October 28, 2009

Another year has come and gone...

married to my wonderful husband!

Today marks our third anniversary and it's been a fantastic three years.  Friday afternoon we all drove to my parents house in Greenville, unloaded all the stuff you have to take for a baby and 6 year old boy, and got ready.  Neither one of us really wanted to drive all the way to Dallas in dressy clothes!  Tim took me to The Melting Pot in Addison - it's our anniversary tradition.  We went on our honeymoon and have been for all 3 anniversaries.  I know a lot of people think, "why would I want to pay to eat somewhere where I have to cook my own food?", but it's an experience you can't get anywhere else and we both have so much fun there.  Then we got to spend the night at the Hilton, with no kids to take care of, no homework to do, or dishes to clean up!  Saturday morning we went to Dunkin' Donuts, there aren't any within 50 miles of Jefferson, so it was a nice treat.  Tim loves their coffee and I had been dying to try the pumpkin muffin and latte - I love anything and everything pumpkin.  After that we headed to the Galleria to visit Gymboree (I finally found a specific outfit from their website for Jack I had been wanting) and Victoria's Secret.  I could go into major debt shopping at either of those places!  Then, it was back to Greenville to see our beautiful boys and spend a little time with my family.  But, before we headed home we got to have dinner with them at Tim's favorite mexican restaurant (thanks for our anniversary dinner Mom and Dad). 

Tonight, I cooked one of Tim's favorite meals: manicotti with grean beans and cheesy garlic bread.  He loves Italian, and I love homemade Italian, so it's always a hit at our house.  After church we'll share some sparkling red grape juice, just another dorky tradition that we have!

Tim, I love you now more than when I said "I Do", and that was the best decision I've ever made.  You're a wonderful husband, father, provider and minister.  I thank God every night that I have such an amazing, loving, and attentive husband.  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!



3rd anniversary at The Melting Pot


And just for good measure, here are the pumpkins we carved last Tuesday.  The scary werewolf is mine and Tim's and the smaller happy face is Jacks.


And this is Riley's.  He got to pick out his and Jack's pumpkins and he chose the face for his by himself.  He did a great job!

October 20, 2009

Pumpkin Patch and Fall Pics

We took our first trip to a pumpkin patch as a family of 4 this afternoon.  I got lots of great pictures of Riley, but none of Jack by himself that were any good.  The only one's with him in them are where Riley is holding him.  Jack was 3 months old on Sunday, I can't believe how quickly it's flown by!  He holds his head up very well, people at church are always commenting on how well he does that, and he's been doing that for over a month and a half now.  I think he might be really strong like Riley, which may not be good for me!  He is rolling over, but he won't do it where I can catch it on camera.  He also won't smile and talk for me if he sees the camera anywhere near my face.  As I'm typing this he's laying in his crib, and I can hear him cooing and talking and every now and then I hear a THUD.  He likes to raise both legs in the air and smack them against the crib mattress.  He also likes to lay on the floor in his room and laugh at the ceiling fan.  He does NOT like being on his stomach, unless he's sleeping, but I torment him and make him lay on his tummy mat anyway.

Riley was on the A honor roll the first 6 weeks of school and we are so proud of him, he especially loves math and science (where did he get that?  Not from me!) and he's reading very well now.  His teacher is pretty tough, but I think it's good for him.  He's already doing spelling - I do not remember doing spelling tests in the 1st grade - and he's gotten a 100 on all but one of them, and he got a 90 on it.  We are so proud that he's adjusted to a new house, school, church and teacher so well.

Here are the pictures from the pumpkin patch, plus some others that I took around town.  We want to get family pics done after Thanksgiving and I'm really looking forward to that! 











October 15, 2009

Pictures...and pork

I love watching The Food Network, especially 30 Minute Meals and Diners, Drive-In's and Dives.  I've never had too much luck cooking any of the recipes I've seen, they tend to have too many ingredients I don't normally buy, or be super complicated!  But Cooking For Real had 2 recipes on one night that I thought looked good - a cornbread upside down cake (not impressed) and Apple Cider Chicken, which looked so delicious.  I bought the ingredients for it and gave it a go, but I substituted  pork tenderloin for the chicken, mostly because I'm tired of it.  It had an onion, 2 apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, cilantro, and salt.  You cook it til the onions are soft, add in the cider, then the meat and once its cooked stir in some flour to thicken the sauce.  It was so great, but next time I will use Granny Smith instead of Gala's because the tartness will be better - and I'll try it with the chicken.  I had mine with spagetti squash, but the guys ate it with rice.  Although Tim tried the squash and deemed it acceptable.  It's worth trying if you like apples - you can comment and I'll send you the recipe. 



Now what you really come here for....pictures!


I love that he loves his baby brother!

He scoots pretty well on his belly...

Gotcha!

I know it's mean but he was trying SO hard to get the porcupine in his mouth.

October 12, 2009

I love you Tim!

I've been thinking a lot about Tim, our marriage, and our life together, since we're coming up on our third anniversary (Oct. 28th) together.  Mostly I think about how lucky I am to be married to such an amazing man - although I do occasionally think, "crap Tim, why can't you just put your shoes back in the closet?"  Minor slip-ups aside, I am seriously blessed to be married to Tim Campbell!  He is an amazing father to Riley and Jackson.  He feeds Jack, changes diapers, mops up spit, puts him to sleep - although that's still pretty much "Mommy territory".  He helps fix Riley breakfast if I'm with Jack, takes him to school, and goes to work every day to support our family so I'm able to stay home.  He loves me, unconditionally, and we have one of those marriages where everything is shared...right down to the arguements.  And sometimes I let him win :)  We discuss everything, even the mundane, because we really like talking to each other, and if one of us has a problem, we know we will always work it out!  I am so excited to be celebrating another year with this man and I am looking forward to as many more as the Lord will give me!

Side note - he's SO amazing that he let me spend them entire last week at my parents.  My brother had ankle surgery and he decided it was as good an excuse as any for me and Jack to go hang out with them for a few days.  So he had Riley all by himself and he did a fantastic job!  And my Mom was very appreciative of us getting to stay with her so long - of course, he and Riley spent last weekend, and the weekend before that with us as well.

So, Tim, I love you with all my heart, all my soul, with everything I am.  I am looking forward to celebrating many, many more anniversaries with you!

Honeymooning in San Antonio

1st anniversary

2nd anniversary

October 10, 2009

Bear with me...

I'm revamping the blog...it may take a few days...more pictures and stories to come!