Christmas Part 2

A few weeks later, we had Christmas with my side of the family at my house on Christmas eve. Before that we decided to go to the Candlelight service at church. It was a nice moment of pause before the hustle and bustle of Christmas happened to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Cam took communion with us and we go up to the front of church and kneel on the bench and the older man who was handing out the juice was so touched by this sweet young boy kneeling between us and taking communion for the first time that he couldn't even say his little part "this is the blood of Christ poured out just for you" because he was fighting back the tears! He got to trey and just laid his hand on treys shoulder and squeezed it and said "so sweet" with a trembling lip and tears in his eyes. It was so sweet! The bread they serve that represents Christ body is actually Hawaiian bread when we got back to our seat cam said "that was some good cornbread"! It was hilarious!

the boys looking at the coveted Nintendo DS!!! 

OBSESSED!!

At Grandad's Christmas day, Cam caught a fish!!

Christmas morning with my superhero

Mom, Dad, Tracy, Kyle, Jimmy, Walker and my great uncle "Unk" came and we enjoyed dinner and a few libations then opened gifts. It was a fun time and I was glad to host, next year though I'm voting for Tracy's and Kyle's house! The next morning Santa had come and Camden who told us "I laid down and closed my eyes, but I didn't sleep at all last night!" (he really slept about 7 hours!) Was up at the crack of dawn around 6:30am. We had to drag Brooks out of the bed, but both boys were just enthralled by all the goodies Santa brought. They played with everything and were so excited at all the things they got. After a yummy breakfast Trey made us of French toast, we got ready and went over to Joan and James house for Christmas. It was a ball the kids (and us) were showered with even more toys. The weather had warmed up some and Camden got a new fishing pole from Grandad and some Mighty Bites lures from Santa so we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and went out back to fish a little. Camden even caught a 2 lb fish! It was super exciting. Other than that we are ramping up big time for the wedding and all the events surrounding in a few weeks. Busy making programs, signs, buying decorations, meeting with caterers, etc. It is going to be so much fun I cannot wait to share the photos!!

Lots of stuff going on!! Loong blog entry! Showers, thanksgiving, and Part 1 of Christmas, Oh My!

So, over the last few months we have had several things going on!

Tracy and her betrothed, Kyle at a church shower hosted by his family's church members 

In October, Tracy's bridesmaids and I hosted a kitchen bridal shower for Tracy (the first of 6 showers she had!). It was so fun the invites I ordered from Etsy and the envelope liners were actually handwritten recipes that my Granny had penned (she passed away 3 years ago). Mom brought all of her lovely vintage aprons and tablecloths we used mom's gift of the Kitchen aide mixer as a centerpiece flower holder, it was just beautiful! Tracy received so many wonderful gifts for their new home it was all exciting! The next big event was Tracy's bachellorette weekend in Oxford, MS. All of her bridesmaids (two from out of town Alabama and one from all the way from Maryland) drove to Oxford on a Friday night in November (one of the few off games for Ole Miss) and we stayed in a beautiful 3 story condo and it was awesome! We did the tuxedo thing again like we did for Leigh Anne's and we were all dressed and ready when Tracy arrived so it was fun as she walked in to music playing and we were all lining the stairs and dancing it was cute. We went for a nice dinner at Bour'e in Oxford and then hit a couple of night spots. The next morning a few of us went to the famous Big, Bad, Breakfast which was amazing! If you are ever in Oxford, you must eat there!! We shopped around the square and also did a little antiquing. It was a great time for all her friends and I to get to know each other better and I think she really enjoyed it.

gifts galore!!

red headed bride cupcake toppers!

we used my grandmother's (hazel) antique milk glass punch bowl and cups

Mom gave Tracy this kitchen aide mixer which we used as a centerpiece holder!

all the bridesmaid plus some ready to hit the town!!

    Camden has been loving (and a little obsessed) with his Awana's class. He is so pumped to go every week. I can't believe I actually considered not sending him! He is so excited to go and learn new things from God's word and he wears us out with his thirst to learn more and more Bible verses. He even surprised us all at Christmas in Texas when he said "I want to say the prayer!" We were just all like, "OK!". We joined hands at Trey's grandmother's house in Texas and he bowed his head and his prayer went a little something like this, " Dear Jesus, thank you for this food, help us to have a good day and to be good and to keep it up!, Amen!" It was so sweet and unexpected that the tears immediately welled up in my eyes and when he finished and looked up we were all just so moved. It reminded me of the verse in the Bible, (which Brooks quotes to us often) Matthew 19:14 "..let all the little children come to me." The child like faith and complete unencumbered belief in this unseen force is awe inspiring. I am praying that both my boys come to know the Lord and trust and follow him throughout their days. It is an extremely important foundation that we are hopefully laying that will form them into men who love and serve the Lord. I think that is what made the biggest difference in my life growing up in church not to get so wrapped up in sin (of course we all have our moments! or years...).

I was fortunate enough to have my video camera on when we went to Trey's other grandmother's house the next day to record the prayer this time.

(video)

Some other funny Camdenisms & Brooksisms we've heard around the house:

- Camden refers to sausage biscuits as "breakfast hamburgers"
- Brooks refers to cocoa puffs as "cocoa pups" 

- On 11/13/13:

Camden told us he needed us to "earn his sparks badge on" he really meant iron it on

- On 12/17/13
Cam, when asked why he gave Wrigley the gift he bought her for Christmas so early he said, "I could tell she really wanted it!" Trey said "how can you tell she wanted it?" cam replied "she puts her butt down on the ground like this (demonstrating) and she spins around in a circle with her butt on the floor that means she's really excited!" 😳
(or has worms!!)

Camden & Brooks have been doing some fun things with their dad on the weekends when I work the ED. The go to Great American Pizza company, Chick-fil-A to eat & play on the indoor playground, they have been to the movies several times and saw Frozen and the new Dinosaur movie. He is such a great dad. So hands on and the boys are just fantastic with him. Sometimes he has more patience than I could ever hope to have with them. When I lose my patience or start to raise my voice I see how calm he can be with them. It's really inspiring to watch. I think seeing him be such a great dad makes me fall even more in love with him!

The Columns hotel

Across the street was the street car!

Speaking of love and Trey, we recently celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary by taking a little kid free trip to New Orleans. We stayed at a hotel which was an old antebellum home in Uptown NOLA called the Columns. It was really nice and we went to several great dinners (went to our #1 favorite steak restaurant Dicky Brennan's which did not disappoint and swanky place called Commander's Palace), shopping, just doing whatever we wanted. Unfortunately on the second day of our trip we got word that Trey's grandfather passed in his sleep. He had been in a little bit of poor health recently but had made it to Leigh Anne's wedding and was seemingly doing well. It worked so that we drove from NOLA to Brownwood, TX (about a 9-10 hour drive) for the funeral and to be with the family. It was a sweet little graveside service and we all cried and laughed telling funny stories about this sweet man who lived for his family. I never have known a grandparent to call and talk on the phone with his grandkids as much as Grandad Schulle did with Trey and then our boys when they would actually have a conversation on the phone. He will be sorely missed. Here are some of my favorite photos of him.

Grandad Schulle was always being silly!~

He loved the grandboys

Last Christmas wathcing Brooks open gifts.

At Thanksgiving we did one with my mom and my siblings at the farm in Hickory Flat and had a ball. The next day Trey had to work so me and the kids stayed with mom and let the boys play with my nephew Walker. We went to Pickwick for the weekend where Trey's Uncle Gene and his Grandmother flew in from Texas. It was so fun, James decided to make it a cooking competition and we all entered our best entrees sides, desserts and other goodies. We had an apron decorating contest for the boys and Walker won the 6 & up division, Cam won the 5 -6 year old division and Brooks won the 2 & under division! They each got $5, which they thought was the best thing ever.

apron decorating

The Lunsford men

My nephew Walker and his work of art!

Uncle Uncle Gene and the boys

Leigh Anne had laid out a beautiful table with gold candlesticks, charger and table markers with all of our names on them. She even had spray painted gold dinosaurs as place card holders. It was so cool! The entrees ranged from TJ's deep fried turkey, jambalaya from scratch, Leigh Anne's a creole crawfish stuffing, there were some bread puddings, smores pie, a festive turkey veggie tray and much much more! It was so fun, we were STUFFED. All of us felt like pigs afterwards. Everyone voted and we came out with Trey as the winner for the main dish, I took home the sides category with my "slap yo' mama" mashed potatoes and tied with Leigh Anne with her smore pie and my bananas foster bread pudding (in individual mason jars topped with ice cream and warm praline sauce) and I got Grand Champion! All in all, we took home $175! It came in handy for the last minute Christmas gifts!!

At Christmas time, we arranged for Tracy to do her bridal shoot with leigh anne's amazingly talented friend and photographer Natalie Shelton (http://www.nbarrettphotography.com/). Mom and Tracy followed us to Dallas where we went and had hair and makeup with local vendors (Julie with Dear Clark salon and Pouf for makeup), even had a donated bouquet from the awesome florist Bows n' Arrows (if you are into cool and trendy floral creations check them out!! http://bowsandarrowsdeluxe.blogspot.com/) It was a cool day but the photos speak for themselves and Tracy was a glowing and picture perfect bride. I know she will be stunning on her wedding day!!

                           For all the pics go to: http://www.nbarrettphotography.com/blog/tracy-bride/


While we were doing the shoot, the boys met up with his Uncle Gene for a trip to the Dallas indoor zoo and aquarium. They had a ball and really enjoyed themselves. We left from the shoot to make the rest of the trip to Brownwood to spend the holidays with his extended family. Mom and Tracy made their way back home and stopped and did a little antiquing (a new favorite of all of ours!) We did the annual enchilada dinner with Maylene & Al's on that Friday night. The boys were funny dancing to their dancing singing push button dolls and opening gifts.We opted to stay in a hotel like we have done the past several years which is much less imposing on the family with 4 of us and all our stuff we can really take up a lot of room! We then went to Grandma Schulle's house the next day. Grandad's absence was definitely felt as this was his favorite holiday and loved seeing the grands and great grands. We played dirty santa and the boys again got overly spoiled!!

Brooks playing with his little cousin Gracie

The boys enjoyed helping everyone else open THEIR gifts. haha!!

the boys decided to build a car ramp for their matchboxes!

getting in position

opening gifts with cousin Blair (note the flannel shirts in honor of Grandad, since he loved his flannel shirts so!)

Grandma Schulle giving out gifts! 

my little poser!

Three generations of Elders

making a gingerbread house with the boys at the farm in TX

aaannnnd eating it! 

The next day we drove to Grapevine, TX where they host the annual Northpole Express. It's based on the book/movie Polar Express and kids ride the train in their PJ's and hear the story of 'Twas the night before Christmas" when the ride is complete we arrive at the "Northpole" where they had trees and fake snow and lots of elves. They performed a small show and then gave the kids magic "hot chocolate snow milk" (chocolate milk) and then we go and see Santa himself. The boys especially Camden were just a nervous wreck when it came time to meet the Big Man in person. He had been pouring over and worrying and rewriting his list for Santa for weeks and when it came time to meet him, he was clamming up and forgetting his list! He almost broke into tears with anxiety. But when it came time to meet Santa he went right up with Brooks (who was surprisingly unafraid this year) and was able to get in several items he wanted. Not without leaving and coming back because he remembered "just one more thing" after their photo op was complete. It was so funny. You can see how anxious he looks in his picture below.

contemplating what to tell santa

"and a DS, a Chima game, a flippy hat..."

"oh, yeah, a super mario brothers game, mighty bites, etc"

"oh yeah, 

Brooks is really into superheros lately and always wants to wear a cape and "fly" around the house. His 3rd birthday in February is coming up and we are planning a big superhero party. Pretty excited about that.