It's a little cold--even for Shadow

Bryan's Cake

I'm guessing that Bryan's work day will be super-busy, as it has been the last couple of weeks. Therefore, I'll go ahead a post a picture of his cake for your viewing pleasure. The base is actually a brownie, and the "shirt" is homemade cream cheese frosting. The necktie was a little trickier--it involved drawing a tie pattern, melting chocolate and shaping the chocolate. Thanks, Better Homes and Gardens, for the cake idea! (To the side are chocolate-dipped ginger snaps. I also filled some ginger snaps with extra frosting, and these turned out delicious, too).

Happy Birthday, Bryan!

A few things we've done already to celebrate his birthday:

1. A hot breakfast with sausage and (from scratch!) biscuits
2. Hugs and snuggles from Katie
3. A surprise visit to the Milwaukee office with a gingerbread latte and cookies in tow.
4. A sweet father-daughter picture to be framed (the same one below)
5. Kisses from Mom and Katie

More things to follow once he gets home tonight...

Stickers are fun...

Our trip to Target turned into a let's-buy-things-for Katie trip. Since Katie will be moving into her new room in the next month, we bought some pink curtains. Also, Katie needed some black dress shoes, and we found some on clearance! Additionally, we bought some stickers and finger paint for Katie to play with. Look at the brilliant placement of the animals. It's perfect for the fridge (and the paint will be for another day when Daddy is at home).

Christmas Afternoon with the Grubisics

We spent a lazy afternoon with Uncle Phil, Aunt Kay, their kids, and their grandkids. The time included a traditional ham meal and a few games of dominos and cards.









Silly boys!

Christmas Morning at Home - II

Some more photos of our morning: a gift of anticipation.

Trying to put together a tricycle.


Do you know how hard it is to put anything together with a 17 month old whining in your face?

Success. Another happy child being pushed around by her mom.

Christmas Morning at Home - I

Here is a brief smorgasbord of photos from Christmas day. We all enjoyed a quiet morning, and we began the morning with breakfast -- sausage and biscuits and potato casserole! We both agree that this may be our last Christmas when we can enjoy a lazy breakfast before chaos. We enjoyed our morning and are grateful for the gifts. Katie was all smiles.

Oh! So Snowy and Cute!

We received these Christmas cards today--from Jimmy, Dad and Granddaddy--great men sending snowmen up to Wisconsin! (And yes, Jimmy's card is the one with sparkles and glitter!

An Early Christmas

We celebrated an early Christmas yesterday with grandma Bell. Katie got some cool presents from her grandma. A handmade blanket with matching pjs was the best one. After wards every one played til nap time.

Katie's Playhouse

Yesterday Katie had a very fun and busy day. Katie was able to play with grandma Bell, Peyton and a cardboard box.

Grandma Bell came over to exchange Christmas gifts before heading out to see Darryl and Nicole in Seattle. I got to babysit Peyton as his parents and Ashley were working. As you can see I had no fun yesterday.

Ah! Nothing to do!

The anticipated lull is here...all errands and shopping are through. Katie is napping, Peyton didn't come over today. My work is complete for the week. I'm waiting for the butter to soften to make these cookies--my favorites!

Snow, snow and more snow

Last Wednesday we got our first snowfall of the year. Ten inches of wet heavy snow. The snow was so heavy that some of our tree branches were nearly touching the ground. The driveway is all cleared out now, but we are having a bit of cooler weather right now. The high tonight is to be a balmy -1 and tomorrow a high of 18 degrees.





Katie really didn't know what to think about the snow.

Let's Say Thanks

If you appreciate what our troops are doing overseas let them know. Xerox is printing off cards to send to the troops overseas. Want to support the effort click Here

Free Pampers Overnight, size 5!

Thanks, Wal-Mart! I don't know if my Katie will ever get to a size 5, but we'll be prepared!

Order yours here.

A Typical Sunday

Katie loves Sundays--after all, she gets to see Daddy all day, plays with a bunch of new toys & kids in Sunday School, and gets 2 morning snacks (thanks to the generous nursery workers and our church's Panera table in the welcome lobby). Usually when we get home from church, she's quite sleepy. But today, she went straight for her toys and dumped them everywhere before settling in to watch a Baby Einstein DVD.

Carebear visits the Dyersburg Mall - Part II

Here is a brief video of Katie pushing around her carebear.






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Carebear visits the Dyersburg Mall

Today we took Katie walking around the only mall in town. The Dyersburg mall. Katie had a lot of fun pushing her carebear around in her stroller.

Mayhem Monday!

Usually, our Mondays are just as typical as other days. Today, however, was the exception!

First--my (Ashley's) boss called me because he picked up some marketing materials that I created. The address that I put down was totally wrong! Well, not totally--but I wrote down the wrong city of the business address! Luckily, he is quick to forgive, and I got a re-ordering discount.

Second--when I was on the phone with Jim--I looked on the fireplace mantel and noticed that Bryan forgot some of his medical charts! Katie and I packed up and journeyed down to Milwaukee.

Third--Bryan called when I was 4 minutes from his office. He forgot his wallet at home! Luckily, he didn't get pulled over today...so Katie got to see Daddy at work today.

Needless to say, I needed a little pick-me-up. Katie and I stopped at Starbucks and treated ourselves to a pumpkin spice latte.

Just a few updates

1. Katie is congested and has a cough--sleeping has been difficult for her the past 24 hours.
2. Bryan is traveling to Madison tomorrow for a CE class. We'll miss him!
3. We took both our cars to M&D Auto this week for general check-ups (and they needed a few things fixed on them). We went each night after Katie went to bed, and our neighbor, Max, came over to our house. He's 15; he watched TV while Katie slept, and I think he preferred this to staying home, where he would have to compete with 5 other people for the TV!
4. Our digital camera is broken (again). This time, it won't turn on. We mailed it back to cannon yesterday. Props to cannon for providing pre-stamped packages!
5. On Veteran's day, Applebee's is providing free meals to veterans and active duty miltary. Yay for Applebee's!

Halloween (Part III)

Halloween (Part II)

Halloween (Part I)

Saturday night we went trick or treating for the first time with Katie and her friends. Three kids under the age of two. We had a monkey (Katie), a lion (Gianna) and a turtle (Peyton). All the kids as well as us adults enjoyed the time out together.

Debt-free Robertsons!

Our Memphis neighbors, the Robertsons, are debt free!! How's that for being 12 months out of optometry school, raising 5 kids, and only spending $15 per week on groceries??!? Great job, you guys!

Check out Lee's story and Ruth's story.

Ultrasound Update

This morning was the 20 week ultrasound. Everything is looking good. 2 arm, 2 legs, 2 kidneys, 4 chambered heart. Head size 3.5cm X 5.0 cm. Measuring around 17 weeks. So we think that she will be late again.

Oh yea, it's a girl.

---------Edited by Ashley-------------------------
Correction on Bryan's post: this was not the 20 week ultrasound; rather, this is the 2nd trimester ultrasound, which our doctor scheduled us for at 18 weeks, 6 days. And the baby is measuring 17 weeks, which isn't that far behind!

We are excited about the little girl! Now we can dress Katie and Deuce alike and enroll them in dance class together...take them shopping together...have them share clothes... They're going to be two cute little girls!

Katie's Busy Sunday

Grandma came over today for dinner. Katie got to play outside on the slides, and then inside with the dog. She ended her day reading some books with grandma. She had so much fun that she went to bed 40 minutes earlier then she usually does.

Gianna's 2nd B-day party

Saturday, we attended Gianna's 2nd birthday party. We brought along two kids and one in the womb. We got to babysit Peyton all day. He was a stud, the only boy at the party. Odds 1:6. Doesn't get much better then that Peyton.