Busy week ahead..

It's going to be kind of a busy week so I thought I would do a quick post to catch up a little... Lets see, what's new? Well, Mark and I are band parents! Connor came home a few days ago telling us all about a band assembly they had at school. He was really excited about it. He said he got to try out a couple of instruments and he really liked the Cello and Trombone. They had a rental night at the high school where you could go and there were 3 different instrument rental companies set up at tables. Basically you just fill out the paperwork and pick an instrument. It probably sounds corny but I was thinking... What a great country we live in that a 10 yr old child can pick almost any instrument he wants to play and for a small rental fee can learn to play it for free!! Anyway Connor decided on a Trombone. We brought it home and watched a dvd on how to put it together, etc... He has his first band class tomorrow morning. He goes at 7:45 am. He is pretty excited about it. Who knew he would want to try this but I'm glad he's not afraid to venture out and try something new.

Alex has a birthday coming up on September 1st. He will be turning 8! He is having a home birthday party with a few of his friends. We are renting a big air jumper obstacle course. Should be fun.. (and tiring, haha). But how often do you turn 8 yrs old? Luckily Grandma and Great Grandma are on their way here as we speak.. They should be here within the hour. We will take all the help we can get.

My next blog will probably be the birthday party pictures.
Have a good week.

My Birthday...

I had a nice birthday. It was yesterday. On Sunday evening Dad, Pam, Kris and Brad (Pam's daughter and son in law) came over for dinner. Mark made a great dinner. We had spinach artichoke dip that was delicious, he had it in a bread bowl, melted cheese on top and heated it in the oven.....my mouth is watering again. We ate pork tenderloin, baked potatoes and salad...

Mark and the boys actually made my cake this year. It was a huge chocolate cake with white frosting........ very good. Alex informed us several times that "he doesn't like chocolate cake". Mark would tell him "but Mom does and it's her birthday. He still couldn't quite get over the fact that we would have a type of cake that he doesn't like. We really didn't realize he disliked chocolate cake so much, guess he gets that from Great Grandma Dot.

On my actual birthday Mark and the boys took me to Mimi's Cafe. We had a nice dinner. We intended on having leftover birthday cake when we got home but we all were too full!

Thank you all for all the wonderful cards and phone calls...

Rockies Game

We went to a Rockies game today. Alex had received tickets through his baseball team and the kids got to parade around the field with their coach before the game. It was pretty neat. We made most of the game. We left at the beginning of the 8th inning. It was raining and the Rockies were losing 15-7. Maybe they came back in the 9th??? haha...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A day in the mountains...

Connor had been asking for a few days if we could go up in the mountains. He is just like his dad and Grandpa and every once in awhile they just need their mountain fix. They love the fresh Mountain air, the wildlife and just being in nature. When Mark & I were first married we took off many times on three day weekends and headed to Colorado from Ks. We would take off after work on Friday, drive until late into the night. Spend Saturday and Sunday and head back Monday. That's how much Mark loved Colorado and the mountains... a few times we only had a regular weekend and we would spend one day and drive back. Oh to be young again... haha Anyway, Connor inherited that gene and he gets a little cranky when he hasn't been in a while. I think he would live in the mountains if he could.

We ended up going to Estes Park and through Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road all the way through the Kawaneechee Valley. Through Grand Lake, Winter Park and back home. The Kawaneechee Valley is usually a great place to see Moose. (Connor's favorite animal) but we didn't have any luck yesterday. We did see some elk. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Lazy days of summer...

Well with 2 boys ages 7 (almost 8) and 10 I guess you couldn't really call the days lazy. On the other hand It has been nice the last few weeks. We haven't been on the go as much and staying home quite a bit. Connor especially doesn't mind being at home. He's kind of a homebody. We have gone swimming with friends and had some friends over to play. On Wednesday Alex's friend and his cousin who is spending the summer with him came over to spend the day and had a sleepover. The 4 of them all had a nice time. Connor, like me is a little bit of an introvert and sometimes needs his own quiet time, so he would take a break every once in awhile and disappear into his room or into his "museum".

For those of you who don't know We have part of our storage room in the basement dedicated to Connor (and some of Alex's) rocks and fossils. I think Connor officially named it "The Campbell Museum" but we usually call it "Connor's Museum". Connor has spent a lot of time this summer cleaning and reorganizing. He picked up a little table at a garage sale down the street and we gave him an old table we had to give him more room He still thinks he needs more room..... fossils and rocks are taking over our house... He has his displays looking nice. Anyway, that's another blog for another day.

Mark and I have also been busy going through things for a garage sale. Mark doesn't enjoy garage sales (to put it lightly) but WE decided we had too much stuff to just donate or throw away. The boys have been going through a lot of their old toys, stuffed animals, etc. The basement is looking much bigger and less cluttered as we continue to get rid of things they don't play with very much anymore. It's been therapeutic in a way but a little sad to realize they are growing up and some of the things they really loved in the past they have outgrown. Well. that is the process of life...

I took a few pictures of the boys playing with water balloons on the trampoline. I think Mark had almost as much fun as they did...