Celebrating Life Together

That Time of Year Again!

2011-12-04T10:03:00.010-05:00

It's that time of year again, if you can believe it! The holidays are upon us and with that comes our annual photo slide show. We hope you enjoy a quick look at our year and how the kids have grown and we wish you the best the rest of the year has to offer!

Happy Holidays!

Dean, Sarah and the kids

Spring has Sprung

2011-05-24T08:16:00.002-04:00

Can it really be true that Penny is over a year old? So hard to believe how fast time flies but there you have it! We celebrated Penny's first birthday over a month ago and she is just growing so fast we can't even stand it! In the last month she's gone from walking to running, cooing to saying a handful of words and has even started sleeping through the nights about half of the time. She's funny and sweet and everything we could ask for in a baby!

Cooper is growing fast too – he's very excited that he's almost as tall as Nonee! He's been playing baseball this spring and he just gets better every week! We've really enjoyed watching him grow into this new league he's playing in and making some new friends. He's about ready to wrap up the third grade (as are we all) and hit summer! He's expecting a baby brother (his father's) and day now and he's very excited and we are excited for him. We only wish some of this rain would let up so he could get outside just a little more.

Natalie is keeping us all busy as usual – she's more work then Cooper and Penny combined. She loves to be outside, rain or shine, and get as dirty as possible. She's also a big helper for her Daddy and when he works on projects around the house she likes to follow him around and help him. He's been working on finishing the porch and Natalie will stay out there with him for hours, hammering nails, taping things up, sanding the siding – she's a great help! ;)

Memorial Day is just around the corner – which means summer is right behind. Since I am working now that means a little less time home during the day but we are hoping to squeeze in some weekend trips, swimming, summer camp and fun times through the summer. Also, as per usual, we still have tons of projects around the house. Slowly we are getting there – but the most important thing is we are having a great time doing it!

2011-01-21T09:00:00.005-05:00

2011 came in quietly here in the Chappell home. All of us were sleeping safely, happily and healthily when the new year turned over.

Cooper is about to start the after school ski program next month. He's not exactly looking forward to it at the moment but I'm sure that once it starts he'll love it as much as I did when I was his age. Right now he is busy playing with his Beyblades (some kooky toy he loves) and Uno Slap. He also just got news that he's going to be a big brother again (on his father's side) to a baby brother. He's extrememly happy about it and loves the baby already as well as his father's fiancee Lisa. He's a lucky kid to have so much love in his life.

Natalie, as always, is keeping us all on our toes. Right now she has fallen in love with crayons and markers and everything in the house is her canvas! Paper, walls, skin -it's all fair game! We have invested in washable markers and crayons to make clean-up a little less frustrating but she just loves to toe the line!

Penny is growing so fast. Dean and I found that just last night we were talking about her first birthday, which is less than three months away! Is it really that long since I had her? A whole year already? I just can't believe it. But she is already cruising around on the furniture and showing interest in walking. She sits in her high chair and says yum when she eats and says Dada when she sees Dean. Her personality is amazingly sweet; it's easy to see that she loves us all so deeply, she's a little cuddler and is amazing in every way.

Needless to say, the New Year has been good to us so far and we are hoping for more of the same. Dean and I continue to love each other and the life we are building together.

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Dean and the kids - ready for the Chappell family reunion!

2010-06-30T19:34:00.000-04:00

We find it very funny that some days Penny seems to be almost the same size as Natalie!

2010-06-22T08:12:00.001-04:00

Well, It would seem that it is already summer vacation! Cooper got out of school this past Friday and he couldn't be more thrilled. He also finished his season of MCAA baseball as well.

He has just one week of summer camp this year and he changes his mind daily as to whether he wants to go or not! Otherwise his plans for the summer are swim, swim and swim.

Natalie, on the verge of turning 2, is a total chatterbox. She never seems to stop talking and mimics everything around her. This can be a tad dangerous at times depending on the situation! She is really doing great and is turning into such a little girl instead of a baby.

Penelope is smiling now, which somehow makes the night feedings a bit more tolerable. She smiles and coos and seems to be pretty happy. She is a big baby with a lot of rolls and dimples. We find it very charming!

Dean and I are doing well too. We are still working on many projects throughout the house. Dean just finished hanging wainscoting in the downstairs bathroom and now it is my job to paint it. He wants to start working on the front porch and I have a few sewing projects and painting projects to start as well. We are certainly keeping busy!!

2010-06-22T08:06:00.000-04:00

Cooper and Natalie in the rain, doing "the rain dance"

2010-06-22T08:05:00.000-04:00

Natalie helping me make muffins and Penelope in the swing supervising.

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2010-06-21T17:08:00.001-04:00

Natalie in her cowgirl boots!

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Penny - Finally smiling!!!

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Penelope Pearl

Uh OH

2010-05-31T08:49:00.000-04:00

I have obviously been slacking on my blogging updates! Ooops. My best explanation is that we have been VERY busy!
Our new baby girl, Penelope Pearl, was born April 16th, at 7lbs 11oz. She is so cute and we are so very happy with her. She is very vocal and "cranks" a lot, but she seems happy and healthy, and that is all that we can ask for.
Cooper is getting ready to finish the 2nd grade soon and is enjoying himself playing MCAA baseball. We had a fun session of swim team and soon we will be into soccer. Keeping busy is the best but we are also looking forward to a summer with some nice relaxing days by the pool. He is enjoying his new sister as much as any big brother could.
Natalie is keeping everyone on their toes as usual! She had been affectionately called the "destroyer" and is very true to her name. She loved her new sister and is forever trying to help but getting the baby's paciefier and putting things in the sink! More pictures to come!

Working Hard Around the House!

2010-02-07T17:57:00.001-05:00

Our last few weeks since returning from FL have been busy as usual. We have been working on projects around the house including getting the spare bedroom upstairs ready for the new baby, due in April, and working on the shower in the master bedroom. Dean has been hard at work tiling, which involves lots of heavy lifting and lots of cutting with the tile saw, which also includes a lot of trips up and down the stairs. Needless to say, he is getting a workout! But we both can't wait until the shower is finished and then getting ready for the baby will be high priority!

The Last 3 Months or So!!

2010-01-22T09:25:00.007-05:00

OK - No doubt about it! I am behind once again! I have found that "life" has interfered with updating the blog about my life!!

We all had a great fall! Cooper played MCAA soccer and had a great time! We jumped right into winter here and have been enjoying the snow and trying to get out sledding and playing as much as we can. Cooper also turned 8 (I can't believe it some days!) in November!

Cooper at 1

Cooper at 8

He is growing like a weed. He had a small sleepover with a few friends as his birthday party and they had a blast just watching movies, playing video games and riding Cooper's four wheeler.

Aside from Cooper's birthday, November brought us our family trip to hunting camp in Pittsburg, NH and Thanksgiving. Both were great. Dean is always great about taking time out of his day of hunting to walk around with us and show us some nature. We saw some great moose tracks and Cooper got to use Dean's deer call. he thought that was pretty fun!

Cooper was with his Dad for Thanksgiving and we missed him, as we always do when he is gone, but we spent some time with my family in MA before the Canter Girl's Black Friday Shopping Trip!!

December 1st brought us the great news that we are expecting another girl this April! Once we learned that all looked happy and healthy in the womb, we couldn't have been happier!

The holidays were pretty quiet. We spent a nice afternoon at Nana and Papa's for Hanukkah and enjoyed the company, as always! Christmas came and we decided to take a short trip to North Conway, to see Auntie Beth, Uncle Todd, Bella, and Ava, and to get Dean out on the slopes! It was Natalie's first time staying in a hotel, she did great and had a great time!!

And just yesterday we got back from a great trip to Florida. Nana and Nonee decided to spend a few weeks in the warm weather and invited us to join them for a few days! We were worried how Natalie would do, as she isn't always the best traveler, but she did great!

We Spent 2 great days at Seaworld, where the animals and shows are so fantastic and impressive!

We also spent 2 days at Disney. One at The Magic Kingdom and one at The Animal Kingdom. We had a good time at both, Cooper is at a great age where he loves to ride the rides! He rode just about every ride at Animal Kingdom. We also had Nonee along that day and we all loved the Safari ride that took us on a mini-African Safari! Other than that our time was spent in the pool!!

A Little Bit of Fall

2009-10-16T13:43:00.006-04:00

So, here we are, a month into fall and there has already been snow! It has seemed nearly impossible to get good fall shots of the kids with the camera since the season has flown by.

Cooper is playing soccer with MCAA. While Dean and I freeze on the sidelines Cooper is having the time of his life.

We helped pick pumpkins this year for the pumpkin festival. the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and I use the term "helped" loosely as I'm not sure how much help we really were!

Molly and Shilo

The Young Crew

Cooper and BrodyArianna - workin hard!
Cooper and his pumpkin
Natalie
Dean and Nads
Cooper and Andrea

Natalie is into and onto just about everything in sight. Her personality has really started to show itself the last month or two. I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing!

Dean and I, as always, are enjoying each other as well as being in the new house together. We are still working a lot on the house. I am refinishing a dining room table (the first coat of paint is drying as I type) and Dean always has a project going, from wainscoting to making a bench for the mudroom!!

We found out in August that I am expecting another baby, sometime in April. We, right now, are about 13 weeks along. We are beyond excited to have a new baby and a new member of the family. Cooper seems thrilled. Natalie probably won't be when the baby comes! In a few months our project will be getting the upstairs bedroom ready for a new little one!!

First Day of 2nd Grade and few others!

2009-08-31T08:44:00.003-04:00

Here are a few pictures of Cooper's first day of school. This first one is before he put in his hair gel. I don't have many of him post-hair gel but I think Sally got one - so I will try to find that.

This is down at the bus stop. This year there are two other kids at his stop so he won't have to wait alone. Natalie was happy to chat away while we waited for the bus.

She also spent some time up in a tree while waiting for the bus. With Daddy's help of course!

This is last week when Dean was outside working with Cooper on shooting his bow.

Natalie's new hobby in the bathtub is eating bubbles and drinking water. It makes bathtime very short in our house.

I Can't Belive My Baby is 1!!!!

2009-08-22T12:29:00.002-04:00

August 12th was Natalie's 1st birthday! We are all amazed at how fast the year went by. We have a little girl who laughs and walks and points and says a few words. It's just amazing. We had a small birthday party and all enjoyed cupcakes. Natalie got some great gifts including a four wheeler (toy), a handmade quilt, bath toys, books and clothes. She wasn't as impressed with being sung to and her party hat as she was by the cupcake itself, but she had a great birthday and party nonetheless.

Mom and Natalie

Not too impressed with the singing!

Loved the cupcakes!

Nonee holding baby Arianna

Oh Jeez!

2009-07-20T15:08:00.003-04:00

Ok - so I missed a few months.

We are doing great in the new house. We love living so close to Grety and Pappas and have enjoyed our new home and yard as much as we can. Cooper has spent a lot of time fishing and catching stuff in the pond by our house. Natalie likes to fish with Dean while in the front carrier pack.

Cooper finished off his school year in June and then we didn't do too much because of all the rain. Natalie and I spent the 4th of July in North Conway with my family and as a nice addition, Mamie, Jobe and the Kids joined us. Dean was in Florida fishing and Cooper was with his Dad. Natalie also took that time to take her first steps - which is mostly boring for everyone else but pretty exciting for us. She also got a front tooth -which seems to be changing the entire look of her face.

Dean and I decided to participate in the Fresh Air Fund this year and we volunteered to host a little boy from NYC to experience the country. So on July 7th - Salomon came to visit us for 2 weeks. He is a sweet and helpful little boy (when he wants to be). We were able to take a nice trip to the beach and up to camp. he and Cooper fight one minute and play for a few hours together then next. Who knows if they even like each other or not - but Salomon says he would like to come back next year!

All the rest!

2009-05-20T12:45:00.005-04:00

This is just a mish mash of pictures of the last month or so. Some just around the house. We have also done the fishing derby as well as Cooper's spring show at the elementary school.

Natalie - Happy in the Morning!

Not the best picture of Cooper - but we were towards the back of the gym!

Natalie on the swings at Cooper's MCAA baseball game (more pictures of that to come)
Cooper and the Miles kids enjoying the outdoors!
surfing down a loam pile!

Dean and Natalie getting ready to enjoy Cooper's Show

Dean and Cooper at the Fishing Derby. (They didn't catch anything)

Natalie at the fishing Derby

We also ran into Jim Young, his son Quinn and a friend of his so we took a spot near them. It was a very "manly" day. Natalie and I hung back!!

We Are In The House!!!

2009-05-19T14:18:00.007-04:00

Dean, Cooper, Natalie, and I moved into the new house the last weekend in March. We had a ton of help which made it all go so fast and smooth! I am still unpacking some and decorating some but as I keep saying, I have plenty of time to get it done! We are so happy here. Dean has been out working in the yard constantly and Cooper has been having a ball playing out in the fields. Even the cats have been enjoying themselves with all of the critters out here! Natalie has her playroom and enjoys being able to move around pretty freely. She started crawling the day after we moved in!! She really loved the carpet! I will post some pictures - some of them aren't great because of the sun and the camera flash - but should be enough!!

The Master Bedroom (bad lighting)

My...oops....I mean OUR Closet

Cooper's Room

Natalie's Room (with her sleeping the the crib!)

The Entryway (from below)

From Above

Dean's Office

The Mudroom

(My mom got us a great sign to go in our new house)

The Living Room/Kitchen/Dining Area

Natalie's Play Room

Ooops - again!

2009-05-06T20:34:00.000-04:00

I know - It has been over a month! I shall update soon.

Almost!!

2009-03-17T11:21:00.007-04:00

Dean and I are almost ready to move into the new house! We are hoping the weekend of the 28th we will be moving. The carpet has been ordered and the trim and baseboards are almost all in! It seems the really hard work is about to come to a close but not without a lot of help and/or babysitting from Nana, Papa, Grety, Pappas, Nonee and Ike and many others. Dean and I lay in bed every night and talk about how excited we are to finally be living there.

Cooper started Archery Lessons in town with Brody last week. Dean took Cooper and took a few nice pictures. Cooper seems to be enjoying and looking forward to it this week.

Natalie is just as happy as ever. She is back to sleeping and eating well after her sickness. She is on all fours when you put her down. She rocks back and forth like she is ready to start moving at the speed of sound!! She is just about ready to crawl! Needless to say, she must take after her father!

We Are Still Here!

2009-03-04T20:46:00.002-05:00

I haven't been posting much lately. Sorry!

Dean and I have been busy with both houses. We are still not in the new house but are as hopeful as ever. We are still working hard over there and hope to be in soon. We (cross your fingers) finally have an agreement on the house and are waiting on an inspection and some formalities and then hopefully the house on Crosby Street will be just a nice reminder of our beginnings together and as a family.

The kids have both been sick back and forth. Natalie has had a hacking cough for a few weeks while Cooper had an ear infection and then got the stomach bug that has been going around - even Dean had it.

Between it all we did make it up to camp for a bit of February vacation. My camera stayed forgotten in my room but mayby I can rustle up some pictures from Mamie!

Thats all for now.

Sad News

2009-02-09T10:09:00.003-05:00

As I'm sure most of you know Dean and I found out that I had a missed miscarriage and we lost the baby. We are pretty sad about it but are trying to be optimistic about the great things we do have in our life. We certainly loved that little baby and wished all would have turned out differently. We want to thank everyone for their support and help during our hard times. It was and is much appreciated!

As I said, we have been trying to make up for the sad news by spending some time together and with the kids to help put our lives into perspective!

Ooops!

2009-02-03T08:42:00.005-05:00

Well, I certainly never promised to be great about updating my blog! Thought I would take a quick minute while Natalie is napping.

Things here have been busy, as always, but great. Still picking away at the new house and getting to the point where we might be able to move in soon. Still working on flooring and getting the power out to the house. Dean works just about all of his extra time over there right now. But we are still excited and can't wait to be over there. Our cabinets are all installed and the whole house is painted - well, except for the NEW baby's room!

Dean and I found out in the beginning of December that we were going to have another baby. this one will be a 1st birthday present for Natalie. She doesn't seem to care but Cooper is really excited! Things have been going great. Not feeling super but still here!

Cooper is still hating going to school but is happy when he gets off the bus. As any kid he loves snow days and always wants to know when the next storm is coming.

Natalie has been taking some baths in the big girl bath and loving it, even though she slides around like crazy! Cooper joined her last night and they had a ball. She also got a new jail, I mean crib, to go in our bedroom. We didn't want to move her entire bedroom upstairs so we are just leaving her in our room until we get to the new house

The Holidays!

2008-12-24T08:23:00.006-05:00

Well, I've obviously been slacking off this past month! With the holidays looming it becomes harder and harder to find the time and energy to do a post. This is short and not all that exciting.
Cooper had a birthday party at the beginning of this month. He was super excited about it and go some wonderful gifts and had some fiends and family over. He was such a cute little host and introduced some of his friends around. he had a blast!

We celebrated Christmas this past Saturday at Grety and Pappas' house. After a nice dinner and dessert we headed into the living room to exchange gifts. The kids got some great stuff that they all seemed to enjoy. Duane and Andrea and the girls got Cooper a great remote control Tarantula. Its pretty hideous but he loved it. I can't say as much for the cats though! Check out the video of Cooper torturing them with it! Natalie got a lot of cute clothes and books. Hopefully next year she is more interested!

We then went to my parents house on Monday night for latkes (potato pancakes) and Hanukkah. As usual my parents showered us, especially the kids, with fantastic gifts. We all had a blast opening them and throwing the paper at my Dad, as is tradition! Cooper got a lot of great games and clothes. He also got a great new desk for his room. Natalie got a rocking unicorn and some new clothes since she is growing like a weed. Dean got a great new jacket and a lot of other clothes and a box of bullets from my dad who was repaying him for the woodchuck Dean shot in their yard! Dean really got a kick out of that! I got some awesome and much needed stuff for the new house like curtains and towels and bake ware. As usual my mom outdid herself and found us all the perfect stuff! I don't know how she does it!

So today we are off to North Conway to spend Christmas Day on the slopes and with my family. Hopefully my sister and I can get in some quality time since we don't get to see each other that much and winter is the busy season for all of us. After that we are planning to go up to camp for New Years with the Chappell/Miles (maybe) clan!!

Hope you all have a great holiday and enjoy the snow!

Poor Natalie

2008-12-01T20:34:00.002-05:00

Poor Natalie was so exhausted by Cooper's bedtime routine that she crashed before he was even tucked in. If you turn up your volume you may hear her tiny baby snores!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T09:04:00.004-05:00

Cooper was unable to be with us this year at Thanksgiving. He was off with his Dad having a blast, although he was not too pleased that we went up to camp without him. He turned 7 on Thanksgiving day so we celebrated with him on Friday when he came home. We left on Tuesday and spent some time with Carl and Sally before everyone else came up for the holiday.

Natalie slept through most of her first Thanksgiving but as per her usual routine she woke up just in time so one of us had to feed her during mealtime!

Got some great news that Duane and Andrea are expecting another baby next summer! Congrats!

I am starting work on my holiday slideshow. Gathering pictures and finding the right song is always a challenge.

Here are a few pictures of our latest adventure.

Natalie up at camp

Cooper opening some birthday gifts

Dean and Natalie eating thanksgiving dinner

2008-11-15T20:30:00.005-05:00

Instead of letting Dean go off by himself, the kids and I decided to join him on his hunting trip. Unfortunately we didn't bring him any luck but some of the other guys got some trophies which was nice to see. Dean was especially happy to see Duane and Jason successful.

The first day, there was snow which Cooper and Lily enjoyed. Natalie, as always, was happy just to be held and hang out with Mom and Grety.

Cooper and Lily going outside

Cooper and Lily throwing snowballs

Duane and Lily with his buck

Cooper and Natalie Happy at Camp

My Handsome Hunter

2008-11-10T14:30:00.004-05:00

Dean and I are just coming off of a very busy weekend. We both worked at the new house Saturday and Sunday. Dean worked on digging the water line with a lot of help from his parents, while my Dad helped me paint the interior.

Cooper had a big weekend as well losing his first tooth.

He also starting doing something called "The People Dance" which turns out...is hilarious!

Natalie spent a good portion of the weekend with my Mom and Nonee sinceI was painting.

Monday morning brought another work/school week which excited the whole family. Dean especially.

Dean will head up north later this week to go hunting with Grampy and the rest of the guys. We wish him luck! We will keep the home fires warm!!

Our Newest Addition

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Halloween

2008-11-01T17:07:00.016-04:00

So, Halloween has come and gone. We were quite busy between the house, Halloween, Dean's birthday and the kids costumes and what not. Cooper had his first Halloween Parade at the Elementary School on Friday and loved it. Natalie slept through it.

We also went to the Halloween Party at the barn. There were some great costumes there and we all had a great time. We also brought our own Jack-O-Lanterns because we didn't want to leave them at home where no one would see them!

Sarah's Frankenstein
Dean's Traditional Pumpkin

Cooper's....Something

Natalie's Innitials

The Halloween Party

Dean and Cooper Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-29T20:06:00.003-04:00

Dean and Cooper carved their pumpkins for Halloween tonight. Cooper doesn't quite grasp the whole carving/shadows with the candlelight concept so he draws whatever he wants and carves willy nilly! It's hard to bite our tongues and let him do that to a nice pumpkin...but it's his so what can we say?! Dean also carved Natalie's first pumpkin and I have yet to carve mine. Maybe while Dean is at work, Cooper is at school and Natalie is sleeping I will get it in! Those pictures along with Trick or Treating to come too.

Just Getting Started

2008-10-21T22:08:00.002-04:00

So, I'm not sure who will be reading this or how well I will be able to keep up with it but I figured I would give it a shot.

Everyone here is doing well. Our house is coming along well. Dean and Carl have been working hard working on finishing the radiant heat pipes in the basement and getting ready for the septic tanks (yuck!). The sheetrockers are almost finished which means I can get started on the inside a little bit with some paint.

Natalie is just starting to smile a bit. She slept through the night for the first time last night. Dean and I were extremely confused when she woke up at 6AM!!

Cooper is keeping himself busy between playing outside with his swords and playing with the new cats. He really loves Ganondorf and Bob. Pictures of them to come.

Dean is doing well aside from his extreme annoyance at how loud I am typing right at this second. He says I'm waking up the baby. It seems he is just as ornery as ever!

And I am well too. I suppose that wraps it up for the moment. If anyone reads this...Thanks. If not...(shrug).

Sarah

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