Cousins!

Micah has FINALLY met his cousin Luke face to face! They've "met" over the internet when we've chatted with them on Skype, but because kids weren't allowed back to the recovery room at the hospital, Luke wasn't able to meet Micah until now. What a fun meeting! Lisa, Matt and Luke flew in to Milwaukee late Thursday night, so Friday morning, we headed to mom and dad's to see them. (then we all hit the road for Iowa for our cousin's wedding, but more on that later) They were just starting to get moving around the house, so the initial reaction to seeing each other was a little sleepy, but adorable none the less. :) Luke is VERY affectionate, and was showering Micah with all kinds of hugs and kisses... some prompted by us for pictures, others done on his own. Luke was also very curious about this new little guy staring him down, and kept tugging on parts of Micah... at one point, Matt said, "Luke, that's not Mr. Potato Head... those ears don't come off" as Luke was pulling on Micah's ear. Pops got a good laugh out of that one and since then, Luke has left Micah's ears alone. :)

Kisses for Micah ~

Can I see how that tastes?

After that initial meeting, we all piled into cars and headed to Grinnell, Iowa for our cousin Heather's wedding. This was Micah's longest car ride to date, and for the most part, he did pretty well. We had to stop a few times to feed him, change him, and just get out and stretch, but the 5 hour drive only turned into about 6.5, so we weren't complaining.

All ready to go!

At the rehearsal...

The bride, giving some instructions to her bridal party

We were all running a little late to the rehearsal... thankfully no one was too upset with us. :) We hurried along as fast as we could! :)

Here comes the bride!

I love the look on Nate's (the groom's) face :)

The only way to get a decent picture of these two is to take a candid shot... when they're not paying attention. :)

Otherwise, this is what you get ~

The bride and groom's families praying for the couple

Here they are! The new Mr. and Mrs.!

The next morning...

Playtime before getting ready for the wedding ~

Amazingly, I don't have a single picture from the wedding itself. I was a little distracted trying to keep Micah quiet, so I'll have to get some from other members of my family and do a "wedding weekend part 2" post. :) I have several from the reception though... the majority of them being of Luke and Micah being adorable and loving each other. :)

Daddy and Micah, relaxing at the reception ~

Micah is starting to figure out scooting... and realized it's a lot easier on hard wood floor, as opposed to the carpet we've got everywhere at home. :)

Pops was trying to "encourage" Micah to come to him by tapping his beer bottle on the floor. Nice, Pops!

You get better traction without socks :)

More hugs

Say "cheese!" (Funny how they both look like they're thinking, "enough with the cameras already!") :)

All that loving made Luke a tired little guy...

Gotta rest up to get ready for dancing!

Cutting the cake~

All rested up and ready to PARTY!

Heather had asked our Uncle Paul if the Bottle Band could play a few songs at the reception... and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Bottle Band, it's exactly what it sounds like... but funnier. :) It's a group from St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, Illinois, that makes music by blowing on, hitting, and plucking bottles that have been filled with different amounts of water to make different pitches. The "first string blowers" weren't all invited to the wedding, so some of the family got recruited to play.

Here's "Feelings" featuring my brother, Jim and Heather's sister, Kristen.

**If you'd like to see more clips of the Bottle Band, you can go to YouTube and search "St. Luke's Bottle Band". :)**

After the Bottle Band was finished, the REAL band for the evening took over and the dancing began! Who knew we had such a party animal on our hands? Micah was LOVING the music and if he had been able to stand up on his own, he would have been tearing up the dance floor!

We got a cute video of Micah and Luke dancing. It's a little long, but definitely worth watching :)

I hope to be able to get some more pictures from my family from the wedding, but what you've seen here is what I have right now. Stay tuned for part 2! :)

On Sunday, the parents of the bride and groom had a picnic at a park in Grinnell as a way for guests to have a bit more time together before heading home and back to "real life". We had a nice morning playing at the park before getting on the road again. Micah and Luke are wearing their "4th Generation Bottle Band" shirts in honor of the amazing performance given by the second string blowers at the wedding. Everyone seemed to get a kick out of the outfits, and especially out of the adorable boys wearing them. :)

My favorite part of the outfits :)

Pops and Luke on the swings ~

Grannie Jannie in her element as a grandma :)


Three of the four generations of the Bottle Band family :)

And that about sums up our weekend in Grinnell. We had a wonderful time and the best part is... it doesn't end there! Lisa, Matt and Luke are around for a few more weeks, so there are more good times to be had! :) We can't wait!

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!