Looky Looky

How many 3-year-olds can do that? In July Ashi decided he did not need training wheels anymore. It took another month to convince Carrot Top, but we're all fully converted now. And of course Ashi is quite the dare devil, "Look mom, no feet! Look mom, I can stand! Look Mom, I can jump the curb!" I kid you not, thank God for health insurance!

July- There was a Birthday

Not sure who this is, but some kid turned 6 in July and I have all these pictures of it :)

Three Sweet Peas

Oh baby! Ashi finally got his birthday train ride. It was oh so much fun too! The trip from here to Mt. Vernon is about 30 minutes and one of the most beautiful stretches of track around. It goes right beside the beach with a view of the islands along Chuckanut Drive, through a few tunnels, over a bridge and then through the Skagit farmland to spot cows, sheep and a few of the elusive giant Marshmallow farms along the way. We pulled onto a siding for the Northbound train to pass, and spotted all the different types of freight cars waiting in the yard. Talk about fun for little boys! Christian was pretty well over it, but a good sport.
Luckily Ashi had his new buddy Carrot Top to share his locomotive euphoria. Carrot Top joined our crew at the beginning of this month and now the scales are hopelessly tipped in favor of the men around here. At three to one there really is no point in putting the seat down anymore, it's a lost cause.

We are quite fond of our new little friend and are glad he'll be around at least through the holidays. The two "Littles" are thick as thieves, running about "being super duper" and just generally adorable. But Bubba gets in on the action himself and seems to enjoy having a bit of a buffer between himself and his crazy little nut job of a baby brother. You won't believe me when I tell you, so I probably shouldn't, but there is actually more peace, quiet, housecleaning and sanity around here with 3 sweet peas than when we had 2.

I know, you don't believe me. That's okay. Just keep thinking I'm nuts and feel free to offer to mow my lawn. I did that the other day and spent the last hour contemplating putting the house back on the market. I can't believe I'm actually glad it's November and the sun won't shine for the next 8 months forcing the grass to go dormant. Now off to find me a teenage neighbor boy!

We're Ba-aaaack

Boo! We're back online finally after a few weeks living out of boxes there is finally some internet around these parts. Lots of changes in the little Campbell household. First of all there's this:We traded our cute little townhouse apartment for a big backyard out in the burbs. If Bellingham really could have burbs this would be it, but don't turn around or you'll realize we're really a lot closer to Ferndale. Even the planners couldn't figure out what city we're in so they named the street Belfern and called it a day.I was totally convinced the big back yard was the best thing about the new house until we moved in and I fell in love with our big living room that is totally and completely separate from the kitchen and dining room. I can tolerate a whole lot more mess and distruction when it remains largely out of sight while I cook dinner. And we finally have one of those race track layouts, where the kids can pick up speed and run laps around the fireplace. Our first night here I yelled at the boys to stop running in the house, and started cracking up when I realized I had never, ever said that before. We have never been able to run in the house before, it just wasn't physically possible. I secretly kind of like it.

For Halloween we were delighted to discover that we have a rockin' trick or treat 'hood. Tons of kids, tons of candy, no cars and the perfect location on a dead-end so we don't get that many kids ourselves. The boys were going to both be karate guys (because Ashi wants "same like Bubba" on everything), but I couldn't find Ashi's pants to save my life (must be in one of those pesky boxes in the garage) so we just started throwing things together from the dress-up box. He ended up in Skeleton jammies with his "super Ashi cape", his "super duper shoes" and a light saber. Which is so stinkin adorable when you are Ashi. Ash just loved trick-or-treating. He carried the candy spider the whole time and proudly announced to each person that they were sharing their candy. The little secret there is that when you tell the person at the door that you and your brother are sharing your candy, 9 times out of 10 they don't give you guys two pieces but 3 or 4 instead. It's an absolute riot to watch because they are so delighted at the "sweet children" it's such a lark. Christian finds the whole thing a fantastic laugh.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

My first little pumpkin is 8 today. We took advantage of our annual pumpkin pile photo to pick up a few extra gourds to satisfy all our carving party invitations. We have plans to carve Friday, Saturday AND Sunday this weekend! It's good to be loved.

Today at school Christian got to pick out a birthday book from his teachers. They bought a selection of birthday themed books for the kids to choose from and Christian was the first birthday of the year. When I went to pick him up his teacher pulled me aside to tell me that he at first chose the Little House on the Prairie birthday book (no idea what that was) but another child got upset because he really wanted to have that one for his own birthday. So Christian changed his choice. When his teacher reminded the class that more books would get added to the selection later and told Christian that he didn't need to change his choice if he didn't want to, he told her, "My friendship is more important than that book." Awe, I was so proud of him!

Of course when I tried to compliment him later on making such a thoughtful decision he got all upset and didn't want to talk about it. I guess bringing it up reminded him that the classmate wasn't being all that kind toward him during the incident and he was actually kind of upset about the way he'd been spoken to by the other kid. So my attempt to play the proud, encouraging parent pretty much blew up in my face. Eh, you win some you lose some :)

We went out to the hibachi restaurant for dinner and I got him a set of Snap Circuits for his gift. He was completely enthralled by an electrical demonstration at the children's museum recently. He is so excited to try it out, I let him stay up a bit late to check out all the parts and pieces but unfortunately the weeknights just get away from us and I had to send him to bed without doing any projects in it. Hopefully life will settle down next week.

Cake for Breakfast

Just because today I am 3!
Pardon the odd photos in the background, we went out to Appl*bees for dinner and there seems to be an unfortunate artistic placement happening back there.
Look! A new (to you) train table Ashi! We put this up in the attic to make room for a new little brother 2 years ago. And now it's about the best birthday present a little boy can get.
Look at that grin! He couldn't stop smiling at ALL THOSE TRAINS!

Ashi was so proud to be 3, so excited to have his birthday all day long! When you're three you get to take swim lessons, and (try to) ride a two wheel bike (even though your mom thinks you're crazy) and jump off the top bunk bed (because you really are crazy). And you know another cool thing about being 3? This boy was 17 months old, which means that this boy has been with us longer than he was not. And that must explain why all the crazy has rubbed off :)

Feeling Old

Jill turned 30 today, on 10-10-10. Which unfortunately forces me aknowledge the rapidly dwindling existance of my own twenties. Last night we went out to celebrate and let's just say it was interesting. For one, her hubby insisted everyone get "dressed" for the occasion, "Because it is much more sophisticated to go out drinking whilst dressed in our finery." That Matt is a hoot.
So not only did I have to up and hire a new sitter, but also figure out what to wear. I had the sad realization that I have two extensive wardrobes and not a thing to wear out on a Saturday night. I have work clothes, and I have work around the house clothes. There are no "going out for drinks" clothes. Sitting in front of the bathroom mirror, Ashi underfoot asking me incessantly, "why are you wearing that?", digging his fingers into my eyeshadow, trying on my ankle breaking shoes, attempting to steal my nylons for his own crazy desires... What on earth am I doing? I have no idea how to apply makeup, do not own lip color, need prothetics to get anything to fit properly...sheesh it's no wonder I'm single!
It all came to a head as I was pulling up to the Temple Bar at 8pm, in my minivan. My MINIVAN! Just kill me now.
* photos are completely unrelated, but I didn't get a shot of us all toasting mortality last night- so you get what you get. Ugh, but can you believe my baby is THAT big and still getting packed around in the ergo? Now there's a piece of baby equipment I got my money out of!

Oh yeah, school started!

Why yes, I did send him off to school last week. I'm such a slacker mommy. The file of vacation and camping photos looms large, but here is the first day of Second Grade. Christian was very excited to move into the new classroom, which is just beautiful. There are 8 children in his class right now, seven boys and one Zoe :) It would be great to get a few more kids, but it's a fun group.

Happy Family Day

March 15th 2009- both my boys together.

The Big Boy Bed (Part I)

I got a bug in my butt Sunday evening and rearranged the boy's furniture. Which natually lead to the bright idea of having Ashi sleep in his big boy bed in the boy's room for the first time. He thought that was a FABULOUS idea. He was so impressed with himself.

Of course the boys argued about the hall light (international right of passage right?). Their version was a bit backwards though.

A: Mama! Ashi no yight!

C: Yes, leave the light on.

A: No yight.

C: Yes.

Me: Christian you're seven for goodness sake, I'm turning the light off now go to sleep.

Five minutes later Christian is out. "Mama, no yight. Outside. Close. No yight." Ashi wants the drapes closed too, to block out the moonlight (that sounds much nicer than saying streetlight). He proceeds to lay quietly in his bed for an hour before falling to sleep. Who would have thought?

Turns out it was the Mama that wasn't quite ready to give up on the crib just yet. Because when he wakes at 1am (like clockwork) it is really so much nicer having him 5 feet away instead of down the hall. Sorry Bubba, you're stuck in your cage til you stop waking in the wee hours begging for your snuggles. I should probably get a photo of the cage. It's AWESOME!