One last dose...

...of the beach!

We were supposed to go to the beach for Labor Day, but the tropical storm changed our minds. So we scheduled another trip to make up for that weekend that we had promised Grady. He reminded us often of our promise! And we wanted one last "dose" of the beach too!

Cannot believe this is the same child we took to the beach in March! He has totally changed his opinion of the sand. LOVES it! Told Josh he wanted to sleep in the sand! Ha!

squishing Daddy

We got to witness "Thunder on the Gulf" (quite interesting...a national speed boat race...) Josh took a video, but I'll spare you... Grady liked watching the boats from the balcony.

Football on the beach at sundown! To me, the sweetest part of the trip...just relaxing and being just about the only three people on the beach, watching Grady and Josh "play football"

Pete, you would be proud... We attempted Putt-Putt for the first time. Rather interesting with a 2 year old! ha! Uncle Jon, Grady needs some in-depth training!

Although we did eat a LOT of seafood, we HAD to stop at Lambert's for some "throwed" rolls on our way home. This is Grady's favorite restaurant ever! He gets so excited over the "throwed" rolls and just the whole atmosphere! He is also a little obsessed with the wooden trucks and train outside the restaurant!

...until next summer!

Loving this Weather!

Grady enjoyed playing outside yesterday afternoon. He is ALL smiles when he's playing in the yard. Being outside is his FAVORITE thing and we are LOVING this weather! Hope it sticks around for a while.

Pumpkin Patch

Mom and I took Grady to the Nichols-Boyd Pumpkin Patch yesterday. As always, they do a great job! He had even more fun than he did last year. LOVED all of the animals, especially the cows! He was quite picky with his pumpkin when we got off the wagon to pick out the ones we wanted. Last year, he didn't care, but this year he was kind of choosy! He was determined that he wanted a little punkin and if it didn't meet his specifications, he was quick to tell us...and on we'd go, searching for the one he wanted! It was perfect weather! Hope this weather will stick around for a while! Happy Fall!

Book Club

Me and my hair-brain ideas! I got this idea this summer to do a monthly "book club" with my students. We study a different genre of literature each month and I decided that to get them into the genre and get excited about reading, I would have a book club for them. They can choose to participate or not...I pick out a really neat children's book from that genre and then they can check it out, take it home, read it, complete a book review, and then at the end of the month, all those who participated will be invited to skip lunch in the cafeteria and have a book club lunch in the classroom with me... Who knew the kids would go so CRAZY over this! They were soooo excited about this, much to my surprise (even the little boys!!!!). So anyway, I took my book for this month, Sweet Dream Pie, to none other than my highly creative sister and told her that I needed a super neat creation of treats to go with my first book club! She made the absolute CUTEST little pie cupcakes EVER and I had to share a picture. The kids didn't know they were getting a treat, so they went nuts over these. They were rainbow-batter cupackes on the inside, so all different colors...and topped with all of my favorite candies, then iced to look like little pies... Aren't they so cute!??

Can't wait until next month's book club! :)

Go Dawgs!

The LA Tech game was Grady's first game of the season. Hmmmm...maybe he should be at ALL the games, considering we pulled this one out! :) He actually made it through the entire ballgame! I couldn't believe he lasted that long. He paid attention most of the time, rang his cowbell, rang Pete's cowbell, and switched laps...from Susan to DeeDee to Pete, mostly. Wasn't that interested in sitting with Mom and Dad when all of those other people are around to spoil him.

Grady was awake (barely) when the game went into overtime... I have no idea HOW, but he fell asleep during all the screaming and cowbell ringing at the final touchdown when we won. Missed the fireworks and everything (which is his favorite part).

Go Dawgs!

Little Salesman

Grady spent a couple of days in Yazoo City last week so Josh and I could go to the MSU/LSU game on Thursday night. While he was there, he went with my dad to his office one day. Dad walked out a minute and came back to find that Grady had sold three insurance policies. Here he is, speaking with his clients...

Promotion

Check out Grady-man's new shirt! :)

It's Raining...

We finally have managed to get some RAIN this week. We haven't had to water our grass constantly as we have in the past several weeks, thank goodness. So anyway, with the drought, I have no idea how Grady has managed to learn this song... there's been no need to sing it! ha. But he LOVES this song and will just walk around the house singing it. I could listen to his sweet little voice singing all day long. In the video, he had a little help, but you get the idea. It's funny, but I can remember when we were little and Jenny was about Grady's age. She would chatter on about any and everything and no one could understand her but my mom. Susan and I were talking about this the other day when she couldn't understand what Grady was trying to tell her, but I could make out every single word. SO...if you can't understand him, he is singing "It's raining, it's pouring" in "Grady language."

Christmas in July

Happy (late) birthday to my sweet Mama! We went to paint at Easely Amused's Christmas in July for her birthday on Tuesday...and as always, we have a ball!

Must-Read!

This book was recommended to me by several different people. It's been out for over a year, but I just hadn't had the time to read it until a week or so ago. When you have a two-year-old, your reading time gets cut short! But anyway, I finally got the chance to read it and what an awesome book! I had to pass along the recommendation. If you haven't read it, it's a must-read. It's funny and sad and inspirational and I just could not put it down! You will find yourself literally laughing outloud and rooting for the characters in the story because they are so real. Best book I have read in a long time! The movie is coming out in August, so if you haven't read the book yet, hurry up and do so. The book is ALWAYS 10 times better than the movie of course! :)

The Beach Wears You Out!

This video cracks me up. We had just come in from the beach for a lunch break and for Grady to take his nap. He played SO hard that morning that he was having major trouble staying awake long enough to eat his lunch. I am a mean mama and got the video camera out... ha!

The Fourth

My child wants to move to Orange Beach. What a long way we have come from March!!! During that trip, Grady asked to go home the first night we arrived at the beach. This time, we'd ask him if he was ready to go home and he'd say, "No go home. I stay here!" We are so glad that he finally loves the beach as much as we do. Pete has dubbed him a "regular little beach bum." I'm with Grady...wish we could have stayed longer. I don't think I am ever ready to come back home when I am down there! We enjoyed beautiful weather, delicious seafood, awesome fireworks on the 4th, and just good ole relaxing and fun with the fam! I am counting the days until we go back! :)

feeding the fish at Wolf Bay

Grady even decided that he liked to WALK on the BEACH! WOW! Couldn't believe it! A few months ago, he wouldn't even put his pinkie toe in the sand. This time, he begged for someone to take him walking to look for "she-shells" to put in his "buh-kit". We brought home 952 "she-shells"...ha. Well not quite, but he did pick up every shell in sight.

splashing in the waves

He's getting so opinionated. Every day, I'd let him choose which swim trunks and hat to wear to the beach. He is attached to his MSU cap... what a loyal little bulldog!!!

Josh built Grady a sand castle. Mom and I had to take Grady for another one of those "she-shell" walks to distract him during the building process. During our last beach trip in May, we taught Grady to tear down the sand castles we were building...just in hopes that we could get him to like the sand and not mind standing in it. But now that he is a beach bum, I'm sorry...he's GOT to learn the Fulton Family Rules of respecting all sand castle creations. There is no tearing down of the sand castles... When Susan, Jenny, and I were little, we'd guard our sand castles from destructor-kids and watch like hawks to make sure no one bothered them. I can remember even watching from the balcony once Mom and Dad made us go inside...just to see if it was still standing. I also remember one time watching (from the balcony) a group of kids tearing down our castle and wanting to run down to the beach and give them a knuckle sandwich... ha. SO... Grady is being tutored in the lessons of sand castle etiquette. ha. He did good for his first lesson and this castle stayed in tact while we were on the beach!

Happy Birthday, America!