Baby Jack!

Can't believe the time has finally come for our dear friends Amanda and John to have their baby boy! We are very excited at our house about this special event! They are traveling to Jackson on Monday to be admitted and she will have Jack sometime Tuesday. What a wonderful Christmas gift they will have at their house this year. They are going to be great parents. I have no doubt about this because Amanda has been absolutely wonderful with McKenzie and Matt. She treats them as if they were her very own and that means so much to David and me. Next time I post, I hope to have a picture or two of baby Jack!

Good luck Amanda and John...we will be praying for all three of you!

Our Weekend

As of 10:00 Friday morning, David and I will be free for the whole weekend. We are going to our favorite place...Memphis to celebrate our 15th anniversary! We love McKenzie and Matt and really enjoy doing fun things with them, but it is nice to get away by ourselves. It is like old times. I look forward to digesting my food. We already have planned where we will eat every meal. Can't wait to go and see a "non-kid" movie. David got us tickets for the Point of Grace christmas concert Saturday night. They are my favorite christian group. We took McKenzie to Nashville when she was three to see their christmas concert, so we are definately not telling her this detail because she would be very mad at us! Besides Hannah Montana, they are her favorite, too. Nana and Grand (David's parents) are coming to stay at our house for the weekend and keep the kids. We are so thankful for them. They are always so good to keep McKenzie and Matt when we need a break.

We're staying at our favorite place in downtown Memphis - The Westin.

Songs, a baptism, and a trip to the ER

McKenzie had her Children's Choir Christmas musical this past Sunday night. She did great! She loves singing and dancing (or creative movement since we're Baptists). Her cousins, Jordan, Justin, and Anna Catherine were in it too, so here are some pictures of them as well.

I have the video of McKenzie's baptism on YouTube. She was so sweet looking. I couldn't see her face from where I was sitting, so I'm glad we got it on video. Betty was at the top of the stairs of the baptistry, so that's who McKenzie kept looking up at.

I also have the video of our men's quartet singing Sinner Saved By Grace. I have the first solo and Brad Branscome has the second one. We are joined by Keith Johnson and Andy Cummings.


Finally, Matt made his first trip to the ER this morning. He pulled a lamp down on his head and cut himself at the hairline. He bled quite a bit and scared Betty to death. She ran to him and he had blood running down his face. She called me at work and I hurried home and we took him to the ER. Betty's sister, Mary Catherine (who works at the hospital), met us there. Matt was a good little patient as they cleaned him up and when the doctor put the Derma-bond glue stuff on his cut to close it. Doesn't he look pitiful?

Something For Everyone

Saturday was a big day for everyone in our family. It started out with our usual KFC and Wal-Mart routine for me (David) and the kids with "Da" (aka Caleb). Then McKenzie had her children's choir practice for her program on Sunday night. After lunch we all headed to Jackson for a day of trains, crafts, shopping, and food. Something for everyone.

We started off at the Mississippi Ag Museum, which had a model train exhibit and a Christmas arts and crafts fair. Matt and I went to the train exhibit while Betty and McKenzie hit the fair.

Here's one of the train layouts. This one shows Mississippi trains during the 20th century.


Matt absolutely LOVED the trains. He could've stayed there all day pressing his face to the glass and pointing excitedly at any train that moved.

Matt didn't care too much for the creepy life-like characters in the various exhibits in the museum. We came up on this guy and I wasn't looking his way and Matt whispered in my ear, "What that guy do-nin'?" I turned and saw Creepy Farmer Guy staring at us and we just moved along and mostly stayed on the other end of the train exhibit.

This is one of Matt's new friends. He knows just about everything you'd ever want to know about trains and he's more than happy to tell you about them. He and Matt made an immediate connection.

Here's another one of Matt's new friends. They were fun to watch run from window to window watching the trains. Here Matt is telling his new buddy something important about the train coming down the tracks.

This is the father of Matt's new friend. Matt just walked up to him and asked him to pick him up so he could see the trains.

Here's McKenzie enjoying a relaxing front porch rocker.

McKenzie isn't a fan of farm fragrances.

No trip to Jackson would be complete for Betty without a visit to Target. Somehow we managed to get Betty out of there without buying anything. We were looking for a Christmas train to go around our Christmas tree, but we couldn't find what we were looking for at Target or Home Depot, so, we decided to head on over to The Happiest Place On Earth.....

Hamil's! If I lived in Madison, I would no doubt weigh 300 pounds. Hamil's has the best food I have ever eaten in my life -- and I've eaten a lot of food. Their ribs are slap-your-momma good.

Here's me attacking the buffet at Hamil's.

The search for the Christmas train ended at Wal-Mart in Madison. This train plays either Christmas carols or train sounds and looks very Christmasy....unfortunately, it sounds like a leaf blower when it runs. So, we're taking it back.......and the search continues......

Sleigh Ride!

Tonight we went on a carriage ride downtown. We went last year and the kids loved it. McKenzie wanted to stay the whole night while Matt spent the whole ride barking at the driver's dog. This year was just as fun even without the barking. Matt provided running commentary throughout the ride -- "Ooh, look at that! What's that sound? Look at those wights! Horse go clop, clop. Whoa, bump!" I think the boy might be a play by play announcer when he grows up. McKenzie loved it again this year, too. She had a grin plastered on her face the entire time.

Here are some pictures of the happy, freezing event.

Justin's Band Concert

Tonight we went to see Justin play his saxophone in the 6th grade Christmas concert. He did a great job. Justin and two other saxophone players had a trio part in one song. It is amazing what those band directors can teach kids in such a short time. McKenzie and Matt enjoyed seeing their cousin on stage. They ended the concert with Matt's favorite song Jingle Bells.

Here are a few pictures Uncle David took tonight. Justin is in the red shirt.

The Polar Express

I don't usually do this but I bought the kids something before Christmas. Thanksgiving night McKenzie and Matt watched The Polar Express on tv. McKenzie had already seen it but this was Matt's first time and he was mesmerized! He laid perfectly still and watched it and then cried when it was over. This morning, Matt and I had to go to Walmart and pick up a few things and in the Christmas section, this movie was playing. He wanted to stay over there and watch it, so I thought I better go ahead and buy this for them to enjoy during the holidays. I decided not to make him take a nap this afternoon and instead watch the movie or Big Train as he calls it. When it was over, bless his little heart started to cry again. I can't stand those tears that fall out of those big blue eyes, so I started the movie again for just a little while until we had to go get McKenzie at school.

All of this movie watching enabled me to get our Christmas tree up which I have been wanting to do for days. I packed all of my fall stuff away Thanksgiving night and over the weekend put my outside stuff up and decorated inside, too. So now on December 1st the holidays can officially begin for us! I will post more pictures soon. Here is a picture of the tree. I love it because every ornament has a special meaning behind it. My favorite this year is one I made to commemorate our trip to Orange Beach Mother's Day weekend. We had the BEST time. I will never forget it! I thought McKenzie and I were going to cry when we pulled away from our condo. Hopefully we can go back for a repeat. Hint Hint David!!