Little Liberty

We had a great 4th of July that started out with Will and I doing the traditional Peavine Falls Run at Oak Mtn....and yes, Mrs. McCalley still holds the Peavine title.  Frances got to spend 2 nights with Meme and Grump this week and she is slowly but surely showing us each and every danger in their house just like she has been doing at home!  So Grump (who now goes by Bubba Grump or BG) and Will cooked for our meatfest and we had quite a spread of boston butt, ribs, and chicken.  We had a special guest this year too- Aunt Amy!  We just had a fun day of swimming, cooking, and eating. 

So fun! Frances loves her baby pool!

Bella- close enough to the action but far away from any splashing.

Take a look back at this picture from last year's 4th when Frances was 5 months old- so tiny!

Frances loves putting a show for everyone and claps for herself very proudly:

We tried really hard to get a nice picture of the family....see for yourself how that worked!

PS- This mama gets to go to the beach this week with my girlfriends...No babies allowed and I'm so excited!  You might get lucky enough to have a guest blog post by Will.

Busy Bee

Frances is all over the place these days, and she is fast!  She is not yet crawling on her hands and knees- still commando crawling, but it works just fine for her.  I opened the gates and followed her around this morning just to see what kind of fun she could find.....

Getting stuck under the pack-n-play

Going to find trouble in the bathroom

Helping with the laundry

Babies at the Beach

After being harassed by numerous people the past few days, I figured it was time to post pictures from the beach.  We had a BLAST!  A few of Frances' favorite things about the beach....eating sand, playing in her baby pool, sucking salt water out of the water toys, eating more sand, getting crushed by waves, eating from everyone's plate at dinner, and eating a little more sand.  Enjoy!

Loved playing in the ocean with Daddy!

Lyndy showing Frances how to "surf"

I dont know why no one sat at the tables near us?

Putting on a show seconds before a major meltdown

It takes a team to do lunch on the beach

You think she likes being the center of attention?

"1, 2, 3, Go!"

Lyndy, Frances, Will, and Kat

Waiting for another wave to take her down!

All the cousins- don't be fooled, it was next to impossible to get these pictures!

So big!

FYI, Frances says dry sand isn't nearly as tasty as wet sand.

All the girls taking a break from the sun.

Frances teaching Irene how to get all the water out of the ball

Baby pool- The best $5 ever spent at Wal-mart.

The triplets got to take over the pool when Fran went in for a nap

Sage with Irene, Anna, & Brooks

She would have done this ALL day long!

Now isn't that the cutest booty you have ever seen!?!

And We're Off!

This morning we are heading out for a fun week at the beach with the entire family- that's a lot of people!  We have so been looking forward to this and I can't wait to get down there and play.  Thank goodness for Aunt Amy, who will stay at the house with Bella while we are gone. I'll leave you with a few videos....

Warning- the first one is a little gross, but it was just too funny not to post. Frances has just started signing "more" for food and toys (well she does it when she wants to!).  I was feeding her breakfast the other day and I was so proud- she was signing "more" for every bite, so I had to get it on video.....well, watch the video and see what happens!  Watch the second video and she actually does it.

Frances has learned to clap this past week, and she is so proud of herself.  Clapping also ends up looking like her signs for "more" and "all done," so we just go with it!  Enjoy, and we will see you in a week!

Too much fun?

Someone forgot to tell Frances to pace herself with summer activities.  Over the last week, we have done a lot of this:

A Frances-sized pool!

Fun swimming with Daddy!

a little of this:

Boat ride- not a fan of the life jacket

and this too:

We love Roger Day!

Someone also forgot to mention to Frances that getting sick during the summer is frowned upon.    Poor gal has had a nasty fever-  actually she and her cousins have all been sick, but they better get rid of it all because we are going to the beach soon!

I warned you.....

...There would be lots of cute pictures from our trip to Oxford!  The triplets' were baptized on Sunday and we had such a wonderful weekend with the family.  Will and I (along with Sage's friend Christina) are so proud to be Godparents to Anna.  Frances had so much fun playing with all her cousins, and we are really looking forward to the family beach trip that is coming up in a few weeks. Anna, Irene, and Brooks were all so nicely behaved during the church service and not one of them started up hollering during the actual baptism....they must have heard how dramatic Frances was at her baptism last summer!  Here are some of the pictures from the weekend:

Cute matching outfits that Sage got!

Irene and Anna

All the cousins- Frances, Lyndy, Brooks, Irene, Kat, Anna

Me and Anna

The Nichols clan

Brooks- always inquisitive, and not so sure about the puff I stuck in her mouth.

Irene- always puts on a show for the camera....and loved the puffs!

Feeding time at the zoo- notice Maggie waiting in the background for any food that might go flying!

Fran being so silly and playing with Anna.

Anna and Frances

Brooks showing Frances how to stand (Brooks has the cutest booty!)

Sweet Anna

Daddy was there too!

Morning stroll to get coffee

It's only a few days into our summer break and Frances and I are already having a blast.  Yesterday we went swimming with Lyndy and Kat, and Frances is finally big enough for a pool float this year!  She is at school today, so I have started on my weekly Wednesday summer projects (and yes, it is mapped out in chart form for the entire summer).  Today's fun included cleaning out the guest room closets, retrieving toys from under the furniture (found some toys we really have been missing!) with the shop vac, and scrubbing between the tiles in my bathroom.  You'll notice a trend that the shop vac is typically involved in at least one weekly project.  I LOVE that thing!