Tez's Visit

We had a great time with the Tez's who came down to stay with us for a few days. The best part was watching how well the girls played together. Campbell & E would disappear for hours and play happily. It was the first time that Campbell has played like that with anyone and it was really neat to see. It was also hilarious listening to their conversations.

Could He Be Any More of a Boy?

These 2 pictures basically sum up Blake right now. 

I was getting worried that Blake wasn't saying any animal sounds. You know...what does a cow say? What does a duck say? But then I remembered that he does tell you what a boat, truck and motercycle say. "Bbbrrrrr!"

The kid will not sit still to read a book.  He will sit with Gabe before bed to read this duck book that has a button that you press that makes an obnoxiously loud quacking sound. I don't think he had ever sat with me for an entire book. I don't know what took me so long to figure this out, but I just got him to sit with me when I pulled the truck book off the shelf. He sure was memorized by that one - nothing special - just 1 simple picture of a truck or piece of heavy equipment on each page.

I know I'm stereotyping, but I don't feel like I'm trying to get him to like these boy things. He's the one who wanders off at the park to find a big stick. Or his head whips around whenever he hears a motorcycle. Or how I am constantly having to wrestle with him to get the remote control out of his hand because he's turned the channel from something that Campbell was watching. Or he is basically jumping out of his car seat when we drive thru a construction zone pointing at the trucks pointing and saying "DAT DAT DAT DAT!!!! It sure is interesting!

Pilot vs Fire Hydrant

Poor Gabe. We were blocked in leaving Grant's birthday party & while Gabe was trying to not hit the mailbox he didn't see the fire hydrant. Grant isn't going to let him live this one down. We call this an 'UT-oh!'

Good thing Gabe's cousin Craig works at a body shop.

Mud

We were playing in the yard with the pool & sprinkler today and it ended up turning into a mud bath. Yes, Campbell is buck naked in our front yard, but I didn't want her suit to get ruined. She had a blast in the mud while Blake hit the ball around the yard with a big stick.

My Birthday

I had a great birthday. The kids and I had a fun time at the beach in the afternoon. Then Angie came over in the evening to watch the kids so that Gabe & I could go out on a date. We enjoyed a delicious and relaxing dinner at the Capital Grille (Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine's Restaurant Week fell over my birthday....and we took advantage...a 4 course filet mignon dinner for $30! Nice!) and went to a movie (now I'm caught up on the Twilight series - I think they are getting worse as the series goes on, but still awesome to go to a theater movie - it's a rare occurrence for us these past several years).

Gabe got me a much needed GPS.  I have gotten very lost twice this summer with bad directions from googlemaps, but not anymore! And I am very much looking forward to the 2 massages from Deb/Paul & Ry/Elizabeth - just what I wanted!

Happy Birthday to me!

3 Years!

A few pictures from Campbell's birthday...

Ice cream for breakfast - what a way to start a birthday!

On to finger painting and play dough.

A great surprise visit from our friends K and baby D at lunch. We got to see them one last time before they headed overseas. Campbell was very excited about having a picnic at the new park with dinosaur steps.

Daddy got off work early so we went to check out Chaska's community center pool and splash pad.

Campbell and Blake both loved it! I'm really glad Gabe was there to help out because it was kind of a maze through the building and through the pool area to get to the outside splash pad, and the pool was too deep for Blake, but that didn't stop him from trying to dive in. Fun to go someplace new though.

Campbell wanted macaroni & cheese for her birthday dinner, so we got take out from Noodles and headed to Bryant Lake Park for another picnic.

Cake! 

Delicious! 

My baby girl is 3 today. Don't tell her I called her that though because she told me the other day,  "I don't like it when Daddy calls me his baby girl. I'm not a baby."

I liked the sound of 2 1/2 better. 3 sounds really old. How can my baby be so old already? Cliche, I know, I know, I know.

She's been telling everyone for weeks that "I'm 2 and a half and my birthday is August fivth (she can't quite say it right) and I'll be 3 on my birthday!"


We feel very blessed to have such an amazing daughter. She has such a wonderful personality - she's so talkative, energetic, happy, considerate, imaginative, and as well behaved and patient as can reasonably be expected out of a 3 year old.

Some random things Campbell has been up to lately: 

She loves dancing and singing and she's been making up her own songs/lyrics lately that are pretty hilarious.


She is a wonderful big sister to her brother and a great helper with "the baby" as she calls him.  I'm amazed how more times than not she will give up a toy that she is playing with and give it to Blake if he wants it (aka he's screaming for it). The other day she said that she'd wait for a toy Blake had until he was done because he doesn't play long with toys (I've been saying that to her forever, so it was really awesome to see her remember it). She let him play with it for a while and when he was done and moved onto something else she took it. It was as smooth as smooth could be. At the moment, I felt like the scene should have paused and someone (probably an ECFE teacher) should have come knocking on the door and awarded me a parenting trophy. Of course, I would have given credit in my acceptance speech to Campbell for being so patient and thoughtful to her little brother. A minute later, I was snapped out of my blissful daydream by the kids fighting over some other toy.

She's really into Thomas the Train lately and it's pretty funny how when we're driving around she'll say that Rosie or Percy or some other train is giving us a boost when I accelerate. And whenever she hears a train horn she'll come up with some story of what train it is and what they are up to.

Campbell has pretend siblings who she's always talking about. It started out with a sister, Sissy. Now there have been 2 big sisters added: Alex (who appeared after cousin Alex came to visit this summer) and Ang-a (who came onto the scene when Angie babysat overnight). The other day she called Sissy's parents (they all have different parents, which doesn't quite compute since they are her sisters, but I'm cutting her a little slack) to see if Sissy could come over and play. She also has added a bunch of unnamed older brothers.


I get periodic emails from BabyCenter on various development topics and I just got this one about pretend pals, which I thought was appropriate: "this development is common and very positive. In fact, it's a healthy sign that you have a creative child. Imaginary friends are great for kids — and are another sign that this year is one of the most magical of childhood."

I couldn't have said it better....it is magical.

And I'm stealing this thought from a friend's blog (The Three Skooges) that I follow. Hope you don't mind, Erin, I just thought it was just perfect for the way I feel, too. She wrote that she wanted to bottle up this age and save it forever and since that's not possible, just do your best to savor every moment.

I love you Campbell!

3rd, 4th & 5th

We had a train themed family birthday party at Olcott Park in Virginia for Papa Stan who turns 85 on the 3rd, I turn 32 on the 4th and Campbell turns 3 on the 5th. I've enjoyed sharing parties with Papa Stan all my life & it's fun to have Campbell's birthday right in the mix now, too. She sure does liven up the party so I don't mind that she gets all the presents. :)

Gabe and I worked late into the night on the train cake. It turned out great! I'd like to keep making the kid's cakes. It's fun to come up with a theme and see it through.

Campbell approved.

The birthday kids. Velura surprised us by making a Thomas cake.

Blake was crazy for the pinata. I had to tear him away kicking and screaming so the other kids could take a turn.