Week 38: Southern Rock

As usual, I got a little too excited when we had our first 70 degree day of the spring and went out to do a bunch of landscaping. It is just a bit of Hobbit in me I suppose, but I do love to plant flowers (and this year vegetables) and watch them grow. However, I have to say that the piece of landscaping I am most proud of this year is the big, East Tennessee rock featured underneath Lily in the picture above. I happened to spot it as I was wheeling barrel fulls of fine East Tennessee clay to the lot behind our house, and had an idea strike me like the pungent smell of a dirty diaper first thing in the morning. Therefore, after I dumped my clay, I picked up the rock and wheeled it back, finding it a place of honor in a new bed I cut this year (again, the whole too eager thing....I definitely should have at least stretched first). Then, of course, we had to take the week picture of the pride and joy of our lives, sitting atop the pride and joy of my new flower bed....che bellisima!

Mad Scientist

No, despite appearances, Lily has not been playing with forks and outlets...at least not at the same time. This is her occasional hair-do after a nice, long nap...evidenced by the satisfied grin.

Spring flowers, snow showers

If you can believe it, these pictures were taken Monday evening. Fortunately, neither the cold nor the snow were extreme enough to deter the growth and beauty of our forsythia and tiger lilies....and the boys still got to enjoy one last romp in the snow!

Thanks to Peacock for his inspiration to take interesting photographs...now if he could only teach me to do it as well as he does...

Beast of Burden

Well, Emily and I finally broke down and bought a new jogging stroller. After doing a lot of research, and analyzing the data (in a spreadsheet of course!), we decided on a Beast of Burden (BOB) sport utility stroller. These are nice because they are built with an aluminum alloy frame that will not rust, have standard 16" wheels and a locked front wheel. All of these features make the BOB a good choice for actually jogging. What makes it cool however is the mag wheel design....now if only we could get the hydrolic shocks to do a little bouncing....

Jailbirds

Can anyone guess where Lily has been learning how to pull herself up?

Week 37: Thank You Easter Bunny!

Lily's first Easter was certainly an exciting one. The Pack traveled to Northern Virginia to visit with Nana, Grandad, Chipper and Ashley for the holiday. On the way up Friday, we met with my folks in Stanton to have an Easter lunch with Granny, Uncle Snap and Aunt Margaret. To say that Mrs. Rowes restaurant is world famous may be a stretch, but it is certainly renowned in the Shenandoah valley for the old fashion country cookin' ... not to mention the butterscotch meringue pie.

The Opals, Chip and Ashley came over for dinner at the ranchero Friday night. Apparently, Nana had been cooking all week for the visit, and it showed. Dinner (not to mention the following 5 meals) was delicious. In particular, the red velvet cake that Cher made and Mom's coconut cake were outstanding!

Saturday was a bit of a lazy day, with Nana and Grandad going to church meetings, and Emily doing some shopping; all while Lily and I watched a little basketball and played tennis ball with the dogs. Chip and Ashley came over later that afternoon, and we decided to head out for 18 at the frisbee golf course at Burke Lake. This was only the first of the games of the night however, as Chip brought his Wii and we played such exciting games as Guitar Hero II and American Idol. Needless to say I didn't win the singing contest!


Sunday morning Lily woke up with her first Easter basket. She got some cute outfits, nicknacks, and a tasty looking chocolate bunny that her Daddy confiscated for her own good....definitely not because it looked chocolaty and delicious. In any event, we attended the MPC, caught up with some old friends, had lunch back at the ranchero, and hit the road for the long 6 hour trip back. Altogether, a fun but exhausting weekend!

Emily's Addendum:

Both grandmothers had the opportunity to see Lily in her ears, live. Thanks Gran for coming to keep Lily on Thursday and thanks Nana for a wonderful weekend and a fabulous First Easter basket!

Week 36: Happy St. Patty's Day

This is my attempt to pay homage to a very important holiday in the lives of The Campbell Pack. As most of you know, it was in fact St. Patrick's Day eight years ago, when luck struck both of us with that fateful meeting in Savannah. Lily is (so elegantly, I might add) sporting one of the strands of beads that my now lovely husband bestowed upon me that night .It must have been the Luck of the Irish for us not only to have met on St. Patty's Day, but also to have had our first-born on 07-07-07...... our own little leprechaun.....

On Sunday, the Harrelson's were our gracious hosts for a quick but very fun and delicious get-together with the Stebbing's (Asheville friends of the Harrelson's) and new neighbors of Anna's. In total there were four babies there ranging from nine and a half to two months...good times! Thanks Anna for a great night (I have to add that these pics were stollen from her blog.... so thanks for that, too).

Janak Arrives!

We're excited to announce the birth of my cousin Chris and Sonia's new addition Janak Joshua Bain, 3-13-08, 7lbs 13oz, almost 21'' long. Janak (John-ak) is a family name on Sonia's side, and Joshua, for those of you that don't know, is Chris' brother's name.... Mom and baby are both doing well, we wish Sonia a quick and uneventful recovery, we know that big brother Caleb is going to be the best big brother and a huge help to mom and dad! Congratualtions to all the Bain's and Uppal's, what a beautiful blessing! We love you all!

Sleep Walking

I promise that this is not the position that Daddy-Day-Care left her in...must have been a dream about chasing tennis balls or something...

Finger Painting

So Lily may actually be eating instead of finger-painting, but I don't think that should take away from the aesthetic beauty of the scene. This was the first time that she got to hold her own spoon, and all things considered (especially her father's own lack of hand-eye coordination) she made a pretty good go of it. In case you were wondering, the tasty looking orange substance is a mixture of carrots, zucchini and yellow squash, with a splach of rice cereal to give it that creamy goodness.

Week 35

It was a chilly weekend here with snow on Saturday. But the sun peaked through by Sunday, so we took advantage of that with a nice stroll around the VA. Though we don't have any pics, Lily had a big time with Uncle Jonathan on Saturday, while Dave and I attended a classmate's wedding. Thanks, Jonathan!We haven't used the co-sleeper for several months now, and finally converted it to a play-pen....sure wish we would have done that sooner. Lily appears to enjoy having her own piece of real estate, and now that she's so mobile (not crawling yet, but still very mobile) it's nice for us to have her contained but still able to play!

Week 34

Uncle Chipper would be proud. We took advantage of a beautiful, 70-degree early spring day to play our first round of frisbee golf as a family. We played our 18 on the course at Winged Deer Park (different from buffalo wings Jessica), and it was everything you would expect from a Johnson City frisbee golf course....lots of trees, lots of hills, and one sink hole. Fortunately, I was the only one to land in the sink hole and was able to retrieve my disc. We took turns wearing Lily in the Bjorn, and surprisingly it appeared as though the person wearing her did slightly better than the one without. Something having to do with throwing the disc so hard that it may land in sink holes....

In any event, we also had to feature this shirt that was bought for us by a member of Mom and Dad's church (thanks Gretchen). It has a camel head on the front, and...well, you can see the back. We think it is absolutely hilarious and are mixing it in to the rotation as much as possible before Lily outgrows it.

And finally, Friday will mark Lily's 8 month birthday....Happy Birthday Lily!