Merry Christmas from the Chapins

Here is a little taste of our Christmas Day. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Luke loves his new Buzz costume...

...except it really itches!
Jackson and his remote control boat. No, not a dachshund.
I love Luke's face. I'm not sure what's got him all excited, but he's happy! Over at Aunt Donna's and Uncle David's

I had no say in the acquisition of this!

Letter to Santa

Jackson brought home from school this letter to Santa. I thought it was so cute, funny and typical of my wonderful 7 year old I wanted to share. I have corrected the spelling for your reading ease.

Dear Santa,

Merry Christmas! I have been a good boy this year. I want a few things this year. First, I want a robot dog. Next, I want a dachshund. Finally, I want a remote control boat.

P.S. Eat the cookies

Sincerely, Jackson

I was going to ask Jackson why a dachshund? Then I found this Christmas wish in his backpack and my question was answered.

My Christmas wish is to get a dachsund. One reason this is my
Christmas wish is because I like dogs. Another reason this is my wish is because some dogs are funny. Santa can make my wish come true by putting it next to my bed.

Never Trust a Quiet Toddler!

I think these pictures say it all. I figured I could freak out like I normally do or use it as blog material, so I ran for the camera. Just so you know, I was not laughing as I went for the camera.
Notice the empty toilet paper roll. It was full before the below incident. On the up side, could this possibly be step one towards potty training? At least he knows where the paper goes.

How to Catch a Turkey - a story by Jackson

How do you cach a turkey?
First, you find the turkey you want. Then,
take a bow and arow. After that, showt
it in it's intestins! Yum! Yum! Yum!

(there was no editing done by a mom in this reproduction.)

Thanksgiving with the Chapins

We had a nice low key Thanksgiving this year with Mark's sister Jill and niece Amber. Here are some pictures of our festivities.

Here is Luke at the kids table. Notice the place setting cards supplied by Grandma Chapin (the kids loved them!)

Here we have the whole gang at out decked out table. That's my Hershey Kiss centerpiece in the middle that Jackson made for my birthday.

This is a video of Savanna singing a turkey song she learned in Kindergarten. If it looks like she's crying it's because there was "something in her eye." At least that's what she told me.

Great Recipe

I tried this recipe from the free Kraft Food & Family magazine I get in the mail and loved it. It tasted great and has a great presentation. Super for impressing guests. The only thing I may try next time is substituting the Ritz crackers with Italian bread crumbs but the crackers were fine. Hope you like it.

Chicken Parmesan Bundles

If you don't get this magazine in the mail I think there is a link on the web site to get it. It's free and nice to have around when writing a grocery list.

For Grandma

I was attempting to get Liam to make some animal noises for Grandma, but as most of you know kids don't like performing on command, especially with a camera in front of them. I thought this came out pretty cute anyway so this is for you Grandma. The rest of you will just have to suffer throught it :)