Meeting Duke

For some of our readers who haven't been to our house: we are not farmers but we live out in the country among lots of farmers. Most of our close friends farm and lots of the members of our church also farm. Therefore, we kind of live out the farming seasons, even though we're not planting and harvesting right along with them. This time of year, babies are being born and the past few years in late February or early March, we have headed over to meet a baby calf or two at the Campbell farm.

Meet Mary Ann and her baby, Duke:

Abigail is standing in the feed trough, next to the steer pen. In past years she's been very intimidated by the cattle and never really believed us that the fence would keep them in their stall areas.

But this year she was pretty game, even helping to feed them.

Just like at home, Hannah climbed the gate to get a better view. Next to her is Emi Lou, who has a lot in common with Hannah. She's goofy and not afraid of much.

Baby Duke was content to be brushed...

As long as we cleared it with his mama first!

My friend, Jennifer, is 100% farm mom. She and Chris got their kids involved early and she treats our girls just like her own. Get in there and don't be afraid! Look at Hannah, she is so proud of herself!

They brushed Mary Ann some too, so she wouldn't feel left out.

In the summer, we'll see last year's baby calves being shown at the county fair. Pretty soon the farmers around us will be plowing and planting and we'll watch the fields turn pretty and green with corn and soybeans. Baby calves are a sign that spring is coming and we are SO glad!

Suite Date

On Friday night, Andy and I were treated to a night out. Thanks to a bank that I work with to invest scholarship dollars, and Mom and Dad who wanted to have the girls for an overnight, we were living it up!



Close game? Check!

Good food? Check!

Good company? Check!

Good seats? The best! Founders level suite, center court!

Hometown win? Check! The Pacers were 0-3 against the visiting Chicago Bulls this season and it was not expected to be a close game. In overtime, the Pacers prevailed!

Date on a budget? Check! The whole evening cost $5, for parking.



We had such a good time! And we're not even NBA fans. This is a good reminder that it can be fun to be a "visitor" to your own city. I'm downtown each workday, but rarely on the weekends. Indy has a safe, clean and fun downtown. What a treat!

Extreme Makeover: Athens edition

Now that the hustle and bustle of the post-wedding weeks has settled down, and the piles have been sorted (for the most part) let's show all of our out-of-town friends what the new look is around here.

A big shout out goes to our interior design consultant, Ansley Stewart, who has an eye for chic, modern and hip fashion digs. You might call her a fashionista. Mrs. K calls her the go-to lady when it comes to rearranging, or redesigning a room.

Below are the new looks to the abode, with, against all odds, ol' Uncle Bucket's contribution being the giant vase between the front windows filled with brown and red balls. That's right, I don't dose through ALL of those HGTV shows. I took notes at least once.

Finally, the vocab word I learned from all of this? Valance.

To my surprise, it's not a town in Italy, it's a mini curtain. Add this to the list of pillow shams, duvets and chargers as my domestic education continues. (Go ahead, shake your head and chuckle, I know that's what you're doing.)

One of our first nice days of the year!?!

You're probably tired of me writing that it's been a long winter.
But when this:
is the best we can expect for playing outside, it has been a long winter. I have some cooped up kids! A few weeks ago when the snow started to finally melt, we spent part of the afternoon out in the sunshine, even though it was wet and sloppy.

Hannah made several pretend trips to Walmart and Lowe's. The soccer ball that Aunt Kristi brought last summer had absorbed water and partially frozen, making it wobble when it rolled. The girls were in stitches over this!
For Valentine's Day this year Andy brightened my day by bringing me flowers! A wonderful treat to have pretty blooms in the house when nothing was growing outside! Especially since this is my 2nd bouquet from him in 10 years. I guess he just doesn't want to spoil me.

So, we passed the time in the cold weather wishing for warm days and sunshine or hanging out in the garage with Daddy:
Watching and "helping" him build the playhouse, which will be outside as soon as I paint the trim and the ground dries enough to move it. The ground has to dry some because the playhouse will need to be moved with a forklift. Andy doesn't do things in small ways, this playhouse is huge! The girls are going to spend tons of time in it this summer and I'm loving their excitement over it.
When we have had a fairly nice day, there's the porch. Our perfect play area because it's generally dry and the cats stay close by. Hannah really likes to organize/herd/order them around. They don't make it easy for her and this keeps her busy. Oh, Biscuit!
Hannah loves being able to fit places the rest of us can't, like in between a cabinet and wall in mom and dad's bathroom, or on a tiny chair. Add lying down on the front step to her list of spaces that are just her size.
And, the porch is big enough for some bike riding, which is great since our gravel driveway doesn't work well with training wheels. Today the high is supposed to be 58 and tomorrow it will be 68!! We are so excited to be able to play outside!

Gotta go!

It's a Small World

Clara's violin teacher, Irwin Bell, is a fascinating man. Each week during her lesson, we seem to learn something new about him. He is 81 years old and enjoys reminiscing about his life. Today, while telling us about his college days, he said that he studied choral music at the Moody Bible Institute (around 1950). He recalled his favorite teacher who influenced him to focus on choral conducting as a career (one of his former positions at Ole Miss) and I was amazed that it was a name I recognized: Donald Hustad!

For those outside the immediate family, Dr. Hustad was an organist for a while at our church in Louisville and was one of Dad's favorites....maybe he'll share something about him in the comments!

Big Dance Preview: Tidbits and Nuggets For March Madness

Selection Sunday is now behind us, and it’s time to brush up on your bracket tips, figure out when to reserve couch time and find little nuggets to impress your co-workers.

Forget the days when Greg Gumbel and the New York executives bounced you from regional game to national game. This year, all of the Tournament games will be shown as “national” games on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV because of a partnership between CBS and Turner. The companies spent $10.8 billion for the rights to broadcast the three-week tournament for 14 years.

Big Dance Preview: Tidbits and Nuggets For March Madness

Creative Clara

Our Chickpea continues to delight our days and we never know what she'll come up with next! She is growing up fast and becoming a big girl overnight, it seems. She still enjoys dance class with her friends every Tuesday and is excited to be part of the church youth that meets each Wednesday night and a special weekend fun night each month. A few weeks ago, she went on her first overnight away from home to help her best friend, Denver, celebrate her 8th birthday.

Here are some snapshots of what she has been up to lately. Dolls are still a very favorite part of her day. Her babies are like family members and she is such a good mama!

Talking it over with Bella, Catherine and Sally

Since starting violin lessons last September, Clara is about 2/3 of the way through Suzuki Book 1 and practices almost everyday. She has several favorite songs and doesn't seem daunted when Mr. Bell keeps giving her new ones to learn, though she's figuring out that it takes hard work to play well.

Our violinist obviously not paying attention to the maestro conducting

behind her, even though he's on his podium and everything!

Last fall, the ladies at our church brought their sewing machines to the fellowship hall to have an afternoon of creating little dresses for Africa. Clara and I went along to help, although my sewing skills are basically nonexistent. However, this was enough for her to get bit by the sewing bug! I thought it was a good interest for her, so after receiving a sewing machine for Christmas, we got started! Okay, Mom, brace yourself....

Since I couldn't let Clara do it all by herself yet, she decided to make her own sewing machine to play with while I worked on our creation. This is what she came up with all by herself!

She even threaded her needle and has since added a foot pedal!

And here's the finished product....a Tinkerbell tote bag!

What little girl doesn't like tea parties? Here she is a day or two after Valentine's Day when she cashed in the coupon I gave her for a tea party on real china (wearing a dance costume).

Modeling her own version of dangly earrings

(with clear string that hooks over the ears)

Sweet silliness

Three Busy Years

There's nothing in the world like being a parent, especially to make you realize just how fast time flies. Three years ago, we brought this little bundle home from the hospital. It seems impossible to Andy and I that it's been that long. Yet, we have a very busy little person running around the house to remind us that she's now sleeping all night, potty trained, going to preschool and talking nearly nonstop. So three years must be about right!


This year was the first year that Hannah realized what her birthday was all about. She planned ahead for a birthday she would love to celebrate! Her actual birthday (March 4th) was Friday, so on Thursday we took cupcakes to preschool. There, she wore a paper birthday crown and was thrilled to be the birthday girl among all of her peers. She first wanted pink cupcakes, then changed her mind to green (her current favorite color) and finally white. I added some pink sprinkles for good measure.

When we got home on Thursday, we found a package from Halseys. Every piece of it was met with a grin and "Weeee!" As soon as the paper had all been torn off, she pulled her boots on and ran out the door to blow bubbles. It might have been 50 degrees that day and the sun was sinking fast but Hannah blew those bubbles for all she was worth. There were three tubes and she even shared one with her big sister, with no prompting from us (yay!)

This time last year she could not figure out how to blow hard enough to produce a bubble. See how much changes in a year?!

All gone!

On Friday afternoon it was time to fulfill the one and only birthday request...a shopping trip to Imagination Station! For a few months now, Hannah has informed me as we've driven past the small toy store in Franklin, "That's where I'm going for my birthday!" So, we didn't buy her any gifts, but took her shopping and this is what she chose:

To say that it's been a hit so far would be the understatement of the last three years! Both girls and every cousin under the 80lb weight limit have bounced and bounced and bounced. Since the weather continues to be pretty dreary a good part of the time around here, the little trampoline arrived at the perfect time.

Saturday was party day! Which means, it was a very full day. The birthday girl was up at 5:30 and back down for a nap around 9. Andy and I cleaned the house, assembled the trampoline and prepped for the party and by 2pm when I was just about wiped out, it was time to decorate the cake...which happens to be one of my favorite parts of the day. The girls love this tradition because they get to choose the design of their cake for each birthday. I've got a lot to learn and didn't do the cake as originally planned, but Hannah and Abigail loved helping with the decor. Halfway through the frosting, I decided that a second nap for Hannah was inevitable. Here she is before she melted down:

The best comment she made (post nap) was, "Look what's in the middle! A number three!" Um, maybe I spent too much time on the turrets if all that really impressed her was the 3.

She loved every single gift...adorable outfits, two Barbies, shopping money and a tricycle. A princess night gown was put on immediately!

And she loved having all of her older cousins to play with. It was a fun party and a big day. I still can't believe she's three!

Just before bedtime, I insisted that the overtired and overstimulated birthday girl go to the potty. There'd been some resistance to the idea. She was busy! Finally, Andy suggested that she take the new toy she was so involved with to the potty. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Happy Birthday, Hannah Kay! You delight us everyday and we are so thankful for you!