Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Ben and Sara came over and we did our annual Christmas Eve dinner, appetizers. It was very yummy. After dinner we gathered in the living room and read Christmas stories, sang Christmas songs, and read the Christmas story from the bible. Ben and Sara also provided a present for each of the kids to open which was a pair of jammies for the night. They love their new jammies. After Ben and Sara left the kids helped put together a plate of cookies for Santa, put out their stockings, and went to bed.

Gingerbread Houses

We decorated gingerbread houses again this year. Rachel, Tim, Ben, and Sara were all able to come over and join in on the fun.
Here are some pictures:

Snow

On December 1st we got our first big snowfall of the year. Joe had the day off because it was his regularly scheduled day off so he shoveled the walks and I helped some. The kids and I built snowman in the back yard. Emily's favorite thing to do is eat the snow. The snow actually stuck around for a couple of weeks before it melted.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we decorated our Christmas tree. The kids always love doing this. JJ even got into it this year. Here are pictures:

Halloween

On Saturday before Halloween we went to our ward's trunk or treat. I love trunk or treating because in half an hour they had more than enough candy. They also had fun seeing all their friends from church and what they were dressed up as. This year Emily was a witch, Madison was a ballerina, and JJ was Tigger.
Here are some pictures:

The Farmstead

Maddie is doing a co-op preschool this year. Right before Halloween we decided to go to the Farmstead with her preschool. We had a great time. The kids enjoyed picking out a pumpkin and playing with all the fun things they had there to play with.
Here are some pictures:

Mugs

One day when my parent's were showing me around Clarion, we stopped at a pottery shop. We were looking around the pottery shop at the green ware. We had gone to the back of the store and my mom showed me these mugs. They were sitting on top of each other just like this (they just didn't have any color to them). We started laughing and the shop owner asked us what was so funny. He said he had been back there several times and never saw anything funny. We then explained that my name was Elizabeth and my husband is Joe. My parents bought them for me for my birthday and we had them colored to match my kitchen. Since we have been home they have definitely gotten a lot of use for hot chocolate.

The Neratko Side of the Family

Also while in Erie, we were able to go to dinner with Joe's Dad's side of the family. I had talked to a couple of them on the phone before we met and we always exchanged Christmas cards, but it was great to see them in person and get to know them better. It was also fun to see how much Joe resembles them. He does look like his Mom's side of the family too, but he definitely got his hair color from his Dad's family. We look forward to getting to know them even better and hope that when we visit Pennsylvania again we will be able to see them all again.

The Peninsula

While we were visiting Joe's grandparents we went to the Peninsula in Erie. The kids enjoyed running around in the sand and looking at rocks. JJ was very scared of the water and would cry anytime I walked anywhere close to the water. It was a very windy day and kind of cold when we went so we didn't stay very long.

Here are some pictures:

The Petting Zoo

While we were visiting my parents we went to a petting zoo. The kids really had a good time. Their favorite thing was to feed the animals. They were able to feed goats, deer, and bears. The goats were really greedy and would follow us as much as they could and stick their heads over the fences.


The bears were behind two fences so you couldn't pet them but they had a tube that went to them that you could put the food in.

Ants

One night at my parents house Emily was running around like crazy. My dad told her she must have ants in her pants. Emily sat where she was for a second and then got up real quick and said she had to get her PJ's on. A little bit later she came and found me and said," Mom, Grandpa said I must have ants in my pants, but I don't, see" (as she proceeds to show me her pants)
I couldn't help but laugh.

Vacation

We left September 2nd to go to Pennsylvania. We made a few stops along the way. First, we stopped in Texas to attend my newest nieces baby blessing. We stayed there for a couple of days and had a great time visiting with my brother Dean and his wife Amanda. My kids loved playing with their cousins. After we left Texas we headed for North Carolina to visit my brother Mathew. We stayed there for a couple of days and enjoyed catching up with them and meeting their little daughter that was born in June. My kids also enjoyed playing with their little boy. Next we went to Clarion, PA where we stayed for three weeks with my parents with a 3-day trip in the middle to visit Joe's grandparents. We had a great time with my parents. We went to a petting zoo, corn maize, autumn leaf festival, and did lots of geo-caching. My kids had a lot of fun and loved staying with Grandma and Grandpa for so long. While we were there I was also able to drive down to Westmoreland county one day while my mom had a meeting and do some genealogy research for a friend. I was excited that I was actually able to find the person she was looking for. My mom and I also drove to Indiana County to do some genealogy for the Mefford side of the family. We were able to find some information that I think will help us in our search for the Henry family. While I was up in Erie, I was able to find about 50 obituaries for Joe's side of the family as well as some wills and marriage records. There was more information that I could have found but I didn't have enough time. I like reading the obituaries because some of them help you to get to know who the person was and makes them more than just a name on the page.
On Sept 30th Joe flew into Pittsburgh and we stayed that night at my parents house and then drove up to Erie to visit his grandparents again. Friday night we were able to go to dinner with the Neratko side of the family. It was the first time I had met his aunts and uncles on that side of the family and it was great getting to meet them. They are a lot of fun and we enjoyed our time with them. The kids loved it too, especially since they kept giving them gummy bears from the dessert cart at Golden Corral. :) The next evening Joe's aunts and uncles (and great) came to his grandparent's house for a dinner. I was able to meet some I hadn't met yet as well as some cousins. We enjoyed our time with them as well. We were also able to interview his grandma and find out some fun things that we didnt' know. We were going to interview his grandpa, but time ran out and it was time to head back to Clarion. We stayed in Clarion Saturday night and left Sunday morning for Findlay, OH to visit Joe's step-dad and Sister as well as Step-brothers and their wife and fiance. We enjoyed eating dinner with them and going to ice cream at Joe's favorite ice cream place. The next morning we had breakfast with Kurt (Joe's step-dad) and then headed on our way to St. Louis. We stayed there one night with my aunt and had lots of fun playing Settler's of Catan. We were also able to stop at a cemetery where Joe's relatives are buried and see the family burial plot. The next day we headed to Denver to visit my cousins. We didn't get there until late and left early the next morning, but we were able to visit a little. We arrived home on Wednesday, October 6th. We had a wonderful time and we are so grateful to everyone who allowed us to stay with them and also helped us make the trip. We were worried about money when we headed out, but the entire way we would receive random money and we were able to arrive home without going into debt. We could see the hand of the Lord blessing us all along the way.

JJ's Birthday

JJ's birthday was last Saturday, August 14th. We had so much fun. We went to Chuck E. Cheese's and used up the tokens we had left over from Madison's birthday. He thought it was great. Although he didn't really get the point of actually playing the games. He just liked looking at them. After Chuck E Cheese's we went back to our house for dinner. Ben, Sara, Kaiden, Grandpa, and the 5 of us were all there. We enjoyed hamburgers and corn on the cob. After dinner we sang to JJ and had birthday cake. He loved it because he loves tigger. Then after cake he opened presents. He loved all of his presents. We really love this boy and are so thankful that he was sent to our family. He makes us laugh daily with all his funny faces and mannerisms. He is so gentle and loves to give others hugs. He often will walk up to random kids and run up and give them a hug. We get so many comments from other parents in his nursery that their kids talk about him all day after nursery. He is also very stubborn and if he doesn't want to do something he won't. It's part of the reason he still doesn't say much. He is starting to sign quite a few words though because that is what he likes to do. He loves his sisters so much. They all play together really well. Of course they have their moments, but overall they play really well.

Here are pictures from the last two years:August 14, 2008

August 16, 2009

August 14, 2010

We love you JJ!

Patient Appreciation Day

Joe's orthodontist does a patient appreciation day every year at Eagle Island. We went this year and had so much fun. They had free dinner, water slides, face painting, and bounce houses, and prizes, and Gymnastics things you could do. The kids really enjoyed themselves. They all got their faces painted too.JJ was a dog. He was so proud of it and you could tell he knew what was on his face even though he never saw it.

Emily and Madison both got princess crowns. They also loved it. The paint they used was really hard to get off though. It took us a couple of days.

JJ's Stroller

JJ loves to push around the baby strollers. He rarely pushes around an actual baby though. Usually it is filled with cars and books and other manly things. (okay maybe books aren't manly) He will just walk around the house for hours with his stroller. If I need him to get out of my way(while I am making dinner) all I have to do is ask him to go find his stroller.

Marshmallow Fondant Cake

A couple of weeks ago a friend in my ward and I decided to do some MM Fondant cakes. We made the fondant ourselves and it was so easy. We had a lot of fun decorating them. She helped me decide how to do mine. I would love to do some more to get even better at it.

New Niece

I have another new niece! She was born yesterday to Dean and Amanda. She is a cutie. We are so excited to meet her in a couple of weeks.

Tonsils Update

Emily did great on Friday getting her tonsils out. They also ended up taking out her adenoid because it was too big. They said it was a good things she got her tonsils out because there was scar tissue from having so many infections (she never even said her throat hurt) and they were full of crud. Hopefully this will help with her EE too. She still isn't feeling the best and they say it will take about 2 weeks for her to feel completely better. In the meantime she is enjoying soy ice cream, popsicles, and flan along with lots of juice.

Tonsils

Emily had an ENT appointment last Wednesday to look at her tonsils. She hasn't ever had strep and only had tonsillitis once that we know, but when we went in for her GI appointment last time they were inflamed and the GI doctor said that if they are chronically inflamed it makes it hard to treat her EE. She sent us to an ENT. The ENT said that her tonsils are quite large and the veins are at the surface and red which is a sign of infection. She said that the amount of sleep Emily gets is too much for her age and that she needs to have them removed. So Emily gets to go in this Friday and have them out. She has to cut her visit with Aunt Rachel and Uncle Tim short because of it. We also will have to postpone our official family fun day for her birthday until after she has recovered. Since her birthday was on Sunday and she is gone this week we were going to celebrate on Saturday after she got home. I'll update more after the surgery is done.

Emily's 5th Birthday

Emily had her 5th birthday yesterday. I can't believe that it has already been five years. We were in Utah for our Kimball family reunion on Friday and Saturday. We stayed at my Aunt Janine's house on Saturday night so they all got to enjoy Emily's birthday celebration with us. They were really good sports too because yesterday was fast Sunday and Emily and Maddie went home with Tim and Rachel so we ate her cake there and none of the Campbell's got to enjoy it with us. They all sat there and watched us eat.

Emily got really embarrassed when we were singing to her. I kind of figured she would because my mom had left a message on our answering machine for Joe's birthday of her singing the birthday song and Maddie always asks me to play it. Every time I do Emily says the song makes her embarrased.

She requested a princess cake again in purple. So here is the finished product.

Here she is blowing out the candlesand opening her presents

She was very excited for her presents, but not so excited that they all had to come home with mom and dad and she can't play with them until Thursday. She did get to take her new booster seat with her though.
I am so happy that we have been blessed with Emily in our family. She is such a wonderful little helper. She is very inquisitive and I know that she will know lots of things when she gets older because of all the questions she asks. She has such a strong little testimony of Jesus Christ and even knows the first 5 Articles of Faith. She is also an awesome sister and makes sure that her brother and sister don't get left behind. She gets in trouble sometimes because she is trying to protect them and it isn't necessarily what she should be doing at the time. She loves books and is learning to read. She is starting Kindergarten in the fall. We love you Emily.
Here are some pictures from the last 5 years.

August 1st, 2005
We are blessed with a beautiful baby girl

August 1st, 2006
1 Year

August 1st, 2007
2 Years
August 1st, 2008
3 Years
August 1st 2009
4 Years
and August 1st 2010
5 years