Makin' Banana Pancakes

Saturdays at our house are known as "Pancake Day". On all other days breakfast is pretty boring, but Pancake Day, now that's something different. That breakfast is so special, that the entire day is named after it! Here are the kids this morning enjoying their banana pancakes with chocolate chip smiley faces.
Not the kids, the pancakes.... although the kids soon had chocolate chip smiley faces as well....





The other day, Brady and Jax were playing a video game and Vance wanted to get in on the fun. He was a bit tired though.....



Lilah on her 2 month birthday! She's wearing what Brady calls her "ridiculous socks". I think they're cute! He just doesn't understand that when it comes to little girls, the more lace the better!




I'm without a husband again this weekend. He's in San Diego shooting a wedding. I'm jealous because not only does he get to see Jerry and Jess all weekend, but it's also about 80 degrees there! He called to let me know that he already has a suntan.... wasn't that nice of him?

There doesn't seem to be any other interesting news to share, so I guess I'll sign off for now.... cheers!

Newest Taste treats....

I need a direct line to the Poisen Control Center. Evidently I don't feed my kids enough. Today Vancey decided to tear the plastic wrap off of the raw chicken I had defrosting on the counter for dinner and eat a bite. I know, it's 'scusting as Vance would say. I found out about it just as I was leaving to take Lilah to her 2 month check up, so Brady quickly called Poisen control, and they said to give him lots of fluids and watch him for the next two days. They said if he doesn't get sick in that time period he'll be fine. They also said that if he's healthy and not taking any medication he only has a 50% chance of getting sick. Seriously, I realize it was almost lunch time, but he can't have been THAT hungry.... Quick, everyone tell me that I'm not a bad, neglectful mommy!!

As previously mentioned, today was Lilah's 2 month check up. Healthy as a horse (who came up with that saying, anyway?) and weighed in at 11 lbs, 7 oz. 4 pounds gained since birth 8 weeks ago!

Well, I'd better go fix dinner, or risk one of my children helping themselves to some raw meat again.....

This, That and the Other Thing.....

So I was inspired while reading my cousin Sarah's Blog . She had just gotten a new hair cut and mentioned the fact that she hadn't had it cut since last August. I laughed when I thought about it and realized that I hadn't had my hair cut for over THREE years (not counting me whacking at it). Then I thought that perhaps that wasn't quite so funny, and I quit laughing and promptly decided to go get a hair cut. And I really like it! So here are the pictures. Is it me?





Brady got some great smiling pictures of Lilah this weekend...she smiles at daddy all the time. All he has to do is talk to her and whistle and he get's the best grins!



Since Jerry is so bad at updating his blog (love you bro) and everyone is always asking me about Jess and how she's doing, I thought I would post this cute picture of Jess and Cohen that he sent me this weekend!



Here is a cute picture of the kids in the King Solomon crowns that we made in school today. Vance had just declared that he was NOT going to smile! The kids decided that they were King Peter, King Edmund and Queen Susan. (We are reading the Narnia books for our read-aloud right now)



Lilah is doing well, but is wildly unpredictable when it comes to sleeping at night. She can go to bed at 9 and sleep through the night, or go to bed at 9 and wake up in four hours, or decide to not go to bed until 12, or go to bed at 9 and wake up for two hours in the middle of the night..... and on it goes. Last night it was the last choice on the list. I got 2 hours of sleep, was up for two hours and then got 3 hours of sleep before it was time to get up. 5 hours interrupted is so NOT enough for me. It makes me crabby.

Our weekend weather was so lovely! It was about 75 degrees Sat and Sun. We worked outside all day Saturday and got the lawn thatched and raked. It looks so good now! On Sunday, Shan and Marcus came to church with us at RLM and then came over to play. We had dinner and took the kids to the park, the guys threw the baseball around and then we came home and played a game of Scrabble (of course!). I would have won, but with my last tile I set Brady up for the win. Dumb me! :>)
It was a fun day, and wore the kids (and parents) out completely.



AND THEN.... this morning we woke up to an inch of snow. And it has snowed and melted repeatedly all day. YUCK. Where is spring????? Rain I can handle. Snow is ridiculous. Come on spring.... we're waiting for you with baited breath! Come out, Come out wherever you are!

Here comes the sun

Well, Da, You'll be happy to know that I obviously jinxed myself with that last post.... I should have known better than to brag! :>) The last two nights have been terrible. I think I've gotten 5 and 6 hours of sleep respectively, and those were interrupted. It isn't that she's not sleeping once she's asleep.... it's getting her to sleep. All I can do now is hope and pray that this isn't the beginning of her "colicky" phase (all of my kids went through one). She has been such a good sleeper since the beginning that we were hoping that we had avoided that this time around.  

I think spring is finally here! According to the local news it's going to be 70 degrees by Sunday!  Wahoo! I'm really excited to have some warm weather. 

 Of course, that means that I have to go work on the lawn... we rented the house in January with tons of snow on the ground and unfortunately found out when the snow melted that the previous renters did NOT rake the grass before it snowed. It looks like there are the clippings of about 3 mowings now choking out the lawn. It's a mess.

 We also found out the the neighbor next door thinks that it's a good idea to let his dog use our front lawn as a bathroom-- that way he doesn't have to clean up after it! Grrr. I've actually caught him at it- with his dog on a leash no less. If Brady had been home I would had given him a piece of my mind, but unfortunately the guy quickly ducked intohis own garage and I wasn't brave enough to go after him without backup! :>)

Here's a picture of my big boy. I had to take this the other day when he was on his way outside to play because he's just starting to look so "grown up". I can't believe he's going to be 7 this summer! 

We want to give a quick congrats to Cristy and Nathaniel.... They're getting married!! Congratulations Cristy! He's a lucky guy. 

Okay, well I have to go wake Lilah up. She's obviously tired from the last couple of nights; she's been sleeping all day! 

 

Here's the proof. She smiles when she has nice dreams....

Talk to everyone soon....

Big news

Lilah slept through the night for the last 2 nights in a row!!!

She nursed at 8, laid down at 9 and slept until after 5 AM! 

It was great.... we hope she keeps it up!

Let it snow.... yada yada yada

We woke up on Saturday morning to 10 inches of snow! No, I'm not joking. I wish I were. Thankfully it's already beginning to melt, and hopefully will be gone by next week. We are supposed to be into the 50's by the weekend, so that should help. It's rather ridiculous. Must be all that Global Warming.....

Here's a picture of all that lovely snow.....

Lilah-li (thanks for the nickname, Georgey!) is growing by leaps and bounds. Today (drum roll please....) I got the first REAL smile out of her! Wide awake, big ol' gum showing smile. It was so cute! It didn't last long enough for a picture, but I will write the date in her baby book!

Here's a picture of the baby getting ready to go run errands with mommy the other day!

Think she's wearing enough pink? :>)

I got so much accomplished last week, as detailed in my previous post, thanks to Janelle having the kids for 4 days and 2 nights! I was also able to add to my list of completed tasks getting my drivers license changed, and getting a library card. So I guess we are now officially residents again! Ah, feels good.

This weekend Brady is headed out of town for a photography convention. It's in Wenatchee, so it's also a good chance for him to see and spend time with Grandma Rothrock.

But, it means I'll be handling the kids alone for 4 days. I'm glad he gets to go, but I know we are going to miss him.

And, last but not least, I have to mention that I was informed by Jerry that today is opening day for the Mariners! I used to keep up on these things myself, but just don't have time anymore, so I rely on Jerry to keep me updated. So I'm off to turn on the radio and listen to them (hopefully) beat the Rangers! Go M's!

Things I was able to do yesterday and today... (thanks to Janelle)

1. Grocery shop (very important, we were completely out of food)
2.Change the tires on the van (it had better not snow anymore)
3.Pick up and sign income tax returns (yay for refunds!)
4.Pick up pictures at Costco (they had been ready for a week)
5.Exchange my phone at the Verizon Store (I dropped it and it wasn't pretty anymore)
6.Clean and vacuum the car (very dirty!)
7.Scrub that coffee stain that's been on the carpet for 2 weeks (Brady had some momentary clumsiness)
8.Make several phone calls, sort through and file misc. papers (I've been putting it off for a while)
9.Clip and file my fingernails (I realize some of you are laughing right now, but those with four or more small children get it)
10.Fill photo album with previously mentioned photos (and mail some to misc. people who don't have internet)
11.Watch the end of a movie that I fell asleep watching 2 weeks ago (sorry Tricia! I'll do better next time I promise...)
12.Pee in the middle of the afternoon (usually I get to the end of the day and realize I've been holding it all day....)
13.Take a minute to breathe. It was so nice to only have myself and the baby to think of for a couple of days! I know that sounds selfish, and I L-O-V-E my kids.... but it's been a bit much lately. So I appreciate so much Janelle keeping them and doing Spring Camp with them this week. Hopefully after Thursday and Friday my list will include:

14.Raking and thatching the front and back lawn! (it's spring!)

PS
Just as an aside.... I find it absolutely amazing how CLEAN my house stays without the kids being here! I mean, I actually clean something... and it STAYS clean. Wow.

Happy Spring?!??!??

....or is it Merry Christmas? 2 days ago it officially became spring. This was the view of our backyard this morning. We had some lovely pre-spring days last week- beautiful sunshine, birds chirping, grass greening, virtually no snow left on the ground. This week it's snowed 4 times-today being the worst. The other 3 times the snow was gone by mid-morning. It's 1:15 PM, and there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground here. And it's still coming down..... Seriously, it's a little much. I'm not complaining, I'm just.... disappointed. It's supposed to be spring, after all.
There is an Easter Egg hunt at the RLM tomorrow that we were going to take the kids to-I'm assuming that if the snow isn't gone by then, they will be canceling it.
Oh well...

A few nights ago we went to Anne and Carl's for a Happy Spring Dinner. It was a fun night, and... drum roll please.... I actually WON a game. I NEVER win at games. Especially when there is money at stake- I won $20 bucks! The Couser's play this game called Squiggle- you basically have to predict how many tricks you're going to take based upon the cards in your hand and the trump card on the table. I've played it before but we called it something else- I can't remember what- if anyone knows, let me know 'cause it's driving me crazy. Anyone, the point is that I won, to my great surprise, as I have already pointed out that I never win games. So woo-hoo for me!

This week, I actually met with another success. I managed to get up on time, do school Tuesday through Thursday-completing 2 lessons per day, keep the house clean and catch up on laundry. I feel so accomplished! It helps to fit more into three days, and give myself a little leeway the rest of the week.
Next week is an exciting week for me. Janelle has offered to have the kids over for 2 overnighters and a Kid's Spring Camp next week! They are so looking forward to all the fun- and getting to spend time at Grandma's house and I have a huge list of things that are much more easily accomplished with only a baby in tow, Including getting a library card and going to the DMV to take the written test so I can finally change my driver's license. (Yes, I know that you are supposed to do so within 90 days, but come on people, I'm a busy women!)

Lilah is officially 1 month old today! She's so very sweet, and a really good baby. She's finally started to get herself on a bit of a schedule this past week- waking around the same time in the mornings and eating on more of a schedule. She's been doing really well sleeping at night too. She's on about a 4 hour schedule at night, so I really can't complain too much. I'm still exhausted though, and can't wait to get more than 3 hours of sleep at a time.

Okay, well I'm off to feed the baby and start some laundry. Cheers!

A fun weekend and a movie review....

We've been feeling pretty tired and not much like doing anything lately...(gee, I wonder why?).... but this past weekend we decided to get out of the house with the kids. Now, those of you who have kids know how difficult it is to find "fun" things to do with three small children and a newborn, and don't cost an arm and a leg.
On Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to this great little toy emporium, a great old fashioned toy store. They sell all kinds of classic toys (for the aforementioned "arm and a leg"), but the best part is that the kids can play with all the toys (for free) and they have a carousel in the store that they can ride (for .50 cents, which is a little more in our price range). Then we caught the St. Patrick's Day Parade ( I love small town parades) before we jetted over to Anne and Carl's, where we dropped off all four kids and took ourselves to our favorite place for some soup and salad. We grabbed a coffee, and picked up the kids. (Thankyou, Anne and Carl!) Then we put the kids to bed and Anne and Carl brought over some wine and we watched August Rush, which was a very sweet (while rather unrealistic) movie.
On Sunday we went to church, and then had "Wendy's Brunch" with Rich and Mimi. After which we headed to Cabella's and spent a couple of hours browsing and sight seeing. Sunday is usually "special movie night" with the kids so we rented a movie and vegged out for the rest of the evening.
Sound like a fun, exciting weekend?

Okay, so I'm not a movie reviewer, but we just watched Dan in Real Life and we thought it was one of the best ones we've seen lately. We love Steve Carell on The Office (the man is HILARIOUS), but haven't watched any of his other movie because they are usually too raunchy for us. But this was sweet, touching and yet funny. And fairly clean (rated PG-13). The script was sweet, the actors were believable and the soundtrack was perfect. I wish that actors like Carell would realize that they can be funny and successful without wasting their talents on sick jokes.

Time Flies by....

Lilah is almost three weeks old already! I can't believe how much she's grown already. Here's a picture taken at the hospital...



and here's a picture taken today.


(obviously these were taken by me, with my cell phone--not by my studly husband, with his $2000 camera.)

In family news, my sister in law Nikki had her baby. He was 9 lbs 9 oz! If any of you know Nik, you know how amazing that is. She's literally the size of a toothpick. She's so tiny! They named him Jack Ryan--congrats to Da and Nik and girls on becoming a family of five!

Jerry and Jess have about 5 months to go before they become parents. I still can't believe my baby brother is going to have a baby! They found out last week that they are having a baby boy. I can't wait to meet him!

We aren't getting any sleep here yet. I wasn't able to get school started this week. I just couldn't seem to get it together. So now the goal is to start next week, but I'm going to a three day school week and doing extra phonics lessons in those days to stay caught up. I think we'll work Tuesday-Thursday. We'll see how this all works out....

Okay, have to go throw dinner in the oven. Rich and Mimi were sweet enough to bring us a lovely pan of baked spaghetti and bread for dinner--- so all I have to do is heat it and clean up! Yay!
Love to all.

"Wook, a super-hewo!"

This is one of Vance's favorite games. He points to the sky and exclaims, "wook, a super-hewo!" (or a "di-sour" or a "mon-ter" or " 'pider") and then when you look up, he tickles your neck and bursts out laughing. Of course, you pretend to laugh as well, even though the "tickle" is more of an annoying scratching that kind of hurts, because he's just so darn cute! He then says, "Funny guy!" (referring to himself, of course). But the best thing of all is when he says, completely un-prompted, "I LOVTHES you, Mom!". Melts my heart every time.

Bring on the Coffee...

Wow, I'm tired! I'm seriously wondering how I'm going to function when I have to get back on schedule next week. I took two weeks off of school with Jaxson, but I have to get back to it on Monday. Which means I have to be up by at least 6:30 AM if I want to start school by 9:30. My wonderfully supporting sister (who also has 4 kids) told me to kiss my school year goodbye.....
I guess I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. For the first time, I'm finding myself REALLY wishing we could afford to send the kids to private school!!! I'm beginning to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew...

On a less despairing note... :>) here are some sweet pictures of Lilah, taken by Daddy of course! Enjoy!

And then there were 6.....

We're doing well adjusting to the new member of the family. She's so beautiful! She's keeping me busy though, and seems to think she needs to eat every 1 1/2 hours 24 hours a day, so we'll have to break her of that habit really soon. The kids are absolutely in love with her. (Especially the boys.) Vance keeps saying that he "likes the baby sister!". :>) It's very sweet.
My mom is here helping to take care of the family while I recover. I don't know what I'd do without her help!! (or what I'm going to do when she leaves on Monday). We appreciate her so much.
Okay, I have to go feed Lilah and take a shower.
Love to all.

Little Lilah Rose

Lilah Rose graced our presence at approximately 2:00pm on 2/22/08. She weighed a surprising 7lbs 7oz. Lani really did an award-winning job delivering such a beautiful new gift to our family. God is so good. The kids absolutely adore her and now I have two princesses to spoil rotten with "daddy love". To view many more beautiful pictures, go to www.bradycampbell.net and visit the client galleries tab. Just type in "lilah" (lower case) for the password, and share in our unforgettable experience. Thanks to all who visited, called, or just plain showered lilah with love during the hospital stay. It really means a lot to us.
Brady (Daddy X 4)

Friday is the BIG DAY!

Yes, it is finally approaching. Only about 3 days before baby Lilah joins our family. Are we ready?? Probably not. But I AM ready to not be pregnant anymore!
Last Friday, Janelle threw a baby shower for me. Thankyou, Janelle, and everyone who came! We were given so many lovely things for the baby, and lots of diapers too! It was so much fun to get to see and visit with so many that I don't get to see often.
So this week, I am just trying to keep myself busy and distracted. It's wonderful to have a "date" for delivery and not to have to wait around indefinitely, but at the same time, it seems like it makes it so that all I can think about is the "big day". So distraction is important right now.
I had a huge list of things I wanted to accomplish this week, extra cleaning and organizing etc, but I had an abnormally productive day today and somehow managed to knock out the whole list! It must be all that nervous energy. So now I'm trying to come up with a new list.... :>p
We're having dinner with friends at The White House tomorrow night, and on Wednesday my friend Jill is coming over with her 5 kiddos to play and visit so that should be fun. I have a last appointment with my dr on Wednesday night, and then mom comes on Thursday night and we'll take the kids out to my sister's to spend the night. I'll distract myself with a little "Lost" that night, I suppose. :>)
We will have Wi-Fi at the hospital, so we'll update the blog as soon as the baby makes her appearance!
Cheers!