Thanksgiving and Texas Tech game

 We had a great joint Thanksgiving this year. My mom, dad, brother, and nephew (my sister was visiting NYC with friends) joined the Trey's mom and dad at their home for Thanksgiving lunch. I was supposed to work the night before but the Lord blessed me with a cancelled shift! I was so happy to go to bed normally and be able to get up and watch the parades then make some Paula Deen mini pumpkin cheesecakes and Grits and greens (which both turned out yummy!). It was so nice and relaxing to not have to rush around to several Thanksgivings and there was less oppurtunity to overeat :) Then I got up early hit a few Black Friday sales and we left for Dallas area of Gun Barrel City where Trey's uncle has a beautiful lakehouse. We then met up with his sister and traveled to Dallas to meet Trey's best friend from high school/college Chad and his wife and 3 beautiful kids for a quick lunch before heading to the Texas Tech/Baylor game at the new Dallas Cowboy stadium. Trey's uncle and his friends got us tickets and box seats which was AMAZING!! The stadium was state of the art!

At church in our sunday school class we have been helping with the Operation Christmas child. We fill shoeboxes for various age group boys and girls and then the church has them mailed to underprivelaged kids all over the globe. We had a big breakfast potluck and stuffed 42 boxes! The goal for the class was 20 so we were so excited that all of these children would be blessed this year!

We went Sunday to my mom's neighborhood cookies w/ Santa to have Camden's pictures made. He did not enjoy it like we had hoped... He pretty much had a meltdown. Most of my pics were blurry because he was trying to wiggle out of his lap but there were a few and you can see how much he didn't enjoy it :(

Wedding Day December 3, 2005

Trey and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary this week. I am so happy to call Trey my husband and happier today than 4 yrs ago on our wedding day. Also I celebrated my 30th bday last week. I have to admit I had some issues with the big leap out of my twenties, even jokingly wearing all black in mourning of my 20s! But it is a blessing and I am happy with where I am in my life and excited to see what the next 10 years has to bring.

Our Christmas Bulletin Pic (had to tickle Cam to get him to laugh!)

Cam's post bath curly fro!

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and remember to say that and not "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Xmas" it only takes the most important part of the celebration- Christ- out of the equation. So just remember HE is the reason for the season and give thanks for the blessings he has given you throughout the year. Pray for our friends Bethany and Casey who are dealing with a very serious illness in their family. Bethany's dad was diagnosed with stage 3-4 esophageal cancer with mets to the liver last summer and not responding to the chemo/radiation. We know Mr. Bill and love him and are praying for them fervently and hoping for a full recovery.

Fall Fun

So it's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week, but it is!! We've been having a great time lately. We went to Audobon Park a few weekends ago and took some family photos with my photographer friend Kim. I am planning on using them for our Christmas cards. My sister, brother and nephew all came to so we could get a family shot for my mom for Christmas (I won't be showing that one so it'll be a surprise :) After that we went around the corner to the Cancer Survivors Park and took some more shots in front of this cool tiled mosaic, a hidden gem in Memphis for sure! Last weekend Trey's uncle Gene and some friends came in from Dallas we went to the Ole Miss game. We had a great time tailgating even though we had to wake up at 5:45 to get down to Oxford in time to have time to go see some friends. Camden and Walker have been having a ball playing. I took them to the Snowden park around the corner from our house and they played so hard. We are currently attempting to sell our home. We went through realtor Larry Webb and we now have it officially listed on MLS. I am excited and nervous at the prospect of moving into a newer bigger home. We are busting at the seams as it is!This weekend we are excited to go to Dallas to see the Red Raiders play!! Trey went toTX Tech and his best friend Chad is coming over as well with his sons and wife. We are so excited to see them! Gene is going to allow us to stay in his lake house and we get to go to the game at the new state of the art stadium and hang out in a box!! We are so blessed to have such great family connections. Pray for safe travels and Camden will cooperate with the long drive its always a challenge.

Happy Halloween - Never Roam Alone!

Travelocity Gnome. Never roam Alone!

Camden loves books, he had our friend Abby read Peter's busy day to him!

Handing out candy

Ready to go trick or treating!

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks. Trey and I went our to Cedar hill Farms in Hernando, MS a few weekends ago and had a blast! They have a real pumpkin patch, hayride, petting zoo and lots of other things for little ones to get into. Camden had a great time. He even made a new friend (a girl) on the hayride and went over to her grandad and just climbed up in his lap! The man was very sweet and let him ride there for a minute, we all got a kick out of it. Last week mom and I went with Cam and Walker's daycare class to the zoo for a field trip. The weather couldn't have been better it was a sunny break from the downpours we had the rest of the week. We had so much fun admiring the fall trees and the new exhibits at the zoo. The Tetkon Trail was amazing! It is a huge log cabin that has an "old faithful" out front and features a huge bear's exhibit as well as elk, wolves, and other northern animals. The boys, mom and I had too much fun I was so glad I didn't work that night and got to enjoy the whole day with them. Last weekend was Halloween of course and Camden went as the Travelocity Gnome. We had come up the idea months ago and I was just going to make the costume, but then we actually found it in a store and he really wore it all night so we were excited!  We went to Jo Jo & Grandad's house and had hotdogs, then went Trick or Treating down our street and they handed out candy to all the neighbors (camden's favorite part) and then had a cookout with some friends. We are looking forward to some traveling soon, Oxford next weekend for the Ole Miss TN game, Dallas after Thanksgiving for the Texas Tech game and then of course our annual Texas trip to see all the great grandparents. Camden is getting more and more advanced. He now knows all of his body parts and is recognizing more things and calling them by name like "cat", "plane" (points up to the sky every time one flys over), and even said "TT" tonight when my sister came over (she is known as aunt "TT). We are having a blast watching him learn and grow!!

Cousins on their field trip

Loving the fall trees at the zoo!!

Made a new friend on the hayride! Ha!

Cam's first hayride!

Before Church

What we've been doing lately...

It's been a while since I've posted mostly because school is alot more time consuming than I thought it would be!! Camden is grown into a full fledged toddler. He is now 16 months old and every bit a boy. He loves his new daycare and now Walker goes there too which is nice and the boys have a blast playing together. They have lots of activities - Fire Safety Day (with real firemen & firetrucks!), a St. Jude Trike a thon (cam rode his push car and raised $75 for St. Jude!), and we have a field trip in 2 weeks to the zoo (I'll be going too). Trey's work had the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales in town 2 weeks ago and it was a blast! Trey took Camden and Walker to the rodeo and saw the Clydesdales show then on Sunday we went to meet them up close and personal. Camden loved it! We also went to pick out pumpkins. Last weekend was the Ole Miss Alabama game and we braved the rainy cold weather to take Camden to his first tailgate. James & Joan had rented 2 RV's and had a big tailgate setup and we went and saw other friends in the Grove. I had alot of family in town from Alabama and we had a great time visiting with them too. Then this weekend Mom, Walker, Cam & I went to the Litcherman Nature Center to see the scarecrow exhibit it was so cool! There were some hilarious scarecrows. Both boys had fun. Lately we have been getting involved in church more. We joined a young married sunday school class which has some great couples our age and we really love hanging out with them. We had a couple's dinner tonight at the Ruff's house which was nice. Camden's new words are : Hot (he thinks anything that is warm, cold or hot is "Hot", he says "Bye" and somehow has learned "My" (he means it as "Mine" I think this comes from daycare :( and is constantly babbling. He knows where his bellybutton is, ear, and nose and will point to it when asked. He likes to climb -alot, on everything. He is in 18-24 mths clothes. He likes to pretend to talk on the phone. He's been going through a sleeping transition, some nights he will go to bed at 8:45 some we can't get him to sleep at all or he will wake up screaming at 2 am. I think he is teething and he no longer has the passie which I will still give him at night since he has started waking up crying. It's been a rough couple weeks especially on Trey since it always happens the nights I'm at work and they are there alone. Please pray this is a phase!! We are staying busy and have alot of traveling coming up!Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

Decisions, decisions....

Going to class with "Mrs. Kittie scarecrow"!!

                  

Tin Man scarecrow

You can't have a contest without an Elvis scarecrow!

This one was made of recycled trash

Cece and Camden

Meeting the clydesdales, they were HUGE!

The professional tailgaters

Uncle Trey/Daddy at the rodeo

Visiting the Dukes in Florida

Last Thursday we made a long awaited trip to visit our great friends the Dukes. Brooke and I were sorority sisters at MSU and have been best friends ever since. She and her husband Anthony have been good friends of ours for years and we have all been through college, weddings, showers, lake trips, children, etc together over the past 10 years! So we have been dying to make it down to Florida ever since they were transferred there and once they welcomed their newest addition CeCe Duke in July we knew we must go. We did a ton during the few days we were there. We made it to the beach (Cam's first time), great restaurants, a naval museum, shopping at the outlet mall in Foley, AL and just chilling with the family at their house. Camden loved the beach and got pretty brave running into the waves, we had to keep a close eye on him. He also had a blast playing with Anthony and Brooke's 3 year old Bryce. Camden learned alot from him and had a ball trying to immulate him. They had great toys and he had too much fun playing with them all. They took us to some cool restaurants one of which, Lulu's (owned by Jimmy Buffet's sister) that had a life size sand box and fun waterfountains. Cam and Bryce got filthy and had alot of fun playing while we enjoyed a yummy lunch. CeCe was the sweetest, most mellow baby I've ever seen. We loved looking at her and holding her. All in all we had so much fun that we totally forgot to take any pics of Brooke, Anthony, Trey & I! But I did manage to snap quite a few of the kids! We had a great time and the hospitality was perfect. Thanks again Dukes!!

Absolutely loving the waves

Exploring the beach with dad
Can't believe he let us do this...
Playing in the ocean with mom

Lulu's Restaurant, playing in the fountains
Pretty girl.
Hi CeCe!!With Daddy in a real fighter jet
At the naval museum, these real sailors were sweet enough to let Camden take a shot with them! It was so cool!

Eating breakfast together
Playing with Reagan. She was so tolerant of Camden, he loved climbing all over her;)
The boys playing w/ Bryce's water table we added baby shampoo to the water. Cam loved it!

15 months old, children's museum and 1st day of school

First day of school (well daycare) w/ his new backpack doesn't he looked thrilled??

So this has been a busy month! I started back to school and it has been quite an adjustment! I'm taking 2 classes, but it feels more like a full load with working full time and being a wife and mom! Camden started to his new daycare and is loving it. His teachers send home report cards everyday and he always gets a smiley face and his moods are usually "silly" "happy" or "playful" and he is napping great on his new nap pad which I was worried about since he always sleeps in his bed. They have chapel daily where they learn christian songs and Bible verses which I am so glad about! His teachers say he acts like he has been here all along. Walker my nephew started this week and so it is a nice addition to have his cousin in his class to play with. We have been busy with going to weddings, tailgates, the children's museum and little local carnivals. We ar looking forward to going to Florida this week to visit our friends Anthony & Brooke and their newest addition CeCe :) We want to wish a special Happy Grandparents day to all of Camden's grand parents and great grandparents! It is bitter sweet since this is my first Grandparent's day in which I have no one to call. But I know in my heart they are all in heaven having the best Grandparents day imaginable! I do love and miss them (Ma, Pa, Granny & Grandaddy) though.

At the children's museum. Learning how to drive.

Cowboy or construction worker...decisions, decisions...


With Daddy at the Children's museum in the big red firetruck



Again at the museum, his first and last time in the back of a cop car! HA!!

My future pilot
Learning the importance of teeth cleaning.
In the mini grocery store, always my favorite exhibit! Camden's too as you can see.


With Dad on the big carnival slide near our house

such a big boy he rode this one all by himself!! He did great, we were scared to death!

New favorite hobby, trying on all of my shoes. his favorite- heels!
And you can't forget the boots!

At my friend from college Erin's wedding

At our tailgate for the Memphis vs. Ole Miss game. Too fun!

14 months old

Camden with his new chucks! He is ready to ball!

These are picture from my grandad's place in Hickory Flat, MS. It's out in the country and I couldn't resist just letting Camden run around naked. He loved it! I had to redress him when the bugs started biting and he wasn't happy:) He'll probably kill me when he gets older and knows I put these up but I can't help it!!

Running down the gravel road

Helping CeCe water the flowers
Just taking a hike...

So Camden is growing super fast! I cannot get over how much he has changed in just the past two months. Cam's newest things:

-he has a total of 12 teeth even all of his molars. we are just waiting on the incisors on top and bottom
-he is running, literally runs around the house chasing the dog, his cousin etc
-Camden is a big climber. The other day I was on the phone and turned my back for a minute and when I looked back he had pulled out the kitchen table chair and had climbed up on the table was standing up and hanging onto the chandelier!! So he was literally swinging from the chandelier. We have our hands full....
-he has began using a spoon by himself, still eats mostly with his hands but trys with the spoon in between
- only drinks out of sippy cups - no more bottles here!
- still takes a passy, we are working on it but I'm not pushing it until he is through teething
- can do a forward roll all by himself! We just say "hands down" and he puts both hands on the floor and his head down and does a little roll! We learned it at Little Gym
- Loves mac n cheese, grilled cheese, ravioli, peas, potatoes, watermelon, oranges, all fruit really
-says Uh oh, mamma, dada, bye bye (sounds more like dah dah), says 'dat' (meaning "that") and points when he wants something
-loves the pool and playing outside I usually let him play for an hour outside in the morning whn he gets up b/f breakfast and the same thing in the afternoon after nap
-loves his dog and plays with wrigley all the time wrestling and giggling
-waves bye bye, plays patty cake, and slaps his hands together like saying "all done"

eating breakfast with a fork
a normal morning playing outside. Although he usually has a handful of rocks!

He is starting a full time daycare in a week and we are nervous but excited. Up until now he has been with me on my off days and with a sitter or my mom on the days after I work my night shift and I pick him up when I get up at 2:30. This has worked great and we love Billie Jo ( a friend of mine who I worked with at Chili's and found again on facebook) who keeps him. But since I'll be starting back to school in two weeks and I feel like he is starting to grow bored of staying at home with just me we thought it was time. He will be going to a small Christian Academy daycare where he will be one of the only one year olds but have full 2 and 3 year old rooms. They have a curriculum where they are big on activities and learning. A friend of ours had her little girl there and they got her potty trained by 18 months...oh we could be so lucky!They also have a cook who makes them homemade breakfast lunches and snacks which is nice. I got him all of his school supplies last week and I was shocked. He had to have crayons, glue, stickers, markers plus the traditional changes of clothes, nap maps, etc. It's funny that a one year old would need such grown up things but makes me excited to see what he is going to learn! I will have to make a picture of him on his first day like my mom did each year with us.

One of my oldest friends Amanda is expecting her 2nd child which is a girl so we threw her a surprise baby shower at a mexican restaurants near our house. It was so fun and she was truly shocked!