Christmas Celebration #1

Up first this year is Christmas with my husband's side of the family.

We celebrated and exchanged gifts at my inlaws house with aunts and cousins. Good times. Although there were definitely some family members noticeably absent.

All four kids made out like bandits!

'Tis the Season...

... to be CRAZY busy.

And to spend time with friends and family. December is usually super chaotic, hectic, expensive, awesome. And this one was no different.

I was (and Shane too) feverishly framing my heart out in order to satisfy the Christmas shopping rush. We had a record-breaking month! I am still floating a little on Cloud 9 from that.

The month started at Breakfast with Santa! The kids LOVED it! We went with some friends to the Ritz-Carlton in Jupiter. My kids never cease to amaze me... Ri loved Santa and practically jumped out of the chair into his arms. Rea actually cried - real tears. She thought she was on the Naughty List - she has had a snotty mouth on her as of late and has gotten in quite a bit of trouble. Santa was incredible and assured her that she is on the Nice List, in fact he checked the List twice that morning. Then all the world was right again and it was time to decorate gingerbread houses.

SO SO SO Thankful

I really am blessed. And I know it.

Rea was AMAZING in her Thanksgiving performance at school! It impressed me beyond words how excellent all of the kids did, especially considering they were on stage in front of a full auditorium. 

Cute litte squirrel!

November - Finally

Even though the month is over in real life, the blog has finally made it into the 11th month of 2012! Woo hoo!

This month has had the most incredible weather in south FLA. I have loved it. And so have the kiddos. We have spent a great deal of time outside.

P & M's bday party was fun. T & Ri (who will be in class together next year) played well together on the outdoor soccer thing.

Trick or Treat

I know, so late on this one.

I'll keep it short and sweet. We trick or treated with some friends. It was super fun. And the kids made out like candy bandits.

Our crew: the off-duty fireman, the on-duty fireman, Mavis (Dracula's daughter),  a baby inmate, pretty bumblebee, Hello Kitty, & a Ninja Turtle

Boo to You - Mickey's Halloween Party

Woo hoo! The time has finally arrived! It's party night.

So, after our quick trip into the Magic Kingdom, we hung around the Ft Wilderness campgrounds for a little while, then it was time to "Suit Up"! (10 pts if you get the reference).

Zach & Steph... Not sure why they look so glum

Good news! Zach learned how to photobomb! 

Boo to You - Day 2

On Sunday morning, we met up with all of our friends at the Magic Kingdom. It was A's birthday, and we are so happy to have been able to spend it with her!

Love this little boy... he's growing up so fast!

It was a little chilly on the boat over to the Contemporary.

Boo to You 2012! Day 1

Rea and Ri have been preparing for our annual Disney Halloween trip by watching 2010's home video and slideshow. I was slacking last year and have not updated our DVD. Maybe I will be able to carve out some spare time to do that before next year's trip.

Obviously I am not writing this as it happened. This year's trip was the weekend before Halloween. And we had the awesome pleasure of having some school friends meet up with us! As far as our trips go, this one was awesome, and it definitely ranks high on my list. It was simply fun. Oh, and the weather was PERFECT!

Buddy was so excited he kept taking all the clothes out of the suitcase to pack himself for Disney. 

Yes, all of our grocery bags are skulls of vintage Disney. So?

And we're off! Dad & Zach drove in front of us, trailering the golf carts up. 

I'm Still Learning

Ok, so I'm not a professional blogger. That is to say that it's not how I make my living.

Even after almost 2 years of blogging, I am still learning how to get the most out of Blogger so my blog will be as awesome as my subject matter.

I'm sure you have noticed the new background - both on the regular computer blog or the mobile blog version of "Adventures of the StuCrew".

Since I usually post a lot of photos, I have figured out how to break the entry up on the main page. You may see "See More" on some of the entries. If you do, please click on it to view the rest of the pictures or finish reading the entries. Let's try it out now.

Birthday Party Weekend!

My wonderful and awesome friend Wendy's birthday fell on a day that her hubby had to work at the fire station. And for some reason, she thought she was going to have to spend her special day alone. There was no way we were going to let that happen! And a surprise bday lunch at Grimaldi's was planned (they either love or hate us, we always come with at least 10 kids). 

Anyway, the surprise was a success! And we had a wonderful time! 

Happy birthday Wendy!!

Pumpkin Picking

This month seems to have lasted FOREVER. And I don't mean that in an entirely negative way. I feel as though we have crammed a year's worth of stuff into one month.*

*It it is important to note that I just got back from a weekend away, so it could just be exhaustion from my most recent vacay talking.

Our month was full of fun playdates and birthdays with friends!

I already blogged about a few things.

First up in this entry we have pumpkin hunting with the B boys. Devon took MUCH better pics than I did... but that's kind of to be expected since it is her chosen profession. Anyway, we had a blast at Bedner's Farm down off of 441 just south of Boynton Bch Blvd. It was my first time there. And it was quite an experience. Not only was a million degrees out, but probably half of PB county came out that day to pumpkin pick. It was busy. The kiddos had fun. And really, isn't that all that matters?

Wouldn't it be great to get a pic of the kids in the corn field? Hmm. 

Buddy wouldn't even go near the corn stalks.

Everyone Loves Fire Fighters!

It's true. Admit it. There is something about them that's just awesome.

My husband, who is a police officer, will have just rolled his eyes after reading that. Actually, he may stop reading this entry altogether. Hahaha. Policemen and firemen have a love/tease relationship. At least here with our local departments, there is a lot of friendly banter between the two heroic professions. It's funny to me as an outsider.

Anyway, Ri wants to be a fireman for Halloween this year. And he's going to be, since we purchased his costume a few days ago. No wishy-washy costume changes like Rea is trying to pull off. That's another story that I will blog about later.

A few weeks ago, or maybe it wasn't really that long ago, NPBFD had their Fire Safety Day. It's probably a national thing, I don't really know.

We took the kiddos. We went a few years ago, but that time Shane was working... this year it happen to fall on his off weekend. Yay. A group of Rea & Ri's little friends from school agreed to too. Super fun!

Rea & C - waiting for the little houses to catch on fire. 

Pretty powerful message for the kiddos.

Love love love this pic! Stu and the munchkins.

B & C were SO sweet and fun!! 

Yay! 

Now for food. It seems everything in our world revolves around grub.

It was a great day! We had a total blast with the B boys!

Oh, and here's Firefighter Ri to the rescue!

Soccer - Epic Fail

You might not believe me... looking at me now... but back in the day, I used to play soccer. I even did a stint as a high school JV coach too! It has been many years. And I was never what you might call "remotely good". That's not the point.

The point is that I love it. It's fun. I have always fancied myself as a soccer person.

In the same breath though, I should point out that I'm American. So I only ever watch the World Cup.

Anywho... I digress. This is not at all what I wanted to blog about.

My lovely, super adorable Rea. She has power-house legs. When she's pissed and decides to kick you, WATCH OUT! So the opportunity to sign her up for soccer arose, and I pounced. Not only is one of the coaches the parent of a friend of hers, but about 1/3 of all of the kids from her grade at school were signing up too. How perfect!

Not exactly.

At first it all went according to my plan. She was excited to spend my money at Sports Authority on all of the necessary soccer gear and garb. She even had a blast kicking the ball around with me in the yard a few afternoons. The night of the big tryouts went well too. She took off onto the field and listened attentively to all of the coaches and followed their directions.

I was so proud.

Then came the first (and I think only) official practice with her team. It was on a Saturday morning. It was a mild to moderate disaster for Rea. She decided right then and there that she did not like soccer. Not even a little bit. Although you can't tell from the photos. =)

Then the games started ... we are not terribly successful. But when the entire team with the exception of 2 kids are 4 years old, what else did we honestly expect? At least most of the kiddos are having fun. Not mine, she complains, throws huge fits at home with me about even getting dressed to go. This is why "Go to soccer" is on her "Chore Chart".

Love this... Ri & C chillin' while their older siblings play.

One night game, when Shane was actually able to join us, Rea never left the bench. Shane took over my duty as Bench Mom and Rea parked her little booty next to her Daddy and never left his side. Now I know you might be reading this thinking "awww, that's so sweet." And probably it was a little.... but I am horrified to admit that I was that terrible stage mom (worse than those idiots on Toddlers and Tiaras). I marched over to the bench and kind of lost it with her. I know, hand over the award for Worst Parent of the Year. Oh well, I can't do anything about it now. Even as it was happening, I was thinking, "What the heck is wrong with me?? Why am I doing this? Who am I?"

The next game I was remarkably chill. I just sat on the blanket with my friends and watched the game. Rea actually played. She told me after the game that she stills "hates soccer", but at least she played, right? I thought maybe we were going to turn a new leaf... It was short lived. She missed the next game entirely because of a meltdown about soccer at the house.

I honestly don't know if we will finish the season. I think we are going to give it another game or two and then call it. Perhaps she isn't ready for team sports yet. I might have to prepare myself for the fact that she may never like soccer. Hmm. Only time will tell.

Don't worry. I will keep you updated.