Those Chapmans – Page 45 – Out Of Their Minds Design

Ian’s Birthday Celebration Continues!

On January 22nd we got a visit from Grampa Dave and Gramma Marcia to celebrate a few b-days! Ian was thrilled to get a visit for his big day, and a really cool b-day present to open! See this image larger.

That’s a good smile, thanks buddy! Nina says *Comin’ through!* See this image larger.

It was also a good day to celebrate Nina’s birthday, so she got a present too! (This worked out well!) See this image larger.

Ian was off on an adventure in the sunroom while Nina checked out all the cool features of her new zoo!

The Millenium Falcon lands briefly on the planet Couch, whose local inhabitants are a race of furry square-shaped creatures called Pillahs who worship their god, Blankett — who keeps them safe, warm and covered in times of great need. See this image larger.

Ian poses with Grampa Dave! Thanks for the sweet spaceship! 🙂 See this image larger.

Nina running full tilt! See this image larger.

Grandma Marcia and Nina, both sweet ladies, share a little giggle! See this image larger.

At a local restaurant, Nina snuggled right into Grampa Dave’s chest while we waited for the buzzer/pager to go off in Ian’s hands to sit and eat. See this image larger.

Ian discarded his fork – which was not shoveling cake into his mouth nearly fast enough. See this image larger.

Some of the cake crashed like a car into his face, instead of making it into the tunnel.

These are “floor buffing” pajamas; the more she rolls around, the smoother the floor gets… by the end of the night she’s covered in cheerios and cat-hair. See this image larger.

Nina and Grandma Marcia play a fun game while putting together puzzles! Thank you both for the great gifts and taking us out to dinner! We had a blast and everybody is looking forward to seeing you again soon! See this image larger.

I’m Not Even Sure…

Video, January 7th
Click here to watch… well alright you’ll pretty much be seeing a video of me (Daddy) being a goofball — we’re not sure what this video is, but I know the kids crack up whenever they see it.

January Continues, and Ian’s Birthday

January 9th, and somebody is having a bad hair day! See this image larger.

January 16th, Nina carefully placed this wash cloth down first before replacing her bowl.

January 21st, Ian’s actual calendar birthday, not to be confused with other birthday celebrations coming up in the blog shortly… here Ian’s spokesmodel training continues as he introduces us to rocket-cake. (Actually he’s asking why it isn’t Batman-themed, given that he’s chosen Batman as the theme of his birthday party, which was a week later.) See this image larger.

Opening presents, one of Ian’s gifts was bubbles! See this image larger.

Motorcycle!

A Lego boat that will go well with his Lego ship… (See the ship on the table?) See this image larger.

I know this looks like he’s wondering what the heck was Gramma Sue thinking by sending this but he’s actually in the middle of saying, roughly: “Well, SOMEBODY understood the Batman theme, see?” We had to keep explaining to him that the party on the 28th is a different sort of situation. *Shrug.* See this image larger.

Aunt Mel, Uncle Ben, Cousins Connor and Kaylee got Ian a New York Giants football, which brought a sparkle to my eye. See this image larger.

It’ll be fun to throw this back and forth in the summer, and simultaneously give a nod to the in-laws for helping us get the kids into sports while getting a nod from Uncle Chris about what he surely would have called “bringing Ian up right” regarding the Giants. 🙂

I surely have no idea how this post-it note ended up on Ian’s back, but it stayed all day.

Nina after a brief nap…

…and some ponytails.

Buying him birthday gifts was hard this year for some reason. I ended up pacing the aisles not finding anything at first, and then suddenly having too much and not knowing what to get. The day I was at the store it started snowing ridiculously — special thanks to Mommy for the phone support because I was not going to make up my mind alone. (Those of you thinking “Pfft. Melissa wasn’t at the store?” just stay tuned and see everything she put together by herself for Ian’s party!) See this image larger.

Ok so we wanted the ramp to sort of level out, so I built a small lifter, which is the flat part to the left that has table-like legs. Ian added the support which is the purple and red part… LOOK AT THAT. It even tapers toward the end! I couldn’t have made that better myself!

Happy birthday, big boy! You’ll always be my favorite son! Thank you everybody for your kind gifts!