End of summer family party

A day of fun in the sun at my Aunt and Uncles lake. What a perfect day to celebrate birthdays and end of summer.

Conner and Ryan swimming out at the raft

Conner jumping off the raft

Bryce chillin in the sand

My sweet Morgan

Still chillin :)

Name that bug

One of the kids (especially Conner) favorite things to do lately is go for bug hunts and take pictures...we've gotten a few cool pictures....I can't believe how close some of these bugs let me get. The kids could spend hours looking at bugs, it's so cute how excited they get! Maybe they will work for national geographics some day :)

Cousins Wedding

Here are a few pics from my cousins wedding. It was a gorgeous wedding right on the beach!

Family Picture

Ryan, me, Kristi, Jessie, Dad, Jennifer and Bryan

Me, cousin Leslie and Jennifer

Sisters

My birthday dinner out

Thanks to my step mom coming out early we were able to hit the town at 4pm and get some awesome happy hours special. Ryan took me to the Republic my new favorite place for sushi and we had a few samples and cocktails before meeting up with friends for dinner. It was a great night out and much needed.

Ryan, Jason and Andy

Kim, Holly and Juleen

Start to my Birthday Weekend

Ever since I was a little girl I felt that since my birthday fell on 4th of July weekend that I didn't have a birthDay but a birthWeekend...their was always celebrations going on. So to keep with tradition I started my birthday weekend out right.....today is a day of indulgence....and I think the kids are liking that it's Mommy's birthday :)

Chocolate chip pancakes and Chocolate Milk for breakfast....I even had Morgan doing a birthday dance for me :) Later today we are off to a pool party with friends and mommy is stopping for a Frappe at McDonald's followed by date night tonight....Can't wait!! We have a fun filled Weekend.....Happy Birthday to Me...hehehehe

She always amazes me!!

No more baby....all big girl!! (No crib, no paci's, and potty trained..so exciting but yet sad)

I still have some decorating to do but good bye crib and rocking chair, hello big girl! We set up Morgan's big girl bed yesterday and I thought what better time to get rid of the paci??? I've been dreading this process and have been talking about it a lot with her, I always got the response of NO from her.... I thought I was in for a few rough nights. I told her since she was a big girl in a big bed she didn't need her paci's anymore and baby Bryce (her nephew) needed them more. Once I made the decision I HAD to stick to my guns. The last two days naps were pretty short but the nights have been Great!!! She truly AMAZES me!!! The first nap was a few tears but no crying at night, I just can't believe it! Someone pinch me.

For a reward of being such a good girl I told her she could get a Dora Doll to sleep with....I probably should have done some research first, cause now I can't find one :) Why is it that when you want something, you can't find it and when you don't need it, you see it everywhere???

Reading on her new bed in mommy's shoes :)

In the process of taking down the crib, it hit me...why don't I use the headboard on Conner's bed? So Conner has a bigger bed now too. We were thinking of getting him bunk beds, but probably not for another year or so and then we could always sell the crib.

Ryan is NOT a fan of the bed skirt but what else can you do???

Can it get any bigger?

The last pictures I posted of our garden were taken on Friday, we went out of town for the weekend and returned to a garden that grew twice the size....crazy....how much bigger can these things get?

Even more exciting, we have two zucchinis growing :)

My Little Munchins

Our mini photo shoot for a Father's Day frame....one day I'll figure out the trick to get them both looking and smiling at the same time instead of in opposite pictures :)

Almost a big girl

All potty trained and growing up...next step a big girl bed.....almost!

We have transitioned Morgan into her daybed.....the promise is if she gives up her paci's she gets a big girl bed like Conner and she wants to give them to her baby cousin Bryce (I'll believe it when I see it!) She has been doing great in her daybed but the opening in the middle is not a good placement and she has fallen out twice now so after this weekend she gets her big bed. Now hopefully she gives up the paci's and I stick to my guns!!!!!!!!! I'm looking forward to redecorating :)

Growing like a weed...

and man can I not believe how fast those weeds grow!

With the exception of our green beans everything is growing wonderfully.....Conner is so excited to go water our garden and see everything growing each morning. Not one of our green beans grew so we must of had a bad batch so we replanted those and hopefully this batch will work, otherwise I might give up on the beans :) Can't wait to start enjoying all these vegetables!!! I think I may have gone overboard on my first garden so I'm sure I'll be giving may vegetables away but all in all it's been really fun so I think we'll be having a garden every year.

Conner really hopes his pumpkins grow!!!

Our first garden....

and it's actually growing!!! Conner and I decided to grow a garden this year, something I have never attempted to do but he was so excited about it and who couldn't use more veggies, right :) He helped me plant the seeds last week sometime and this week the plants are popping up everywhere, we are so excited. If the plants really take off most of you may be enjoying the veggies too!


Conner's Garden...he even made signs to show what plants are planted and a drawing of what the veggie looks like....really he's so cute!

Mother's Day

My two precious little ones :)

On Saturday we started the day out with our weekend Lowes workshop as a family and then I spent the day out with my Mom, Grandma, and Sister to have lunch and do a little shopping...something we do every year and is always nice to get out with the ladies. When I returned home I was greeted at the door with two very happy kids yelling HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY with homemade cards and balloons....and a Wonderful Husband right behind them with flowers. Too Sweet!!!

Sunday we went to church, took naps (something I rarely get and was much appreciated) and just relaxed around the house. It was a very nice and relaxing weekend....thanks Ryan!

First Update

This has been the scene at the Haartman household lately....bike riding!!!!

The weather has been so beautiful we are outside as much as possible. I found this adorable bike for Morgan at a garage sale and she has been pedaling ever since. The pictures don't show it but they both wear helmets...Conner gets going so fast some times he has taken a few spills and I am not always right by him.

Funny how their personalities are so different. Conner just started riding a bike this year at age 4. He had NO desire to learn in the past so I never pushed it. He would rather ride his scooter but this year he showed an interest and now he wants to ride all the time. Now Morgan who just turned 2 is already a pedaling fool, always wanting to do what big brother does :) Really sometimes I think she really believes she's 4 too.

Funny faces

Another big excitement is Morgan woke up last week asking to wear big girl panties and she has been doing great ever since...only a few accidents usually because I forget she isn't 4 and need to remind her to take a potty break. She's been going #2 on the potty since 16 months but never showed an interest in #1 so I wasn't going to start potty training until late summer but when she starts asking why say no....she has a mind of her own :) Next step big girl bed, but I'm not ready for that yet....she is nothing like Conner with that and she will NOT stay in bed I'm sure of it :)



Getting her nails done....she will sit so still until they dry....crazy!!!

Neglected Blog

Wow....I have really been slacking!!! It's now the end of April and my last post was February....I'm a little behind and have so much to post I think I'll just have to give you a glimps of what's been going on the past few months :)

It's been so beautiful lately it's hard to stay inside and by the end of the night I don't feel like downloading pics and blogging. I promise I'll try harder from now on!!

Updates will be soon!!!

You may question my sanity :)

It's that time of year again that the winter just drags on, your stuck inside and most likely dealing with sicknesses and it just gets you gloomy....this is us every year about this time.

Thankfully Conner is now back to health and school and Morgan is on her way with the help of a second antibiotic but we had a very long two weeks were we didn't leave the house except for meds, groceries or doctors visits. So it was time for something new!!!

Last year Morgan got a water table from our group of friends for her birthday and when the days got long we set it up in the downstairs bathroom, that got a little messy but was lots of fun for the kids. This year I did a little something different....I remembered when looking into preschools for Conner last year we visited a school that had a birdseed table. He was so into it while we were there, so I made a mental note to do something like it this winter...that's when I thought of rice....easy enough to vacuum up, not a choking hazard and kind of seems like sand???

I was surprised about a month ago to see that Conner's class had a rice table, of course Morgan beelined it to the table every time we dropped off Conner and it was not always easy pulling her away, so last week when we were on week two of sickness I went to the store and bought a 10lb bad of rice and filled up the water table. It was a little messy at first but very easy to clean up and keeps the kids entertained for a good hour at a time if not more, especially Morgan. I will say if your interested in doing this yourself....it must be supervised :) I stepped into the laundry room next door to start a load of laundry and came back to Morgan in the living room with her bucket of rice and spoon...nothing the vacuum cleaner couldn't take care of but she now knows it stays in the table....typical of her to push the limits :) All in all I recommend trying it, it's been fun!

Caught sitting in the table...little stinker!
When I returned from loading laundry....rice all over the carpet :)

My little helper cleaning up after playing....don't think daddy wants to walk on rice every morning....hahaha

Conner cleaning up Morgan's mess