Time for an update

It has been a while since I updated this family blog.  But I can't bring myself to delete it because it feels like a family journal and even though there are periods of time that are undocumented, I still want to update it once in a while.
This video is of my son, Dallan.  He wrote this song and has taught himself to play the guitar.  He began playing around the fall of 2011 and I think he has come a long way.  He enjoys writing his own songs and wants to continue to grow in his musical talent.  He is playing Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in the play "Anything Goes" and has also recently completed his third year participating in All-state for Maryland.  The week before he also did his first set at the Music Cafe in Damascus.  It was a great opportunity for him to get used to performing in public without direction.  We are so proud of the things Dallan has accomplished.  He will be 16 in another month.

Leah is in 3rd grade (9 years old) and is a fantastic writer.  She submits poems and short stories continuously to her school and has been recognized for being a Rocky Writer.  She enjoys going to activity day girls and just playing with her friends.

Ryan is doing great in Kindergarten!  He reads at a fourth grade level!  But as some of you may know, it would be hard to tell how well he reads because he is so quiet and shy.  We are working hard at getting him to speak up, but it is going to take a while.  He loves playing with his 3ds and we can use that to motivate him to do anything.

That's it for now.....it is no wonder why it has been so long since I updated.  This takes up a lot of time.  Eventually I will give updates on Bradley, Clay, and I.  Also, we got a puppy a week ago, so I need to take a couple of pictures and introduce him.  He is so cute!

Ryan's birthday

Happy Birthday to Ryan on August 2nd.  He is now 5 years old!

 Leah had a hard time with Ryan getting all the attention.

 Ryan got a nintendo DSi.  He is so happy about it.

Making a wish!

Birthdays

The pictures are all out of order, but I really don't want to bother with fixing it.  I will just caption each picture and hopefully it will make sense.

Leah turned 7 in February and I made her this shirt.  Don't ask me why she wanted a nike symbol. ha ha...it looks so silly to me, but she was proud to wear it.

Bradley is teething, but he is cute about it.

Leah got a pillow pet for her main gift.

Dallan started a cool tradition for our family.  He wrote leah a cute birthday song.  He also wrote one for his dad called, "Older than Me" to be sung to the tune and rhythm of "Cooler than Me"...it was pretty good.  Clay followed Dallan's lead and wrote Dallan a song to the tune of "Time of your Life" called "Sense to do what's right".  I hope this sticks because it is so fun and more thoughtful than most gifts.

Ever since we saw someone at Famous Dave's BBQ celebrate their birthday, Leah has wanted to go there for her birthday dinner.  So we did.  She lit up when all the workers sang to her with fireworks.  It was so nice because the workers really gave her special attention rather than the monotone forced singing that you sometimes find at restaurants.  Bradley wanted a bite in this picture.

Clay got a new phone, a car stereo, and scriptures.  SPOILED. ha-just kidding.  He completely deserves it all.  He works so hard and studies in all of his free time and he earns the right to be pampered once in a while.

Dallan's friend made the cake and Leah was feeling very affectionate. cute!

Bradley is such a joy to have in our home.  He smiles constantly and he adores his father!

Dallan used money from gift cards to get some of this.  He is such a good young man and I can't believe he is 14.  He will be going to church dances!  He brings a lot of joy to our home and I am proud of him. 

It seems like everytime I try to capture his winning smile, he freezes.  But even his curious expression is cute.

I got Clay a Carrom board.  It reminds us both of our childhood(s) and we love playing games with the kids.

Bradley is 4 months old already.  It is too hard to explain how much we all love him!

Update

It is time to update my blog.  Here are a few pictures of the kids!

This was Leah posing with a statue of a camel at the nativity at the Washington DC Temple.  We enjoyed the lights on Dec 23, 2010. 

This was Bradley at about 2 months old in a cute outfit from his Aunt Janine.  He is now 3 months old and 16 pounds already!  His is in the 99th percentile for his weight, the 88th percentile for his length and around the 60th for his head...he is a big boy!

This is Ryan (4yrs and 4 months old) on Christmas morning.  Ryan is 53 pounds!  He is heavier than his sister who will be 7 in a week.

Dallan had a solo for his winter concert!  He sang the first couple of lines on each verse for the song "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey (the Glee version much to my dismay).  He sounded awesome!  Without an autotuner I might add-suck it Gleeks.  All I have is a really embarrassing picture of a different musical number from that same concert.  He will be so upset to know that I posted this picture because he felt like a nerd.  The group sang "Under the Boardwalk" and it was pretty nerdy.  Clay and I laughed and laughed at him.  He is a good sport, though.

As for Clay and I, there isn't much to update.  Clay is on a special team at work which is really cool and that is all I can say about that.  I have been able to start playing basketball with my friends again and I love it.  Can you picture me and all of my 5 feet 2 inches? haha...it is funny to picture.  Other than that, I am just enjoying being at home with Bradley!  He is so sweet.

Bradley's blessing

Bradley was blessed on November 28, 2010 at the Mt Airy building.  He wore the same little tux that his brother's wore on their blessing day.

Ryan's blessing Sept 2006

Bradley's blessing Nov 28, 2010

Dallan's blessing April 1997

Bradley Raymond Campbell

Bradley Raymond Campbell was born on November 15, 2010 at 3:24 pm.  He weighed 9lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long at birth.  Raymond is my grandpa and father's first names.  We didn't decide on Bradley until he was already a day old.  I am not sure why we had such a hard time deciding on a name. 
He is so sweet.  He is very content and healthy.
He came into this world in a very weird way.  I was laboring at 7 cm with regular contractions on Sunday morning at 7:30 am.  By Monday at 2 am, we decided to go to the hospital.  I progressed to 8 cm by 7am, but at 2pm there was still no change.  I had planned to have him naturally.  We are not sure why he never progressed further.  Eventually it was decided that a c-section was needed.
After Bradley was delivered, a few things went wrong in the operating room.  Clay left with the baby while I was sedated, given a blood transfusion, and put on a respirator.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to be with Clay and the baby until the next afternoon because I was recovering in the ICU.  It was a scary time, but prayers were heard and after a priesthood blessing, I recovered very quickly.  The respirator came out much sooner than expected and everything got easier and easier.  I have great sympathy for women who have to recover from a c-section.  It is much harder.  Clay and I are determined to focus on the blessings and the positve aspects of having a baby this way.  It was the furthest from our plan and has humbled us.  It is a Faith building experience and we are changed for the better.  Clay and Bradley spent quality time together and Clay has learned so much about what new moms go through.  He has been wonderful throughout this ordeal.  He takes care of everything so that all I have to do is nurse the baby and heal.  I am grateful that certain people were put in my life before this experience in order to prepare me for this.  I had a wonderful relief society lesson about being grateful.  It was fresh in my mind as I was going through my trials.  I was able to think about other people's experiences and feel thankful in my trials rather than complain.  Clay gave me a blessing before we went to the hospital and I am so glad that he is worthy to do that for me.  He was inspired and we were both prepared to follow the spirit during our labor plans.  He also gave me a blessing with a ward member while I was in the ICU.  Although I didn't hear it, I knew they were there and could feel the power of the priesthood.  Through their faith and the faith of others, I know that my recovery was quicker than it would have been.  My ward members and friends immediately helped our family with meals and taking care of our kids.  I am sure that people that we don't even know prayed for us.  We felt all the love and support and know that the Lord will bless those who served us!  We got to go home earlier than expected.  Now we are home and getting into a routine.  Here are pictures of our sweet baby!

Halloween

We enjoy Halloween, but not all month long.  Usually we are too obsessed with the Postseason to notice that Halloween is coming up.  We like jumping into the festivities at the very last minute.  So on the 29th we went to a farm for Ryan's field trip.  Then we went back to the school for the costume parade and party.  The kids had such a great time.  We had to hurry and watch a couple of Halloween movies and carve pumpkins to enjoy as much of the holiday as we could.  Everyone seemed to have a good time!  Here are a few pictures:

 

This is Leah's first grade class getting ready for their party.

 

This is Ryan being silly before the parade.

 

This is Leah as a queen butterfly with her friend, Nivea as a mermaid.

 Here is Dallan as himself, a nerd.

 Ryan was done trick or treating after our little circle because he wanted to get started on eating candy right away.

 I threw this pic in here because I don't have any pregnancy shots on this blog.  Here I am about 36 1/2 weeks pregnant.

 Leah got started on her candy right away.

 I carved (and designed) the top pumpkin.  Clay did the skull and Dallan did the bottom one.  Next year we need to carve them earlier....seems like a waste to carve them and set them out for only one day.

 

This is Leah and her boyfriend Greggory.  Yes, they are a couple and it is well known around this neighborhood.  Too bad he is moving next month.

Summer Vacation

Our vacation began on August 9th.  We were waiting for a flight to California, but there wasn't enough room.  It was expected, so we were not upset.  While we waited for our next flight, we got to watch the President board his flight on Air Force One.  It was pretty cool. 

We were very fortunate to get on a flight that would take us to Alexandria Louisiana and then to El Paso Texas the next day.  We really just wanted to get as far west as we could rather than wait for a direct flight that we would probably not be able to fit on anyway.  It was such a great blessing!  We were the only other passengers besides the crew-which were all NAVY rather than Air Force.  It was so relaxed that my kids even got to fly the plane!

This is a C9 airplane and yes, that is Ryan flying the plane.  The pilot allowed my kids to control the auto pilot.  It made me pretty nervous a couple of times because they didn't always keep it steady.  The pilot had a lot of fun teaching Dallan about the air break and it made my stomach flip.  Leah would not leave the crew alone-she wrote them love notes and loved all the attention that they gave her.

After we landed in Alexandria, the crew gave us one of their hotel rooms.  They were wonderful!  After we landed in Texas the next day, we rented a car and drove to Henderson.  We arrived around 3am eastern standard time.  We had such a great week visiting family in Henderson.  We didn't get to catch up with everyone that we wanted to, but it was such an unexpected part of our trip and we did our best.  Of course, I didn't think to take pictures.  We stayed with Gregg and Shelly and really enjoyed hanging around our old town.  We are so thankful to our family for giving us a place to stay and letting us use their car!  Not to mention the fact that they fed us and took care of our kids at different times.  I don't think we saw Dallan more than a few times because he was so busy with his cousins.

The next part of our trip was a total blast and wouldn't you know it, I didn't take any pictures!!!  What is wrong with me.  My sister in law, Michelle Campbell, took plenty, so visit her blog if you want to see some. OR you can check my facebook page for some of the pictures that I was tagged in.

We bummed rides with family and went to Imperial Beach, California for a week.  Our family has been planning this trip for about 3 years and it was such a great trip.  We swam in the COLD ocean, watched dolphins, played games, ate yummy food, and just enjoyed being with each other.  It was nice to just relax with the people we love!

After we checked out of the beach house, Dave took us to our hotel.  We were allowed to check in early-thank goodness!  We decided to walk to the trolley station and visit Old Town.  We had fun shopping and eating. 

Cuties!

The next day we took a taxi to Sea World.  We loved it and especially love the fact that we got in free because of the 'Here's to the Heroes' program that allows military members and their dependants to get in free once a year.  It is a nice perk!

We got wet during this show and loved it!

Leah loves to be 'dangerous'.

After Sea World, we relaxed at our hotel and prepared for a long day of traveling.  The next day we got to the airport and were notified that our flight was canceled.  This was not a surprise at all, but still a disappointment.  Again, we were blessed with another opportunity right after we got the bad news.  There was a flight to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania which is only about 2 1/2 hours from Andrews Air Force Base.  We hopped on that flight and it was pretty comfortable.  It was a C130, so it was loud, but the seats were comfortable.  Leah hung around with the crew, and learn as much as she could about the plane.  She has developed a couple of crushes, I think.  When we got to PA, we carpooled with some retired military people and got to our final destination around 3am. 

The trip was full of fun, blessings, and great memories.