A Family Bucket List

With summer vastly approaching, I feel the need to think ahead and plan some fun for this family. We live in a town full of activities and want to take advantage of all that those few months have to offer. This is a big summer for us... Peighton starts school in August and who knows what next summer will hold for us (hopefully PCSing onto a new place, ha). So here goes our must dos for the summer otherwise know as our summer bucket list.

• Weekly Family Movie Night 
• Bowling
• Parks, parks, and parks
• Lots of pool time
• Farmer's Market
• Nashville Zoo
• Greenway Trail
• Tennis
• Bike Rides
• Bicentennial Mall in Nashville
• Fort Donelson 
• Tide Breaker Water Park 
• Family Game Night
• Grilling out
• Family walks
• Back to school clothes shopping

I'm sure there will be more added to the list as I think of them and as new activities come up around town. My main goal is just for us to spend as much time as possible having a fun and making memories as a family. 

I have a little bucket list for our block leave time as well. We are heading home to SC for about a week and want to make the most of our vacation. Just because we are not going anywhere special doesn't mean we can't live it up regardless. 

• Children's Museum 
• a beach trip
• Whirlin' Waters Adventure Water Park

Bring on summer!!!

Scott Update

Yesterday, Scott officially turned 4 months old! How can that be?!?! My little scooter is growing up way too fast. He is getting so big, alert and active. He just melts my heart. He is such the ham and loves to smile and coo. I swear his eyes just sparkle and crinkle when he smiles. LOVE him to pieces!! We had his 4 month check up today and I am pleased to say it went well. He is thriving like a champ. He now weighs 15 pounds and 15 ounces.. almost 16 pounds. It seems like a lot to me but it was only between the 50th and 75th% for weight. However he is in the 90% for his height which is a 26.5 inches long. And his head was average at 42 centimeters around. Scott is following in the footsteps of his big brother Henry in the size department. I looked back at Henry's stats at his 4 month check up and he was 16.4 pounds and 26 inches long. I think its funny how so close they are in size :)  Poor thing had to get two shots and had to drink the rotateq liquid for the rotavirus. He was quite the little trooper and not too much crying on his part. He will go back in June for his 6 month check up.

He is now up to 6 ounce bottles every 3 hours during the day and only waking up once at night to feed. Sometimes he can sleep till 5 am but most of the time it seems to fall between the 2-3 am hour. He has been a better sleeper at night now that he is on rice cereal. We started him on that last weekend and he is doing well so far. Its still a learning process. For a few days, it was a spitting out/pushing it back in process. He is starting to get the hang of the whole eating with a spoon notion. He started apples this past weekend and seems to do better better eating the cereal with a little sweetness mixed in it. I think next food will be sweet potatoes which we will start this weekend. He is still not much a daytime napper. He likes to cat nap more than anything else. Every once in awhile I can get him to take a solid afternoon nap just depends on his mood, our schedule and the noise level in the house (ha!). He is a great night sleeper though so I can't complain too much of his lack of sleeping during the day. He typically eats his cereal mixture around 630 and then gets his last bottle between 8-830 and then goes down for the night between 830-9. Then I don't hear a peep out of him until that 2-3 am hour where he will feed then go right back to sleep till about 7 and some mornings I can give him his paci and he will go back to sleep till 8.

Scott is becoming quite active and developing well. I think all that awake time is making him slightly advance. He now can roll not only from his stomach to his back but also from his back to his stomach. However, he has quite not made a full rotation on his own yet. He is starting to scoot on his knees some when he is on his tummy. He is a squirmer and is seldom in that same place he started out on the floor. He is learning to grasp objects with his hands and bring them to his mouth. His favorite activity right now is chewing on anything he can get in his mouth. There's a lot of drool and bubble blowing going on but no teeth yet. Henry got his first teeth during his 4th month so we will have to wait and see on how Scott compares.

We love our little scooter!! I am so thankful and blessed for another healthy baby!!!

Jefferson Davis Historic Site

Last Sunday we ventured out and checked out the Jefferson Davis Monument. Who knew the 3rd tallest obelisk was just a twenty minute drive from our house?!?! We discovered on their website that the place also had picnic tables and a playground. So we packed up our lunch and headed out to explore. I must say it is the middle of nowhere and kind of sticks out like in the little country town it resides in. However, it was awesome to see! There isn't much to the site. There's the 351 feet tall monument, a museum/gift shop, a playground area and two large shelters with plenty of picnic tables. We paid to be able to tour both the monument and the museum and it was well worth it! The tour of the monument includes an elevator ride up 310 feet where you are able to see out of a few windows. It was pretty neat to be that high in it and the views went on and on. After the monument tour, we checked out the museum then walked down to the picnic area ate our lunch and the kiddos played. It was a fun and educational outing! :)

Easter Sunday

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter yesterday! I know this family had a great day and were so thankful to spend the time together as a family of five. Another first holiday for Scott :) The kids woke up to their Easter baskets awaiting them in the living room. The Easter Bunny left them some good stuff! Even little scooter received his first Easter basket filled with the essentials of a growing infant... new pacifiers, a new paci clip, and several new teething toys. Henry received some candy, two new trucks, a truck book, a ball and some bubbles. Peighton received a new princess book, a new book on CD, stickers, bubbles, and of course candy. Brandon fixed us yummy pancakes for breakfast. After we all got ready for the day, Brandon hid the Easter eggs in the backyard. Then the hunt began, ha! P of course found them easily but Henry was getting the hang of it in the end. They both enjoyed it and loved all the m&m's hidden in the eggs :) We had a delicious lunch at the house. Our menu consisted of grilled chicken, broccoli casserole, green beans with new potatoes, and hawaiian sweet rolls. For dessert I baked a lemon cake with cream cheese frosting. It was all yummy!! We enjoyed the rest of the day hanging out as a family and enjoying the gorgeous weather :)

1 Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Our trip to Louisville in Pictures

Lots of fun filled memories were made this weekend!!! :)

A Weekend in Louisville

This weekend Brandon had Friday off of work so we thought a short little getaway would be nice for the family. However, we didn't want to travel far so that we could be back home for Easter Sunday as well as the fact that Brandon had to return to work on Monday. We figured a 3 hour radius worked best and Louisville, KY was our pick. Brandon booked a hotel room at the Courtyard Marriott in prime location of downtown and we set up our itinerary. We knew one night would be sufficient for all that we wanted to see. Friday morning we woke up early, got everyone dressed, loaded up the car and hit the road. Our first stop was at the Louisville Zoo and we did excellent time and were there by lunchtime. It was very crowded but once we were in the zoo and walking it was much nicer. We walked around the trail about half way before stopping for some lunch at one of the cafes. Then back on the trail we went and saw lots of animals. The kids loved it and we spent about 3 hours there getting a chance to see every exhibit. Then we headed off to our hotel where we checked in and put some long pants on the kiddos since it was a lot cooler there and knew it would only be more so once the sun went down. We loaded them up in the double jogger and explored downtown. We settled on this place called Bristol's Bar and Grille for dinner. The food was very yummy and the kids were well behaved. Scott slept most of dinner and woke only to eat. After that we walked down to the Louisville Science Center for some playtime. They are open later on Friday and Saturday nights and have an awesome deal of $5 admission fee after 5 pm. The kids loved it there and we spent quite a bit of time exploring the different areas. The kids' zone was fabulous.. probably one of the best ones we have been to. Once the kids started getting worn out, we headed back to the hotel to go swimming in the indoor pool. It was a little chilly but P and Henry didn't mind it. They played and splashed and it helped them wear out anymore of their energy before bedtime.

The next morning we woke up and got ready for the day. We had a yummy breakfast at the hotel. We packed up and loaded up the car since we had to be checked out of our hotel by lunchtime. Then we went and explored some more. Our destination that morning was to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The price there could not be beat... kids under 6 were free and the military rate was fabulous.. two adults for a total of $9. The place was worth the money! We were able to take a tour of the actual factory where they make the baseball bats and at the end of the tour we all received our very own mini little bat. It was definitely a neat place. We then walked down to Market Street and eventually 4th Street where we found our lunch place at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was delicious and we all enjoyed our meal. Then it was time to head back to our hotel, load up and head out. The drive is very easy and we go through some beautiful country and farm land. We were home by that afternoon. It was the prefect little vacation for this family! :)