little things.

i had to get a new salt and pepper shaker last week.  my salt shaker decided that it was going to dispense large piles of salt from the bottom when i least expected it.  

how cute is this new set that i found?

is it not totally random???? 

 it definitely brings back memories of alicia lawrences's roller skating party in 7th grade and eating more popcorn and candy than i though possible in a single night.  

anyway, thank you goodwill.  

more randomness.

we went to a tacky tie party in honor of our church pastor retiring.  every sunday school class is throwing him a small party to allow for more socialization and the opportunity to thank him for 22 years at the church.  our sunday school chose the theme of tacky ties from goodwill since our pastor's favorite shop is goodwill.
we embraced the theme!
i was sad that we didn't get a picture of all three of us, or of the party itself.  also, we didn't win for the tackiest tie (but i wasn't trying to win.  mildly tacky is fine by me)

i also got a new strap for my camera.

 i LOVE the pattern!
and it makes me want to use my camera even more.

i mean it is obvious that there is a lack of picture taking in my life, can't you tell :)

me and the hubs.

runnin' round

we took the dogs and cole out to brenner's property on the undeveloped side to let them all run around and burn off some energy.  cole loved to follow the dogs around barking after them.  it is REALLY funny to watch your son bark like a dog.  i am so proud of every developmental milestone he hits.

by the way, like his outfit?

taking a breather with jake.

 i'm the king of the world!!!!!

spring is in the air.

we took advantage of a beautiful day last week to go and play in our backyard.  we did not play in the backyard last summer for 2 reasons: 1) our backyard had no grass and 2) cole couldn't walk yet and crawling in the dirt made him cry.  go figure.  but brenner planted some grass and while it has not taken all over the yard, it is much better.

and of course the soccer ball is not far off.  my little man loves sports! 

 i wonder where he gets that from???

 hmmmm......we almost have a pants on the ground issue.  

(name that show!)

cole needs to do some growing.  or i need to clothe him in the proper size clothes.  

i look forward to many more afternoons like this!

happy monday.

happy monday ya'll!

little helper.

cole has been such a helper in this whole cleaning and organizing the house project!  as i was attempting to organize one of the closets in his room, the closet that i have taken over and keep all of my "there is no good place for this" stuff, cole found two loose tubes of wrapping paper.  and he had fun.  

 i almost didn't post this last photo because, let's face it, it is not very good.  however, i don't want cole to look back and ask me why i took 50 million pictures of him and not many pictures of us.  so, here you go son.  an ackward picture with your mother!  (he looks cute though!)

triceratops

cole's hair reminded me of a triceratops in the bath the other night!  

and yes, we did clean off his dirty face.

yellow rose of texas.

every spring, the yellow rose of texas blooms here in in the lonestar state.  and we happen to have some growing in our backyard and it is really pretty!  this morning i literally took time to smell the roses.  too bad these roses don't have a fragrance.  

but their appearance is a clear sign that spring is here.  as if the 83 degree high predicted for tomorrow isn't already telling me that!

apologies.

i am so sorry that i have been ignoring my blog!  these past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activities and my hope of lounging around on my spring break were squashed by recent decisions. 

we are ready for a change in the campbell house.  although now that i think about it we experience change all the time.  but this is a big change.  as some of you know, we have made two major decisions recently:

1) i am going to stay at home with the munchkin next year and not go back to work. 
2) we are going to sell our house (Lord willing) and find a smaller place. 

the above statements scare me.  and they excite me.

and as a result of these decisions, as we decided to repaint the inside of our house.  we also started to pack up a bunch of things that we don't need around and take it all to storage.  it has been a cleansing process.  i am one of those wierd people who LOVE organization.  and as much as it is stressful at times, i also love the organizational process of cleaning and purging unnecessary crap that has crept into my life and house.  i have cleaned out so much stuff!

before cole was born, we cleaned out a lot of closets and boxes and cabinets but towards the end, when i weighed 500 lbs and could hardly waddle around the house anymore, i got tired of organizing and the last things that i was supposed to clean out just got thrown into a closet.  plus we had to bring a lot of the things that were at our lake house back to waco with us when we sold it around that some time.  so my house has not been as organized as i have liked and it has bothered me every day.  i hate excess stuff! 

but now it is starting to look a lot better and i feel better.  here are a couple of things we have found:
- 2 picnic baskets given to us as wedding presents.  both have never been used.  i am sorry if you are reading this and you gave us one of the said picnic baskets.  we are keeping one and gave one to brenner's cousin who just got married.  we have also decided to have a picnic on sunday after church :)
- 11 bottles of shampoo.  i think we are set for the next 3 years.
- records that i had bought at some flea market.  real records.  elvis. the beatles. paula abdul. breakfast at tiffany's soundtrack. i have no idea what i will do with these but i feel like i should keep them.
- a lifejacket hanging behind my sweaters.  it has been missing for approximately 4-5 years.  this might be a sign that i have too many sweaters.
- a metal detector.  ??????

some of the things we have cleaned out:
- i have given away 22 pairs of shoes.  i wish that i could say that my shoe collections now looks significantly smaller but to be honest, you really can't tell that any are gone. that is sad.  pathetic.  but i suddenly feel like shoe shopping.
- 2 computers. neither have worked for over 5 years.
- TONS of cds.  about 50-60.  were any of you also victim to the cd clubs of years past?  the ones where you bought 25 cds for 1 cent?  well, i appeared to have fallen victim several times and why in my crazy, hormone-filled teenage years i  bought some of the cds that i found i will never know.  they are too embarrassing.  i cannot share what i found.  but i will say they were an embarrassment to the music industry.  one word: britney.  oh the shame.

i will keep you all posted on our house.  and any more fun things that i find. 

and what would a post be without a picture of my little guy.  here he is playing with a wrapping paper tube that i found under the sofa in his room.

family play time.

we like to play in this house.  we cherish our play time actually and we have a nightly routine of family play time (despite the fact that brenner is actually texting in the background).  

we run.

 we climb.

we lay down when we need a break.

we act silly.

 we pose for the camera.

 and then we take awkward family photos.

we have a good time.