Birthdays & Playgroup

We celebrated David's birthday last week-end with the Penuel family tradition of waking up the birthday boy wearing "crazy" hats! The three of us had a blast eating breakfast in bed, then moving into the kitchen for more presents. We sure love Daddy!!

Other events over the past week include a shower for our friends Patrick(Bode) & Ashley, Chapman learning to "army crawl" across the floor, cousin Jack's baseball game, and Chapman's fun playgroup coming to our house. Chapman loves having his little buddies over to play!!

Click here for more pictures.

My Favorite Things (1st post by Alli)

OK, so this is embarrassing. The entire time we have had our blog, I (Alli) have not done a post by myself. David usually handles the technical stuff in the family & I just sit next to him saying "That looks good." , "Add that picture." , etc, etc. Needless to say, my husband is the best!!

I am attempting my first post by listing some of my favorite things (idea stolen from Brittney). So here it goes...

1. Anthropologie



This is my absolute favorite store! The home section has a really cool style & is the perfect place to find gifts. The clothes are really fun (esp. the sale closet). I don't get to buy too often, but the things I have from there are some of my favorites!!

2. Watermark Community Church



I love my church! The people who I have met there are some of the most amazing, authentic people I have ever met. David's time on staff there has been such a blessing to our family. Come visit anytime...www.watermark.org

3. Pajama Pants



I own WAY too many pairs of pj pants, but I don't care!

4. Viva Papertowels



I know. This is a random one. But these papertowels are so soft & when wet, they are perfect for wiping baby food off of sweet little mouths! (I give the credit to my sister...she started me on them)

5. Scrabble



David & I love to play regular Scrabble, but "Rapid Scrabble" or "Fast Scrabble" is a favorite of my family & friends. No board necessary.

6. Gilmore Girls



My sister & I used to get together every Tuesday night for the newest episode of Gilmore Girls. Now, we just go through the DVDs (that's right, we own them all!)

7. Chips & Queso



I think I am ALWAYS in the mood for chips & queso. In Dallas, a few of my favorite quesos are at Chuy's, Mattito's & Tin Star.

8. Flavored Coffee Creamer



I have never been much of a coffee drinker, but if you drown the coffee in Cinnamon Vanilla Cream Creamer, how can you not LOVE it?? At Christmas, we stock up on the Peppermint Mocha flavor.

9. Northpark



Northpark is one of my favorite places. David & I love to go there, eat at the food court, & go see a movie. I also love taking Chapman in the stroller & just walking some laps :) Lots of fun stores & good food.

10. My Boys



David & Chapman are 2 of my favorite people in the entire world...aren't they handsome??

11. "Mark of the Lion" Series



Francine Rivers is an amazing author who wrote the "Mark of the Lion" Series. It consists of 3 books, and if you give them a try, you will be hooked! The first is called A Voice in the Wind.

12. Painting



I used to paint wooden letters for my kindergarten students at the end of each year. Painting is such a relaxing & fun thing for me to do.

13. Blogs



I love reading family blogs...gaining ideas for creative things to do with your kids, reading hilarious stories, keeping up with old friends, & seeing some precious pictures.

Puppy Party!

Chapman's friend Wyatt Smith celebrated his first birthday today with a puppy themed party at the park. All of the guests loved wearing their doggie ears and noses. Chapman had fun hanging out with his friends Cade and Grace (pictured above) even though he was a little sleepy the whole time (that's why we couldn't seem to snap a picture of him smiling). We sure love our little "pup".

Click here for a slideshow of pictures

Chapman's First Haircut!

Last week, we enjoyed another Penuel family first...a professional haircut for Chapman! We headed over to "Cool Cuts" where Chapman sat in a taxi and watched Baby Einstein while the professionals set to work at taming the beast that had grown up on his head. Check out the pictures and we think you'll agree that they did a pretty good job!

Click here for a slideshow of pictures.

Easter Sunday, The Play Group Boys, & Family

The Penuels were back in Dallas for Easter Sunday (pictures) and we attended the 11am service at Watermark. For lack of a better word, the "theme" of the morning was "It Ain't Over Even When It's Over." There were three phenomenal videos shown and two of them can be viewed below.



We especially love the clip above because it features a handful of vocalists from Watermark (Shout outs to Cary Pierce, Sarah Stehlik, Sasha Thomas, Kyle Richardson, Linda Martin, and Charly Thomas)



This past Monday, Alli & Chapman headed off to Play Group in Allen (pictures) where our friend Amy hosted an Easter-themed photo shoot that didn't go off as hoped. For some additional incredible pictures from the shoot, click the picture below...


(L to R) Quinn, Hudson, Chapman, Tanner, Porter, and Reid

Finally, Chapman got a chance last weekend to hang out with his "Great Gran" and great "Aunt Sidney" (pictures) when they came to Dallas for a visit. We spent Saturday evening with them and then they joined us for a great morning at Watermark and an excellent lunch at Cantina Laredo.

Philadelphia & Easter

The Penuels had a fun spring break as we headed off to Philadelphia, PA to visit our friends Saleem & Becca Zafar. Chapman did great on his first plane trip smiling at all of the other passengers and sleeping soundly most of the way. We were a little worried because he was on the mend, recovering from some sort of baby asthma characterized by snot and wheezing and a pretty nice hacking cough. Baby inhalers are not fun for babies.

Philly is a pretty cool tourist spot and we soaked up all the touristy things like the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, the "Rocky Steps", and of course, Philly Cheesesteaks! Chapman slept through most of his first taxi cab ride but was awake when we passed Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls fame) on the sidewalk.

After Philly, we road tripped it to Wichita Falls for some family time with the Lams. Grammy & Poppi got Chapman a new jumper which he loved bouncing in while his cousins made him laugh. One thing Chapman didn't love in the Falls was sleeping through the night. Despite the sleep deprivation, Chapman enjoyed meeting baby Maggie Ketner and playing with his little buddy Reese Wilcox.

We're back in Dallas now, excited about Easter at Watermark and getting back into our "normal" routine.

Click here to view a slideshow of pictures.

February 2008

February was a fun month for the Penuels! Chapman took this month's "cousins picture" for Grammy, enjoyed his wide array of play groups, mastered the art of sitting up, got sucked into American Idol, and ventured to Tyler, TX to hang with the Siscos and meet his "Old Uncle P-Rob" (pictured above - David's freshmen year pot-luck roommate).

Click here to view a slideshow of pictures.

Guitar Hero, Bath Time, and More!

There are several pictures in this bunch that will make you smile and a few that might make you laugh out loud. We took Chapman to Jeff Parker's "Guitar Hero" themed 30th birthday party. Chapman was a generic punk with a killer mohawk, Alli was Hannah Montana, and David was Fake Joe Jonas (from the Fake Jonas Brothers). It's been a little chilly lately so Chapman's been rocking his cool striped hat. He also likes to have his mouth on everything...but who doesn't?

Click here for a slideshow of pictures.

Birthdays, American Girl & Playgroup

February 4th was a celebration of Maddie & Jeff's shared birthday. The next day Maddie and the girls (and Chapman) spent the day doing girlie things at the American Girl store. Next, we hosted Playgroup at our house and Chapman loved having his friends Reid, Quinn, Hudson, and Porter over to play. We missed Tanner though.

You might notice in the pictures that Chapman is working quite a nice combover these days. He's lost a lot of hair on the side and back but the stuff on top is still growing strong. Today was the first day it kind of got in his eyes...how rebellious!

Click here for a slideshow of the latest pictures.

January 2008

This month, Alli helped host a shower for Rebecca Anderson (Now Rebecca Jackson) on Thursday before her wedding. David got a stomach bug on the Friday after that and Alli got it during the wedding on Saturday and had to bow out early. Two weeks, later we're fully recovered. Chapman is as cute as ever and is possibly teething since his streak of sleeping through the night has abruptly ended. Our late night wake up calls may also be due to the fact that Chapman has learned to roll over onto his back but is not yet able to return to his tummy.

Click here for a slideshow of pictures from January 2008

Play Group & Catalina

Chapman has become quite the explorer! He's started reaching for everything and is out to discover all the wonderful things this great big world has to offer. Today, he discovered Catalina dressing, who knows what tomorrow will hold. Oh, and also...he hasn't pooped since Monday.

Click here for a slideshow of pictures from Tuesday's Play Group and the discovery of salad dressing.

Happy New Year!

2008 has already welcomed several firsts for the Penuel family. Chapman suffered his first in-grown toenail, he tried his first taste of rice cereal, and he and Alli spent 5 nights with David away on his first Ski Trip away from the family.

Click here for a short slideshow of pictures from our first few weeks of the New Year.

Christmas Season Pictures

We finally got around to uploading some of the pictures from our Christmas celebrations. We've been all over the place since Christmas! Alli & Chapman had a great time in Wichita Falls last week while David was in Crested Butte on the Watermark Senior High Ski Trip. We're all glad to be back together in Dallas and are excited about the start of a New Year. Happy 2008 everyone!

Click here for a slideshow of pictures.

Chapman's First Christmas

Here is some footage from Chapman's first Christmas. We exchanged gifts with David's family in Dallas and then spent several days with Alli's family in Wichita Falls. Chapman does great on the road! Pictures will be posted right here soon. Enjoy!

Christmas Preparations

Chapman's just chillin' while Mom & Dad are busy shopping for gifts and wrapping them up for Christmas. We've had Christmas parties galore (Small Group, Square One, Student Ministry Leaders, Watermark Staff, etc), visited Santa at the mall, and journeyed with the Nelson family through "Santa's Village" in Richardson.

Click here for a slideshow of our family's latest pics.

3 Months, Bumbo, & Dancing with the Stars

We've been having so much fun with our little guy lately. Chapman has been sleeping so well and has had such a great demeanor both at home and while running around town. He's getting better at controlling his head and has been spending a little more time in his "Bumbo" seat. We've also discovered that Chapman loves Christmas lights and Dancing with the Stars (He was really pumped with Helio & Julianne won - they were his favorites!)

Click here for a slideshow of our latest Chapman-centric pictures.

Thanksgiving and More!

This weekend, we traveled to Bartlesville and Pauls Valley (2 car feedings on the way - only 1 on the way back!) to visit Chapman's Great Grandparents and Great Aunt Vizsh on David's side. Our boy loves traveling and we know it because he slept through the night twice while in Oklahoma. We had a blast on the trip and are very thankful to have a family that loves our son.

Other highlights from the weekend were watching High School Musical 2, playing the "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" board game, and eating at Murphy's Steakhouse in Bartlesville.

Click here for a slideshow of the most recent Penuel pictures including Thanksgiving and a few other random pics from around the house.

Lakehouse, Square One, & Play Group

Chapman's been out and about having a great time everywhere he goes. He's sleeping great both at home and in his pack-n-play. We're so proud of our little cutie.

Click here for a slideshow of his latest pics!

Where did you get that blog header?

"Where did you get that blog header?"
That is the question we hope lots of people are asking our friends over the next few weeks. The Penuels are venturing into the business of creating custom blog headers and logos. To get things started, we want to offer FREE HEADERS to anyone listed under "Blogs We Check".

How to Get Your Blog Header
Check out loudmouthlogos.com and browse the Blog Header Template Gallery. If you see a header you'd like, just fill out our Design Request Form. We would really appreciate feedback on all aspects of the website and the "word of mouth" grassroots promotion of our friends would really help us out! Can't wait to hear what you guys think.

Mostly Halloween

We took more pictures of Chapman and the Nelson kids this Tuesday and Wednesday. Alli decided to dress up Chapman like Danny Zuko but David thought he looked more like the Fonz.

Chapman told us this morning that he's starting to get really excited about meeting Grama, Gramps, and Aunt Vizshi over Thanksgiving.

Click here for a slideshow of mostly Halloween pictures.