Christmas 2009 Day 1

The Christmas celebration began this past weekend. All the Chapman side- Grandpa & Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins & great cousins. We had a fantastic turkey dinner, opened presents and then came the big surprise. Norma has been planning a surprise for us for months now! She would not even give a hint! We all got in our cars at 2pm SHARP and when we got out of the driveway she gave us directions! We landed at the mall to play glow in the dark putt putt golf! It was a lot of fun! The kids love putt-putt!

Addison got a HUGE box- Pet Shop. She carried the box around the house showing people what she got. It was hilarious.

Grandma & Grandpa got Jackson a REAL handyman set. As soon as we got home him & daddy put on ALL the gear and went downstairs to "work". Jackson came back upstairs with a board with nails hammered in it! He was SO proud of himself!

measuring his board.

SO happy with himself!

Pet Shop! Her pets have played games, taken baths and all sorts of other things. The boys also love her new pet shop which thrills Addison. I love watching Addison play girly stuff because she is usually playing rough boy games instead!

MIZ...

We had such a fun time watching Christine play an AWESOME game! She was the superstar of the day! 16pts, 12 rebounds and 7 blocks! The whole team played great today- and it was fun to watch.

Christine talking to Coach Stein

Truman & the boys

Heather & Ashton

"Don't Smile!!"

Surprise!!

Last night we threw a nice surprise party for my Grandpa & Norma (Grandma). My grandpa turns 80 in January (but they will be in Florida all winter after Christmas) and Norma turned 85 in September. So, we decided to give them a birthday celebration to remember! One of the biggest surprises was her daughter Kathy & son in law Ed that flew in from Dallas. It was such a fun night! Norma LOVES surprises! She is always talking about surprises and what better than to surprise her in this way! It was fantastic! Another one of Norma's passions is playing games. And that is one of my favorite things to do so I made sure we played some games last night. We played Pictionary and also Taboo.

It was a very fun night spent with the people I love the most. My family. I'm so blessed to have these two people in my life- and even better- my children's life!

Snow? Not so much...

It seems that everyone around Columbia MO has been getting snow the past few days. Uncle Robb called with a 12" report! We about hopped in the car this morning for a trip to Lincoln!

This morning when the kids woke up we had about a 1/2" (if that) of snow on the ground. You would have thought it was 8" by their reaction! They have been begging all morning to go out so finally after lunch (hoping it would warm up but is only 20 degrees or less with a much lower wind chill!) I bundled them up. I hadn't done any inventory on what winter/snow clothes they had so this is what i came up with. Addison's pants are WAY too short but everything else seemed to fit great! Yay for not having to go out & buy all new snow stuff in hopes that we get a bunch of snow this year!

Jackson immediately fell down and started making snow angels...

Addison followed...

"Snow sandwich" per jackson

They were lapping up the snow... and yes, i let them!!

the snow LOVED the snotty nose!

I finally got them to come in for hot chocolate with marshmallows

Christmas Tree Decorating 2009

It takes us several hours to put the actual tree up (its a hand-me-down from my parents 8+ yrs ago and I just can't stand the thought of buying a new one!). So, this year we got smart and did it in two nights. The first night Nate & I put it up and the second one was for the kids. They had SO much fun decorating it. Jackson claimed the boy color balls and Addison got the pink & purple ones. Jackson blanketed one tiny section with every ball & ornament he had. We would attempt to sneak them away but he would catch us and get upset! So, later that night Nathan re-distributed. The next day Jackson figured it out...

Addison kept saying "It's so beautiful (bu-ti-fol)". She has to have the lights ON all the time! Nathan also put lights on the outside this week. It's so BU-TI-FOL! I love the christmas season- the lights, the music, the giving, the warm drinks and food, the Salvation Army workers collecting money at each shop, and all that the season brings! I am so blessed to be surrounded by the best friends and family a girl could ever dream!

Addi's year to put the star on!

Kitty wanted to pose in a picture. meow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very low-key Thanksgiving this year. The Figueiredo's went to Massachusetts and my parents & grandparents headed to Texas. Robb drove in on Wednesday eve. It was a Crouch thanksgiving! We had a very nice day spent at Joan & Bobs. Joan still made a 20lb turkey- for 5 adults!! And I made sure to make plenty of food- leftovers are the best part of thanksgiving!

my boys.

Addi- appetizers before the big meal.

Addi showing Grandpa her favorite new movie- UP!

Gram & her turkey! Delish!

Just us... and our 20lb turkey!

Table Hockey with Uncle. In which Jackson made ALL the rules. If he accidently hit it in his own goal it DID NOT COUNT as Uncle's point. Uncle lost at least 4 points this way!

the winning picture

Halloween!

We had a super fun halloween. Jackson was Red Ranger and Addison was Tinkerbell. They both played their parts well. We had many stops and started early. Off to Grandpa Bob's (Gram was in Tuscon), Grandpa & Grandmas, firestation and then to Kristin & Jon's to eat a ton of great food and TRICK OR TREATING! The kids did great- Addison was getting very tired by the end of it but would not skip a house! The most fun was this week at home with ALL the candy.

Addison is the BEST sharer you have ever seen. It is hard enough for me to stay away from the candy myself- but I've got her asking me "mommy, which one is your favorite, this one? this one? do you want one?" when/if I say no thank you she says "here i will put it here until after lunch- then you can have it!". She practically BEGS me to eat the candy!! This is how she is with everything- she LOVES to share!

Carrot cake

mommy the witch with red ranger and tinkerbell

at the firestation- a favorite place at halloween

Grandpa with Grams snack box! Jackpot!

Grandpa & the kids

Grandma & kids

the friendliest hunters you have ever seen!

kids favorite house. most of the littler kids had headed home. addison is still with us- just not up for the picture!

telling us all about her candy.

next morning- candy counting and sorting and trading and looking and loving!

partner in crime!