Chapman family gets a 4th generation

A pretty epic event happened for the Chapman family this year.  David's parents became great-grandparents in January when oldest grandchild, Jenifer, provided the first cousin offspring.  We were excited to be able to pass down some baby girl things to her and hoped we would get to meet her while she was still a little baby.

Jenifer was really sweet and arranged Everley's blessing date for a weekend that we could drive to Phoenix to attend.  David's parents, of course, wanted to meet their first great-grandchild too. So, we rented a sweet ride that would hold us all (a minivan that would be the envy of our church friends) and made a 36 hour (total) trek to AZ at the end of spring break.  We got up early on Saturday morning, made the drive, and spent a few hours Saturday night with David's brother (John) and family.  They had a really nice family dinner at Jenifer's in-laws' home (aka magazine-worthy resort home.)  And Harriet and I got to have some more baby time.

 (Girls playing in the swimming pool area of the backyard.)

Grandma meets Everley

Grandpa gets the super-sweet-baby-toe end of the deal.  He got his turn later.

 The proud Great-Grandparents

4 generations:  Barbara & Earl; John; Jenifer; Everley

Even though the girls swam in the hotel pool until midnight, the early Sunday morning blessing made it convenient to have time for church AND a drive home in the same day.  (Grace had district testing at school so we had to get back quick.)  Everley was dressed in a really beautiful dress that Jenifer had made.  It happened to be St. Patrick's Day and Jen cleverly included green ribbon in the white dress.  It was seriously, so cute and pretty.  I am jealous of people who have grand home-making skills and enjoy sewing.   

As I sat in the back of the minivan driving home, I snapped a few shots of the Arizona desert.  For some reason, I always picture it being drier than NM since Phoenix gets so much hotter than Albuquerque.  In reality, they do get more rain and their landscape is much greener (at least in March!)  NM is bone dry and completely brown right now, so this looked almost tropically lush to me.  There were thousands of wildflowers everywhere, and the palm trees in the city were totally gorgeous.  

I also cannot get over the huge Saguaro cacti and how they grow like trees in a forest.

That was quite a quick but fun weekend trip to Phoenix.  I can see why people go there for the winter.  But, count me out for the summer.

Spring Break with Sloan

Harriet had been counting the days until Sloan would come more seriously than she does Christmas.  She LOVES her new baby cousin to pieces.  She prayed every night for weeks that he would come soon and have a safe flight to ABQ.  She got her wish!  Grandma, Aunt Jess, and Sloan brought a fun spring break trip to us.  I love getting to hang out with each of my sisters and it's always great to see my mom and get to take her places.

First on the list:  birthday party for Jessica (and Grace, because, well, she hasn't had her fingers in enough birthday parties this month.)

It was really fun for Grace to get to play her Lego Harry Potter Game with Grandma since it was Grandma who had sent it for her birthday.

And, then baby-holding time.  Lots and lots of it.  Still we didn't get enough and we want him back!

Harriet was a little disappointed that he can't be held when he is awake now.  He is getting too big and too active.  But, look at that wry grin.  Watch out.  He is going to be trouble!

Then, he decided to just be a kid and play in the playroom like everyone else.  I can't believe he can sit in this chair already.

 We took Sloan on a kid tour of the ABQ.  He got his first trip to the aquarium, complete with traditional cousin picture in front of the coral reef.

I wish I could have gotten a good video of him watching the sharks in the shark tank.  He was mesmerized.  

 Then, he got to meet the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.  I was amazed at how much he really looked at everything and seemed to love being in all these places with cool things to see.

Of course, we had to stop at Old Town for a pretty church pic and some treats at the Candy Lady.

 And, I guess he's not quite big enough for this swing.  We had to try out the random remaining baby things we still have.  This one was not a hit.  Plus, he got an ABQ sunburn on his little cheeks in about 5 minutes.

Harriet got tons of Grandma time too.  She really really loves her Grandma.  She always sleeps in Grandma's bed at least one night when they are together.  But this time, she slept in Grandma's bed every single night.  The two of them would hit the hay with their books and book-lights and sit in bed and read forever every night.  I should have taken a picture of the two of them reading in bed, but mom would probably kill me if I posted a picture of her in jammies on the internet anyway.

The cutest thing was that the second night they were here, Sloan was getting super fussy at dinner time.  David walked in the door from riding his bike home, right in the middle of us all trying to make dinner, and just took the baby from us.  He instantly stopped fussing and hung out with sweaty Uncle David for longer than he had let anyone else hold him that day.  I guess it's a guy thing.

What a cute little kiddo.  We hope we get to see him again soon!  Thanks for making our spring break so fun!

another round of March birthday-ness

David and Grace got to celebrate together at a family party with David's family.  They both love a red velvet cake.  Too bad Grace spilled the beans and told dad it had trick candles on it.

Grace's big gift from us this year was The Complete Calvin and Hobbes book set.  I still can't believe that's what she asked for her 10th birthday, but she really really wanted it.  She's already read 3 of the books, I think.  Funny kid.

David's big birthday wish was to have a meat-fest with his fellow carnivore (Grace) at Tucanos.  They looked SO forward to it for weeks, and then Grace was too sick with allergies the night we were supposed to go.  So, after much waiting, they finally got their meat night.  We had to eat vegetarian for days afterwards to make up for it.  Holy meat!

Cheers with Brazilian lemonades to finish it off.  Happy Birthday, you two!

Climbing her way to 10

Grace wanted to do something BIG for her 10th birthday party.  We always do birthday parties at home, so we told her she could go somewhere cool with her friends for the big 1-0.  Originally she wanted to go kayaking (she's wanted to go back ever since our family reunion trip down the river last summer.)  But, March just isn't quite kayaking weather.  So, she settled on a climbing party .

I totally see why people fork out the dough to do parties at other venues.  It is soooo easy.  Wow, all I had to do was prepare party favors and make the cake.  No cleaning the house, no making sure I had enough activities, no decorating, no managing chaos, no clean-up afterwards... total breeze.  It ended up working really well with our other weekend plans too since we didn't get home from skiing until Friday night and didn't have much time before the party on Saturday.

Here's a little photo tour of the day, starting with the cake.  Grace loves my fondant cakes and still insists that I make her birthday cake from scratch.  We decided to make a red-rock formation.  It was such an easy cake to make - so forgiving.  Dent in the cake?  No worries, add more and make it look like a weathered boulder.  Fondant cracked when you lifted it onto the cake?  Even better!  Now it looks like a crack in the rock.  Cake tipping to one side?  Fantastic!  Have you ever seen a perfectly upright rock anyway?  I made the fondant ahead of time since it keeps well and then made the cake fresh Friday night and decorated it Saturday morning.  We added little rock candies to it for detail and then decorated the top when we got to the gym.

Grace

Aiden

Ethan

I was so impressed and happy that Grace got to the top several times!

Grace's friend, Kayla, was also impressive.  She was fearless and fast.  We timed her on this climb.  She got to the top in 1 minute 14 seconds.  Little monkeys!

Dallin and Grace

Harriet, Kayla, Ethan

Kayla, Christian, Grace, Harriet

Grace, making it to the top of the rope-less boulder

Christian

I ended up with so many cute pictures of Harriet.  She tended to stay low, which meant I could see her face.  She was afraid of heights and didn't do much on the ropes and just stayed in the bouldering areas where you free climb.  She's definitely stronger than I am.  

Well, Happy 10th Birthday, Grace!  That was sure a fun party.  I actually enjoyed the entire thing.  The staff at Stone Age were awesome, the kids were all super great, the party room was bright and nice, and climbing proved to be a perfect activity for a bunch of kids on a birthday.  

Sent 'em home with a bag of edible rocks as a party favor.