family news – Page 3 – Out Of Their Minds Design

March 2013 – A Month of Stuff, Part IV

I’m going to stray from the usual format here and not caption most of these. Suffice to say, we dressed up for church and took a whole bunch of pics, and everybody looked real nice. 🙂

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Gotta have that upside-down shot! Not sure how much longer we’re going to be able to pull this off without falling over or throwing out our backs! See this image larger.

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I let them do the “make a face” picture to get it out of their systems. See this image larger.

A Chapman tradition. See this image larger.

We’ll keep working on that, guys. See this image larger.

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Yay, Skylanders! See this image larger.

A few random shots from Nina at daycare… See this image larger.

A girl that loves making messes! See this image larger.

Pictures of pictures, because who knows if these will make it home, right? Nina is the blur in pink. See this image larger.

I can tell you without needing to know, that Nina made this fort and directed people on how to help her. Just trust me. See this image larger.

March 2013 – A Month of Stuff, Part III

Rather than get super specific on dates, I’m just going to say that Melissa’s parents, her sister, and the cousins stayed from March 29th through the 31st… or something to that effect. Camera dates are usually off in these instances anyway, and getting these in the proper order would take forever. Anyway, here’s those crazy cousins! See this image larger.

Nina getting crafty!! See this image larger.

Ian and Kaylee join the fun! See this image larger.

Posing at Meijer Gardens! See this image larger.

Butterfly again! See this image larger.

Kaylee looking a wee tired. I got some great smiles from her during the trip, so no complaints here. 🙂 See this image larger.

Grandma Barb probably more used to the in-greenhouse temperatures. See this image larger.

Bell belle. (See what I did there?) See this image larger.

The children go for a roll. See this image larger.

Nina dares the rope bridge. See this image larger.

Ian digs for fossils! See this image larger.

Preparing for a zombie apocalypse. See this image larger.

More butterfly pics! I bet they ate 5 oranges on Friday before entering their cocoons. See this image larger.

Grandma Barb found Uncle Chris’s watch and returned it to me. She offered to send it via UPS, but I asked her to hand deliver it. For fear of losing it again, it now resides respectfully on a display shelf in my office. See this image larger.

I don’t know who made it, and I don’t mean to be critical, but it is a little creepy. See this image larger.

The Jammy Bunch! See this image larger.

Kaylee helps Aunt Diss make pancakes! See this image larger.

Another angle… great smiles! See this image larger.

Time to go geo-caching! (Using a GPS device and clues to find hidden treasures.) See this image larger.

They got some exercise. See this image larger.

Connor is really great at finding this stuff. The west Michigan Chapmans have tried to go geo-caching and seriously we’ve never found anything, lol. See this image larger.

Awww! See this image larger.

Time to dye some eggs! See this image larger.

A rainbow of probably not artificial colors. See this image larger.

Weather warmed up a bit and it was a time for the kids to run out some energy. See this image larger.

Nina’s so warm she’s shedding layers! See this image larger.

Going for a spin! See this image larger.

It’s always fun to try to kick the guy with the camera! See this image larger.

Chilling out! See this image larger.

Ian’s fast, but is he Connor-fast? See this image larger.

That kid has game! See this image larger.

Sometimes I like shots like this… See this image larger.

Nina enjoying the sandbox! See this image larger.

Fun to make messes! See this image larger.

Just swinging around… See this image larger.

Nina enjoys Kaylee’s video player… you’ll see she borrowed it quite a bit! See this image larger.

Chicken wings for dinner. Ok seriously why did I take a picture of this? See this image larger.

I invented gang hand signals for West Michigan. Wonder if that’ll take? See this image larger.

March 2013 – A Month of Stuff, Part II

Pretty much Easter time on our blog… Ian’s no dummy, especially not as a bunny. See this image larger.

Nina said “I made a clock!” And she did! Sundial side up? See this image larger.

March 22nd, and we had some special visitors! Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia! See this image larger.

…and so did the Easter Bunny! See this image larger.

Future manager material: Ian happily checks on his peeps. See this image larger.

New Skylander! See this image larger.

Mommy shows Nina some of her goodies! See this image larger.

Sitting with Daddy, briefly… See this image larger.

Remote control cars for each; I think Ian let Grampa have a turn eventually… See this image larger.

Our little crew had been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, even little Nina; we were rude and asked Grampa and Gramma if it would be ok to watch one episode, as the kids were pretty hooked. I meant Melissa and I. The grandkids were pretty hooked too. See this image larger.

But it was getting late; thanks for visiting Grampa and Grandma! See this image larger.

March 2013 – A Month of Stuff, Part I

March 2nd, Ian playing Skylanders by himself. This is a good shot of the green office’s “man cave” corner. When we catch up, you’ll probably see the orange. (Or come visit!) See this image larger.

March 3rd, and little girl was tired and sick. Probably with the same cold that resulted in a rare Ian nap last month. We share everything in this family, especially colds. :-\ See this image larger.

March 5th, there’s our bright and happy little girl! See this image larger.

In lil pigtails! See this image larger.

Alternate bonus shot, because cuuuuuute. See this image larger.

March 9th, Blanford Nature Center, my super awesome family! See this image larger.

I was there too! See this image larger.

Two extremely stoned owls. (Of note, the summer of 2013 we had a couple fantastic owls in the woods behind our house. Awesome to listen to at night.) See this image larger.

The brave adventurers head deep into the woods to discover secrets unknown… like… how to make syrup! See this image larger.

First you gotta drill the tree. Here son, have a drill. See this image larger.

The one warm place was some kind of weird lodge thingy. Wompom? I don’t know these terms. I do know some talented story tellers got Nina’s attention. See this image larger.

BLAWAWAEEAAAERTRRGH. See this image larger.

These vats meltdown syrup and refine it into goodness. Speaking of meltdowns, Ian had one in T-Minus 15 minutes for some reason. Something about popcorn or something. See this image larger.

We had a great time, but it was cold… let’s go home. See this image larger.

Back at home, col’ chillin’ with a sippy and Mommy! See this image larger.

March 10th, Nina happily accepts a tin foil rose from yours truly. See this image larger.

March 11th. Video games. See this image larger.

March 15th, Valley View Elementary had a carnival, and you are invited… to look at pictures of it. They had games like this. Nina, pull up your pants. See this image larger.

Ian and I took a couple selfies after eating some hot dogs… See this image larger.

Of course we got silly. See this image larger.

…and then we laughed about it. See this image larger.

…and made more faces. See this image larger.

Mommy sat next to Nina… hiya ladies! See this image larger.

One more shot because I look alright in it. See this image larger.

Patiently waiting her turn. See this image larger.

The point of this game was to pull back the ball, which is attached via a string, and let go, to see if you can knock down the bowling pins. Nina Warrior Princess grabbed the string and whirled the ball over her head like a flail, before delivering a killing blow. The pins still whisper her name, but not very loud. See this image larger.

Ian survived through a maze of cardboard boxes, and neatly scrawled his name next to other winners. See this image larger.

March 21st, Mommy went with Ian on a field trip to the Children’s Museum in Grand Rapids. I didn’t go, but I’ll give you the play-by-play as best I can. See this image larger.

The theme was about dental care, IAN LOOKOUT! See this image larger.

The theme doesn’t necessarily cover all bits of the museum. Like this rock wall. See this image larger.

Or this big bubble thingy. See this image larger.

Ian’s friend Nathan, who was a reading maniac in Kindergarten. He could read anything. Truly impressive. See this image larger.

The whole kindergarten crew, that’s Ian next to Mrs. Lanham! Looks like you guys had fun! See this image larger.

February 2013 in Video

No audio this time around. Not really all the surprising given how busy things got with Lilly Looking Through.

VIDEO, February 3rd
Click here to see Nina getting her Béyonce-inspired Super Bowl halftime groove on! (Note the bits where she can see the television and how her moves become more complex during those moments.)

VIDEO, February 4th
Click here to see… evidence that I’ve probably traumatized my son for life. This is the pivotal “Luke gets his hand chopped off and Darth Vader reveals his relationship to Luke” scene from Empire Strikes Back.

VIDEO, February 8th
Click here to see… Nina marching around.

VIDEO, February 8th
Click here to see… Daddy and Nina talking about her pancake recipe. I apologize for not letting the little girl speak much here. Worth a chuckle!

VIDEO, February 16th
Click here to see… well… I’m not sure what’s going on here. Nina channels Lady Gaga?

VIDEO, February 23rd
Click here to see… Ian and Nina discussing what is a letter, and what is a number.

VIDEO, February 27th
Click here to see… Nina singing her heart out.

February Dialogue and Milestones

Dialogue, February 3rd
Nina bursts into a rousing cheer: “Cucumber, popcorn, quesadilla, super sleuths, go!”

Dialogue, February 12th
Ian: “Did you know turtles live to be 100 years old?”
Dad: “No.”
Ian: “That’s really old. I read about that in a NON-fiction book.”

Dialogue, February 12th
Ian: “Surrender!”
Ian, Voice #2: “WE SURRENDER!”
Ian: “That was pretty fast.”
Ian, Voice #2: “That’s because we DON’T surrender!”

NINA DAYCARE NOTES:

Daycare Notes, Friday, February 1 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina is so cute when she decided to dance with a friend, they held hands and galloped around. She also had a lot of fun making her own toothpaste.”

Daycare Notes, Monday, February 4 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina made a ‘heart for mommy’ out of Play-Doh this morning! She loved putting things in the mailbox in dramatic play. Nina made up a song about taking turns. It was so cute!”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, February 5 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina couldn’t wait to paint today! She worked really hard at tracing her name and really started to get the hang of it after a few tries! Nina loves mailing letters to our mailbox!”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, February 6 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina was so excited to play the shape separating game at circle time! She was excited to feel an icicle and play in the snow! She made a ‘tower tree’ out of Legos this morning!”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, February 7 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina really enjoyed playing on the sticky wall! She had a blast watching other teachers throw snowballs at our windows.”

Daycare Notes, Monday, February 11 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had a lovely tea party with her girlfriends and dramatic play! And she put on a leather vest and tied a bandanna around her waist. She look like a cowgirl! You tried really hard to get her beanbags in the heart. She didn’t excellent job identifying letters of the alphabet!”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, February 12 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina took such good care of her baby she padded it when he cried, swaddled and named it ‘crying baby.’ Nina had lots of fun playing in the snow with your friends!”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, February 13 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina enjoyed playing with small cars in the parking garage. She couldn’t wait to paint! She said she made a rainbow and then saying ‘over the rainbow I’ll see you in a couple of years.’ I love the songs she makes up!”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, February 14 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina was a bit emotional today but she did enjoy passing out her valentines.”

Daycare Notes, Friday, February 15th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina helped build a house out of magnetic tiles. It was challenging! She decorated the firetruck so beautifully and told us she ‘fixed’ it.”

Daycare Notes, Monday, February 18 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had lots of fun dancing with her friends this morning! She pretended to be a doctor to her baby who had a ‘sick throat.’ Nina made a ‘plastic tree’ out of Legos. She’s so funny!”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, February 19th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina has excellent small motor skills. Peeling Band-Aids was easy for her! She was very interested in learning how gauze worked. She couldn’t wait to go to tumble time!”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, February 20 Nina’s caregiver: “Nina loved playing with the stamps and was excited to find the ‘N'”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, February 21st Nina’s caregiver: “Nina always called the YMCA view ‘YCM.’ It’s so cute. She built a ‘forest’ out of Legos. It looks really cool! She climbed a rock wall today. Ms. Sarah said she loved it and wasn’t scared at all!”

Daycare Notes, Friday, February 22nd Nina’s caregiver: “Nina enjoyed hiding in a tunnel from her friends! She was so excited to ride the Catapillar bike. Nina made a snake out of Play Doh. She was very serious when she was cooking in dramatic play play. Side note – I will miss Nina so much she will always have a place in my heart.” (Miss Joanna retiring.)

Daycare Notes, Monday, February 25th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had fun playing outside on the swings and digging in the snow. We came back in, she built a big tall tower with Legos and saying ‘scare the cat’ in a lots of fun voices.”

Tumble Time Note Tumble Time Teacher: “Nina is so much fun in class! She’s always happy and hard-working and getting so much stronger!”

February 2013 in Pictures…In One Long Post!

February 1st, I received this note as part of a Thank You card from Ian for showing up at Doughnuts with Dad. You are so welcome, kiddo. See this image larger.

February 2nd, Nina makes her unforgettable fruit-vegetable-pizza-Lego-rubber ball salad. See this image larger.

February 3rd, Mommy left for sunny Texas, leaving us to huddle with each other in the cold… Just kidding, we did alright! (Mommy, I’m noticing a pattern of warm-weather work trips in the winter. Just sayin’ 😉 ) See this image larger.

That night, we went to Cinco De Mayo as usual. See this image larger.

I believe this was the trip where Nina needed to go potty, so I took her to the men’s room with Ian. While Ian stood there, Nina sat in a stall. I remember washing my hands, hearing Nina say “oops” and watching a roll of toilet paper coast out from under the stall, behind my ankles, unravelling as it went. See this image larger.

That night, the kitty knew he’d find peace on Mommy’s side of the bed, so he snuggled up on her blanket… or maybe he just missed her already, who knows. See this image larger.

February 4th, and because it is hard to cook with the two kids, we tend to eat out while Mommy’s away. Thus, Panera and an M&M cookie! See this image larger.

February 8th. Snow. Also, can’t wait to share a video of Nina making pancakes that happened on this day. Remind me! See this image larger.

February 10th, and these smiles can mean only one thing… Mommy’s home! See this image larger.

Celebratory smooch on the forehead! See this image larger.

February 12th, the kids in Ian’s class had already been in school for 100 days! Where does the time go? It doesn’t matter, I just know it goes very quick. See this image larger.

February 14th, the kids show us some heart from Kindergarten! See this image larger.

Olga’s! See this image larger.

Lightsabers from Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia! See this image larger.

Uh oh there’s two… THIS one works… See this image larger.

THAT one works… See this image larger.

Hey, they BOTH work! MORTAL COMBAT!!! See this image larger.

IAN!!!! Don’t you know that if you strike her down now she will only come back more powerful than you can possibly imagine? (Don’t worry folks, everybody’s fine here, just a trick of the angle. 😉 ) See this image larger.

February 15th, Nina stood on her soap box and read this book to us, by which I mean, she made up a phrase and repeated it for pretty much every page. “Her did it to her did it, and her did it to her did it.” What do you expect people, she’s THREE. Geez!See this image larger.

Look at that cute pony tail! See this image larger.

Hiya Peanut! See this image larger.

So cute! Yeah, sure you can watch the TV. See this image larger.

It’s always so good to look across the table and see both girls. 🙂 See this image larger.

February 25th, Ian took a rare nap after a full day of play. Sometimes when I look at him, I can picture the baby Ian. Usually when he’s sleeping like this. See this image larger.

Nina watching the iPad in the sunroom. Yes, they probably seem to be on the iPads a lot. And they are. But just not as much as you think they are; this is the only time they hold still for a picture!! See this image larger.

February 26th, the Valentine’s season has Ian feeling generous… this is a note for his sister! It says “I hoPE you had a gud dey at school love Ian.” (I hope you had a good day at school. Love, Ian.) See this image larger.

January 2013 in Audio and Video

January 2013… We have nearly an entire year to make up the time on… I’m going to make it my mission to catch up before January of 2014, so stay tuned in, people!

VIDEO, January 16th
Click here to see… Ian and his class performing a nice song about dads… it’s a long video.

VIDEO, January 19th
Click here to see… the fastest shortest video ever! Nina grins! I thought my camera was taking pictures, not video! See, it happens to me too!

VIDEO, January 20th
Click here to see Ian watching one of the more emotional moments in Star Wars. “That’s a pretty sunset.” was great to share this with him. 🙂

VIDEO, January 27th
Click here to see Ian and Nina singing something… turn your speakers down or you are in for a surprise.

VIDEO, January 30th
Click here to see and hear Nina and I talking about “snowman’s” and videos!

AUDIO, January 24th
Click here to hear an mp3 of Nina kicking me out of her room when clearly I’m just trying to go “sleepies.”

AUDIO, January 26th
Click here to hear an mp3 of Nina and I talking about all kinds of stuff before she hits the sack. She pretty much tells me to get out at the end of this one too!!! 🙂

January 2013 Dialogue and Milestones

Dialogue, January 5th
Nina sings an alternate version of a classic: “Jesus loves me this i know, Old McBible tells me so.”

Dialogue, January 5th
Nina in her normal voice:“Can my baby have another cookie?”
Nina in a higher pitched voice:“I want a cookie please!”

NINA DAYCARE NOTES:

Daycare Notes, Monday, January 7th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina made a “doughnut” out of homemade Play-Doh this morning! She enjoyed pretending to be a teacher, speaking very professionally, giving directions, and passing out toys to friends. She was a very nice, patient teacher!”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, January 8th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina enjoyed setting up gears and playing with them! When she was stamping, I heard her say “this is very cool!” Nina even identified some of the letter she was stamping!”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, January 9th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had so much fun drawing shapes in the shaving cream. She also enjoyed fishing for letters, she’s doing great at identifying some!”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, January 10th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had so much fun searching for her glove under the parachute! She did have some trouble using nice words with her friends. Nina love dancing with the beanbag today!”

Daycare Notes, Friday January 11th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina enjoyed playing with pink horses this morning. She kept saying ‘giddyup horsey!’ He had so much fun riding bikes in the indoor playspace. Nina worked very hard at holding her scissors the correct way.”

Daycare Notes, Monday, January 14th Milestones Accident Report: “Nina slipped on the bathroom floor, it was wet. She bumped her head.”

Daycare Notes, Monday, January 14th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina enjoyed bouncing on a big ball in the indoor playspace. When she was done, she was eager to share with a friend. Nina enjoyed watching VeggieTales and Dora with friends.”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, January 15th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina built a ‘choo-choo’ out of the wooden animal blocks. Nina did a great job matching in finding all her eggs. Nina did very well today. We are all set for underwear :-)”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, January 16th Nina’s caregiver: “Enjoyed listening to ‘the polar express’ on CD. She told us all about seeing Santa at Christmas. Nina built a ‘dinosaur’ out of Legos. She had fun playing with foam letter tiles. Lots of stars.”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, January 17th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had so much fun playing in the tent. Intermatic play she pretended to be the teller at a restaurant and filled everyone’s orders. Then she ‘wiped down tables.’ Nina loves going on a bear hunt with her friends!”

Daycare Notes, Friday, January 18th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had so much fun playing ice hockey she giggled every time she hit the ice. She also enjoyed coloring coffee filters with Miss Jillian. She did a great job recognizing the letter ‘N’ for Nina.”

Daycare Notes, Monday, January 21st Nina’s caregiver: “Nina’s letter mats to build a boat. She sat in it and saying “row row row your boat.” Nina did a lot of pretend cleaning (like sweeping and mopping) in dramatic play. She also played hair salon with Mia!”

Daycare Notes, Monday, January 21st Milestones Accident Report: “We were singing and dancing to the song ‘spin again.’ We spun around lots of times. Nina lost her footing and got a little dizzy. She tripped over her foot and bumped her head on the corner the table where the dollhouse is. Nina cried and Ms. Vanessa picked her up, gave her a big hug and ice pack.”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, January 22nd Nina’s caregiver: “Nina pretended to be a mommy and dramatic play. She said all her friends and even watch their toys when they walked away. Since we couldn’t go outside, we switched rooms with O.T.. Nina loved the shopping carts and real food cartons!”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, January 23rd Nina’s caregiver: “We used all kinds of feet (walking, jumping, running, etc.) In the indoor playspace and Nina came up with a great idea to March! Nina felt really big when she was looking through a magnifying glass. It made her ‘roar!'”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, January 24th Nina’s caregiver: ” Nina couldn’t wait to play! She was such a great helper and she saying this while she worked: ‘We help each other. I don’t care. We help each other.'”

Daycare Notes, Friday, January 25th Nina’s caregiver: “At breakfast Nina said, “when my brother is 16, I could to go to a party.” She had so much fun riding bikes in the indoor playspace! Nina concentrated so hard when painting her lantern! Potty note she likes singing ‘I go yellow’ when she goes potty :-)”

Daycare Notes, Tuesday, January 29th Nina’s caregiver: “Nina had a bit of fun brushing the model of a mouth. She also really enjoyed playing with assorted rain sticks.”

Daycare Notes, Wednesday, January 30th Nina’s caregiver: “Enjoy playing in shaving cream this morning! She ran her heart out in the echo tunnel! Nina had a hard time using nice words with her friends today. He had fun Intermatic play, cooking.”

Daycare Notes, Thursday, January 31st Nina’s caregiver: “Nina told us all about playing basketball at the Y, it was cute excavation point she also had fun building a long training pushing it down the wooden tracks.”

Ian’s 6th Birthday, and January Flies By!

January 19th, Brandon and Max met us at Jester’s Court for a day of socks and shenanigans. See this image larger.

…and sleep! See this image larger.

January 20th, first time on display, my pretty horrible attempt at making a Millennium Falcon cake… See this image larger.

“Friends” on Facebook told me it looked like a cow. Hmph! See this image larger.

Grampa Dave and Grandma Marcia shared Ian’s birthday and brought great presents! See this image larger.

What’s that? A Skylander? But you don’t even have that game?!? See this image larger.

What are we going to do?!? See this image larger.

Well, looky there! It’s the Skylanders game! Surprise, kiddo! See this image larger.

Pizza for dinner! See this image larger.

One of my all time favorite shots of Ian… He’s grown into such a wonderful little man. You’re a great kid! See this image larger.

Use those lungs! See this image larger.

Another benefit of turning six? It’s time, kiddo. Star Wars, Episode IV. A sci-fi escape handed down from father to son to son. 🙂 See this image larger.

What a great age! See this image larger.

Love this shot, what a little grin! See this image larger.

Wish for something cool! See this image larger.

A really cool Transformers headquarters toy was the hit of the evening, hands down! See this image larger.

Baseball mit… still currently unused. See this image larger.

What’s in there? See this image larger.

It’s a great big rocket toy! See this image larger.

Hi! See this image larger.

January 21st, Ian had cupcakes for the class! See this image larger.

How many years old, buddy? See this image larger.

Time for reading and craziness! See this image larger.

This part is the craziness. See this image larger.

January 23rd, Ian climbs a stool in the background, wearing orange, during reading activities in Kindergarten. See this image larger.

January 25th was Pizza Day at school. Ian’s wearing red in the middle. See this image larger.

January 28th, and it is time for snowmen! (Bonus in this shot, see Seth kitty?) See this image larger.

The artists with their creations! See this image larger.

Ian shows off his favorite birthday toy to Brendan from next door. See this image larger.

A warm spell left our snowmen a shadow of their former selves on January 29th… See this image larger.

And by the 30th, well, let’s just say they pined for days of yore. See this image larger.