TIM MARCI RILEY & JACK CAMPBELL

~B~I~G~ Boy!

2011-01-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

On January 18th Jack turned 1 1/2 - I can't imagine how our life was before he was here, because it's so much more fun now with two boys running around! He's 24.8 pounds, and 33 inches tall - and all of him is pure BOY! He loves Riley, and calls "Bubba" up the stairs during the day when he's in school, it just melts my heart! I guess he says about 30 words, he had a pretty big vocabulary for such a little toot, and he jabbers all day in what sounds like Mandarin. His favorite thing to do is take a part his firetruck puzzle or shape short and line the pieces up on his windowsill (I'm secretly hoping he'll have my organizational skills!). He loves books, but doesn't sit still for very long and his favorite toy is one of those nifty things that is a push - ride on - scooter. He sits and rides for now, but I'm sure he'll be using it as a scooter before too long. His favorite word this week is "OW" which he proclaims loudly any time you touch him. He's going to be that kid in Wal-Mart that gets a little swat and yells "OW DADDY YOU'RE HURTING ME" at the top of his lungs, causing CPS to called and us having to run out of the store in a mad dash :) He is finally turning into a good little player, he'll go to his room, or play in the living room, for a really long time. The only time he gets mad that I'm not giving him enough attention is when I'm trying to read a book, or cook, because then he'll walk up and hit the book and make an ugly noise, and in the kitchen he'll wedge himself between me and the cabinet and make an ugly noise. This noise is pretty much a daily occurence at our house, so he knows what a spanking is already!

Now that it's January....

2011-01-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

....I guess I'd better post all the pics from December! We had a crazy month, but it was SO much fun! We had a party for our friends at church, Riley's birthday party, Christmas for Tim's family, tons of dinner guests, Christmas with my family at the barn, Christmas morning here at our house, a children's Christmas party at church....and that's just what I can remember! We also had things for our youth group, and they are just the best bunch of kids, and we're so blessed to work with them.

Here are some pictures from Riley's birthday party:

The race track cake he wanted....

...then devoured!

Definitely his favorite present - a huge remote control monster truck from Mamaw and Papaw!

His sweet friend Kimberly trying out the awesome Iron Man mask

Opening presents NEVER gets old!

Now for some Christmas pictures of both my sweet boys - these are from the church party, Christmas Eve with my parents, and Christmas morning here at home:

Oh, you know, he's just a foot stomper...

My sweet boys with their Mamaw at Riley's class party...

HALO goodies from M&P for Christmas!

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

His present from the gift exchange at church...

And me with my sweet boy...it's a shame he was looking somewhere else!

Family Pics

2010-12-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of December we visited the most fantastic photographer, Buster Clem, of Clem Photography, to have family pictures done. He took sports and Senior pictures for Tim and my brother Chad, and we went to church with him for years. He and his wife do an amazing job, we were SO excited with the way our pictures turned out!

The whole family

Just the guys...and a dog

My sweet lil' family

My beautiful Mama and Daddy

Me and brother (this is my favorite...I think)

And the barn pic :)

I'm trying to catch up....

2010-12-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

but am pretty sure I'm failing miserably! It was so easy updating facebook, but when I blog I feel like it takes me FOR.EV.ER to say anything important, and uploading pictures isn't as easy either. So, I'll try to do better from now on...but I'm not making any promises!

We had a great Thanksgiving, my Mom's family, plus two other families from church came to our house, and as with most families, we had enough for food seconds, thirds, and probably tenths! I made the mashed potatoes, dressing, and pumpkin roll, and apparently they were all a huge hit, so I was very happy - it was my first time making dressing, and it was my Mom's recipe, so I needed it to taste just like hers....and it did! The Saturday after we went to Tim's parents to celebrate with his Mom's family and had a great time there as well. And my dressing got rave reviews again :) I felt really good, because his Aunt Scarlet's husband said it tasted just like his mothers, and they had been trying to duplicate it for 17 years! Any time someone says something is as good as their moms I feel like that the ultimate compliment.

We are SO ready for Christmas at my house, we decorated the Saturday before Thanksgiving, because I just couldn't wait. We went that Friday and saw HP7, then went to Wal-Mart and bought a huge, gorgeous, pre-lit tree and decorated the whole house the next day. Since this is the biggest house we've had since getting married it took all day to get it done just how I wanted it. But I also cleaned things out, reorganized our storage area, and had to decorate all the garland, so it shouldn't take as long next year. Jack has really liked the tree, he walks up to it every day, waves his hand over it and says "bribby", which means pretty. He LOVES the lights, and did great the first week it was up, but the last three days he's turned into a little terror constantly pulling the same 3 ornaments off! I was expecting it, but he fooled me by leaving it alone when it was first up!

We've got a bazillion things going on this month; a Christmas party at our house for families our ages from church, family pictures, Riley's birthday party, Christmas for Tim's family at our house, a progressive dinner for the youth group...and that's just what we're doing at home, not including all the other fun stuff that's going on! I hope everyone is already enjoying a wonderful holiday season, and eating up this cold weather, because it never lasts, does it? I like the cold, especially when it's sunny so today is my favorite kind of day! And lastly, the work in our mudroom has finally begun! Woohoo! We've got one new door in, and sometime at the end of this week they're going to be replacing the flooring and the door that goes into our backyard - this makes me VERY happy!

Here's a look at what our home looks like all dressed up for Christmas!

I am so, so, so totally in love with my tree! It's all green and silver and packed full of ornaments, just like I've always wanted.

Riley's first Christmas baby shoes :)

And Jack's. It took a long time to find a pair last year that were similar to big brothers!

I had so much fun decorating the top of my china hutch. There are silver glittery swirly things (how's that for a description?) tucked into the garland.

The plate rail - I didn't want to remove all my green glassware, but it needed to be "Christmased Up".

And the buffet....one of these days I would like to have enough of a village to put them around the plate rail, but it will take a looooong time to collect that many!

I found these adorable little things at Hobby Lobby where all the decor is for the miniature trees. I love how they catch the light!

The garland :) We've also got it over our two LR windows with a flower and 2 silver ornaments on each corner.

Kohl's had these gorgeous sequin covered candles, and I couldn't pass them up, they were less than $5 a piece and are so festive!

This is pretty much the only decorating I did in the LR besides a couple of cute metal Santas, because Jack wants to "touch" everything. And touch is putting it mildly, lol!

And this is totally unrelated, but this is my awesome new kitchen sink and faucet. It's so shiny. And white. And CLEAN!

Getting in the holiday spirit....

2010-11-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

I'm so ready for Christmas my lists have lists! We're hosting Thanksgiving for my family at our house, this is the first "thing" we'll have in our new home, and the first time we've ever hosted a holiday since we've been married, so it's very exciting - but I declined cooking the turkey, I'm too afraid I'll mess it up ;) Things are going so great here, there aren't words to described how blessed we feel to be back home; our church family is wonderful, and living right by my parents doesn't hurt either! Jack keeps getting teeth, although he only has four on bottom - his two front teeth, and 2 molars, which I find strange! He's funny and happy most of the time, but he's already learned what NO means, and he pitches the biggest fit when he hears it - I'm talking about throwing himself down on the floor fits. But it's still pretty funny because when I ignore him, which I always do, he starts pushing himself around on his back and that's always good for a laugh! He says a lot of words, a few of them are: Mama, Dada, Bubba, Uh-oh, bye bye, Hiiiiiii, Tataw (Papaw), Mamaw, Bite, Nana (for banana), night night, drive drive, no....and maybe a couple of others that I'm not remembering right now. His favorite word is Bubba, he'll walk to the foot of the stairs and call Riley, who's his favorite person besides me and his Papaw. He is also wanting to feed himself, and it's really messy. Riley didn't show any interest in that until he was at least 2, so I see a lot of spills and messes in our immediate future! Riley is doing really well in school, his teacher is still so wonderful. Even when he has a less than great week she doesn't dog him about it, which I love, she understands kids are kids, and sometimes they're rowdy. He got all A's on his first report card, and 1 B (an 89) on his second. He has the entire week off for Thanksgiving, and that's awesome, I can't wait to take them to the park, and the Children's Museum, and start decorating for Christmas! Back to Christmas....we don't have a tree, when we moved into the apt. while Tim was in preaching school we knew there wasn't room to store it, or put it up, so we gave it to Tim's parents, so now we get to buy a BIG pre-lit tree (since we have tall, tall ceilings), which makes me happy! I've already been buying decorations for it, and planning where I'll put everything - I don't go crazy and decorate every single room, but I do decorate all the rooms where company spends the most time. We'll start decorating Thanksgiving night, and probably finish since we're not having to go anywhere, so I'll post pictures then! We've got a progressive dinner/Christmas party for our youth group, Riley's birthday party, Tim's families Christmas at our house, a 4th grade and under Christmas party, caroling at the nursing home, Family Game Night, and big New Year's Eve party, and a young married's Christmas party at our house - all next month. It's going to be CRAZY, but I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Here are some pictures of the boys, since they're the reason most people look here anyway ;)

This is the only one that really needs a caption;

Chad as the coolest Wolverine ever and Tim as Magnum P.I. for Halloween

Yes, those claw were really metal, and yes, I do have a thing for the real Tom Selleck...something about those dimples and that mustache ;)

AFTER (or at least some of it!)

2010-11-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

I know most people have seen these on facebook, but we've got some family (MOM!!! ANGIE!!!) that don't use it so this is mainly for them.

One side of the dining room and our living room

Looking into the dining room from the living room...it's such a pretty view :)

My huge, and wonderful, kitchen

I LOVE all the space I have for cooking now!

This is my favorite part of the whole house! I've been collecting red and yellow antique kitchen stuff for a few years now, and it deserved it's own special space!

Sweet baby Jack's room

It's decorated with antique toys, and paintings of antique toys.

And this thing is amazing for storage!

The jack-in-the-box, and top were my dads. All the books were mine as a baby!

Rileys room - he loves it!

This very cool metal basketball player used to be my brothers, and he wanted Riley to have it

Our bedroom - I still can't get over all the space we have!

I finally got to use the bath tub, it's nice and roomy

And this is looking in to the living room from our bedroom

Our "New, Old" House

2010-10-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

The scary before pictures...

This is the living room, with nasty mauve carpet, a crooked ceiling fan, falling down blinds (that some moron installed about 3 inches below where they should have been), and a lovely broken window.

This is the front corner of the living room, where our bedroom door is. The front door is the original door from the house, but was obscured by the nasty pink fabric :)

This is the back side of our bedroom, and the bathroom door. You can't tell really well from the picure, but the wallpaper is seafoam green and peach. Even for the early 90's when it was remodeled this was a BAD color combo. Also, the ceiling was green, along with the entire bathroom!

You can see the green pretty clearly in this picture - our closet is behind the double doors, it has a built in chest and shoe shelves, which I'm pretty excited about :) A big jetted tub, seperate shower, and a little room off the the right where the toilet is.

This is the front wall of our room. I loved the original doors that were left in the house, but there were only 3 of them, and the back of this one was painted, along with all the original trim, but it was too hard to strip and restore.

Also, I love the windows surrounding the tub! Within the next several months they'll all be replaced for energy efficient windows, but they'll be made to look the same with the 3 wooden bars across the top.

Breakfast nook - The door to the right that's open leads into what will be the mudroom in about two more weeks and the door straight ahead goes into Jack's room. It will be our office once he isn't waking up with his teeth in the night any more.

We absolutely hated the rooster border, and green cabinets, but our countertops are wood from the original house, and they're really pretty. We're replacing the sink and faucet though, they were pretty disgusting!

More kitchen.....

This is looking down into the room that will be the mudroom - and eventually the laundry room - the little piece of door you see in the far left is the smokehouse (where they smoked meat) from the original property that's over 100 years old. The couple we bought the house from built this room to connect the main house with the smokehouse. It's getting two new doors, and new flooring once my Dad has the time to do it.

This is the inside of the smokehouse, the door leads into the future mudroom, and the other door past the mudroom leads into the kitchen. The door to the right goes onto the back deck. We're really not sure why someone decided to paint half the trim hot pink, but it's pretty ugly.

This got misplaced...it's the ceiling of the living room. I love, love, love the beams and they're in the dining room too. All the dark trim is original from 1913 and it's the biggest part of why I loved this house so much.

This is one side of the dining room, right above the border is a plate rail that runs around the entire room.

And this is looking into the formal dining from the living room. The floors aren't old, probably only about 20 years, and we're going to recover them with the dark distressed looking flooring, maybe next year. Tim says I have to pace myself!

These stairs are to the left of the breakfast nook, and were covered in what has to be the dirtiest carpet, pretty much ever.

This is Riley's room, he loves it! The door to the left has a Jack and Jill bath that connects to the other room that's upstairs. I love all the storage in the closets!

Sorry this one is so dark...this is looking into his room from the head of the stairs.

And this will eventually be Jack's room, but for now it's the office. That lovely border you see was covered in baseball stuff, with striped wallpaper behind it.

And that is the closet :) To the right is the door that goes into the bath from this room. I love that both their rooms have two big windows, Jacks looks into the backyard, which is pretty big, and Rileys looks onto the driveway, but there are two huge crepe myrtle trees, so he has a pretty view.

I forgot to upload the pics of the office downstairs, which is Jack's room for now, but it has a closet in it where they washer/dryer go for now, and a half bath. The closet had rickety bifold doors on it, that were pretty much falling apart, and the bath was more recently redone, with a little cabinet and almost brand new toilet. Once the flooring is in the the half bath, and Rileys bath upstairs (next week!) I'll post the pics of how it looks now. Which is much better than it looks in these pictures! I know some of our friends here that looked inside it thought we were nuts :)

Just Jack (and one of my neglected first child)

2010-10-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

I love my teeth, I eat yummy stuff with them :)

Boxes are fun...

...and baskets are too!

Especially when they're on top of someone else!

I slobber. A lot. My Mommy gets tired of it.

Ms. Morris...

2010-08-19T18:12:00.000-07:00

Is Riley's new teacher - and she's fabulous! She's a first year teacher, she student taught at Commerce Elementary, and she's a May 2010 graduate of A&M-Commerce (magna cum laude, no less). She is very energetic, and she said herself that she doesn't like being bored and still, and she knows the kids don't either! I'm going to LOVE her, I can already tell! She just found out Friday that she got the job, and her classroom already looked wonderful. Her mom was a teacher, so she pitched in to help get her room ready. I signed up to be a room parent...we'll see how that goes :) I'm just so thrilled that he's got a young, friendly, kid-loving teacher. It's going to be a much better year than last year!

~H~O~M~E~ SWEET ~H~O~M~E~

2010-08-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

We are heading HOME! After two years in preaching school, and one year working in Jefferson, Tim has been hired as the new youth and family minister at the Commerce Church of Christ in Commerce, Texas. This is the church we attended when we were dating, the church we were married at, and the church where my parents and brother go too! It's been quite a few years since they've had a youth minister, so it's not only very exciting for us, but also for the church in Commerce. A lot of changes are happening there in the next couple of month, their pulpit minister of 30 years is retiring, and their campus minister (he directs the Lions for Christ program with A&M Commerce) is taking over. They have hired a new campus minister, and Tim, so it's going to a lot of fun being there as all these changes are taking place! Their new campus minister has a boy that is one year older than Riley, a 4 year old boy, and a newborn baby girl, and there are a LOT of other kids there for Riley and Jack to play with. Almost more exciting than the new job is the fact that we've bought a house!!!! And even better than that, is that it's 2 minutes walking distance from my parents :) Riley is beyond excited, his whole face lit up when we told him we were moving right by Mamaw and Papaw. I'm going tomorrow to start cleaning (it hasn't been lived in for a few months, the man who owns it didn't put it on the market because he liked us :) and then my Mom and I are going to paint all the walls, then we're having new flooring put in at the end of next week so we can move in on the 16th!!!! I'll take some before and after pictures and post them once we get in and start working, it's going to be so fun, we're all looking forward to being back home with our family and finally owning our own house :)

Jack's first hair cut....

2010-07-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

There is a wonderful lady at our church named Jennifer, she is a hair stylist, and she's fantastic! She cuts mine and Tim's hair, and has even trimmed my bangs in my very own living room before. I asked her Sunday morning if she would give Jack his first hair cut, thinking it would be easier since he knows her, then she called that afternoon as said, "hey, what if we do it at your house, with him in his high chair?". Well, that sounded great to me! She said lots of babies freak out in a beauty shop from all the strangers and the weird booster seat and we got to avoid all of that. We strapped him into his high chair and she gave him his first big boy hair cut right on our kitchen floor. And, he looks adorable, if I do say so myself :)

Here he is getting all strapped in...

...and probably wondering why since he had already eaten dinner :)

He was VERY interested in the scissors and comb!

He was such a good boy, he didn't wiggle too much...

...but he did make some really weird faces.

I love this funny face!

I could tell he was trying to devise a way to get a hold of that comb

And here is the finished product...a very, very sweet big boy hair cut!

Jackson turns ONE!!!

2010-07-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Where in the world has the last year gone?!?! My sweet, sweet baby boy turned one on Sunday and we all had so much fun. We had church Sunday morning (where he fell and got a terrible red spot on his forehead - I swear, I've never seen a kids first birthday pics where they didn't have a booboo of some sort!), then lunch with a table full of friends at Los Mochis (the best mexican food EVER), and after that we went back to my parents house and had Jacks very first birthday party! Lots of family came, my parents, brother and Memaw, of course, and also my Auntie, cousins Andi, Aaron and Robin, their girls Ava and Hannah, two of the sweetest girls from my parents church, Brandi and Tiffany, and then me, Tim and Jack :) We celebrated with a "1" shaped birthday cake - yellow and dark chocolate layers, yum!, lemonade punch, and lots and lots of presents! He especially loved Ava, who will turn 7 in December, she was a great helper and was a lot of fun. After his party we went to Tims parents and he opened his presents from them, Uncle Matt and Aunt Lauren, and Meme, Tims grandma. And I got to hold my sweet new niece Ally, and was quite happy about that! Here are some of the pictures I took from that day, it seems like I have hundreds, so it's hard to choose!

The spread....

...the cake...

...the stinkin' adorable lion plates and monkey napkins....

...and the birthday banner I made for our sweet boy!

He loves this snuggly puppy from his Memaw, and he dived right into the bags to help Daddy out!

Riley was the BEST helper all day long!

He had a great time playing with all the boxes his toys came in :)

And he discovered that he loves to slide!

He really enjoyed his birthday cake too :)

And cake isn't the only thing that's good for chewing on!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SWEET JACKSON LEE CAMPBELL!

So, my Mom's been nagging me to post something.....

2010-07-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

This has definitely been a laid back summer at the Campbell house! But I have gotten to have lunch with a couple of my very most favorite girlfriends, spend a week at my parents, go to my sister in law's baby shower, hold my brand new baby niece, and spend lots of great time at home with Tim and the boys! And in the space that Tim was back in Jefferson without us, Jack stopped crawling and started standing up without the assistance of anything else. In the space of 3 days he was a full blown walker! He started taking a few steps here and there at 10 months, then by 10 1/2 months he was taking several steps, and letting go of what he pulled up on to turn and walk, but then, he just decided one day "hmmm, this walking thing is easy...and WAY faster than crawling" and he's never looked back :)
Here are a few pictures from our first few weeks of summer!

Our sweet, sweet niece Allyson Renee Campbell, born June 25th, at 4:21 pm. We got to see her about 7:30 that night and we both loved holding her, and can't wait to see her again!

One of the shots of the diaper cake I made for Lauren's (my SIL) shower - I loved getting to FINALLY do something pink after all the blue and brown!

Jack, after he crawled inside Rileys "toy cabinet" - he was SO pleased with himself :)

Riley being all cool with his drumsticks - I love how you can see them "moving" - another reason I love my new camera is things like this don't get blurred!

Sometimes playing is so hard, you just have to lay your head down for a little while......

Givin' me the stink eye for one thing or another :)

School's out.....

2010-05-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

for the summer!

Wow, I can't believe I am officially the mother to a SECOND GRADER! How did this ever happen? Riley had his end of year awards ceremony on Wednesday and got a certificate for being on the all A honor roll. My Mom (Mamaw) drove all the way here, at 6:30 in the morning, because she refused to miss his final awards ceremony. He had no idea she was coming, and I would catch him sneaking glances at her and smiling during the ceremony because he was so glad she was there. He did awesome this year and we're so proud of him! He has great handwriting now, can read like you wouldn't believe, and math is his favorite subject. He definitely did NOT get that from his momma :) We're going to stay fresh on our spelling, reading, and math this summer to be super prepared for second grade next year. His teacher gave us a little note saying how he is already really prepared for being in second grade, so it's not too scary at this point! Our library has story time every Friday and they're going to have magicians, and actors, and animals, and all sorts of cool stuff going on, so that's where we'll be every Friday at 11:00. He loves going to the library, we go every week and check out books and he really seems to enjoy it - I hope he grows up loving to read like me. Yesterday was out first "official" day of summer, and we had to head to Longview to do some shopping, so Riley got to pick what we had for lunch, then after we got back we took the boys to a little beach at the lake and splashed around for an hour and they both had the best time. Jack loved the water, and tried to eat lots of sand :) Riley mostly just likes to run down the beach and flop into the water on his belly, which can't feel very good, but he doesn't seem to mind!

Sitting in line, waiting for the awards ceremony to start...

And with his best friend, Hannah Melendez

Showing off his A Honor Roll award with Mamaw, and then

being gracious enough to take a picture with "us" - he was very

impatient :)

Enjoying McDonald's on his last day of 1st grade, and being so sweet and sharing his

french fries with Jack!

Two boys, ready for some fun in the sun!

And this is Jack, in the hat he refused to leave on his head. It's a good

thing I had lots and lots of sunblock for that pale, pale skin!

A fun filled weekend!

2010-05-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Tim's birthday is May 19th, and mine is the 20th, so we have had a fun filled few days! I have wanted to go to a murder mystery dinner theater for a long time. When we lived in Bedford they had one and I looked it up online and it also pulled up a link for the one at the Gaylord Texan, and it looked like so much fun. I mentioned to Tim once that I would love to do this and he surprised me with tickets for my birthday! We left Thursday night and stayed at my parents house and left there about 11:15 on Friday morning. For lunch that day we got to meet Rick, Shara, Maddox and sweet baby Berkley (who I finally got to meet - and fell in love with) and it was SO good to spend some time with old friends, who I had missed so, so much! We did a little shopping in the town center in Southlake and then went and checked into the hotel. We decided to just stay the night at the hotel, since we would already be there, plus that meant we got to swim in their beautiful pool :) The dinner theater was so much fun, and the atrium in the hotel is amazing, but I won't ever say anyone should stay there, the rooms look like any other nice hotel, but cost too much (and don't get me started on the "extras" you have to pay for). The riverwalk is definitely worth checking out, but most of the restaurants, the dinner theater, and the shops will validate your parking so I would recommend doing something else in the hotel, and not staying the night. They had just started decorating for their Summerfest, and the theme is Alice in Wonderland, so I got lots of neat pictures of all the decorations! Saturday morning we left and Tim got to have breakfast at The Corner Bakery, it's a favorite of his, and then Ghengis Grill for lunch (another favorite for him) and then we attended a wedding in Commerce, then took Riley swimming at the MRC. It's been such a wonderful, fun filled weekend. I think the best part was being child free for about 27 hours :) So, thank you Tim, for planning something special and just for me! And thank you Mom and Dad, for keeping the boys for such a long time, you're the best parents, grandparents, and in-laws in the world!

Jack was so glad to be out of the car after 2 hours...but he was even more glad to see his Mamaw!

Having fun at Mamaw and Papaws house - Jack played with Mamaw and Riley made a very cool paper airplace!

Sweet Maddow and baby Berkley, they're the cutest little brother and sister you ever saw! We were so glad to have lunch with them and their mommy and daddy :)

This was to view from out hotel room...not too bad!

This is only a small part of the atrium...it's a nice cool 70 degrees in here year round!

I want a pool like this at my house :)

To me it looks just like the Riverwalk in San Antonio, minus the humidity and crowds.

This is right outside where we had dinner, I love all the colorful umbrella's! And these flowers are gorgeous, you don't hardly find flowers this bright and pretty outside a nursery.

This is all from the Alice in Wonderland display they're setting up. Besides this there are more metal flowers, and hedge shaped into a rabbit, a gigantic top hat, a key and rainbow colored keyhold and so much more. It should look pretty awesome once it's all set up!

Spring has sprung!

2010-05-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

At least it has in Jefferson, everything here is green and beautiful. So, we took advantage and headed to a couple of our favorite "pretty places" and snapped some pictures! The end of school is almost here and I can't wait for summer vacation, no big plans, just looking forward to sunny days, swimming, and spending some time back home with family and friends. Hope everyone stays sane for the end of the school year and is enjoying this beautiful weather!

3 New Tricks...and a new bike

2010-04-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

Jack has learned some new "tricks" in the last few weeks. He's always wrinkled his nose when he smiles but last week he started doing it almost every time he grins and it's so funny...and he knows it's funny, so it makes him do it more. Last night I pulled out the camera and every time the orange light came on he wrinkled up his nose, and we would laugh, and then he would laugh, snort a little, and wrinkle it even more! His next "trick" is sitting up on his knees and every time he does it he looks at me, or Tim, and expects praise for what he learned to do :) And last, he will get up on his knees and pounce like a little puppy dog, and it's the cutest thing. I know every Mom says that, but it really IS the cutest thing!

Up on his knees AND the wrinkle nose!

POUNCE

Up close wrinkle nose...it's his favorite new face to make :)

Riley is SO good to his little brother

I promise he has toys, but he thinks his rug is the funniest thing...I guess it tickles :)

And one more wrinkle nose for good measure!

Now, for my sweet big boy! He's been on the A honor roll all five 6 weeks so far, and we know he'll be on the A honor roll the last 6 weeks as well, so he got a new bike as a reward. His old bike has just about had it, and my Mom and I were shopping at Target and saw one for a great price, so we went ahead and got it for him, even though he's got a few more weeks left. He has done so great all year, we are SO proud of him! He has a program on May 6th and he's going to be Clown Fish No. 5, he has 5 lines, and they sing all these cute songs about the ocean and we're all so excited, I can't wait to post pictures from it!

The Ripclaw :)

Posin' by his new bike...he's so proud!

I love this sweet, sweet smiling face

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from The Campbell family!

Hope you've all had a wonderful day :)

New do!

2010-03-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

BEFORE......

.......AND AFTER!!!!!

The best afternoon ever!

2010-03-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

At least it was according to Riley :)
We picked him up from school and took him to the Sonic, where he got his most favorite blue coconut slush. Then we all went to the library and got library cards, which he thought was so cool, and all 3 of us checked out some books (I loved it too). After that, we went to the park, where Jack had his first swinging experience, and he LOVED it! He laughed the whole time the swing was moving, and even when it was still he was so happy to be up high, looking around at everything. I have the two sweetest, most beautiful, funny, loving boys in the whole wide world. I would never have thought being a Mom to two boys would be so wonderful, I am truly blessed. And I also really enjoyed getting to dress Jack in some "real" clothes, he is too cute in his little submarine shirt and "kicks" as we call tennis shoes at our house.

His squinty face is so cute :)

I love this face! I'm pretty sure it was a "wow, this is fun" face, even though it looks kind of like a, "whoa, I'm not too sure about this" face

That's better! This one definitely means "This is fun!"

Just hangin' around....

...checkin' out how this contraption works.

My 3 handsome guys!

Whoa-a-a-a buddy...

...giddyup!

We have a tooth!

2010-03-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

But it's too small to take a picture of right now :)
It's been trying to come out of those gums for at least a month, and it finally happened yesterday, I'm so excited! Is it weird to be excited about a tooth? I hope not, because I am, lol. Jack has also been pulling up for about 3 weeks now, I don't know what I'll do when he starts walking! Everyone at church keeps saying, "oh my, he'll be walking in a couple of months as fast as he has been developing" and I certainly hope that's not true, I like that he's still cuddly and wants me to hold him. I will definitely miss that when he realizes he can get away even faster than he does when he's crawling. Even though I have no toothy pics, I do have a few cute one's I wanted to share!

He likes to help Mom with the laundry!

First time pulling up...

...and figuring out all the other places where you can pull up is fun!

So is playing with the sunlight on the floor :)

And new toys are the best!

(Please excuse the slobber, it's everywhere, all the time)

Snow Day!

2010-02-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

Jack didn't know what to think about all that snow!

Just hangin' out with the guys...

Riley had the BEST time with his buddy Kaden, we were so glad he was out of school on Friday!

This was the first real snow he'd ever seen, so of course he had to test it out :)

The big kids had as much fun as the small kids. Forgive the squinty eyes, it's bright when the light is bouncing off all that pretty white snow.

Jack soon decided he would rather eat and nap than play outside.

I love this tree! It's leaning and reminds me of a Dr. Suess tree.

These pictures were taken inside our cemetary...maybe it's a little morbid :) but the cemetary is Jefferson is beautiful all year round!

February already?

2010-02-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

February is already going by so fast! We're already into the second week and I don't even know what happened to the first. Jack is getting so big! He is crawling everywhere and there is NO stopping him. On Sunday morning he crawled from his room, down the hall, and into ours while I was getting ready for church. It's sweet hearing his little hands "slap, slap, slap" on the tile :) Of course, now that he can go anywhere he wants I'm wishing for the days not so long ago when he couldn't go anywhere at all, lol. Up, down, up, down, up, down...that's how I spend my whole day, but I wouldn't change it for anything in the whole world! He has also realized he LOVES food...peas, carrots, squash, green beans and we're on to some fruits this week. But the carrots and squash break his little face out, so even though he loved them, we are having to wait awhile to try them again. Jack has the most sensitve skin I've ever seen on a baby!

Riley is doing great in school, he's been on the A honor roll every 6 weeks and he's reading, writing, and his handwriting has gotten so much better! And he is such a good big brother, he loves making Jack laugh, wants to hug him every day, and is so patient and sweet with him. We're having a great time spending time together as a family, and getting back to Greenville to see my parents and brother as often as we can. I hope everyone is having a wonderful February so far! If you're like me you're ready for the rain to stop so the kids can play outside, and the mud stops getting tracked all over the house :)

I love my Momma!

And my brother too!

I even love my carrots :)

And my Momma loves these polka dot p.j.'s - she thinks I'm sooooo cute in them!

In the blink of an eye...

2010-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

my sweet precious baby was 6 months old! How did this even happen? Just yesterday I was at the hospital, waiting to meet him, and now he's here and filling our lives with so much joy. Some of my favorite things about Jack are his sweet, gummy grin, how he bends his head backwards when we're holding him (it's like he's looking up just to make sure we're still there), how he watched everything Riley does, all his sweet noises and sounds, and especially that he's a Mommy's boy through and through! He can sit up (mostly), he rolls front to back, left to right, in circles...he can get just about anywhere doing this. He also is just a few days away from crawling, he rocks back and forth and can go forward, just not very well. His appointment is this Thursday and I can't wait to see how long he is and how much he weighs, I'll post again once he starts eating baby food, I'm sure we will end up with some hilarious pictures!

Just 2 weeks old! I love how he's all snuggled up on his Mamaw, it's so sweet

1 month old and already a little ham

2 months old - this is his "full body laugh", he's very stiff and quite tickled with himself

3 months old and happy, happy, happy

4 months old and sittin' up like a big boy - with just a little help from Dad

5 months old here, all bundled up to go outside

6 months old

He rolls....and he rolls...and he rolls. ALL over the floor. It's hilarious when he's chewing on a corner of the blanket and rolls himself up like a little baby burrito.

Happy Birthday Riley!

2009-12-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

My handsome little guy is 7 years old now! It's hard to believe that 7 years ago he was only a few days old. When people tell you time passes quickly once you have children they are not kidding! It's been an awesome 7 years and I can't wait to see what kind of man he becomes.

Sword fight!

Me and Riley - he's so beautiful!

With his buddy from church, Kayden.

With his Mamaw...undoubtably the most important person in his world...even more than Mom - but I'm ok with that :)

Opening present with his friends Rylan and Jessica

And here's Jack, learning how to play the guitar with his Papaw...but mostly he just tried to slobber on it!

Pretty in plaid

2009-12-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

The title says it all!

Mmmmm.....

2009-12-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

...my hands taste yummy!

This is how Jack spends most of his day - with his hand in his mouth. Once he discovered that he could chew on it, it hasn't been far away! He had his 4 month checkup last Monday and he is 25 3/4 inches long and weighs 15 pounds, 11 ounces. He has almost tripled his birth weight. He is in the 70th percentile for his weight and the 75th for height, which I find strange because he seems so chubby to me. He can roll from back to front, and has been doing that since he was just 3 months old and two Saturdays ago he figured out how to roll from back to front, which he does any time you lay him down and then he gets mad because he doesn't want to be on his tummy. He makes noises constantly, and has starting make the "m" sound. I can't wait to hear him say mama! He is a big ball of love, sweet and cuddly - until naptime, and then he has definite ideas on how he wants to be held, rocked, etc. His doctor said it's recommended now not to start them on cereal until they're 6 months old, but each doctor is different, and he's HUNGRY! I'll record it and post it on facebook, because I'm sure it will be hilarious. I am so ready to sleep all night, so maybe once his tummy starts getting more full this will happen.

We got to spend the whole week of Thanksgiving at my parents, because Riley was out of school and we had a wonderful time! Riley got to go to work with Papaw almost every day we were there. They bought the 2 acres beside the old house and have been clearing it out, ripping up trees, and Riley was in heaven getting to help so much. I don't think he would ever leave if we didn't make him :) We're already looking forward to Christmas here in the Campbell house, but we've got to get past Riley's birthday first. December is such a crazy month!

Lovin' this smile!

And lovin' watching him sleep! He naps so well on my bed when I'm back there doing stuff - and the blanket isn't really in his face, it just looks like it.

Thankful!

2009-11-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

I am always so thankful for many things, and wanted to list a few before I show the pictures of my little butterball turkey :)

I am incredibly thankful for my husband, Tim. He cooks dinner for us if I need help, helps vacuum, changes diapers, feeds Jack, takes Riley to school, reads the Bible to him every night, is a wonderful spiritual leader for our family, treats me like a queen, is thoughtful, warm, loving...it goes on and on! I'm thankful for Riley because he always makes me smile! He is smart, sweet, loving, helpful with his baby brother, very protective of Jack, makes wonderful grades, is very polite, always says yes ma'am & no ma'am to his teachers, plays hard and has fun all day long! I am so blessed to have 2 wonderful sons and even though I thought I wanted a baby girl, I'm so glad I have two boys. Rough and tumble, rowdy, dirty boys. (I'm also thankful for having NO MORE babies - I miss my sleep, lol). I'm thankful for my parents because they raised me to be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, etc. that I can be. Also, they treat Tim like he is a real part of the family and has from day one - he thinks of them as blood family, not just "the in-laws!", they are always there with support for us, and let us live our own lives. I'm also thankful for my church and church family, my many wonderful friends, our home, our vehicle, the food we have to eat, the fact that Tim works so hard to provide for us so I don't have to work, Jesus, because without him there is no chance for any of us to get to heaven, my extended family (especially my amazing Memaw), my health, my families health, and my brother, who is one of mine and Tim's best friends - he is always good for a laugh and is SO, SO good to both of his nephews! I'm thankful for so much more, but this seems long enough already :)

Last weekend my parents came and stayed Sat. night with us and we went on the bayou tour.

I am SO in love with Jack's overalls and matching hats...he reminds me of a little 50's newspaper delivery boy :)

My little butterball turkey!

Riley and Mamaw before our yummy Thanksgiving lunch

I LOVE his turkey britches!

My Mom and hers - my Memaw

Tim, Jack, me...

...and Riley - he wanted his own picture!

4 Months Old!

2009-11-18T07:25:00.000-08:00

I can't hardly believe Jack is already 4 months old...at 4:52 this afternoon! He is such a sweet, good natured baby, smiling all day and talking to me. He's getting to be such a big boy, trying to sit up if he's laying down, scooting all over the place, and if he's on his tummy he will push his whole bottom half into the air! He has been rolling over for about a month now. I love when I come into his room in the mornings and he's laying on his back looking up at me, always with a big gummy grin on his face! He talks all the time now, he's hardly ever quite anymore and when he gets mad at me sometimes it sounds like a little MA sound is coming out. I don't want him to grow up too fast, but I can't wait until he says mama for the first time! He loves his big brother so much, when he sees Riley he can't stop smiling and he talks up a storm. He normally has his last bottle any time between 8 and 10, just depending on when he's eaten that day, so he still gets up around 4 or 5 some nights, but he has also slept until 7 in the morning. I can't wait until he's sleeping all night long, I don't remember what a good nights rest feels like! He loves to swing, sit in his Bumbo and watch me cook, go for walks in his stroller (he loves to be outside) and sit propped up on our legs and talk to us. His favorite noise is the "dove sound" and likes hearing me and Dad make that sound, and he always makes it back. That was Riley's favorite sound too! He has made our lives complete and we love every minute of being Jack's Mommy and Daddy - even at 4 in the morning!

He has the sweetest gummy grin I've ever seen!

And he loves his swing...for about 10 minutes.

I love this look - like a deer caught in the headlights!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not too crazy about this maroon business, but Daddy loves it!

I know I'm a week (and a couple of days) early, but I probably won't be posting again until after all the festivities are over. We went to a play at the high school last night (The Music Man), a couple of our youth group were in it, and it was a lot of fun! Danny and Tanner did a great job, Danny was the male lead and Tanner was the only one from the middle school choir who had a speaking part, so we were so proud of them both! About 1/3 of our members were there, and half of them weren't even related to the two guys...these are such great people!

Saturday afternoon my parents are heading here and we're taking Riley on the little bayou tour then they're going to stay the night with us and hear Tim preach on Sunday morning...we're all really looking forward to their visit! After lunch on Sunday the littlest boys and I are going home with them to spend all of Thanksgiving week and Tim will be heading there after Wednesday night church. Thanksgiving day we will get to see all of my Mom's family and it's always so much fun when we're all together! That weekend Tim has got something planned for me - I keep asking, hoping he'll forget and answer me, but he never does :) Whatever it is, I know it will be a lot of fun and I'm really excited about it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and a safe holiday!
Love, The Campbell Family

TO: Mamaw and Papaw

2009-11-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Mamaw and Papaw,
We love you so much! And not just because you buy us stuff and take us places. Even though we really like going to Atwood's and Taco Casa and Wal-Mart. We love you because you treat us both super special, give us both our own attention and you never play favorites. We know you love us more than anyone else (except for my Mom and Dad) and we think you're the best grandparents that any kids could over have. We love you!
Love, Riley and Jack

Mamaw with Jack the day after he was born.

Papaw with Jack, also the day after he was born.

Mamaw with Riley on the last day of Kindergarten.

With Papaw outside one of their rental properties.

What is it about baby boys in overalls? (Thanks for those Mamaw!)

The two most beautiful Campbell boys ever!

And just because this is hilarious: This is where Jack started out...

...and this is where he ended up!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T13:15:00.000-08:00

We have all had such a great time for Halloween this year! This is the first time we've lived somewhere where it was feasible to trick or treat, apartment complexes aren't great for that. First, we went to the Fall Festival that was downtown in the historic district. They had a cake walk, trunk or treating, face painting, free food, a little "train ride" and games with prizes. Riley had a wonderful time, and the rest of us did too. Once it cooled off a little more we headed back downtown to trick or treat with friends from church and their little boy and they had the best time. Riley got a pumpkin full of candy (no candy corn though, so I was disappointed!) and even won a cake on the cake walk. He declared it the best Halloween ever!

Marshal Deadwood

Howdy pardner

Mom with her little Marshal

She cackled, stirred in her cauldron and talked - he thought it was very cool.

He was totally in character and so funny!

Boo Bones

And Mom with her sweet little skeleton!

On a totally different not, I finally saw Jack roll over! He's been doing it for almost 3 weeks now and was such a stinker. Any time I tried to record it, or even watch, he would play possum and just lay there like he couldn't do it. I still can't get him to let me record it, but at least I finally saw. And he is also laughing now, but he won't do it very often. Mostly he just laughs at his ceiling fan :)

This just makes my whole day!

Another year has come and gone...

2009-10-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

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!

Pumpkin Patch and Fall Pics

2009-10-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

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!

Pictures...and pork

2009-10-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

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.

I love you Tim!

2009-10-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

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

Bear with me...

2009-10-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

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