in a pickle.

hope everyone had a fun 4th of July! we had a great day! Audrey, Ann, and i went to the pool while the boys took their boats out on the river. we all met up for dinner and then had our own private fireworks show. this 4th of July was much different than in our previous years. as a tradition, Will and i usually go to Jacksonville and stay at an oceanfront hotel room on the 3rd and 4th as a tribute to our first summer together when we sat out on the beach late at night, listened to music (courtesy of our $10 portable radio), shared a bottle of wine, slow danced, and watched the fireworks. this year we decided not to go (mostly since the holiday was in the middle of the week) but it was fun doing something new and spending time with family.

our red, white, and blue baby :)

as Audrey nears her 9 month mark, i decided to let her start experimenting with finger foods! even though she still doesn't have any teeth (her bottom teeth started to poke through but then recessed, ouch!) she does great and enjoys it much more than purees. i was sitting at the kitchen table one day last week eating a sandwich from Firehouse Subs. Audrey was in her high chair having a snack. she kept lunging for something on the table (which is nothing out of the ordinary) and then started whining. i looked at what she was going for and it was my pickle slice! it comes with every sandwich and since i hate pickles, i usually just set it to the side. at first i told her, "yuck! you don't want that! pickles are gross!" and then decided maybe she would just like to play with it and it might be good practice anyway. well, as it turns out, Audrey LOVES pickles! since i was already loading pictures onto my computer from some new inventory we received, i had my camera close and was able to capture her first "experience" with pickles :)

since then, we have also given her slices of nectarine (sans skin) and watermelon! she loves it! on the menu for this week is broccoli and banana slices.

more adorable moments i captured last week....

just a girl and her sophie

oranges, FTW!!