Christmas

Christmas has come and gone another year! We all had a wonderful Christmas with presents, good food, and family. Marisa and Alex must have been very good this year because Santa left them lots of new toys. Marisa got her Easy Bake Oven that she has been dying to get and Alex received "fancy" cars and Lightning McQueen just as he had requested. Alex really loves opening presents now, he tears into the wrapping paper. I am pretty certain that just a year ago he still needed help from Marisa to get all of the paper off...not anymore. Not only that but he loves opening any present, even the ones that are not for him =0)

Carlos helping Alex put together a shark race track.

My mom and brother spent the morning with us opening up presents and eating breakfast. Carlos and I got my mom a pearl necklace. I became aware that she has never had a pearl necklace when we were deciding on jewelry for the wedding, so it made a great gift this year.

I forgot to mention that my brother's dog, Tucker, spent the day with us as well.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are getting ready for the New Year! What is your New Year's Resolution for 2009??

Snow Day and Christmas Program

The kids have already had their first official snow day off from school! And before Christmas this year, which seems very strange. Strange or not they loved getting out of school to build a snowman. As you can see he is fully accessorized with a West Virginia hat on and all. I have to back up a second, Marisa was actually very disappointed to miss school when it snowed...her class was making gingerbread houses that day and she did not want to miss out. Just a side note, they still did get to make their gingerbread houses the following week. Alex had his school Christmas program this past week. He is so funny! He was on the stage and the lights were too bright for him. He came up to the front of the stage to tell me that he needed his sunglasses =0) He did great and rang his bells and danced....he did a lot of dancing!!

My little reindeer!

Well the clock is ticking and I have a lot to do still before Christmas day..which is now in 5 days! I have to finish my shopping, clean the house, and wrap presents. We are trying to keep Christmas low key this year. The kids wish lists are really not all that outstanding and Carlos and myself said that we would keep our gifts to each other at a $50 minimum to keep costs low. Since the wedding, our savings is a bit lower than I would like so we are trying to rebuild that and just not go overboard with gifts. I am just excited to spend the day with the family! I would like to think that I might get another post in before the big day, but if I don't Merry Christmas!!

I've been "Tagged"

Ok so my friend Tiana "tagged" me. I am to go to my pictures open the fourth folder and select the fourth picture and explain the picture....well here it is! Pleasant Hill Mansion at the Governor's Club. I took this picture to show my florist for our wedding. This is obviously the front of the mansion where we were married. This picture does not make it look all that exciting, but the night of our wedding it looked so great all lit up!! Now I am suppose to pick two people to "tag" now...I choose my great friends Laura and Lauren. Have fun girls!!

Tis the Season!!

Well we are officially ready for the holidays! Except for finishing shopping, we have been to see Santa already and the house and tree are decorated. The kids are sporting all of their Christmas clothes now and we have already seen a few of our favorite Christmas movies...I feel so accomplished! We have done all of this and it is only the 10th of December. Actually I guess that isn't that good, but I'm still happy with what has been done!
So as I already mentioned, we went to the mall last Monday night to see Santa. Marisa and Alex looked great and even allowed me to get a great picture of them. We only had to wait for about 10 minutes to see Santa, and then we were happy with the second picture they took. The first one was great of the kids also, but Santa had his eyes shut...way to go Santa! So toy requests have been reported to Santa so now we will just have to wait and see what he brings on Christmas day! This past Monday night we decorated our tree!!! It looks great by the fireplace and stockings!! I can actually say that decorating the tree is an enjoyable holiday chore to me. I think it is fun to get the ornaments out of the crates. It is funny how a year can go by, but when you find one of your favorite ornaments it seems like it has been forever since you have seen it!! I have a few ornaments like that...it doesn't matter that I see them every year at Christmas, I still am happy when I see them all over again! Marisa was a big help this year, Alex too. He just did not understand why some of the ornaments that looked just like his toy cars could be ornaments and had to be placed on the tree ( and the very top of the tree so he couldn't grab them). Once he got over that, he really enjoyed the tree.

And finally below, is "Bob" our Elf. For those of you who are not familiar with the Elf on the Shelf, I will enlighten you! The Elf on the Shelf is this cute book that comes with your very own elf like the one shown below. The story tells you that this is one of Santa's elves that has been chosen for your family. During the day he hangs out somewhere in your house, nothing really fun about that. His job is to watch little boys and girls during their days and takes note of who is naughty and who is nice. Once children are asleep he magically flies back to the North Pole to give report to Santa. By morning he is back at your house, but he is in a different location to watch for the day. Marisa and Alex love getting up every morning and finding where the elf is for the day. We started this tradition last year and Marisa loved it, so we have to continue this year. And this year, Alex understands a bit better. This morning, Bob was in the kitchen in one of our holiday baskets looking out towards the living room.

So today I am going to try and battle the mall and Target! I am off of work today because I am working this weekend and would love it if I could get the majority of my shopping done. Wish me luck!

Potty Training

So the last week while my Mom was out of work as well as Alex, we started the potty training process. Although, if you ask Carlos he began the process because he got Alex to poop in the potty first. We have both big boy underwear and pullups, but I think pullups are too much like diapers so we put the boy in big boy underwear. He was not sure about them at first, but now he loves picking out which ones to wear. His choices are plain white, Disney Cars or Disney characters. He has actually done very well. He can go pee pee great now. He will tell us that it is "pee pee time" and we run in there and he takes care of business with a big excting scream when he is done. Now going poop in the potty is a bit different. Basically we have spent time in the bathroom and just hope that he does that. Although we do think he knows when he has to go and now is holding it. Pretty much he is on an every other day schedule with this. Last week, I spent several evenings in the bathroom with Alex coloring, reading, playing with cars all in hopes that we would have results. As promised by my Mom (Ga Ga) we went to Chuck E Cheese on Sunday to celebrate Alex's accomplishments. He had a great time!! And he even stopped playing to go pee pee. I am so proud of him.

The whole family went to Chuck E Cheese. I swear I think Carlos has as much fun as Marisa and Alex. Just a minute ago while typing this Alex came up to me and said "pee pee time" He is such a big boy now!!

Our Newest Addition

So the post I have promised for a while now...Gretel's homecoming!! My sister aka Dr. Chapman DVM brought Gretel to us last Tuesday. She has been doing so well and is a great addition to our family. She will be 5 months old on Monday and now weighs 4.2 pounds...she is so little. Alex wants to love all over her but we are afraid he might crush her. Marisa has been just as excited and Carlos, although he won't admit it, seems to really be enjoying her as well. In fact, the last 2 mornings he has taken her out at 6:30 in the morning to let her do her "business." She is very laid back. She will run around and play for a bit and then before you know it she is curled up on the couch asleep. I have yet to hear her bark and she has not chewed on anything. Most importantly, no accidents in the house yet either. She is very sweet and we are thrilled to welcome her to the family!!! Gretel came with us to celebrate Thanksgiving at Dad's house. Again all she did was sleep curled up on the couch...we hardly knew she was there.

Marisa loves to get Gretel to snuggle up in her blanket. Anyone who knows Marisa, knows that her blanket is very rarely away from her, so for her to share her blankie with Gretel speaks volumes!

Alex loving on Gretel...she is not so sure about him yet.

After a hard 15 minutes of play, she is pooped!! Her belly is shaved from her surgery. I actually sent a picture of her incision to Dr. Chapman this morning and we got the green light to go back to normal activity and now she can have a bath as well. I actually think I might go ahead and give her a bath...although I hate to wake her right now as she is cuddeld up on my lap as a post this.

I have a feeling Gretel will make her way into many more posts in the future...so stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Our Thanksgiving always starts the Wednesday before at my dad's house. Typically, we have ham or pork so as not to overdo it on turkey, but this year we had turkey because Dad and Kris were not doing a Thursday dinner this year. Everything was delicious as always! Kris' parents joined us as well this year. Since we had several family members together we tried to get a family picture...do you see who is missing?? Yep, that would be Alex...apparently he thought he was too busy to stop and take a picture with the rest of us. Then moments later, he decided that he would "cheese" for the camera! The Chapman kiddies, Marisa and Alex.

Me and my husband! Look we color coordinated for the festivities..just kidding. Although Carlos did make a comment that it did look like we tried to match. And yes, that is Gretel! I am going to have a whole other post for her that welcomes her to the family.

Thanksgiving Day morning, Carlos, myself, Kelly and Jason have run in the Boulevard Bolt the last 2 years. It is a 5 mile run down and back on Belle Meade Blvd that benefits the homeless. It is such a fun run and we always feel so great afterwards. We feel like we get to eat whatever we want for the day knowing that we started off by burning 500 calories. For me personally, it was not one of my best runs. I think I ate a little too much the night before at Dad's and the race has grown and for the entire run you are constantly dodging walkers and runners. Oh and I forgot to mention, Harley is also in the picture..he and Kelly's mom were fans for the event.

I really enjoy Thanksgiving, and not even really for all the food. I mean the food is great, but I typically end up eating too much like everyone else. This year in particular, I was thankful for my family! I love when my brother and sister are both back in town. Typically, we just pick on each other, but we always seem to laugh a lot when we are together =) I am thankful for my husband and my children...I am so excited for all that is to come our way. I am very thankful for my mom....she does so much for me all the time that I feel like I should just say thank you each time I see her. She is always helping me with Marisa and Alex and I know that there is nothing that she wouldn't do for me. I can always count on her...thank you Mom!!! I also am thankful for my Dad and Kris....I won't go into details, but this year in particular they have helped me so much!! I am also thankful that I was able to spend time with my Annie and Papa and that they are both doing well and are healthy. I feel like I am rambling a bit as Carlos would say. Finally, I am thankful for all my friends who have supported me throughout the years...the good ones and the not so good ones. I truly feel blessed and loved and I know that all my family and friends are the ones to thank for me feeilng so wonderful!!!!

Anna and Dustin's Wedding 11-22-08

This weekend, Carlos and I were in Greenback TN for one of my best friend's wedding. For those of you that do not know, Greenback is only minutes away from Knoxville which is in east TN. The wedding was outside and we all know it is the end of November...do you see what I am trying to get at here?! It was very COLD in our dresses!!! But we made it, and now Anna and Dustin are Mr. and Mrs. The wedding was outside as I already mentioned at Dustin's family farm. The house was beautiful and I can't wait to see her pictures because I think they are going to be great. So here I am processing into the ceremony..Carlos was getting a picture of me as I walked by. Here I am with the bride at the reception.

This is the back of the house where the cermony took place. It was a nice place for a photo op for me and Carlos.

The bridesmaids, flower girl and bride!

Anna and Dustin leaving the reception...they will be enjoying the Cayman Islands for their Honeymoon! We wish them the best!

Honeymoon Part II

On our second night in Maui, I thought that it would be fun to go on a dinner sunset sail. Good thing is that once you are on the boat it is all you can eat and drink, so I thought we would get our money's worth and have a fun dinner...so I was wrong. Carlos laughs at me, apparently I am not made for sailing because I was so green about 20 minutes into the sail =( Which meant I ate 5 bites of the food before I realized that food was not going to help me at all in this situation. Miserably I sat at the front of the boat staring down the horizon for the remainder of the HOUR AND A HALF sail. It was a rough night. Below is a picture of us when we FIRST got on the boat and I was still very excited!!About 3 miles from our resort was the town of Lahina which had great places to eat and shop. We went there several mornings for breakfast and lunch. Here as you can read for yourself, they had Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. While we did not eat there, I had to take a picutre. Sorry for the sweaty getup I'm wearing...I had to get a few runs in while I was away =)

Picutre of the sunrise on our morning at the top of the volcano.

Just another pretty picture of Maui!

On our last day, we visited the Aquarium. The fish were very colorful and the hammerhead sharks were neat to see. One of them attacked the glass where Carlos was standing...guess they are not a big fan of him. Fun fact we learned while there - all of the fish that were in the aquarium were found within 5 miles. I don't know, I thought it was kindof neat

So, we already are trying to figure out when the best time to go back would be. The way we see it is since we had our honeymoon in Maui, we will have to celebrate with an anniversary at some point =) Carlos thinks we could save accordingly and go for our 1 year anniversary...guess you never know!

Happy Birthday Alex

Yesterday on Veteran's Day, Alexander Thomas turned 3 years old! It is always fun as a mother know to think back about the day your child was born. I remember looking at the clock a little after 7:00 am and thinking "3 years ago I was already at the hospital, checked in, and laying in a bed awaiting Alex's arrival." It is just fun to remember all the little things regarding such a BIG day.
Our family always goes out to dinner for Birthdays. The Birthday girl/boy gets to pick where they want to eat. I had thought about mentioning Chuck E Cheese to Alex, but since we did have a birthday party for him last Saturday, I thought we would just make it a dinner only kind of event. We went to Texas Roadhouse, he likes that as much as any other restaurant. Really, as long as a restaurant serves grilled cheese and applesauce, he is a happy camper! Our server got up on a chair and announced to the entire restaurant that Alex was celebrating his 3rd birthday, and everyone gave him a big "Yee Haw" shout. He wasn't so sure what to think at first, but in the end he loved it! Mom had him a cookie cake with Lightning McQueen on it. We sang Happy Birthday to him, he sang to himself as well and then he blew his candles out. In his hand in this picture below is a toy Captain Jack Sparrow...he loves pirates!

Marisa was helping him open his presents. Here he got a Mr. Potato Head that came with the accessories to dress him up as a pirate. He also got a lot of toy cars and trucks...most of them make loud noises and flash....Carlos thinks that the batteries in those toys will not remain in the toy for very long =)

I think Alex had a great day! I enjoyed celebrating his birthday with him and the family. Happy Birthday Alex!!

Honeymoon Part I

Our time in Maui was so much fun!!! As you can already tell my the title of this post, there will be a Part II because I took enough pictures to make it more than one post. This was our first night in Maui...we just watched the cliff diver at sunset and took a self photo...honestly some of our best pictures are ones that we have taken of ourselves. It was a long flight...9 1/2 hours to be exact but worth it. During our honeymoon, we were already talking about our next return trip to the island...can't wait! Here we are again...the happy couple!

We both agree, one of the BEST things we did while in Maui was getting up at 3:00am (Ok well that wasn't so great) and driving up to the top of a dormant volcano to watch the beautiful sunrise. It was about 40 degrees 10,000 feet above sea level, hence the warm bomber jackets we were provided. After the sun was up, we then got to cruise down the volcano by bike. It really was neat. At one point we were biking past cows that were right by the road doing cowlike things (Beth I thought of you). By the time we were back down to sea level, it was hot and I was back down to my tank top. It was a great day! I guess I should have taken my helmet off for the photo..oh well.

We stayed at the Maui Sheraton Resort. At our beach to the right was below, Black Rock. This is where the cliff diver dove into the ocean every night at sunset. We also snorkeled one morning by the rock. The fish were so colorful and would swim right up to meet you. It was another neat experience. I had problems with my $10 snorkel set that kept leaking =( And the water was a bit on the cold side, but I'm not complaining because I was in Hawaii!!!

Obviously I like this picture a lot! It is at the bottom of my blog. But I really did take this picture (No, it's not a post card). This was the view from our hotel!

Ok, so I still have more pictures and stories to share about our time in Maui. Stay tuned!!

My Wedding Day

Here are a few pictures from the wedding that Hayden took. I am hoping to get in touch with my photographer this week and get my pictures from her. However, until then these will be a sneak peek!! Here is Carlos waiting for my entrance. He looks very handsome =0)


Marisa & Alex. Notice the car in Alex's hand...we had a couple of these we used for bribery. Also marshmallows proved to be very effective in getting him to cooperate that evening.

~*~ The Kiss~*~

WE DID IT!!! Some of you had been waiting for this for a long time...5 1/2 years to be exact. In my opinion, it was totally worth the wait!

My Cake!!! Loved my strawberry and almond pound cake...delicious. And it looked amazing!!

In my opinion, the wedding was a total success. We did have a few obstacles to overcome thruoghout the process, but in the end it was all worth it. And now I am married to a great guy and have the 2 best kids in the world! I can not wait to see what life has in store for us, and more importantly I can't wait to do it together with my family!!

I would also like to say a very special thank you to my mom, dad & Kris. Without you guys, a lot of this would not have been possible and every thing you did to help did not go unnoticed. Carlos and I will forever be grateful to you all!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! We love you always!

Gretel!!

I realize everyone is waiting for wedding pictures...I promise they are on their way. My sister, who I am likely to refer to as Dr. Chapman, found us a new member of our family yesterday. Her name is Gretel and she is 4 months old. Carlos and I have talked about getting a dog once we get a new house with a fenced backyard, but when Beth called about Gretel we just couldn't say no. Gretel is a black and tan long haired miniature dachshund. Currently she weighs 4 1/2 pounds and Beth does not think she will get much bigger. We are so excited!!! Carlos was a little hesitant, only because he think a puppy will be a lot of work right now on my part since Alex is too little to take care of her. Marisa has totally agreed to help with feeing times and walking Gretel. Either way, she is pretty darn cute and will be with us in about 2 weeks when Beth is home for Thanksgiving!! Beth is giving her to us as a wedding gift!!!! She is the best sister and I know she will take great care of our newest addition until we welcome her into our home. Here are a few picutes Beth sent to us.