Ohio & More- Part 2

The second full day of our trip was spent hanging out with just our family of 4 before joining up with a big family reunion at Dan's uncle's house.  A lady at our hotel gave us a discount card for a local pool that has a huge kids splash and play area.  It was soo hot we lathered up in sunscreen and headed out to the pool.  I think this was Amelia's favorite part of the whole trip!

Luke and Daddy enjoying the water

Amelia LOVED the slide

She kept playing in the small spray of water that wets the slide- the lifeguard kept telling her to slide on her bottom because they thought she was about to go down head first.  Nope- she had a whole pool full of water and she liked to play in the little spray that keeps the slide wet

 Daddy and Luke tried out the slide

Amelia did some actual swimming- she walked some and floated and tried kicking her legs- not bad for only her 2nd time in big pool

poor Luke- his Daddy loves doing silly pictures . . . I guess he will get used to it and probably love it when he gets a little older (for those worried about Luke- Dan's body blocked all the water so he didn't even notice they were standing under a waterfall)

love these chubby cheeks!

poor Luke again- his big sister just really loves to hug him :)

After a fun time at the pool and no nap- we headed to Uncle Mark's house for dinner with all the family.  By all the family- I mean his wife had a bunch of her side of the family there as well as us, Grammy and Papa, and Great Grandma Murfin.  It was crazy!  Here is Uncle Mark playing blocks with Amelia and his grandson and granddaughter.

Then it was off to the fireworks!

Whew!  What a crazy couple of days in Ohio.  The next day we headed back down to spend a couple of days in Gatlinburg.

Ohio & More- Part 1

We recently headed up to Ohio to visit with Dan's grandmother and some close friends of his family.  Great Grandma Murfin had never met Luke or Amelia for that matter so it was a special time for us.  Amelia and Luke were great little travelers- sleeping well, napping well overall, and were so laid back as we went here and there and everywhere on our trip.


We were up late every night and Amelia took shorter naps so she was one tired girl!  This made her very cuddly in the mornings instead of her usual up and running like crazy girl.  So it was nice to lay in bed and thank goodness Mickey Mouse Clubhouse came on each morning at the perfect time!

Quick photo shoot with Luke- I just LOVE these new pajamas (size 9 month) on my 5 month old boy!

Amelia LOVES to hug her brother- such a sweet big sister

Off to see Great Grandma Murfin- while we were there she gave us a tour of her assisted living place

4 Generations

After a big lunch and a quick nap time we headed about an hour north to visit the Kaelbers- very dear friends of Dan's family;  this is Cindy with 2 of her grandkids, Amelia and Luke

Heard lots of crazy stories from these three- involving toilet paper and M&M's

Bath time with 2

Luke has gotten so long he is almost too big for the baby bath tub but he is not quite sitting up yet.  So we have been putting him in the regular tub with Amelia and laying Luke's head on Mommy's bath pillow.  He loves to kick his feet and usually slides down into the water off the pillow so you have to keep a very very close eye on him.  Hopefully when he can sit up this will make bath time much easier. 

For now . . . just a couple of fun bath time pictures to enjoy!

Look Who Found His Feet?!

He also now likes to suck on his fingers- not any one in particular.  Sometimes it's his thumb, sometimes two middle fingers or even just his first two fingers.  He will NOT take a paci- I've tried and tried.  Only occasionally when he is getting hungry and it's not time to eat yet.

Bible School

This year I volunteered to work at our church's Vacation Bible school.  The last time I worked VBS was when I was a children's minister (before kids) and then I was the VBS director every year!  It was a nice change of pace to be on the other end and just be responsible for my wild bunch of 4yr olds.  We all had a blast!  Amelia's 2yr old class participated in music and storytime and she was so excited each morning to go to 'bible school'.  The ladies in the baby room spoiled sweet Luke and I was able to slip away each morning while my group was in storytime to go feed Luke.

During the week I co-taught with my friend Jennifer.  She has 4 kiddos (Addison, Carter, Weston and Zane) and Amelia just loves them and they all love her.   Amelia and Zane are in the same class.

I had to be at my station by 8:45am so that meant we had to leave our house around 8 or 8:10 so we could get to church, drop off the kids and get to my spot on time.  Amelia usually sleeps until about 7:30 so we just had very quick and easy breakfasts in the car.  She LOVED it!

We did the Amazing Wonders Aviation theme- and Dan made a airplane out of cardboard and duck tape for the kids in my 4yr old class.  The kids LOVED it and kept fighting over who could be the pilot and co-pilot.

Family Night- all the little kids were up on stage right at the beginning to sing the 3 songs they learned.  The K-5th grade were at the back of the stage on risers to sing 3 more songs after the younger kids were done.  I was there to help with any of my 4yr old kids that came so we put Amelia up on stage since she had gone to music and had 'learned' the songs. 

I think Amelia and her friend were the only 2yr olds up on stage- the other little girl's mom is the music teacher. Amelia just stood there and watched the other kids, picked her nose!, she tried to get down, she tried to head back to the risers to sit with Addison, and luckily Carter was there to catch her a couple of times.

so funny!

5 Months Old

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the blog.  Luke turned 5 months old about 2 weeks ago and it has been CRAZY around here.  So here's the update on my little charmer!

 We didn't have a doctors appointment this month so I'm not sure of his weight and height but I do know that he has officially outgrown his 3-6 month clothes!  He is wearing all 6-9 month clothes now and he is already filling up the pajamas!

Luke is eating every 4 hours if not a little longer at times.  We plan to start him on solids next month- probably sweet potatoes first :)  His morning feeding is typically the shortest lasting only about 10 minutes.  The bedtime feeding however is much longer- usually 25-30minutes total.  Although I think some of that is because he slows down and gets very very sleepy.


Luke likes to sit up but he can't quite do it on his own yet.  I have a feeling in the next couple of weeks he will figure it all out.   He likes to sit up in the big tub with Amelia- it will be fun when they can 'play' together without Mommy or Daddy having to lean over the tub and hold Luke to keep him from falling over into the water.




Luke's favorite things:  the jumperoo- this little guys LOVES the jumperoo.  He will play in it for 30-45 minutes in the morning and in the evening.  He just loves jumping!  He also still loves the playmat- he will bat at the hanging toys or grab them and try to pull them down. 

He also likes to have his clothes changed.  It's the funniest thing- he always chuckles when I am taking his shirt/onesie over his arms and head.

Luke is such an easy going and laid back little guy. Occasionally Luke will get upset or mad- but this is the exception rather than the rule.  Most people don't believe he gets upset or cries at all!  So here is proof- this was round one of the picture taking.  He was NOT having it- so I waited until later in the day to get all the other pictures of him in his usual happy mood.

Amelia is really starting to interact more with Luke now.  She loves to bring him toys and talk to him.  When he cries she will say, "Buddy, Buddy it's O-Pay, it's O-pay." 

Just look at those big blue eyes

LOVE these big smiles :)