Can it Be? Our Zacky is 3!!!!!

I can't believe it was 3 years ago today that Zack was born. It doesn't seem that long ago.


We actually celebrated his birthday yesterday and I will post more pictures soon. Zack certainly enjoyed himself though and Auntie Meg did another outstanding job on his cake.


Looking back over the past year I can definitely tell he's growing, not only because of his size but what he is up to these days. Some of these things I will try and post in the next few days as they need their own blog. Some things haven't changed though, like his odd sleeping places...


He's also still our busy, busy boy. I don't know where he gets his energy. I swear I don't give him much sugar.


We love him to pieces!

Happy 13th Anniversary Staci and Sean!

Wow, 13 years ago today Darin's sister Staci and hubby Sean were married. That sounds like a long time! It's nice you had the day off to celebrate!

We wish you many more years of happiness!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary Meg and Chris

Today although late, I want to wish my sister Megan and her hubby Chris a very happy 5 year anniversary.

Hope you did something fun to celebrate.

Welcome to the Family Colvin Cooley!

My cousin Dan and his wife Sharis and son Ryan welcomed a new member to their family early this morning, Colvin Marie Cooley. We have anxiously been awaiting her arrival for days because Sharis was 4 days over due. We're so glad she is here and healthy.

We can't wait to meet her!

YEAH ZACKY!

Zacky pooped on the potty today for the first time! Guess he didn't want his younger cousin Ryan getting all the attention. :-)

I haven't been real diligent with the potty training with Zack since his first potty experience back in August. I just haven't been ready or had the time to be honest. We've just been having him go before baths or bedtime for the most part. But this past week I've been trying to be a little more diligent and have been planning a major push this weekend when we were going to go big and put him in big boy underwear. I figured he's been in a pull up too long now it's just like a diaper to him so lets go for the real thing, during the day that is.

Well, this afternoon we were outside playing and I started smelling something and did the quick peek and saw that we needed to change the pull-up. When we got in there wasn't much in it so I guessed that I caught him right before so we got on the potty, he went potty and wanted to be done but I asked him to get back on. You should have seen how excited his face was when he started pooping. It was quite cute. Let's hope this continues on for the next couple days so this weekend isn't going to be as horrendous as I thought it would be. :-)

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all of the Mothers amongst our family and friends. We hope you have a restful day!

A special thank you to our wonderful Mothers

and Grandmothers.

Thank you for the wonderful childhood you gave us and the love and blessings you give us and your grandchildren. We truly appreciate everything you did for us and continue to do. We appreciate it even more now that we are parents ourselves and realize the true meaning of being a Mom.

We love you!

Happy Easter (Part 1)

I know the actual day was weeks ago but according to the church calendar we're still celebrating so I think it counts and I'm not late in posting...yet!

We had a fun Easter season. We actually started our Easter early with the 3rd annual Edgemont Easter Egg hunt (my childhood neighborhood). My sister Molly and one of our neighbors, Missy, took over planning this event from my Mom and Missy's Mom. They ran it for 13 or more years and now Molly and Missy revived it with some more adult prizes, (See Mo's page by clicking the link). But the "Golden Egg" was always and still is a big chocolate bunny! Some things can't change.

This year Darin and I were a little slower in hunting, (ok a lot slower) because Zack was able to help us. He really got into it and was finding eggs that we hadn't even seen.

Hunting in my old back yard!
Very helpful!

Jeff thought Bailey might be able to hunt down some eggs for him


He and I also found the golden egg!! I never won the bunny before so it was quite exciting for me, even if I didn't find all 12 of my eggs by the end of the event. And yes family of mine, the bunny has been eaten. They thought it would take me until Christmas to finish. I have a sweet tooth but not as big as SOME members of my family.

The 2nd generation kids also had fun too with a candy free for all!

Our old house is in the back ground. The evergreen in the picture just floors me! It was as tall as the exposed trunk when we left.

At the end of the party Zack thought Jeff and Angie (our wonderful hosts!) needed some help cleaning up and putting dishes away. He's such a great helper! He does this at home too.

The day was great fun and I always look forward to this event! Thanks Mo and Missy! And thanks to Jeff and Angie for hosting every year. You know you can never move right? :-)

Happy Easter (Part 2)

The day before Easter we introduced Zack to the tradition of dying eggs. He really enjoyed it and didn't want to take the eggs out of the dye, (or his hands :-)).

Sunday morning the Easter bunny came and hid our baskets and the dyed eggs so we were off on a hunt.

He got jigsaw puzzles (which he has mastered easily now),

a t-shirt combining two favorites of his, dinosaurs and guitars, the Memory game and a couple of smaller things.

Kiley got mostly clothes, a pair of shoes, sippy cups and some sunglasses which she was really excited about.

Grandma D and Grandpa Al also sent some Easter "bonnets" for the kids that they opened Easter morning. They were perfect. Zack is ready for Nisswa's turtle races!

Next it was time to get dressed up in their Sunday best for church.

Then afterwards we spent an entertaining evening at my parents. Things started out just fine, an egg hunt for the kids,

Gifts from Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom in which Zack got a new weed whacker to help Daddy out even more after they mow the lawn, (he's still lovin' the mower!).

Great-Grandpa Cooley got to see Kiley again after 4 months of on again off again MRSA bouts, (which last week was on AGAIN!).

It was a nice day so the kids spent some time out on the deck playing.

and then the real "entertaining" portion of the evening began. The kids began to get a little tired at dinner. First Riley started crying, then Zack and then Adee thought she needed to chime in. So at one point the three eldest were all crying their eyes out as we're seated for dinner. The adults could only laugh. Ah, life with children. :-)

All in all it was a great night and we had a very fun Easter. Hope all of you enjoyed it as well!

8 Months and Climbing...

...literally! On Tuesday Kiley turned 8 months. The day before she climbed the 2 stairs from our family room to the kitchen! She repeated the trick for Grandma Trish at their place on the one stair from their family room to kitchen. She's a stinker. Still not crawling on all fours but climbing anyway!

This picture was a few days before the actual success of the climb. I was going to post this one as a "look what is to come" picture but I guess she wanted the news on the 8 months to be that she IS climbing. Sooo Big!

Sorry Mo and Meg I know this has made Tuesday playdates a whole lot more complicated! My sisters are watching all of the kids Tuesday mornings while my Mom and I golf! I'm so spoiled!

Other developments: She likes saying "da,da,da" a lot. I think she's going to be a Daddy's girl. Darin is quite happy with that since Zack is definately a Mommy's boy.

Workout Junkie

Hey Bartsch's, did you know there is a 'Workout Junkie' among us!? Bet you might be able to guess who.

I typically don't read the variety section of the newspaper but someone must have been whispering in my ear because there on the back of Monday's paper was a familiar face, Lynda Maus!

Checkout Lynda's article in the Star Tribune. :-) Just click on Star Tribune or 'Workout Junkie'

Welcome to the Family Parker Fritel

The Bartsch Bunch has gotten bigger! Darin's cousin Blaine and his wife Denise had a darling baby boy, Parker Blaine Fritel, on April 21st (not only am I behind in blogging, I'm behind in reading e-mails). We were happy to hear all went well and can't wait to meet him in June at Brad's wedding!

Happy Birthday Uncle Dude!

Today is Uncle Dude's birthday (Josh's). He got the nickname Uncle Dude from Zack a long time ago. Josh always calls Zack Dude so Zack started calling Josh Dude too. :-)

Hope you have a fun day!