Evan's something

We went to my sister's Catholic church for Evan's something? He had an awful white outfit on and I would have KILLED my mother if she made me where that but I do have to admit he did look cute. I missed the entire whatever it was because Austin was extremely sick! I mean I would have busted our crying hysterically if I didn't have to keep my composure at whatever I was at. Austin's stomach hurt him so bad. I took him to the bathroom 4 times hoping it would get better, but it never did:( I was dying inside. It's the worst feeling in the world knowing that your child is hurting and you can't do anything about it! The thing only lasted 45 minutes and by the time we made it to the truck Austin was crying so bad that I couldn't stop crying. I thought about taking him to the hospital but decided to go home and snuggle with him for a little bit to see if it would get better. Luckily it did.
The boys spent the night with my parents the night before and Dad was nauseous. I'm thinking that was what was wrong with Austin but he just didn't know how to tell me how he was feeling. Sorry, no pictures of anything. I was to worked up about Austin to worry about anything else. Thanks to Mom and Dad for watching over Kaleb at the thing! I couldn't have been there without you! Sorry Shawn I wasn't more social and peppy. I did my best, but my heart and stomach were in knots! You could have said hello and I would have burst out crying:( Love you all. Sorry I couldn't be there for you 100%.

Lazy day!

We barely did anything today! We stayed in our PJ's until 11:00 then went to lunch with my Mom. We stay so busy all the time that the boys wanted to relax and take it easy. Kaleb had told my Mom that I never take them to Taco Bell anymore because I'm really trying to watch our money. Mom felt sorry for them so she promised she would take them. She came over about 11 then we headed to Taco Bell. Next we went to Target to get Evan a Christmas present(not telling what it is) then headed home. We laid in bed and watched Scobby Doo then went upstairs to decorate the boys Christmas trees. Nothing else exciting. WE WERE LAZY!

Thankful Thanksgiving!

Not much to report on Thanksgiving. Brian got up early and went hunting and the kids and I went to my parents to help cook Thanksgiving lunch
.
Shawn, Evan, and JR also came early, but Evan and JR didn't help very much. Here is what
Evan did,
and JR did something on the computer. Poor Evan! He stayed in front of the oven watching all the good food cook, but Shawn and JR wouldn't let him have any of it:( It was really sad!

The Amore's had to leave as soon as they finished eating because they had two other houses to go to. My Mom, Kay(Brian's Mom), and I sat at the table and talked for a long time. It's so great that Brian's parents and mine get along so well together. This is the first year that Brian and I have not setup a Campbell-Travis vacation. We didn't even have a Brian, Stacey, Kaleb, and Austin vacation because the economy is doing so bad. It really stinks being commission based but I know others are having the same problem. We truly do miss spending time with our families out of our day to day routines. Lord knows I keep us booked solid. The adults ended up talking in the living room and the kiddos watched TV and drew in the sun room.

After we visited for awhile, we headed home for a very relaxing evening:) We had to make room for the leftovers so we cleaned out the frig first. Here is Austin jamming to my IPOD while
drying and putting up dishes. Brian and I could not stop laughing!
We could never love our children anymore, but I do have to admit that when our boys do fun, silly stuff like this, it makes us realize how much of a gift they are in our lives and not to take any second for granted. They keep Brian and I on our toes all day and honestly we never stop laughing. It's hard for people our age(not that were old) to truly laugh. Our children give us a special gift everyday of a true Godly smile that comforts us and lets us know that we're good parents and are raising our children to be faithful and loving in a scary world to come. We are thankful to our parents who led us in the direction of Christ and make us strong believers in him. We know that our children will have a lot harder time than we have ever dreamed of in following in the Lords footsteps. On this Thanksgiving, we are thankful for our faith in the Lord. He has joined together Brian's family and mine and molded us into believers of his word so that our children will follow in his footsteps just as we have been blessed to do.

Playing in the woods

Brian got off work early today and needed to go setup his tree stand for his traditional Thanksgiving hunt. The kids and I go to my parents early on Thanksgiving so Brian gets some time to himself. Not sure why he likes to get up at 4:30 am, in the cold, and sit in the woods by himself(others will be with him but not in the same stand). All four of us piled into Brian's truck and headed for the woods or should I say bumpy trail that leads back to land. It's not a road, it's really just two tire ruts that you can barely see in the dirt with tons of TALL grass on top. Yes, that's where we went.

We told the kids before we left that they would have to stay in the truck with me while Brian took the stand to the tree and installed it. He would then take them for a ride when he got back since all four of us can't fit on our four wheeler. Kaleb and Brian both tried to hit me up on buying a four wheeler prior to going so we could all ride together. Needless to say that didn't fly and we do not own a new hot pink four wheeler! Yes, I'm going to get something girlie so none of the boys will want to ride it. It will be all MINE:)

Once we arrived(it's only 10 minutes away)Austin was asleep. I mean out! He didn't even wake up on the bumpy trail. We decided that Kaleb could go with Brian to put the tree stand up since it would only take about 20 minutes and Austin would definitely be asleep for that long. So off Kaleb and Brian went but not without pictures!

An hour and 10 minutes later(yes, I was counting) they came back. They had gotten the four wheeler stuck in a ditch and had to use the winch to get it out. Luckily, Austin stayed like this for the entire time and I brought an Us Weekly. Man it was peaceful! If anyone needs some Hollywood gossip just let me know. I got the scoop:)

Picture with Santa

I wanted to hit Santa up before Thanksgiving because I'm not standing in line to see him. It's too much chaos and the boys have never wanted to sit in his lap anyways. The earlier the better for us. I can't imagine standing in line for an hour to get up there and my kids cry the entire time. That's ridiculous! So we went today. We walked in and talked to him for a long time. The kids became his best friend and Kaleb told him our life story. By the time we left, he walked us out to our truck and told us he would see the boys on Christmas Eve. On the way outside, Kaleb started showing out and causing a scene trying to act cool. He starts yelling "Austin stop pushing me" with his arm held out in the STOP motion. Austin was about 10 steps away from him checking out the Christmas decorations. He had no idea what was going on so he just ignored Kaleb. I reminded Kaleb that Santa was watching and he laughed and said he was "just playing". He likes to cause the biggest scenes in the entire world. This is exactly why Brian hates to take the boys in public. They all the sudden think their in a movie and hope everyone is watching their big debut. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Kaleb's big moment but I was trying to act like I had control of my children. Especially in front of Santa Claus!

Our Christmas list-We cut out pictures and glued them to paper so Santa could see what we wanted. We advised Santa that we couldn't write yet so this is the best we could do:)

Santa checking our list!
Kaleb telling our life story.......

Best buds forever!

Early Thanksgiving

Brian's family came over today for us to celebrate Thanksgiving. Luckily, Brian's Mom and Grandmother made the main coarse so we didn't have to deal with that:) I did appetizers because they are always my favorite and easy! While they were here we went upstairs and did the Wii fit. Our nieces were so funny on it, but what was funnier was Brian's dad laughing hysterically screaming "you go girl" over and over. All the Stempel's got to do the soccer game and I think Jamie won on that. Later that afternoon, I took my kids up there and let them do it. Austin got 1st place on it by hitting over 50 balls! I tell you what, that kids got some Wii fit skills and has no idea what he's doing. Thanks to everyone for coming over. We had a blast. We missed Mark, Melanie, Katie, and Suzanne but will hopefully see you soon. Love you all...........

First real CHRISTMAS

We all decorated the house for Christmas today. We know it's early, but we didn't have any other time as a family to do it. Brian's only day off is Sunday's and we have something going on every Sunday until Christmas. This is the first year of my life I have ever had it up before Thanksgiving. I'm a pretty big stickler about having it up after Thanksgiving but you have to do what's best for your family. We are starting to make traditions since the boys are getting older. Brian started me a snow village last year and we all went and picked out my new pieces for this year. Everyone had a say in it and I do have to admit I love it. I got a Christmas tree lot and daycare. I thought the daycare was fitting since that feels like what I run:) Then we all headed back home to put up the tree and talk about what we were doing and why.

This is the first Christmas that Kaleb is starting to understand the true meaning of Christmas. I'm having so much fun telling him about Jesus. We talk about who he is and what he did for us. I can see a big difference in him since school started back and we are going to church. Now granted, if it's raining and he is ready for it to quit, he wants to fly up to God and tell him to make it stop or he's going to hit him. Then we have the no hitting talk and that God does everything for a reason. Kaleb just says yeah, yeah, Mom and rolls his eyes. But I really think he is starting to understand and truly believe in God.

I remember when I lived at home and my Mother would always sit in the chair and hand out ornaments to my sister and I. She would speak about the ornaments regarding how she got it and why it meant so much to her. We always made fun of her and said she was lazy and didn't want to decorate the tree. Mom, I truly understand now and I'm sorry.

When I take my Christmas tree down I wrap each ornament in tissue paper so they won't get broken. When I opened them up this Christmas I realized each ornament is it's own gift with it's own story. I do have to admit I cried. Since the kids were born Brian and I had been decorating the tree by ourselves. Due to the fact that all ornaments had to be at the top so little hands couldn't reach. You all know how that goes. But this year was different. Kaleb wanted to hear the stories and was so excited about each ornament. He wanted each one to be in a special place on the tree. Austin's another story. He found a trumpet and harp and pretended to be in a band. Next year they will both be on the same page. They are growing up so fast!

If anyone has any traditions you would like to suggest please let me know. I would love to steal your ideas..........

Fit Day

Since swimming lessons are over I haven't been able to figure out a schedule for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I like to be on a schedule all the time. It really helps the kids and keeps me on track so I can actually get stuff done. I have a really bad habit of starting things but never finishing them. I get sidetracked so easily that it takes me all day to finish one simple task. For instance, this morning I was unloading the dishwasher then the dryer buzzed. I walk out of the kitchen with the dishwasher open and headed for the laundry room. An hour later, I go into the kitchen and there is the dishwasher with all the clean dishes just sitting there. Within that hour, I had already started several other things which got left when I saw something else. I'm so ADD it's ridiculous! I laugh at myself a lot. Hence me needing to be on a schedule.

I tried to get to the gym today at our regular time but it didn't happen. The boys weren't in a hurry to get dressed so I let them play longer than I should have. My number one goal on Tuesday and Thursday is to keep the boys active. I really like them to exercise and be healthy. At this age it doesn't seem like hard work. My face is blood red and I'm panting for air and they just smile and keep going. I'm hoping that it will set a lifelong habit since obesity runs in both of our families. I worked out at the gym while they played then we headed home for them to do the Wii Fit. We LOVE this. The boys get a kick out of it. They compete against Brian and I on strength, yoga, aerobics, and games. Sadly, Austin has beat Brian and I on sit ups. He always gets a 90 while Brian and I can barely get 50. I keep saying his body weight is how he does so good. Yes, I am making excuses as to why a 3 year old can beat us on Wii Fit. Does anyone else have one?

Go Memphis

Brian and I went to the Memphis game Monday night or should I say Tuesday morning with some of Brian's co-workers. It was a blast at first. The game started at 11:00 pm, yeah you read that right. Everyone was so pumped until halftime which was about 12:15am . Man those 20 at that time of the morning really make you tired. We stayed until 4 minutes left then bolted to the door. We got home about 2 am. That's the latest we've stayed up in along time but we loved seeing our Tigers in action!

Is it that cold outside?

Kiddo's came home today! Brian and I were so excited to see them. Everything we do is for them but I do have to admit they were on the back burner this weekend:( Sunday is every one's favorite day here because Brian is home. Yea!!! We did a little shopping but most of the time we hung out at the house. It's so nice to have a day with the family. Oh, the kids came home with new winter gear thanks to Grandma and Gigi. The boys wore them outside while Brian and I cleaned the pool. It wasn't cold enough to have them on but they were excited about it so I got them dressed(gloves were not easy). Two minutes later the gloves were off. I tried to tell them but what do I know, I'm just the Mom.

I hear wedding bells:)

Rebecca, my oldest girlfriend in the entire world got married today. We've been best friends since 10th grade. Needless to say, we have been thru everything together. We still talk on the phone at least 4 times a day which is weird because we have nothing in common. We're in totally different phases of our lives but God has kept our friendship strong and it will stay like that FOREVER. Did I mention she's moving to the Netherlands in January. As I sit here and type and cry my eyes out, I can think of so many fun, truly happy, sad, awkward, mischievous, disappointing, hysterical(the list could go forever)times we've been able to experiance over the past 14 years. She is going to be truly missed.

Bridal shower, Rehersal, and Rehersal dinner oh my....

So Friday to say the least started off BUSY! Kaleb woke up at 5:50 to a bloody nose and he felt horrible. I called the doctor and she said he was fine. It's his bodies way of flushing the sinus infection out. Gross! Today is his last day of his antibiotics but it's suppose to work for 5 days after your last dose so we will see. I took the kids to school then Kaleb's nose started bleeding. It wasn't gushing out but when he would wipe his nose with his shirt, a little blood would be on it. I took him back home with me because I didn't want want his teachers to deal with it. Luckily, it didn't bleed the rest of the day which I knew would happen.

I had the bridal shower at 12:30 and thank goodness my mother-in-law was able to keep Kaleb. I took him over there then headed to Coletta's for lunch. I left there at 2:10 then headed to pick Kaleb up then get Austin. I was tired already! Austin's school gets out at 2:30 but I'm truly thankful to have good friends help out! Thanks Alisa:) Kaleb and I met Alisa, Blake, and Austin at Baskin Robbins. I hadn't been there in forever and the boys really enjoyed it. Then we headed home to rest. Ah, I love that word. I had an hour to spend with the boys before Mom picked them up for the weekend. I enjoyed every minute of it!!!

As soon as the kids left, I headed to the church for the rehearsal. After that, we went to the rehearsal dinner at Jim's Place Grill. I didn't get any pictures because Brian hates getting other people to take them. Everyone stops what their doing to watch and Brian can't stand that so sorry, no pictures. I hope everyone had a more relaxing day than we did. It was fun but I'm glad it's over.............

ITT here we come

When we woke up this morning at 6:15 Kaleb sounded worse than he did on Monday. He really needed to stay home from school but I had a hair appointment that I couldn't miss. I'm in a wedding on Saturday and my roots were awful! I promised him I would check him out early though. So off to school we went then I headed to Gould's for the new me:)

After getting my hair done I headed to Kohl's and saw the girl that I'm stalking. Her name is Lisa and I see her everywhere I go. Her son AJ is in Kaleb's class at school and we both go to Prairie Life gym. If I go to the park, a store, during Race for the Cure she's there!! I'm always five minutes behind her. So of coarse I walk in and there she was. Both of us just crack up because I've already informed her that I'm stalking her. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen.

I picked Kaleb up at 1:15 and we came home to rest. I was going to get Austin at the same time but he was asleep so I didn't want to wake him. Kaleb and I were at home for an hour then headed back to get Austin. Once home again, we played in the playroom then decided to play games on the computer. They would stay on the computer all day if I let them. Nothing exciting happened today except Brian is out of town. Not that that's exciting but we miss him very much............

Can't breathe

While Kaleb was taking swimming lessons, he was having a hard time breathing and keeping up with the class. He would swim for five minutes and he would be gasping for air. He has been congested for awhile so I always told them it was allergies and it would clear up soon. It's been about a month and Brian and his mother said they heard Kaleb wheezing. I couldn't hear it but I'm around them all the time so everything sounds normal to me. Not wanting to take the chance I was missing something, I took him to the doctor.

I started calling at 7:45 and little did I know I would have an appointment at 8:15! I jumped up, got the kids and I dressed, then out the door we went. I was out of the house in 5 minutes. I have no idea how it happened but I really don't think I could do it again. Once at the doctor, she listened to his breathing and everything sounded fine. She knew he wasn't wheezing at this point but was concerned he might have asthma. Since the office wasn't busy she had him run around the hall to get his heart rate up and see if he would start coughing. Of coarse he didn't but had a hard time catching his breathe. She decided to give him a breathing treatment to open up more passages in his chest so she could hear if congestion was in it or if he did have asthma. Luckily she heard congestion. She decided he has bronchitis and gave us an antibiotic. Once the congestion clears up I'm suppose to watch his breathing just to make sure he's okay. He's only 4 and shouldn't be having this hard of a time catching his breathe. Then he got a flu shot and I thought he was going to die! He cried and couldn't walk for 10 minutes. I decided to go to Chick-fil-a as a treat since we missed breakfast and miraculously once he got on the playground it was all better. Funny how that happens! I was able to get them out of Chick-fil-a without anyone throwing a fit by telling them we were going somewhere else fun. I wouldn't tell them where until they got into the truck and were buckled up. Then we headed to Toys R Us.

Who doesn't love Toys R Us? It's hours of entertainment for the kids and I don't have to spend a penny! We looked at all the toys and talked about which ones we wanted from Santa. We stayed in the back mostly and checked out all the riding toys. The boys don't need another one but they
do like to pretend their driving them. After all that excitement we headed home for a NAP and a relaxing day with Dad:)

When does Fall stop falling????

Our new house is in the neighborhood Shea Woods Estates. And when they say woods, they mean trees are EVERYWHERE! I'm not saying I don't like trees but during this time of year they start getting on my nerves. Especially now that we have a pool. We're going to buy a cover but because we needed furniture and some other things, it was low on our priority list. So now we get to clean the pool twice a day in the cold weather. Anyone who knows me that well knows I don't do good in the cold. I've been trying to get Brian to move somewhere tropical but he keeps reminding me that islands don't sell many cars. So were stuck here in the freezing cold

cleaning out LEAVES! Luckily, Kaleb enjoys going outside and talking to me while I clean the pool. For instance, while I was cleaning out the above basket he asked me when he could get married. What? He got a candy necklace at school today and wanted to give it to Kenzie so they could get married. He thought she would really like it and it would look pretty on her. I told him he could give her a candy necklace but the wedding would have to wait until after college. As you can see, it wasn't the answer he was looking for:)

Catching up on old times

I was able to see Trista, my little sister in my sorority today. I haven't seen her in 7 years!

We worked at Bogeys together when we were 16 but didn't really hangout that much. When we graduated high school, we started hanging out and becoming close friends. I pledged Pi Beta Phi when I was a freshmen and Rebecca(my best friend) pledged Alpha Gamma Delta. During our freshmen year Trista hung out with both of us all the time. We were both trying to recruit her because she was so awesome. Luckily, I won! My big sister MeLeah was Trista's beta buddy then I got her as my little sister. We had the best family!

Then life happened......

We started losing contact with each other. Everyone had boyfriends and we didn't have time for each other. Needless to say, our priorities had changed. We went from partying all the time to staying at home and watching movies and becoming old. I kept in touch with MeLeah, but lost contact with Trista.

Then!!!!!!!!

I got on Facebook. There she was with her same infectious smile that I had really missed and could never forget. I couldn't wait to become her friend to see what in the world she had been up to. Really, I just wanted to jump through the computer screen and give her a hug but that wasn't going to happen. We e-mailed each other and finally set-up a time to meet. Which brings me to today.

We met at Half Shell for lunch and she got there first. As soon as I saw her I wanted to run over and give her the biggest hug in the world. I held my composure because she hadn't seen me in seven years and I didn't want to seem like a weirdo. We had lunch and it seemed like I talked to her yesterday. We talked about old times and all our friends then and now. I wanted to burst out crying several times and say I'm sorry over and over but maybe I held my composure. I also had my camera in my purse and thought about asking if I could get a picture for the blog but I hated to ask the waiter. Maybe next time.

Nothing fun today but funny!

The kids went to school today so I got to clean house. Brian left work early and cleaned up the leaves in the front and backyard. Exciting, I know. I don't have any pictures but wanted to share with you my conversation with Austin when I picked him up from school.
The boys get out of school at 2:30. I got there at 2:15 and went inside to find Austin still asleep and missing story time and playtime. Kaleb was in circle time and answering lots of questions(he's getting so big). I checked back on Austin and he finally got up. Slowly he walked over to circle time and joined in with the rest of the class sleepy eyes and all. The door opened and Austin came running up to me yelling I painted a T-T.

Me-You painted a what(I still think he was half asleep).

Austin-I told you I painted a T T

Me-Why did you paint a T T?

Austin-That's what they told me to do.

Me-Look around at his teachers but they're talking to other parents. I didn't want to make a scene so I pull everything out of his bag looking for the picture of a T T . In my head I'm wondering which school am I about to try and get my children into since they're painting pictures of T T's in art class. THEN...One of his teachers walks over to tell Austin goodbye and give him a hug and kiss. So one more time in front of her I ask what he painted today.

Austin- Mom, I told you a T T.

Me- So exactly what did y'all paint today because I'm thinking of changing schools.

His teacher-Laughing hysterically with tears rolling down her face tells me they painted a Tee-Pee for Thanksgiving and will send it home on Friday because it wasn't dry enough to send home today.

Thank GOD! I'm a little nervous to see what his Tee-Pee looks like.

Go Tigers!!!!!!

Brian, Dave, Trish, and I headed to the Tigers exhibition game at the FedEx Forum. It was my first Memphis game in two years. CRAZY, I KNOW! Trish and I watched the game quite a bit but people watched just as much. It's so funny what people wear to get attention. Yes, they did get ours so it had to be out there. I'm not saying I'm trendy but I do know what the trends are.

I just don't wear it because I don't like the trends. Yes, I'm old.....