We've Moved!

Hey friends, family and followers - Our blog has moved!

We now have an official website! Check it out!

http://stucrewfun.com

I hope you'll love it as much as I do!

Oh Yeah?

Let me begin by saying that I LOVE my daughter. She is and will always be my special #1.

We have been having issues with our sweet girl. She seems to disappear every once in a while. And her body becomes possessed by Satan. Seriously. It's like one minute we are having this great conversation with a completely brilliant 5 year old, then BANG! She's a 15year old &^@#! and we have no idea what happened.

You Know You've Made It When...

The kids lucked out by inheriting a Thomas the Train incredible train table. And even though it was really for Ri, we told them it was for both in hopes of limiting the fights/tantrums/hurt feelings/screaming.

Anyway. My Dad came over to help me get it in the beast into my house. I moved some furniture around earlier in the day to make room. The kids are IN LOVE with the play table! It has been in the house now for a whopping 2 hours and they have only left it after being forced to join us at the dinner table. Ri inhaled his dinner faster than I have ever seen before. It was kind of funny.

We have a TON of little trains... of varying sets and styles. But the table was delivered with its own boxful. It didn't take the kids long to figure out that they can combine the sets and have totally full train tracks.

Which brings me to the point of this entire entry.

Steph Graduates and We Celebrate at Disney

Shocker. I know.

Stephawee (as she's known) graduated from UCF and since WDW is a mere 45 minutes down the road, that's where we stayed. Actually it was a really big week for Steph. Here's how it panned out:

She went to the beach with her boyfriend Zooch (Zach).

Highlighting April

Let's see, we worked, we played, Shane got older. That pretty much sums it up.

Here it is in pictures:

March*ing Along to Finish the Month

Haha. See what I did there?

Ok, St Patty's Day has never been a super big deal to me or Stu. But apparently it is to Rea. They chat about leprechauns, rainbows and pots of gold at school, so she was on a kick for this holiday.

Crazy hat day at school - St Patty's theme

March in Pics

March was pretty busy. We managed to accomplish quite a lot in that month. Here are some of the highlights:

Long Time No Post

Crap. It's been a while since I posted anything...

Like what happened to April?

Anyway, lots has been going on. That's why I haven't posted, been too exhausted from living. But I will try to play catch-up this week. There's lots I'd like to show you.

Maybe, if I try really hard, I will have a new entry (dare I promise 2?) by Friday.

Fingers crossed people.

M's Birthday at Disney

We went to WDW in the beginning of the month to celebrate a friend's birthday. We booked our cabin, packed the car, and met the gang at Animal Kingdom. It was FREEZING cold that day. Actually, it was so chilly that my monsters happily snuggled together in the single-rider stroller -- without fighting!

The look on the monsters faces when we got onto Disney property

Tower of EXTREME Terror

Rea has wanted to ride the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios for like the past 2 years. And even though she has been tall enough for over a year, we haven't let her. Shane and I told her that even though she met Disney's height requirement, she did not meet their age one. Rea has been under the impression that you have to be at least 5 to ride the ToT.

And she turned 5 in December. We said nothing of the ride, and her birthday trip (see that entry) was going to be at a different Park. She let us know that she was aware that she now met all of Disney's pre-reqs. It was just a matter of time before we were there with all the right people. That is: Jack, Steph and Shane. All 3 peeps wanted to be with her for her first (and possibly last) ride. It was pretty clear that I shouldn't go on it with her. Even though I love it, it terrifies me and I scream like a little girl the ENTIRE time. I could not even pretend to project enough bravado to calm Rea. Jack and Steph would have taken her alone, but Shane really wanted to go with his little girl.

A Magical Day for the Kids

The Magic Kingdom was the perfect place to meet up the rest of our massive crew. But first we had to get there.

Insert: Horseback Riding & Playground

I totally spaced on including more of the pics from the pony rides. We did this before dinner - for those of you who don't know, the pony rides are $5 per ride, and they are located at the Settlement.

Rea absolutely LOVES this. She goes for a ride almost every time we stay at the Campgrounds. The birthday girl and Ri wanted to do it this year.

Ft Wilderness with Friends

Although we go to the Disney Campgrounds all the time, our friends the Smiths have never stayed there. Yay! We are so excited to introduce our friends (the S fam and the 6 other fams coming later) to our favorite getaway.

We went up on Thursday. Once we checked in, the kids played in the "yards" and had an absolute blast running back and forth between the Stu cabin and the Smith cabin. Genie and I took to unloading the food and stocking our kitchens while Charles and Shane did something. I'm not really sure what.

Disney with Friends!

Let me preface this by apologizing for the MASSIVE delay in publishing Shel's birthday weekend at Disney. I literally started this blog shortly after we returned from O-town. 

I know. Shocker. We were recently at Disney.

This trip was, like all the trips before, AWESOME!!

We went to celebrate a sweet friend's 5th birthday.

So there we are, on a beautiful sunny morning. The weather was perfect... I don't think the temperature could be more perfect. We were packing up. The suitcases were full. Rea's had been packed for a night or two. Rea is a bit of a control-freak - wonder where she gets that from - so she LOVES to be able to pack her own stuff. And I don't mind. One less person to worry about. It's not like she lets me have much of a say in her outfit choices anyway. Pick your parental battles.

We kept Rea home from school for the day. My Crew spent the morning packing up the trailer. Shane loaded the golf carts, and I finished packing the coolers. Rea and Ri were counting down the minutes until we left.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

So my baby turned 3! I can't believe it.

He is such a little man. Gone is the baby that I had. In his place is a super chatty little boy who thinks he is as grown up as his sister and all of her friends.

Usually I don't really do the traditional birthday party thing. I hosted one for Rea's first birthday and it was so much work that I have stayed away from them since. As you know, we did Disney for Rea's bday this year.

And because Rea got a special day, we thought it would be nice to give Ri a day too. I planned a cute and simple party at a local park. And about 46 of our closest friends RSVPed yes. Not bad right?

Well, I forgot that we live in FL. I made no alternate plans for rain because, well, I'm an idiot.

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Girl

Rea turned 5 this past December. We decided to blow off the traditional birthday party. Instead, we invited a handful of friends to join us for a day trip to Disney!

But as you may know, my mom's birthday is the day before Rea's. And since we weren't going to be home for Rea's day, we combined and celebrated at home the night before. With Grimaldi's pizza and cake. Yum.

Christmas Lunch

This is entry #5 if you're counting.

After the beach and showers, it was time for the rest of the extended family to arrive.

We did presents first because that's really all the kids wanted to do. After gifts we moved to the patio for lunch. My Grandma, who my kids call LaLa told me a fantastic story. I'll share it with you after you see all the pics. =)

Rea and LaLa

It's Finally Christmas!!! #4

So Rea woke up at 4:30am. She came into my room, smacked me in the face, and said "Let's go see if Santa was here."

I opened one eye, saw the clock, and replied "No. He hasn't come yet. Go back to bed."

She did. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Shane was the first one up actually at 6:30. He got Rea out of bed, which was not surprisingly simple. My job was to rouse Buddy. He was passed out in the middle of my bed. It took some coaxing... he did not want to wake up. We asked if he wanted to go downstairs to see if Santa brought him any presents, he whined "Noooo.... Santa's NOT here. I'm sleeping!"

Shane carried both kiddos down the stairs, the whole time Ri was complaining.

Christmas Eve Craziness #3

For the first time in many years, my family celebrated Christmas as a HUGE group at my Mom's house. In recent years, my Aunt Amy has played hostess to this holiday meal. She lives in the southern part of our state. And my sister Jack and our TN family usually don't come down to celebrate with us. And in even more recent years, my immediate family plus my Mom, Dad & 2 sisters have spent the Christmas holiday at Disney. 

But this year, almost my entire family tree was in PBG. 

And most were shacking up at my Mom's house... which you might know is where my Crew lives. 

It was full. And so much fun. Really. Aside from the fact that both of my sisters came with little Agents of Death (3 dogs and 1 cat), it was great to have the clan home. I don't know that I have really laughed quite that much in a while. 

Christmas Eve was spent around the house... Steph was making cookies for friends and future family members. Jack was hanging and playing with the kids. Shane was working. That's actually all I can immediately recall about that day. 

Christmas Continued... #2

On the Sunday night before Christmas this year, we attended a Holiday PJ Party at a friend's house. Unbeknownst to the kiddos, Santa was making an appearance!

Reagan was so excited about the party that she got into her jammies the minute we returned home from lunch and church. And she twisted my air to join her (didn't have to twist much, I never turn down pjs).  Then we counted down the hours and minutes until it was time to go.

Daddy had to work, so he couldn't join us. This really bummed me out because Steph and I found some AMAZING footie-pjs at Target in his size! It would have been legend - wait for it - dary!

We paused to pose with our newest Christmas floatie! 

Buddy wouldn't get in the pic with me and Rea... He wanted to fly solo (hahaha).