Under the Bunk Bed

Cade and Grant have shared a room for the past 3.5 years. Recently Grant has been insisting that he needs his "space". So, our house is shuffling a little. Grant has been the bottom bunk sleeper for all of that time and I couldn't help but make note of what his little eyes look at each night before he falls asleep. I just think it's precious that he put a little picture collage up of things that make him happy.....Elaina as a newborn, being the student of the week in kindergarten and getting to bring home that stuffed horse, Bobby's baseball picture from high school, a picture of he and Cade as babies, the Atlanta Braves, and him in a box on the day we moved into this house. Rhett and I feel gypped that we didn't make it on the wall of love but hey, you can't win 'em all:)

First Day of School 2013-2014

 Today Cade heads to middle school. He's very excited for the new experience and so am I! I'm very thankful that he's not pitching a fit about wearing "nice" clothes to school this year. I spent half of fourth grade and all of fifth trying to convince him that your legs can, in fact, bend in a pair of jeans and wearing something other than athletic shorts would not stunt his growth. I finally succeeded! 

 Grant faithfully wears whatever I put out. Good boy. :) He's heading to fourth grade! ( I don't know why I only had one picture of him....everyone else has two. Except Elaina. She always has the most:) )

And Rhett: heading to second grade but acts like he's heading to fifth. I suppose that's what happens when you have 2 big brothers.

 Cade's bus leaves a full hour before everyone else so my crew picture is missing a part:(

I'll be honest. Summer went by WAY too quickly for me this year. I was not ready for early mornings and packing lunches and homework in the afternoon. However, I was MORE than ready to drop Princess Petunia off two days a week for a little time away. She needs attention at least 13.5 hours a day and sometimes that's not enough so she wakes me in the night to let me know. I love that I can sit in a chair in quiet silence from 9:15-1:45 a couple days a week (that actually never happens.....I pack those days full!!) while she cuts, pastes, and colors under someone else's supervision. And we both cherish it equally....beautiful!! 

 I did go all out and fishtail her hair. She was a super sport and was quite still. I was pleased! Until I had to put her in that big ol' carseat that is a total hair monster. I'm going to start making her wear a pair of silk panties on her head in the car. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you can do that at night and it will keep your braids from messing up with your tossing and turning. Surely it would work in the daylight, too. Albeit it's a bit more embarrassing. 

 Is she not the cutest little thing wearing a backpack you ever did see??? 

Here's to another year of schooling! Let's do some learnin'!

We Can Rock a Yard!

In a hilarious turn of events, Bobby and I were awarded with the Yard of the Month for our neighborhood. It's really funny since we are terrible at keeping up with the yard and even more funny since we sold our lawn mower this year. We decided that since our yard has been disheveled for so long now with the pool construction that any improvement was fantastic. And, look, there's a spot of dead grass in the background. Apparently that's not a disqualifier!! Woot! 

Family Beach Plank Stacking:)

I had the grand idea that before we left the beach we needed to try to plank stack our entire family. I'm so glad I have a strong husband because otherwise he'd have been face planted right into the sand! 

With Jared's help we got everyone stacked...

down to the last little Morgan! 

And a brief hold for a pic before it all collapsed. The boys were cracking up:)

It's much easier to just stack one princess:)

Fishin' in the Deep

This year Tracie snuck in on the boys' fishing trip. As I'm looking through these pics I'm wondering where in the world Bobby was. Then I realized he's the guy taking all the pictures. That's what usually happens to me! The gang woke up early in the morning and set out for their adventure. 

Cade has managed to be the lucky kid that gets to go with daddy on the fishing trip. I'm not sure why Grant never asks to go but Rhett is still terrified of the possibility of getting eaten by a shark. He likes to play it safe on the beach with his mom:)

Cade put a hook in at least one of the fish they caught! 

What a doozie!

Between all the fishermen on the boat (and the one fisherwoman) there was a pretty great catch!

Even though I never go (and actually don't have a desire to) I LOVE the deep sea fishing trip. It usually means that there's going to be a tasty fresh dinner on the table that night. My dad fries a mean piece of fish and Jared's second career could easily be a chef so we're always golden in the eating department on vacation. 

Way to go team! 

Very Windy Beach Family Photos

I always try to take some good photos of our family at some point on our vacation. This year was a fail. The wind was blowing so hard that our hair is wacko and I was getting nervous about having my camera in all the blowing sand. So, it is what it is and I have no idea why I can't find any of the individual pictures of any of the kids except Rhett. If I find them maybe I'll add them in one day:)

 Bobby snapped this of me when I didn't even know it. I have no idea what I was doing but I kinda liked the way the candid turned out:)

Everyone wanted to see what Grandma had videoed. Thank goodness for her getting some videos because I never think to do it! 

Another great family vacation down in the books! 

Baytowne and Other Fun

 We took the kids to the bumper car place this year and Elaina was VERY concerned that she wasn't going to be tall enough to do anything. She's convinced herself that she's just as old, just as capable, and you better recognize.... Anyway, as luck would have it she was just a smidge over the line to be able to ride with a parent.

That made her all smiles:)

So off we went! We got stranded once because Bobby is a race car nutbag and he plowed us into the wall. Other than that it was a smooth ride!

G slowed down long enough to snap a pic with me. 

 We also had our annual night at Baytowne to see the fireworks. This makes the third year in a row that it's rained on firework night. That's such a bummer. Luckily this year the rain stopped long enough for the show to go on. 

The rain actually moved through while we were eating dinner so we didn't get completely drenched. Good timing!

Here's my Baytowne crew. I never got my good camera out because of all the stinking rain. Rain and nice cameras don't mix well. 

Elaina saw the huge trampolines ("jumpy thing") and could not get it out of her head. So, in the name of cuteness, we ponied up the $25 and I waiting in line with her and hoped it didn't start raining again when it got to her turn. That would have been a complete disaster:/

She waited veeerrry patiently until she could get weighed to jump. The low weight limit was 25lbs and she weighed 25lbs exactly. I'm glad she ate all those fries at dinner:)

 She got strapped in....

and was ready to go! She's a big blurr in all the action pictures my phone took. Trust me....this was one of the best days of her life. She cackled and squealed the whole time. 

$25 well spent for memories she'll treasure until next week!:)