Catching up...

I have some catching up to do...

I don't know where the summer went but it really zipped by.

Just to bring you up to date because I know you are dying to know what the heck the Campbell's have been up to ;)

Well you don't have to hold your breath any longer.

Guess what? I had a birthday! We were lucky to receive 4 tickets to one of the Bronco's pre season games, generously given to us by friends.

Mark ended up going out of town for work so the boys and I ventured out on our own. We had a great time, even though the Bronco's lost :(

I know you can't tell from the picture but the boys were happy to be there.

My birthday dinner, yum.

More to come................

Catching up...

I'm not sure why I lost my zeal for blogging but I think it's coming back! It's been on my mind the past few days. Maybe my writers block is coming to an end.


As you all know we were very busy with football for the past few months. Both boys went to the playoffs. Connor's team lost in the first round and Alex's in the second. Both boys learned a lot. As most of you probably know Connor has always been passionate about football. I think it was a little bit of an eye opener to actually play tackle football. It was a big commitment (at least 3, 2 hr practices a week and a game on Saturday) Also the intensity of the coaches was something for him to get used to. I think he will spend the next few months digesting and analizing if tackle football is really for him.


Alex really enjoyed his teammates and had a lot of fun, most of the time. I honestly thought he would hate it but wanted to give him a chance to decide on his own. I think he was a little surprised at first by the intensity of the practices and coaches but after a few weeks he was actually eager to get to practice. There was one boy in particular that was kind of a trouble maker and he loved to harrass Alex. Well, he obviously didn't know that Alex has him Mom's temper.... One day during a tackling drill, something just clicked in Alex, he had had enough. He put his anger into his tackling and really caught this boy off guard when he tackled him to the ground. The look on both their faces was priceless!

Connor took a few pictures of Alex's last game...

From Alex's last football game

From Alex's last football game

Alex not looking too happy

From Alex's last football game

Football and fossils...weekend update

I have a few pictures to share. I got a few pictures of Alex at his football game yesterday. His team did well. They have now won there 1st 3 games. Alex is doing well also. He was up against some really big kids (hard to believe how huge 3rd graders can be). He made several great blocks and 1 great tackle. I jokingly tell him every game that if he gets a bruise he no longer can play football. He rolls his eyes at me and smiles.

Today (Sunday) we went to the Rock, Mineral and fossil expo. Connor looks forward to it all year. He likes to go on the last day because that's when they mark down some of the fossils. Last year he got some good deals because one of the vendors was tired and ready to pack up. He had the same luck this year! Our friends, the Changs showed up there too.

a funny side note about the fossil show.... we were looking at the fossils and I made a couple of remarks that apparently showed my ignorance about fossils. Connor turned to me and in the most serious voice he said "Mom, why don't you go over there, there are some pretty and shiny rocks you could look at." I had to laugh, and then I proceeded directly over to the pretty shiny rocks. :-)





Alex's friend Alex came to his game.




Panning for gold. Connor wasn't going to do it at first then when Garrett pulled out a fossil, Connor started digging! haha

A little bit of football

For those of you who don't know, both of the boys are playing tackle football this year. Between both of their practices and games we literally have football 6 days a week. We have had 2 games but I haven't gotten very many pictures. Susie got a few good ones of Connor at his first game (I was at Alex's). So here are a few pictures.

From Football

From Football

From Football

From Football

A lot of football...

Yesterday, we finally finished up Spring Flag football. It was an extended season because of a lot of cancellations due to weather. So all together we had 7 games over the weekend.

It was a real learning and growing experience for the boys and for me too. Connors team started out pretty rocky. None of the boys had ever played together and it took a few games and practices to get them to really click. It was really awesome to watch them come together. I watched Connor start out discouraged and I knew it could go either way. He could just drag through the season and be miserable, but he didn't and I am very proud of him for that. He made a conscience decision to just have fun no matter what. Now, if you know Connor he loves football and he is a competitor so it wasn't an easy decision. I watched his positive attitude rub off on the other players. He ended up playing quarter back quite a bit and really showed great leadership on the team. On Saturday his team started the play offs and they were losing by 2 touchdowns... they were all looking really down. Connor got them all together in a huddle and told them that if they would come back and win he would bring tacos for everyone at the playoff game the next day. They all got back in the game and ended up winning! It was amazing to watch them turn around............ so guess who ended up bringing the tacos?? He offered to pay for them out of his allowance, but after talking to him about asking us first next time.. we decided since his intentions were good we would buy them. They were a big hit..... Their team ended up coming in 2nd place.

From flag football Spring

From flag football Spring

Mark passing out tacos.

From flag football Spring

From flag football Spring

Trophy time

From flag football Spring

From flag football Spring

Alex was on a new team this year also. He got to learn about politics. No matter how good he played or how hard he practiced he felt like the coach had his favorites.. his son and a couple of his friends that had played together for a while. Anyway, he hung in there and hopefully learned to have a little thicker skin and life isn't always fair... and the learning is what it's all about.

From flag football Spring

From flag football Spring

Alex receiving his 3rd place medal

From flag football Spring

Alex with Garrett and Chloe (they came to watch his game) oh and the little guy is Paco.

From flag football Spring

Your Gonna Miss This

I recently discovered this Bloggy carnival over at Bonnie's "Where did this all come from?" blog. You can link up at Pam's You're gonna miss this blog. On Saturday the boys had three flag football games between them. We had to be there early for pictures and practice so we spent the majority of the day outside on the field. Brrrrrrrrrrr. It was cold. The field they played the first 2 games on is always colder and windier then at our house which is close by. Anyway after about an hour we were numb from the cold. The boys trudged through but it got me to thinking about how I'm probably going to miss these days regardless of how miserable I may be physically.

Alex running for a Touchdown. It ended up not counting because they started from the wrong place. But, in my heart it will always be a touchdown :)




Connor had a rough game. The league we are in didn't do a very good job of matching teams. The team he played were older and bigger. They also play tackle fb together. Connor kept his chin up though and did his best. That's what it's all about in my book.

Football Playoffs

The boys both made it into the "playoffs" in flag football. Connor was playing for 3rd or 4th and won so their team came in 3rd......Go Raptors!! Connor was part time Quarterback but also played other various positions. He played hard and had fun. Also played well. Good Job Connor! I love watching you do something that you love!

Alex was playing for 1st place! and...........won!! Go Hurricanes! They were playing a team that they had lost to twice before so it was exciting for all of us to watch. Alex had a coach who was a little rough around the edges but kept the boys on their toes. Alex played quarterback most of the time because the coach said he had a great arm and was very accurate (coaches words not mine..)

Something the boys do a LOT of is playing football in the backyard. It's one of those everyday things that some day they may not do anymore. I hope they will still come over when they are married with kids of their own and play a friendly game of football. I thought I'd take a few pictures... They usually have shoes on but for some reason were playing in bare feet. Jared is a neighborhood friend who plays with them quite a bit.

The music goes on longer than the movie so just click off at the end.. I'm still learning this program.

The Weekend...

Connor came home from school on Thursday and wasn't feeling well. He started throwing up (sorry) shortly thereafter and continued until about 3:00am. He stayed home from school Friday. He was feeling better by afternoon and going stir crazy, so we went to the aquarium Friday evening. I won't bore you with too many aquarium pics, I know I've posted a lot because the kids love going there.



Saturday both had football games and both won..yeah! Yesterday (Sunday) we went to the Bronco Game (thank you Terra and Mr.& Mrs.Slingerlend). Connor brought a friend and we had a good time. We could have done without the large crude face painter man in front of us who was unfortunately sitting next to 2 Buccaneers fans, ouch! A little funny anecdote.. for any of you Seinfeld watchers. Do you remember the episode where David Putty (Elaine's boyfriend) painted his face for a Devils game and he said "Gotta support the team"? Well Alex said that in my ear when the face painter sat down in front of us, you probably had to be there but I thought it was pretty funny. Alex often surprises me with his great comedic timing, especially for an 8 yr old. (you may also be wondering why an 8yr old knows Seinfeld). oh well.

Connor's special day...

Sunday was a great day for Connor. His two favorite things as I'm sure you all know are Fossils and Football. Sunday morning he and Mark went to the Colorado Fossil Expo 2008 show at the Denver Merchandise Mart. We had never been before but It's part of the Gem & Mineral show, a huge show that I guess comes twice a year. Alex and I stayed home because Alex had a sleepover the night before. Connor was in heaven. He got to meet two paleontologists/authors that he had read about and seen on TV. He knows their names like we would know famous peoples names. He bought two fossil books and had them autographed by the authors...... He ended up with a great find, a Mosasaur jaw. They were selling it at half price because the show was ending. Connor used all of his allowance money he'd saved plus borrowed a few dollars from Dad..... He came home smiling from ear to ear.

The second part of his day was watching the Denver Broncos game........ and they won!! Go Broncos!! (sorry Pam).

What a great day Connor! Life is good.

Make a Smilebox greeting

First Football game of the season...

On Saturday the boys had their first flag football game of the season. Both teams won! Alex's team is the Hurricanes and Connor's team is the Raptors. Guess who came up with that name..haha

Make a Smilebox photobook

The days go by...

Seems like the days and weeks are flying by. Alex had a field trip to the Highlands Ranch Mansion last week and I was able to go along. We rode there on a school bus. Alex pointed out to me that he had never been on a school bus. I hadn't thought about it but he was right. Everyone should experience that at least once... the bumps, the noise..it's great..haha I remember when Connor was in 1st grade he had the opportunity to ride the school bus. He was really excited at first but after a couple of weeks decided it wasn't for him. I was kind of relieved... He seemed so little to be getting on this big, noisy bus.



The boys have started Flag football and will have their first game on Saturday. They met their coaches and had a scrimmage last Saturday. Maybe I can get some pictures to post.



Here are a few pictures of Alex's field trip...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Spring football 2008

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Campbell Weekend Update...

It's Sunday night. I just finished reading with Alex. (warning...It's Mommy brag time) He has improved by leaps and bounds this year. I have to credit his teacher because I haven't been reading with him on a regular basis (bad mommy). I got some books at the library today and he picked a Magic Tree house book. I thought it would be too hard for him but he did really well.

Connor needed a book for a book report. He likes a series called "National Park Mysteries". I picked a few for him to choose from. He chose one that takes place in Glacier Natl Park. I think that's in Montana and maybe part of Canada. Anyway he seems excited about it..which is a good thing because he's not into reading fiction very much.

Saturday the boys had 2 football games a piece. Connor's first was a nail biter (if I were one of those moms..which I am, haha) At half time neither team had scored. Then the other team scored. Right after that, Connor ran for a "TOUCHDOWN"! Then with 1 minute to go Connor's team caught an interception and ran it in to win the game. In Con's second game his team was winning until the 2nd half. The other team beat them by 4 pts.

Alex's first game was against a team where the boys where quite a bit bigger and looked older than Alex's team (I think there were some organizational problems this year). Alex was telling everyone that the kids they played against were "like 13 yr olds". Probably more like 9 or 10 but I'm sure they looked that old to Alex. Alex was running with the ball and told me later "Mom, all I could see were legs" haha. They were quite a bit taller than Alex. Alex did have a good run and an interception in his second game. Their team hasn't won a game this year but they've had fun..

Mark made sugar cookies today and the boys and I got into a little frosting fight while decorating them. I think Mark started it... or maybe I did. I can't remember..haha Mark grabbed the camera.









We also ended up going to the rec center to swim Friday night. After Alex took his bath he really wanted to go swimming. I snapped a few pictures.

busy weekend...

Wow, finally a moment to catch our breath. It's been a busy weekend and it's only Saturday! Yesterday Connor and Alex both had football practice. Then off to our schools "Spring Fling". It was at South Suburban Family sports center. They have laser tag, bumper cars a climbing wall and more. The boys had a great time but we were there until after 9:00, then Alex's friend came home with us for an unplanned sleepover. Then up this morning for another FB practice at 9:00 and games at 10:00.

After the games we came back home for a little while then I took Alex and his friend to a birthday party. I watched them swim for a couple of hours and then drove them to the birthday boys house for a sleepover. They were having 7 boys over... I feel for them!

While we were at the party Mark took Connor to Dinosaur Ridge. They had a nice hike, found some nice rocks and got a lot of sun. Connor was very happy. He added the rocks to his museum collection.

I hope we all get a good nights sleep tonight... I doubt Alex will. He will probably be a bear tomorrow but that's the way it goes sometimes.

Alex had his first Flag Football practice of the season last night. We feel so lucky, the park they are practicing in is practically in our backyard. There is an open space just behind our house and then a field just south of it. That is where they are having practice. We just jump over our fence and walk over. We could actually watch from our deck, which we may due in the future. Two of the kids from Alex's Fall team are back and one of the coaches so it was nice to see them again and catch up.