A Life Changing Event

It was about this time fourteen years ago, that my life changed forever. I started feeling labor pains and 18 hours later I became a mom for the first time. Nathan Christopher Campbell is what we named him, meaning Gift of God. That is just what he was too, a gift. I was not planning on becoming a mommy at such an early age, but God had another plan for me. I was only 17 when I had Nathan and he helped me learn so much. I truly believe that he saved me from a world of hurt. You see before I got pregnant I was not attending school regularly, I was into drugs and just heading down a very scary path. Once I found out I was pregnant, that all changed. I went back to school and graduated on time. I stopped using all the drugs and tried very hard to change my life for the better. It was also during my pregnancy that I found Jesus. We met a couple during our Lamaze class that invited us to their church. This was the beginning of my Christian walk. Nathan was a good baby and ohhhh sooo cute. We could not go anywhere without being stopped by someone to tell us how cute he was! Nathan has always been a little shy and reserved, but he is really starting to bloom. I cannot believe that he is going to be in 8th grade this year. He should be a freshman, but because he has an early birthday he had to repeat Kindergarten. Nathan has always been a little on the lazy side when it comes to his academics. He is super smart he just does not apply himself very well. All and All he is just a normal kid that would rather play or doodle then do his work! I am very proud of him though because he is a super good kid and hardly ever gets into trouble.He has always been a good big brother and that trait continues even today. He watches out for his little brothers! He does have a bit of a temper, but if he keeps it under control there is no telling where he may end up someday. He has great ambition to be an astronaut, so I keep encouraging him to apply himself and I always remind him that he can do anything he sets his mind too! Happy Birthday Nathan Christopher Campbell!

Saying Goodbye

We have had a great week. My mother in law, who lives in Virginia, and grandmother in law, who lives in Texas, came to visit to celebrate Luke's first birthday with us. Well tonight was their last night with us, so we all went out to dinner at the Outback. Since Nathan's 14th birthday is also in a couple of days and they will not be here for that, we had the waiter sing Happy Birthday to Nathan and Luke. They both got a birthday icecream and of course we had to order one for Alex too! Luke loved his and even used a spoon to feed himself for the first time! He did a pretty good job considering it was a big spoon! He was using the wrong end then the right end and then he just decided to use his hands. I wish I would have brought my camera, but of course I forgot it! We did get a few pictures with Grandma's camera phone, so I will share those. As for grandma's leaving we are all very sad that they have to go especially Great Grandma. We did not get to spend much time with her because she went to Redding while she was here so she could see her son. Hopefully, next time we will be able to spend more time with her. Their flight leaves at 6am tomorrow morning, so this dinner was our way of saying goodbye and celebrating birthdays and also the fact that my husband got hired on as a permanent employee at his job! We have a lot to be thankful for and I have to say that I have the best family ever!

Luke's First Birthday!

We had a great party for Luke. Although my husband and I had some disagreements about how things should be done, it still turned out alright! Luke had a blast playing outside in the ball pit and just being outside in general! He loved the baseball cake that I made him! He actually had a total of three birthday cakes, the baseball cake I made, a sheet cake I made that did not make it due to falling apart and the cake pictured above which was a last minute fix for the fallen cake! I did decorate the cake above with the writing and baseball mitts! His bath water turned pink from all the red icing that was on his body!

He destroyed his cake...just like he was suppose too!
He got a lot of presents from everybody, but his favorite was his big boy chair that mommy and daddy got him. Best $10 on Craigslist deal I have ever got!



We have really enjoyed the last few days with two of Luke's Grandma's visiting from out of state. Grandma Pat and Great Grandma Marjorie! Unfortuately Grandma Marjorie has been in Redding visiting her son, but will be back on Wednesday, so she was not able to be at Luke's party :(

This is Luke walking with Grandma Pat! Thank you to all who came and I hope you all had a great time! I know Luke did!

Leave a Legacy

I have been inspired today by many new ventures that I am taking. One is I am taking an Anger Management class. I know this maybe hard to believe for some people, but yes, I have an anger problem. However, I have learned more then that about myself through this class; I have also learned that I have an addiction and that I am passive aggressive. I have also learned to forgive myself and live moment to moment. I have been inspired by a man named Randy Pausch, Google "The Last Lecture" and you too shall be inspired. Lastly, I was inspired this evening by a very good friend of mine who wrote a beautiful blog in memory of her mother, who recently passed away. It inspired my to be a better wife, mom, daughter, sister, and friend! I want to leave a legacy for my children that people will look back on and say wow! I want to be remembered for greatness! My focus is changing and I hope to be able to use all these new inspirations to become a better me!

Whose Attached

So Luke has had "Bear Bare" since before he was even born. It was a gift that we received at his baby shower. We just recently within the last 3 months started giving it to him. We started it when I read somewhere that if you get your baby attached to something they will sleep better at night. We started giving it to him when he was tired and would put him to sleep with it. IT WORKED! Now "Bear Bare" has become his favorite! He is not so attached to it that he can't go without it which I like because we have also lost "Bear Bare" twice now. The first time we lost him was when we took "Bear Bare" grocery shopping with us and well "Bear Bare" decided he wanted to stay the night at the grocery store. We used a back up bear that night, but luckily the grocery store took good care of "Bear Bare" and he was retrieved the next day. Well yesterday, Luke decided that "Bear Bare" was going to come on our walk with us. He held "Bear Bare" tight in is his grip the whole way to the store, but when we got home (not realizing it) "Bear Bare" was not with him. When it was time for bed, the great hunt for "Bear Bare" commenced. We looked high and low, but I knew that Luke probably dropped "Bear Bare" somewhere along our walk. Fearing the worse, that "Bear Bare" was gone for good this time, I realized that I am really the one who is attached to "Bear Bare"! Luke slept fine with out him, he did not even care to use the back up bear. However, I was very sad at the thought that "Bear Bare" was gone! I cried and wept for the lost! I even prayed that God would help us find "Bear Bare" and had planned to retrace our steps this morning. Well, my prayers were answered when I received a phone call this morning from my son. He called from his bus driver's cell phone to tell me that "Bear Bare" was hanging on the fence to the kiddie walk that leads to the local elementary school. I told him thank you and asked my older son to stay with the baby while I ran down the street to once again retrieve "Bear Bare" from one of his grand adventures! Luke seemed somewhat happy to have "Bear Bare" back, but once again I realized that I am really the one who is attached! I also came to a realization that we are enforcing a new rule: "Bear Bare" is now grounded to the house and not aloud to leave!

My "To Do" List

A lot of people must have seen the movie The Bucket List because I have been seeing a lot of "To Do" list on peoples blogs. In suit, I thought I would put mine up. I don't remember when I wrote it ( I wrote on it not to open until 6/26/07), so it must have been before then. I have added to it since then instead of work on it! I agree with something one of my friends said and that is that as long as you are living your to do list will never be done because you will always come up with more to do and we should always Dream Big!!

Here is my list:

1) Own a house (Nothing fancy just 4-5 bedrooms)
2) Drive a new car and keep it clean and maintained
3) Be a Stay at home mom (I am close to this)
4) Financial Freedom
5) Day at the spa (with a massage, hair, makeup, nails, THE WORKS)
6) Take a cruise
7) Go on a shopping spree (New Wardrobe, house hold items, THE WORKS)
8) Hot air ballon ride
9) Trip to Israel
10) Have a housekeeper
11) Have a landscaper
12) Finish my Scrapbooks
13) Crocet blankets for Nathan and Alex (I already made two for Luke)
14) Find a good Care Facility for my Grandma close to me
15) have a college fund for all my children
16) Be a Mentor for Teenage Moms
17) Have a Gym Membership and use it
18) Get my teeth fixed and whitened
19) Decorate a room for all my children with theme of their choice
20) Have Lap top of my own and get my husbands fixed
21) Pay off all debt including that to our parents
22) Husband to be able to work less, but make more money!
23) Sky diving
25) Have a career
26) Be a Small Group Leader at Church
27) Conquer my Son's ADHD/get him off meds
28) Get our bikes fixed so we can ride as a family
29) Have a little girl ( I am still questioning this one)
30) Publish my poetry and actually make money from it
31) Take an art class (Painting or drawing)
32) Get my Masters Degree or Doctrine
33) Pray everyday for every situation
34) Visit the Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls,Yosemite and Mount Rushmore
35) Be able to give my kids allowence
36) Help with a community project like Homes for Humanity or something
37) Get my husband/family a dog
38) Get my husband a truck
39) Take singing lessons and record an album
40) Run in a marathon (just a small one)
41) Spend a year in the deaf community and use my sign language!
42) Adobt or foster a child from another country
43) House a foreign exchange student
44) Go to Disneyland or DisneyWorld as a family
45) Explore a cave
46) Live to be 100+
47) Drink in an Irish Bar
48) Visit Ireland and learn more about my ancestry
49) Get more tattoos
50) Get my husband a tattoo
51) Read the entire bible in a year
52) Fly an airplane
53) Perform in the Circus
54) Have a book decicated to me
55) Write a book
56) Learn how to Ball Room Dance

I am going to stop there for now, but I am sure there will be more and if I complete any I will update!!!!!!!

What is your "To Do List"?

Snow Cone Days of Summer

I remember all to well my first Snow Cone or at least first memories of having a snow cone! It was made with my Snoppy Snow Cone maker! We loved that we could make our own ice creams. Ice Cream to me is the best treat in the whole world, so I have given Luke lots of opportunities to try ice cream. He has had Thrifty's ice cream, he has had Leatherby's ice cream, he has had Good Humor ice cream, and I'm sure there are some I am forgetting. Well, this particular day was the same day he had got his first haircut. We had gone to nana and guy guy's house to drop off big brothers and I heard the ice cream truck. I thought it would be nice to get Luke an icecream. I wanted to get him a push up or maybe an otter pop, but this poor ice cream truck driver did not have any of the ice creams we wanted, so I settled for a Snow Cone. Low and Behold I would relive some great childhood memory of having snow cones! Luke loved the snow cone and was not happy when it was all gone. I helped him eat it because as you can see in the pictures it was pretty big. Enjoy, watching him eat the world's greatest treat!

Luke's First Haircut

My little baby is growing up so fast. I cannot believe that in two weeks we are going to celebrate his 1st Birthday! Today we took him to Jack and Jillybeans Salon for his first haircut. He feel asleep on the car ride over which was probably a good thing. When he woke up as I took him out of the car, I could tell he really was not fully awake. We headed in and were greeted right away by Donna and Deborah. The place was empty, so Nathan and Alex got to play video games while we got Luke ready for his haircut. He was still not fully awake which like I said before was probably a good thing becuase he was sitting so calmly and only looked around to see what was going on around him. The ladies there are awesome! They work with the kids and don't mind that they get a little wiggly! Deborah was Luke's hair dresser and she was very gentle and patient with him. She warmed up to him with a toy cell phone before she just came at him with the scissors. He was not to sure about it at first, but after a few snips he was fine. He even got to hold the comb towards the end. The Baby Eienstien movie was playing for him, but he was not every interested in that. He seemed happy with the cell phone and just looking around at everything going on around him. When he was all done, he got to play in the play area for a short time while Lloyd ran to the bank (since we did not realize that they did not take ATM or Credit cards). Luke received a certificate for his first haircut and we got a huge lock of his hair in a little keepsake envelope. Best of all I had a $3.00 off coupon so his hair cut was only $13.00! The whole experience was priceless though!

All my friends are leaving me!

Last night I took my bestest friend of 17 years to the bus station, so that her and her daughter can go live in Missori. This was very hard for me, but I had to put on my strong side for her daughters sake. The hardest part was that she did not even say goodbye to her mom, so on my way home her mom calls me looking for her and I have to explain to her what is going on. It is a long complicated story I will not go into, but lets just say that was not an easy conversation. Also to top that of my other friend who I wrote about in my "Emotions Running High" post has not talked to me much since she decided to work things out with her husband. I feel so alone right now. These are girls that I have known for half my life. Then there is my sister who is scheduled to move to Ohio here in the next month. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO! I have my husband and I do have other friends, but these are my closest dearest friends that I spend most of my time with! Honestly, it has not fully hit me hard yet, so I will probably write again when I am sitting here typing with a box of tissues and the ice cream! For now, I just find my strength in the Lord, who is always by my side and will never elave me. I pray for my friends and my sister that the Lord will keep them safe and that these life changing decisions will be in his best will and plan for them. I pray that he clothes them in the protection of his wings and covers them in his love. I also pray that this brings me closer to my husband and allows me to make new friendships! AMEN!

This Fourth of July was very emotional for me. It started last Sunday at church when we celebrated our freedom; I have been set free from some pretty serious emotional scars all by the Grace of God. So the church service was filled with tears from me releasing all my new burdens to God. Then it went into our holiday celebration with my family. This was a different set of emotion; I was happy to spend the time with my family, yet at the same time a little sad because my older boys chose to stay at their dad's while Lloyd, the baby and I went somewhere else. I was also missing my baby brother who is fighting for our freedom. We did have a BBQ at my parent's house which was okay then Lloyd and I had planned on taking our family to our local mall to see the big firework show. Well, Nathan and Alex decided they would rather stay and set off fireworks, so we went without them. Lloyd, the baby and I really enjoyed ourselves! Luke was a trooper, he stayed awake to see a few of the fireworks, but before the grand finalie he was asleep. He loved the fireworks, he was pointing at them and just in awe of the experience. I just cannot believe that in just about 3 weeks my baby is going to 1! Today we spent a majority of the morning/afternoon outside in our front yard. We let the kids including Luke play in the sprinklers and just enjoyed the beautiful weather! We played catch and the boys got into a water ballon fight. Overall we had a great Fourth of July weekend!

I think I can Breathe

June was one of the most stressful months that we have had in a long time. I cannot even think back to everything that happened, but in a nutshell, it was my friend having surgury, issues with her family that poured over to me, boys going to camp then getting evacuated, another friend having marriage issues, and then to end the month a huge finacial error on my husband and I's part that wiped out our bank account! It is now July 2nd and I think that I can finally breathe; now if I could just get some sleep. I have been having a really hard time falling asleep at night and then once I do it seems that is when Luke decides to wake up. He has been really good only waking once sometimes twice and on really good nights he sleeps all night. For some reason last night we were up 3 times! Hopefully, I will beable to catch up on mysleep with my 4day weekend!