Not quite Linus....

Ok, so it's not quite Charlie Brown and Linus but it holds it's own significance.
(and halfway through Rosie is saying 'Stig Stig Chocolate" :)
HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

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It's Beginning to Look A Lot like Christmas

I don't think there is anything like a school Christmas concert to get you feeling like Christmas is really just around the corner. And for the first time, I wasn't at one as a teacher, but as a parent. And I couldn't have been prouder of William, and neither could Scott, Oma or Gramps (and Bingo, who also had to come to watch). But actually, it was Rosie who saw William first and screamed out "HI WOWO!!" when the curtain parted. She also loved "WoWo's At! (hat)" What a critic!

So here's the video of one of his two songs, entitled the Reindeer Hokey Pokey. In case you can't see him, he is the third from the right hand side, wearing a blue and white sweater. And the person you hear over the kid's singing, kind of a muffled pathetic laughing and crying, that would be me :)

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Us and our pretty Tree!

Rewind

A quick trip back to the weekend when we got our tree! <><

one december day

Just playing with some toys from Sinterklaas and stealing some ornaments off our tree. <><

Just because...

I missed a day, here's a special holiday treat!

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#2 (or 3) Advent Calenders and Colouring Contests

A half a day at the dentist (and then another half with a very frozen mouth), put Mommy a day (and maybe even a half) behind.

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#1 - We have Snow!!

Hibernation, Bed Posts and Haircuts

Our weekend began with a new tradition of watching Christmas videos on Friday nights, with popcorn. Looks like Daddy just couldn't handle all that Kipper Winter fun!



Next was a new big girl bed for Rosie, made my Gramps and the beautiful quilt by Oma. Thank you! Rosie only took about an hour to go to sleep that first night in her new bed. Once I came upstairs to find the light showing beneath her door, and when I opened the door, I found Rosie, stripped down except for her pajama top, dancing on top of her toybox. The second night went more smoothly. And total numbers of times she has fallen out of bed so far - three. Oops!


And to end our weekend, we decided to give Rosie a hair cut. We were lucky that she kept her curls, even though the scissors took off a little more than we'd expected. Ah, that kid could pull anything off, just look at her! :)

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These Socks were made for Dancing!

Our family, much like other families, is always losing our socks. Yesterday we had a goal of buying socks for the kids and not only socks, we got ourselves some dancing socks! Have a look!

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Things we Love

What's making these kids so happy! Let's see.

William is doing so amazing with his reading.
Rosie is starting to sing and dance to any music she hears (she LOVES the newest U2 cd!).
There was a new Charlie and Lola book in the library this week.
William LOVES the new playmobil catalogue - especially the construction sets! "They make me have to pee!!" (I kid you not, during dinner last night, with catalogue laid out beside him, drooling over the diggers and things, he jumped up and yelled this as he raced to the bathroom!!)
They consume lots and lots of yogurt with blueberries.
William loves telling me what words to use in my writing - "to, it, at, the, and..." (he shoots them out at me like rapid fire!)
They love wrestling together right now. Then they fall, sit facing each other while bawling. They eventually stop, and then continue to wrestle.
It took Rosie maybe five minutes to learn who Santa was - ho ho ho! She says 'oh oh oh'.
For Rosie, POOL POOL POOL!! She loves her swimming lessons.
She also won't take off hew new jewellery from Uncle Chad and Aunt Sue.
William likes calamari and shrimp.
And perhaps the number one favourite thing for our kids right now - CHOC CHOC NONUTS!!
(That's chocolate doughnuts, Rosie-style!!)

And maybe, just maybe, they know that December is about to begin!!

And what am I loving so much right now - please see above. Scott can say and do some pretty darn cute things too :) hee hee

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Hap Bubu!

A few weeks ago, Rosie turned 2!! I know, I shudder at how long it's taken me to get this blog up but at least it's here now. Let's make it a doozy!!


Birthdays seem to last for days around here, and then merge into others. It was for Scott's birthday the next week (happy birthday!!) that Rosie learned to sing, and never stop late into the night from her crib, Hap Bubu Daddy! Thanks to everyone for presents, cupcakes and general fun-ness!
I can't believe she two!

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She's Here!

Today I was so happy to meet my brand new niece, Brooklyn Grace Vasey. Emily and baby did amazing in delivery and you could hardly tell, seeing her and Chris today, that they hadn't slept in over twenty four hours. Hardly at all, honest :)

Brooklyn was born November 2 at 9:58pm and the entire family, perhaps especially her big brother Peyton, couldn't be happier to finally get to cuddle with her.

At the hospital today, besides getting my share of cuddles, I got to witness Brooklyn's first bath which disturbed her beauty sleep and let me hear those long ago beautiful new-baby cries. Made me wonder how in the world my own baby girl is already turning two this week.

Happy day Brooklyn!! xoxo

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The Big Night

After a VERY long day of standing in line, outside, for the best of six hours to get our flu shots, we hurried home to get ready for Halloween. The pictures speak for themselves, it was a great night. Perhaps the only mishap was us not thinking ahead to the fact that wearing a box (ie a Lego costume) would make it very difficult for a certain William to climb any steps! We had to lift him up all stairs!! I'd say it was worth it though!
And for a little side note, Emily is in the hospital right now having her baby!! Yay!!
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The Best of Days

Today was such a perfect day to be outside and pretend to be healthy! Not even much pretending had to be done actually, everyone here is doing much better, sleeping soundly. So we took time today to do many things.........

...like sitting in a new (to us, and free!) wagon and opening a newly found bottle of bubble juice....

...taking pictures of Mommy...

...wondering what made the sky look this way today - William's thought, "God must have just driven a car across the sky".....

...spending more time in the new wagon and eating popcorn...

...going down our slide and landing in a big piles of leaves!!.....

...and of course, more bubbles and just general sunshine enjoyment.

The day ended with the kids enjoying this internet clip - http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf - thanks Aunt Paula! (while finishing up the last of the day's popcorn).

The best of days are always made of things that make us the happiest.

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Fall Behind

Everything seems to be falling behind these days, housework, homework (Scott's), housework, (did I say that already?) and most importantly perhaps, sleep! Scott and the kids just can't shake these colds while Sarah is hanging in there, not sick yet! Heavy doses of Bob the Builder and Halloween candy may be doing the trick for her, we'll wait and see. In the meantime, even the sickest of Campbells were not able to resist the sunshine and get outside today. And as for our little barefoot contessa seen above, she simple refused to keep her socks and boots on, abandoning them in the driveway. And after the week she's had, we'll admit we didn't stand in her way of having a little fun.

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Thanks for the Memories

So I could tell you all about the great weekend away Scott and I had. We got to go away to Pittsburgh for a conference while Oma and Gramps watched the kids. I could tell you about all of the amazing adventures the kids had while we were away, like Herrles, the Children's Museum, parks, restaurants, you name it. Thank you so much Oma and Gramps!! I could tell you about how rested I got to feel away for a few days and about the night out Scott and I had in Pittsburgh and the pizza we got late one night that was oh, so great! But, why not just show you the aftermath instead....two sick kids and one sick Daddy. Oh dear. And if you're feeling a little deja vu, this may be why :) http://www.3pinkfish.com/2009/02/were-here.html
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Happy Turkey Day!

William has learned many things in his first few weeks of school. He has learns songs, how to spell the word R-E-D, how amazing beanbags in gym class can be, that Bob the Builder toys are fun anywhere, that he loves the cut-and-paste table, and he has met lots of new friends, including twin girls who he adores. But today beat all! He came home singing the best Thanksgiving day song ever and we wanted to share it with you!
(note - the stuffy nose and cold can be attributed for William's holiday mix-up and overall wonkiness :)
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Personality Plus

So Rosie has finally begun to master some words. In fact, she has a sentence she likes to repeat... over and over and over. You may be surprised, it is very out of character for her. Get ready for it -- "I do it Mama' - but it sounds like "I dod it mama". Imagine! This picture shows Rosie after getting into some bottles of paint that she found while Mommy was getting ready for dinner. Yup, she did it alright!

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This week we became the happy owners of a swing set! Rosie is such a big girl and loves swinging on a big girl swing, never going high or fast enough. William loved putting it together with Daddy, Gramps and Uncle Neil by using chalk to mark the pieces with the letters A-Z. While the boys worked, Oma was taken over by her inner child making the kids' day that much more amazing!





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Fall Firsts

We've been pretty busy these days. Fall has keep use going, no runny noses or rain will slow us down! We've had visits from Aunt Bonnie (who helped Sarah manage the reins during Scott's trip away to Quebec, thank you!), made our last trips to Herrles, a trip to an apple fesitival (including bouncing castles and slides!), we've started swimming lessons, continued loving school and yes, very much enjoyed our cozy fireplace. Not bad for the first few weeks :) Now what?? Stay tuned.......

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Recipe

William says that apple juice is....

"water and plunged up apples"

yum! :)

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and as for Rosie......

What's she up to now that her big brother is gone in the mornings?



She's keeping busy.

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Beginnings

Last week was the beginning of school for our William. He was excited and very brave. His only complaint the first day was that he had to wait until Friday before going back. But this week is his first full week, five mornings, and it started out with Gym class (where he claimed he sat on his bum and spun in circles while the other kids ran around), playing marbles with new friends, books about pumpkins and the sand table! He's hoping for his first library trip today. I hope it stays this perfect for a long time.

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"Daddy..."

William (in bed, lights out): Daddy!

Daddy: Yes William, go to sleep.

William: Daddy... when, uh, when, uh... Daddy, how old are you?

Daddy: I'm thirty-four.

William: No, Mommy said you were thirty-three.

Daddy: Right.

William: Daddy, when I'm thirty-three...

Daddy: Yes?

William: When I'm thirty-three can I borrow your underwear?

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Breaking News!

According to Colonel "Coke" Kaiser, of the Haverhill U.K. Water Rocket Squadron, our Waterloo rocketry efforts have been recognized internationally! The following commendation arrived this morning via e-pigeon post. Click to enlarge.

3, 2, 1...

The second flight test of Campbell Water Rocket Mk I took place today at approximately 2pm EST. Yesterday saw several test runs in the evening, which were highly exciting, but perhaps a bit scary to Rose. No-no!



Here you can see a typical flight. Up into the wind, twisting in the air, and dropping somewhere nearby. So long as "nearby" equals "on the roof", "in the neighbour's pool", "on the garage roof", "in the driveway", and so on.

Flight Lieutenant William was ever ready with the water. We christened the above bottle "Flaming Orange". It was selected for flight operations when the clear bottle without a label (or a name) proved difficult to see in the overcast skies. Until the tell-tale "bonk" signaled its return to earth.





The above video captures another typical flight pattern. Listen carefully for "Oh shoot" as the Flight Officer Sarah detected the bottle dropping into the flower bed. Flight Lieutenant William managed a safe retrieval.



Flight Captain "Daddy" Scott in a "rare" moment of glee before flight operations. This may have been the unexpected "oops" launch, although records from that period were mysteriously damp and illegible.



Apparently, the flight tests were disturbing the local wildlife. Or maybe the blueberry pancakes.

Later flights in the day were canceled due to high winds. Tomorrow we will be testing a new, experimental launch control device that we hope will be more reliable. Unfortunately Flight Captain Scott was drenched in a lights out late night test which just concluded. Unfortunately, "Flaming Orange" met its demise in the course of action.

Stay tuned for updates.

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More Fun

This is my last post on Toronto, I promise. But there were just a few too many cute pictures to pass up. This one above, shows the reason we went to the ROM - the dinos!


Sir William....


and Lady Rose.

I'm sure Rosie is thinking - "Come on, he's gotta know these aren't real fossils. Can't we go have another juice box or something."

The man you can see at the right side of this picture was an older volunteer at the ROM. He was telling William about mummies. A lot about mummies, as is obvious by William's reaction to the one standing in front of him. The car road home that night held some interesting conversations.


Finally, more juice!


Back at home, Banker Boy hit the books.



Another day, another sword fight.


Running free.


Twirly whirly. Summer days.

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