Family Alive

After celebrating my sister Kat’s graduation from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Josiah and I, Grandma and Charlie and Anna piled into the car on Saturday afternoon to start the drive back to Chicago. We drove from Duluth to Black River Falls on Saturday evening. I think we were all very relieved to start the last leg of the car trip on Sunday. Anna entertained Josiah all the way to Madison, where we met her husband, Hal, at Trader Joe’s. Grandma and I stocked up on a few last things and said our goodbyes to Anna. Man, I HATE saying goodbye to my family. I always cry.

We drove to Chicago, where we met my friend Michele (who we met for the first time last year). Her daughter, Emma, and Analise are the same age, and her son, Michael, and Josiah are the same age. We had a wonderful, relaxing afternoon and evening with them. Michele’s husband grilled a fantastic dinner of steaks, and we had baked sweet potatoes, corn (which Josiah LOVED), and some Trader Joe’s wine I didn’t have room in my suitcase to take back.

Michele’s husband has built some great garden beds in their backyard.
The kids hardly noticed any of the other outdoor toys… dirt makes kids happy!

A peace offering… it was tough on Michael to have Josiah on his territory.

Josiah and trains… he was entertained for HOURS with their Brio train table.

A couple morning pictures of my tousle-headed boy in his Little Einstein’s PJs.

Josiah didn’t want watermelon at breakfast, but mid morning,
we looked over to find him devouring what was still on the table.

Playing with the jewels in the treasure box.

Brian and I were lucky enough to start off our Memorial Day weekend with a trip to Atlanta, just the two of us.  He had wanted to go to a Friday evening criterium (yes, life does revolve around racing), but I wasn’t inclined take the kids for the late night and long drive.  So with a little smooth planning and some gracious free babysitting by his parents, we treated ourselves to an early 5th anniversary trip.  Brian used Priceline.com to get a 4-star hotel – the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead – for well under $100. 

Brian’s race was at 9:45pm, but we were worried about the traffic, so we left just after our kids went down for naps at 2pm.  With all the traveling we do as a family, it really was a treat to be just the two of us.  We can have full conversations, listen to our own music, stop or not stop as we please.  We had an extravagant dinner at Panera, (um, it wouldn’t have been my choice, but Brian got to choose since it was his pre-race meal).  We drove through the fancy schmancy upscale Atlanta neighborhoods on the way to our hotel (Vinings and Buckhead) and saw all kinds of houses for sale, including this one.  Gated estate on 3.5 acres, with 10 bedrooms/10 baths for just under $8.5 million.  Whew!  What do you do with a house like that? 

We checked into our hotel before we headed to the race.  Very nice.  The highlight of the room was the iHome alarm clock/iPod dock.  How cool!  I’m really hoping to get one of those for Christmas to use with my new iPod (which I’m loving).  The view from our 8th floor room was out over the Japanese gardens and waterfall, the huge parking garage, below, where we managed somehow to snag free overnight parking (instead of $17 in the hotel lot), and the pretty skyline of the Buckhead skyscrapers… and construction cranes.  Josiah would have loved that part. 

We headed off to the races with plenty of time to spare.  Instead of entertaining kids while we waited for the race, I got to read my magazines and help Brian get ready to go.  And instead of keeping track of kids and dividing my time between them and the race, I was able to cheer and take photos, though they didn’t turn out so well. 

Brian’s the 3rd blur from the left, right in the center.  Yes, the finish was fast!

I think my favorite part of the weekend was sleeping in, which is unheard of at home with our super-early-birds.  We slept until 9:30, which felt so luxurious.  Then we explored the Japanese gardens and managed a quick photo of ourselves in front of the waterfall. 

After checking out, we drove back through the fancy neighborhood, even stopping off at a garage sale.  Nothing we needed, but there was some really nice stuff, though not the best garage sale prices 🙂  In Vinings, we found a cute little french cafe for a fabulous breakfast and picked up our Starbucks for the trip home.  We made it back just before the kids needed to nap.  Less than 24 hours gone, but it was such a nice break! 

Ok, I’m getting pretty serious about making bread.  We’re loving the taste and freshness of our homemade loaves.  Now I’ve got to get serious about figuring out the right recipe and cooking method.  So welcome to the Best Bread Bake-Off!

I’ve made several different recipes, and I know many of them have been tasty… but I can’t remember quite which ones were good and which weren’t so good.  I actually really prefer to make the dough in the breadmaker and take it out for rising and baking in a loaf pan in the oven.  But that method is hit-or-miss… something isn’t right with my rising technique, and baking the bread in the oven heats up the house, which isn’t a good thing in the hot humid days of summer in a house that’s already 80 degrees.  So I’m going to test the recipes and baking methods over the next few weeks and document my results here.  We’ll find a winner!

Well, actually, we’ve been home since Monday evening. Josiah and I had a fabulous trip to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and we got to spend some really relaxing time with my family. It was very nice to just have one child to look out for, as well as people all around me to entertain him. He was a little charmer, with sweet little conversations in his amazing daily-expanding vocabulary. My sisters taught him to say, "De-WISH-us!" at breakfast one morning. He loved our laughing reactions, and of course, he’ll repeat it 4 or 5 times, waving the de-wish-us item around for dramatic effect. So funny.

I’ve got lots of pictures to resize and post, but for now, I’ll post this link to a fun online scrapbook I created last night.

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I’m so tired tonight.  After a quiet day yesterday reading a lot and playing with Josiah, I stayed up extra late to wait for Anna to get to my parents’ house.  She got in around midnight, and we had a nice chat until 2am.  Of course, Josiah decided 5am was a great time to start the day, so I’m really wiped today.  He got a nap at 10am, but I chose to go to the coffee shop/store instead.  The buzz from my blended mocha only lasted until about 2 🙂

So J & I are in Two Harbors, Minnesota, 20 miles down the road from Duluth, where my sister, Kat will be graduating on Saturday.  We – with Grandma and Charlie – drove up here after dinner, and we’re staying at Anna’s in-laws house.  Very nice to be in an actual house instead of the hotel we were planning on.

Anna got us all settled in our rooms, we said good night to Grandma & Charlie, and Anna brought out some great iced tea (my favorite Tazoberry, that she used to bring me when she visited me in Nicaragua) and told me she had Starbucks ice cream in the freezer… and Lost was recording on DVR, so we settled in to watch it.  SWEET evening.  We’ve both just chatted with our hubbys – we love you, Hal & Brian! – and we’ll probably crash.  But it’s been a good couple days, and I’ve really appreciated the short bits of time here with Anna.  I’m really looking forward to seeing my other sister, Kat, tomorrow.  I sure miss my sisters!!!   

Enjoy these pictures and video from Analise’s preschool choir performance last night.

(For those of you with slower connections, you may want to right click on each video and select "Save As" or "Download" to download a copy of the video to your computer before trying to play it.)

Video 1 (14 MB)

Video 2 (22 MB)

Josiah and I are doing well on our own.  I definitely missed spending Mother’s Day with Brian and Analise, though.  Josiah did make my day so sweet by saying (with prompting), "Happy MoDay!"  It’s so cute.  I was surrounded by wonderful mothers – my mom, Grandma, and my dear Aunt Carol (my dad’s sister), which was very precious. 

Friday was busy with the pinning ceremony for Anna’s graduation.  She was the main speaker, and she did a terrific job!  We had a great family dinner, grilled out on Hal & Anna’s patio, before a small reception that Hal put together for Anna’s friends.  Saturday was busy with a champagne toast reception for the graduate students and the actual commencement ceremony, before we all met at a wonderful restaurant in Galena, IL for dinner. 

Josiah’s been amazing for me on this trip.  He’s been so well-behaved, and he stayed with 2 different people while I went to graduation festivities.  He even sat through the nice restaurant dinner, which is so unusual for him.  He’s charming everyone, and talking about EVERYTHING.  He’s still got some stomach and diarrhea issues, every other day or so.  I’m so frustrated by it.  We’ve got to see the doctor when we get home, as the lab tests we were waiting for results from came back negative. 

I was a bit bummed yesterday, bc it felt like I was missing out on the family time due to J’s naps and early bed time.  But I’ve actually NEEDED the naps myself, and last evening I had a nice relaxing time to catch up with my Aunt Carol.  Today I had a short-but-nice morning drink with Anna at Badger Brothers coffee.  Mid-morning we left Platteville for my parent’s house in Shell Lake, with a stop in Madison for Trader Joe’s and Noodles & Company… two of my very favorite places.  AND!  I was finally able to buy 2 bottles of the Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck) White Zinfandel wine ($2.99).  I’ve wanted to both times I’ve been at TJ’s in Georgia, but both visits were on Sunday, and they don’t sell alcohol on Sundays.  I also got some yummy sweet potato chips, some mini chocolate peanut butter cups, trail mix that’s a big hit with Josiah, and a box of the 100-calorie milk chocolate bars.  Wow – they’re tasty, and amazingly big for 100-calories! 

Anyway, we made it up here by dinner time, and we enjoyed a TJ’s shrimp stir-fry dinner.  Yum.  Josiah was a trooper on the long drive, even after his DVD player battery died.  He sang songs, looked for big trucks, and kept both Grandma & Charlie busy picking up his cups and giving him snacks while I drove. 

Quiet week here, which I’m looking forward to.  Friday we’ll go to Duluth, MN for my sister, Kat’s, graduation on Saturday.  Then Sunday morning – EARLY – we’ll leave Duluth for the Very Long Drive back to Chicago, where I’m staying with a friend before flying out Monday and Grandma & Charlie will drive on home to LaPorte, Indiana.  Whew – what a journey!!    More chit-chat later this week, and maybe even some photos, if I can find them!!!

Mother of the Year

 Micca Monda Campbell

 “Her children
arise and call her blessed; her husbandalso, and he praises her.”   Proverbs 31:28
(NIV)

I long to be a godly wife and mother, but my efforts to become this
‘ideal’ woman stated in Proverbs can leave me grieved and depressed.

I felt especially defeated the year my youngest son started kindergarten. In
Tennessee, kindergarteners follow a scattered schedule the first two weeks of
school where half of the class attends one day and the rest comes the following
day. It helps them adjust. For me it brought confusion.

On Tuesday, I took my son to school, kissed him good-bye, and headed home
to work.

I
was busy at the computer when the telephone interrupted my pace. ‘Hello?’

‘Mrs. Campbell, this is Parker’s teacher. I was wondering who would be picking
him up from school today.’

Stunned that I had forgotten my child, I jumped in the car and raced to the school.
He stood on the sidewalk holding his teacher’s hand with tears in his eyes and
REJECTION stamped across his heart. I took him home, apologized profusely, and
made his favorite meal for dinner. I felt like the worst mother ever.

Thursday,
we returned to school. All was going well until I was, once again, interrupted
by the phone. I hadf orgotten to pick up my child not once, but twice in the
same week!

I
sped to school on two wheels. This time he was standing with the room mother,
who was obviously a true Proverbs 31 Woman. As she helped him buckle his
seatbelt, I tried explaining myself.

‘You’re not going to believe this, but I did the same thing earlier this week.’

‘Yeah, I know.’ She replied bluntly.

I felt I’d been labeled a ‘bad mother,’ and I felt like a complete failure.

Later that same year, God encouraged me as a mother when ParentLife
magazine named me one of eight ‘Mothers of the Year!’ Parker’s reaction to this
surprising news was, ‘If they lived with us for a while, they’d probably reconsider.’

Those were my thoughts exactly. In fact, I asked my husband how I could be given
such a great and undeserving honor. With wisdom, he shared that maybe it was
God’s way of saying I’m doing better than I think.

His wisdom helped me put things into perspective. God never said I had to
be perfect. That was my expectation. He never said that I wouldn’t make
mistakes or a wrong decision every now and then. Again, that was my hope. I had
assumed that the Proverbs 31 lady did everything right and I was suppose to as
well.The problem was, with all her great accomplishments, I never considered
her ‘not so good’ side.

Sometimes
I let the bad out weigh the good. Perhaps the ‘Mother of the Year’ award was
God’s way of saying, ‘Hang in there. You’re doing better than you think, and I’m
not the only one who notices.’

Despite my many mistakes, perhaps my children will some day arise and call
me blessed.

The next time you need encouragement, let God whisper to your heart: ‘I hear
when you pray for your children, and I’m there when you teach them about who I
am. I watch you love, care, and sacrifice for them. You’re not perfect, but hang
in there. You’re doing better than you think.’

Dear
Lord, help me to be the mother my children deserve. Encourage my heart when I
feel like a failure. Erase my errors from the hearts and minds of my children.
Instead, help them to see Jesus in me, Amen.

Whew… how did it get to be Friday already??  Ag, there was so much I wanted to blog about, but I’m not even sure where to start!  After a crazy busy week, Josiah and I flew out yesterday afternoon.  A nasty line of thunderstorms and tornados had just blown through, but my flight was right on time. 

I was loaded down with luggage… my suitcase was 51.5lbs (luckily they let me through without the $50 charge!), my backpack – which I was wearing on the front – was packed full and VERY heavy, Josiah was on my back in the backpack, and I checked the carseat.  Getting through security was a HUGE hassle, with sippy cups rolling around, Josiah fussing, shoes getting misplaced.  I was frazzled before we even reached the plane! 

But that was the toughest part of the trip.  Josiah was amazingly good for me, very obedient, happily entertained with a Little Einsteins episode on my new iPod (I won it from a survey I filled out!!!).  Then he sat in the empty seat next to us (I didn’t buy a seat for him, just picked the LEAST desirable seat on the plane – back row by the bathroom, right next to the engine – in the hopes that no one would be next to us.  Woohoo – it worked!) and watched a DVD, played with his train, colored, and snacked.  He couldn’t have been any better.  I was so pleased!  I even got to enjoy some worship music on my iPod while he was watching his DVD player.  After we got off the plane, we had to wait for our backpack carrier, which had been gate-checked, and the woman who sat in front of us raved about how good he’d been.  Several other people commented on how they didn’t even know there was a small child on board.  Way to go, Josiah!  He enjoyed seeing the airplanes, too, but he was really focused on finding a "hopcoter", though there were none to be seen.

In Chicago, we were at the gate right next to the escalator to the baggage claim, and then our baggage claim was the first one we came to, and our suitcase and carseat were waiting.  When I asked a lady with a luggage cart which door to tell my grandma to pick us up at, she offered to take our stuff to the curb for us.  SWEET! 

The only hassle was that my Grandma (80years old) and Charlie (90years) didn’t wait for me to tell them which door I’d be at.  They ended up getting lost and finally parking in a parking garage, and I had to find them.  Amazingly – I’m sure a small miracle from God – they were in the garage directly across from where I was waiting, just up a level.  So, with J on my back, and a 30+lb backpack on my front, I pulled my heavy suitcase and dragged the carseat across 4 lanes of traffic, over the curb, to the elevator and up to my Grandma.  Hm.  Not exactly how the "cell phone waiting lot" was supposed to work!! 

Josiah went right to sleep after a quick dinner at a highway Oasis, and I drove the 3 hours to Platteville, Wisconsin.  Long, tiring but smooth journey, and we got in at 1:30.  J and I were in bed by 2.  Unfortunately, he was awake throwing up at 3:15 🙁  I got him cleaned up and tucked into my bed, rinsed off the dirty stuff so it wouldn’t stink up the room.  He did throw up one more little bit, but slept hard until 7am.  Poor guy.  I didn’t get much sleep, though.  And this morning, he had diarrhea again.  We’re waiting on word from the pediatrician from a stool sample, so HOPEFULLY – please pray!! – we get some answers so we can stop the nasty cycle!!  I can’t handle him being sick on this trip!

Today was a good day, though, and Josiah seemed to feel fine.  We napped this morning, played, walked around outside, and finally, a friend of my sister and Hal’s babysat Josiah, while my mom & Dad, Grandma & Charlie, Aunt Carol & Uncle Jim (here from Arizona), Hal & his parents, and I all attended the "pinning" ceremony for Anna’s Doctorate of Physical Therapy graduation.  She was one of the featured student speakers.  She did wonderfully.  I’m so glad I was able to be there.  I’m so proud of her!

We had a nice dinner of grilled chicken here before a small graduation party.  Josiah and I came home early with Grandma & Charlie for a good night’s sleep.  Busy day tomorrow with the actual graduation.  Pray that Josiah stays healthy!

I’ll just post Brian’s race report here, so you can enjoy his recap!

My race was insane. The call-ups were like a "who’s who" of criterium
racing. Kirk O’Bee, current US Pro crit national champ, Hilton Clarke,
Ivan Dominguez, Frank Pipp, Rashaan Bahati, and a bunch more. Toyota
United, Healthnet, and Bissell all had their A teams — but overall
the race was actually kind of small with less than 60 riders. I had an
OK start on the second row with the guy just in front and to the left
struggling to get into his pedals. I was in about 15th going through
the first two corners. The pace was not too, too fast but before I had
a chance to attack for the first lap prime, somebody else did and
everybody gunned it going down the hill into the third corner. I was a
little nervous not having had a chance to pre-ride the course and I
lost ground going into that corner coming out of it in probably 30th
or worse. By the time we made it around two more times I found myself
getting closer and closer to the back of the pack. Ivan Dominguez was
hanging out back there, too and I rode near him for the first few laps.

The pace was very fast and strung out everywhere except that third
corner, which was slower on some laps — but there were definitely
laps where we took that corner at over 30mph. I wouldn’t be surprised
if our average speed for the race was close to 30mph — I’ll have to
download the data when we get home to check. Even with the fast pace,
a group of 10 riders got away on about the tenth lap. Let’s just say I
wasn’t in any position to try to go with them. In fact I was hanging
on for dear life at the back of the group — which I think was
actually harder than riding near the front considering the whiplash
effect of turns 2 and 4. All the major teams were represented — but
the pace didn’t slow down right away. We went insanely fast for the
next 5 laps or so and then right when I was near the snapping point,
the field basically sat up between turn 1 and 2 and then basically
cruised the rest of the lap at 25mph — which was just enough time to
give me a chance to recover and actually move up to about a mid-pack
position going through the S/F.

I struggled some with Turn 3 as people would pass me going into the
corner and then it would be hard to carry momentum through it. When
the break finally lapped us, the pace shot up again and there were
several counter attacks so the pace would be fast on some laps and
then slower on other laps. Kristine says they were throwing out primes
on every other lap during that part of the race, but I was
concentrating hard on positioning, etc… and didn’t even notice them.
With about 20 laps to go, the pace shot up again as the big teams
started positioning for the final sprint.

But then with 12 or 13 laps to go, I was somewhere in the top 20 going
around Turn 2 and the people at the front sat up. I saw this as a
great opportunity to attack to move my position up — but when I
attacked and the front was still going slow, I found myself with a
huge gap on the downhill. Taking Turn 3 by myself was a lot more fun
than trying to negotiate it in the pack. I had a pretty good gap and
Frankie Andreu announced my name and our team going through the S/F!
At this point, Rashaan Bahati (Rock Racing) and John Murphy
(Healthnet) were also off the front chasing to "unlap" themselves. I
managed to bridge up to Rashaan after 3 or 4 laps, but he was cooked
and I stayed away one more lap before the field caught back up with
about 7 or 8 laps to go. It was awesome to be off the front of the
field with so many people from Birmingham cheering! Thanks!

The pack was strung out as it came by me, but I had enough adrenaline
so close to the finish of the race to ramp it up and hold on towards
the back of the pack for the next few laps. With 1 to go, a rider in
front of me gapped off on Turn 2 and I couldn’t go around him. I ended
up working with him to chase almost back on before the real sprint
started and then passed a bunch of people who had sat up for the
sprint. I think I may have finished somewhere in the mid to lower 30’s.