Fancy Night (Christmas Eve)

It has been a long standing tradition in the Chapman family that we do Christmas Eve at my parents house (and Christmas Day at the Crouch's).  But even before marriages Christmas Eve was the time we had Gpa & Gma over for a special mexican dinner and opened gifts.  While we do this Bob, Joan and Robb have had the tradition of going to a nice restaurant.  Well, this year tradition fell apart (it was Figs turn to go home to Mass) so we got to experience a FANCY DINNER!  Once the kids got wind of this they started getting excited.  Addison is SO into clothes and accessories.  We took some quiet toys and they were amazingly good.  It was a 2+ hour dinner!  But came with loads of entertainment... including sorbet to clean our palettes!

Kids getting excited about the evening.

 Waiter just told Jackson he can make him chicken fingers instead of rack of lamb...

 Looking at her options

The beautiful table...

Love this picture.

Addi & Gram watching the dessert show- Banana's Foster!

The SHOW!

JDC very happy with his choice.

Addi (w/ a ketchup face) being silly with me.

and sillier...

...and sillier...

...and she can't do it any longer... she has to be cute!

The Crouch Family

Jackson's Christmas Musical

 Jackson is in Kindergarten so this was his first REAL performance.  It was such a great job done by the teachers and all of the kids.  We could not believe how loud these kids could & would sing!  I was busy with the flip video so I didn't get many camera pictures. :(  I need to get a tripod set up next time b/c I feel like I miss out on the performance with looking through a camera the whole time!

Jackson played this adorable Joseph in one of the songs.  He just had to stand there beside Mary... BUT he did such a great job standing there looking sweet!

This is Jackson looking a little bored :)

The perfect day...

I have been waiting for a weekend day where we didn't have plans.  In the past few months we have been so busy and going non-stop on the weekends.  Today was perfect.  We didn't have any where to go- or anything on the calendar.  Which meant: sleeping in, having a nice family breakfast and being able to do whatever we wanted!  To make things even better... it snowed last night!  Our first snow this season- and enough snow to sled and play!

Uncle & Ashton came over to plow our driveway!

Then the kids & I made granola for all their teachers.

It turned out perfect!

And time to be silly!

Tree Cuttin' & Trimmin'

You are not mistaken.  We were in a time warp.  It was June- and now all of the sudden its December.

This year we decided to go traditional with our tree.  I've been wanting to do this for a few years and it seemed like the perfect year to start.  I searched online and found the greatest farm.  You start out with hot apple cider....

...then you hop on the tractor to take you out to the fields of trees.

You search all of the trees looking for the perfect one...

 You choose the perfect one!

Daddy cuts it down and you wait for the tractor to come back & pick you up.  Lucky for us- our perfect tree was close to the road! 

Here it comes!!

Farmer man helps you load it up on the trailer...

You get it back to the prep station where they shake the tar out of it...

....while you warm up with some hot apple cider...

...and look in amazement at your tree being shaken to death....

... they wrap it up for you- and measure it (9 foot- really?!)

And now Daddy hauls it to the car...

...and works his magic...

And then you get it home- and Nathan cuts the strings- and it EXPLODES into this monster tree.  I swear this is not the tree we chose out on the farm!  But... it's still perfect.

JDC first lost tooth!

This tooth had been loose a LONG time!  One day I had all the kids (ashton & parker) and right before naps I realized it was time.  I took some dental floss and tied it around the tooth (this is what we did when I was little!) and I yanked it out.  It was so ready to come out and Jackson didn't have a moment of hesitation!  The boys and Addison thought he was the coolest ever!

Swimming!

We had a fantastic year of swim lessons and swimming.  Same as years past we took a full month of swim lessons.  Which is quite the commitment (nearly every week day) but is always worth it.  They build their skills so much quicker than going once or twice a week.  A lot of days we stay for swimming afterwards- with a picnic in between.

Jackson & Ashton worked hard on diving and retrieving things from the bottom of the pool (even the 12ft end!).  We (j&a) LOVED their teacher.  He was fantastic with the kids and always started the class earlier and finished late.

We were not too impressed with Addison & Parker's teachers this year.  They didn't expect much out of them and Addison ALWAYS swam better with me then she ever did for her teachers.  Addison ended the summer jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side all by herself!

Ashton diving

Jackson & Ashton diving side by side.

Jackson off the diving board

Addi & Parker

Jackson & Ashton's class usually ended with a train on the slide.