Good Bye, 2009...

...Don't let the door hit you on the way out!!!

(Good bye, 2009. You had a few good moments, but you really sucked for the most part. Now go away. 2010, you had better be an improvement!)

My Girl Is ALL Girl

We had a bit of a snow storm this afternoon. Of course it hit AFTER I dropped the kids off with my folks and came home. About 8pm, I got a call from Cullen. He was still at Nanny & Pops' house. It seems that they were headed back here (a whole 12 minute drive through the country) when they found blizzard conditions. My dad slid through the first intersection for the turn-off toward our house and tried for the second one. That didn't go so well either. He ended up skidding across the road and came to rest almost in the Air Force Base's landing field. Oooops!!!! No one was hurt, bad words were said, and new panties were needed for some in the car. At this point, my folks turned the Jeep around and took the kids back home with them.

When I talked to my mom, she said that she had told Kieren she needed to spend the night there. What was Kieren's first concern? She wanted to make sure Nanny had clean panties for her to wear tomorrow! Then Kieren stopped and quickly asked if she had another pair of shoes too. Because you know the Empress just can't wear the same shoes 2 days in a row!!!!! She is such a girl!!!

This Kid Makes Me Laugh!

(Don't miss the previous post.)

The other day Kieren walks into the room, stops and looks at me. She rests her pointer finger on her lower lip and seems to be considering something. Then she says, "Do I know you?" shrugs and walks out of the room! OMG! I really don't know where she got that one!!!!

I Laughed Until I Cried!

Every Christmas Eve, we meet my folks at the 7pm Candlelight Service then go back to their house for lots of yummy finger foods and one gift for each child to open early. Same thing happens every year (except for the one when we got all that snow). The kids enjoy the shorter-than-normal service and think lighting the candles is cool. So, this year was no different. We beat the 'rents to the church, as usual. We found 6 chairs together and sat down. No problem. Then Nanny and Pops arrived...

For once, Kieren decided she wanted Pops and ONLY Pops to love on her. She sat between Nanny and Pops, but put as much space as possible between herself and Nanny. When she snubbed my mom, I had something to say to Kieren about her rudeness.

All was well, until we got closer to lighting the candles. I leaned over and whispered to my mom to see if she thought my dad was going to be able to handle a four-year-old with a candle, while juggling his own. She weakly answered "sure". Hmmm...not a real confidence builder. So my mom leaned over and reminded my dad that he had to make sure Kieren's long hair didn't get too close to the flames. He got ticked at my mom of course! So I reminded him that I asked her to say something because I am "the mom". That earned me an eye-roll, but he got the point.

So the church is completely silent and everyone passes the flame. As we start singing "Silent Night" in the very dark service, I keep watching Kieren out of the corner of my eye. My dad was doing really well, UNTIL Kieren decided to hold the burning candle behind my dad's back. He quickly moves, but Kieren is quicker. Now she is holding the flame in front of his crotch!!! At this point I'm trying not to snort or giggle too loud. Pops moves Kieren's hand, but now she is holding the candle up to his mustache!!! OMG!!!! I can feel the tears start to form as I try so hard not to bust out laughing! As Pops tries to avoid the flame, Kieren goes back to holding it at his crotch again!!! THEN I start laughing because ALL I can think of is "roast weenies and toasted buns, anyone?"!!!! O.M.G. When the song finally ended, I had tears running down my face and couldn't stop giggling. I bet my dad thinks that was THE longest song he has ever heard!!!!!!

Kieren & Cullen - Christmas 2009

Cullen & Kieren - Christmas 2009

Telling Santa I Want...

... An Ipod docking station.

Telling Santa I Want...

... An art easel!

A Special Visitor At Aunt Heather's House

On Friday night, we had a Christmas get-together with some of our friends at Aunt Heather's house. We had a blast!!! The highlight of the evening, of course, was a visit from a Special Guest!

Kieren and Ian know who's at the door!
(Check out the freaked-out look on Ian's face!!! LOL!!!)

That's right - it's Santa!!!

And what a jolly old elf he was!

Group shot.

Kieren, Ian and Danielle were so happy to see Santa!

Ian got to be first on Sant's lap.

Then it was the adorable Danielle's turn!

Kieren got some Santa-time too!


And even Cullen had a chance to squash Santa before the night was over!!!

(We have photos of Cullen on this same Santa's lap starting at age 2 or 3.)

It was a great evening!!!! (Sorry you missed the fun, Katie!) Kieren and I spent the night. Ian and Kieren didn't get to bed until 11pm and didn't go to sleep until 11:30!!! It was really hard to get up early the next morning for playgroup, but it was so worth it.

Thanks for the great time, Aunt Heather!!!!

Making Salt-Dough Ornaments

Kieren didn't have school last Thursday, so we decided to make Salt-Dough Ornaments. Kieren also decreed it to be Jammies Day. We didn't shower or get dressed until 4:30pm!

Kieren helped make the dough and kneaded it too. She is very good at rolling her own dough and cutting out her own designs. She and her brother will be able to hold their own in the kitchen one day!

She looks so proud of herself!

Kieren's ornaments (before baking). She did a really good job and had a great time! All of the ornaments have been baked. We are going to paint them next week. THEN I will post photos!

A Bitter-Sweet Day

Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day. While we celebrated 4 years with Kieren (see previous post), we watched Heather grieve for Mark. It would have been Mark's 44th birthday. It breaks our hearts. We just feel so helpless...

Four Years Ago Today...

Dear Kieren,

Four years ago today, your Daddy, Cullen, Aunt Heather and I got on a bus at The White Swan in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China and went on a crazy bus ride through the crowded streets of an unfamiliar country. We didn't speak the language. We didn't know exactly where we were going, but we knew you would be at the end of that drive.

About 20 minutes later, we pulled up in front of this building. This is the Civil Affairs Bureau in Guangzhou. Four very excited, nervous, and, yes, scared families got off that bus and follow our guide Mabel into the building. We rode the elevator up in batches because it was so small and creaky!

When we got to the conference room, we sat at a huge oval table and filled out more paperwork! My heart melted when I saw this page!!! That is your footprint and your baby picture. We were so excited!!! Your Daddy wanted to do the paperwork, but his hands were shaking so hard he couldn't write. Mommy did the paperwork while Daddy hovered, Aunt Heather took pictures, and Cullen played with his new friend Cassie. Then we waited some more.

This is the first time we met you!!! Cullen was using the video camera, Daddy and Aunt Heather were taking pictures. I got to hold you first!!! You didn't cry. You just kind of looked at us like you were trying to figure out who all these strange looking and sounding people were. You were dressed in a thick "puffy-suit", fleece slippers, a shirt and pants. It was so hot in that room! You were sweating, but you didn't complain. You just watched us and let me hold you.

This is the toy Cullen gave you. We still have it! You loved balls and rattles. You gave Cullen your first smile when he took your hand and "bonked" the rattle on his head! Oh what a bad thing he started!!! You still love to "bonk" him on the head!!! You never cried, but you did eat your nametag.

This is the moment Cullen (all of us actually) had been waiting years for! Cullen always dreamed of having a baby sister and holding her. This was a dream come true for your brother, as you are for us.

Kieren Olivia ChengLi Campbell, you are our sweet beautiful daughter. You were our daughter before we ever saw a picture of you. You have been in our hearts forever and will always be there. We love you more every day.

Four years ago today, our dream became a reality. You became ours. We became yours. I love you.

Love Always and Forever,

Mommy

*Sorry I couldn't post this earlier. It was a busy day and then my computer had a tantrum. Our Forever Family Day was Sunday, December 11, 2005 at 2:30pm (China time). If you would like to read about our time in China, check out the December 2005 posts located in the Archives or just click here.

Gotta Love This Girl!

If these photos don't make you smile, you need to be medicated! This is what my sweet baby girl is like from the minute she gets up until she falls to sleep at night!!! She is amazing!

You can kind of see how much shorter Kieren's hair is now. She was in a goofy mood so I couldn't get her to give me a good shot. Maybe tomorrow...

She Made Me Do It!!!

I really didn't want to, but she begged, pleaded and made me do it! I just cut 4" off Kieren's hair. *GULP!*

Tune in tomorrow for a very special post! That's all I'm saying...

Sneek Peek

Miss Lily showed us the recital costumes for Kieren's class tonight! The recital is in June, as usual. This year's theme is "Love". We adore the costume, BUT the song her class is dancing to bites! They are dancing to (prepare barf bag) "I Love You" from Barney (let the barfing begin). UGH! We were warned that the classes (both Wednesday classes dance together) may have to be split due to the large combined size. If that happens, we may have a different costume and song. Hmmm...Love the costume, hate the song. Wonder what the other costume and song could be?

Frustration!

After watching Cullen's first basketball game of the season, frustration wasn't what I expected to feel tonight. It had nothing to do with how he or the team played or how much play-time he got. It had to do with what happened after the game. Cullen started dry-heaving in the car on the way home from ECA. By the time we got home 20 minutes later, he had to rush into the bathroom. It was a hell of a time for CVS to rear its ugly head! We were told that these episodes were supposed to start spacing out more and becoming less powerful as Cullen became a teen. Obviously someone forgot to tell the CVS! Cullen finally went to bed around 11:15 tonight, after rushing to the bathroom every 15 minutes or so for 3 hours. A migraine was starting to really kick in too. Depending on how Cull does tonight and feels in the morning, he may stay home tomorrow. CVS sucks!!!

*CVS is Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome.

For Heather

IanConquersTheWall
Uploaded by drewnsam. - Videos of family and friends from around the world.

While Heather was in the UAE last month, Ian had a major milestone - he finally climbed the climbing wall all by himself! This is for you, Heather!

Santa Parade 2009

Waiting and freezing!!!!
(Cullen at upper left, Heather w/ Ian in front of Cullen, Alex and Beth)

Ian wasn't too sure about Frosty!

Alex was running away from Frosty!

There's my little snowflake! Kieren marched with her dance school again this year! She, of course, was the cutest one there!!!

Happy Birthday, Cullen!!!

Holy cow!!!! Cullen is 13 years-old today!!! My sweet blond baby boy is almost all the way grown-up! *sigh* He'll still always be my baby...