Giving Thanks and Taking Naps

Thanksgiving for Betty and me started last Friday.  Nana and Grand and cousin Beth came and stayed with McKenzie and Matt while Betty and I went to Memphis to spend the night and do some shopping (and eating!).  Our first stop was The Arcade in downtown Memphis for lunch.

We saw last year's American Idol winner, Lee DeWyze, eating lunch at The Arcade.  A few people got his autograph and took pictures with him.

After lunch we stopped by Gigi's Cupcakes.  Betty had heard about it and wanted to check it out. 

Some of their Thanksgiving themed cupcakes.

Oh my!  It was very hard to decide what we wanted to get.

 So we got some of all!  Two of those were for Matt and McKenzie.  They were very good!

After a trip to  - yeah, you know where - we at supper at The Side Porch and then went to Barnes and Noble to read, relax, and get some hot chocolate for Betty.

This is at Rafferty's where we ate lunch on Saturday after hitting the mall.  My Christmas wish is for a wall of TV's like this!  After lunch it was back to Betty's home away from home for a little more shopping before heading home.

Wednesday we had Thanksgiving at Nana and Grand's house.  Contrary to what the following pictures will show, we had a lot of fun eating and visiting with the family.  Unfortunately, Betty got up Wednesday morning with a migraine and had to spend most of the time at Nana and Grand's laying down on the bed.  As you'll see, she wasn't the only one to take a little nap.  I am smart enough, though, to not take a picture of my wife sleeping and then make fun of her.  However, I will take pictures of the rest of my family and make fun of them on the Internet!!!  Enjoy!!

Andy was the first to go.  I took an even less flattering picture of him, but I do have a little compassion for my big bro.

Poor Caleb was feeling the affects of allergy medication, so I won't be too hard on him.

Nana is a napping pro.  She would doze off and then somehow come to and add something of relevance to the conversation and then doze off again.  That takes talent and experience my friends!

She looks so natural, doesn't she?

Even McKenzie joined the nap-fest.

So, 60% of our family was unconscious for some period of our Thanksgiving celebration.  Not good guys.  We need to suck it up and bring our "A" game for Christmas.  

Pictures

Sunday afternoon I had the opportunity to take pictures of two pretty little girls.  First up was our cousin Elizabeth's daughter, Kendall.  She is a little doll and was wonderful for the whole session.  Here are a few shots of her.  Click here to see the rest.

My next appointment was with a cute little girl named Kayla.  She was so photogenic and enthusiastic about taking pictures!  She didn't want to stop when we got through!  Here are a few shots from her session.  Click here to see the rest.

Catching Up

It's been over a week since we posted anything, so here's what we've been up to since the Itta Bena Homecoming. 

Work and school has been taking up most of our time.  McKenzie's school allows parents to come and eat with their child from time to time and I took advantage of that last week.  It's fun to go and see a little piece of McKenzie's day and she enjoys it too.  Here's a picture of McKenzie and one of her friends.

Saturday, Andy, Caleb, Matt and I went to Memphis to watch the Grizzlies and the Boston Celtics play.  For some odd reason, Andy and I - two southern boys from the Mississippi Delta - are fans of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics, so we were pulling for the visitors.  Of course, the first order of business was to ride a trolley. 

 

Matt loves trains so we parked and rode the trolley a few blocks and then ate at Rendezvous.  After supper we walked on to the FedEx Forum for the game.  Matt sang for us almost the whole way his version of "Life Is A Highway" from the movie Cars.  His version went, "Life is a highway. I wanna ride it, oh my Lord.".  For those of you who don't know, it should be "I wanna ride it all night long". 

This is the view we had at the ballgame.  Our sets were in the top section but the view was good - a lot better than I thought it would be.  We had a great time, but Matt told me he wanted Mommy to come get him just after halftime so he could go home and practice basketball.

This last picture is of Matt at La Cabana.  This is one of the many little tricks his idol, Caleb, has taught him.

Itta Bena Homecoming

Sunday was homecoming at First Baptist Church in my hometown of Itta Bena.  We always look forward to going to Itta Bena and enjoying the great food and fellowship.  Betty says that the people are so nice to her, she feels like she was a member there!  This year was special because mine, Andy, and Jan's friend, Chuck McMinn, led the music.  Chuck grew up in Itta Bena and helped with the children's choir before he left and became a minister of music.

I sneaked this picture during a hymn.  Sandra, I know you're reading this, and I'm sorry I cut you out of this picture!  Sandra Joiner is a loyal reader of our blog and she was singing in the choir on the far right on the front row.

This is Chuck.  He's such a funny and great guy.  He's so nice and caring and just fun to be around.  We had a great time reminiscing and laughing during lunch.

Speaking of lunch, it was covered dish and slap-your-momma-good!  I enjoyed Sybil's dressing and Mamie's strawberry cake and many other delicious dishes.  It was a lot of fun seeing old friends and catching up with everyone.

This is the sanctuary view from behind the pulpit.  This was the view Dad had when he stopped his sermon to get on to some girls who were talking and being disruptive in the balcony one Sunday!  Ha!

This was my Sunday School classroom when we first moved to Itta Bena when I was 9.  That's the same piano!

This is the choir room/youth Sunday School room.  Same piano again, and the same carpet!

This is Matt and McKenzie with Nana and Pop (Jan's parents) and Karle.  Karle is my best friend from Itta Bena, Wayne's, daughter.  Wayne also happens to be Jan's brother.  Nana and Pop consider Matt and McKenzie their grandchildren too and we had to stop by and see them before we left.

Junior Miss Spirit

Saturday morning McKenzie participated in the Grenada School District's Miss Spirit Pageant.  They had different age divisions and McKenzie won the Junior Miss Spirit title!  She also won the Most Photogenic award based on a headshot photo that we we had to turn in.  Here are a few pictures from the pageant....

This was after she won the Most Photogenic Award.

This is the headshot photo we submitted.

This was after she was crowned Junior Miss Spirit.

Pictures

This past weekend was great weather for taking pictures or doing anything outside and I had a few photo sessions to take advantage of it.  I'm posting pictures from two of them and I'll post pictures from the third later.

The first was our friend, Suzanne, and her kids.  Brandon isn't a big fan of having his picture taken, but he's a good sport.  Brooke, on the other hand, really enjoys it.  She brought a change of clothes and wanted some extra pictures taken of just her.  Here are a few shots from their session.  Click here to see the rest.

Another session was of Betty's sister, Marty, and her kids.  Betty and the kids came along with us and we all had a lot of fun.  Here are some pictures from their session.  Click here to see more.