Happy Birthday Chapman!

Saturday was Chapman's 1st birthday, & he had such a fun & busy day to celebrate! It all started with the Penuel tradition of waking the birthday boy wearing crazy hats! He got to wear a hat & open one present in bed :)

































Next came a birthday doughnut breakfast...yummy!!

















Chapman was lucky because he was able to have his party on his actual birthday! We had a "ball-themed" party, including a ball pit, basketball, soccer & football. I had so much fun decorating the yard for his guests!

















































The food was all "ball-shaped", including cheeseballs, melon balls, grapes, cherry sours, & some fun "kid-friendly" party mix.

















Thanks to sweet Amy Hulme for the precious cake & cupcakes...aren't they the cutest?

















Someone was still snoozing when his guests started to arrive, but he quickly woke up & put on his birthday t-shirt from EmTanner designs!

















The guests had fun playing basketball, soccer, football, & of course, the ball pit. I think the birthday boy spent most of the time in there.
















































































Sweet friends...

















Time for cupcakes & singing!!

































Finally, Chapman got to open some fun presents & have a cook-out with the family.

















My little one-year old was tuckered out, so he went right to sleep after his fun-filled day.

We love you sweet Chapman!!

Busy, busy, busy!!

Mama Bloggers Playgroup

I decided to do a giant post to catch you up on the Penuels over the past few weeks. We have had lots of fun things going on, & Chapman has managed to stay quite busy!!

* Chapman's sweet buddy Hudson had a birthday. It was "Huntin' & Fishin'", & Chapman had so much fun playing in the ball pit with his friends!

* We had an 80's Skate Party to kick off the year for the Sr. Highers. Everyone looked awesome, & yes, I am actually still sporting a bruise from a tumble I took out in the skate rink! It was really fun & brought back some memories...remember racing, the dice/number game & limbo?!!

* We went out to the lake with our Leader's team to refresh & regroup before the new school year. It was great to be out on the lake & do some tubing. I also got some good time alone with the Lord...we were challenged & encouraged to check our lives & see where we are with the Lord & where we need to be.

* Summer hosted a playgroup for some mama bloggers on Monday. Chapman got to see some old buddies and meet some new ones!! Thanks for the fun idea Summer & Blake :)

* We had our normal playgroup over at Quinn's. Chapman LOVED Quinn's red car...and Quinn introduced him to Boz the singing bear!!

* David & I went to the American Idol concert!! It was total greatness...our favorite performance was Michael Johns!

* We had a fun day of shopping & playing with Aunt Jen & cousin Claire yesterday at Watters Creek in Allen. Jen & I bought LOTS of hand soap at the B & Body Works sale!

We have LOTS of fun pics. Click below to see the slideshow.

Click here to see.

Splash Splash

Earlier this evening, Chapman took off down the hall like he always does. Normally, I have closed all doors so we can keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, this time I forgot one. When David & I heard a faint splashing, this is what we found...







You might be judging me right now, but take heart, I had actually just deep cleaned this very bathroom earlier in the day! Still gross, I know.

The bright side...he was having such a great time!!! (until I whisked him away to disinfect)

Stanley beats Phyllis!

On a recent trip to NYC David bought "The Office" trivia for us to play. We both love games, so tonight we hung out on our back patio with the monitor & tried to remember our favorite quotes, scenes, episodes, etc. I was Stanley & David was Phyllis...proud to say that Stanley WON!! I was the first to collect all 6 colored Dundies AND was wearing the "Support the Rabid" bracelet.



Maybe next time, Phyllis!

Sweet Roomies...

This weekend I got to spend time with some of my dear friends down in Dallas. Joanna, Becca & I lived together after college for a year & we just loved being roommates!!

Becca & Saleem are back in Dallas after living in Indiana & Philly, and Jo was able to come in from Oklahoma. She left her sweet little boy, Reese, with her husband for the weekend. We planned some good "girly" things to do like lounging by the pool, enjoying some fun spa treatments, watching a few chick flicks & getting dressed up to go out to eat!

I love these precious friends, and it was so wonderful to get to catch up on life, drink coffee, sleep in, take lots of silly pictures & just be together!

Thanks to Becca for letting us stay at your gorgeous apartment & to Saleem for getting "kicked out" & letting the girls have such a great weekend!

Click here for some pics.

Kitchells' Visit...

So sorry that I have not posted in awhile. I feel like our lives have been kind of crazy - here & there - in & out of town. I will try & catch you up on the life of the Penuels little by little!

I will start with our trip to Wichita Falls. Chapman & I went to Grammy & Poppi's because my cousin, Dawn, came to visit with her three precious kids...Bailey, Tate & Aubree. We don't get to see them very often, so it was SO much fun to spend a few days catching up, swimming, eating snowcones & playing Wii (of course).

My sweet cousin Bailey & I had so much fun hanging out together...she gave me a beautiful french manicure & we took lots of fun pics on her iPhone :) Love you Bailey!!

Oh yeah...and Chapman got a fun new haircut!!

Click here for some pics from the visit.

Catching Up...

I haven't blogged in awhile & I wanted to catch you up on some of the recent happening in the Penuel family...enjoy!

• Claire's Birthday
• Breakaway Camp
• High School Musical
• Cousins are the BEST!!

Cousins are the BEST!!

As I have said before, Chapman LOVES his cousin, Claire, & she loves him right back. We spent a few nights over there this past week & I tried to capture some cute "cousin" moments. It is so neat that they are close in age & it will continue to be fun for years to come...

Here are some special cousin moments...

playing with some toys...


their sippy's...so cute!


eating dinner together (notice the matching bibs!)


singing "Wheels on the Bus"


I think we can escape if we go at the same time!


"I hold Chappy!"


bathtime!!


jammies...


We had so much fun!! Thank you Aunt Jen :)

High School Musical!

My friend Megan had tickets to "High School Musical" - the actual musical - & invited me to go along on Wednesday night! I was so excited & we had such a fun night! First, we ate yummy dinner at Pei Wei, then headed down to Fair Park, fighting the traffic of people heading to the Jonas Brothers concert, which was also down near Fair Park on the same night - crazy! We had a blast & the show was awesome...thanks Megs!!

Dinner at Pei Wei...


So Excited in the Car!


I love HSM!!

Breakaway Camp...

This past week, David was asked to speak at a junior high camp up near Westminster, north of McKinney. Chapman & I decided to tag along to make it a fun, family trip. The camp was really new & nice...we were so impressed with all of the facilities.

We stayed in "Teacher Cabin 2" & I was transported back to my old Kanakuk/Pine Cove days when I crawled into my bunk bed to sleep the first night...that's right! Bunk bed!! Chapman & I ended up only staying the first 2 nights & then headed for a sleepover with Aunt Jen & Claire. Before we left, we loved watching David speak (he was awesome) & swimming in the lake & the pool.

I am so proud of my husband & the incredible gift he has for really connecting with junior high kids through his talks :) Great job sweetie!

I did a TERRIBLE job taking pictures, but here are a few...

Chapman & Daddy in our cabin!

The fun pool...

Lounging by the pool - splashing!

Happy Birthday Claire!

Chapman's sweet cousin Claire turned 2 at the end of June. We had a family cook-out over at the Nelson's & Claire opened all of her fun presents! We sure love our precious niece/cousin :)

Click here for a few pictures!

Arkansas Bound!

This past week, Chapman & I took a road trip up to Fort Smith, AR to visit some of my dearest friends, Kathryn & Cody Friddle. Chapman got to play with his precious friends, Ellie (almost 2) & Sam (4 months).

We had so much fun at the Friddle's. Kat & I loaded Chapman's carseat into their car so we had 3 baby carseats spread across the backseat - hilarious! The first night we headed to the pool to swim. Ellie & Chapman had a blast in the baby pool. Sam decided to just snooze in his carrier :)

Cody is a dentist in Fort Smith, and he opened a satellite office in Van Buren, AR (a nearby town). We got to go to the grand opening & official "ribbon-cutting" ceremony of Center for Smiles in Van Buren. The office looked awesome & we had delicious cookies & lemon bars to munch on.

I LOVED getting the chance to see my sweet friend & catch up :) It is crazy to think that we are both mommies now!! I can't wait until we get to see them again :)

Click here for some pics from our trip.

So sad...

...Babystyle in Northpark is CLOSING!! One of my favorite "trendy baby" stores...oh well, I got some awesome 50% off deals at their closing sale :)

Breck '08

The Penuels are finally back from our week of traveling. Chapman & I drove with my family up to Breckenridge, CO last Saturday & Sunday. Chapman did great in the car...not much sleeping, but LOTS of looking at toys & throwing them down next to his carseat. David flew up on Sunday after church to join us at the beautiful cabin that my dad rented up on Peak 7 in Breckenridge.

The place was so awesome & we had such a fun time with family. There was a talent show, fly-fishing, outlet mall shopping, lots of games, good meals, swimming, Wii Mario Cart & lots of picture-taking!! It even snowed on Poppi's birthday!

Chapman LOVES his cousins Madeline, Jack & Claire & he got a taste of being the youngest of 4 children!

Thanks so much to Grammy & Poppi for planning such a wonderful vacation!

Click here for a slideshow of pictures.

Group Pictures...Then & Now

I absolutely love our playgroup! Today we met at Kara & Tanner's & let the boys play, play & PLAY! They were fascinated with the baby gate & loved when Brittney made bubbles. We, of course, tried our best to get a pic of the ones who were there (We missed you Hudson!). I was laughing at the mommies as we tried to get them to sit still when 4 of the 5 are walking & they are scooting ALL over the place. Here is what the group picture looked like back in November...it was quite a different story.

Reid, Hudson, Chapman & Tanner (missing Quinn & Porter)















And here are the boys today...

Reid, Porter, Tanner, Chapman & Quinn (missing Hudson)















So much fun...what blessings they are!! What a difference a few months can make!

Click here for a few more pictures from the day.

Week-end in Austin

The Penuels traveled to Austin this past week-end to celebrate David's dad's birthday. We ate at fun restaurants like PF Chang's & Hula Hut, and Chapman enjoyed his first swim!! He wasn't sure of the water at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly & played in his floatie.

He was such a good traveler & had fun getting to see Hoosier!


Click here for some pictures.

Where's my Cheerio?? I JUST had it!!