4th of July Week

What a fun week we had! 

Let's start with a couple pictures from the Saturday before the Fourth, just because I haven't posted them yet.  

Bebe, Pop, and Davis came through Homewood after moving Davis out of his apartment in Tuscaloosa.

(Congrats to Davis on finishing school!!)

This picture looks so posed, but I really did just walk in and snap a picture 

while Bebe was reading to V.

We walked around downtown Homewood and I used my wrap that Virginia and I both love!

Now on to our week in Florence!

WEDNESDAY, we swam at Turtle Point and then cleaned up for a 4th of July feast there later in the day.

Virginia begged me to let her wear her most patriotic outfit.

THURSDAY, we joined Laura and her kids at Ahmom's house (Laura's mom) to swim.

This pic is a little blurry, but so cute of Virginia and cousin Henry!  

(5 months apart)

This girl LOVES water!

I don't have any pictures, but Thursday night we had dinner at the 360 grill at the top of the Renaissance Tower to celebrate Davis graduating.  

The view was fantastic and the food amazing!  

I can't believe I had never been there!  

After arriving home from dinner, we gave Virginia her very first solid food - oatmeal!

I was planning on waiting until 6 months for that, but she is not sleeping through the night anymore, so I decided to give it a try.  

She did a great job with the oatmeal.  It was so incredibly cute!  

And of course, we were all crowded around her like paparazzi!  

(We have continued oatmeal every night and, while she is eating it all, it has NOT helped with the waking up at night.  Actually, she has been waking up even more.  Ergg!)

I don't have any pictures from FRIDAY, 

but Joshua went to the driving range with Davis 

while Lizzy and I did Pinterest projects!  

We did this 3-D hand drawing that was pretty cool and she learned how to sew a sock puppet.  

(And we learned that you can't believe everything you see on Pinterest...

ahem... a combination of baking soda, peroxide, and Mt Dew shaken up will NOT glow.)

This may or may not have been on Friday, but let's include it here since it's too cute:

Friday night we went to First Fridays in downtown Florence 

with Josh's parents and

oh my goodness!

I have never seen so many people downtown.

We had to park on the fourth floor of the parking deck behind Rogers!

Didn't know there was a parking deck there? Yeah, me neither.

Court Street was blocked off and there were street venders, bands playing, 

and even a SNOW machine! 

 SATURDAY morning, we visited family and my friend Katie at Grandmother's house.

I wish I could pop over to Grandmother's house every day.

I so love spending time over there...

Sweet tea, 

Grandmother's chocolate and coconut pies, 

getting cozy on the blue couch that has been the backdrop of countless photos my entire life, 

Granddaddy falling asleep in his TV room, 

Grandmother walking around the yard showing me the blueberries that are ready for picking or flowers that are blooming, 

aunts, uncles, and cousins filling every room in the house,

the flannel blanket that's ready to cover you up for a catnap,

watching old movies with Grandmother (Meet Me in St. Louis, please),

chatting on the front porch,

it's just one of those warm, fuzzy kind of feelings that I can't come close to describing and that I will always remember and cherish!

Here's Virginia with her cousins Jackson and Rachel.  V looks huge!  

(Once again, the paparazzi were out, so this was the best shot I could get!)

We went out on the lake after Grandmother's house with Mummi and Doc.

This boat ride with Virginia was much more enjoyable than the last (about a month ago).  V is bigger, so her life jacket fit better, plus the cover/shade-thing was on the boat, so the sun wasn't beating down on her.  We had a great time and I can't wait to get out again.  We haven't had enough lake time this summer!

Saturday evening we loaded up our 12 bags (seriously) and headed back to Birmingham.

Guess who didn't want to go home... 

Yeah, she's not a fan of car rides.  She cried for about 45 minutes before I remembered all those commercials on Disney Channel advertising the Watch Disney Junior app. 

You better believe I was checking out at the app store a half-second later.

As SOON as Mickey came walking up that yellow path saying 

"Heeey everybody! It's me, Mickey Mouse!",

silence fell over our car. 

After screaming for 45 minutes, she stopped immediately.

And she was asleep 3 minutes after that.

I think it's time we purchase a portable DVD player and some Mickey DVDs!

SUNDAY was a great end to our weekend and beginning to a new week --

Virginia rising and shining and jumping in her new bouncer,

 church and lunch with friends,

a going away party at Homewood park for Laura, Eddie, and Veda Jane,

and more oatmeal for Miss Virginia

Phew! Long post!

Have a great week, everyone!