Thankful hearts

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Haste family at Aaron and Rachel's. It had been forever since we had seen the kids and little Ava had grown a bunch! Grant loved spending time with his cousins and Aiden enjoyed running after Grant and entertaining him. The kids colored with Grandma Ellen and we took the opportunity to get some family pictures with the kids in matching Christmas shirts Grandma Ellen brought. The shirts lit up. They were a big hit with Grant. I, of course, loved spending time catching up with the greatest father-in-law ever and took a much appreciated nap as others kept Grant out of trouble. Thank you! :) We were also able to share our wonderful news with the family. We are expecting baby #2 June 2nd.

Fireman Mike to the rescue!

Rachel preparing lunch

Aaron with the yummy dessert.

Even Baby Haste had a t-shirt!

"No more pictures, PLEASE!!"

it's been way too long...

Amelia reminded me this afternoon that it has been over 6 months since I last blogged. Being a full time working mom is harder than I anticipated. I knew it would be stressful and things that once seemed important would seem less so, but Ryan and I are both run ragged and barely make it each night until Grant's 8 (or 7:30 or 7 or depending on the day 6:40) bedtime. :)

We've had our share of fun events since I last posted. I'm going to try to upload several posts, starting with the most recent first. We've had some computer issues, so many of our recent pictures have been saved on my parent's computer (thanks for storing them for us!) so they aren't lost when ours inevitably crashes. :( As an early Christmas present, Ryan and I bought a MyBook to store our important documents. Hooray! It might take some time to catch up, but I promise if you check back often you'll see pictures from the past 6 months.

These pictures were taken last night at my school's Winter Learning Land. I ran the flashcard booth (I'm bewildered why we weren't the most popular activity!!) with an ESL colleague. Her son watched Grant until Ryan could pick him up after work. They were instant friends. He got Grant laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. Grant would throw his crayon on the floor and Kearson would grumble and pick it up. It never got old and the more he threw it down, the harder Grant laughed. Ryan and I were talking afterwards about Kearson asking if Grant laughed that much at home. He said no and we realized it's because at home when Grant throws the crayon on the floor more than once he loses it! Oh, sitters are so much more fun than parents! :)

playing catchup

Martz wedding-June 27th

Becca

Becca and Bobby

It was really hot. Mamaw let Grant borrow her fan.

It kept him cool for awhile until he realized he could stick

his fingers in the blades and not get hurt.

Ava was extremely excited when she got her treat cup back.

She decided she could resume her duties as flower girl with her treats in her hand.

Myla and Grant were instant friends. She loved that he shared one of his sticks with her.

We walked around and entertained Myla as the happy couple had pictures taken. Grant enjoyed pushing Myla in the stroller.

Aunt Bonnie and Lori

I loved her colors!!

partying at the reception.

(Ava and Grant even held hands to dance!)

best buds. Grant *loves* Caleb.

Yes, he even slept in Caleb's arms. :)

Uncle Orville!

The cheesecake was amazing. Ed, you did a great job!

first dance

so sleepy...

Now that I'm almost a month behind on blog posts, I thought I'd share one of our most recent pictures and then hit all the fun we've had the past month. Grant spent the past couple of nights with my parents and although he got more sleep than they did, he didn't sleep well. This afternoon during lunch he fell asleep right on his cheeseburger. He didn't move a muscle when I moved him to his crib and he slept 3 hours! While he was out, I was able to organize a few things for the quickly approaching school year, which was really nice. :)

Yes, he's still in his pajamas. I considered doing an art project right after lunch and the head-to-toe PJ's seemed like the best idea. :)

T-ball, swimming, cousins...Oh My!

Aiden, Grant, Uncle Aaron

what a cool dinosaur hat

Emma getting out of the pool

Aiden perched on the ladder

Emma hit the ballrunning to 1st base

she made it!

so true...

the newest Haste: Ava

June 25th we were able to travel north to see Ryan's brother's family. We love spending time with them but never get to see them enough. We were able to attend one of Emma's T-ball games and swim in their new pool! Grant thought the water was too cold, but Ryan enjoyed swimming with the kids and Aaron.

Emma and Aiden are so great at including Grant, and he loves playing with them. Grant and Aiden chased each other around the kitchen and Emma helped hold and keep a watchful eye on him, as he's into everything these days. :)

IUPUI Carnival

Amelia invited Grant and I (Ryan had to work) to a carnival at IUPUI. The Housing and Residence Life Department hosted it for the staff and their families. They provided a great lunch, lots of fun games to play, and even more prizes! We didn't play many games but had a great time hanging out at the prize booth Amelia worked. Thanks for inviting us, Amelia!

Aunt Jamie visits!

Last week we had a very special visit from

Aunt Jamie!

She came to visit Grant and help with several projects around the house.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jamie!

(Visit soon for pictures of what we accomplished!) Her first day in town, we declared it a fun day and went to the zoo. As much as Grant has loved the zoo during our previous visits, he had an even better time with Aunt Jamie. Aunt Jamie took him on the train and was very saddened that it wasn't as great as she remembered it being, but Grant loved riding! They also fed the giraffes, visited the goat petting yard and touched an elephant. Jamie was able to touch a shark for the first time and was amazed at all the exhibits/opportunities the zoo offers. We had a fabulous week with her and hope Uncle John is able to make the trip next time, too. :)

Yay! We're going on a train ride!

Grant loves his Aunt Jamie.

feeding the giraffe-at first he was very hesitant to stick his hand near it's tongue.

aunt jamie helping him feed the giraffe

finally, grant decided it would be okay to touch the giraffe.

petting a goat

pointing out the goat's eye

Today's creature feature is...Grant and Aunt Jamie!

petting a horse

how many "hands" tall are Aunt Jamie and Grant?

Grant is 8 hands tall

petting the elephant

Grant tried to pull the elephant's hair.

I realize that elephants are mammals, but I didn't realize they were as hairy as they are.

Jamie's favorite!