Christmas open houses

It's Christmas open house season in our area.  I went to the one in New Albany last Sunday with Jane.  There are a lot of cute shops in New Albany.  I also went to the Room to Room open house the Friday before with Jane, Sharon, and Christy.  It's so fun to see everything decorated for Christmas and really put us in the Christmas spirit!

Last Thursday night our regular out-to-eat Thursday night group (minus Alice Faye who had surgery on her foot that day) went to downtown Baldwyn for a quick dinner and the open houses.  We had dinner at Tom's, which was an old drug store.  Really cute place!  They only serve hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and French fries--Doug's kind of place!

The burgers were good and there are lots of cute shops in downtown Baldwyn too!  The guys stayed right at that table while we visited the shops.

It seems like the open houses begin earlier and earlier now, and the same with Christmas decorating.  I confess I had Doug put our tree up over the weekend.  It takes me much longer to decorate these days than it used!  The tree isn't decorated yet.  Cameron wanted me to wait until he could help so it will probably get decorated this weekend.

Trying to get a head start on the holiday season so I can really enjoy it!

Celebrating Ben's birthday

Ben's birthday was Sunday--43 years old!  Where did all those years ago?  We met for brunch at Cracker Barrel after church to celebrate.

It was low key but at least there was an acknowledgement of his special day!

The wedding reception

The reception was held in an open shelter on the property.  This plantation is a winery and was surrounded by the vineyard.

We enjoyed a delicious buffet.

Then cake!

And beautiful cookies--too pretty to eat!

The groom's table was all about chocolate!

The happy couple!

My two handsome grandsons!

That wraps up a beautiful wedding!

Morgan and Tyler's wedding

Morgan and Tyler got married September 6th in Mooresville, AL at Creekside Plantation.  I'm way late in posting pictures but it was such a lovely wedding and I wanted to share some pictures.

The wedding was on the lawn of this beautiful plantation.  It was a bit warm that day but by the 6:00 p.m. wedding it was bearable and fans, which also served as programs, were provided.

Some pictures were taken before the wedding.  Karen's family below.

Our big family.  Heather and Harrison hadn't made it to the wedding yet.

Heather had turned her ankle and was in a boot.

Morgan's father Stan is on the left and her step-father Ronald is on the right.  They both had the privilege of walking her down the aisle.

 After the short wedding ceremony, Morgan's dog Captain ran up to meet them.

The beautiful couple!

I'll post photos from the reception later.

It was a most enjoyable evening and family time!

Fall pictures

One of Ben's friends is a photographer.  She borrowed Ben's old truck as a photo prop for her fall photography sessions.  In return, she took pictures of Ben and Cameron.  These are just a few that I liked.

Another photographer friend has borrowed the old truck this weekend for Christmas photos!

Homecoming

I'm a little late posting homecoming pictures but it's time to catch up!

Cameron went to the dance with a beautiful young girl.  He wanted to get her a wristlet corsage so we went to the florist to order it.  He had researched it online and knew exactly what he wanted, white roses.

It was really pretty and he was pleased with it.

He met his "date" at the dance.  She's an eighth grader and he's in seventh.

I think she looks a lot older than that!!  He said he had a good time.

Emma Taylor rode on her class float in the homecoming parade.  She's on the far right.

Bowen rode on his class float too.  He's right above the big "0".

Emma Taylor met us after the parade.

She went to the homecoming dance with her friend Evelyn.  They dress up for the game but don't have a homecoming dance.

Homecoming was always so much fun when I was in high school.  We worked on the floats for months and they were elaborate crepe paper or napkin creations stuffed in chicken wire.  My homeroom always won for the best float.  Then the homecoming game was always during the day on a Saturday as opposed to a night game like it is here.  We had a semi-formal dance that evening with dinner before the dance.  Fun times and good memories!

Halloween

We had a cold and windy Halloween last night.  I always make lasagna and Ben, Cameron and Emma Taylor came over for dinner.  Harrison was invited to dinner and then a haunted house so he was busy.  Cameron said he wasn't going to trick-or-treat this year but he decided at the last minute to throw on a baseball uniform and go.  Emma Taylor drove him around on the golf cart.  I thought they were going to hand out candy for me but no such luck!

He got lots of candy and they had fun!

I have always loved Halloween since my birthday is the day before and Pat's is Halloween.  We always went trick-or-treating on our birthdays.  In the old days we went trick-or-treating both nights.  I miss the good old days!

These are such cute pictures of my great nieces and nephews that I couldn't resist sharing them with you!

These are Amy's kids.  Amy said Claire's butterfly costume lite up at night.

That's Hayden on the right.

These are Kaydee's kids with Morgan, Tyler and Captain.  Love the Wizard of Oz theme!

And these are Courtney's kids, a darling pig and dinosaur.

I hope you all enjoyed Halloween too!

We are having a really cold spell but thankful we didn't get any snow.  We got a hard frost last night and it looked like snow in the yard this morning.

Have a great weekend!