WAY TO GO PELLA!

Hello all!

Here's a picture of Graham decked out in Pella Dutch gear!!

We had such a good time with all of you in Pella! Were plans discussed for the internment in Minnesota? It will be good to have the whole family together! We missed the absent parties!

Where is everyone?

Hi family,
Just checking what everyone is up to..
No one has written in 2 months on this lovely blog, so i thought i'd start it up again.
Hope all is well.
My life is pretty busy right now- college studies, babysitting, TA-ing, working and volunteering at the ER... plus hanging with friends of course.
That's my update.
Love from MN,
Caitlin

shutterfly updated again

I added even more pics earlier today - of Graham's delivery. Cyring baby on lap, got to go.


M

Shutterfly has been updated!

Hey all, Shutterfly has been updated. There are some pretty good pics of our little family out there as part of Grandma & Grandpa Rank's visit.

I WILL share more thoughts later ... time is hard to find right now.

Looking forward to seeing the IA Bettgers and VA Lyons soon!


Molly

Really quick post, need to run and feed Graham ...

Hey all, just wanted to let you know I have updated the pictures on our Shutterfly site, www.warankphotos.shutterfly.com. I am considering whether or not to create a blog for our updates, or to use a shutterfly site dedicated to Graham ...
For the time being, enjoy the pictures on this site! When you open the albums, I recommend hitting slide show, then full screen - the functionality is pretty good. To adjust speed or background color, hover your mouse over the upper right corner of the screen and click Options.


Love you all, sorry so short ... more later.


Love Molly, Pat & Graham ... and Lazslow too!

My Uncle will post for me

Hey family,
I haven't met most of you yet and I'm sorry about that. I've been doing a lot of sleeping... but for now my Uncle Andrew will show you some photos of me doing my second favorite activity.

Mom won't let me post photos of me doing my number one favorite thing, and my third favorite thing... I need to get better at. Cause the way I'm doing it now, my dad can sleep through it. I'll get better at it though and keep him up as well.

-Graham.

 

 

 

 

"I like to be held." -Graham

 

 

 

Overheard BabyTalk

Regarding diapers:
"You just take the wet ones and lay them out on the patio, and they'll dry up real quick." -Grandpa

"Well, that's why we have that sprayer attachment on the hose." -Dad

"Sure, we can do that on the third go around." -Grandpa

Regarding breat-pumps, and baby monitors:
"I just wonder how in the world my mother managed to raise 4 kids without all these gadgets?!?" -Grandpa

OK - the full story

Yes in certain circumstances, when presented with the appropriate incentives, expired tickets are accepted. The circumstances leading up to this surprisingly visible incident are obscure and probably will remain so. Needless to say this is the type of thing that you don't want to make a habit of. In fact it is not advisable to get into the position of having to try this even once, if you could do anything to avoid it. There are a few things that will deliver an immediate jolt to your system, accompanied by a feeling of sinking, a sudden flushing of the face and a hot flash that overcomes any level or variety of hormones - this is one of them. While painful in an immediate sense, it appears that the effects may last for a substantial period of time with potential downstream augmentations to boot. There must be subject matter more worthy of examination and discussion than this.

Not sure if anyone still looks at this blog ... but I thought I'd share a quick update - if you read, please let me know with a comment!

We had a weekend at the coast with our friends Bruce & Nicole (and Rachel) planned for several months, and we were really pleased when that weekend turned out to be a weekend of 65-70 degree weather. It was amazing.

We left Friday morning around 10 am in two cars. Stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast (on 26 in Jewell or somewhere around there). Had a huge cinnamon roll that we had to split between all 5 of us. Then we hit Cannon Beach and found our vacation rental - on Taft St. - the street right across from Pig & Pancake. It was a pretty nice place - I think it's still wanting for some home improvements, but it met our needs very well. Easy access to the beach, and right in the middle of town - this is the same road as the EVOO cooking school.

We spent Friday in town and on the beach, then Pat & Bruce made dinner. After dinner Rachel went down for bed and we hung out a bit before the girls went to bed and the boys stayed up talking. Nicole is pregnant too (I don't know if I shared that with all of you yet - but it's great news!) Saturday was Wayfarer restaurant for breakfast, then the beach in the morning, then naptime (for all of us including Rachel), followed by each of us lunching on our own. Nicole & I went into town while the guys kept napping and hung out with Rachel and the dogs. We had dinner at the Gower Street Bistro - very good, worth the wait.

Sunday Pat & I left earlier than B&N, because Pat had to catch a plane Sunday afternoon for Vancouver, BC. When we got home, he mowed the yard AND cleaned the garage so we could park the Volvo inside (because the moon-roof shattered on our way to the coast, but that's a story for another post). All before a 4:30 pm flight. Now he's in Vancouver until tomorrow afternoon, at a conference for higher educational institutions. This is the same conference that last year took both of us to Salt Lake City. This time I didn't get invited ... and I can't say I would really want to get on a plane right now.

That's what's going on with us. My cheeks are pink and my chest is too - from wearing a Vneck on Saturday morning. I love looking in the mirror and seeing evidence that better weather is on its way!! Love you (pics to come later)

m

Update and a picture ...

Hey all,

Here's a brief update and a photo taken just a few minutes ago. We're doing well. I am getting tired more quickly, and that's hard to get used to. I took the dog for a walk over to the school, and just barely made it home huffing and puffing. I'm learning to give myself some rest time to recover from activities, starting the next activity after I've had a breather.

Andy is coming down this weekend. He and another couple of our friends (Bruce & Nicole) are helping us paint the baby's room and the bathroom. I'm excited to have that done! We'll hit the other room and our bedroom another weekend. Lauren is coming too! It will be neat to spend time with her.

Well, I really need to get to bed. Love you all!
Molly

WHERE IS MY UNCLE KEN!?!?

I'm pretty sure my dad called out his brother... and he has still failed to offer an account of this Chicago debacle.

Please elaborate.

Valentine's Day

Hi everyone!

What did everyone do for Valentine’s Day? Any creative spouses/friends out there??

We started a crazy tradition last year with our adult bible fellowship group. Carl was out of town and I had nothing to do/nobody to do anything for, so I cooked dinner for the couples in our group. Well, they all decided they wanted to repeat it this year - even wanted the same menu. Last year we had 4 couples. This year…….10 couples (20 people)!! So I made a very fancy 3 course meal for everyone. We served it in 3 separate rooms at a friend’s house, each room intimately decorated and each with their own server. We had a special meal (copy cat recipe) from Macaroni Grille, fancy salad, and 2 choices for dessert. Everyone had a great time. And they went home holding their overstuffed tummies!

Of course, the children here at home would not let me forget the tradition we have as a family, which is chocolate fondue on Valentine’s Day. They did let me delay it for 24 hours, so Friday evening we had our chocolate fondue and stayed up until 1:00 watching movies!

I was exhausted already Friday morning, so this morning (Saturday) I slept in. Sure did feel good. We have a 3-day weekend thanks to the Federal Holiday, so we are planning to take it easy and spend some good time as a family. The “cherry on top” is that I don’t even have to work this weekend!

We really would love to hear from more of the family members on this blog. We had thought it would be a good way to connect but it seems to have too few visitors! Molly and Caitlin, I need your email addresses!

Hope you all have a nice President’s Day!

Auntie

We Spent a Weekend in Santa Fe!

Greetings family,
We delayed part of our Christmas this year. Jan 18-21, the five of us went somewhere we'd never been.

WHY SANTA FE, NM?
The cultural section of the family heard that NM has high emphasis on art, artist's work, artists in residence etc. - besides that, the town is architecturally, "Pueblo," sits at an elevation of more than 7000' and has few mowable lawns.

Here's a Cathedral in Santa Fe

WHAT DID WE DO THERE?
Arriving Friday evening and during our fifty mile drive from Albuquerque, we talked some and basically got settled in our house for the weekend and went to bed. Saturday am, we made breakfast and went out to explore Santa Fe. We visited only a few of the many galleries there. Several told us that next to New York, Santa Fe is the largest market center for Art in America. We saw paintings, sculptures, castings, statues. jewelry, antiquities, strings of peppers, Pueblo architecture, stucco style fences. Some other fences were made of cedar poles w/each pole wired one next to the other and about every 6 or 8 feet, a pole was sunken into the ground.
Unfortunately, the Georgia O’Keefe museum was unavailable as the collection was being changed while we were there. We learned how she become associated with Santa Fe.
Then, having made prior contact with Al and Wendy Aman, they joined us in Santa Fe on Sunday afternoon.

We watched Packers get beat!


HOW WERE THE ACCOMMODATIONS?
In Santa Fe, we rented a 3 bedroom house. The house had not been built for cool weather so when the outdoor temp. was in the 20’s there was plenty of fresh air coming in and the furnace ran frequently. Two bedrooms were in the house; the third bedroom was in an adjoining house – that might have once been a garage. Molly and Pat took the sunken bedroom. Kathy and I took the smaller one. Andy took the outside apartment. The house was comfortable but had rather uneven central heat.





WHERE DID WE EAT? We could have cooked all our meals in the house but with all the restaurants available, we decided to skip the cooking and to try some of the restaurants. Tapas are part of the southwest culture.The car was equipped with a navigation device – which was nice. I’d never seen one so I was the least familiar with that unit. It took me awhile but I felt like I was comfortable with it by the time we left.

A great time was had by all.TomTom

ChicagoTheaters Accept Expired Tickets??

Dear Ken,
Greetings from Boise! I re-read that message about your attendance at Cirque Dreams in Chicago a month or so ago. Could you give us just a little detail as to how tickets for your family for a performance that were dated 48 hour past were able to be used in a theater situation?

I was intrigued by your daughters partial description -- and thought it would be best to ask for details direct from "the horse's mouth" on how that could be accomplished -- just in case any of us ever run into a situation like that.

Thanks!

It's official! We have seen the evidence!!

Hello all! We are pleased to announce to you that we have seen the gender of our sweet elusive baby! First, before telling you the fun and anticipated news, we should tell you that the ultrasound technician said everything looks as it should be. We watched the 4 chambers of the heart move, we saw the brain, we saw the intact spine, the stomache, the kidneys, everything. It was incredible. The best part was seeing the baby in motion - a bundle of legs, arms, knees, elbows, fingers, and mouth - esp. the fingers in the mouth!! We really had a great time watching.

And now for the much awaited answer ... you will have to scroll through the pix below (of course we couldn't give it away too quickly now, could we? We want to make sure you see how cute the baby is!!).

Here we go!




IT's A BOY!! ... And quite the active little boy - almost like Fred Astaire ... his little feet were kicking all over the place - quite pleased to be seen and perform "on stage."

So are you excited? We totally are. Looking at the pictures again makes me fall in love all over again! Let us know what you're thinking!! We'd love to hear from you ... initial reactions, thoughts, etc.

Love you all,Pat & Molly ... and baby BOY Rank ... aka little "he-rank; or "little p-rank"

Just thought i'd add a pic too- Chicago New Years

ps... ask Ken about the little ticket situation for Cirque Dreams... How did we get in to the theater on saturday, when our tickets were for the past thurs??? Way to go Dad- he always has his ways.

Hi from freeeeezing MN!

Hey all! i thought i would write on this little blog because it seems noone has in a little while.
Well, just FYI, it is freezing in minnesota right now- it was -2 for a high today i think! Tonight ryan and i and other people played broomball outside for a while. It is sooo fun! i actually am on two different club teams for bethel, so thats what my Mon-Thurs nights have been consisting of during J-term so far. I am taking Creativity in the Fine Arts (a required class) from 1-3:45 every day, with class events in the night time. We have to go to different theater, art and music events through out the class. So we saw the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Peer Gynt at the Guthrie Theater and we visited the Minneapolis Institute of Art. All 3 were very interesting!
Second semester starts Feb 4, so then starts the tougher classes (organic chemistry and biology classes...). I like being busy, so that will be fun! I also nanny for a family up here on tuesdays. It always is fun to see them!
Its so nice to hear from you all- from different parts of the US! way to go, uncle tom, for setting this up! Keep in touch! and stay warm and cozy where ever you are!
Love, Caitlin
ps... people should write more often, i love hearing from you and im sure everyone else does too!

Hello from Vancouver!!

Well hello there! I hope your weekend has been good so far. We enjoyed relaxing some, and getting some things done too. We had a date night last night with our friends Bruce & Nicole, without their 2 year old daughter Rachel, which was really fun. We saw the Great Debaters and ate at Claim Jumper in Clackamas. If you haven't seen Great Debaters, I highly recommend it. A good inspiring movie.

I am back at work now after having been off for 2 weeks now ... it's hard going back! But I feel good having a larger repertoire of maternity clothes! Mom, thanks again for shopping with me! I got a lot of things done around the house and for life in general. You might be interested in knowing that I updated our Shutterfly site so that it is up to date to Christmas! That means I added 5 new albums. Enjoy if you're interested. (http://www.warankphotos.shutterfly.com/)

I am attaching a picture of us in front of our Christmas tree. It was neat to use the classic-style red & white lights. We took the picture right before taking the tree down the next day. Next week's the matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. It will be a telling game! Go Packers! Andy, I think we have to win. It would be so great to have a Superbowl engagement in Favre's "last" year.