My Birthday Dinner

September is the month for birthdays in our family. My Mum, sister and I all have our birthdays within a few days of each other, so we decided to brave a family dinner in public. Here are a few pictures from the night

The Fam

Too cool for school Ruby in the back

Ruby and Abby

Stev(my brother) and Ruby

Ben and Lochlan

Ben, Lochlan and Joshua

Lilly

Lizzie

Abby

GG and the great grand daughters

Tanya (big sis) and GG

Unfortuneately there were no flattering pictures of my Mum or my little sister. We'll get them next time.

Sports Day

Last Friday was the Wilson Primary School sports carnival. I kind of dread it every year. Being held early in the spring means the weather is often cool and this year was no exception. Blustering winds all day made it nice and cold. Inevitably all the kids had a runny nose by the weekend.

Not only that but Joshua has a strong awareness of his lack of sporting ability. It is something that really gets to him and every year for the past 3 years running races end up with him crying. He creates quite a scene and tells me he is a loser and broken and will never win a trophie. It is really heart breaking.

Lizzie is super competitive. She expects to win everything. Nothing but first and maybe second is exceptable. You might notice in the photo below her expression at coming 3rd in one of the races.

Last year at the sports carnival, between Lizzie and Josh and their crushed expectations (and the weather) we left early. This year we ploughed on. It helped having Daddy there to add support.

I was really proud of lizzie this year. In the first race she ran she came 3rd. It broke her heart and she was almost in tears afterwards. But she sucked it up and soon after she found out she came second in long jump

In every event she won 1st, 2nd or 3rd. I somehow managed to miss her getting a riddon for 1st place, but by the end of day she had 5 bright shinny ribbons.

Josh unfortuneately pulled his usual stunt. Even with bribes, social stories and a prize from mum it just wasn't enough. He at least ran the race, but when he got to the end, about 30 seconds after everyone had finished, he turned around and went to run back again. Everyone laughed, only thinking he was trying to be funny, but he was in tears and wanted to give it another shot and try to win. I don't know how to handle him like this. But we did our best and he seemed to get over it a lot quicker than in previous years. Maybe his prize, a Transformer toy helped.

This was Bens first year in the sports carnival. At the moment he is not very competitive and says quite happily that he always comes last. Oh well. If only they all felt like that. He actually came second last (he is 3rd from the left) but in the team events his team came 1st. It was such fun watching him have fun and get into the real spirit of it all.

It was a long cold day and Abby got quite bored. After lunch she had a sudden burst of energy and found some interesting ways to amuse herself. She got her spare clothes and decided to go around with her undies on her head. Then she decided to put on a ballet performance for everyone. It was very cute.

Overall, it was a good day considering. One of the better sports days I have attended.

Primary Sacrament Presentation

On Sunday th 13th of September Como Ward had their Primary Sacrament Presentation. The Campbell family was asked to do a 4 min presentation on 'My Eternal Family'. So we had a few reghearsals during the week. Who would think 4 minutes could seem so long. We would start with Ben and Abby singing'I am a Child of God', followed by a 20 sec talk by Ben, a 40 sec talk by Liz and Josh then finally closing testimonies from Mum and Dad.
Well the children acted like wild monkeys during rehearsals and we wondered how we would ever pull it off.As I sat on the stand thinking about what I was going to say, all I could really think about was how the children would go. Feeling unprepared myself and a little anxious, it was suddenly our turn to go to the pulpit and do 'our thing'.
Well Abby and Ben were just wonderful. Abby is going through a very shy patch at the moment and aften cowers away from a simple hello from family or friends, I wasn't expecting much. But this morning she grabbed that microphone and sang to her hearts content. Poor Ben had trouble getting close the the mic but was nice and loud for all to hear. Lizzie read her talk beautifully as well as Josh, who managed NOT to make some inappropriate remark when he finished reading. In rehearsals he would say his talk was rude and that he didn't want to do it. I don't know why and thank goodness he didn't say it on the day.
I only needed to say a few words and it was then I knew what to say. That this whole experience of preparing for the big day was like life. That it would be difficult, trying and bumpy, but on the day, as long as we were together as a family, it would work out. That wherever we fell short the Saviour would make up the difference

In the beginning...

So one quiet Sunday afternoon (well, as quiet as it can get with 4 kids) I decided it was about time I followed in the footsteps of my loving sister-in-law and created 'Campbell's Soup 2'. We have such fun reading her blog and finding out about family accomplishments that I thought we could enjoy having our own too.
So 'The Campbell's Soup 2' is born and dedicated to Uncle Lorne, Tia, Jasmine and Ava, who have always kept us a part of their lives no matter how far away.