Brothers Weekend At The Beach

Brian planned a weekend for all of the brothers to go to the beach together.  Brian and Jay left for the beach Wednesday to make a long weekend out of it.  The tornado showed up Friday at about 5 p.m. and left Brian and Jay wondering if a peaceful weekend with only 2/3 of the brothers would have been a better plan!

Bobber relaxed on the beach and was just her usual happy self the whole time.

Grady, however, was way too excited to give anyone a moment of rest.  The kid who usually sleeps in until at least 8:30 was ready to go at 7 both mornings. 

Enjoying his favorite snack of watermelon on the beach.

Aaahhh...nap time.  The whole house can relax.

But Brian and Jay started to miss the little guy...

So they decided to wake him up

With a serenade of their very own wake up song.

Grady wasn't nearly as enthused.

The easy baby.

We introduced her to Jersey Shore this weekend.  Now she is hooked on the Real Housewives and Jersey Shore, 2 of the best television influences out there for a baby.

Once Grady was over the shock of his wake up song he decided a medley of some Bob Marley, Keller Williams and The Band was needed.

And that was our fun, not relaxing, but fun weekend.

Pop's Boy

Between his insistence on calling it "Chicken-Fil-A" and his love of loafers and t-shirts on Saturday mornings, his Mange qualities are definitely starting to shine through.

God Bless You Stumbo Family

You have 4 of the most well behaved kids God ever put on this earth and with that being said, I still don't know how you do it.  It is a tag team effort at our house to wrangle our 2 and we have about a 75% success rate.

We were lucky enough to find an empty beach on a lake island this past Saturday and the Stumbo clan joined us for a hot dog/hamburger cookout on the good old charcoal grill.  Vanessa and I corralled the little ones while Dale and David were in charge of tube rides.  Gabriel was a champ, you could tell he had been practicing some this summer.

The 2 little ones held their own though and didn't fall once.  Go Grady and Maggie!

We ate and swam until the sun started to go down then had a leisurely (little kids screaming because they didn't want to leave) ride home.

Those Summer Nights

We've always got a little extra room so if you find yourself in Chapin around 7:30 any evening come join us for a boat ride and a swim.  Grady will be your BFF if you swim around with him.

The Bobber In All Her Glory

 A little fuzzy but the huge grin is what really counts...recognize this dress Susan? (or should I say Taylor?)

Can you tell this girl is loved, bald head and all?  I bought some bows.  Then I packed them up for sometime a year or so from now.  A mom can dream...or use honey as has been suggested!

My baby doll.  She stole my heart in a way I never thought anyone could and I don't think I will ever get it back again.  As long as she has it, I don't want it back.

*And all credit for the name "Bobber" can go to Grady who started it and unfortunately made it stick.  Sorry Caroline, no more calling you Honey Cheerio, Carolion or even Caroline for that matter.  I do draw the line at monograms with Bobber though.

Grady's Got A Girlfriend...

Her name is Ellison and they hold hands, share juice boxes and we know its getting serious because they have seen each other running around in the nude.  Ellison likes to call Grady on the phone (she calls Dale or I then just starts talking as if Grady were the one who answered).  We are going to have to keep a very close eye on these 2 from now on... 

Daddy Come Home!

I'm exhausted, the house is a wreck and this is what I woke up to in the bed this morning:

Grady had a nightmare and needed to snuggle.  Caroline made it in her bed until about 5:30 this morning but then she got hungry.  We miss you!  We don't want you to get a mistrial or anything but it sure would be nice to have you back tonight instead of tomorrow!

Picnic Dinner

Last night Dale had the brilliant idea of packing up our dinner and going to Grady's favorite island for a picnic.  Grady was our navigator...

Settling down in the perfect spot.

Grilled chicken sandwiches taste ten times better on a family picnic.  The ants really appreciated our visit too... 

Grady has to be bribed with potato chips to get him to eat his real food.  Remember back when we weren't allowed to swim for 30 minutes after we ate?  Well that flew out the window when the bribes turned to "Grady, eat a few more bites or you can't go swimming."

And so he ate his few more bites.  And then he convinced Dale that jumping off of the boat over and over again really is something fun to do.

Of course our happy little girl just relaxed in her seat and enjoyed her picnic of rice cereal and applesauce.  This is her look of contentment after her belly was finally full.  She is the happiest baby in the world.

Our Future Musician

A Saturday morning in the kitchen jamming out to some Keller Williams with his "Bob Marley" guitar and his Spiderman underoos.  I love my little boy so much!

Grady + Stickers + Bobber =

Good thing she doesn't have much hair yet!

Dimples!

Grady Loves His Tractors

Imagine his excitement when we got home last night to find this beauty parked a few hundred feet away from our driveway. I'm not quite sure what they are doing to our road...but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they decided to pave it and just forgot to tell us!

Daddy's Little Helper

Grady is fascinated with Dale's tools and anytime Dale has a project, Grady is his shadow. He even tries to use his play power tools to help Dale out. Project: Redo the railings on our bedrooms porch

Completion Time: a lot longer than it would have taken if Grady weren't helping out.

Enjoyment: a million times better with a little helper.

The porch without the rails up...makes for a much better view but not too safe!

It Happened

Dad got married! I never thought I would see the day my daddy got married again but to my amazement it did and I could not be any happier.Gail did every single flower arrangement and they were absolutely beautiful. (Just as I am sure Anne's flowers were...before she left them by the dump)

Backyard decorations

The dance floor built just for the fun occasion

The beautiful Miss Amelia. I think this whole marriage makes her my niece now! Grady and Caroline have a cousin!

I am so lucky to have a South Carolina family who traveled all the way down to Jacksonville for the party. Having Uncle Brian and Anne there made Grady the happiest boy in the world.

Aunt Stinky and Caroline

Enjoying the dance floor

Me and my baby (who is sadly not a baby at all anymore)

Gail dancing with her "baby"