Snow Storm?

See this snow? Its a pretty pathetic amount of snow. Hardly worth making a couple of snowballs out of. Just enough to dust the ground. Well, this little amount of snow delayed school today for two hours. It is a rare occurance when snow makes its flakey appearance here in El Paso and it tends to send everyone here into a panic. Adam got several calls from his employees asking if they should close early because of ALL the snow. Its a little ridiculous. Campbell asked this morning if after school she could come home and play in the snow. There is no way this measly amount of snow would be waiting for her after school. So, yes, at 7:00 in the morning, we dressed the kids up and let them go out in the snow to play. It may be a once in a lifetime experience here in El Paso!

Our selection of winter clothes is pretty slim because it would be such a waste to buy new winter accessories every year. This hat that Campbell is wearing for instance, happens to be a 12-18 month old hat. It's a little snug, but it worked! Do you think she is wearing boots? You would be wrong if you said yes. She's got soccer cleats on! Poor Max is wearing Campbell's old snow suit from when we lived in Utah. At least its not pink, right? Its a good thing kids don't care about what they wear, its just all about the fun!

Max turns 1!

The day has finally arrived! Max is one! And to celebrate this exciting time, he learned to walk about 4 days later. I don't know if it is typical boy behavior or what, but this kid is all over the place and into everything all the time! We can hardly keep up. He has learned a new trick recently. He can fetch his own shoes! To the response, "Max, let's go bye bye" he will go get his shoes (usually not the same two) and bring them to you to put on. Not bad, eh?

This picture pretty much sums it up. A one year old has no time to pose for a picture. He's got places to go and people to see. I can't tell you how many pictures we have of him crawling or walking away...

The Happiest Place on Earth!!!!

On Friday afternoon, we loaded up the kids in the car and started our long car ride to California. We stayed in Yuma for the night and then attended the BYU football game at SDSU. A trip to California is no good unless you eat at IN-N-OUT and I guess all the BYU fans were on the same wave length. The place was crowded with "Y" fans and the poor SDSU cheerleaders that were there for lunch were a little overwhelmed. The game was pretty good and we had really good seats. Campbell was quite the cheerleader. She yelled and cheered like a true BYU fan!

The next day we went to the beach with Adam's sister and brother and their families. The water was a little cold, but not too cold to get in! Max loved chasing the birds on the beach and would get so excited when a bird was within crawling distance. Campbell got knocked over by a wave and thought it was a near death experience. The water was less than 6 inches deep, but she gets a little dramatic at times as all 5 year old girls do.

We spent 5 days at Disneyland and California Adventure. Grandma and Grandpa King, Adam's sister and brother and their families and my sister Leslie and her family came with us. It was so much fun! Campbell was very adventurous and tried all the rides that she was tall enough to ride on. Her favorites were "Its a Small World" and "Soaring over California". Max spent most of his time in the stroller but was quite a good sport about it.

Adam and Campbell went to Goofy's kitchen with the rest of the family while Max and I stayed at the Hotel. Max was running a fever so we stayed at the hotel so Max could get some rest. Goofy had Campbell cleaning the floor. Goofy needs to come to our house and get her to make her bed!

We also went to Mickey's Trick or Treat Party one night at California Adventure. It was so much fun! We got to meet a lot of characters. We danced, watched a parade, rode rides and of course, trick or treated! Cruella DeVil was so funny with the kids. She kept talking about what a large litter we had, and that they were all a bunch of mutts. Campbell was unsure how to deal with her at first, but she saw her cousins laughing, and realized it was okay.

I can't wait until we can go again, hopefully next year.

Attack of the Blueberries!!!

Campbell and her soccer team, the Blueberries, had their first soccer game today. Her team looked great in their blue shirts and they looked ready to take on the black team, the Champions. Well, let's just say that with a name like that, either you are no good at all, or you really are the Champions. The Champions creamed us into a blueberry parfait this morning. The stats: score: 2-8, Blueberries goals were scored by Hunter (who was the only one on our team who has ever played soccer before),and Campbell played goalie for the first eight minutes.
Campbell overall did a great job on her first game of playing soccer. I am going to have to practice a little with her so she is not so intimidated when chasing the ball. I think she had a lot of fun though. She said in the car on the way home, "Mom, I could totally hear you cheering me on. I must have done a really good job!" "Ra, Ra, Ra Blueberries!"
Getting ready to start... Getting ready to throw the ball into play...

Laundry, crawling and behavior....

Why is it that kids seem to have the most fun playing with things that are not meant to be toys? Every time I do laundry, the kids are always taking off with the laundry basket. It sometimes is used as a cage, a bed or part of a fort. This time, the kids decided to use it as a train. I was assigned the conductor and spent a good hour pushing the kids around the house yelling, "All aboard!" Luckily Campbell had a whistle so there was no "tooting" going on. I don't toot!

Max learned how to crawl about two weeks ago. Since then, we have not had a minute's rest (except for the occasional nap). Max really should be the poster child for child proof devices. He is putting pens into light sockets (He found the only one without a plug protector), playing in the toilet water, tipping over bookshelves, slamming fingers in drawers, falling down the stairs, and standing on the treadmill trying to turn it on. Campbell was never this curious and would always listen to "no". Max on the other hand, thinks it is hilarious when I say "no" or his selective hearing kicks in when he is in danger. Max also does the funniest thing when he is eating. He tends to stuff his mouth full of food and forgets to chew. Needless to say he tends to choke a lot and causes a lot of drama for me when eating. Here is his way of solving the choking problem... Its funny but does not solve the problem.
Campbell has started dance again and she is going to try soccer this year. She is enjoying school and is having a good time. Behavior is such a huge thing for her at school. She is almost obsessed with getting a "green light" everyday. So far she has, but I dread the day if she does something wrong and gets a yellow or red light. She will probably have a breakdown. She comes home from school everyday and tells me who in the class got a yellow or a red light. She's like the behavior police! I guess Adam had a similar problem when he was in school too.
What a good girl! All green smiley faces!

First Day of School!!!

Today was Campbell's first day of school. She has been beyond excited for this day to come. She's been talking non-stop about meeting new friends, having her own desk, learning about science (She is always telling me we never do any science projects at home!) and of course eating breakfast and lunch there. Campbell didn't get to meet her teacher, Mrs Morgan until today, but she seems like the typical kindergarten teacher- sweet, pretty and crazy! :)

Here we are waiting for the bus to come. Adam and I let her ride the bus today to school, but of course being a little apprehensive, we followed the bus to school in our car. (Yes, we are those kind of psycho parents.)

"My lunch packed up, my shoes tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight." Hopefully today is a good day and she will want to go back tomorrow.

Back to Blogging....

So, I'm sure no one really noticed that we took a summer vacation from blogging.... we did! We have had several complications this summer that has made life a little difficult for the King family. One of these complications was that Adam injured himself in the most old man fashion possible: he was getting up off of the floor and tore his lateral meniscus. Here's the scoop--he was playing volleyball and just happened to make a fabulous play. As the ball was being returned from the opposing team, he tried to get up quickly from the floor and heard a loud series of "pops." That's all there is to it and he has been on crutches ever since. He had to have surgery and has to have a personal assistant (Me) who has to assist him with just about everything. I know, he is getting a sweet deal, and all he had to do was get a little surgery! So now you know what to do if you want someone to wait on you hand and foot- tear your lateral meniscus and get a little surgery.