Kindergarten Graduation

GRACE GRADUATES KINDERGARTEN!!!

On Monday May 24th, our big girl Grace graduated kindergarten. She has had such a big year! She spent the first 7 months of school in Fort Worth, Texas in the dual language program. There she learned half of the day in english and the other half of the day in a spanish immersion program. She excelled greatly in all areas of school work and loved every minute of it. In April we moved to Bentonville, Arkansas and Grace started a new school. Not long after she started it became clear that she was leaps and bounds ahead of the other kids in her class and she received an outstanding student award for her behavior and academics. Grace is such a special little girl. We are so proud of her, and love her to pieces!

Pictures of the Kids

We thought it would be nice to post updated pictures of the kids. Here are few pictures of the kids right before Church. They sure grow fast.





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Funny Things Kids Say

The last few days it has been raining and thundering here in Bentonville. It has been so wet that we have puddles and puddles in our yard. During the rain storm we had some serious thunder storms during that time. During the storms Mathew came into his mommy and told her that thunderstorms and rain where trying to break the house, as he hid under the covers.

Riley is working on walking on her own at this point. Everyday she stands up in the middle room and just stands there. She gets very exicted and starts clapping and smiling and all of sudden that excitment causes her to fall down again. The last couple of days she has started taking one step by herself without holding onto something, and today she took two steps with the same foot. She is really wants to walk, as she realizes that to keep up with her big sister and brother she needs to walk so she is putting all her effort into walking.

Our Move to Arkansas

Well, we have been in Arkansas for a whole month now and so far love it. The rolling hills and green trees make for a beautiful town! We are slowly settling into our home and getting acquainted with the new ward. We have only had one hiccup so far and that was the very first day Grace rode the bus to school. At the appointed time I went to the bus stop to pick Grace up from school only to be met with an empty school bus and a confused bus driver. The driver said to me "She got off the bus at another stop with a few other kids, but I'm not sure which stop." My heart stopped beating. After standing there speechless the bus driver decides to call and ask for permission to retrace her route to find which stop Grace got off at. Thankfully, a concerned parent noticed that she was lost and called the transportation office and notified them of her whereabouts. That was by far the scariest day of my life, but I am so thankful for the observant father who noticed my wandering, crying daughter and helped her. So far that has been our only "problem". On the funny front, however, Mathew has proved to be a great source of laughter! One afternoon I opened the back door and Mathew stepped out with me. There was a bird on our patio, so Mathew took a step toward it and GROWLED at the top of his lungs! It was hilarious! He still continues to do this when he sees a bird. I'm not sure why, but it always makes me laugh to watch him get in his growling position and then let it rip! He is such a funny little man!!! We know that Arkansas has lot's of adventures in store for us and are happy and thankful to be here!

Words of wisdom

The last words my dad said to me before we said goodbye were "remember, it's a new adventure." While my dads words are full of wisdom, I really just wanted to tell him that I've had enough new adventures! After all, 3 kids makes for a new adventure every day. However, moving to Arkansas isn't something I can just wish away, or pretend isn't happening. It's time for me to put on my big girl pants and go to work! So for all of you out there who just "don't wanna" remember...it's a new adventure full of new possibilities, and good things will come.

GRACE'S HAIR CUT

Last week miss Grace had her hair cut. She had 12 inches cut off and donated it to Locks of Love. Locks of Love makes wigs for cancer patients and other people who don't have hair due to medical issues. This is the second time in two years that Grace has cut her hair and donated to Locks of Love. She was so excited for her new hair cut, and I do have to say that it turned out so stinkin cute!!! We are so proud of Grace for her willingness to help other people. She doesn't fully understand what she has done, but one day she will, and I can't wait for her to feel that peace and joy that comes from service to others. She is a special one, our little Grace!!! We love her so much!

Our New House

Below are some pictures of our new house in Arkansas. We love it! We will be downsizing, but hopefully we will survive. It is only 1800 square feet, so it will be a challenge with 3 kids but we are having a POSITIVE attitude! The kids love the house! They have already picked out their bedrooms and are ready to be in Arkansas with their daddy.

Our New House

Oh, dear. It has been way too long! So much has happened since I last blogged. The biggest change that has come upon our little family is that Trevor has been transferred to Bentonville, Arkansas. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE! It's Arkansas. Who moves TO Arkansas. Apparently we do! This is a great move for Trevor's career, it doesn't make it easy, but he will be taken care of. He will be working on the Walmart audit team. And the home office is in the tiny town where Sam Walton started it all. Trevor has been traveling there since November and we are hoping that the kids and I will be able to join him soon. On the other end of the spectrum, I have been in Fort Worth getting our house ready to sell. With the help of some very dear friends, I was able to get the house on the market with my head still attached! My sanity, not so much. Keeping a house "Show" ready with 3 kids running around is challenging, mostly challenging what little sanity I have left!!! However, with the help of family and those very dear friends again, I keep it together. Hopefully something will happen soon and we will get to be a together family again!
Grace has been doing well in school. She has learned to read already and is learning the big words quickly. Her favorite thing though, is coming home to her little brother and sister. Riley is almost 9 months now and has taken a liking to her big sister. When Grace walks in the room Riley lights up and crawls straight to her. Mathew still misses Grace while she is at school and tries to pacify himself with playing with Riley, although Riley doesn't consider being squished like a pancake playing as much as Mathew does. He is still learning that she isn't as big as him yet!
That's our crazy life. We hope all is well with everyone out there!

On Friday July 24 all of Grandma Campbell's kids and their families showed up at her house to surprise her for her 50th birthday. Her birthday isn't until September, but we had to catch her off guard so we could surprise her! She's a smarty, that one! On Friday we mostly hung out, we went to the mall, (with most of the kids coming from Colorado, they weren't used to the Texas heat so we had to stay inside!) we had lunch and shopped. Grandma was in her element shopping with and for her grandkids. "Grandma is her name and spoiling is her game!" Friday night the 5 kids and their spouses took grandma and grandpa to dinner at Maggiano's. The food was sooooooooooo yummy! We talked and laughed and ate! On Saturday we went and took family pictures. Grandma wanted a big family picture for her birthday, so we did it! We played and took LOTS of pictures. Ask Grace and Mathew, they will tell you we took too many! Grandma was so happy to have us all together again. Saturday afternoon we all cooked fajitas and spent the last few hours together. Grandma was very sad to see us go, but she said the heartbreak of watching the family all go was worth having all of her kids there. We love you so much Grandma. We hope you had a super wonderful happy birthday!

GRANDMA CAMPBELL'S BEST DAY EVER!!!

Video Blog of Grandma & Grandpa Schmidt Visit

Aunt Aja was very kind enough to video blog their trip to Texas this summer. We wanted to share the fun that we had with them during this trip. We hope you like the video blog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLUd9WibeN0&feature=channel_page

Kids in the news

Grace, Mathew & Riley were on the news here in Fort Worth, related to the H1N1, and no they do not have the virus. Mathew and Grace participate in various studies on how vaccine studies work. The news story is about the research being done on the H1N1 vaccine here in Fort Worth. Follow the link below to watch the news story.



http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=44065@ktvt.dayport.com

Fourth of July

Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt

Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt have come to Texas to visit us and see their newest granddaughter! It has only been a couple of days, but already we have had lots of fun! On Sunday Daddy blessed Riley at church. Grandpa Schmidt and Grandpa Campbell were both here to stand in on the blessing! Our good friends Michael Witkamp, Brian Schuldberg, Justin Cook, and Rick Petty were also able to stand in for the blessing! We took some pictures before church and Riley looked soooo pretty! Grace and Mathew have kept Grandpa VERY busy! Sunday night Grandpa got to listen to Grace read the scriptures! Sort of! She can't read yet, but she told Grandpa her version of the stories! We still have a whole week left to play, and lots more pictures to take!

Kids Room

Before Riley was born, we had lots of work to do! Mathew and Grace now share a room, and they wanted a BYU room, so we had to paint over the purple princess room! They LOVE their new room!

As for Riley, she was a surprize, so we had to pick gender neutral colors! It took a lot of work, but we painted one wall with the squares, one wall yellow, one wall blue, and one wall green. However, now that she is here and mommy knows she is a girl, we are going to paint the yellow in the room pink! Mommy wants a little more girly room for her tiny sugar!