Roller Skating

January is a month full of birthdays for Ainsley and her friends. Ainsley was invited to a roller skating party this week for two of the kids in playgroup. Here we are at the skate rink with beginner roller skates.

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We quickly graduated to the faster roller skates that were very heavy!

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Andrew stayed home with Aunt Trish for this party. Why, because mom knew she would be getting on skates as well. Here we are together taking a roll around the rink.

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Thanks to one of the big brother's there for holding Ainsley's hand. We had a blast and she's been talking about going back! It was a workout for me like I hadn't had in awhile. My back and abs definitely felt the job of keeping Ainsley standing. But, Ainsley could skate by the time we left and she had a lot of fun!

Let's Have a Tea Party

Ainsley asked if she could have a birthday party with her friends this year as well. So, we invited a few friends to a tea party, a princess tea party and had some fun. It was really cute to see Ainsley play hostess and celebrate with a few of her friends. I am always amazed at how little she is yet how grown-up she is all at the same time.

We had the party at Gigi's house since the friends we invited all lived down in that area. It was really nice of Gigi to let us use her house and we were grateful that she could came home from work for some of the party. Here are some pre-party pictures:

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We were definitely celebrating in the pink! We had strawberry cupcakes with pink flowers. We had raspberry lemonade and strawberries. We also had strawberry jelly heart sandwiches. Ainsley picked out the ice cream, was it strawberry? No, it was chocolate :) I tried to get her to go neapolitan to keep up the theme, but the birthday girl really likes her chocolate and so did her friends!

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Ainsley and her friends.

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Four for tea and watching for their princes to come.

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Craft time was make your own tiara's.

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Happy Birthday, Ainsley!

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Yearly Stats

We had our well-checks today to see how the kids are growing. We have healthy kids, praise God for that! Here's where they are right now:

Ainsley:
Weight: 30lbs. 6oz. she finally hit 13% on the weight chart.
Height: 39 and 3/4 inches that puts her in the 51% area.

Andrew:
(Taking after his sister on the growth curves!)
Weight: 18lbs. 2 oz This puts him in the 2% range compared to other boys.
Height: 28 and 1/4 inches He's at 7.5%. Though I'm sure he will hit a growth spurt soon.
Head: 18" in the 29% range.

He doesn't look tiny because he's pretty proportionate. Ainsley was just like this until recently when she started growing like a weed! I think they follow each other closely. Andrew got his first tooth on the same exact day she did.

I'm Four Years Old!

Mom - "Happy Birthday, Ainsley!"
Ainsley - "Mom, am I already 4 yearls old?"
Mom - "Yes, sweetheart, your 4 years old."
Ainsley - "Isn't that so exciting!"

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Ainsley opened presents the morning of her birthday. She really loves being mommy's little helper. So, she got an ironing board for her birthday. We ironed almost every piece of clothing in her closet that day! Here she is trying it out on her new magnet doll outfits.

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Andrew didn't need much to have fun on Ainsley's birthday. He loved the balloons from the weekend and enjoyed crawling all over with them. Thankfully, none of them popped and he is still getting much joy out of the simple things.

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Double Birthday Party

"Mom, I would like to have a Bolt birthday party this year. Andrew let me know that he would like that too." -Ainsley

So, this year it was Bolt. The whole year has been about Bolt the super dog. We have pretend Bolt, stuffed animal brown Bolt, baby Bolt, and we play Bolt. You name it, if it's Bolt, we've probably done it. Bolt goes everywhere with us. So it was fitting that we would have a Bolt birthday party to celebrate the fact that we are moving from three to four.

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The Bolt birthday cake and the birthday girl. (It took multiple stores to find someone who had a Bolt cake kit left. Thank you Target for keeping outdated toys! Making a Bolt birthday cake myself would have been a bit too much for me.)

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Did Andrew get into his cake. That's the most asked question after a baby turns one isn't it? I won't leave you in suspense and you can decide for yourself...did he like it?

I gave him a small taste and he went with it with both hands. However; nothing was going into his mouth. The table sure did get it's fair share of the cake!

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Oh but wait, the cake is yummy!

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I love it mom! Sorry it's everywhere!

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After letting Papa know for months, she would really like the movie Bolt. Her birthday was complete.

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I'm One

Today I turned one year old! It's hard to believe that this much time has already gone by. I've changed so much since I came into this world. I now have three teeth and another one on the way. I am crawling and working on walking. I eat so many big people foods and I drink milk, real milk! I can talk and say "mama" and "dada" and it sounds like more words will be on their way soon. I have an independent, sweet, sensitive spirit and always have a smile to offer anyone who glances my way. Overall, the first year of life was great and I can't wait to see what changes I have in year two! Mom and dad aren't rushing me but I'm excited to walk, talk, and catch up with my sister.

Here I am, on top of my present! Mom dressed me up today like a big boy! Button down shirt and all.

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Getting into my birthday present. I wonder what it could be?

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MMMM, basketball! I love it and so does dad :)! Mom never could have imagined a game of hoops in the house but that day is here. Well, almost I have to figure out how to throw the ball and not eat it.

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Bumper Bowling

The weather is cold and our play groups have been meeting inside. Today, we went bumper bowling! It was a riot to watch the kids bowl and be so excited when they got just even a few pins down. It took about 2 hours but we finally made it to the 8th frame (we didn't get to finish out the last two frames, we ran out of time!) and Ainsley rolled an 82. Not bad for 8 frames and a roll speed of almost nothing.

Here she is with her 5 pound ball!

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She has some great bowling gene's in her. Mom, Papa, Great Grandma Annie, and Great Aunt Barb are or were all good bowlers.

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Andrew wasn't quite sure what to make of the morning. There was a senior league their while we were and the kids all got an overdose of attention. It was hard, but I managed to keep him from chasing the ball down the oiled lanes.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning at our house was filled with fun, excitement, and a lot of anticipation. Ainsley kept wondering if she would see a Bolt ornament (found at the very tip toe of her stocking), or Bolt anything! We were curious to see if Andrew would get the concept of opening presents. But most of all there was a lot of anticipation on my part to see if Ainsley would like her gift this year.

Getting going Christmas morning....we had a delay. Since winter storm 2009 dropped almost a foot of snow on us, dad was outside shoveling and helping a neighbor push their car out of the snow. Later that day the favor was returned as we tried to venture out to go to Papa and Gigi's. But we were all patient and waited to start opening presents until we were all warm and cozy together.

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It didn't take Andrew long to figure out how to get into his present! He loved ripping the paper, sand he had a huge smile on his face, much like the one here when he saw something come out of the box!

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Ainsley's present this year was a puppet theater complete with handmade puppets by mom! (I was curious to see if she would like the puppets and realize who made them.) Well, she likes the puppets but I must say the puppet theater has seen a bigger hit. It has doubled as a play house, ice cream stand, theater, and store front. It has been a huge blessing to her and we give thanks to the wonderful couple who handed it down to us.

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This Christmas has been so very special because we have been blessed in so many ways...Andrew is with us, Ainsley is with us, the Lord has continued to provide for us, and we have been blessed by the many generous friends we have in our life.We hope that you too have had a joyous holiday with many blessings.

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Christmas Traditions

It's important to have fun things to remember about your Christmas. Special moments, special gifts, and special family traditions. This year we carried on an old tradition and started a few new ones. The most exciting tradition we started this year was Christmas Cookie baking. Now, yes, I've always made Christmas cookies. Good old stand by's, cookies I grew up with, and perhaps one new trial cookie each year. This year though, Ainsley joined in the fun. I purchased two magazines full of holiday cookies and let her go through and pick out the ones she wanted to make. Eight different cookies in all (we only conquered seven.) Here's a picture of the cookies we made this year:

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Little did I know she would pick out cookies that required some serious decorating. We had spritz cookies, grandma's classic chocolate sandwiches, spice x-mas packages, butter stars w/ butter frosting, red velvet shortbread cookies, peanut butter blossoms (my grandma's recipe), and christmas sandies. I told her that each year we would carry on with her picking out the cookies (Andrew will join in as well when he's old enough.) My hope is that she continues to have a love for baking and that we have a fun time together in the kitchen. Not to mention, we will have a wonderful selection of cookies to share with our friends and family.

Another tradition we started this year was a birthday cake for Jesus. Ainsley really focused on the fact that we were celebrating Jesus' birthday at Christmas time. Naturally, she wondered if we could bake a cake for him. So, we baked together again and sang happy birthday to Jesus on Christmas Day. It warmed my heart to hear my family singing to Jesus. I hope that this is a tradition t hat we continue through the years. Here's our first Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

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And last but not least the tradition of Christmas PJs carried on! This year the kids had christmas PJs with dogs on them. Ainsley loved them and Andrew was just as happy as usual. I wonder how long I will be able to keep them matching.

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Christmas Catch Up

The holidays are passing by and the trips to see family and friends are slowly coming to an end. Mom has caught the blog up on the events leading up to this joyous season where we celebrate the birth of Jesus; now, it's time to get caught up on what we did throughout the season. We will be posting soon about the new traditions that our family has started, the fun we had with our families, and the exciting new blessings that we have received.

As you wait to see what has gone on throughout our holiday, we hope that you had a joyous one! The Rankins.

1st Snow 2009

We are beginning to see winter here in Kansas City and I couldn't wait until the first snow. Today it came in true midwest Missouri form. We had rain, than ice, than the fabulous snow! I forgot how many clothes mom had to put on me before I went out. It was cold and bright! I think we need to add sunglasses to the winter wardrobe.

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It wasn't the right type of snow for snowmen, but I had fun making snow angels with my neighbor! Mom even took us on a trek through the woods looking for animal footprints. This is my favorite thing to do when it snows, I love the adventure. I can't wait for some more big snows and the chance to make a snowman!

Movie Star

My sister loves her sunglasses. She has red ones, blue ones, pink ones, and funny shaped ones. Today, mom caught her sharing with me. I thought it was great and had a huge smile on my face. My sister always makes me smile especially when she is being so kind.

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I really loved it, but wasn't so sure about the yellow world I saw through these lenses. So even though the sunglasses only lasted a few minutes in their proper place, we sure had fun together and lots of laughs.

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Mom just loves these moments of happiness between the two of us that she captures on camera.

Trimming the Tree

We started putting out Christmas this week. Last night the tree, the tree lights, and the angel went on top. Dad lifted me up and I got to top the tree. So this morning while Andrew was sleeping, mom and I trimmed the tree. I couldn't wait to get started and get our special ornaments out. Last year my favorite was the Little Einstein rocket ship and it's music. This year it was the first to go on the tree.

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The tree is done! I stepped back and looked at my work and thought it was pretty good. Mom did have to space a few ornaments out for me and we were careful to not put many at the bottom where Andrew could get to them. We are looking forward to what he thinks when he sees this new addition to the family room.

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Andrew likes it! He's fascinated by the lights and he has spied some of the shiny ornaments. He stared at the tree for awhile and mom wishes she knew just what he really was thinking. With some of my funny antics I got his attention and mom got a great photo!

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After that great picture, I had to let Andrew know that touching was a no, no. Mom enforced this as well as the tiny little fingers kept inching closer to the tree. Andrew took direction well and we have been playing happily near the tree. Mom took a quick snap of the two of us. We love the joy this season brings in so many ways.

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Happy Thanksgiving

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We are thankful for so many things this year...the birth of Andrew, health, and the support of our loving families. We are thankful for our friends and all the moments we have shared with them. And we are also thankful for the opportunity to share our lives with those around us. We hope that you all are touched in some way this holiday through loving family, friends, and our Lord and Savior. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Blue Birdhouse

Today while mom was out and Andrew was napping, dad and I went out to the garage and built a birdhouse together. I've been watching the birds all summer and with winter coming, I really felt they needed a real home in our backyard. So, with the scraps in our garage we built this sweet little home for the birds.

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Of course, we had to paint it. My first choice was yellow. Lowe's didn't come through for us though with a birdhouse size can of paint in yellow. So instead, the bird house is blue! Not a bad choice, it's my favorite color. I love doing art, painting, and making things. So this was a real treat for me to work in daddy's workshop.

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Now, we just need to find a place to hang it!