Halloween time!

Happy Halloween! We had a day filled with green pancakes, 'Ice-Age 3', pumpkin painting, pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, playing with friends, games, and yummy food! I think it can be said that our kiddos will sleep well tonight!
Hope all of you had a great day too!

First day of Kindergarten!

Just a few short years ago my little boy looked like this....



And now that little boy has hit a milestone in his life. He went to school for the first time on Monday! This is a picture of him all ready to go... Batman packpack loaded with supplies; lunch packed with his request- ham sandwich, carrots and chocolate milk; and new school clothes. He has been so excited for all of these things!


I have had all of the feelings that a first-time school parent has. Anticipation for what is ahead but also melancholy that childhood seems to go by so fast. I am excited for this new phase in his life...I just hope that he always remembers that he can still need his mom sometimes.

Summer fun...

The month of July for the Campbell Fam was jam-packed and full of adventure! I have a lot to catch up and post about but I thought I would just start by sharing recent happenings around here. The kids had been enjoying the hot summer weather and then just the past few days have brought 60 degree weather and rain!


Rainy day activities.......throwing rocks in the water run-off pool by our house

And....riding bikes through puddles and getting soaked!




Hot summer day activities.....blowing bubbles of course!

Swimming with friends!

Playing at the reservoir!

Complete Makeover!

Alainey got her first-ever haircut this week! We walked all the way across the street to my friend Callie's house, who by the way is a superb stylist, and Alainey got the royal treatment. Callie had this cute bob cut in mind and it only took her a few minutes to do. I love it! And Alainey loves it too, except I think she feels like she can have a bit more sass with this new do. Who knows...maybe a cute new do warrants a little sass....or maybe she is just hitting the "2" stage early..





And to complete the makeover......


Well of course, makeup! Just slip into mommy's bathroom when she least expects it and when she thinks you're sleeping and apply a tube of lipstick. And maybe a little black eyeliner to the face as well. Just like mom, right?


(This is how I found Alainey, after noticing that she was no longer asleep on my bed and my bathroom door was shut and it was a little too quiet....not her usual jabbering)

(My first impulse after finding her was to wipe her clean....so glad I decided to grab my camera first...how can I get frustrated at this face...?)

Birthday Girl!

Our sweet little Haylee celebrated her 4th birthday on Tuesday! She had been counting down the days since March so she was a happy girl when her birthday day finally arrived. Haylee wants to thank her grandparents for sending fun birthday packages....she loved opening them! Here is a chronicle of her fun day......



Birthday breakfast request......SAUSAGE, SAUSAGE, SAUSAGE, and maybe some pancakes to go along with it! Although I didn't have the sausage on her plate when I snapped the picture..silly me.


Decorating the cupcakes for her party. She meticulously put pink and green sprinkles on each cupcake!

The party crowd enjoying the cupcakes! All the kids swam and played on the slip n slide also but it was a little too crazy to stop and grab the camera!


Opening gifts....fast and furiously!


Haylee's cherry chip cake with pink frosting...her request!


New bike! This was her big birthday request! Now she can ride bikes with her brother. Haylee has been so excited for her bike, she wakes up every morning and the first thing she wants to do is ride her bike!


Here is our little 4 year old! Cute as a button!


Just wanted to share this cute little toddler picture of Haylee. Notice how she is pulling the same face in her 4 year old picture!

We love you so much Haylee! You bring spunk, happiness, laughter, and love into our lives.

Cute Watches!

I wanted to post some pictures of these super cute watch bands that my little sister makes. She has started selling quite a few of them in southern Utah but I haven't seen many of these up here in Idaho yet. I love the beads she picks, and she puts it with a funky, cute watch face. Each band sells for $15.00, and the watch face is $10.00, which is a smokin deal compared to department store prices. Each band has clips on the ends so you can interchange any band. I just think this is such a cute idea so I wanted to share it with all of you! My mom and dad are visiting us for a few days and my mom brought some watch bands with her so let me know if you would like to come see them! Here are a few pics from a (very) amateur photographer!


My Mothers Day Watch!




A Few Pictures of Bands she has already done

Clogging Recital

Haylee got to perform on Saturday at the Gem Cloggers end-of-year recital. She is a member of the Rhythm Kids class, which are kids ages 3-5. It has been fun to be one of the teachers this year, not only because I get to be in there with Haylee and her fun class, but also to be a part of a clogging studio again. Haylee's grandparents were so bummed that they couldn't come up for the recital (lots of miles to travel...we missed you!..) so I promised we would take some pictures. Thanks to our good friends who came and watched....Haylee loved having you there!


Haylee is all ready to go perform! She wasn't too keen on getting her hair curled but was super excited when I brought out the mascara, blush, and lipstick!


Brecken and Alainey came backstage to wish her luck!


The Rhythm Kids Class


Sorry that this picture isn't closer....it is hard to see, I know. Haylee is the first one on the left of the picture. Our camera is one of the very first digital cameras put out so it doesn't zoom well. Plus I stuck Layne on the job of picture taking which was difficult to do with Alainey on his lap plus trying to watch Haylee dance!

Daddy's little helpers

Last night Layne was lucky enough to have two little helpers. Or should I say... Brecken and Alainey were lucky enough to go for a little horse ride!


*Brecken on his buddy Nate* *Alainey is all smiles! She gets so excited when she sees a horse....she jabbers on and on and claps and giggles.

*Our Haylee is just content to watch in the warm car with a yummy sucker* Sounds good to me!

Close Encounters

We went to the zoo with Brecken's preschool group on Thursday. On the way to the zoo I asked Brecken and Haylee what animals they wanted to see most. Brecken's response was of course a tiger, and Haylee was looking forward to seeing the zebras. The tigers were being very cooperative for a picture, coming up close and being fun and active. The zebras however, thought that their lunch was more important than snapping a good picture for Haylee. Oh well, the kids had fun regardless! And I had my hands full trying to keep track of a curious little Alainey!

My little boy is growing up!

The time has come to be a brave mom and send my son off to Kindergarten.(Tear)On Tuesday I signed the papers! Thank goodness I still have a few more months to process this before he will be starting this new chapter in his life. Brecken is actually very excited to start Kindergarten, which is a change from 5 months ago. He is five years old now, which according to Brecken, is "as old as mom and dad and just as big." I hear people say how fast time flies by and I am hear to say that I totally agree with that statement.

"Peanut Butter and Jelly" Doctor

Last week we took Haylee to the allergist, or as she calls it, the "peanut butter and jelly" doctor. This visit was just a yearly check-up to see if she still has an allergy to peanuts and to refill prescriptions. In order to test her, the nurse applied drops of each highly allergenic foods on her back to see which ones she would react to. She had a significant reaction to peanuts, which meant that for 10 minutes I had to do all I could to keep her from touching her back. I turned into quite the silly mom, doing all I could to take her mind off her 'mosquito' bites on her back. I was so proud of Haylee..she was my brave little girl! Before coming to this appointment I had a small hope that she might have grown out of this allergy. We have sure tried our hardest to keep her away from peanuts. But according to the allergist most kids will not grow out of it. Haylee is so smart and she knows to check foods and tell other people that she has a peanut allergy. She got to pick out a fancy new ring at the allergist and she couldn't wait to come home and show her daddy!

A few of my favorites

As I promised yesterday, today's post has a much happier tune to it. I am feeling better, my girls are feeling better, I was able to switch phones, and today was a sunny, warm day! Here are a few of my latest, most favorite things that I wanted to share...



Spring time weather! Limitless possibilities of backyard fun!

Even though the days are getting warmer the nights are still cool. I love the warmth of my heated blanket! Layne on the other hand doesn't like the heated blanket but it works out because mine is only a twin size!

Makes clothes smell awesome and cleans like no other!

Loaded with fiber and Alainey eats this cereal like candy!

Phone frustration!

So this morning I pick up my cell phone, open it up to make a call to Layne, and low-and-behold I'm looking at a blank screen! The phone was turned on but I couldn't see who I was calling or who was calling me. Talk about frustrating! Especially since we don't use a land line so I get all calls on my cell phone. Tried to jimmy with it for a minute with no success. Luckily we have an old phone that we have hung onto so I'll be off to the verizon store in the mornin for some switchin!
Also speaking of frustrating things.....is anyone else just simply disgusted with how our government is spending carelessly and bailing out big corporate companies (AIG). Wonder what would happen if all americans decided to stop paying taxes....what would the federal govt think about that....
I know this is probably a pretty gloomy post...but sometimes you just gotta vent....Tommorrow I will most definitely post much happier things!

Quotables......

Isn't it interesting to realize the things that kids pick up on?....My friend Callie watched my kids today while I taught a piano lesson. When I went over after the piano lesson she told me Brecken and Haylee had been telling her all sorts of fun stories. Such as this quote from Brecken..."my Dad has been turning the boy cows into girl cows." (Brecken just recently got to watch his dad castrate some bulls) And this one from Haylee..."my dad was starting the cows on fire." (Haylee just recently watched her dad brand some cows) I just had to chuckle about how kids process what they see and then relate it to others. Gotta love em!

Anyone for Golf?

So this morning I was going about my usual clean-up routine and I just happened to glance in my toilet to find this lovely item......



Our little Alainey found her dad's golf balls! Thank goodness it wasn't one of his most favorite ones. And...I'm so glad that I found the golf ball first and not one of my older children!

Finally...a post!

Hello to everybody! I know you are all thinking to yourselves....."well it is about time Amber posted." And you know what...you are so right! My problem is that I think of all the things I would like to post about and then I just get overwhelmed and don't post anything! I just need to take it a day at a time and catch you all up on what has been going on around our house. We have been busy busy around our house. And sometimes, Alainey doesn't get her usual scheduled nap. She has fallen asleep in some pretty cute positions lately and I wanted to share some fun pics with you!


Trying to stay awake to finish my milk!

Just can't make it....think I'll give in..

All tuckered out!

Mom, I can't possibly eat yogurt when I am just so tired!