And To You Your Wassail Too

To all of our blog readers out there...

We are so grateful to have to you in our lives. To have family and friends to share in our joys and occasional pains like say oh loss of a finger...We count our blessings this year and they are many because of you. We hope all of you are surrounded by loved ones this holiday season and are filled with the spirit of Christmas. I don't think anyone could say it better than Clement C Moore and so I will send my greeting in his famous words

"Happy Christmas to All and to All a Good Night".

5 feet tall is very respectable in Oz

The other day my son Ryan was feeling quite put out because we would not let him have a soda with dinner like Ryan my husband. We told him he could have milk or water but not soda-it's for grown ups. He turned to me and said "You get to have soda". I said that's b/c I'm a grown up. He then looked me straight in the eye, cocked his chin and in his perfect 5 year old tone said

"Oh yeah, then why are you so small??!!" I wanted to be angry with his attitude but what can you do when they say something so unexpected and yet so true... We just laughed our heads off. He still didn't get the soda but eventually got over it.

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving!! It is one of my absolute favorite holidays. In fact every year I say to myself "Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!" But then Christmas comes and I get caught up in all the twinkly lights and red berried wreaths... So really I just love this whole season. It does just make me grateful to have family and friends to share in all this cheer. We celebrated at Molly's with 30 people. I think we counted 13 kids(hooray for the trampoline) and 15 adults. It couldn't have been more perfect. Except we did really miss not having Michael and his fam with us(we're counting on you guys next year!). We grew up with a huge buffet style Thanksgiving dinner and so these big, but casual affairs feel like home. Even down to the paper plates! For some reason though I'm not the best picture taker on Thanksgiving. Birthdays, Halloween, I'm on it. But not Thanksgiving. So here are a few pics snapped by my sister's Mother-in-law Barbara. Also, I think this year will be forever remembered in our family as the Thanksgiving Ryan H. spent in his jammies. I dunno why we never got around to making him get dressed. It seemed whenever there was a break in the action we couldn't find his jeans or something...

Bobcat of the Month.

here he is with a well deserved Bobcat of the Month bowl of ice cream

Every month the teachers at Brockett Elementary choose one child from their classroom to be the Student of the Month. They get a catered lunch from Chick File with the Principal, a T-shirt and are featured on the Brockett School morning news. We are so proud of Ryan for being the first child from his class to be chosen as the "Bobcat of the Month". He was selected by his teachers for this special honor for good behavior, hard work and getting along well with others!!

Way to go Ryan!! You're our favorite Bobcat!! (I think he gets it from me...)

Twilight Movie Night

Yes, I went and saw it. Opening night of course with a group of gals who are Twilight crazy just like me. And I'm not ashamed to admit I've seen it twice now. I just couldn't not go again. I went on a whim last night by my self. I enjoy going to the movies alone every now and then and never give a thought to what anyone thinks. But for some reason last night I felt the need to tell the guy at the ticket counter that I've already seen it once with friends. I went on about how I was there with a big group the first time and we had so much fun but I just wanted to come alone this time. And then I just kept going. I don't know why but it started to sound a little pathetic, like I was trying to prove to this young 20 year old college kid that I had friends. To put in end to my rambling and to help the next person in line he just looked at me and said "It's okay, I like to see movies by myself too... "So I walked away red faced into the theater. But anyway, I am so glad I did because I liked it even better the second time around. Can I say that I love it as much as the book-not really. But there are parts of it I LOVED!! And Robert Pattinson took my breath away as Edward-he can rescue me from vicious vampires anytime.... Here are a few pictures of us at the movie on opening day and me and my friend Sesika at the Twilight Moms luncheon a few weeks ago. I proudly admit that I triumphed in the Trivia contest. Who knows why I remember what color Charlie's cabinets are or what Bella's blood smells like to Edward but I do. And because of my mad random Twilight remembering skills, I won a mug from the actuall town of Forks!


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I Call it A Healthy Appreciation (b/c I can quit whenever I want...)

So I realize that when I fall for something I fall pretty hard

(ie Twilight, Harry Potter, ER in 95, Regis and Kelly, chocolate, Balthazar Getty and the list goes on...)I just become obsessed and can't stop thinking about it. It sort of consumes me for a little while until I move on to the next indulgent worthy item . But even then those things never really leave me, they just become apart of me and are there to stay. Now I know what you're thinking, and I whole heartily agree, it is a very good thing I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life... So this Summer I somehow got completely HOOKED on So You Think You Can Dance. That's the thing, I never plan these addictions, they just sort of happen. And last night I indulged in my latest obsession to the fullest extent allowed by law and saw all of my fabulous dancing friends live on stage at the Gwinnett Arena! That's right!! SYTYCD Tour 2008 was mine for the taking and it was AWESOME!! Can I just say how ridiculously giddy I was!!! And it wasn't just me okay, with the exception of a few dads wondering how in the world their teenage daughters dragged them into this, all of the people there were going crazy! There were lots of screams and cheers, loud hand clappings, boisterous ovations and even a few tears...And one of the most fun parts of the whole evening was getting to share all of this ridiculous giddiness with my sister Molly. Seriously, we had a blast. And, the next best part is we both got to see our favorite numbers from the season.

(on a side note, Bleeding Love is a surprisingly great song to jog too)
Enjoy!!

My Trick or Treaters

Happy Halloween!!

Anakin Skywalker-the Darth Vader to be...

Yes my daughter actually chose to be Darth Vader. And she was ecstatic about it. She loves Darth Vader and did a pretty good imitation

the ice cream man gets a scoop

we even won prizes for most creative and best all around

Some Pictures From Our Weekend in WV October 2008

Our favorite stop on the 10 hr drive. The New River Gorge Bridge

My dad with his grandkids

Gramps and his soccer buddy

My mom with her kids

Welcome Baby Madelyn

Molly, Wendy, Michael (the sibs)

My brother Michael, his wife Priscilla and two kids Parker and baby Madelyn

Lunch Buddies

Last week we went as a family to have lunch with Ryan at his school. Lemmetellya, if you have not had cafeteria food in awhile, do not feel bad. It really is the same as it ever was except now, instead of putting the food directly on to the tray they put it in disposable containers which then go on to the tray. But even after eating what I'm hoping was a rib sandwich, we had a lovely time. And Ryan was thrilled to see us. Although I don't think he particularly enjoyed me hovering over him reminding him to "chew and swallow', "eat your cantaloupe" and then wiping his mouth... Really, the boy is almost 6and has been successfully eating lunch on his own at school for 3 months. But as soon as I sat down next to him to eat another side of me just took over. Even as I was pointing to his food saying "one more bite" or "finish your chocolate milk" I knew deep down that I just needed to leave the boy alone and let him eat in peace. But the mothering part of me simply would not allow it. It was like I turned into some kind of pestering mother robot from cafeteria hell. A switch was turned on and it could not be turned off until I was lead safely out of the building. In fact I was close to telling the children across from us to use their napkins... Well, I've learned my lesson on 2 counts: If we do that again I will (1) bring my own lunch and I will (2) not sit next to Ryan...

It's Almost Too Much!!!

Twilight HD Exclusive Trailer

Melissa this is for you:)

How to Count to Ten Without All of your Fingers

Yes, the rumors are true, my husband Ryan really did permanently lose part of his left middle finger after getting it caught in a big metal door at work. We've both agreed that somehow the loss would've been much cooler if for instance, while assisting one of the dentists, a patient bit him in a fit of angry rage, or perhaps he was rescuing a bear cub from a burning forest and things got little out of hand, but no, it was just a big metal door...no enraged patient, no frightened bear cub... just Ryan and the door and the gust of wind that changed our lives forever... In years to come Ryan will be known as the "The Grampa with the funny finger" or maybe even "Amputee Grampee". Whichever they choose I'm sure we will cherish the endearment.

On a more serious note, Ryan had surgery on Friday and it went really well. And things seem to getting back to normal in just over a week since this crazy accident. He is in very little pain these days and is in pretty good spirits. So we are feeling very grateful. Though I think Ryan is a little disappointed he won't be able to flip people off with quite as much gusto as before...

We also want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us out in various ways from the ER to OR and back home again: Thanks to Ryan's fellow Campbell Dental employees(Dr Bryce Carter for keeping Ryan from going into shock until the ambulance got there and wrapping up is finger, Ursula for calling me and letting me know what had happened and giving me directions to the Hospital, Tamara & Marina for picking up the slack while Ryan's been gone and of course Dr Jason Cambell himself for paying for Workman's comp all these years-it was not in vain -and for being so supportive). And thanks to Carolyn for the great referral. We also can not forget Cheyenne, Amber, Cecily and Molly for watching the kids (we really couldn't have done this without you, thank you does not seem a big enough word!!) . And finally we just want to let you know how much we truly appreciate all of you for your thoughts & prayers, emails, phone calls and genuine concern for our family!

Wardrobe Malfunction

You know you have a lot on your mind when you realize you've spent the entire afternoon doing errands with your pants on inside out.... Yes I really did this...

My Advice-FLOSS!!

Here's me lookin "Saweet" in the dentist chair awaiting a root canal. Yes, that's right, I am 31 and I've already had 2 root canals. In a way you could say I am very fortunate in this situation seeing how my brother -in -law Jason is my dentist. It saves us some money and I can always tease him in front of the staff if he needs it:) You know my mouth contains the very first cavity he ever filled??!! Yes, while he was in dental school he filled a cavity in my back right molar. It was quite an event considering he was one of the first in his class to do one. Several of his fellow students came over to ohh and ahh over "Campbells Class 2". Whatever that means, something very cool in the world of dentistry I guess. But I don't really care I just like to pretend I'm not there. Which is why through all of these dental experiences I've learned to be very grateful for one thing in particular- my ipod. I just lay back, turn the volume up as high as it will go, close my eyes and find a happy place. At one point during the procedure I honestly and truly thought I was going to pass out. I started to get light headed and very dizzy. I said to myself, "at least you're already lying down, even if I do lose consciousness no one will notice". Thankfully Dave Matthews kept me just enough above the surface to be relaxed but almost entirely unaware of what was going on.

Thanks Jason and his assistant Majorie! As much as I don't like going to the dentist I really appreciate the work you did for me!!

Hard Decision

After a lot of tears and several swiss cake rolls. We agreed that right now is not the best time for our family to have a dog. We took her back to the man who rescued her on Saturday. We miss her but we hope and pray such a sweet dog will be adopted by someone whose situation is more suited for her.

First Day

Pretty in Pink on her first day of school. She goes 2 days a week for a few hours. She's been twice and so far has really enjoyed it. It is a Chilren's Morning Out program run by the same Methodist church where Ryan went to Pre School.

Meet Virginia

Or, perhaps a better title for this post would be "What in the World Were We Thinking??!!"To be honest I'm not sure if we were thinking at all. We certainly didn't plan this addition to our family she just sorta fell into our laps. Here's how it went down. Thursday a sales rep at Ryan's office (who rescues dogs on the side) somehow convinced him that this little beagle puppy (who was going to be put to sleep) should come home with him. So Friday, she did! I guess this sales rep is really good at his job... Here's a new toothpaste sample oh and how bout a beagle to go with it... So now instead of potty training my 21/2 yr old (when is that girl ever going to get out of diapers??!!) I am now concentrating on house breaking a new puppy! Ahhhhh!! I already felt as though I didn't have the best grasp on my relatively simple life before the dog. But hey the kids adore her. And as my first love Luke Skywalker always says "If we're going in, we're going in full throttle!"

We named her Virginia after the Carolina Wren who nested in our laundry room a few months back. I've been trying unsuccefully to get everyone to call her Ginny for short. It is just not happening. So Virginia it is.

CONTASTIC!

I will say that Ryan and I have done our best to experience the Southeast for all its wonder and beauty. We've been to Savannah, Chattanooga even honeymooned in New Orleans (we new that place was cool long before Brangelina hopped on the hurricane train thank you very much) And we've enjoyed our fair share of experiences in this regions most famous capital. From going to the zoo to see the baby panda, or splashing around the fountain at Centennial Olympic Park to riding the sky train at Stone Mountain. But after 8 years of living in Atlanta, it is always exciting to discover something new and fun for our family to do together. This past weekend we encountered the wondrous world of DRAGON CON!!! Yes that's right- Dragon Con- a 3 day weekend dedicated entirely to grown ups who still like to dress up like Spiderman! Our friends the Croxalls told us about the big parade they've taken their 5 year old to every year where the characters from your classic favorites (and new ones too) march down Peachtree Street in all their glory! We had such a fun time. Thousands of people came out to see this and it did not disappoint. Ryan H was crazy over Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers! It was like Christmas morning for him watching hundreds of them coming down the street in unison guns at the ready. I'll admit I gotta little jazzed myself. Adelaide was all about the fairies and the random lady in a wedding dress. There were costumes beyond costumes (dad even the Ghost Busters made an appearance) including a bearded man in a glittering, gold floor length dress(the drags be representn' at dragon con) whom Ryan excitedly pointed out for me. "Look mom there's a man princess! Mom did you see that?! A man princess!" The whole event was out of this world. I'll admit a little bit of the aura was lost for me when as we were leaving and I saw 3 Storm Troopers, helmets off, having a smoke break behind one of the hotels, but not enough to keep us from going back next year. Hooray for Dragon Con!! "Live Long and Prosper"

First Hair Cut

Yes, I really did take my 2 year old to a salon. But in my defense, in years past when I have let family and friends cut Ryan's hair it has almost always turned out disastrously. I think my favorite was the faux hawk my husband gave him just 2 days before school pictures. Although the NeoNazi Buzz Cut is a close second. That's when I put my foot down and said "NO MORE HOME JOBS!! I'm taking him to a barber!" And we've been delighted with Miss Angie from Charles Barber in Tucker ever since. So when it came time for Adelaide's turn, especially with those delicious blond curls of hers , I went straight to Salon Red Kids in downtown Decatur. Miss Shanta did a fabulous job turning Adelaide's stringy mullet into a darling curly blond bob. I shudder to think what could've been...

Ever Play Chicken with A Goose??!!

Unexpected things really do happen all the time don't they. I mean, who would've thought you'd heading out to do some simple errands and the next thing you know you're about one100th of a second (my Olympic nod) from being in a head on collision with a Canadian Goose!!
Yes, allow me to enlighten you... I was driving on the interstate the other day singing along to whatever top 40 hit of the hour was playing when something strange appears up ahead... I naturally start to slow down and wonder "what in the world..." ,I keep slowing down, b/c whatever it is appears to have no plans to leave. I can see now that it is some kind of big, oddly shaped bird? I continue slowing down and realize it is actually 2 geese! And the geese are not moving, hummm, so I of course try to get over a lane, but I can't b/c another car is there, I look ahead again and the geese are standing there ground, I slooooooooooooow, ohmygosh!!! STOP!! I take a deep breath and do inventory, I am still alive, the birds are still alive, no one is behind me, nothing is bumped or broken, okay, I'm okay, the car is okay, everyone and everything is okay, whew! But now the geese are still not moving and traffic is headed my way! I begin to inch ahead and the geese finally start to move but in a forward directions. "Argh!! This doesn't help my little feathered friends" I say to them. After a minute the geese finally agree to liesurly waddle to the side. But just to show me whose really in charge I assume, they remain firmly and most decidedly in the road. I gradually make my way around them and wonder how long those birds really do have to left live??!!

This Made Me Laugh So Hard!!!!

First Day Of School

So, as if it wasn't hard enough finishing off the Twilight Saga with Breaking Dawn last week. Then came the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance(what am I going to do on Wednesday nights now??!! Seriously What??!!) As if those two things weren't hard enough... Yesterday Ryan H started school!! Who can believe this??!! He is in Kindergarten, yes full on public school Kindergarten!! It's like I blinked and he was big. Wait, wait, wait I say to myself, when did he get big enough to go to Kindergarten?? Well, he made it home safely and he's back there for day 2. Hopefully I'll get more out of him today on how things are going. But you know how it is trying to get any kind of tidbit of info from a five year old.
Here is a fairly good recap of our after school chat.
Me: Hey!! How was your day??!!
RH: Good.
Me: What did you do??!!
RH: Stuff.
Me: Like what kind of stuff? Did you have fun??!!
RH: I'm tired. Can I watch a movie?
Me: sigh...sure...

Breaking Dawn Party!!

Friday night several of us girls went to Barnes & Nobel for the midnight release party of Breaking Dawn . I have been anxiously awaiting the fourth and final installment of The Saga that is Twilight. I had such a fun time. And how awesome is it to have a group of friends who are just as crazy about these books as me including both of my visiting teachers . We participated in the trivia game, took pictures and yucked it up with other enthusiasts about how the story would unfold. I just finished it last night. So I'm feeling all sentimental. Will that side of me ever subside?? Just when I think I've got myself under control another book comes out or a friend moves or a really sweet commercial comes on TV... Ah well...

Gramaw Camp 2008!!

Well if there is one thing I can say about my mother-in-law Beverly, it's that she loves her grand kids!! Every year for several years now she has invited all of her grand kids (and the moms )to Huntington WV to enjoy the thrills and spills of Gramaw Camp!! This is my 3rd year as a "Camp Counselor" assigned to the ages 2 & 5 division of the group. My duties consisted mostly of chasing, scolding, laughing and keeping them alive while inside a large cave. And I couldn't have had more fun. Ryan and Adelaide love their cousins and spending a week with them at Gramaw and PaPaws house is even better. We did a lot of stuff, activities everyday, but we also enjoyed the little things like watering flowers with Gramaw or sitting on PaPaws lap. Thanks Pete and Beverly aka Gramaw and PaPaw! We had a wonderful time!

things we did:
-YMCA pool complete with water slides and a diving board
-Carter Caves in Kentucky (the gift shop staff was sure happy for us to leave)
-The Putnam County Fair "A Great Place to Go for Your Next Nicotine Fix"

Ryan loved the dirt track races and the spinning ride, Adelaide loved the 4h animals (we even got an up close encounter with the supreme grand champion goat) and the boat ride
-The Discovery Museum
-Shopped for school clothes from Gramaw
-Saw Space Chimps
-Had a Birthday party

-Went for a ride in PaPaws canoe

-chased a beaver down a small fresh water creek

-ate a ton of treats (direct orders from the Camp Director herself) this was mostly for the kids but we grown ups got in on the treat eating action

Morgantown-My First Home!!

After 18 days of being away I'm back on the blog scene. We've had a wonderful 21/2 weeks away playing with cousins, eating sugar for dinner and staying up way tooo late!!! We visited both sets of families and the only way to do them justice is simply to do two separate posts.
This one is dedicated to my beautiful hometown of Morgantown West Virginia- Voted by several sources as one of Americas top 5 small towns to live in. And hey who can argue with that!!! No one reading this should even try!!! I mean we're talking several sources here... This was a great week at my dads. We're started our 10 hour drive off a little later than planned but that's the way things go down when you've got kids. One of our favorite things to do is stop at the New River Gorge Bridge. This is one of the tallest bridges in the US and one of WV ever impressive tourists sites. Every year they stop traffic on the bridge so people can base jump from it. It's a pretty big deal. MTV even went there once for a show on extreme sports-top that!

It is also somewhere along this 10 hr drive that I lost my cell phone. How someone manages to lose their cell phone while sitting down in the passenger seat of a car with the doors closed and windows rolled up is beyond me. But Ryan and I searched hi and low for it and it simply was not in the car when we arrived in Morgantown. Had it when I left Atlanta-did not have when I got to Morgantown??? So I had to get a new one and start building my phonebook again. I really just need to start memorizing peoples phone #s. I felt so out of touch without it.

It was great to be in Morgantown with the Campbells. This was the first time in several years that me, Molly(big sis) and Michael(little bro who lives in Morgantown) have all been in Morgantown together. Michael's wife Priscilla is due in October with baby #2. Her little belly is pretty cute. And yes Michael, Molly is right, we can't really say that about yours....

One of the best things about this week was how well all of the kids played together. Caleb and Ryan had a blast! Imagine Spider Man and the Incredible Hulk stuck together in one big room battling it out to see who could be the loudest and strongest. All in good fun of course-and thankfully Gramps who got the brunt of all these super hero games took it in pretty good stride.

One night we drove around my old neighborhood. Ahh Dogwood Ave so many happy memories... One thing I was sad to see though wast that our favorite tree Jackie (named after the neighbors dog) had been torn down due to some construction work. The hours we logged in that tree as kids... She had some great branches-perfect for spitting the grape skins that we'd collected from our vine onto the unsuspecting heads of the boys who would pass by. Of course Molly and her best friend Melissa were president and co president of the "club" we had there and always got first dibs on the prime branches for sitting and spitting....

In a nutshell (mostly for me so I don't forget) these are the things we did

Swim at the Rec Center

Joyride on the Personal Rapid Transit (or as we townies call it The PRT)

Bowling at the Mountainlair

Salamandering at the University Forest(found 2 Redbacks)

Went to see Blackie the live Black Rat Snake at Gramps' office

Visited the Dream Trailer (if you read Melissa's Blog you know what this is)Got Milkshakes, Smiley Face Cookies and Grilled Stickies

from Eatn' Park
Saw Kung Fu Panda

Bonded with Siblings over White Chocolate Mousse

Went to the park

Enjoyed authentic pepperoni rolls

Had Fun!!!

Thanks Dad and Dara for your generosity and your hospitality!!!

In closing I would like to share the words of our precious State Song

I wish I could say this was my idea, but I found it so fitting that I had to copy from my sister's blog and put this in...

"Oh the West Virginia Hills how majestic and how grand

With their summits raised in glory like our Prince Immanuel's land

Is it any wonder than that my heart with rapture fills

As I stand once more with loved ones on these West Virginia Hills..."