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!

Frances at School

Today was Frances' last day of the regular school schedule at The Bell Center.  She has had such an awesome team of therapists this year that have helped her reach many of her goals.  I'm so blessed to work with these ladies!  We will take a few weeks off from therapy, then she and I will go 2 days per week during the summer time.  One day will be actual therapy and the other day will be Kindermusik.  I am able to take the entire summer off from work, and I am SOOOOO excited to get to spend all summer with my girl!  We already have a lot of fun activities planned- which will include many days of swimming in Meme and Grump's pool.  The adventures start tomorrow when we head over to Mississippi for the triplets' Baptism.  It's gonna be a wild weekend and I'm sure I will have just a few pictures to share next week:)

Love singing Twinkle Twinkle....and she likes the broken star!

I'll leave you with some video footage from Frances' therapy session today.  Her favorite part is singing songs at circle time, and you will also see some of the other goals she has been working hard on recently.  Thank you Amy (special education teacher), Jane (speech-language pathologist), Mary Laura (occupational therapist), and Kate (physical therapist), for everything you have done for Frances (and her mom and dad too!). 

In other news, Frances finally got her new set of tubes this week and she did great!  Praise God everything went so smoothly and she recovered very quickly.

Sweet snuggly girl after getting her new tubes.

Happy Birthday to Lyndy!

Today is Lyndy's 12th birthday and it is so hard to believe that she is going to the junior high next year!  We had a fun weekend celebrating her birthday and Mother's Day- she was actually born on Mother's Day.  On Saturday, Frances was invited to Lyndy's party at Pinkberry.  The invitation specified that Frances was to wear a pink dress (luckily not a problem for us!). 

Lyndy always puts pink on when Frances comes around...she and Frances definitely have a special relationship that will last a lifetime.  Lyndy always tells Frances she will drive her around, take her to Build-A-Bear and American Girl Store, and pick her up from school in a few years.  Saturday night we had a fun and delicious dinner at Carolyn's house- Carolyn is an awesome cook and made some really good fish tacos. 

Lyndy telling Frances "look at the camera!"

I'm coming to get you, Kat!

Happy Birthday, Lyndy!

What's a family gathering without a Grump special haircut?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day- I sure did!  There is nothing better in the world than being a mommy and I'm so glad God chose me to be the mommy to this little gal!

Good night, sweet girl.

Somehow she has started figuring out how to sit herself up?!