what is wrong with people...

So the other day after I drop AJ off at school I stop by Walgreens to get some packaging materials to ship a photo and frame to Nan in London.  As I pull into the parking lot I have to stop for a couple people crossing the road to their cars, no big deal.  These people are still in the middle of the road and this silver pick-up truck comes tearing around me.  All I see is a guy with blonde hair, he blows past the people and comes to an almost screeching halt in a parking space.  I mutter something like 'sheesh dude, chill out', calmly pull into my parking spot right in front of the door and head inside.  I don't even see this guy get out of his car.

I look at what I need to look but decide to not get anything and head for the front of the store.  I hear a cashier saying 'Ma'am, you can't be back there' and I see a head back almost behind the cash register.  The head belongs to a customer and the cashier was fixing something on one of the aisles.  Instead of saying oh sorry and ducking back out this lady keeps doing what she's doing and yells back at the cashier.  I don't know exactly what she said, but come on you are behind the counter lady, what idiot doesn't know they shouldn't be behind the counter.  So the cashier, who is walking to the counter, says something to her again.  I turn down a different aisle and can't hear anything else.  I'm just thinking what is wrong with people?

Until I get to the front of the store and the lady is now at the register and the cashier is ringing her up.  The lady all snotty says "I'm from the northeast where we know how to use manners."  The cashier replies "That's nice."  Haha. awesome!  I decide to glance over at this lady for a quick peek.  Tall, skinny, jean shorts and a polo shirt, short blonde hair...  "What? No!..."

So I get in my car and fiddle fart around with my purse.  I wait a few seconds till this lady walks out of the store.  Then I watch as she walks across the parking lot and gets into the drivers seat of the silver pick-up truck that whipped around me when I pulled in!  That was some nice manners she displayed when she almost hit my car and nearly ran over two people crossing the road!

This lady was behind me for about two miles on my way home till she turned a different way and the whole time was driving crazy, riding peoples butts and swerving with impatience.  Do they teach that in the northeast too?

The Wizarding World...

For my birthday this year Jasey bought me two tickets to Universal Studios.  I’ve been trying to convince Nene to get down here so we could go together (which was the original plan before she moved to South Carolina).  :(  But as we know plans don’t always work out the way we would hope.  Since the tickets were going to expire the end of the year and I was going to start getting into lots of blackout dates with the holidays, mom and I decided to head on up to Orlando and go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! Yippeeeeeee!

(I will try to keep my excitement to a minimum, but I really can't promise anything)

We drove up Saturday night after mom got off of work, checked into our hotel which was literally right around the corner.  It took longer to walk to our car then it did to drive the car to the park.  We went to City Place that night and had a couple Cheeseburgers in Paradise.  Before we were Potter Watchers we were (and still are) Parrot Heads.  Next day we got up earlier than we expected to, checked out and got to the park before 9:00.  We went in and headed right back to Harry Potter!!!

  

Entering Hogsmeade!!!!

I proceeded to spend the next few hours gasping and squealing and jumping up and down clapping my hands (I actually did this a few times).  I took tons of pictures, it's a good thing that everything is digital now, I would have been lugging around rolls and rolls...and rolls of film.  I took more pictures than any person approaching 32 should ever admit to taking at the Harry Potter park...and then I took some more.
There are no pictures of this but I cried like a 12 year old, love crazed, Beatles fan.  Well, that may be a bit of a stretch, mom probably would have walked away from me at that point, but there were some teary eyed moments involved during all the gasping, squealing, jumping, picture taking madness.

Oh, I had so much fun.

Hogwarts!!!  It's so wonderful!

 The park was pretty empty and we weren't sure how quickly it would fill up so we headed straight back to Hogwarts for the Forbidden Journey ride.  If you look really closely at the sign it says there is a '10 minute wait', awesome!!!  We walked right in and traveled through the castle.  The dungeons, the greenhouses, classrooms, hallways, common rooms and offices.  I of course took pictures of almost everything the whole way through, squealing and holding up the people behind me.  There was actually a guy in front of me taking pictures of everything too so I thanked him for making me feel like not as much of a doofus.  Then we hoped on our brooms and flew off into the air (see, told you, big dork, that's me)

Pumpkin Juice and Butterbeer outside of Ollivander's

 After the ride we headed back into Hogsmeade and decided to stand in line at Ollivander's to see a wand choosing it's wizard.  We got a Butterbeer and a Pumpkin Juice while we were waiting.  Yummy.

Hogwarts Express

 The rest of the day we wandered around and visited all the shops, had lunch at the Three Broomsticks and tried to catch a ride on the Hogwarts Express.  We went back to Hogwarts one more time and with a wait of only 20 minutes this time I took another ride.  It was even better the second time.  Yes, I squealed some more, laughed out loud and clapped my hands.

Lemon Drop!

Mom and I had an amazing time and were not in the least bit disappointed.  Every little detail was thought through and put into place.  The only problem we had was deciding which trinkets to buy.  I can't wait to go back (maybe with Nene this time ;)  and even if you aren't as big of a Harry Potter dweeb as I am you will still have a great time! 

Check out the rest of my pics, click on '2011' then 'WWHP'   web.me.com/campbell4158 

May I...

...gloat for a moment?

This is my family.

There isn't really much more to say.

Well, I lied, there is a lot more I could say, but I don't want to gloat too much :)

Jibber Jabber...

For a few months, if you asked Ryan everyone was 'Daddy'.

Nite nite daddy.
Ok daddy.
And just plain ole' DADDY!!! if you walked in the front door.

Oh, except for Kirby, she knew his name.  She said it with a little french accent, too so it came out as 'Kurbet' (silent 'T' all french like)  It was super cute.

I remember AJ did the same thing, saying daddy before mommy.  I got some mamas in the beginning but when words and understanding started coming out daddy was in the forefront.  AJ would look me right in the eye, call me daddy and then laugh his little head off.  What a joker.  I didn't take it personally.

After a couple months of coaching I was no longer daddy, I was now 'bobby' and momah was either 'bobo' or 'boba'.  She didn't have a problem saying M's so I figure it was just some of her inherited sarcasm showing itself.  Then at the beginning of this month she just busted out with 'mommy'.  I nearly screamed...ok I did scream and I jumped up and down a little bit, I remember clapping my hands and believe that tears were stinging my eyes.  I'm not emotional or anything.

It really is one of the most exciting things along with when they first start to crawl or walk or any other milestone that parents can't wait for.  Then, do you know what happens when this milestone it met?  You wish for the time before that milestone.  First, because you are saddened that your little baby is growing up.  But mostly because now they can do it, and they know they can do it.  A dangerous combination.  Once a baby realizes they can roll over, scoot or crawl there is no more putting them in the middle of a bed or floor and knowing they will be there when you get back.  Once they can cruise, walk or (heaven forbid) climb you need to pack away anything that isn't nailed down or made of rubber, or you can kiss it good-bye.

When they start talking they don't run the risk of harming themselves or breaking any remaining vases you may still have left, so whats the big deal?  Have you ever been in a room or a car with a newly talking toddler and her 4 year old brother?  It never ends...

Now lets add a few more fun facts.  Noisy toys with one button that say the same thing over and over.  Rambunctious kids that never ever sit still.  Tattle tailing.  Half the time trying to figure out what the toddler is explaining to you or asking for so nicely.  Screams and cries from the constant toy taking and injuries.  The fact that no matter where you are they need to be in that same spot at that same time and they always have a very long drawn out story that they have to tell you, but only when you are talking to someone else.  The list goes on and on...moms feel free to add more fun facts.

Now to those of you that do not yet have children or have not reached this stage in your new little ones lives please don't fret.  Just as with child birth the wonderful out weighs the weary and it still makes you smile every time you hear that little tiny voice.  Or in my case the not so tiny voice coming out of the not so tiny toddler.  It's still cute though.

Ryan on the (fake, thank goodness!) phone

Here are some of my faves from Ryan's vocobulary...it really does go on and on...

'not nice' - if you try to feed her something she doesn't want
'you're so silly'
'beebees' - those are birdies
'blee' - that is her bear
'puppies, blanket'  - for bed time, just like her big brothers, she says them clear as day
'set, goooo!'  - says this everytime I stop at a red light
knows cow, monkey, snake, lion, horse, elephant, dog, cat, duck, mouse and many others and also knows all the sounds they make
says 'I sorry' and gives kisses
'hep'  - when she needs help with something
'I coloring' when she wants to color a picture or if she finds a pencil
tells Kirby to 'sit down' and 'stay'
Kirby has evolved from 'Kurbet' to 'Kirbac'
milk has evolved from 'kuh' to 'nilk'
doesn't just use yes and no to answers questions also says 'yep', 'yeah', 'm hmm', 'nope', 'no way' and 'nuh uh'
knows most of the body parts  - belly, hands, feet, toes, nose, eyes, mouth, ears, teeth...
loves 'books' and 'story' and can say both with no problem
knows some signs too (mommy hasn't been as dedicated with her) knows milk, apple, please, book, sleep, down, mommy, all done, baby and is still learning more
'fwuck'  - is a fire truck
'outside', 'shoes', lets go'  - she loves to be outside, she is going to be an outdoorsy girl
'tasty'  - when its good she'll let you know
she loves to dance and sings along by saying 'lalalala' to the tune of the music
says 'hohoho' when she sees a pic of Santa
says 'owl' when she picks up her owl pillow
knows letters and numbers  a,b,c,d,l,m,o,p,r,s,t,u,w,x and 1,2,3,5,6,9
signs and says 'I love you'
knows 'Toy Story', 'Buzz' and 'Whowee' which then became 'Woowy
also knows 'Dora' and 'Hoho' from Ni-Hoa, Ki Lan
started crawling her hand across the bed and said 'spii' - spider!  how awesome!
she is also stringing together sentences 'let's go, a ball, ok momah' - she wanted mom to take her over to play with a ball in the pool
also said 'what the heck, hmmm, I know!'  while trying to figure out how to get around something

She is truly amazing and even though sometimes I would love a few moments of silence so that my head doesn't explode I would so much rather listen to the sweet sounds of my kids blabbering away.  I guess I passed on the gift of the gab to them.  They didn't tell me that was a side effect when I kissed that darn Blarney Stone in Ireland!

Now let me see...

A lot has happened in the past two months.

AJ's Birthday was low key and fun.  Family was visiting and cake was served.  I made an awesome Monster Truck cake, if I may say so myself.

Fire Chief AJ

Monster Truck Cake!

Ryan eating a 'tire' from the cake

Captain AJ on his real birthday

In June I traveled to DC for Stacey's bridal shower.  It was the first time I had ever been away from the kids so I was a bit of a nervous wreck but I survived.  I had an awesome time and actually finished an entire novel in the 3 days I was there!

at the airport about to leave

:)  taking mommy to the airport

me, Stacey, Jodie and Lyla

Stacey, Jodie and me out on the town

AJ and his friend Dylan have play dates as often as we can get them together.  One day we went to the zoo.

AJ and Momah played pirates.

Fourth of July was fun.  We went to my uncles' house on the 3rd and then on the 4th went to the park and watched fireworks.  Ryan loved the fireworks, I wish I could have gotten a shot of her face while they were going off.

at Sean and Toby's

so cute!

my big boy

pretty girl

AJ got a new Big Boy Bed and we moved Ryan into the Toddler Bed.  Please pray for us.

Ryan has been talking non-stop for the past month.  Seriously, pray...a lot.

This past week was Time Share week and Marshall and Deri were down.  It's always wonderful to see them.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two opened in theaters.  For those of you that are not HP fans, yes I did just post this as an exciting event for me in the past two months.  It is a thrilling end yet sad conclusion to the series.  I know that I will watch the movies and read the books many more times in the years to come.  Don't judge, it's just a waste of time for you.  :)

In the past few months mom, Jasey and myself have been shrinking.  I am very happy to say that I have dropped 35 pounds.  I have no goal as to how much more I would like to lose or a size that I would like to be.  I dropped past my pre-Ryan and pre-AJ weights and then slide right past my wedding weight.  My body is completely different than what is was at that time in my life, how could it not after two huge babies and c-sections but I'm still losing and right now that makes me happy.

But, above all, by far, the most exciting news that I have is that as of this morning Jasey is starting on his new career path.  After months of hard work and never giving up he received a job offer a week and a half ago and today was his first day.  I know that Jasey is relieved and we are both beyond happy about this opportunity.  I have been wanting to jump up and down and scream this but even now that he has started, it's official, I am still kind of nervous to accept that it has happened.  After the year (two more weeks would have made it a full year) that we have had it still feels as though any little thing could make the bottom completely fall out.  So even though I am lighter now I still am scared to jump up and down to much :)  And because I am a big dork and Jasey puts up with me, I took a picture of him this morning as he was leaving for his first day.

sweetie pie

Now, if you will please join me now for a small bouncing and squealing session (remember don't jump to hard)

squeeee!  woohoo!  yeaaaaaa!  Congrats Sweetie Pie!

I will be back soon with more to share. Bye!

AJ...

***Disclaimer - I would just like to point out that I was going to write this post yesterday but seeing as it was AJ's birthday I instead was spending time with him.  Thank You.***

So when AJ was born I of course (being his mommy) thought he was the cutest baby in all the world (rightly so since I'm his mommy).   Here take a look...

First pic, still in the OR

such a chunker

The infamous '24 hours old' picture

 So you see what I mean he was totally cute!  I couldn't imagine that he could get any cuter.  How could he with the best smiles and those snackable cheeks.  I loved getting a whole cheek in my mouth and giving him big noisy kisses.  He was so chunky and squeezable.  The best part were his fat little hands, I loved kissing the palms of his hands, so warm and soft.  Pure heaven.

Then before I knew it a whole year was gone.  He crawled and walked, used sign language and said his first words, it was an exciting year.

Any first time mom out there knows that the first year of your first born is the quickest year of your entire life!  When I opened my eyes from that one year long blink this is what I saw!  The cutest baby ever had become the cutest 1 year old toddler in the history of mankind (remember I am his mommy).

1 year old!

cute baby butt!

Happy 1st Birthday Babycakes!

mmmm, my first bite of cake

Birthday Boy!

 Adorable, I know!  By this time I knew that he really was the cutest kid ever and realized I would always have to live with his cuteness.  Would my heart be able to endure the daily melting from his cheesy dimpled grins?  Again another year passed and he was 2, I couldn't believe it.

Sliding, his favorite!

picking flowers for mommy

 Two was so fun, we had some 'terrible twos' moments but he was usually more interested in running around and being a rambunctious little boy.  He was certainly figuring out how to be himself.  But that cuteness never went away.

Another year had passed us by.  There was no way I could kinda convince myself he was still a baby.  Truthfully I have always thought of him as older than he actually is.  He's always been a big kid so it was easy to think of him as older than he was.  Being around him all the time he was my buddy so I would forget that he was still in a huge learning curve.

It took me a while to stop thinking of him as a toddler.  But there he was, my 3 year old pre-schooler.

running through the garden at Boone Hall Plantation, such a personality!

cheeeeeese!  (and PB&J)

big boy games, just like daddy

The threes were pretty rough.  He did a lot of things early but when it came to the terrible twos he decided to hold on those for a year and bring them forward with full force in the third year instead.  This was the year that if it wasn't for all that cuteness, I could have wrung his neck more than a few times.  

Lucky for me there were no cameras around to catch the neck wringing so we only have evidence of the cute.  (Maybe thats why everyone looks at me funny me as I snort with laughter when they tell me what a good kid he is).  

I bet you know whats coming next, but it was sure a slap in the face for me.  My little babycakes is now 4 years old!  And guess what?  He is as cute as ever!

I do know what a good boy AJ is and I am very proud to be his mommy.  He is polite and well behaved and keeps us entertained.  He is a goof ball and, as with all kids, you never know what will come out of his mouth next.  It could be a silly made up pre-schooler word, a song that you have never heard him sing before or a bit of information that leaves you speechless for a moment because you think it's incredible that a 4 year old can retain, understand and communicate something so complex.

He has changed so much but I still get a whole cheek in my mouth and I still give the palms of his chubby hands kisses.  I won't lie and say I don't miss the chubby baby, I would love to hold him in my arms again.  Though, every night that he gives me hugs and kisses before he goes to bed I love him even more and am glad that he is growing up.

Happy 4th Birthday AJ!!!!!




 - Today I am grateful for the wonderful boy that Jasey and I are so lucky to have in our family -

I love you AJ, love Mommy

Optimism...

I have been going through more and more stages of funkiness.  After the most recent one I realized that I needed to face them instead of saying oh it's no big deal and moving on.  Moving on isn't a horrible thing to do but if I continue to constantly go through spots of dark clouds, one day they are likely to get the better of me and I don't want that to happen.

There is no rhyme nor reason to when I become funky, not that I can tell anyway.  But usually right in the middle of it I realize that it's been going on for at least a few days.  I don't know if it's cued because I noticed it or if I would have started to feel better anyway but once I know I'm being funky I start to come out of it.  It's seems to be on a cycle, like that of a hibernating bear on Planet Mercury.  You know if there were bears hibernating on Mercury.

Follow me here...It takes approximately 88 days (Earth time) for Mercury to go around the Sun.  I'm not going to get super mathy here, I'm more of a number rounder.  Split 88 days into 4 seasons and that gives you about 3 weeks a season.  So that gives me (the bear) 9 weeks to wake from my slumber, sniff some flowers, scare some people and eat some berries before I realize it's time to find another cave to shack up in for the next 3 weeks.  

That seems about right.  I will be perfectly fine for a long time.  I am an optimist.  I can find the good in almost anything.  I give people the benefit of the doubt.  I accept what comes my way and do the best I can.  Then I realize I've eaten my last berry, winter snuck up on me and the dark clouds are over head.  So I retreat.  Without a word I go into hiding and just as people are starting to notice that I haven't been around as much, there I am.  All ninja bear-like.  Happy and ready to be me.  

It may not be the healthiest way to live life right now...but, considering our life right now I think I'm doing a pretty good job of staying sane.  So there you go.  I am Andrea, an optimist, an Aquarius, a hibernating bear on Mercury.  Awesome.





 - Today I am grateful for my sense of humor, it comes in handy, a lot -