Happy Halloween!

With Emily being on night float the last two weeks, Lily and I were so glad to have her back today to celebrate Halloween! Earlier this week, Lily got to open her Halloween card from Gran.





















Of course, there was pumpkin carving that needed to be done. Our "theme" this year was M&M's...so Lily dressed up as the sassy, femme-fatal Green. Emily should get massive props for this, as she made the costume this week, in between 14 hours night shifts! We also carved our pumpkins to be Red and Yellow.

Now, the Green M&M outfit was not so popular at first, but the issue proved to be no match for sugar!

Emily's colleague Elizabeth came over with her son Luke to go trick-or-treating in Wiltshire. Luke was dressed up as Thomas the Train. Apparently, we have quite a popular 'hood for trick-or-treating as the road in front of our house was parked up for most of the evening.

Evening though the rain was steady for most of the night, it could not dampen the spirits of us east Tennessee folk....the festival must go on!

Jackson Wayne Campbell

From Chip:

Ashley and I wanted to pass along our great news to you. Jackson Wayne Campbell was born this morning at 1:59 am. He weighed in at 8 pounds on the nose and was a nice 20.5 inches long. I am very glad to let you know that both mom and baby are doing fantastic!! Ashley and I would like to thank you for all for your well wishes during these exciting times.

Junior Photographer

So, Lily's new favorite toy (as are most things that are not actually her toys) is our camera. She loves to run around the house taking pictures....of us, the dogs, the wall, it doesn't matter....she is a picture taking fool. Here are some of her latest masterpieces. Keep in mind that none of these pictures involved any encouragement or inspiration from us....they're all Lily originals!

Hood-lums...or perhaps Jedi?

You make the call!

Homecoming Weekend

Its that time of year....Homecoming Weekend at Milligan! Since Emily has been on night float all week, she didn't get off work until 7:30 this morning. In an effort to give her some time to sleep, Lily and I took off for the Buffalo 5K Run/Walk this morning. As I w0uld be doing the running for both of us, we opted for the more leisure choice of "Walk" this morning. Plus, it gave me time to finish my coffee on the way. Here are some pictures from the morning....Lily and I struck a bargain that since it was Saturday, she could keep her pj's on as long as she wore a jacket!

The astute observer may also notice my t-shirt....I'm particularly proud of it! It is a t-shirt honoring Friedrich Hayek, a Nobel Prize winning economist and tireless defender of free markets during the 20th Century. Rock on Friedrich!

More Random Pictures

This picture is of Lily on the kitchen floor. She was in the throws of a temper-tantrum...over what you may ask?....I had pulled milk out of the fridge for her dinner drink instead of apple juice!


The Boys....ever the model of obedience.

Here is a picture of the "Lily tree" now that its leaves have started to turn for the fall....I'm just glad they didn't turn brown the week after we planted it!

Morning Pictures

Emily has started her two week shift of night float, meaning that mornings are pretty much the only time we get to see each other. Since I am sans classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it gives us the opportunity to have a little time together. Here are some pictures from this first morning of night float.

To add an addendum (this is Emily typing) Lily looks perplexed in the second picture because we finally got a new rug..and this was her first sighting of it, not exactly sure what to make of it. And the less than pleased look in the last picture is the typical response we've been getting when I get home and she realizes that she has to leave me and go to Miss Mattie's. Her new favorite saying is 'I don't wanna go to Ms. Mattie's. ' It's enough to break my sleep deprived heart...

Goof Ball

A couple random pictures of Lily being Lily....

Dancin' to the Music in the Castle

Well, today was another call day for Emily....so I did my usual Googling to find an interesting local event to take Lily to see. Unlike last Saturday, today was a gorgeous fall day. In any event, I found a local marching band festival taking place a scant 15 minutes from Emily's hospital. So, Lily and I took off for it, and as luck would have it the Sullivan South Marching Rebels was the first band to perform. This band is directed by Elizabeth's (Emily's friend and colleague at Bristol) husband.....and as luck would double have it, Lily and I ran into Elizabeth and Luke following the performance. We stayed to hear a couple more bands before leaving to round up some KGC from Mama.

Apple Festival

Here are a few pictures from our adventure to the Apple Festival in Erwin. Erwin is really the last major outpost before you go all out rural Tennessee Mountains. So we got a picture with a smallish mountain in the back drop. The greasy food typical of most festivals was definitely a highlight. We split a funnel cake (as you can see). We also took a ride on the "choo-choo-chrain" as Lily calls it.

You have to appreciate the entrepreneurial spirits of folks in this part of the world. Just about everything you can imagine was up for sale. Some tents were essentially garage sales...others had some really nice crafts (we got a wooden feather set to turn a pumpkin into a turkey)....and there was certainly some apple products. We ended up with two jars of home made apple butter (yes Dad, one is for you), and a jar of plum butter (sorry Dad, you're fighting your daughter and granddaughter for that one).

Cool

Oakley sunglasses from the 90's are the very definition of cool....regardless of whether they are right side up!