Updating - part 1

These last couple months have felt like our little family has been going non stop. We have been traveling, Mike has been busy at work, the kids are growing like crazy and we are about to pack up and move. I have a feeling this post will be long because there is just so much. Lets just start, with no specific order. 

My favorite little boy turned nine months...this was just last month, so he is 9 days from turning 10 months already.

He has been in full swing eating solid foods. I like to offer him something solid during every meal. Peaches, noodles, oranges...but then after I will still feed him his baby food. I can really tell he is totally over eating that mush though. He fights me half way through. Starts hitting the spoon away or putting his arms up. I cant wait for him to actually get full off real food. Hopefully soon he will be able to handle it.

He has been biting quite a bit lately. I don't really remember this faze with Emma, but Charlie is in it full swing. Hopefully it is just a teething thing because I am so over it. 

He took his first steps today. They were really wobbly, but still they were there. 

He does not sit down. EVER. 

In to EVERYTHING.

4 teeth

HATES being strapped into anything...car seat, high chair... I have to brace myself before I even try to get him buckled.

Still not sleeping through the night. I'm not going to get into it. Frustrating. 

We head to the doctors tomorrow so I'm not sure as of now what his weight is.
18.2 lbs
Only in the 15th percentile. Pretty crazy because he seems so big compared to when Emma was his age. 

He loves to smile and laugh when he knows he is doing something wrong.
He shakes his head when I say no. 

I just love him so much.

This little lady had her last day of school. 

These last couple months we have traveled quite a bit for our family. We don't travel a lot because of Mikes work, so for us it going away twice has been big. 

Mike had signed up a while ago for a time share trial with Holiday Inn. Being that we had to pay for our travel to get to one of the locations, we chose The Smokey Mountains National Park in Tennessee. It was the closest destination to us being 5 hours. It was great. Right up the alley of things we like to do. Outdoor, adventure stuff. 

We ended up leaving two days early to spend some extra time there, so overall we spent 5 days at the park. Even though we didn't buy a timeshare like the Holiday Inn wanted us to while we were there, they did sell it really well and we are thinking really hard about it. We are actually going to be going on vacation again with this timeshare and probably will be purchasing it that go around. What we really like about it is that it can be handed down to children once it is paid for. 

We did a little bit of everything on the trip.

I would love to hike the AT one day. Probably in 18 years when my babies are grown. 

 The highest point on the AT. 

Clingmas Dome 

 The bugs were OUT OF CONTROL!!! 

I am not a real "eww..bugs" kind of person, but holy cow!!! 

There bugs were the size of a needles point. Tiny tiny tiny but the bites were bad. They were all over and there were swarms. I was more concerned with my children so we hiked fast. 

Looking back, I should have put Charlie on my front so I could have kept him a little more bug free. 

We hike the Alum Cave Trail. 

It was all along a river so it was beautiful. And it gave Emma a chance to get out and play. 

 The trail was about 5 miles long leading up to a mountain that you could spend the night on. This cave was about half way. 

We went to the aquarium 

Went to the pool. 

We ate a lot! 

Hiked to Laurel Falls

 Probably the most popular trail in the park. The falls were two levels. 

We played games

 Mike tried a bunch of different flavors of Moonshine. He said they were all disgusting. 

 Made a stop for some fun at a trampoline place. 

I don't have any photos of Emma that are not blurry. 

We had such a great time exploring Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Emma dancing to all the bango music, all the people enjoying their time outside and the nights snuggling with our babies after a long day of exploring. 

Well this post took up a good chunk of things we have been up too, but I have way more that I have to reminisce about. 

I'm sure there will be a part 2...and part 3.