Time Really Does Fly

Well it is certainly hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone. While we couldn't be home with our families this year, we were lucky to have Uncle Danny with us for several days. Danny had a bit of a cold but still got to hang out with Kenzie (from a distance of course). How many times do you think Danny heard, "did you wash your hands" this weekend? Here's Danny sneaking in on a Kenzie picture...looks like someone forgot to brush their hair after nap time! I'm talking about Danny of course!

Jennifer experimented with a few recipes this year including home made chocolate glazed donuts, that's right I said home made chocolate glazed donuts. Trust me, they were just as delicious as they look in this picture...

I already made Jen promise that she will make them again on Christmas!

I had to work on Thanksgiving day (and this weekend) which was not fun but look what was waiting for me when I got home. Our meal was fantastic!

 Kenzie was not left out of Thanksgiving dinner either. She had her own homemade sweet potato.

 Hey Kenzie....you've got a little something around your mouth there.....

 The remains of the sweet potato after being destroyed by Kenzie.....

 The toughest part about being away from home on Thanksgiving is not seeing your family. This is where I must give a HUGE thanks to the creators of Skype. Because of Skype we get to see our family and feel as though we are actually in their presence. Here you can see Kenzie and Honey taking an improvised Thanksgiving day picture together. I think Honey looks pretty good on a Mac considering she is 1200 miles away!!

 So I have been negotiating the commute to work without much difficulty. Sometimes I drive and sometimes I take public transportation. Now it is just getting really cold and walking outside is starting to get painful. Considering that all I have from home is essentially a wind breaker, I had to break down and buy a "real winter coat". As I understand before long I will also be wearing a scarf, hat, face shield, and gloves. So here I am in my coat. Frankly I feel more like a member of the Corleone mafia family than a physician when I wear it. And yes Jennifer must endure my best Marlon Brando Godfather quotes...."I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse..." every time I wear it.

So with the end of Thanksgiving comes the beginning of the Christmas season. In our chaotic move to Boston, we left our tree and ornaments back in our storage unit in Tupelo. We had to improvise with the "temporary" decorations seen below. It's amazing what you can get at CVS. I don't think we did too bad!

Kenzie is getting geared up for the season too. She is already trying on her Christmas bib!

This week reminded me of all the things that I have to be thankful for. Thanksgiving and Christmas are so commercialized now that we often forget the reason why we celebrate these holidays (I am often guilty of that). Really the more I think about it, everyday can be Thanksgiving, can't it? It is hard not to be thankful when you are looking at this!

Until next week,

Ashley

Go Patriots!

Well something I never envisioned doing was taking a 5 month old to a NFL football game. I knew that to truly get a taste of Boston, we had to go to a Patriots football game. So our little family embarked on quite a journey this weekend to watch the Patriots take on the Colts in Gillette Stadium.

The traffic on game day is notorious so we headed out a day early and stayed at a hotel in 'Patriot Place', immediately adjacent to the stadium. There was shopping and some really great food. Here are a few pictures....

View of Gillette Stadium from our hotel....

Another view of the stadium...

The ultimate fan store....aka Scott Davis' heaven on Earth

Scott, if I could afford it I would buy you one and ship it down to Byram, MS!

Our little Patriots fan was all dressed up and ready for the game!

Wonder where Kenzie gets those beautiful eyes? Hmm.....

We were really lucky to have great club level seats. This allowed us to get into the game early. There was an outdoor seating area as well as an indoor area with gourmet food and most importantly HEAT!

Here is the stadium from our seats about 2:00 hours before kickoff....

What a difference two hours makes!

Kenzie and Jen just after kickoff...

Kenzie was a bit obsessed with the replay screen!

One of the coolest parts of the games....minutemen line up and fire their muskets each time the Patriots score. Kenzie was not a huge fan of that part....(picture not taken by me)

The food, oh my goodness, the food. You tell me if this looks like typical football stadium food. Tenderloin on toasted bread with mushrooms, onions, rosemary potatoes and mozzarella. Fantastic!

A shot of the club lounge area...

We picked up a little more Patriots merchandise as well. Kenzie was so excited the Patriots won that she wanted to have a Jersey. We found this great one that was marked way down to $10.00. Shhh...don't tell Kenzie it was marked way down because # 39, Laurence Maroney was traded to the Broncos in September!

Now it is time for the Featured Flashback! Here you can see me and my brother Danny working on Jennifer's parents house after Hurricane Katrina. We were painting and Jennifer had us stop and take this silly picture. I am so glad that she did because every time I see it, it makes me laugh!

And how about one more great picture of Kenzie to end a great night! Go Pats!

Have a great week all,

Ashley

We've Got Ourselves An Eater!!

Going to be a short post this week but stay tuned; We've got a busy schedule coming up....

Kenzie has developed a hilarious habit. When she is eating she doesn't wait for us to put the spoon in front of her. She opens her mouth as widely as possible to let us know when SHE is ready for food. I guess we are just too slow! I edited some video and posted a compilation-I hope you find it as hilarious as I do!



Maybe one of the reasons that Kenzie gets so excited about eating is the awesome food she gets to try......for example, her latest culinary experience involves fresh avocado. Jennifer is pretty handy with a blender as you can see below.....can you guess what her secret ingredient is?

The weather today was beautiful. After a couple of weeks of cold, clouds, and rain, it was sunny and 60 degrees. We took the opportunity to get out and enjoy the scenery. Here is a really beautiful reflection pool and church downtown near the shopping center.....

And here is Jen by a water display.....

Those who know me know that I am all about Christmas decorations and the holiday season. However, it's still just a little too early even for me. Last weekend I went into our local CVS and was promptly serenaded by Bing Crosby singing 'White Christmas' and you can see our local mall is decked out already.....it seems to get earlier every year!

And now it is time for the FEATURED FLASHBACK......below you can see the Harris, Steward, and Gollot families. The Gollots (Jennifer's family) were in Water Valley circa 2003 for the Watermelon Carnival to meet my family for the first time. It was such a wonderful time.....I can still remember the fried catfish!

Well that wraps up another week. Here is one proud Dad with one cute girl!

And it's goodnight-

Have a great week everyone!

Ashley

Can't Believe It's November Already!

This year has really been flying by! Now that Halloween is gone, we know that Thanksgiving will be here in no time! It has been a pretty slow week after getting back from Salem.

Recently, Nana sent Kenzie a special surprise, a Jumperoo! But before Kenzie could enjoy it, I had to put it together. I saw the dreaded words...."some assembly required". I think that is a bit misleading, it should say "total assembly required!"

Eventually I did get it together and Kenzie loves it. At first she was a little unsure about it but then when she realized that she could jump up and down, she couldn't stop smiling and laughing!

When we moved to Boston, Nana and Honey bought some of the Hallmark recordable storybooks that you see commercials for on TV. Kenzie loves hearing Nana, Honey, Uncle Larry, Aunt Maggie, Uncle Danny, and future Aunt Ashley reading books to her. These books are wonderful and they make us all feel a little bit closer to home. I've been seeing the commercials for the Christmas versions....hint, hint, grandmas.....

Kenzie had an impromptu photo shoot this week while wearing a flower headband given to her by Aunt Amber....

Pretty cute huh?

This week Roman found his  new favorite spot.....since it has started getting cold outside I think he likes the warmth of the cablebox. He stays there about 12 hours out of the day!

I did something that I have been wanting to do for sometime this week. I have always wanted to learn to play the piano and I actually started taking lessons for about six months before we found out that Jennifer was pregnant. I have been anxious to start taking lessons again and this week I did. I found a great piano teacher that is willing to meet with me weekly at my apartment! Get ready....in a few months I hope that I will be posting a video of my first classical piece!

In celebration of Kenzie's gulf coast heritage, she got a new toy! We couldn't resist picking up one of these cute alligators...

I think she likes it....

Kenzie has really been talking it up lately. She goes through spells where she just can't stop.....I was lucky enough to catch one of these spells on video. You can watch below.....you may have to pause the music on the website to hear Kenzie talking!

Each week I will be providing a "Featured Flashback" from the past. This week's feature is a picture of me and Jennifer after we got engaged in June of 2003. We were out for a walk on my parents land when a rain storm caught us. Fortunately my Mom was there to snap a picture of us when we made it back to the house!

Kenzie would like to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to Pops! While we can't be together today, we have been looking at some old pictures of Pops and "the boys"...

Now it is time to make room for new pictures with Pops and Kenzie...

Look how much she has grown already!

How about a couple of cute pictures that Kenzie took just for Pops to wrap up the week? Happy Birthday!

Until next week,

Ashley