One Year Ago

Jimmy and Camilla and their dogs came for a short visit. Katie had a great time with uncle Jimmy and aunt Camilla.

Birthday Party - part two

Katie received many wonderful gifts today. We are grateful for all who where able to attend today's party. Due to some technical errors, we were unable to get the live video feed running. Computers, aren't they great. Anyway, enjoy the photos.

Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Katie's first birthday. Here is some video of her eating her first cake.

A Collierville Thanksgiving

Bryan, Katie and I traveled to Collierville on Thanksgiving day. We took Hwy 51, and were amazed at all the new commercial buildings. I think we passed 3 new Starbucks! The country is in a recession, right?!? Once we were at Nanna's house, Nanna and Aunt Debbie hooked onto Katie. They looked gorgeous, as usual.

Katie met her 2nd cousin, Elizabeth McCallen (15 months), and "Aunt" Dottie.

The weather was so mild that most of the family gathered outside to feed the ducks in the neighborhood pond. Luke, Grif, and Elizabeth threw bread at the ducks. When the kids ran out of bread, Luke went into Nanna's house to get some wheat thins. Nanna thought he was hungry, so she gave him the cheese ball and tray of wheat thins to take outside. Luckily, we interviened before the ducks were fed the Wisconsin cheese.

Aaron entertained Katie. Thanks, Omi, for the monkey gym!!

Uncle Mark and Aunt Missy also bonded with Katie. Sorry--she can't go back to Knoxville with you!On Black Friday, Aunt Missy woke up early and hit Kohls and numerous other stores. Bryan and I slept in the best we could. After breakfast with the other cousins (Tim, Anna, and Leah also stayed at Nanna's house), we met up with Dad and went to the new mall, Carriage Crossings. I found some nice lamps that would look good on both sides of our Amish bed, but Bryan vetoed the $300 purchase. That's ok; I'm sure Kirklands has some nice lamps.

On Friday evening, Aunt Debbie had everyone over for white chili. When I say "everyone," I mean all the McCallens plus the cousins that come from my Pappaw's brother, Great Uncle Tommy. Here I am with cousins and second-cousins (left to right): Whitney Bainer, me, Leah Bickers, Elizabeth and Stephanie Spurlock, Anna Bickers and (center) Kathleen. Why do I have to be the shortest? I mean, really...Kathleen, Anna, Leah and I share 25% the same genetic code. So why are they 5 inches taller than me??

Uncle Tommy (Pappaw's brother), and Ruthie, his wife.

And finally...EVERYONE (sans Deborah, Jimmy and Sean). Notice who's back, center of the picture. He obviously married into the family!

A Dyersburg Thanksgiving

Per the usual, Bryan and I split our Thanksgiving vacation between Dyersburg and Memphis (Collierville). I will create exclusive posts about each trip.

While at Mimi's, Katie enjoyed playing in her (borrowed) deluxe exersaucer.

Great-Granddaddy enjoyed holding Katie.

Katie had lots of mommy time and daddy time.

We visited Memommie at the nursing home.

And Mimi showed Katie off to the handymen.

On Thanksgiving day, Mom heated up our lunch--the turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, and desserts were all catered in from Stein Low's (who made the food for our wedding reception). My mom is no Betty Crocker! I got a few cute shots of everyone around the table.

9.19.08 phone conversation with Granddaddy

Since I blogged yesterday about my experiences with The Greatest Generation, I decided to give my Granddaddy a call while walking Katie and Shadow.

We chatted about the usual--the weather, lack of rain and (drumroll) grocery shopping.

I am obsessed--not with grocery shopping, but with using coupons and sales to get groceries inexpensively or free. I mentioned the other day that I paid 33 cents for a box of Hamburger Helper...but also, I recently paid 15 cents for a carton of yogurt and zero dollars for a box of pasta. Huggies diapers are on sale this week for $10.99 per mega pack (72 diapers).

I must get this obsession from Granddaddy (Charles Haggard). His favorite past time is getting in his little red truck and driving over to Kennett, Missouri, (42 miles) to shop at the newest store: Aldi's. Granddaddy explained to me how much money he was saving by shopping in bulk at Aldi's. Recently, he bought cases of green beans, corn, peas, peaches and pears (25 cents per can). He also buys cream soups, tomatoes and sauces in bulk by the case. Why? Because it's a good "investment" since the local Wal-Mart sells items by the can for 40 cents and up.

Granddaddy has a generous heart because he doesn't buy all of these for himself. He enjoys stockpiling the goods for me and brother Jimmy (but mostly me) to go "grocery shopping" in his basement. When I spoke with Granddaddy, he made sure to tell me to leave plenty of room in our van so we can carry cases of the food back to Wisconsin. Even though I can obviously afford to buy my own can of peas, I know not to turn down the foods or explain that I don't need the goods. In this small way, Granddaddy is taking care of us, and he likes doing it. In his mind, I will forever be a college student.

No signs...but all in good time

We were a little disappointed that our anniversary dinner of spinich-artichoke dip appetizer, the thai-curry chicken pasta, and the triple chocolate layered mousse cake did not intice our little girl to come into the world. But we enjoyed our dinner at The Cheesecake Factory!

Bryan and I split the appetizer, pasta and cake and still managed to take home half the meal! You can imagine our awe when we watched a 10 year-old-boy at the next table finish his (adult) sized pasta dish and his own slice of strawberry cheesecake (washing it all down with soda).

In other blogging news--we *temporarily* have a wireless laptop (thank you, American Family Insurance), and I will be using this a bit from home during my maternity leave. We will be following the Schulz's example of blogging from the hospital whenever we go (and when the labor pains are not too intense). Keep watching!

Our 4th Year

Happy Anniversary, Bryan! These four years have gone by so quickly...from Memphis to Milwaukee. I only wish our daughter was here to help us celebrate. I'll pick you up at 6, and then we can head to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I'm sooooo craving chocolate mousse cheesecake!

Light Reading

Our nightly schedule consists of (5pm) Ashley coming home, making dinner, and cleaning; (6:15pm) Bryan coming home, eating the yummy food, and watching Family Guy; (7pm) catching season finales such as Grey's Anatomy or Lost; (8pm) cleaning up the kitchen; (9pm) reading in bed.

Bryan's current book: Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems (by dog enthusiast Cesar Milan). Cesar takes his pack of 40 dogs on a 4 hour walk each morning! Bryan and Shadow walked this morning around the block...for 30 minutes.

Ashley's current book:
Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs (by Christian writer and speaker Emerson Eggerichs)

Once we finish these books, we'll switch them with each other.

6am Activity

Where were you at 6am?

Bryan and I are usually sleeping...but the chirping birds and sunlight lured us to get out of bed and take a lovely walk in our neighborhood. The baby loved it! (Shadow enjoyed herself, too).

What's new? Really?

Heidi Rademacher, one of my friends from Rhodes, emailed me today and asked the typical question: what's new?

I thought I'd share my answer with the blog.

• Dad and Deborah drove up from Dyersburg last weekend for a visit. We went to my baby shower brunch and ate some yummy breakfast casserole and drank coffee-ice cream punch!
• Our friends Beth and Mark Earnest went to Scotland for 10 days. We're watching their dog, Colby. I think Colby intimidates Shadow with his bundle of energy. He's always running around.
• I'm trying to read more books on home organization. I'm tired of getting home at night and wondering what's for dinner. Emilie Barnes recently spoke on the subject on Focus on the Family's daily broadcast. Listen here--the broadcast is about 25 minutes.
• I've known for a while that ground turkey can be substituted in most ground beef recipes, but I'm trying more to cook with it. It's way healthier and a little cheaper. Just today I bought 4 pounds of ground turkey for $5!

Checking out Ankeny, IA

Bryan and I are visiting with Todd, Melissa, and Ella this weekend. Check out this post!

Happy Birthday Nanna!

Nanna, I wish I could make you a cake as beautiful as this.
A kiss to Nanna

Happy Birthday to Ashley's Nanna! She gets younger every year.

Nanna, we hope you're enjoying the mild Memphis temperatures!