I THINK HIS TRACTOR'S SEXY

Eric has been contemplating a summer time job/small business for as long as we have been married, which by the way is 5 years as of the 21st of JUNE. Anyway, so after many years of research and wracking of the brain, he decided to make the small business work for him. Meaning...he wanted to do something that would also fulfill a life long dream...owning his own tractor. Since our yard is massive now that we have cleared so much in order to get some drainage for the property we needed something that would mow our yard easier and quicker than a traditional riding lawn mower. So, we put our thinking caps on and came up with the idea that Eric will put the word out to do some bush hoggin' and dirt spreading for his small business and let the money from it help to pay for the note. So, quickly I will put in a plug for the business...if you need some bush hoggin' or dirt spread, or know of someone who does...call us...679-8048 (Eric's cell). Anyway, here is Eric's new toy and our anniversary present for who knows how many years!:)

Our Latest Happenings

Here are a few pictures of our latest happenings. The pictures will go as follows...

Taft and his cousin Gunnar at our house after eating a family dinner for Grandma LeeLee's birthday (May 31st is the b-day, but this was taken June 2nd). Taft all bundled up in his hooded towel after his nightly bath. Taft has also been working on his tummy time. We are not as diligent as we should be, but we are working on getting the boy some exercise. We have also been able to capture Taft's smile more often and his little personality is starting to blossom. I am starting to get some much needed interaction with our kid. I would have never guessed how rewarding a simple smile could be as a mother.

It's been 8 & I'm out of Shape

Ok, so Taft is officially 8 weeks old today, and I started my "let's get back into the favorite pair of pre-pregnancy shorts" exercise routine. I put on my ear phones, the running shoes and headed out the door. I returned about 15 - 20 minutes later out of breath, ridiculously red in the face and wondering if it would be worse tomorrow. I think I might have ended up running somewhere around a mile and a half. This morning I decided that I would work through the soreness, because of course there is soreness and attempt another run. I put on the ear phones, running shoes and left the "boys" still in bed (7:30 am) instead of 9:00 am. And the verdict is back....what a difference an hour and a half makes in the temperature, the amount of shade and my ability to talk myself through another day. I know...a mile and a half is peanuts for most people even when they are out of shape...at least it had been for me in the past, but for some reason after almost a year of no formal exercise and pushing a seven plus lb. baby out of you seems to be the deal clincher. Next time I will be better prepared...
Now onto Taft...he seems to be getting settled into a routine, but occasionally has a bad night or day. Yesterday was one of those bad days, where he just couldn't seem to get happy. But, we managed and he had a pretty decent night, so we will go from there. He sees the Pedi on the 27th and I am hoping that we might get to add some rice cereal or something of the sorts to his Breast milk, so that he will sleep longer. We tend to still want to wake up at 2 or 3 and then again at 5 or 6. Which is not too bad because he will make for a great alarm when I go back to work, but I could sure stand to have him sleep from 11 until 5 or 6. I might have unreal expectations, but I hear other family and friends talk about their baby sleeping through the night and I get so jealous! well, the Hartman family camp out is this weekend, so be ready for a good slide show, with lots of cousins, grandparents, great grandparents and such. Until then.....

Family Pictures

Long time, no post...

Well, it has been a while since I posted. I haven't really been all that busy, but just have been wanting to post pictures with a blog. However, for some reason I wasn't capable of doing so the last attempt I made, so I just didn't blog anything. Since our last post we have had some out of town family in and it was sure fun to get to catch up. We had a family reunion this past Saturday and my mom's sister Ilene came down with her daughter Brooke and then my uncle Eddie came down. We did a lot of eating, visiting and reminiscing. Oh the laughs we had. Eric had inservice all last week, so he really didn't start his summer vacation until today. We did, or should I say Eric finished the deck to our pier at the pond and put up a rope swing. The neighborhood kids have had a ball with that. I am not brave enough to swim in muddy waters anymore. However, the rope swing looks pretty fun. I will have to figure out what is wrong with my computer and gets some pictures on here for it. We hope this short update finds you all well. I sure love to hear how you are doing, so drop a line or call anytime!

Check out my Slide Show!

Happy Memorial Day and thanks to the many who have served our country so faithfully with valor and courage. We had a nice day visiting with family at the lake. It was warm, but the shade provided some comfort along with a fan. We hope that you all had a great weekend, and enjoyed some time to yourself or with some family and/or friends.