You know its been a while when...

You know it's been a while since your last blog update when it takes 30 minutes to import all the photos off the camera and you're getting requests from family and friends for new pictures. :) Sorry to all of you who check our blog on a fairly regular basis only to be disappointed when there's nothing new to see.
On that note... here are some new pictures from the past month. (has it really been that long?)

Playtime with Uncle Jim and Julie ~

At the kite festival in Kenosha

Swingin' with Aunt Tracy

Micah wanted this cup in the worst way!

Micah's new outfit from Grandpa and Grandma K

It says "Little Klink" on the back :)

Playtime on the parachute ~

I love Micah's expression! I think he's taking a page out of Uncle Jim's book ~

You probably can't tell from this picture, but Micah is getting his two bottom teeth! I don't know how pediatric dentists do it, getting children to open wide for checkups, but getting a 5 month old to say "ahhh" is no easy trick! :)

The other day, Aaron was "reading" to Micah (which really consists of Micah seeing how much of the book he can get into his mouth at once), and as I was walking up the stairs I noticed how it looks like half of Micah is missing. He was all curled up on the couch, but this pictures looks like half a baby! :)

Sitting up all on his own, playing with his blocks. He is ALL boy... any time we make a tower with the blocks, he immediately knocks it over. :)

We had fun with my friend Shana and her son Mikey...

Micah was a HUGE fan of Mikey's Jumparoo ~

What a difference since the last time we saw them!

Feb. 23, 2010 - Micah was almost 8 weeks old, Mikey was 2 weeks

June 16, 2010 - Micah is 5 1/2 months old, Mikey is 4 months

Micah has a thing for feet these days... he must have thought Mikey's looked tasty :)

Buddies forever :)

Micah seems to be getting close to being mobile, and his motivation to move increases when there is something just out of reach that he wants. In this case, Shana's dog, Ruby, was the target :)

Here's what happens when daddy does dinner ~

Micah doesn't seem to mind too much :)

Pops thought Micah's cereal looked a little bland...

My brother-in-law, Eric, turned 30 last week, and his wife, Tracy, organized a surprise party to celebrate. His whole family came in from lower Michigan and the DC area for the party, which meant Micah had a lot of new people to meet and entertain. :) The plan was to meet at the park by Tracy and Eric's house, but due to thunderstorms, we had to get creative and improvise... so we met at Menard's instead.

Here's the group waiting to surprise Eric ~


And here's our little family in the automotive aisle


He had NO idea we were going to be there, when Tracy told him they needed to run into Menard's... what a great surprise!


This was in the parking lot :)


Here's Micah entertaining Eric's family


Micah meeting Eric's Grandma Smiley


After the party... entertaining that many people is exhausting! (I think it's a toss up for who's more tired... me or Micah. He's definitely got the better end of the deal...) :)

My sister-in-law, Tracy, turns 30 in early July, and we thought it'd be too hard to get everyone to come back in a few weeks for another party. So, since the entire family was down for Eric's party, we thought it'd be fun to surprise Tracy too. The next day, we were back in Kenosha with a lot of the same crowd from Eric's party, plus some of Tracy's extended family who wasn't there the night before, waiting to surprise Tracy.

Tracy's reaction was priceless! She could not have been more surprised! :)

I think it helped that her birthday was still a few weeks away, and the fact that she had been so consumed with planning Eric's party, the possibility of a party for her was the farthest thing from her mind. :) And that's how a surprise party should be!

Even though it was Tracy's party, Micah stole the spotlight and was the day's entertainment.


Cake time! Happy birthday to you!!


Micah meets Great Auntie Pat ~


Micah playing with Eric's sister, Julie ~


Playing with Eric's brother Rob. Micah thought his hairstyle was pretty cool. :)

Later that evening, Grandpa built a nice fire at their campsite, but who needs that when there's a baby to be watched? :) Babies are MUCH more entertaining than fire.

Back home at Pops and Grannie Jannie's house... they got a swing for the grandkids as well. Micah got the first ride since he's the local, but Luke will be here soon to try it out as well! :)

And last, but not least, my cousin is getting married this weekend, and for her reception she asked our uncle to put together a few numbers for the bottle band to perform. (for those of you who are unfamiliar with the bottle band, it's a group from St. Luke's church in Park Ridge who make music by blowing on, hitting, and plucking bottles. Their concerts are a riot and it's an amazing way to make music!) Since the bottle band wasn't invited to the wedding, our family got recruited to play. Micah's still a little young to be an official member, but he sure gave it his best shot!

You also know it's been a while since your last blog post when it takes you a day and a half to finish it. Never mind the fact that I'm also taking care of a 5 1/2 month old baby, and the thunderstorms last night forced me to have to shut down the computer... at any rate, I hope you enjoyed the new pictures and videos. We've got a lot going on in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for more!

More firsts ~

Apparently, rice cereal was just the beginning of a weekend full of firsts for Micah. We spent Memorial Day weekend up in the U.P. with Aaron's parents, and while this wasn't Micah's first trip up to the U.P., it was full of first time experiences for him! (which meant the camera was out almost constantly, and there are LOTS of pictures and videos to share!) :)

For starters, (this was a first for grandpa and Micah) when we finally made it to Grandpa and Grandma K's house, grandpa got to hold Micah first! Usually, grandma is so anxious to see and hold Micah that she gets her hands on him first. :)

Grandma waiting patiently for her turn

It was pretty late when we arrived, so after being passed around a little bit, we all headed to bed. After a fairly lazy Saturday morning, it was time for more firsts. For starters, grandma got out a bucket and we filled it with water so Micah could go "swimming"... or in this case, SPLASHING! :)

Here's a short video of Micah's first "pool" experience ~

We went to Aaron's school for a while that afternoon because it was the 50th anniversary of the school's existence, and they were having an all-class reunion. Alumni from any and all years were there to see the changes in the school since they had graduated! I don't have any pictures of that, but it was a fun time. :) And Micah got to meet some new family and friends as well.

After dinner, Aaron and I decided to make a campfire and add to Micah's list of firsts. While Aaron built the fire, Micah and I went over to the swing set in the yard and had fun swinging.

Another outdoor first ~ Micah met his first toad!

I love the look on his face... "should I be scared or interested in this thing?"

Micah's first campfire ~

I think he liked it! :) You can usually tell when Micah is interested in something because his arms and legs start flailing all over the place!

Family picture by the fire ~

On Sunday, we stopped at the dollar store after church and got Micah a kiddie pool to play in.

Daddy thought it looked like fun too. :)

Since this was a bigger pool, the water was a little colder than it had been the other day... Micah wasn't too sure about it at first, but was splashing around in no time

Micah got to meet his great aunt Carol for the first time. He had just woken up from a nap, and was very snuggly.

We had some fun with our friends, the Strietzels, on Sunday night.

Rebekah and Micah ~

Micah in the exersaucer ~

Timothy playing peek-a-boo ~

Monday morning, Micah was pretty interested in grandpa's coffee cup. Grandpa thought he'd come up with a good solution to Micah reaching for his cup any time he went to take a sip, and got Micah is own cup. Too bad Micah knew better and still wanted to trade! :)

We took Micah next door to the neighbor's farm, and Micah got to get up close and personal with some horses and cows ~

But the biggest first came when we took Micah to his first parade! He was very interested in all that was going on, and did very well... until the fire trucks went by at the end. He wasn't too impressed with all that noise!

Waiting for the parade to start ~

Watching the floats go by ~

There goes grandma, driving the Lion's Club float ~

Watching the parade with grandpa ~

Look, Pops! A train!!

Our last video of the parade... starts out with a big smile on his face, but ends with tears because of the loud sirens ~

And lastly, the drive back home... that's one tired little boy!

A few more pictures from the weekend ~

I had a diet coke on the way up and Micah wanted a taste REALLY badly! :)

Splash!

LOVE the looks on his face in these pictures! :)

WARNING ~ to anyone who wears glasses, Micah will grab on very quickly and tightly! :)

Chillin' with the guys Sunday morning ~

Micah has never been too interested in a pacifier... but when he does try to use it, here's what happens ~

What a weekend! There were lots of firsts, family, friends and fun! Thanks for sticking with us through this LONG blog post! :)

Tastes like......

There's no doubt about it... our baby is growing up! :) We gave Micah his first taste of rice cereal the other day and it was a rather uneventful occasion. He didn't really make any face that said, "what IS this you're feeding me?!" and while a good amount of it ended up on his face and bib, he did very well with it. He has been showing interest for a while now in any food Aaron and I are eating, so I gave him a spoon to see what he'd do with it. What do you think...

Am I ready for solid foods or what? :)

Aaron got a short video of Micah's first attempt at solid food... it only took about 30 seconds before he wanted to do it himself! :)

A few action shots ~

I love Aaron's face in this picture! :)

All done! YUMMY! And he wears it so well! :)