That's my boy!

Anyone who has been around my family for any amount of time has heard the story of 'Attle's house.' For those of you who have not... when I was about 4 my family drove out to the west coast to visit friends of my parents. After making several stops, we were then headed to Seattle. While up in the space needle, I asked my mom to point out Attle's house. She had no idea what I was talking about so I replayed the trip for her. We went to Judy's house. We went to Claudette's house. And now we were going to "see Attle," so which one is Attle's house? Makes perfect sense, right? Well, last week I told Noah that when Benjamin woke up we had to run some errands. I brought Benjamin down and Noah was running around screaming with glee, "Yippee! Yippee! Let's go run errands!" I thought his enthusiasm a bit funny but off we went. We made all of our stops and were pulling back in to the garage when Noah started crying. I asked what the problem was and he said, "Go to Errand's house. Go to Errand's house." Having been in those very same shoes once before, I did not have to ask what he was talking about.

What's wrong with the picture?

This past weekend we went to Independence to help Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Scott move to a new house. You'd think being in furnished houses you wouldn't have that much to move, right? Well, you might be surprised... We had our work cut out for us! We had a nice drive down on Friday and spent some time at the pool after we arrived. (Pictures forthcoming when Uncle Scott finds his camera and he and Grandma are able to take a break from unpacking to go get the film developed.) It was really fun and the cool water felt very good. Noah was very happy to be back at Boobie's house (G&G's foster cat) and to get to play in the magical bedroom of toys again. He kept daddy very busy showing him all the toys. He went to bed pretty easily but nobody slept very well. Benjamin was up a number of times (thanks to tooth #6) and Noah cried a few times as well. In the morning daddy admitted having heard a loud thump and going in to get Noah in the morning and seeing the spots of blood on the sheets put two and two together. Apparently, he had his first falling out of bed experience (although not his first bloody nose this week - please see below). We don't know really what happened but if you ask him about falling out of bed, he says he did. So, we started Saturday a few steps behind. Got a fair amount of stuff moved during the day while Grandma and Uncle Scott watched the boys. We thought we were leaving them in good hands but we now have our doubts. Maybe it was the stress of moving?!? But you'd think a lady who has dressed at least one person for the last 23,725 days would know that the snap and pockets go in the front and are not just a fancy embellishment to the back as she thought... Silly grandma! Anyway, after working up quite a sweat, we thought we would treat ourselves to the pool again before dinner. As we were loading up the car, it started to rain but we went anyway only to find out they were shutting down for about 20 minutes. We decided to run home and eat and then come back. We got there at 7:00 just in time to hear them say, "The pool is now closed. See you tomorrow!" Oops. So, Noah took daddy to the zoo instead. They walked around looking at monkeys, peapocks and Friend Owl, and got all muddy and then we headed home. Sunday morning we got got around and headed back home. It rained a little but the boys rode very nicely. Maybe they will figure this rode trip thing out after all!

BLOODY NOSE #1 - Noah had his first diving accident this week. He and daddy were downstairs watching Baseball Game while mommy was up getting Benjamin ready for bed. She heard a loud thump followed by even louder screaming and ran down to find dad running Noah up the stairs with blooding gushing from his nose. It appears that he decided using the coffee table as a diving board was getting boring so he decided to jump from the foot stool to the coffee table. We think it didn't really turn out as he planned. We ran him up the bathroom and threw him in to the tub. Now when you ask him what happened he says, "Diving board. Bonk-a-nose. Noah cry. Get messy. Daddy clean you up." This has not, however, caused him to rethink his diving board games. We were right back at it the next morning.

My dream is coming true!

So, if you've ever heard me talk about my future family, you know that I've always intended to have numerous children - the better to build a family music ensemble with... Well, it turns out our eldest son in not the only musical prodigy in our family. This was my serenade this morning. It is a little disappointing that everyone wants to play the same instrument but hopefully STOMP will still be in production when they are old enough to tour.

Clean up in Aisle 2!

If half a cookie can make this much mess, I can't wait to see what spaghetti is going to be like! And speaking of aisles, I had to take the boys grocery shopping this morning. Usually I try to do this on the weekend so I can leave at least one boy at home with dad. But because we were gone this weekend I had to do it today - with both boys. In the past, this has not been a problem because I've only needed a few things that I can get in the cart around Benjamin who is normally sleeping and Noah can concentrate on me and 'the Sushi Man'. None of that was the case today. I had to buy a whole week's worth of groceries and find creative places to stash them around the gigantic carseat inside the cart. Benjamin was too excited to sleep and was grabbing everything. I managed to keep his pacifier in hos mouth so he was not sucking on everything BUT Noah did not think Benjamin should be playing with the food so he would grab it out of Benjamin's hands and either hold it all up front with him or throw it to the floor. And Benjamin would begin to cry. So I would hand him something else to hold on to, remind Noah to face the front and keep his hands to himself. I am fairly certain we did this routine about 174 times in the hour that we were at the store. (And I now have a better understanding of why mothers generally look as though they have been pulling their hair out sideways the majority of the time.) A couple of nice things, though... I had them put the bags in a second cart to pull them out to the car and was certain I could get the two carts out the door myself. (For some reaeson they have stopped having bagboys walk out to your car with you and I am too cheap to tip for curbside service.) But on my way out the door we passed this nice lady who refused to let me try it on my own. She pushed the cart of groceries out to the car for me and wanted to help me put the groceries in the car but I assured her I could do that myself. As I was getting the last bag out the cart started to roll and this nice man appeared and offered to take the cart for me as I "obviously had my hands full." I put the bag in the car and turned around to find he was standing there still watching the cart with the boys inside making sure they did not also roll away. I got them in to the car and he took that cart as well. So, thank you grocery store angels! You made my trip much better!

Happy 6th of July!

Kansas City offered a number of events for Independence Day. We probably could have picked something different for every night. We did not , though. We did plan two days, however. The 4th, which we have already talked about, and the 1st. Unfortunately, because of the rain, our 1st party was postponed until the 6th. We went to a botanical gardens on the eastern side of the city. It should have taken 45 minutes to get there but thanks to rush hour traffic and construction it took us twice that. Have I ever mentioned how Benjamin does not like riding in the car? And he really has no problem reminding us of that often. And when he gets loud, his big brother gets even louder to try to get his attention. By the time we got there, nerves were shot. One of the drawing cards was the gigantic dinosaurs they had around the gardens. Unfortunately, they forgot to mention that they would be closing the gardens early to set up for the fireworks show. So by the time we finished dinner we didn't get to see anything. But there was all on our list of bad fortune for the evening - the rest was great. We met up with some friends from church whose son is in Noah's nursery class, Eric. The two have a lot in common and are actually very good friends (as long as Eric doesn't try to hug Noah. Noah did not get Eric's cuddling genes). And the fountain that we had hoped to play in was turned on especially for us. Noah did get Eric's love-the-water genes. The boys had a great time running in the water. They also both dislike fireworks GREATLY but while Noah thought they were too loud, Eric covered his eyes. (A little hear no evil, see no evil???) But we did find a cure.... And now that we know how to appease the masses, we are thinking of hitting firework shows with greater frequency. If you know of a good show, tell us about it and we will try to fit it in - as long as it is within 3 minutes of our house so the little one can ride their in peace.

The quilt

Turns out the gift made it to its intended party so I can share pictures now. And I can totally see how this is addictive. I've already picked out the next 100 quilts I want to make. So if I could just find someone to run my house, I could get started.

More photos

Lucky for me, my boys humored me with dressing up for the 4th. They must know how much the holiday means to their mommy. (Daddy thinks Benjamin looks like Maggie Simpson.)

Let's have a parade!

We had a very exciting 4th of July this year (which was good because mommy was a little sad she would not be in Michigan - that's only happened one other time in the 8 years she has lived here). Our celebration started the night before as Grandma Page and Erika bought us some fun hats for the parade. Noah immediately put his on and wore it all evening. We almost had trouble getting it away from him for sleeping but when we promised he could put it right back on in the morning and we would go to the parade, he finally gave in. Our 4th started off right as we attended the Lenexa parade. And we even got to have our first lollipop. Mmmm. Grandpa & Grandma's corvette club was in the parade so we got to watch for someone we knew. Yummy KC BBQ followed for lunch and then everyone napped. One of Noah's play group friends invited all of us over for a picnic in the evening. They had a huge crowd and lots of yummy food. They even rented a moonwalk for the kiddos. (Noah still asks regularly if we can go to Grace's house and do jumping. I think he liked it.) It rained in the afternoon and cooled things off nicely so it was very pleasant outside. Their neighborhood has a lake and beach area so we moved over there and watched their fireworks. Grace decided to help Noah have a snack so she had Christopher open a bag of goldfish for him then proceeded to put them in his mouth. She then got him a juice drink. I guess she thought she was being a little messy so she got out a wipe and cleaned his face and hands. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it all but started laughing because the rest of us were. His chair came complete with umbrella which he needed out even though it was dark. Grace was taken by the umbrella and scooted her chair all around so she could sit under it too. They were already to "watch the fireworks," they would say.
But as soon as they started, both Noah and Grace shot out of their seats and headed for parts unknown screaming, "All done! Bye-bye, fireworks! Go home!" Well, Grace really did go home but daddy took Noah up to the road behind us and walked around. Daddy tried to point out that they sounded just like Animal playing the drums so now when we talk about fireworks, that is what Noah says. In between, "Oooh, pretty, daddy!'s" he was still pretty insistent on going home. Lucky for him, the show eventually ended and we got to do just that. And the whole way home we listened to, "Fireworks all done? Loud! Like Animal playing drums," over and over and over and over. Thank goodness we didn't get caught in any traffic because he may have lost his voice.

7 Months

Benjamin's 7th month birthday has come and gone already. I still have not had the opportunity for the perfect picture but wanted to get something up lest he think we forgot. We've already talked about his crawling and sitting. In the kitchen, Benjamin has become quite the eater. He started off a little slow and had his mommy worried that he was going to be picky but that is all gone now. He loves too eat and has not shown preference for any fruit or vegetable yet. He does, however, prefer flavored food to cereal and has been known to cry until you give him the right stuff. He can down a couple of jars a meal. Grandma Bonnie thinks there is a good chance he will weigh 35 lbs. at his next check up. (That's up from 16 lbs. last month, mind you.) But when you are as active as he is, I guess you need all the energy you can get. He now has 4 teeth but two more are on the brink and are giving him enough trouble that he wakes up a number of times each night. I think we will all be glad when that is over - Benjamin for sure. We can't believe this time has gone so fast. He is going to be one before we know it!

Happy birthday, Daddy!

Just a little overdue. Daddy's birthday was actually 6/29. I'd asked if he wanted to report on the day but since it has been almost a month now I am suspecting that is not going to happen (as Noah's birthday as well as our trip to the lake in May are still in his pipe). So while I am catching up on everything else, I thought I might as well do that too. Daddy took the day off and we were hoping to take the boys back to the zoo. Unfortunately it was pouring rain so we had to come up with a 'Plan B'. Daddy suggested the Children's Museum so we gave it a try. It is comprised of many rooms each set up with a different theme. There was a grocery store complete with tiny carts, real store coolers, fake food, cash registers, and money. There was an instrument area, a fire truck with gear, a construction area, an arts and crafts area, an animal area with costumes and a giant bird's nest (and a 'Charlotte's web' for climbing), and a hospital area. (Even though we did not go in to the hospital section, Noah now refers to the museum as the hospital and asks to there there daily. When you ask him what you do at the hospital he says, "Push the cart, get groceries, get milk.") Noah had the best time pushing his cart around the store and loading it with every single piece of food he could find. We'd then push the cart over to the check out counter. At one point there was a boy playing cashier. He rang up all of our food then opened the register to give us some money to pay with. Noah gave it back to him and said, "Thank you!" The little boy said, "Thank you" and we left. We were supposed to reshelf our items but thankfully a little girl was all too eager to get our cart so we left that job to her. From there we went to Fritz's for lunch (with a number of detours along the way as there was a lot of construction downtown and lots of wrong turns on our part). It is a fun little restaurant with a train theme. You call your order in over the phone at your booth and little trains running along the ceiling deliver your food when it is ready. You even get hats. After nap time we headed to Grandpa & Grandma's for a yummy dinner and presents. Noah even helped wrap daddy's present. Although it was not the day we had planned, I think it turned out to be a pretty good time. Hope you had a happy birthday, daddy! We sure enjoyed getting to spend the day with you!

GO!

And we are off! Our littlest man is on the go. He CAN crawl and if he spots something across the room from him that he wants, he hustles right over there (like the video camera or a magazine) but if he is just looking for something to do he still takes three or four strides and then lunges. And once he figured that out, he immediately started sitting himself up. I have to say there is almost nothing cuter than little Benjamin sitting straight as a board in the middle of the room just proud as a peacock. (The pictures might not show that as he was busy trying to figure out how to make a phone call.) He spends most of his time scooting around the room trying to find something to play with. Unfortunately, every time he picks something up, Noah comes and takes it from him declaring he wants to play with it but then throwing it down to get the next item. I'll have to get Benjamin lifting weights so he can fight back. He is actually very patient and doesn't get angry unless he is really tired in which case he tattles as only little brothers can do.

TA-DA!

Well, it is finished! A little later than I had hoped as it was in the mail over the weekend, but my special project was finished late last night (by the 7/18 deadline, mind you) and dropped in the mail this morning. What a job! It wouldn't have been so bad if I had listened to my special project coach from the beginning and started with something a little easier. But, no. I had to jump right in with both feet and ears closed. About the end of June it became very clear that my first project would not be completed anytime soon so I scrapped it. That's right - started fresh on 7/1. But, boy did I have fun! And I think I have also found a new calling. I'd like to thank my dear husband who allowed me to get away with not doing any housekeeping for that time. He hasn't complained once that he had to shake inches of animal hair off whatever fell to the ground. He even was spotted helping on the special project to ensure that it was done on time. So, just what was this project? Well, here... Take a look.
Oh, come on now. Did you really think I was going to show you early? You just wait until it arrives in the mail. :)

On vacation?

No, the Campbells are not on vacation. We are just keeping ourselves very, very busy. Stephanie is working on a special project in all her spare time and that will hopefully be finished this weekend and life will return to normal. Floors might be vacuumed again... Children washed... Food cooked... Beds slept in... And just what is this special project? Well, tune in again after July 18th and you'll get the whole lowdown. And be sure to check back for our 4th of July pictures. We got some good ones. Hope everyone is well! We'll be back in touch very soon!

Sunflowers - week 12

So, you haven't heard about the sunflowers in awhile. And when last you saw them they were not doing so well. You probably thought they had met their demise, right? Well, after their last photo session daddy and Noah replanted them in to a larger pot and they just took off. Of course, the 10 inches of rain and not-too-hot-yet weather has probably played a part in their success as well. So here they are with their very proud gardener. (And in case you are wondering, he is showing how big they are and saying cheese.)