Happy Holidays from the Chapman’s

Hello to our family and friends and welcome again to the end of another year. Another very interesting, often painful, maybe even scary year. But fear not, the world continues to spin, people continue to live their lives, love their friends and family and make new memories for themselves. This letter is a short summary of our family and the adventures we had in 2016. Bunches of links to follow throughout.

Molly (6) is now in kindergarten after waiting one more year in pre-school to allow her to grow a bit more. She is now almost 2 years on the growth hormone and the impact is nothing short of staggering. She is not the shortest in her class...she’s one of the biggest and she looks like a big girl now. Which is sad. She is a beautiful, brilliant, wonderful girl to all that know her. She loves gymnastics, art, music, animals, travel and her friends. She is also, the reason mom and dad drink too much ;). She is a very intense girl who knows what she wants and fights to get it...she does not like hearing no. She also does not sleep too well either because she doesn’t need it or because of a lifetime of not feeling well...no one knows. She still struggles with acid reflux and tummy issues, but it seems to be slowly getting better. We have spent countless hours and dollars with doctors to work through this, but after her last surgery, we think it is time for us to let her grow out of this. We will see what happens next. For now, Molly for all the stress she can cause, is a joy to be around.

Caden (9) started 3rd grade this year with all the tools and energy needed for success. It is amazing how much Caden has matured this past year. From his writing, reading, and other academic skills to his athletic prowess, he is so fun to watch. Earlier this year he played a season of soccer still working through his coordination and hesitation. He just finished his second season an entirely different player. His footwork was solid, his speed and endurance lead the team and he scored his first goal which made for a VERY proud coach/dad. Sports is still his first passion. He tried hockey this year, still runs any race we let him enter and he is talking up competitive soccer for next year. And then of course ski season is upon us and he gets furious with us for every weekend spent off the mountain. The biggest challenge we continue to face with Caden is feeding him well enough for the activity level he maintains, but he is learning.

As a family our year was busy as always. Travel always being our top priority this year we visited Oregon (twice), Minnesota, Crested Butte (twice), Glenwood Springs, Seattle, and trips for just Mom and Dad to Costa Rica and Florida! Skiing has become a favorite family activity and was our main focus of the first quarter of this year. Both kids took five weeks of ski lessons which transformed their skiing and allowed Mom and Dad time to ski on our own and spend quality time together which was amazing. Jon is in his 5th year at LGS Innovations as a Technical Manager. This year he took up yoga and coached Caden’s soccer team both of which he really enjoys! Katy is still a “stay at home mom” who is very rarely home. She is secretary of the kids school’s PTA, volunteers in the kids classroom’s & library all of which she enjoys.

Please enjoy this website to see what else we have been up to, but I will be honest, I spent the last two weeks creating all the posts for this year...next year I will attempt to update it in real-time.

We hope this letter finds all our friends and family well. Here is to hoping our paths cross in 2017.

Love, Jon, Katy, Caden and Molly