice this fall, mom, baby, and I ate almost 6 donuts! We should probably spread our our donut feasting.

The Apple Orchard

Mom's favorite time of year is the fall. There are a lot of outdoor activities she likes to do, and as she's told me about them, I get more and more excited. So, to officially welcome fall, we made our first trip to the apple orchard. We went to Weston Red Barn Farm in Weston, MO. They have all sorts of fun things and learning activities for kids to do. Weston Red Barn Farm will surely become a staple of our fall activities in the coming years.

This farm has animals, a corn maze, hay rides, and all sorts of things. They even have geese roaming free which really kind of scared me. Here I am by a hay horse and antique tractor. This was one of the few times I got close to the geese.

From The Rankin Family

At the farm, we picked apples. A lot of apples! Truthfully, mom did most of the picking. Apples are on trees really good and I'm not quite strong enough yet to twist them off. I fell down a few times trying to pull an apple off a tree. I became an official helper and put all of the apples in the basket. (Mom told me "gently" a few hundred times.)

From The Rankin Family

We also got to eat some of the apples while we were put there. They tasted so much better than what mom usually gets at the grocery store. I've been asking for a picked apple each day at lunch.

From The Rankin Family

Another highlight of the day was my caterpillar. I found it on our basket and despite my fear of flies and all other flying creatures, I loved this little guy. I carried him around for about half an hour before finding an appropriate home for him in the garden on a leaf.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

Our trip is ending. Here I am at the end of the day. Picking apples is sure hard work and it was pretty hot outside.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

I was really excited when I heard we had picked a bushel of apples! (Or perhaps it was the old-fashioned candy buttons I got.) We'll be going to a different orchard in a few weeks when their picking starts. This time though Dad is coming! I love mom a bushel and a peck.

From The Rankin Family

Outdoor Girl

I have struck quite a delicate balance between the girly-girl playtime and the tom-boyish types of activities. Mom is really thankful for this and loves having opportunities to enrich both sides of my character. Today was an especially big day for me and dad (mom was there, but acting as photographer only). We went to a very good friend of dad's house on acreage not too far from our house. They have horses, a pond for fishing, a garden, dogs, and cats! This was the highlight of August for me and I can't wait to go back.

Here are some great pictures of some of my favorites of the day. I loved feeding the catfish off the dock, and fishing. I liked looking the part as well in my frog galoshes.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

Here we are getting ready for fishing! I've been practicing with my pink fishing pole all summer on the driver, now we''re really going to try it out, lure and all. We're going in a John Boat and I'm excited.

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

From The Rankin Family

We didn't catch anything but it was still a success. One fish actually took my lure! And my friend Miss Hannah caught two fish and I got to touch one! The other part of the day that I really liked was the horses, Malachi and Blue. Malachi is brown and I've named my horse at home after him. I got to pet them and watch them swat at flies, I even saw Malachi buck. Even thouhg I can't ride these horses, I loved them a lot.

From The Rankin Family

Rankin Reunion - Year 2

The Rankin family has started doing annual reunions. This has been really great for me as I get to see and play with my other cousins Sophia. Sophia, Chanie, and I are all the same age! This year we met in Kansas City and we went to Deanna Rose Farmstead. Here's a picture of the three of us along with my older cousin Will.

From The Rankin Family

And here's a whole picture of the Rankin family. The opportunity to get a whole family picture doesn't come around often. Thanks Nana, for sending us this one!

From The Rankin Family

Budding Engineer?

One of my favorite things to do right now is be a little helper. I love to help dad with anything he's doing, especially if it involves tools! Here we are trying to fix the sprinkler control system at our house. The sprinklers, our home phone, and some of our smoke detectors had a run in with a lightning strike and now they're broken!

I loved playing with the digital multi-meter. The parts were all really small, but this LCD screen was interesting.

From The Rankin Family

I'm proud of the work I've done. Now we're off to Lowe's to buy a new one.

From The Rankin Family

The Best Dentist

I had my first dentist appointment today and entered the office saying, "The best dentist.". Thankfully I left the dentist feeling the same way. Mom had prepped me for this all week. She told me how they were going to count my teeth, look in my mouth, and maybe take pictures. So, I was ready.

Here I am in the waiting room. The ladies there love me, I had met them before. They had some magazines out for me already and said it would be just a few minutes.



Here I am in the chair. Miss Diane is my hygienist. She gave me a pair of latex gloves like hers and got all my fingers in the right spots, that way I knew what they felt like. I loved the sunglasses, they protected me from the big flashlight. I thought the dentist bib was a bit big for me though. I was ready to get that off at the end. The ride in the chair was the only thing I found a bit scary. In all of our prep talks, mom had neglected to inform me that the chair moves! So, it took me a minute to relax once the chair stopped.





So, once I was in the air this is what happened. Miss Diane counted my teeth...I have all twenty teeth I'm suppose too! Then she used this special spinning brush that tickled to polish all of my teeth. Then, my dentist came in and he checked my teeth. He said I had good spacing and used this metal pick to tingle my molars, it sounded funny. After that, Miss Diane painted my teeth with flouride and said only healthy food for the day.





I didn't get any pictures taken of my teeth, they said I was still too little. Overall, I had a great report! I got a new bracelet and I new toothbrush that I carried with me to the car. After all that, mom and I went to lunch together at my request. After being such a good patient mom couldn't refuse a request to go to Chili's, my favorite restaurant! And of course, when we got home I used my new toothbrush.