Maybe we should feed Tyler more...

Watch out Heidi!

Plants Take 2

Ok, so the first step to fixing a problem is to admit you have a problem right? My thumb is as brown as the dirt. Now moving on, step 2, starting over and not repeating the same mistakes. I got that sunflower to be over 5 ft, I can do it again, but better (aiming for keeping it alive 3 months this time), I know I can! Robyn has inspired me. So there are 24 sunflower pods, 12 watermelon, 36 Pumpkins(ranging from 5lbs to 500lbs in orange and white) Pumpkin patch will be at the Harding house this year. YEAH BABY!!

Day 1:

Happy Father's Day!

We hope all the dads of the world had a happy father's day. We took Macy to see her first Durham Bulls (minor league baseball) game with the Bates' family. She loved the game and when it was time to go there were quite a few tears: "Momma I want to watch more baseball". Then this morning I was told she didn't want to go to preschool, instead she wanted to go see a baseball game. Dora also made an appearance so the girls got to meet her and even gave her a hug. I was quite impressed because Dora was gigantic as you can see in the picture above which she is on her knees. Tyler enjoyed the game as well, so I see many more baseball games in our future.

5 Months and growing

Tyler is 5 months old now and growing so fast (although not as fast as our sunflower cause that would be freaky) I love his chunky thighs. I don't know how we got so lucky, but he is one very happy baby and so easy to please. He's eating solids now which he likes to slurp off the spoon. His favorite book is Sandra Boytons' Dogs. I can't read it too loud though because Heidi will start to chime in. Macy and him have already started the "he's hitting me momma", which is fun to explain to a 2 year old why her brother can hit her, but she can't hit him. She becomes more and more of a mother hen to him every day with things like taking his paci out because it's only for bed time, or taking his hands out of his mouth because they don't belong in there. The other day she put him in time out for crying. So apparently she's not going to put up with much. I have a feeling that will be happening a lot more in the months to come.

Tyler is eating solids

We started Tyler on solid foods and so far he seems to be willing to eat whatever we feed him and he's pretty close to bottomless. I've decided to make our own foods which is pretty fun and way cheaper. In her typical fashion, Macy was unsatisfied with my feeding technique so she felt the need to take over and show me how to do it right. Good thing we had her first, otherwise I'd have no idea how to take care of Tyler.

Sunflower Report

It's been a month since we got our sunflower and it's still growing strong. It looks like it's about to start flowering even. There's a mini sunflower growing next to the huge one, so I am going to attempt to move to it's own pot so maybe we'll have 2 sunflowers growing soon. It's gotten so big and is really thriving in the pot, so I think it will be staying there for the summer to avoid the risk of me killing it when I move it.

Time to catch up

So the last half of April was just as busy as the first and May continued the chaos. We rounded out April with a bang, Macy banging on a drum at the Earth Day festival that is, also where she got a tattoo, no not real and yes it says born to recycle. We are doomed with her fascination for tattoos, at this age it can not be a good sign of things to come. I just hope that she gets all her desires out now and when she actual comes to age for getting real ones the thrill will be over. While the families w here Tyler was baptized at the North Raleigh United Methodist Church. Unlike his sister, he did not cry at all and seemed rather excited during the entire service. A much bigger surprise was that Neil actually survived sitting through the service. To view more pictures from April click here.




May started out with a mini Harding/Bates family vacation. We stopped at the zoo on the way to the Great Wolf lodge, which contrary to belief is not anywhere close to being in the woods and is instead in the center of an NC concrete jungle. The kids had a blast at the zoo. We did North America this time, so they got to play at the little park. Macy assaulted a large metal bull and amused a group of high schoolers passing by. Then we continued on the lodge. The reason we picked this as a vacation was the large indoor water park which the girls loved. It's a shame that you can't just go to the place for the water park and stay somewhere else because the rooms were over priced along with everything else there, but the water park was a blast. In the following weeks the Hardings started a sunflower war with the Swans. Auntie Robyn gave us our sun flower when it was 3 inches, now it is over 4ft. Just 11 more feet to go according to Burpee. We went to so many 'fest e bowls' over the past few weekends that Macy now wonders why we can't go to one every day. At the Safety Festival she got to sit in the back of a police car, which lets pray is the last time she ever does that. Macy's best friend Avery had a fun birthday at a farm which Macy loved feeding the animals and playing in a giant pit of corn. Over the birthday weekend Macy developed a new crush. Uncle Phil has been replaced with the coolest Uncle B (Kellie's younger brother) It's hard to say if Macy even realized Avery was at the farm, but the second Uncle B turned around she was calling him to come back. The last picture is Tyler working on his evil plot, that or his impression of President Bush. To view the pictures from May click Here and Here too.