The Three Amigos

We joined Isabella and Delana at Play Plus for a play date.  We checked out a Kindermusik class while we were there.  We played with different instruments and sang songs.  Brody is definitely all boy.  All he wanted to do with each instrument was bang it on the ground.  Hey, he's one smart little cookie if you ask me.  He knew he was able to make a louder sound that way, then if he just hit it with his hand.  The teacher was trying to teach the kids how to put things back into the box, along with taking them out.  Taking toys out is a no brainer in Brody's book, now putting them away is a different story.  He was definitely one of those kids that had to see the next toy before he was willing to give up his.  It was fun to see him interact with everyone.  My baby boy is growing up!

Delana playing with the train set

Peek-A-Boo!

Isabella

A Week in Paradise

Our families rented a house in Vero Beach.  It had everything you wanted in a house and more!  Every family had their own bed and bathroom, which allowed four families to live under one roof blissfully.  It was especially nice for Brody (and us) to see both sides of the family without having to travel between homes.  We had the ocean less than a block away, with a pool in the backyard.  Talk about never wanting to go back home!!

Brody hanging out with Hadley and Brooke

Our little thumb sucker

Lovin' on Papa Don and Granny

Brody LOVES his Kami.  They are going to be such good buds.  It's nice to know they'll be in the same grade when they enter school.

We ventured out to the beach just about every day.  Brody LOVED driving his buggy over there.  He would just lean back with one hand on the wheel.  Stu made a great "play pen" for Brody to play in so he wouldn't crawl away.  Hey, think what you want to, but it was sooo entertaining everyone wanted a hole in the sand.  I mean what's there NOT to love.  You have sand surrounding you in all directions that makes playing in it a breeze.  Ha! Soon enough, all four cousins had one big hole of their own to share.  

Hi Mommy!  Brody liked going in the water with his Daddy.  Almost a little TOO far!

Aunt Heather wanted to clean the small pool one day, meanwhile Uncle Stuart took matters into his own hands.  Not only was the pool clean but the people inside were as well.  Eh, Who needs a bath in an actual tub.

This picture is my favorite of Kami Lu.  Look at those beautiful eyes.  Don't worry folks, we got those "parts" covered.

Wrigley LOVED the water.  When I mean loved, I mean he LOVED IT!!  If someone was in the pool so was he.

Swimming with Nana

Daddy's little buddy fighting off some sleep

The Unterbrinks came to visit the last couple of days of our stay.  We played bocce ball and kick ball to end the nights out with a bang.  Brody and I didn't make it out with the bocce ball crew, this one year old and pregnant Momma needed their sleep.  So, we made sure we headed out the next night EXTRA early so we could join.

Talk about an intense game of bocce ball.  What a blast!

"Ok, on the count of three throw.....1, 2, 3!!"

Can you believe the game actually ended in a tie?  9 to 9!  No better way to end a family game, minus a couple injuries!! 

For the record.  It was the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded.  I was on third holding Brody and Jackie moved herself to catcher to try and stop the winning run.  And can you believe she actually tagged out her OWN SON who could have scored the winning run!?!?!  Boy on boy is she competitive!!   

The week went by way too fast.  We are soo thankful that our families were able to come down for Brody's special day.  We love and miss you guys!! 

Daddy's Little Helper

Oh the joys of being a home owner.  Our dryer stopped working when we got home from vacation.  Not exactly great timing considering my idea of packing to go home was throwing all our clothes clean or dirty into a suitcase and lets get on the road.  It's times like these I always hear my father's advice from my childhood "solve the problem."  20 bucks later I came home with a new belt for the dryer.  Has anyone ever tried to get into a dryer??  I tried the back, 20 screws removed and I couldn't get to the old belt.  So I put all the screws back with NO EXTRAS and I moved around to the front.  Ultimately, it was FOUR SCREWS and the top and front were OFF!!  I'm easily over an hour into this project and its the Florida heat has started already and our laundry room is part of the detached garage which has NO A/C!  Brody wanted to come outside and was at the back door crying when Jackie brought him out to me.  I really do look forward to the day when he can be out there with me and want to help his daddy complete some projects.  This was Brody's idea of cleaning up......  

It would be 2 minutes after this picture was taken that I set him down on the floor beside me to continue working and Brody was stuffing his mouth with lint!!  Thank you for helping me clean, Brody.

Our First Family Vacation

We drove 3 ½ hours for our first family vacation to Amelia Island with our car packed from floor to ceiling (Who knew the four of us could take so much.  Wait, scratch that, who knew Brody would need so much).  We had Aunt Becky to thank for riding in the backseat with Brody.  It definitely came in handy whenever the beast would arise and wanted something that just couldn’t wait.  Nonetheless, the drive was pretty uneventful with an almost one year old.  We stayed at a beach house that Stu's Dad was able to get us for FREE!  You can't beat that! (Thank you Papa Clark!)  One of the best things about this beach was that it was a dog friendly one.  That's a rare find here in Florida.  Wrigley LOVED the waves.  The beach was so wide and flat that during low tide Stuart and Brody could ride the bike.  We took many morning walks on the beach with Brody and Wrigley, while Aunt Becky slept the morning away. (Ah, the days of sleeping in) 

Wrigley "drowned rat" loving life

Our frog legged man.  He's not too interested in the walking yet

He just couldn't pull himself away from the sand and water

Not too bad of a scenery to ride along

Amelia Island wasn't the most happenin' town.  It reminded us of the first JAWS movie.  It was definitely a nice RELAXING place.  Made you think of the typical Florida, where people come to retire. It had a historic downtown where we took some pictures of our little man.  Look at him posing for the camera.  Ladies, don't mistake that gruesome look for not being interested, he's just tired. :)

This picture cracks me up.  It looks like his senior picture done a little too early.  (EEK, not ready for that!)

Stuart and Brody rode his bike to Fort Clinch and the petrified wood beach that was down the road.  

Look Dad, cannons!

Brody had so much fun with his Aunt Becky.  We wish she lived closer.  She did express concern that Brody may get along a little TOO well with Wrigley.  She said, "I think Brody may actually think he's a dog too." (Now that's just not nice Becky) 

Love and miss you!!

Wrigley is NOT Brody's Brother!

Before we left for our first family vacation, Aunt Krista, Uncle Brent, Addy, Bray, and Aunt Becky came to visit from IL for a couple of days.  Brody LOVED the company (and so did we)!  I think we have found our future babysitter.  You hear that Addy!  Put us down in a couple of years, we've got you reserved!  She was such a mother to Brody, always making sure he was happy.  Bray would then comment, "You know, he’s going to like ME more when he gets older because I’m a boy." (Oh, how true that is and he's going to be Daddy's little guy too).  We took some cousin pictures for Granny and Papa the  night they arrived.  It wasn't a walk in the park to say the least.  Brody was fussy because it was past his bedtime, along with Bray and Addy were stir crazy from being in the car the past two days.  We ended up getting two good pictures and ended the day at Coldstone.  Ice cream makes everything better, right?!! :-) 

Throughout their whole stay Stuart kept getting rises from Bray that our dog, Wrigley, was Brody’s brother.  Bray didn't agree one bit (Even more because Aunt Krista and Uncle Brent didn’t).  Maybe I’m crazy, but in a sense they are brothers!  Or at least they act like it!  Of course I know Wrigley is not a human but….well, let me explain myself.  Brody will seek out Wrigley’s toys which are in the kitchen, and Wrigley gets upset that someone else is playing with his stuff.  So Wrigley will take the toy away from Brody and climb to the top of the couch so Brody can’t get it back.  Or Brody will be eating goldfish crackers and tease Wrigley by acting like he’ll feed him and then take it away and laugh.  You can pretty much guarantee that where you find one, the other will be close by.  There is more but I will spare you.  I never had a brother but the way these two act it reminds me of how brothers can be.   So back to the whole "getting a rise out of Bray".  Bray was listing all the reasons of why Wrigley cannot be Brody’s brother.  The list included; dogs can’t walk on two legs, dogs can't drive, dogs can’t play basketball, dogs can't play video games, and the list continued.  I pulled up youtube on my phone and we found a video of everything he said a dog couldn't do.  Every time we found a video, Bray would start thinking of the next. It was quite entertaining, but eventually youtube couldn't produce and Bray won.

Here's a picture of the pair looking innocent as ever.  Almost too innocent.:)  It makes me anxious to see how Brody is going to be with a little brother or sister.