Halloween Haunting at its best

Our family Halloween photo. A skater, monster, princess pirate, angel and doctor. (You can guess who is who.) What a crew!

Our little pumpkin. . . fully equipped with a bright shining smile!

Our little "mousy" and little angel

Trunk or treating at the church. Maleia opted for the "Princess Pirate" costume that Haley wore last year. . . Pirate with a tu-tu.

Phew! What a crazy Halloween Day. Cute Chapman boys all tuckered out.

Halloween = free candy. And who doesn't like free candy?! We did go trick or treating and had to avoid all the lawns with scary decorations, had to pick up the girls when they saw older kids in their masks and bloody faces, and had to run away from a house that had scary music and fog coming from it. Okay, so Halloween isn't all fun and games, but at least my girls earned their candy. Phew! Maleia would have been fine with the first sucker she got. . . that's all she ate all night anyway. And Haley was done shortly after we saw (more like ran like the dickens away from) the house with the scary music. :) After 30 minutes of hard labored trick-or-treating, we were on the way to a friend's house for dinner and Haley asked, "What does "tricker" mean?" I gave a stammering explanation of how we are asking people to give us a trick or a treat. "But I just want a treat,"responds my intuitive 4 year old. And all I had to say was, "Well, it's a good thing that we went to all the nice houses, then." Then she added, "maybe it's a trick when they give us yucky candy or don't come to the door when we ring the doorbell." -Maybe we need a lesson on gratitude. :)

Dylan is Solid!

We just LOVE having this boy around home. We don't think of him as chubby. We call him "SOLID!" He gained 3 lbs. in 3 weeks! He is now a whopping 11 lbs. 4 oz!

A little piece of Heaven

Haley stepped foot in the water and that was pretty much it. She loved the pools and preferred the sand castle making and sea shell searching to the ocean wave jumping.

Maleia wasn't a fan of the feeling of sand on her feet at first. (Poor child deprived of beaches.) But became an avid beach bum in minutes.

Major hottie that I picked up at the beach. Too bad he's married. :) Okay, so he's already mine.

We stayed at a super villa . Dylan enjoyed the rest and relaxation along with the rest of us.

This is one of my favorite silly pics of the week. The two girls in the middle with "gobbles" on (as Maleia would say it) are mine! :) (You really need to click on the picture to get the full effect.)

Hilton Head, SC is a marvelous place to visit. It has the best beach I have ever been to. (And I have been to plenty of beaches.) Our Chapman family reunion was a big hit with everyone involved. No casualties, camera losses, or memorable quarrels. Not that I expect these things, but there really wasn't anything too bad about this trip at all. We saw Savannah, rode bikes all around the Island, the boys played golf, we swam in the numerous pools and hot tubs surrounding the resort, and played Karaoke Revolution until we knew many of the songs by heart and groaned when the kids wanted to sing them over and over again. :) It was a true vacation away from the hectic to-dos and got to know each other better. Not to mention my brother-in-law and I won the 1st annual Reid Chapman Bowling Championship and even got a trophy. (Thanks Ash) Dylan was pretty spoiled being held almost every second he was awake (and asleep for that matter) so I am trying to get him into a schedule and learning that I can do a lot with one hand. sigh. The count down until next reunion has already started! 6 months! Utah or Bust!

My Maleia

Okay so I love having a blog about each one of my kiddos. They are just the best kids in the world. (No bias here, promise.)

When, My Maria, a song from Brooks and Dunn, comes on in the car, Haley, Maleia, and I belt out, "My Maleia!" instead of Maria, so it will forever remind me of my little rascal. Her favorite song right now is the "Jungle song" and wants us to sing it nightly as a family before bedtime which we horribly sing and giggle when we sing, "A weeeeeeeeeeee, a bumba way!" She is the happiest, mellowest child who seriously is happy 90% of the time. Other than being easy going, she is also our most mischievous. She wondered off two blocks away on Mother's Day and can be out of sight in three seconds. She is just a wonderer. Not deliberately disobedient, but just curious. Everyone thinks of her being more like me when I was her age.

Her love of pigs is absolutely adorable. She has this plastic Little People pig that she has held onto endearingly since she could crawl. We got her some soft pigs so she could cuddle with them better, but she sticks with her #1 plastic pig. She calls him "Piggy Piiiiiiggy." Instead of saying "peek-a-boo" she says, "Piggy Boo." Oh, and she won't eat meat if she knows it comes from a pig. . . she might have some sort of innate connection with pigs, who knows. :) Her favorite books are those with pigs in it. On "Old MacDonald's Farm" there are only pigs to her. And she will find a pig wherever we go making the sound through her mouth, not nose, which neither Brandon nor I can replicate.

She also loves Cookie Monster and says his name in a gruff voice. In fact whenever she sings the ABC's, at the end she says, "next time won't you sing with Cookie Monster!" We have Sesame Street diapers and gets a little disappointed if you give her anything but Cookie Monster.

Being 2 means that it's that time to start potty training, so I mentioned it to her the other day. When I said it was time to potty train, she yelled, "I want to go on the choo-choo Potty train!" I think she's in for a big surprise!

Haley Renee

When "Wasted," a song from Carrie Underwood, comes on in the car, Haley proclaims, "It's Carrie's Underwood! Which aunt is this one?" Poor girl. We have three Carries in our family (all spelled differently, and one is even an uncle) so she gets a little confused. Anyway, this song reminds me of her since I often catch her singing it around home, on key and with inflection. Also, she loves the song, "Buttercup Baby" and wants me to listen to her sing it when it's on in the car. She is an amazing singer by the way. She even has a vibrato and remembers the words better than I do. Let's see, more about Haley: She has just the right amount of natural curl that puts her hair in soft ringlets, she has a dimple when she smiles that melts your heart. She shrugs her shoulders, tries not to smile, and rolls her eyes, but you can totally see her dimple and a grin, when you compliment her. She is a ham in front of the camera and extremely photogenic. She has gone through phases of poses in front of the camera: the wide mouthed smile, the tilted head/shoulder to her cheek smile, the shy closed-mouthed grin extenuating her dimple, and now it's the head tilted to the side and eyebrows up smile. My little goober girl. She is my most cautious child and wouldn't even think about leaving a 10 foot radius of me. Which stems from her "worry gene" that we like to think she got from a most wonderful Stephanie Chapman. Speaking of Chapmans, we also feel she is intrinsically linked to her aunt Carrie Chapman with her clean-freak mentality, her fascination with wearing skirts, dress ups, and makeup, her hair and being so photogenic, her Diva-like tantrums, (with love Carrie, love) ADORABLE feet and hands, her tender thoughtfulness, smartness, perfectionism, singing ability, and eating habits.I think everyone can appreciate someone who likes things in order. Haley will not go to bed without her room being spotless. Though we thought this was just one of her many procrastination and stalling tactics, she will quietly sneak out of bed to put something back in its place even without us noticing until the next morning. She knows where things go and likes to do them. This is definitely a talent that she picked up from Brandon who gets giddy when something needs to be organized and does an impeccable job doing it by the way. We find out more and more reasons she is like Carrie every time we are around her. And what a remarkable person to be like! She has an amazing crafty side that I have to think came from my mother. Haley worries about everyone and Maleia makes everyone worry.

American Idol 2022 here we come! :)

Prayer

Maleia found out that praying all by herself is pretty fun and I find it pretty precious. Though some times she just looks around the room and blesses everything she sees, she surprises me more often than not. Today she blessed the beach and hungry people. (Bless the hungry and the needy.) The other day she blessed squished bugs and the ground hogs that eat mommy's garden. (Bless our enemies.) And I loved it when she blesses Heavenly Father. She does have a little Chapman in her because when she ends her prayer, she yells, "Ah-men!" Like a favorite grandpa of hers! :)

Monkey see, Monkey do

It's quite amazing what our kids pick up from us. Maleia's favorite words are "bummer" and "darn it." Haley puts her hands on her hips and points her finger. (Brandon!! jk) Okay, totally me. Maleia will put all her dolls in timeout and tell them that they can't get out of timeout until "they are good 'zamples." (That's what I say to Haley.) Haley gives the mom look at Brandon when she doesn't like what he is doing. (Sorry Brandon) It's always a riot to watch them play "mother and baby." Haley told Maleia the other day that she "can't do anything until you eat your da-gusting vegtables." It's bitter sweet when you vent to your parents what your kids are doing because most of the time they either just laugh, tell you that reminds them of you, or say, "hmm, sounds familiar," and laugh some more. That's not fair! I'm looking for sympathy, not a symphony of laughter.

Mothers and Mothers-in-law . . . priceless

Dylan? Say cheese! Did I mention that this lady is a grandmother of 16 grandchildren?

Notice my garden? I have gardened. I am a gardener. Dylan? Still asleep. . . usually he would be screaming in this thing.

There you are Dylan. . . now look at the camera! Way cute smile Stephanie! Yes, all three kids are wearing "cougar shirts."

There's nothing like a grandma who reads to her grandkids.

I feel like I can do my own credit card commercial. Ticket to come visit daughter/son: $200. Buying baby stuff for daughter/son: $100 Having your mother/mother-in-law here to help right after a baby is born: priceless. I felt a little spoiled having them here in consecutive weeks and I wasn't sure that I could do everything without them after they had left, but they have given me a hand in adjusting and feeling confident I will be just fine. PLUS, the food they made was outstanding. Wow! I will have to post some of my favorite recipes from them because they are so dang good. Pies, Scotcheroos, Boston Creme Cake, and Banana Bread. (to name a few) It is funny how I go throughout pregnancy abhorring anything sweet, (much to my family's dismay because making dessert becomes detesting) but once I have my baby, I'm all about the sweets! And how sweet it is to have family come and help out. (Nice connection, huh?) That is the bummer about living here: being too far away from our family.

Delight (1 month old today!)

Dylan has been smiling in the mornings the past two days. Not the "gassy, I am full and content smile," but the "I am happy to see you and I love you smile." Today each member of the family got a turn to hold him and see a pinky gummed smile. It's fun to watch each one of my girls interact with Dylan. Haley laughs at him, talks to him like he's a good friend she's had for years, thinks he is teasing her when he grabs her hair, and gives a play-by-play of what she thinks he is trying to say. Maleia has to get within centimeters of his face and talk to him in a high pitched voice while moving her head back and forth. When she says, "Dylan" it sounds more like "Doin'." He has been sleeping a little more at night, is a little more content during the day, and I am getting a little big more used to having three children.

Fabulous 5

5 things I say:
1. Holy Cow or Holy Buckets
2. Bummer
3. Hey bay-ba!
4. Sweet, Cool, Sho Nuf, or Rad
5. For the love!

5 places I want to visit before going over seas:
1. Utah
2. New York
3. Mexico
4. Ocean City (yes Brandon!)
5. Hilton Head (2 weeks to go. . .)

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Thank-you notes
2. Finish a scrapbook layout for my class
3. Cook something for dinner
4. Work on a baby blanket
5. Actually send the thank-you notes

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Invest for retirement
2. Buy a wii
3. Invest for kids college/missions
4. Save for a house
5. Buy a Cafe Rio franchise :)

5 things I will always keep in my style
1. BANANA CLIPS RULE! (Thanks for the $1 Lucy!)
2. Dangly earrings
3. Long hair
4. Capris
5. Flip flops (aka thongs :)

5 favorite toys:
1. Balls (soccer, volley, tennis, basket, ping-pong, bocce, foot, etc.)
2. Computer
3. Boat
4. Dirt Bikes (off-road motorcycles)
5. Cricut (scrapbooking machine)

Tag, you are it! Now I want you to do this too. So fun.