What to do....what to do....what would YOU do?

Here is a little video of Chelsea WALKING!! Please excuse Abby whining in the background. It had been a very long day and she was DONE! This was a few days ago and now she can do about 6 steps in a row before she falls over. I have loved the baby stage and get very sad when I wash and prepare the baby things to sell but I am looking forward to having older kids too....I guess. Holidays will be more fun that's for sure, but Chelsea is a little snuggler and I will miss that.

Here's a picture of my chunky muffin.

So Steve told me the other day that his boss bid on a job out in Fort Mac (fort mcmurray). If you look on a map, this is literally the end of the world. The road ends there. You can't go any further North (on that highway anyhow). He is wondering if Steve wants to run the job. That means moving there. Today he tells me they are one step closer to getting the job so we need to seriously consider what we want to do. There are a lot of financial perks, so I either uproot the kids and go with him or stay here and only see Steve weekends and holidays. Here is my little list of pros and cons. Perhaps you could add to it.

PROS:

1. IF I move there with Steve we have no living expenses for a year plus a bonus (this means selling or renting out our house in the interim). This would eradicate our debt and leave a little to splurge on a holiday perhaps.

2. If I stay here there is still a good bonus involved but the kids get to keep their routine.

CONS:

1. If I move there with Steve I am uprooting the kids from their lives and activities. Ex: Abby would miss starting kindergarten with the kids she met in preschool (remember this is important as Abby is very shy) and Kylie would miss out on preschool all together. I would home school Hayley for the year.

2. If I stay here I am basically a single parent for a year (granted any time we are apart from Steve it means school is on and we will keep very busy anyhow) and we still have to pay our mortgage.

Hmmm....so you see the sides are pretty even. I do like the idea of being totally debt free with only our mortgage as debt.....HELP!!!!!!

Well that's really all that's new in our lives right now. Tonight the dirt guy is coming to level the area where we ripped out some tree and we are going to put wood chips down so it should be looking snazzy around the firepit area soon. I will attach some before and after pictures next blogging session.

Wish we could be in Florida with mom and dad and the other Campbells, but alas we are not so I am just soaking up these cool evening and looking forward to fall. We decided to go to Kananaskis after all so that's something else to look forward to.

Love you all!!

Jen and family

HAPPY 29TH BIRTHDAY STEVIE!!!

Yesterday was my hubby's 29th birthday. Last year in his 20s. Poor guy. He's growing old. This year is not off to the best start for him. He bought himself a really nice gift. Cost 129$. He donated 129$ to Police Services in Edmonton. When we were coming home from the Ukrainian Cultural Village on July 24th he was apparently trying to catch up to aunty and uncle. The speeding cameras on Yellowhead were working that day. Oh dear. At least it was him and not me!!! :)

Today is an incredible smoky day!! Apparently the smoke is coming from forest fires in BC. I'd hate to see the air there!!! Visibility on the highways are nil. These pictures don't do it justice. This is the lane in front of our house and the poor sun trying to get through the smoke. I don't know how exactly they measure air quality, but a really bad air day in Edmonton is 1.5 million particles of something-or-other and today it is 90 MILLION!!!! They are warning people to stay inside as our lungs have to work 100 times harder than normal to purify the air we are breathing. I'm sure the ER is SWAMPED with asthmatics today. It's a good test for Chelsea. I don't think she has respiratory problems anymore, she seems to be breathing okay. Wish you could smell it. I actually like the smell but it does give a person a bit of a sore throat.

The sun trying to shine through the smoke

Toward our mailboxes

The other direction

Other than that we have been just plugging away at life. We aren't sure if we are going to get to go to Kananaskis this year and I will literally die inside if we don't. September is a HORRIBLY expensive month now with school expenses, preschool, swimming lessons and piano lessons. That and not knowing if Steve gets a bonus and not wanting to actually spend it before it's in the bank if he does, is creating a stay-at-home year:( Makes me very sad. There is something harsh about being housebound but even worse is a year of being city bound. Oh well.....such is life.

Here are a few pictures of our goings on. Chelsea is trying so hard to be walking but is lacking confidence. She STILL will not let anyone hold her but mom and dad and it is REALLY getting old. Someone told me in the store the other day that their granddaughter went through that until she was 3!!!!! I'm not sure what to do. I can't just hire a babysitter and leave her cuz that costs money, so that option is out. She's so good when we're home but when there are other people around she's a mess. Makes me sad. Wish the last one had been an easy one. Oh well.

Watching her sisters play outside

She can stand up all by herself in the middle of the floor now

Not confident enough to let go even though she knows she can do it.

The 3 stooges.

I see why people think they're twins now!

How many days until school starts??

Hayley has been asking me this every day for a month and now I am starting to ask too!! We went to Costco today in the 28 degree heat with no air conditioning in the van and the kids did so good (with the exception of everyone having to pee 3 seconds after I had started shopping) and then we went to superstore to get what we couldn't get at costco and they were WIRED!!! YIKES!! And of course had to pee 3 seconds after I started shopping. It was a long day for everyone. I think 3 is easy to shop with. 4 is not. So I guess my summer shopping will have to be done in the evening when Steve is home.

Chelsea has developed an ear shattering scream when things don't go her way, and so when Kylie took a bite of her cookie in the grocery store, I thought all the pickles would splatter all over the floor after the glass was done shattering. Time for spankings. She DEFINATELY knows what is acceptable and what is not if she's asserting herself now.

Another brief complaint. I got asked 9 times if all the girls were mine (no I jsut take random people's kids grocery shopping!) and then someone said (or two or 3 people said) "Oh 3 girls and a boy?" and I ever so patiently grit my teeth and say "Nope. 4 girls." Well this one lady says "Even this one?" pointing to KYLIE who was wearing a green, blue, and PINK DRESS!!!! " No you dumb lady. I just dress my boy up like a girl. And don't get me started on the number of people who, once they know I have 4 girls, say "oh you poor lady." WHAT??!?!! Next time I am going to ask what they have for kids and then express my sympathy to THEM and see how they react. One lady said she had 3 girls but then finally got her boy. I should have said "Oh that's too bad. Couldn't keep a good thing going huh?" (Nothing against boys I would be just as frustrated if I had 4 boys and people made dumb comments!)

Okay so there is my rant. I also got thinking in the store that I wished I had perfectly well behaved kids who walked slowly and calmly and always listened but I quickly squashed that thought. I've known some perfect children and they are never happy. It's like they don't even know how to be a child and they're socially completely lost because they've been taught to act like an adult from birth. At least when my kids are giggly and hyper and running around I can rest assured that they are enjoying their childhood. There is a difference between good behavior and perfectly behaved. I ache for the perfectly behaved children of the world and am thankful for (mostly) well behaved.

Time to get supper on. A beautifully seasoned pork loin, corn on the cob and....something else but don't know what. Maybe broccoli. Another very hot day today. Hoping for a cooling thunderstorm tonight.

Love you all who take time to listen to me complain!! :)

The luckiest wife/mom in the world.

Today's lesson....don't run with objects in your mouth

We have very dangerous blinds downstairs. Kylie likes to wrap things around her neck. One time after going out for supper and getting a balloon, we hear a gagging sound on the way home.... Needless to say it's a good thing I have a "mother's purse" as I had to whip out my scissors and Steve had to cut the string off from around Kylie's neck. So you can imagin how it is with all the blinds in our house. We have to tightly wrap the cord up and away because Kylie likes to wrap them around her neck. Never thought I'd have to worry about the 6 year old!! She didn't wrap the cord around her neck, she took the stick off that twists the blinds open and closed and had it in her mouth and tripped....the end result was a round bleeding hole in her soft palate!!! Silly kid. She screamed and I thought she would be on fluids forever but seems to be a little better today. The picture doesn't show just how nasty it was as it had stopped bleeding. Sigh....

We had a good time at the splash park the other day. The water is FREEZING and I don't know how the kids stand it. Abby, the princess of the family, doesn't stand it. She just sun tans.

This is what Chelsea did the whole time.

Kylie has always loved the water
She thought this might be a great place to sit and pee.

Abby doing what she does best:)

Not sure what just happened here.

Having a reverse shower

3 of our 4 muffins.

So the time has come for Steve and I to take a holiday alone. Chelsea is not the world's most content baby. Others have even noticed. She cries ALOT! Someone said to me the other day "I don't know how you do it." and frankly, I never ever understood why anyone would want to take a holiday without their kids. Well...I have reached that point. some times after a rough day I just want to sit down and throw a temper tantrum myself. I think if I could even have a few days alone with Steve that I would come back a much better mother. So mommy and daddy have kindly offered to watch our kids while we do a 30th birthday/10 year anniversary thing next year. The choice now is to find a hotel in Florida or splurge and go to St. Lucia. Hmmmm.....tough decision. Just hope it happens soon before I completely lose my ability to function.

Well here's to a wonderful week. Love you all

The Little Campbell's

For a dose of humility....have children!!

This is how we are all feeling....









Well so much to say....how to keep it short. We'll start in the middle of last week. We had a wonderful short time with Lorne and Michelle Gale and their 3 cuties, and the day after they headed for home, great-grandma Krapu, aunty De and uncle Michael arrived. Or as Abby would call him..."great-grandpa!" we're not sure where that came from but it sure was funny. The day they arrived we grabbed a fast bite of lunch and headed out to The Ukrainian Cultural Village. I had never been there, and thought they might enjoy it (and I think they really did so that was good). Aunty even got to speak Ukrainian with a few people there. As we were packing to leave, I thought to myself. BUMMER!!!! I am getting a migraine. My symptoms are always the same: A black spot whereever I try to focus and random flashing lights. So I quickly downed 2 extra strength Tylenol and a can of coke. My usual remedy. Didn't work. While the others toured the Village I sat in the van with my eyes closed or leaning out of the van heaving and losing lunch all over the parking lot. Felt better by supper time and M&D treated us all to a yummy supper.

Monday was more bonding time and supper and G&J's. Tuesday we went
out for supper thanks to gramma and had another yummy meal. (We ate lots. Can ya tell?). My kids were HORRIBLE!!! Okay maybe not so bad, but with all the company and the late nights and hot weather and blah blah blah excuse excuse, they had absolutely had it. They could NOT sit still at the restaurant, Chelsea cried the whole time, and I was utterly embaressed.


The next morning I woke up to a very strong smell of something that had to have been somehow excreted from someone's body after first sitting in their acidic insides. Walked into the girls room and there is at least half a pail of puke all over the lower bunk and the floor and the books and everywhere. It was right where Abby had gone to sleep. So I throw Abby in the tub, all the while she is insisting that SHE DIDN'T PUKE LAST NIGHT. Well when Hayley gets up I noticed puke on her face. I asked why she didn't wake me up. She said " I just moved up to the top bunk." GROSSS!!! But thanks Hayley for letting mom sleep. I figure it's from an overabundance of JUNK! So we are veggying it for several days now. She had a birthday party on Tuesday and had chicken and fries and pizza and homemade icecream and cake. Then we picked her up and went out for supper. I think I'd vomit if I ate all that too!!!


Today we went to the grocery store. I was standing beside some man looking at shampoo and Hayley yells out " HEY MOM ARE YOU STILL BLEEDING?? DO YOU NEED SOME TAMPONS??" No Hayley. Thank you very much though.

Then we got outside and Abby lifted her new backpack out of the cart and somehow the cart tipped over on it's side (thankgoodness no one was in it) and the milk exploded EVERYWHERE. Well it is so INCREDIBLY hot and humid here that I just wanted to get home so we didn't go replace the milk. We have no air conditioning in the van so that makes it worse. When we got home Steve says "What did you do to the van????" Apparently the cart left a massive dent in the front. EEKS!! It has now been decided that when I get my diesel F350 that we'll just have to keep the van as a second vehicle because I've trashed it so much we'll never get anything for it! OOPS!

Lets see....what else....oh apparently my daughter's speech AND language is in the normal range!! The reason she is hard to understand sometimes is that she is missing her "s" and "sh" sounds. 2 of the most common used sounds in the Engligh language. Try it. If Kylie were to say "She sat on my skirt" You would hear "Dee tat on my Dirt." But she is anxious to learn her s so we are going to work hard on that this year and she'll be reassessed in 4 months if I don't see too big of an improvement. If her ears get cleared out then I expect we'll see a HUGE jump in her speech.

Here's my baby. She is having such a rough time without her 2 big naps a day. We are now going to work on getting back into a routine. She is getting up on her hands and feet and ALMOST stands up without holding on to anything. I think in a month or so she should be able to do it. I pulled out more clothes for her today and got all nostalgic and sad that this is the last time some of this stuff will get worn. I see why people say the last is spoiled. I love every moment of Chelsea's babyhood. It helps that she loves to burrow her head in and snuggle me.

Abby got a backpack today that is almost as big as her!! I refuse to buy a new one every year so this one will have to try and last until grade 2. Hayley's has lasted that long so hope this one will too. She is sooooo excited. I am excited for her....and a little sad. In a few short years I'll be all alone :(

Well...as time marches onward I am marching to bed. Tomorrow if it is this hot we are going to the splashpark. Come join us. It's free!! Except the cost of after swimming slurpees.

Oh and Steve is almost done at Camrose. His next project is building a house for an architect so you can imagin what the house is like. Very unique. It will be the first house in Edmonton to be run completely on solar power. I can't wait for him to be done out in Camrose.

Love you all

Jen

Sights of Summer.....the rare warm days

We had a really great time out at the Lindquist/Howden resort on Saturday so thought I would share some pictures with you. Unfortunately, today everyone is in really really bad moods, including half the adults in the house, so maybe we should've packed it in a little earlier last night. The problem is, when you have a warm day you make the most of it, and it was still warm and bright daylight at 9:00 pm!!

This is me about to go water skiing for the first time in 12 years!!! 12 years ago I tore my hamstring trying to drop a ski and was too afraid to try again. I now realize I am too old. I got up on about the 5th try, however, afraid of falling, when I felt myself about to lose control I would wipe out and land on my bum. Imagin getting a very aggressive enema. After about the third fall, having to lay in the lake unmoving for about 5 minutes moaning over what felt like a busted tailbone, I decided tubing was more my speed.

This is Steve. After about 45 attempts to get up on 1 ski he decided to get up with 2 and drop 1. He got up the first try that way. This is only the 2nd time in his life he's been behind a boat so that was pretty impressive. I am working very hard to convince him that a boat would be a wise investment as far as keeping the kids entertained in the summer.

Here are the first 45 attempts.

This is Steve wakeskating. It is like a really big skateboard. No binding for your feet.



This was how grandma got down to the beach. She was like an excited little girl. It was so cute. I think it brought back lots of memories of our summers at the lake. We loved those days.

Grandpa's brother Jim came out to spend some time too. Was very nice seeing him again. Can't half tell he's grandpa's brother eh?

This was more Kylie's speed. She loved the Kayak with aunty Carrie.





Hayley spotting for her dad.

And some more helpers. On the back there is Carter Lindquist. The twinkle in Hayley's eye for the last year and a half. The sun apparently rises and sets on Carter. The other day we had wish and I asked if she wanted Tartar sauce with it. She said "Carter sauce? Heehee. Giggle." Goodness. We have warned her to be nice. That is the boss's son.

Playing in the sand is always good fun too.

This is Hayley and Rebecca behind the tube. Hayley LOVED tubing. Karson Saville, one of the young kids here (must be about 19 or so) took the kids on many many rides.

Me and Carrie. I think this was Carrie's first time in the tube?? She's not a big fan of the water but I think she actually enjoyed it? Personally I like the tubes you lay on your tummy on and have to hold on for dear life but this was nice too.

Abby's best friend and second cousin Ashley.


Cousin Dan Howden tore his ACL and MCL the day before so no more water skiing for him this year. Now he gets to just drive everyone else around. Bummer for him!!!


Abby in the lake. She was brave and went tubing too! LOVED it!!!




Time to put cranky kid #5 to bed. Later....

Rain rain go away, come again another day.

Buckley just wanted his picture taken. He stuck his nose up to the camera and said cheese so I told him I'd post it just for him.

We complain if it is too hot and we complain if it is too cold, but come on. Enough is enough. It even SNOWED on Tuesday in Jasper. I understand that's the mountains, but even the moutains are supposed to be warm and beautiful in JULY!!! Goodness sakes.

This morning we woke up to lightening and thunder pretty much right in the back yard. The floor of the house was shaking. Steve had gone to work already, and needless to say I ended up with 4 little girls in my bed.

So I had fun practicing taking the girls yearly photos a few days ago. Abby was at a friend's house so she missed out. Aunty Jessica is going to take better ones at an old barn near here when it stops raining!!! So hopefully I'll have some "professionals" taken by my multi-talented sister soon.

We got ANOTHER new kitten the other day. I think this is cat #10??? Anyhow, hopefully this is a good cat that sticks around. Charlie has already claimed it as his baby, licking it clean and attacking Buckley if he gets to rough with him. I want to name him Roiboos (little Roy) after my favorite tea, but I think I have been vetoed. Any good boy cat names out there? The kids love him. Kylie especially!! Kylie loves anything with a heartbeat though so that's a given.

Check out this jar of pickles. It is a 2L jar that was jammed FULL of pickles on Saturday. Now, almost a week later, it is nearly empty. The kids LOVE pickle and cheese sandwhiches, and Hayley likes to just munch on them for snack. Healthy, albeit probably a major salt overload!!!

I had a job interview the other day. Sounded promising, although you have to promise them 200 minutes of dictation a week. The issue is that 10 minutes dictation can take me 2 hours. If you do the math, that means 40 hours a week. She thought I could do it in 25 hours a week, but I'm a little nervous. Anyhow, they aren't sure how much they like my internet connection, but it's the best we can get out here. It's fast, but because it's wireless, they are afraid I will have lots of down time. I tried to convince them it would be fine. Then I got another email that I had passed a pre-employment test with another company and they want my resume, so I think that would be the better job. We'll see. Just patiently waiting to hear from someone. The first job.....better money. The second job....likely more flexible (which is more important to me right now).

Well that's all folks....my life in a nutshell. Or the nut house since we haven't been out of the house for nearly a week thanks to the rain!!! Oh well....I guess we went out yesterday. I got ALL of Hayley's school supplies and didn't have to fight the crowds. Ahhhh.....it's wonderfully stress-free being organized. We are very excited to see Lorne and Michelle Gale and their 3 little ones this week, and very excited to see great grandma, Aunty D and Uncle M the week after!! Busy but wonderful days ahead.

Hugs and kisses,

Jen

CONVENTION

Getting ready for a family picture, and the best result. Unfortunately Kylie has many faces, and she tried them out in every picture.

The better ones are these ones that don't have Steve and I in them.

So we are home from another wonderful convention. Mellowdale, also known as wallowdale for it's history of being rainy and muddy was acutally perfect weather wise. The first night was very cold so I ended up putting socks on Chelsea's hands to keep them from freezing completely, but then after that all was good. If it rained it was typically during meeting or at night so no big deal.

As far as children go, they were very well behaved. Chelsea would have slept for both morning and afternoon meetings, only we sat in kid alley which makes it a little noisy at times. So it was a challenge and we were out lots with her. I didn't get much out of convention this year but I did spend a lot of it thanking God for little girls and a husband who plays a large role in this children's discipline. I got more out of the last meeting than the entire thing because all the little ones in the meeting seemed to be sleeping and therefore Chelsea slept the whole meeting.

Hayley was a water pourer this year and loved it. She took her job very seriously and there were no wet shirts ;) Her highlight came on Sunday when she got to serve her boyfriend and his best friend says "oh thank-you sweetie." Hahahahaha. They're 8 or 9 years old I think. Hayley blushed. She is in love with Steve's boss's son.

Hayley fell off the bed on Friday playing with some friends and smacked her head. Then she got an instant headache that turned into a fever so she spent the weekend feeling pretty sick. She put herself to bed on Saturday night and then slept through the first meeting Sunday. I was glad I remembered to bring Advil with me. Today the fever is gone but her brains still hurt.

Abby was funny. We heard about the need for rest and how research has proven that without sleep we would die. So that night I told the kids it was time for bed and Abby says " If we don't sleep we'll die right?" Then this morning Abby said grace for breakfast and she prayed that everyone would say yes to God. It blew me away because that was the theme of the Saturday night meeting that they tested along with hymn 87. I guess she does listen.

There were about 4?? That professed on Saturday night and then they tested it again on Sunday (I assume for those who asked since they've stopped doing it on Sundays) and another 3 or 4 professed. 3 of those are in our field and 2 in our meeting. As Steve says we are now the only ones with unprofessing kids in our Wednesday night meeting (plus Ashley) which is pretty nice since we have so many kids in our meeting.

Oh the other interesting thing they did was they left one testimony time open only to those under 33 who hadn't given their testimony yet to give their purpose. They got through 152 in half an hour!!! I bet the convention was 90% young people. It was great!!! Then they left it open to those over 70. Not so many but still wonderful.

They were expecting about 500 people this year. There were 850 and then between 900 and 1000 on the weekend!!!!!! They ran out of rice on Thursday so we had lots of potatos instead. No one went hungry but I believe there were several grocery runs. There are rumors that Greenshields may be phased out (it is old and there are unprofessing people iving on parts of the property I believe) in which case perhaps there will be a mellowdale 1 and 2??

I will post some thoughts from convention later today. Need to look after these little ones first. It's nap/snack time.

Love Jen and family