Growing Up Faster and Faster

Here are just some pictures I took of Quin, while I was wasting time (because like I've said in the past...I have so much of it), before we went to the soup supper! Seems like I keep blinking my eyes and Quin gets bigger each and every second! He is now a hip rider! You know, past the stage of your not worried about his head flopping from side to side. He is getting very close to sitting up unassisted! He has defiantly mastered rolling from back to stomach, but not the other way around.

He still loves to sit up in his Bumbo and see the world.

He was very intrigued with what his brother Conner was doing. When he sees the camera now, he knows to look somewhere else besides at his mother!

As you can tell Conner was making him laugh by playing
"Peek A Boo!"

Where are you Spring???

Ok, this is winter is getting to be a "BIT" long in my book! I'm telling you, I can't even remember temperatures above 30 degrees! I came home from work today and it just looks depressing. All the trees are dead, our poor little trees that we planted last year look like twigs, and the swingset looks so sad! This is when the snow first started to fall earlier this afternoon. It has since covered the ground, but I'm not for sure of total accumulations! I know, isn't it depressing that I took a picture of our backyard that everything is frozen and dead? It is also getting to be a very long winter at the daycare. I have 2 children out for pnemonia this week and 1 with bronchitis! Oh and then this high fever thing hit again today! Out of 20 kids I usually have on a daily basis, today I only had 10. Let's say I'm not complaining....I was in need of a little break, especially since I went to the open house and had my staff cover for me.

So here's to those people who love this winter weather. Doesn't these pictures just brighten your day! Hoping for an early spring!

Holy Rosary Open House.

In honor of Catholic Schools Week, Holy Rosary had their annual Open House today. This is a way for the parents to follow their child during the day to see what they do and to also enjoy eating lunch with them. When we first arrived, Preston was at his all time favorite place at school- RECESS!!! This kid is full of energy and loves to keep active no matter what it is! He took full advantage of the gym by playing basketball with his buddy Caden. I don't know though how much Caden got to be on the offensive end of the game. I don't know why I bother in the morning wetting his hair down so he doesn't look like one of those boys who has a horrible cow lick and their mother doesn't care! I mean, by the time he had morning recess he was so sweaty and would take his sweaty palms and run them through his hair. Guess I've learned my lesson. (Ask me in the morning when his hair is sticking up like a rooster and I just can't bear the thought of him being seen!).

Preston fully enjoyed us being able to be with him today.

Preston and his buddy Caden playing basketball at the morning recess.

After recess the Kindergarten class then went back to the room where they completed "Centers". Preston's teacher is Mrs. Hays and she is a wonderful teacher! It is amazing to me how much they learn in Kindergarten! Whatever happened to "Cut, Color, and Glue???" Preston is mastered over 70 sight words and just completed memorizing a part for the morning Prayer Service this week. He knows all of his letters and sounds, and is working on writing his address. Very impressive to me, as I know I've mentioned in my previous posts that we thought it would be impossible for him to be where he is today after the minor set back he had at the age of 2 when a virus attacked the cerebellum of the brain. This is a totally different child than we saw those few years back.

From what we witnessed, he might be the "Class Clown". I don't know who he would take after??? (Grandy maybe???)

Preston does do a very good job listening to his teacher and following instructions! (Maybe Mrs. Hays can give me some pointers!)

Mrs. Hays giving the class instructions on what to do in their centers.

Grandma Michaele got to enjoy the morning also.

Corby is in the 2nd grade and is doing quite well this year. He told me yesterday that they had math races on the chalkboard and he got the most right and won 3 pieces of candy! (I'm hoping he got his father's math ability!) He wrote an autobiography and read it while we was there.

Here are some of the things that he mentioned:

1. He was born June 2, 2000 at St. Mary's Hospital in Blue Springs Missouri.

2. We went to Florida on vacation.

3. He would like to work for FCS Financial like his dad when he grows up.

4. He would like to have a son one day and take them to the Missouri Tiger Football Game and watch them beat Kansas! (We are so proud to have raised him to be a fine gentlemen!) Ha!

We have also decided that Corby might also be the class clown of his class. Once again I don't know who he could take after!

We were treated by an excellent program presented by the 1st and 2nd grade classes. They talked about manners and to follow God. It is really wonderful that my children receive not only academics during the day but a well rounded faith based education. We really are blessed to have a great Catholic school in our small town that continues to thrive year after year

Corby's 2nd grade group of friends.

I'm sure the day is going to come soon where he will no longer accept "lovin'" from his Grandmother or mother.

We then took part in the soup supper this evening and a Silent Basket Auction which I was chairman! I am proud to say that my first attempt at the fundraiser raised $1165 for Holy Rosary! I will say I never thought it would bring this much!

Corby stiched this piece of artwork. (Something else I hope he gained from his father)!

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Some side notes of the day:

The weather really took for a turn while we were at the Open House. They are calling for 6-8" of snow to go into tomorrow. On the way back to work, my dad had a car accident on US 36. This is a main road that goes from our town back to where he works. Luckily he is ok, but he hit a patch of ice and went airborn across all 4 lanes of traffic and landed on the new road that won't be completed until next year. We are very blessed and thankful that it wasn't more serious. Thank God for seatbelts!!

Also a Big Happy 6th Birthday to my niece Sydney Kathleen!!!

Oh, and here is another great plus today (sarcasm). My cleaning lady called me at work today to inform me that she had vacuumed my retainer that I have to wear to bed every night!!! That day of cleaning turned out to be an $800 day! So dentist appointment was made immediately for next week. I'm telling you I have the luck!!!

Well it has been a long day! I'm hoping for a much calmer one tomorrow!

Singing to the Birthday Boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnzDXGcoLqU

The BIG 3!

I have a video of us singing to Conner, but my computer is a little slow tonight. Hopefully it will be posted soon!

Today is the "Actual Birthday" for Conner Bear! It was ironic, but I looked at the clock today at around 1:25 and I said, "Oh, Conner is just a few minutes past 3 years of age". He was born at 1:11pm on January 28th, 2005. It seems like yesterday that he came into our lives. We say his is defiantly the entertainment in our household. It has been a Big Day in the Eckler Household! Not only did Conner turn 3, but we also got rid of the "WAWA"! For those of you who don't know...this is AKA "Pacifier, Binky, Bink..etc.". This has been a huge part of Conner's life for the past 3 years! We really don't know how both Preston and Conner called "it" their "WAWA"! We did not repeat this word to Conner once, even though Preston called his the same thing! I think it was mainly me not wanting to get rid of it! It is a right of passage and that would mean that he was no longer a baby, but our Big Boy! He did exceptionally well with it today and we had no trouble at all with him going to bed without it! He did however tell Heath this morning on the way to daycare that "I found one in my pocket", only for Heath to confiscate it! I know he just turned 3 today, but he really seems to be so big! Ok...now that #1 the WAWA is gone...onto step #2 Potty-training! AHHHH...he wants absolutely no part in this stage of life yet! More on that later!

Making a big wish on his 3rd Birthday!

Conner Bear Turns 3!

Today we celebrated Conner's 3rd Birthday at our house with family and friends. We had a Farm Theme since he really seems to be into tractors and farm animals. His cake had a farm theme with a John Deere Tractor on it (Another Walmart Special!)

The lunch consisted of soup, sandwiches, chips, and snack type foods. We will be eating left overs for weeks!

Conner getting his first taste of the icing. He was pretty proud of his badge that had "Birthday Boy" on it.

All smiles on his birthday. His actual birthday is tomorrow, January 28th.
Conner becomes quite shy when crowds are around. It's so hard to believe, because this is not the Conner we are use to!

Conner and his big brother Preston.

Getting sleepy waiting for his dad to find the lighter to light his candles.

Everyone singing to Conner while he lays his head on the counter. He looks so innocent...looks are very deceiving!

The candles all blown out!

Chloe licking her piece off of her cupcake. Chloe will turn 3 on March 6th.

Conner playing with one of his new toys he received.

All his cousins taking part in opening his presents.

Pretty excited to open another present.

The gang watching Conner open his presents.

Andi getting ready to hit the pinata or as Corby called it the "Pignata"...I thought that was pretty clever on his part.

My First Video Post!

I was really wanting to be able to post videos of the boys on my blog, but I didn't have a way of doing it! So today, I purchased the "Flip". This is the neatest invention, and was recently advertised by Oprah on her show! I'm so excited now to be able to show my boys in "real action" for my family and friends that live so many miles away and are not able to see them in person often!

This is just a little video of Quin playing in the highchair. You can hear Conner in the background mocking me!

These Boots Are Made For Walkin'....

He never ceases to amaze us! Conner thought he would put on my boots tonight and put on a show for us. He thinks he is quite the comedian in the family. As you can tell from the picture (the green drool smeared down his chin), I caught him eating his 3rd fruit roll-up after he had been quiet for a good 10 minutes in the kitchen. I thought he was coloring!

Glad it's Friday tomorrow! This week ended Heath's first year of coaching the Holy Rosary Trojans! He went 0-13. I told him "better luck next year". He said it wouldn't take much!

Corby had some minor dental surgery yesterday to fix the big gap between his teeth. He got teary-eyed going into the procedure as they had to put him out...which only lead to his mom getting teary-eyed as well. By noon, he was fully recovered back to eating us out of the home.

This weekend we will celebrate Conner's 3rd birthday at our house with family and friends. So hard to believe he is the Big 3!!!

Have a great weekend!

Florida Vacation May 2006

Since I didn't start "blogging" until September of last year, I thought it would be neat to go back and post our past vacations. In May 2006, we took a family vacation with my parents to Florida. We went to both Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, Kennedy Space Center, and took a day to catch the waves at Daytona Beach. I like looking back on these now to see how much the boys have grown...especially Conner. Enjoy.

A Day to Iowa

Since today was a holiday and I closed the daycare, we took a day trip with my mom to see Aunt Quinn and the girls. We brought up lunch and the cousins had fun playing together. We made a "Target Run" to Burlington. We don't get to go up there much since I work during the week. Conner had fun playing with all of their toys. They have different toys to play with, unlike our house...GIRL TOYS! We came home earlier than expected because it started a wintry mix and we didn't want to take any chances.

Corby with 2 of his girl cousins.

Conner had so much fun playing with their doll house.

This is the first of many changes of clothes I saw Chloe in. I hear that is the difference between girls and boys....they like to change clothes a lot!

Outfit #2.

Lunch time at the Ruhl house.

I had to get a shot with one of my nieces.

Chloe decided she would participate in the picture after all.

Chicago Trip May 2007

I know this is from last year, but here is our trip we took to Chicago last May.

Another Fast Weekend

Corby's friend Parker brought over his guitars that hook up to his PlayStation. It was pretty neat to watch them play.

For once we had a weekend, where we didn't have any plans. This doesn't happen much in the Eckler household. It seems like our calendar fills up fast and the weekends zip by! On Saturday the boys spent the day playing soccer at the YMCA. Luckily one of my friends offered to watch the 2 little ones since we had a windchill of -12 degrees. It has been brutal this weekend! Then instead of venturing out last night we had some of our friends (7 adults and 11 kids + 1 babysitter I hired for the kids, and that's not including us! ) to have pizza and watch the disaster of a game between Mizzou and Kansas. The kids all had fun playing together with a few minor mishaps. Today I went and did some shopping with my friend Dawn, and then trying to get my house caught up for the week. Tomorrow since it is a holiday, I also closed the daycare since I watch mostly teacher's kids and people who work at banks. If the weather holds up we are going to make a day trip and go see Quinn and the girls.

Quin loves to spend time in his highchair and play with his toys.

He's at the stage where everything goes in his mouth.

Preston showing off his tumbling moves that he attends once a week.

Heath spent most of the day watching the football playoffs while I was shopping. Luckily my house was still standing when I got home.

Random Thoughts.

This is one of those week's where I really haven't had much to post. Let's just say, I'm very ready for my 3 day weekend!

Here are some random photos of the boys' tonight that I thought I would post. They get tired of the camera constantly flashing. I told them that they couldn't watch their movie until they took a picture for me. Anything to get a picture!

We are very ready for some warmer weather. Heath updated me tonight to let me know that we will not see above freezing for a week. Just what I wanted to hear! In the next sentence, he told me that one of his customer's is leaving for 2 months to Puerto Vallarta! Did he really need to tell me that with the bone chilling temperatures we are having!

As you can tell Quin's hair is really starting to grow in! He defiantly got my widow's peak! At least they got some of my genetics!

He is oh so happy! As you can tell he just popped up his second tooth over the past few weeks. Thank Goodness for Tylenol and Baby Orajel!



We've been propping him up in chairs and hoping he will soon sit up without assistance!

I messed around on Picasa tonight and thought I would turn one into black and white. I received Photoshop Elements for Christmas, but I need some one on one time with my friend Dawn to have her show me all the ins and outs!

Can you tell these are fake smiles because they were wanting to watch their movie! Oh Well, they are still my precious boys!

Preston fell asleep on the way home from going out to eat tonight. He is not our morning person, so any sleep he gets is a bonus. He will need his much needed sleep for his soccer game bright and early tomorrow morning.

Coach Eckler.

This year, Heath thought he would volunteer his extra time (because we have just loads of it), to help coach the Holy Rosary Trojan (Corby and Preston's school) Jr. High basketball team. In our little parochial school, any help is always welcome. I would much rather give up our time helping through a sport, than to assist in a dinner at anytime. Although his team hasn't been very successful (0-12), he has motivated the boys, mostly through sarcasm! He doesn't handle the back talking very well and has really whipped the boys into shape due to this! He is glad he almost has his 1st year of coaching under his belt, and is hoping for a more successful season next year. He has had some added help at practice and games with his two ball boys, Corby & Preston, although some of it may be very unnecessary help. He only had 3 8th Graders and 5 7th Graders t work with. He is hoping that he has some potential with the 6th graders moving up. Heath has enjoyed this so much that he has now volunteered his little bit of extra time left to start a little basketball league that will be for grades K-4th grade starting in Mid-March. I guess our boys will benefit from this. I've just gotten use to the fact that I will be spending endless years on numerous bleachers. I wouldn't want to spend it any other way.

Heath during the huddle with the boys. As you can tell, the vein in his head is popping out.

Coach Eckler and Coach Yager with their boys.

The Holy Rosary Trojans.

Coaching from the sidelines.

Smacking his hands together out of frustration.

The 2 ball boys watching from the side.

High School Musical

Oh Oh Oh...Do the Things You Know....

OK, if you are a mom of young children, you know this song. High School Musical is a huge hit with children these days. Last Christmas, when we were at Disney World in Florida, we saw the actual cast from the movie( you know Corbin Blue! Yes, Corbin was excited someone shared his name!). I had no clue what High School Music was, or that it was a huge phenomenon among kids! The adults were singing all the songs and I thought who are these crazy people, and why are these grown women singing these songs. Well now I know, why it was such a huge hit!

Grandma and Grandy surprised the older grandchildren with tickets to see High School Musical at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, as one of their Christmas presents! Our seats were in the balcony. If you have a chance to see a show at the fabulous Fox...DO SO!!! It is an amazing historical theater (not in the best neighborhood of the city!). The show was absolutely fabulous and the kids sat on the edge of their seats the entire 2 1/2 hour show!

Taken at Chris & Sheri's house.

Sydney and Maggie all dressed up.

Outside the Fox Theater.

Group shot in front of the theater.

Taken from our seats in the balcony...I then was caught by the camera police who told me if I took one more picture inside the theater, my camera would be confiscated! I wonder if he captured all the other hundred mom's taking picture of the same thing!

Corby and Preston on one of the beautiful sofa's in the lobby.

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Of course I had to get a picture taken with my boys!

All the kids before the show.

Grandma with the kids. (Grandma even enjoyed the show!)

{ Sweet Baby }

This is the fun age where you can take pictures, and they don't fight you. I couldn't resist taking these pictures of Quin in his diaper. Oh, and I loved baby feet pictures. I knew if I didn't take them soon, he would be on the move, and not able to capture them.

We went today and had his 6 month pictures taken. I guess I procrastinated and didn't think that I would need an appointment on a Sunday afternoon in January. I usually go to Sears Portrait Studio. I was really good about getting their pictures taken every 3 months, and I'm making sure that just because he is the 4th, he's not left out. Well, when we got to Sears they were down to 1 studio for some apparent reason, and were all booked up for the day. We then headed to Wal-mart and I ended up getting them there. They are not the best, but at least we can put one in the book. Since Conner was dressed up from church, we also had his 3rd birthday pictures taken, which will be on January 28th. They both did very well.

All stretched out.

Precious little toes.

Quin with daddy's hands.

Love the water.
Quin loves his bath time.

6 Months Old

So hard to believe how fast 6 months can go by! Our baby Quin turned 6 months yesterday, January 9th! He is getting such a cute personality and is really starting to get the the attachment phase! He does not like it one of us leaves the room.

On another note....it has been the longest week of my life! I think the stomach flu bug has hit the whole Northeastern half of the state of Missouri! It all started last Thursday night, when Heath and I were awakened in the morning with the lovely aroma of vomit smell lingering throughout our house! Conner have vomited in his bed, and didn't even wake him! He completely laid asleep in it! Then of course from my earlier post this week, Corby decided to get sick at our nephew's wedding. Then it went straight to Heath on Monday, only to pass it on to me on Tuesday, therefore having to close the daycare, and then finally attacked Preston last night around 10pm, and only to leave a huge red circle stain in the middle of my bedroom carpet! I swear my house has smelled of the horrible flu for 1 week straight! All I'm saying is CLOROX to the rescue! My daycare also suffered from this horrible bug, and out of 20 kids, 19 were attacked by it! I told Heath that in the 7 years of being a mom, I have never seen so much vomit or bodily fluids in my life! We just finish up the stomach flu and now you will see that our little Quin has been diagnosed with Pink Eye in the left eye. I'm telling you when it rains it pours. To top it off, I went to the end of our lane today to pick Corby up when the bus dropped off since it was raining and he said, "mom you know what that mean boy said on the bus when I got off", I said no Corb, what did he say...he said, "is that your ugly mommy!" I just laughed since it seemed to go right along with my week. Can't kids be cruel!

Well I should end this on a better note, since you all are disgusted now! My parents bought the kids High School Musical tickets at the Fox on Saturday. So I guess I am thankful, that the sickness hit during the week, and didn't ruin our plans.

Notice the lovely pink eye. This is when it is cleared up, otherwise it is all goopy.

Still happy as ever.

Working on his 2nd bottom tooth.

Still our cutie pie.

Gotta love Conner's looks!

Preston on the rebound from the flu. As you can tell he is still a little pale.

Quin is always attacked by one of them when he is let down on the floor.

Bumbo.

Who came up with this name??? This is the name of the new item I purchased for Quin, so he could learn how to start sitting up and seeing the world. He loves it! Although, this item was recalled due to people putting them on top of elevated surfaces and letting their child fall off. Can I say "Hello???" Does anyone have any common sense anymore? So, the company had to repackage this item and put a big warning label on the box, informing people to not put their child on an elevated surfaces.

He looks so old to me in these pictures! Hard to believe our baby is going to be 6 months old in 3 days!

Ben & Angela Eckler's Wedding

Our nephew, Ben, got married on Saturday afternoon. We were not able to attend the wedding, since the boys had soccer games. The highlight of the night was Corby letting me know that his stomach hurt and then vomited all over the table...clearing out our table for sure! I actually just thought he got over-heated and thought he had too much soda to drink. Little did I know that it was the stomach flu, which he vomited again. That was our sign to leave. Otherwise, it was a great night.

Ben and Angela.

Getting ready to toss the garter. (Notice Ben's granny panties he has on).

A picture with Heath's dad with all the boys. (I was getting upset with Corby for not smiling, but not knowing how horrible he felt, as you can tell in the picture.) Boy, do I feel like a bad mom!

Quin was easily entertained with the cup Aunt Mari gave him to play with.

Camera shot that Preston took.

Conner and Preston with their mom. Corby was laying with his head down on the table at this point, which I thought he was pouting. Once again, what a bad mom!

Quin trying to take TJ's pacifier out of his mouth.

Kyle playing with Preston.

This was taken after he vomited all over the table, once again, I thought he was just worn out from his soccer game. As I said before, what a bad mom!

Gina having some playtime with Conner.

Gina modeling Conner's hat. His hat was a hit at the wedding. He even sold it for a $1, but got it back and an added bonus, got to keep the dollar.

Gina showing her best dance moves to Preston. Preston was upset because we left before his requested song, The Cha Cha' got played.

YMCA Soccer.

Saturday we started our 6 week session of soccer at the YMCA in Hannibal. After soccer, we then go onto play 6 weeks of basketball. This really makes our winter months go fast. The boys love it! Preston was pretty disappointed, as he thought this year he was going to get to play full-court, but looks like he has to wait another year. He still enjoyed it and scored 3 or the 5 goals for his team! Corby had some massive defensive stops and was a little sluggish, as we took him to the doctor on Friday to learn he had an ear infection. He still played his heart out though and most of all they both had fun!

Corby on the court.

Corby on the attack.

Running, even though he wasn't full speed with being sick.

Preston is full throttle at anything he does.

They look so mean with their mouth guards in.

Preston getting instructions from his coach.

Getting ready to start the game.

Happy Birthday Sista!

My little sister Quinn (only by 15 months!) turned the BIG 30 yesterday (January 2nd!) I just had to add a little blurb to her on my blog...since she says she doesn't have a lot of time to look at my blog! So, Happy 30! Here's to many more!

Love ya!
Katie

Oh Happy New Years' Day!

And what a great New Year's Day it was! The TIGERS won!!! They beat the University of Arkansas 38-7 (you know who has that Darren McFadden that forgot to show up today!) What an awesome game it was. I'm sure those of you who got to attend (Kyle, Kim, etc.), these pictures don't do justice to seeing it live! Well, maybe next year we can attend the bowl game! So today, was just basically some downtime, before heading back to the grind tomorrow! Grandma and Grandy came over and we had a great pancake brunch before the game! We are all dreading that day of going back tomorrow, but I think it will do us good to get back in a routine around here. This going to bed around midnight and getting up around 9:30, is really going to kick me in the morning!

Well Happy 2008! Here's to a great year!

Conner getting ready for our morning brunch.

Conner is really obsessed these days with holding Quin.

Just kicking back watching football.

Corby and Preston enjoying their last day before returning to school tomorrow.

I had to take a picture of the Tigers dumping water on Coach Pinkel. (Yes, Heath already called me a dork for taking a picture of the TV.)

Chase Daniel, our quarterback celebrating the Cotton Bowl Victory!

New Year's Eve

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year's Eve! We brought in the new year by celebrating at our friend Dawn & Steve's house along with their 3 daughters, Lauren, Carly,& Audri. Our friends Mary & Rodney and their kids Parker, Lila, and Hunter also attended. Dawn had an awesome Taco Bar with some added beverages for the adults. We took part in playing Jenga and Catch Phrase. Both favorites of our family! We didn't quite make it to the new year, but we celebrated when the ball dropped in New York! The kids didn't care where the ball dropped, as long as they got to blow their horns! (CALGON!) We went home and got some much needed rest since we had to get up early in the morning and watch the Ol' Tigers!

Corby decked out in his New Year's bling.

Conner loved to toot his blower!

Preston loves a good party.

Preston concentrating as to which block to pull out.

Lila and Lauren enjoyed each other's company.

The whole gang.

The big girls bringing in the New Year!

And no, the alcohol was not talking.