Rachel Callahan

Scavenger Hunt GIVEAWAY Update – Thanks to Birmingham Menus!!!!

November 20, 2008 Rachel Callahan Giveaways and Contests, Shamelessly Plugging Away

I have just been able to obtain two more prizes to add to the Scavenger Hunt! And these are GOOD ones!!!

I have been buying gift certificates from Birmingham Menus for a couple of years now – it is an organization that sells gift certificates for the independently owned restaurants in Birmingham (which happen to be my FAVORITE restaurants in Birmingham!!).

They have these great quarterly discount gift certificate sales where you can buy a $20 GC for only $12, a $25 GC for only $15, and a $50 GC for only $33. This is an AWESOME deal if you already go to these restaurants like we do! We stock up on them and save tons of money.

Birmingham Menus just teamed up with giphter to offer a new great deal: Group Gift Certificates. These certificates are good for any of 32 different independently owned restaurants in Birmingham, which makes them a PERFECT gift idea!! Especially with holidays coming up – if you’re not sure where someone likes to go to dinner, you can’t go wrong by getting them a certificate that is good at 32 of the best restaurants in town!

You can purchase certificates in any denomination through secure checkout, print them immediately or e-mail them to family, friends, colleagues and clients. They may also be purchased over the phone by calling 1-888-794-5290 and they will be mailed to recipients within one business day.

The new program makes it easy for faithful restaurant enthusiasts to introduce new people to Birmingham’s vibrant independent restaurant scene while infusing more money into the local economy!!

So, to add to our Scavenger Hunt fun, they have provided me with TWO of these AWESOME group gift certificates worth $30 each!!!

That increases the number of winners to SIX PEOPLE!!

So here are THREE ways you can be entered to win these new prizes:

1. Go to Birmingham Menus/Giphter and take a look at the list of 32 restaurants on the right side of the page and come back to this post and tell me which restaurant is your favorite out of all of them. This is good for one entry.

2. Go to my original Scavenger Hunt post and comment there (you can comment anything you want BUT the answers to the Scavenger Hunt). This is good for another one entry.

3. Play the Scavenger Hunt and email me the answers according to the instructions in the Scavenger Hunt post. This is good for up to FOURTEEN entries if you play all 14 clues!

You don’t have to be a blogger to play – if you don’t have a login to comment, just comment as “anonymous” but be sure to leave your name and email address so that I can contact you if you win. Everyone is eligible! You have until December 1st to enter. The winners will be randomly chosen from all of the comment and scavenger hunt entries and announced at 3pm on December 2nd.

Good luck!!

Thankful Thursday – Thank You, Paul!!

November 20, 2008 Rachel Callahan Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday is a weekly column where I post what I am thankful about that week, and you have the opportunity (via your blog linked into this post OR via a comment on this blog) to share your thankful thought for the week.

I took a week off from Thankful Thursday last week since I was chasing around twins. But I’m back at it this week, and it’s a two-for-one special to get caught up – Thankful Thursday with a bit of Devotions Thursday thrown in for free!

This week I am very thankful for God’s Word being alive and always speaking in a new and different way. And I am specifically thankful for Paul. I love his style of writing – it is so easy for me to understand, study, break down, and apply to my life.

I have been in 1 Corinthians lately, and I got to chapters 15 and 16 where he is wrapping the book up. I love his wrap-ups to books because he is always sure to put a couple verses of instruction in there – the “if you don’t get anything else from this letter, do this” stuff. I love the direct, black and white, no fluff stuff.

At the end of 1 Corinthians, he does this in 15:58, then goes into some wrap-up greet so-and-so stuff, then decides to get in a couple more instructions in 16:13-14. Here are his two sets of “don’t miss this” instructions:

15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. . . 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

He gives eight directives in those three verses for the purpose of helping the Corinthian people (and us) live their lives according to God’s will while Paul is not with them to disciple them. I had the dates in my bible of the last time I studied these verses, so I went back to my 2006 notebook and found my notes. They spoke to me all over again, and since I am thankful for them, I thought I would share them.

on 15:58 –
1. Stand firm
2. Let nothing move you
3. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord
Why do these things? –> Because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

we are to stand firm, let nothing move us, and give ourselves fully to the Lord because our labor is not in vain – God promises in Isaiah 55:11 that His Word will not return void – He is accomplishing His purposes! So even though we may not be able to see any results from our ministry or work for the Lord, or maybe we see results but they aren’t what we had hoped for, we should not be discouraged!! Our work is not in vain, and we shouldn’t judge the progress or the produce of our work – God is in charge of that and He will achieve His purposes through us AND in spite of us!

and here are my notes to myself on 16:13-14:
1. Be on your guard – be alert, never becoming indifferent, lazy, or careless. Be on your guard with the intake of your heart and the output of your heart. What are you letting in and what are you letting out? Never act like the world; You are Holy and set apart – if you act like the world, you will quickly get sucked into the world and become a part of it.

2. Stand firm in the faith – Do not waiver, do not experiment, do not test the waters of sin. Continually grow in Your knowledge of God’s Word and in your relationship with Him so that Your faith is strengthened and steady! Stand for what you believe; don’t shy away or be too scared of the consequences to hide the light!

3. Be men (and women!) of courage – Don’t be fearful, don’t fret, don’t let anxiety creep in. Look at the road ahead with excitement and boldness, remembering that God created that road perfectly for you! Courageously accept the portion that God has given you, knowing that it is for a reason!

4. Be Strong – Do not be pulled down by the trappings of this world, or by Satan. Take a stand, set boundaries, and refuse to cross them!! There are temptations EVERYWHERE and everything is made to look good, ok, sexy, and fun. Don’t be fooled! Satan is very good at making things look good that are really death and destruction!

5. Do everything in Love – Love God and love others. Choose them over yourself, in that order. It is really easy to get really selfish really quick – before you even realize it has happened! Don’t forget that you are not the center of the universe, but you are simply a child of God!

I am SO thankful that God can speak through His Word over and over and over again, and it is new and fresh every single time! I hope this was encouraging to you as it was to me.

OK – your turn!! What are you thankful for today? Leave it in a comment, or if you have a blog, write a post on your blog and link it in with Mr. Linky (at the bottom of this post), and you can have the pleasure of welcoming my wonderful readers to your site!

To use Mr. Linky to link to your blog, just type in your name in the first slot, then copy and paste the URL of your blog post in the second one and click “Enter” – then there will be a link to your post from my blog! ***be sure to put the link to your actual “Thankful Thursday” post – not just your main blog URL.***

Satan the Squirrel

November 19, 2008 Rachel Callahan Just My Luck, Satan the Squirrel, Weird Strange and True

My husband and I have a repulsion for squirrels. If we see one anywhere near our house, we both start getting an uncontrollable nervous twitch. We have anger fantasies towards them. The thought of a squirrel concentration camp. Maybe poisonous gas involved. Oooh – – or an execution lineup.

I’m sure you’re thinking that we’re horrible people about now. Who would feel that way towards such cute, innocent woodland creatures?

Oh, we have our reasons. I promise.

Rewind a couple of years, one less family member, and a house ago. Back in our cozy townhouse at Whisper Wood. It was a lovely place – our very first home! We had rented a different townhouse for our first year of marriage, then bought this townhouse that we thought was tha bomb – it had a jacuzzi tub the size of a hot tub, a huge master bedroom and bathroom, and we painted every room all sorts of bright fun colors to make it look like it just got featured in “Trading Spaces”. It was great.

But then the ~~hellish cruelty~~ challenges of home ownership set in. You know, washing-machine-leaking-the-first-time-it-was-turned-on-and-ruining-the-hallway-paint-in-a-mega-way, unbelievable roof leaks, lawn maintenance, etc. It kinda took away some of the romance, but we kept going, as chipper as ever about our new house.

Until we met Satan the Squirrel and his lovely wife, Mrs. StS.

We first heard them in the attic, chewing. It was OBNOXIOUS. They would only start their chewing thing when we laid down to go to bed, and so we would lay there, eyes wide open, looking toward the ceiling in their general direction, just wondering what electrical wiring they were chewing through that was about to burn down the whole place.

Our attic was very hard to maneuver, so it was very challenging to deal with them.

Chris and our wonderful neighbor Darrel found their entry point and blocked it off from the outside.

But the chewing continued. Apparently they had trapped one inside the attic.

So Chris and Darrel get out the ladder again, and while they’re climbing up. StS was on our porch (not trapped) starts “screaming” at them. Apparently we had trapped Mrs. StS in there and he was not happy.

He kept screaming and screaming. If you’ve never heard a squirrel scream, you’re a lucky person.

They opened up the hole, and little wifey ran out as fast as she could. They closed the hole again. Problem solved!

However, I could still hear them sometimes from my shower – since it was right by their entry point, we figured they were trying to get back in to get to their nut stash. One morning while I was waking up in the shower, it was especially loud.

scratch, scratch, scratch.

I tried to ignore it. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught some movement, I jump, thinking it was my biggest fear, a roach, of course. I look over, and right by my head in the corner of the shower is a squirrel nose peeking through the wall!!!!!!!

I SCREAM AS LOUD AS I CAN.

Chris doesn’t hear me.

I jump out of the shower and SCREAM AGAIN.

He comes running in there and I point to the hole in the wall the size of a quarter that wasn’t there just a few minutes before.

“The squirrel! He was! His nose! In my shower! Helppppppp!!!”

(Editor’s note: I believe it was at this point where I started referring to my Shower-Peeping-Tom as “Satan the Squirrel”)

Turns out that they could still get just barely into the eave of the house, but they couldn’t get to their nut stash. And every time I started the water in my shower, they started digging, somehow thinking that the noise was their nut stash calling out for them.

Chris gets a trusty can of Great Stuff and fills the hole full on the inside, then repatches the outside of the house AGAIN.

The previous owners had generously bestowed upon us the leftovers of tacky wall paper that went in that bathroom (as it was the spare bedroom’s bathroom, it was the one room we never painted). So we simply put a new sheet up over the great-stuff-filled hole. One day when the new owner decides to un-paper that bathroom, they are going to say “what in the world??”

That took care of our problem for that winter. However, the next winter always comes, as does Satan the Squirrel.

And THAT is another story for another day. Friday, specifically.

Slightly Wordy Wednesday – What Happens at Gramamma’s Stays at Gramamma’s. . .

November 19, 2008 Rachel Callahan Wordless Wednesday - as IF I could be wordless.

. . .unless Gramamma takes pictures.

Mom kept Ali last weekend while we were in Tuscaloosa. She had given Ali some of the last piece of Nick’s birthday cake. While she was cooking, Ali came and asked for more. Mom was busy, so she said “no” without paying much attention or turning around. When she finally did, she found out that Ali had figured out how to self-serve herself. From the trash.
Meeeeeee???? (I love the incriminating splat of icing on her cheek)
Trash cake is better than no cake!!
Mom also bought Ali a hat after seeing this post. Here are some cute pics she took. Notice the icing all over Ali’s collar. Trash cake. Yummy.
And one more set: Mom took a picture of Ali and Eli that just stunned me. He is catching up with her WAY too fast!! Look at the amazing difference from just a few months ago to now:

Ali and Eli the day that JC and Lindsay got to bring him home from the hospital on June 18th. He weighed 4lbs, 10 oz. and was one month old:
Ali’s first opportunity to hold Eli on July 4th:
And then her holding him on Saturday night (he’s 6 months old):
Isn’t that unreal?!!?!? They’ll be playing together in no time!!

Visit my other WW post at B-Sides.
Visit everyone else’s WW posts at 5 Minutes for Mom!

Don’t forget to enter my Second Randomannual Bloggy Scavenger Hunt! It promises to be much fun, and plus – the prizes!

Second Randomannual Bloggy Scavenger Hunt!!

November 17, 2008 Rachel Callahan Giveaways and Contests

If you’ve been a reader for a while, you will probably remember my first Bloggy Scavenger Hunt. It was much fun, so I wanted to do it again! I am picking almost all new blogs to send you to, so it should be an adventure, all the while taking you to several wonderful blogs!!

This is another music giveaway, and here are the prizes:

Red Mountain Music’s “Silent Night” (that was featured in this earlier giveaway as well – click here for more information about this album)
Third Day – “Christmas Offerings”
Sara Groves – “O Holy Night”
Casting Crowns – “The Altar and the Door” (Not a Christmas CD)

UPDATE – I have added two more prizes to the Scavenger Hunt – Two $30 Gift Certificates from Birmingham Menus good for any one of 32 independently owned restaurants in Birmingham!! Go to this post for more details and one more entry chance to win!!

There will be six different winners!

Here are the the ways to win:

Comment on this post – counts for one entry – comment whatever you like EXCEPT the answers to the scavenger hunt!
Follow each clue to find the answer. Do as many or as few as you like, and then email me your answers to me at rvzcallahan@aol.com. DO NOT PUT YOUR ANSWERS IN A COMMENT TO THIS POST or everyone will copy your answers! You get one entry to the contest PER correct clue answer, for a potential total of 14 entries!
Go to the update post and follow instructions there to get one more entry!

So if you maximize your opportunities for entries with both of the above routes, you can have 16 entries into this contest!

You do not have to be a blogger to play or comment. You can still play if your blog is one of the ones in the scavenger hunt – you can even get an entry for the clue on your blog! Everyone is eligible! You have until December 1st to enter. The winners will be randomly chosen from all of the comment and scavenger hunt entries and announced at 3pm on December 2nd. There will six winners – two for the restaurant certificates and four for the CD’s. The CD winners will get to claim which CD they want by commenting on the winner’s announcement post on December 2nd.

Ok – so here are the clues, along with very helpful hints:

1. What is great new toy did Lindsay give to Eli? (hint: 11/8/08)

2. Between the thirteen Moms that write at 5 Minutes for Parenting, how many children do we have? Be sure and count all of the ones on the way also! (hint: check the “Meet the Parents” page)

3. What great adventure is Hannah and her family about to embark on? (hint: 9/7/08)

4. What was going on last week at Steph (in Chicago’s) blog? (hint: 11/11/08 – 11/16/08)

5. What did Jennifer discover about little Amy Beth’s taste in food? (hint: 10/24/08)

6. Is there anything that you do understand that Brooke doesn’t? If not, just tell me one thing that you really don’t understand just like Brooke. (hint: 11/14/08)

7. How does Jodi’s son Samuel like wearing his pants? (hint: 10/15/08)

8. Why is my neighbor Alice getting to redecorate her dining room? (hint: 9/18/08)

9. Why did my other neighbor Freddy just demolish half of his mantle? (hint: 11/9/08) (all of these neighbor home improvement projects are starting to make me feel guilty!!)

10. What super sweet thing did Jaci’s daughter Mia do for her sister Averi last week? (hint: 11/14/08)

11. Why did Gina get a new digital camera, and what “adorable” child got to be her test subject for trying it out? (hint: 10/12/08 – 10/15/08)

12. What is one thing that Kate has learned slows Cohen down to cuddle for a few minutes? (hint: 11/8/08)

13. According to Steph (in Georgia’s) kids, what are the outfits of those in the apocalypse? (hint: 11/13/08)

14. Where is Boomama and her Mother-In-Law’s favorite place to shop? (hint: 11/3/08)

Good luck! Don’t forget to comment on this post for your extra entry!

Ice and Football Shouldn’t Go Together.

November 16, 2008 Rachel Callahan Football and I have a Complicated Relationship

I am not a football crazie, nor do I think I ever will be. I realized this my first season of football attendance, 1999, at the Alabama/Auburn game. I had literally slept during SEVERAL of the games that season already because I didn’t even have a clue what a first down was. So besides my complete loss and boredom with the sport, the weather conditions at that fateful AL/AU game were unlike anything I had ever chosen to be outside in since, umm, EVER. It was sleeting AND raining (just to make sure that you were not only freezing but soaked as well) the ENTIRE game (after staying outside in the elements all day long as well).

I remember sitting in the stands, or rather hunching over in the stands while my violent shivering cracked and recracked the thin layer of ice that had formed on my body, and being absolutely dumbfounded that my super sensitive and extremely thoughtful new boyfriend did not offer to leave early for the health and wellness of his now ice-sculpturesque girlfriend.

AND we lost.

But hey- at least I knew what I was getting into from the very beginning.

Thankfully for me, his passion has actually cooled over the years to the point where we get to Tuscaloosa after daybreak – even for day games!! And thankfully for him, I now know what a first down is, and actually even get into the games from time to time!

However, this Saturday was one of those “sacrifice” ones ~~in my wifely book of scorekeeping~~ because of how much I LOVE my husband. I believe the white witch from Narnia was controlling the thermostat. For some reason I never checked the weather beforehand, and so was not cognizant of exactly HOW cold it was going to be. So besides my new, VERY warm coat, I was quite ill-prepared for the weather. I even had thin socks on! So I sat like this most of the day:
Ok, maybe that’s a BIT of an exaggeration. But I will say that this GREATLY helped aid my survival for the day:
We walked to the Ferg just because I was dying for a nice, warm Starbucks. I think I would have taken at least five more trips throughout the day had it not been for a) that my feet were frozen to the ground and b) as cold as it was outside and as wonderfully warm and comforting my Venti Espresso Truffle was, I don’t think I could justify to the little accounting-angel sitting on my shoulder spending $5 on coffee more than once in one day.

However, just to solidify in your mind how cold it was, Chris’ Dad asked us to buy him a SECOND toboggan while we were there. To put over his first one. So of course, we bought him the one with the tennis-ball-sized pom-pom on top:
He found a good use for it, though. He’s always wanted a handsfree phone:
However, It was still not too cold for this guy that I’ve told you about a couple times before:Don’t I just look as excited as him to be in Tuscaloosa?
Kitty was as well:
Oddly, though, he wasn’t the only one who had strange ideas about how to stay warm.
This girl thought that a dress and houndstooth tights did just the trick:
And how about footless tights and no socks?
And I was even amazed – stunned even – at how many sorority girls there were wearing short skirts and NO TIGHTS – yes, that’s right – bare legs. I would have pictures, but I was trying to be subtle. Blogger or not, I didn’t want to be that weird girl taking pictures of other girl’s legs.

Non-Disclaimer: If you are a sorority girl that had bare legs, or even tights last night (because I’m sure there are tons that read my blog), I will not apologize. You’re crazy.

The game was at 6:45, so I was pretty much dreading it, thinking that it would certainly be forty degrees below freezing since it was 2 hours past dusk. However, when we got into the stadium, I actually had a moment of coziness – nay, warmth even. That’s when Chris snapped this picture to record the moment:
I quickly got back to being chilled, however, especially thanks to the misting rain in the second quarter.

And the snow:
Ok, ok I was just playing with my camera settings again. but it sure felt like it was snowing.

My ever-loving and still super sensitive and extremely thoughtful husband decided that we could leave at halftime, and we had a lovely dinner at the Olive Garden when we got back into Birmingham, where I thawed my insides with their delicious soup.

Oh – and just in case you ever wanted a literal visual of tailgating, here is a picture of the back of Chris’ truck as he was preparing his feast for the grill:

Tidbits From a Toddler’s Mind.

November 15, 2008 Rachel Callahan Toddlers: The Experience, Utter Silliness

Hi there. I know it’s Saturday afternoon for you, but it’s Friday night for me. Because, you see, I will be in Tuscaloosa from early Saturday morning to late Saturday night. And I’m really beat from the day and don’t have much to say, and so since she did so good on Thursday, I thought I’d let Ali have another blog. So here are two discussions we had on the way to dinner tonight:

We told her that she was going to stay at Gramamma and Pop’s tomorrow, and of course she was elated. She did her new “thrill squeal” followed by “CITING!!!!!!!” (in case you need a translation, what she is trying to articulate is “EXCITING!!”).

So we were talking through everything she’d get to do and see at Gramamma and Pop’s, including chickens and getting eggs and tractors and walks, and then we talked about “Pop’s Old Car”.
She squealed again and said:
“Ride Pop’s old car!!!. . . . .
Pop Fast!!
WHOA POP!!!”

Errr. . .Dad? How fast have you been taking her?

Ali and I have been having a lot of discussions about boys and girls lately. I’m not sure that she gets the concept at all. I know that she knows that there is a difference, but I don’t think she knows that the description of that difference is “boy” and “girl”. So I try to run the list of people often, asking her if they are a boy or girl to help drive home the concept. But obviously, she is still struggling. So tonight, when she brought it up (incorrectly again), I jumped on the opportunity for a learning moment. Here is how our conversation went:

Ali: “Daddy big girl!!”
Me: “No, Daddy is a BOY!!”
Ali: “Daddy boy.”
Me: “What about Mommy?”
Ali: “Mommy guuuurl”.
Me: “Good! How about AJ?”
Ali: “AJ guuuuurl.”
Chris: “Good!! How about Pop?”
Ali: “Pop Boy.”
Chris: “That’s right! How about Gramamma?”
Ali: “Gramamma boy.”
Chris: “No, Gramamma is a girl. How about Eli?”
Ali: “Eli Boy!!”
Me: “That’s right!! How about Lindsay?”
Ali: “Lindsay toots!!!”

Sorry Lindsay. Apparently she took a sharp turn from the “Boy/Girl” conversation to her formerly favorite conversation topic. Not sure why it had to happen to you, but, alas, it did.

Turning Your Blog into A Book.

November 14, 2008August 31, 2012 Rachel Callahan I'm a Blog Geek

My second Blook came in today! I am so excited. Of course I found two errors as soon as I opened the book for the first time. It’s AMAZING what you can spot when looking at something on paper as opposed to on the computer screen. I should have edited one more time. But all in all, I am happy.

And let me just say that if you are a blogger and don’t do some other sort of family documenting (like Creative Memories), this is the IDEAL way to get a family memory book without having to use zigzag scissors, fancy paper, and stickers (although I do love stickers. . . and so does Ali!! Maybe I should rethink).

Anyway, you must check into it! Blurb is a publishing company that has software that can “slurp” your blog into book form. You simply download your blog into Blurb using their slurping software, and then format your photos as you’d like them to show up. Their software is very self-explanatory and fairly easy to work with. Here’s where I wrote up some of the details and quirks about the process, and here’s the link to my first blook. If you have any other questions, let me know! I’ll be glad to help.

Without further ado, here are some excerpts from my second blook!

Here’s the cover:
This one’s exactly 200 pages long. It’s a bit thicker than the other one:
A page from The Park and Trying out my New Camera:
A June Beach Trip:
One of my blog’s defining moments, Toenail Art:
A July Beach Trip (with AJ):
A burning mystery post, Jesus in a Box:
Ali making Daddy’s Birthday Present:
Let me know if you have any questions!

McWane Through the Eyes of Toddlers

November 13, 2008 Rachel Callahan The Blissfulness of Life, Toddlers: The Experience

Mom and I took the girls to The McWane Center today. Now I know that the McWane Center is more geared around older kids than Just-Two and Almost-Two year olds, but I must say, we spend 2 1/2 hours there and the girls had experienced about 20% of it and were nowhere near boredom!

So, with that said, I thought that I would let Ali give a review of “McWane for Toddlers”.

We waited ever so patiently for Gramamma to get here so we could go to the “indoor park”. I don’t know why Mommy didn’t want to take us by herself.
We went to “Just Mice Size” first – the part that was actually supposed to be for us. AJ was braver than me – she actually climbed up on the blocks and slid down!
I preferred just building with them, or sitting on the little bitty ones.
Then we found the mirrors. There is nothing that we like better than to look at ourselves! Mommy says we’re teenagers in the making.
We did not, however, like the mirror that made us short. As if we weren’t already short enough!
The water table was by far our favorite part. We would have stayed here for the whole trip had Mommy not gotten bored. I don’t know why she doesn’t have a longer attention span. We especially liked our special shirts that we got to wear.
AJ was confused because the little boy playing with us was also named AJ. He was confused too. Every time one of our Mommy’s called for them, the other one looked weirdly at the stranger as if to say “why are you talking to me?!”
Pouring was fun, but it was much funner to pour on the floor. And down our special shirts, and onto our shoes and the bottoms of our pants sticking out under our special shirts.
There seemed to be an infestation in the grocery store area.

Caterpillars were buying groceries. . .
And Giraffes were running the registers!! They were even at the play areas!
They seemed to be lurking in every corner, especially around the mirrors.
OK I fooled you!! It was me and AJ all along!!
We liked dressing up!
And especially looking at ourselves!
After that we liked sticking the foam blocks to the wall. We got pretty good at it, although we need some lessons in Physics to really hone our skills.
Then we drove the rocket together!! That was ALMOST as fun as the Hot Dog truck at the Galleria!
We were completely prepared for takeoff.
On the second floor (Gramamma and Mommy seemed really out of breath. I don’t know why, although I did lose count of how many stairs there were) we found this fun thing. We could push our hands into it and make handprints!
Here are a bunch of our handprints (and Gramamma’s face sideways) from the other side. Can you see them?
Then AJ got brave, as usual. Here’s the progression of her bravery: three faces, each one a little more pressed in:
After Mommy and Gramamma got their breath back, we headed to the third floor where my favorite person in the whole world was waiting for us. . . . THOMAS!!!
We peeked through the ticket office. . .
And then we watched in complete amazement as the trains went really fast!!
They had lots of train tables for us to play with. . .
But ya know what? As creative as the McWane Center is, you just can’t beat the fun of jumping off of a block.
Well, I hope you enjoyed Ali’s review, and found it helpful in planning your next McWane outing! Here are just a couple more tidbits from our fun sleepover.

Here are Ali and AJ playing this morning. . .
And here they are playing at the same toy almost a year ago. Boy a year can do a lot for height and hair!!
And this one is for AJ’s family: Sorry, we couldn’t help it. AJ is now a Bama fan.

McWane Through the Eyes of Toddlers

November 13, 2008 Rachel Callahan The Blissfulness of Life, Toddlers: The Experience

So, with that said, I thought that I would let Ali give a review of “McWane for Toddlers”.