January

This January my (James) parents were able to go on a mission trip to Guatemala, and we celebrated dad's birthday.


It's amazing what a 5-year-old can do with a balloon and permanent markers!

Christmas and Kings

After the last present was opened on Epiphany, I realized a horrible thing. I had not taken a decent picture the whole Christmas season! Well, not very many, anyway. Sometimes my "multi-media dad" mode just doesn't kick in, and I have photo/video regret after said "large, important event". The good news is that I must have been enjoying the season so much, I just forgot to film/capture it.

All that being said, I'm glad to share what photos I did manage to take (along with helpful blurbs to describe them):

Bethany's latest book hook is "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". Andrew is kind enough to read it to her often.

Joanna playing the talking drum. Don't ask me what it's saying, I'm still learning the dialect.

So we figured since Bethany is so enamored with old women who swallow animals, we would get her a stuffed one for Epiphany. She liked it well enough at first, but has come to be rather scared of it. She refuses to retrieve the animals once they have been eaten. I get a little antsy reaching into the ol' girls stomach, myself.

Joanna being cooler that her parents ever have been. OK, cooler than her father ever has ever been.

And how did Andrew spend his Christmas break? Yup, in a book much of the time!

So there you have it. My so-so photo wrap up of the second half of our Christmas season. TTFN!

Mid-December

The Christmas program at Mayo church this year was truly an opportunity for worship! We did it during the regular morning service time, and it worked out very well.

Joanna was an angel. (surprised?)

Andrew did a fine job as a reader.

Bethany was a...imagine a baby Bethany voice now..."little lamb"

Here she is with her friend Sophie, and her other friend, the juice cup.

Joanna's ballet recital was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. She practiced very hard and did a great job as (you guessed it) and angel.

As always, there are many more pictures on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1285547194&ref=name

it must be St. Nick!

I sincerely apologize that this blog is more than a month behind. The holiday season at the Chapman house was blessed, holy, and filled with wonder (note wonder above), it was also a bit hectic.

We celebrated St. Nicholas day by making ginger bread people to leave for the man in red. Joanna, Bethany and I agree that the dough tastes better than the cookies!

St. Nicholas morning = sugar overload!

Circus with a capital "C"

Here we are on Nov.17, time for a Chapman update. The only major news is that we can't seem to stay well these days. Toward the beginning of the month Amy and Bethany were sick and went through a round of antibiotics, then it was Joanna's turn. Now today Joanna is sick again, this time stomach instead of throat. The boys (no, MEN!) have managed to dodge the sickness bullet for now, let's just hope we can keep it up.

On Saturday we were able to attend the Circus. Notice it was the capital "C" circus (Wringling brothers, et all). Amy says she has never been to the real Circus before, and I can't remember if I have or not (big surprise). But both of us can remember going to a really bad circus. My Really Bad Circus involved a leaky tent and really horrible looking camels. All that being said, we enjoyed the Circus very much. I hope the Circus doesn't Sue me for posting these pictures:

After the Circus, we went to Gattiland for a birthday party, where this lovely picture was taken:

Lastly, I want to share with everyone the Wonder that is Cows in the Kitchen. Our first two children were both obsessed with this book at one time or another. Now it's Bethany's turn. Say it with me now: "Cows in the kitchen, Moo, Moo, Moo!"

That's about all the news that's News for now. Check back in a couple weeks, I'm sure to have a turkey story...

October part two

Well folks, here we are at the end of October. My goal is to make this a bi-monthly affair, so here's October part two:

Adding on to the house has been a little more tumultuous than we thought it would be. I knew it would be a little challenging living in it as we tore it up, but I had no idea...

We had to have all the kids sleeping in our bedroom, and Amy and I threw down (and picked up every morning, and threw down again the next night..) a mattress on the floor of the living room. We lived this way for probably 2 1/2 weeks. Which wasn't so bad until all the stuff had to come out of the kid's rooms. You have no idea how much junk can fit into a room until you attempt to empty it out!

The good news is that we are all back in our respective beds now and the major construction is finished. We will be finishing up little thing for a while, I'm sure. The kids have been troopers. The mess didn't seem to bother them nearly as much as it did the grown-ups. And as always, God was faithful to bring us through. He has given me a new found appreciation for our home, our family, and the space we have. There are those who have more, but many more have so much less.





Oh yea, Halloween.

We have had a good time this fall carving pumpkins, raking leaves, etc. Halloween always sneaks up and is over so quickly! This year we had a Baby bumble bee (complete with song), Bat-girl (complete with justice), and Darth Vader ("Luke, tell your sister you were right about me!").



Joanna chose a cat design for her jack-o-lantern this year. Andrew designed his on the computer and carved it himself. He said it looks like a weird science teacher. At least he didn't say is was a weird Art and Music teacher! Bethany's is a traditional "Pumpkin parable" style jack-o-lantern.

It's a cat, not a pig!

Every bat-girl needs a side-kick.

Joanna had her first school Halloween party this year. Andrew is officially to old to dress up at school. He didn't seem to mind, though.

Last but not least, Bethany has discovered painting. We let her play with the water colors one afternoon, and the next morning she woke up asking to paint. What fun!

Birthdays:Apple Days

The first half of October has been very exciting in the Chapman household. Both Andrew and Joanna competed in the Apple Festival contests. Andrew was the winner of the Old Fashioned Adding Match for his division, and got to compete against winners from other schools. Joanna won the Apple Art contest for her age level, and also had the opportunity to compete with winners from other schools in the county. Joanna also entered the Old Fashioned Costume competition, wearing the same dress that Amy did when she was in Kingergarden. But that's not what made it old fashioned!

Andrew celebrated his 10th birthday on October first with a Star Wars party. I (James) downloaded some star wars music to play at the party, and thought it would be fun to include Weird Al's "Yoda" (a parody of "Lola") and "The Saga Begins" (a parody of "The Day the Music Died"). This was a big hit with Andrew, but I must admit that he has played the songs so much that I can't get them out of my head!


We have most recently taken on the adventure of closing in part of our porch to make the kid's bedrooms bigger. This will add much needed room and closet space to the girl's bedroom and give Andrew some extra room as well.


And finally, today was our good friend (former youth group member) Walter's wedding. Andrew was the ring bear(er) Growwwwwwwl! They even let him carry the real rings! Joanna was the flower girl and almost to lovely to look at. I was called in as an emergency 4th groomsman, and enjoyed myself very much.