Campbell Campout

Shawn and Arilyn have been dying to sleep outside in the tent this summer, but it's been hard finding a day where it wasn't raining, was warm enough, and Shawn wasn't working. Finally, we decided to do it, although it did end up raining! We stayed nice and dry in the tent though!

And the boots make yet another appearance! Although, I did recommend they wear them this time because it was raining and wet outside! They could not wait to get outside in the tent!

A true backpacker wearing Daddy's headlamp-- Addison is ready to brave the dark with Horton.

Arilyn and Addison on the little air mattress. It was their idea to share the air mattress, but they fit pretty good.

Finally laying down watching a little bit of Shrek 3.

Ahh, asleep at last! It took a while for the girls to settle down. They were so excited to sleep outside. You can barely see her, but Addison is fast asleep.

And Arilyn is fast asleep, too. When it was time to go to sleep, Addison wanted to sleep with Mommy, so Shawn was gracious enough to sleep on the little air mattress with Arilyn! I got to share the big queen size air mattress with Addison! (Although sleeping on an air mattress while being 23 weeks pregnant does not equal a good night's sleep!)

It's Official...finally!

We had a HUGE milestone in the Campbell house a few days ago. Arilyn finally gave up her binky! She only used it at night to fall asleep, but it still bothered me that she was almost 4 and still had it. She will be starting preschool in September and I told her that she couldn't go to school if she still used the binky. We had been talking about it for almost a month and I let her decide when she wanted to do it. And she finally said she was ready. It was long overdue, but she finally did it and we are SO proud of her! A friend of mine gave me the idea to take her to Build A Bear Workshop and make an animal then put the binky in the animal. Arilyn liked that idea, so that's what we did!

Arilyn stepping on the pedal to stuff her bear.

Arilyn rubbing the bear's heart on her tummy so the bear will 'never get hungry.'

And the BIG moment. Arilyn putting her binky in the bear. I thought she might not want to do it once we got there, but she didn't hesitate at all. She kept saying that she was a big girl and wanted to get rid of it!

The finished product! She looks pretty happy...right now! Haha! Later at bedtime it was a little different story!

Of course, Addison had to make a bear, too. We decided that her big milestone was going potty like a big girl, which she is doing extremely well with! We've had a few accidents here and there, but she is doing great and will tell me before she pees in her pants, which is good. And she has continued to wake up from naps and all night dry! So she definitely deserved a bear, too!

The lady told Addison to rub the heart on her leg so the bear could run really fast!

Then she said to rub it on her belly like Arilyn did. Addison goes all out and had to rub it on bare skin! It was hilarious!

Addison putting the heart in her bear.

Arilyn giving 'Binky Bear' a bath. She wanted to name it Binky Bear since it had her binky in it.

Addison giving her bear a bath.

Obviously the big test was bedtime, which I had prepared myself for the worst. Arilyn surprised me though and did surprising well. She did get very sad, but never cried. She said she still wanted her binky and didn't mean that she wanted to give it up today. So we talked with her for about 10 minutes and reinforced that she was a big girl and how proud we were of her and that it was ok to be sad. We prayed about it and asked God to help her feel better. We usually read a story and do a little devotion, but she didn't feel like reading a book, but just wanted to do the devotion and go to sleep. She got a little teary eyed when we started to leave and asked if I could stand by her door for a few minutes, which I did and she fell asleep within a couple minutes. As much as I hated that she still had a binky, I think it was just as hard for me as it was for her. It really broke my heart to see how truly sad she was. But it was something we had to do and will definitely be better for her! 

Addison had no problem going to sleep that night. Thankfully, she never really got attached to the binky, so we won't be crossing that bridge with her. I'm sure it will be something else though!

Shawn's New Toy

Shawn has been talking about getting another 4WD car for this winter and he finally got his wish! It's a Toyota FJ Cruiser and as you can tell he clearly loves it!

The FJ. Arilyn & Addison call it Daddy's 'Bah Hah car.' They can't wait to try it out!

Shawn playing in his new baby.

He's quite giddy about, honestly! The pictures that Toyota has on their website to advertise the FJ shows it doing some pretty extreme off road stuff. Shawn was all excited because it has a button to turn the side airbags off because if you're doing extreme off road and rocking back and forth, it can set the side airbags off!

Arilyn always asks if we can make shape cookies and wanted to make some to celebrate Daddy's new car. I must say I got a little creative, but the girls (and Shawn) loved them! (the middle one is supposed to be a compass- the FJ has a compass on the dash board)

Mount Frissell, CT

Shawn finally had a weekend off and the weather was beautiful, so we packed up the girls and went hiking. We decided to hit the high point in Connecticut. Arilyn is getting too big for the backpack carrier, so it was her first hike actually hiking. She did fantastic! Had we known that the trail was going to be as strenuous as it was, we would never had attempted it with the girls, but they did great and it was a really fun day!

Addison and me getting ready for the hike.

Shawn got to carry Addison this trip.

Our little hiker, Arilyn.

This was a marker close to the beginning of the trail that marks the border between Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Arilyn leading the way. This was the easiest part of the trail- the very beginning. 

Then about 15 minutes into the hike, it got a little bit harder. There were many really steep parts of the trail like this that were all rock that we had to climb up. It made me pretty nervous, but Arilyn loved it!

It's hard to get the perspective from the picture, but this part pretty much went straight up. Shawn was trying to decide the best way to get up.

This wasn't the top of Mount Frissell, but the top of Round Mt., a peak on the way to the top. It was beautiful.

Arilyn and I at the top of Round Mt.

Finally, after about 2 hours, we made it to the top. This is the marker that mars the highest point. It's kind of funny, but the top of Mount Frissell is actually in MA. So we had to hike down a little bit until we crossed back into CT. The marker is on the borderline, so Arilyn thought it was pretty funny that you could stand on it and be in two states at once!

Addison playing with the marker.

We took a nice long rest and had some snacks while we were on the top.

The view from the top. It was a beautiful day- mid 70's and a cool breeze. Perfect for hiking!

We were so proud of Arilyn. She hiked the entire time, which total took us 4 hours. It was a lot more strenuous than we were expecting and Shawn and I decided that it wasn't the best trail for Arilyn's first hike out of the carrier. However, she did unbelievably well. She was getting tired at the very end, so for motivation we told her we'd get ice cream on the way home.

Addison enjoyed her ice cream, too!

Baby Bunnies!

Shawn was mowing the yard yesterday and told the girls and I to come outside and bring the camera. When we got outside he said he'd found a nest of bunnies in the middle of our yard. He went right over it with the mower and didn't realize it until a bunny hopped out. Rest assured- all the bunnies are fine! Probably a little scared from the mower. The girls were amazed. It was pretty neat.

Everyone looking at the bunnies.

There were four altogether, but one jumped out when Shawn went over and hopped under the pine trees.

More bunnies.

Arilyn trying to touch one.

They were so cute!

Let the Transition (and sleepless nights) Begin!

I officially moved the toddler bed into Addison's room today and took down the crib. Since we only have 3 bedrooms, Addison will eventually move into Arilyn's room and Owen will take over Addison's. The transition has begun! Addison was very excited about her 'big girl bed' and hopefully will do fine with it. Here we go...

Addison was very excited to have her big girl bed in her room!

Clapping for the big girl bed!

Pretending they were asleep on the new bed.

YEA!! The first nap went awesome! She whined a little when I shut the door and I heard her talking to her baby for a few minutes and then silence! Nevermind that she's backwards in the bed- she's asleep! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues. (yes, I'm probably delusional, but I can hope, right??)

New Pictures of Owen French Fry...

I had my routine ultrasound the other day and got some new pictures of baby Owen. These ones aren't nearly as clear as the first ones though. Hopefully you'll be able to see him in them!

Here's his head profile. Isn't he cute?

Here's his arm and open hand. Shawn told the girls that he's trying to give them a five. They thought that was pretty funny. Actually, Arilyn said it was 'hilarious.' (Hilarious is her new favorite word and she uses it about a million times a day!)

And this one is really hard to see, but it is still a boy! The arrow is pointing to the important part, but I admit, it's hard to see because you can't really see his legs. But the tech assured us that it's still a boy, which is a good thing considering that Arilyn & Addison (and Shawn & I) have been calling him Owen since the first ultrasound!