4 Months in a Minute

So....ultimate fail on blogging! It's been over 4 months now, but I promise I haven't given up!  

Here are some updates on the Campbell Clan over the last couple months

• Jason turned 30!!!
• Clara finished her first year of “school” and took a swim lesson course.
•  We went on our first vacation since having kids. MEXICO!!
•   I turned 29
•  Clara turned 3
•  Jason signed up for a half Iron-Man November (yikes)
•  I signed on to become the leader of a Mom’s small group/bible study with my friend Christy
• We did 3 triathlons. Jason will be completing his 4th this coming Saturday. 
•   Ella turned 1.5 years and is in full blown toddler mode!! She has a case of Mommy-itis and is a super silly and spunky girl. 
• Clara and Ella had their first fishing experience 

         Each day is an adventure with my girls. Every day I learn more about loving unconditionally, persevering in patience and pointing them to Christ. It also includes picking up 14,289 messes. 

April

Happy 30th to the best husband in the world! 

A day at the beach with Colorado cousins

A very bad boo boo

Hawaii Cousins 

Little Ham 

Having fun with Gramara and Granpa while Mommy and Daddy party it up in Mexico

Best Friends 

3 and Sweet 

I'm 29! T-minus one year...

My Silly Sweet Girl is 18 months! 

Love this pic...

First fishing experience with Daddy

First fishing experience with Poppy. Caught 3 fish, including a 16 inch one :)

Kids say (and do) the Darndest Things

I don’t have a lot of interesting stuff to say so I think I'll just talk about my kids. HAHA! And I know I say this every time, but I love the stage we’re in now! Clara is coming to the age of asking LOTS of questions and it’s so beyond sweet (and funny). And as Ella becomes more and more toddler-like, it’s fun (and interesting) to see her little quirks develop. I could go on and on and on about all the cute, hilarious, annoying and weird things they do, but I’ll try to keep it short! Here’s a little list for you…

Clara:

• She loves bibles. And not just her kiddie ones, but the ones Jason and I use. She will open it up and pretend to read to Ella. HEHE. She also wants to take them everywhere with her and particularly asks for them when she goes to bed. I took a couple picture of her sleeping/snuggling with them. I promise you this was not staged!!
• Asking/talking about Jesus on her own. Here was one of my favorite conversations we had:

Clara: “What’s that sound?” (police sirens in background)

Me: “Those are policemen, they’re like firemen, they save people.”

Clara: “Save people?......Oh, like Jesus?”

Me: “Yes, just like Jesus…” (laughing)

Ahhhhh!!! Seriously melted my heart

• Saying “Mommy, watch this!!!!” a million times as she does some cool “stunt.”
• Is a total “naked toddler.” She LOVES to be naked and has absolutely no shame.
• Bringing up Barbara

So one night we were watching a show and there was a lady on it named Barbara. Clara completely unprompted turned around to me with the biggest smile and shouted:

“Barbara, Mommy!!! Barbara!!”

Me: “Ya, Barbara! Poppy was married to a Barbara wasn’t he?”

Clara: “Yes.”

Me: “Where is Barbara?”

Clara: “With Jesus” (smiling)

Me: “Ya, that’s right!!”

Clara: “I wanna see Barbara and Jesus!! I wanna see Barbara and Jesus!”

Can you believe this!? It truly was an incredible conversation. Love it!

Ella:

• Has a fear of leaves. Yes, you read it right, leaves. For some reason if she sees a leaf on the ground in our house it freaks her out!! I even have video of it. The only theory I have is she thinks it’s a bug.
• Is the most freakishly photogenic child ever. She LOVES to have her picture taken. If she ever finds the camera lying around she brings it to me and “asks” me to take a picture of her. She then proceeds to make the biggest smile. I wish it would stay this way!
• Has developed the dreaded pterodactyl baby/toddler scream. If there is something she wants she has no problem letting the world know (along with partially busting everyone’s eardrums).
• Says Clara’s name. It is soooo sweet!
• Is obsessed with the dogs! Our poor dogs put up with so much. Ella is way more into them than Clara was. Ella gets so excited when they come into her room in the morning or after a nap. She is constantly petting them (which is somewhat of a hit), pulling on their ears, tails and faces and laying on their beds. Amber and Dakota have been such good sports.
• I love this little baby!! I want her to stop growing.

Hope you enjoyed my little update. Here are a bunch of pictures. Enjoy! J

Triplets

Brandon at the kids table on Easter

Easter picnic at church

I love my girls' eyes. I am jealous!

Troublemakers

Can you smile any bigger?

Love the bathing suit weather! We play outside all the time. :)

Day at the museum (that's poppy in the back). We bought a membership so we'll be going a lot.

She's GT (putting together a puzzle). HAHA!

Sleeping with her bibles.

Married 6 years to the most awesome husband in the world!!!

Time Warp

I feel like I’m in a time warp.

As Ella nears one, the concept of time has become more and more weird to me. Each day is gone in a second, while to them it probably feel likes forever. I know when I tell Clara, “we’ll play outside when daddy gets home in a couple hours”, 2 hours probably feels like 4 weeks. I can vividly remember my childhood and how slow time seemed to pass, while at the same time in some alternate universe, I’m sure it seemed like a blink of an eye to my parents.

Having said this, I feel I've developed a strong sense of trying to hang onto each moment of each day. As I make “Ella’s first year” book, I’m amazed at how much they’ve both changed in a year. Clara was practically a baby when Ella was born, and now she is a “big girl” talking, brushing her own teeth and pooping in her own potty (pooping was a major accomplishment over the last few months by the way. Ha!). Ella is walking more and more each day and is completely independent in feeding herself. Where have my babies gone?! I know, I know, they are still babies and always will be, but it really does feel like yesterday I was pregnant with both of them(I know all the “old” people tell you this, but it really is true!). I still love every minute of staying home with them (ok, maybe 95% of the minutes?) My patience is definitely tested when Clara shouts “mommy play with me!!!” fourteen hundred times in a row as I try to accomplish one simple task around the house. Or as I’m preparing Ella’s meal she’s whining because I’m apparently going too slow. But thanks to the “time warp”, I often remind myself this season is rapidly fleeting, and one day I’ll miss Clara wanting me to play with her so badly. Or Ella will be yelling “let me do it!!” and will no longer need my service.

I guess it’s time for another baby then, huh? Haha! Just kidding. No, there won’t be any new baby announcement at Ella’s party. ;)

Enough about babies, what’s going on with the adults? Jason has been diligently reading through “Systematic Theology” (a 1200 page book on all the concepts of Christianity). Although it is exhausting to read, he has stayed committed and the group will be finishing in March. It has been neat to see him learn and grow over the past 6 months and he's always very excited to share what he learns with me. He has also planned a ski trip for the senior youth. It started out with just a few kids going and has now grown into a full blown youth trip! There are about 15 kids and 6 adults going. He's also is in the middle of getting his certification to work in Mission Control at NASA. Maybe someone will play him in a movie one day? HAHA.

New with me…..well, I have recently become the “Go Rep” person for my small group. Our church is really big on “Going” into the world, near and far, to serve others for Christ. This just means I am the person in charge of planning service projects for our group. For a while now I have prayed God would give me a more servant-like heart. Coming into this new role has totally put me on that path and I'm excited to see what comes from it. Our first project is helping run a Valentine’s party for special needs adults through our church…..My little “biz”, as I like to call it, is absolutely crazy! I’ve had to hire a couple friends to help me and have also invested in a second machine! Jason and I just can’t believe how this little “arts and crafts” thing has turned into a real small business. It’s such an unexpected blessing.

I guess I should get off the computer now. In the time it took me to finish this, I’m sure Ella has already grown another inch and is speaking in sentences…..

Not many pictures of Clara this month....Sorry Clara!!! haha ;)

My little model.

She gets bribed with treats to take good pictures for me :)

Jason and I have decided we breed food monsters. They can't get enough of it!

Our new Cracker Barrel rocking chairs

The best gift of the year. And it was free which is CRAZY! Clara plays on this thing all day long. It's awesome to have something they don't get bored with. We are getting Ella a baby swing to put on it for her birthday :) We are so thankful to our neighbors for just giving it to us! (Clara and Poppy playing)

Barbara

It’s hard to believe that our Barbara went to be with Jesus 36 days ago. For me personally it has felt like 6 months. Sometimes it’s still hard to believe she’s really gone. I’ve wanted to write something about her but didn’t know where to start. To make it simple, I thought I would share a few things I frequently think about. I’m a “list” person so I’ll write in bullet point fashion. :)

Barbara was a “Proverbs 31 Wife” as some would call it.

“An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”
–Proverbs 31:10-12

One look at my dad and there’s no denying he was head over heals for this woman. “A perfect match” I’ve always called them. She was his prize and gift from God. She loved and respected him. She modeled for me what it’s like to be a godly wife. In every conversation we had before she passed away, she NEVER once seemed to think about herself. All her concerns and thoughts were for my dad. In a situation that could easily become self-consuming, she focused on his future well being.

She loved to decorate. I so wish she was here because I’m having the hardest time getting our house to look the way I want it. I’ve often thought how I would totally pay her to be my interior decorator! Haha. Every time I go to Bed Bath and Beyond or Pier One, I can’t help but think “Oh, I wonder if Barbara would like this?” My dad recently told me how she would buy a vase and bring it home only to exchange it 4 more times until she found the perfect one. This made me laugh because I am the SAME EXACT way!

She loved sweets. I think about past holidays and how she and her tiny self would always go back for a second piece of pie. It was always a joke between her and my dad. She would have the cutest little smile on her face when he’d poke fun at her.

And most importantly, she had great faith in Jesus Christ. After getting to spend some time together earlier this year, I was blessed to hear more about Barbara’s faith. She shared that, in a way, she viewed her cancer almost as a blessing. Now, I’m not saying she was skipping around excited to be going through this, quite the opposite at times, but she knew God had used this illness to draw her to Him. Getting her second diagnosis brought her to a point where she truly realized she had no other choice but to rely on God. Although it was extremely hard, painful, scary, sad, heart-breaking, frustrating and every other negative adjective you could use, she viewed her sickness as God’s grace in her life. Through this, she truly wanted to follow Him. She trusted what Jesus did on the cross for her and knew nothing she did could earn her way to heaven. For her it was about surrendering to Him and accepting the grace He so lavishly pours on us. I have no doubt she desires for everyone she loved to accept this same gift.

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us…” -Ephesians 1:8

I know she is in Heaven now experiencing complete joy and happiness. We miss her and never stop thinking about her. We’re not sad for her anymore but for us. As I go about my days I always think “I wonder what she’s doing right now?” The first thing I imagine is her smiling……

First Day

Thought I’d share Clara’s first day of Happy Harbour. She was excited to go this morning then became a little apprehensive when she realized Ella and I were leaving. She didn’t cry, but just kind of held onto me. I was really surprised because I thought she’d run away from me and never look back! When I picked her up they said she was “ready to graduate preschool” because she did so well. HAHA! They said she was one of the few that didn’t fuss the entire time. She yelled "mommy!!!!", was all smiles and kept saying “more, more.” I had no idea what she was talking about until she motioned toward the room they have “chapel” and sing time in. I asked “you want more school?” and she nodded her head with a sad face. When I told her we had to go home, her bottom lip pooched out and her eyes started to water. Haha, silly girl! I’m pretty sure she loved it.

My friend was taking pictures at the Meet the Teacher celebration thing last week. She was dancing and singing here.

Was so passed out this morning I just had to take a picture of it! I turned on the lights and opened the window and she didn't even move. haha

Breakfast of champions

Ready to go

Still growing into her backpack

Silly Ella

I'll miss ya sis!

So this is the first thing Clara played with when she walked in. When the sweet little boy in the picture tried to play with it too she shoved him up against the cabinets behind her and yelled "no!" That was a fun teaching moment. haha. Mmmmmm....teaching toddlers to share is fun. I'm so glad she's not going to be an only child! haha

Play-dough!