Pre-Baby Pampering

This is a tradition among the Palmer girls, that when we are at the end of our pregnancy, we go for a "Spa Pedicure", before the delivery. Because you know the doctor is looking at our feet! Quinn will be induced (if she doesn't go sooner), this Sunday March 2nd. Tonight was our Spa night at our fabulous spa in Quincy, Insparations! We love it there and they are so nice and good to us! I have to say I have had 2 pedicures in the past 2 months and have been rather spoiled...usually this is only once or twice a year, and usually in the summer! We looked kind of crazy going into Panera Bread (another one of our hot spots) for coffee with flip flops on when it is 25 degrees! But it was well worth the pampering (especially after being on my legs all day!). Quinn even pampered herself to a manicure as well! Well glad we got to continue the tradition one last time for the last Ruhl addition (or is it????).

Ahhh, if you haven't ever had a pedicure it is so worth it! It is the most relaxing experience!

Quinn showing off her newly painted fingers!

Sister picture!

Quinn with our friend Sarah! She is totally awesome!

There's me...the dork! Nope just enjoying some relaxation and pampering!

Little Bunny Foo Foo

I couldn't resist getting these bunny ears the other day when I was at Wal-mart! I thought I would capture some cute pictures of Quin. And boy did I! He is the most squeezable thing there is and he has a smile that just makes you just not let go of him! He is such a sweetheart! Sorry I took so many, but I just couldn't decide which one was my favorite! You can defiantly see his rolls in these pictures. At his last check-up he was 18 lbs!

I'm just hoping that we have some Easter like weather on March 23rd! I really don't see a massive warm-up in just about a month away! I'm sure I will be buying winter clothes for the boys' Easter outfits! Well on to the pics!

On the Bandwagon

I'm so excited that another one of our family members has decided to join the blogging world! Gina and Jason, our niece and her husband have recently started a blog! They are the ones that we just went and visited in Illinois! Now as soon as Miss Delaney Marie enters the world next week, my sister (hint hint!) better get on board! I have added Jason and Gina's blog to my favorites on the side, so be sure to check them out! Welcome Gina!

Changes Yet Again

Yes, I know you are shocked my blog page has changed colors once again! I'm thinking spring and the black just became too depressing for me to look at! I look at my pictures and they seem more "crisp" with a white background! So here is my new change for now...OK and for my Uncle Thad, I will try and get some new background music instead of "Missouri hick music!"

Just a Relaxing Weekend

These don't happen very often at our house! We didn't have one thing planned this weekend on the calendar! I will say my parents called us yesterday to say that they were going out to eat at Tiramasu in Quincy, with my aunt who is in town from California. I invited ourselves along because we were given a gift certificate to this restaurant! I thought it was excellent (it is an Italian cuisine restaurant), on the other hand Heath would not agree. However, if he knew the rules of the restaurant etiquette, he would know that you should only order steak at a steakhouse. Hello??? Anyways, I have to tell a story on myself. I am known to do stupid stuff and embarrass myself. Well, my aunt wanted to get a picture of Heath and I (I know for once I didn't have my camera attached at my hip, so sorry no pictures to show unless I can get copies of hers), so anyways I was scooting close to him to get this photo taken, and the strap of my purse got caught in my, let's use Heath's choice of words "Hooker Boots", and I went flying on the floor on my face! Only this would happen to me in a fine restaurant! Of course I then got laughing hysterical because I didn't know what else to do. I had two tables close to me laughing and starring in disbelief that this just happened! My dad then proceeds to tell the other tables, that he doesn't know us and just happen to sit at the table with us. Heath tells them that I have had way to much to drink, he always has to be a comedian and then tells him that he is just glad that I was drinking because usually I'm pregnant! So I know that was a long drawn out story, but this is the story of my life!

So here are some random pictures I took today, because I know several of you would be disappointed to read that long drawn out story without any pictures of my fine kids! So here they go! Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend as we did.

Preston has really taken an interest in school and loves any extra worksheets I can print off of the computer for him to complete.

Here is a good shot of Quin's bottom two "toofers". They finally have really popped up!

Trying to capture a picture with the boys!

OK, here's the whole gang.

Conner has recently figured out the phone, hopefully we never hear from the 911 dispatcher! He called my mom the other night and left a message on her machine that said "We're watching American Idol and the horse pooped and Preston (if you remember from our trip to KC) Bye." He now thinks of random people that he wants me to call.

Heath hanging out with Mr. Quin watching what else but ESPN! Our poor kids no all the sports lingo at such a young age.

I thought I would get some good pictures of Quin on my bed. I just love this one of him grabbing his toes.

Oops, he fell over.

Another Milestone

Well I have worked with Quin all week at the daycare sitting him up, by using some assistance from the Boppy and the Bumbo (Those of you who have kids know the jargon). I think it finally paid off. Tonight Heath called me in to show me that Mr. Quin is finally sitting up unassisted without any use of props! He did fall over a couple of times when Conner came flying at him (notice the tears). I was bound and determined that he would be sitting up by 8 months! Whewww....got that one mastered...now onto crawling. Like I have said before, he is just a very content baby, not in any hurry.

Such a big boy!

He is working on some new teeth, as he is chewing on everything!

Always so happy!

Our Weekend Getaway

Since we had a 3 day weekend with the holiday, we thought it would be perfect to go see our niece Gina and her husband Jason in Illinois. The boys have been asking for months to go see them, and we finally took a weekend to do it. They live in Southern IL, close to Mount Vernon. It took us about 4 hours with all the stops, and can't forget the downpour of rain we traveled through. We made the most out of our short getaway, and we went bowling, out to eat, and even managed to let the boys swim at the pool in the motel. Gina and Jason have such a cute place for just being married! Heath and I told them the types of living we had when we first got married! (Government housing, a small duplex, and multiple moves within our first few years!) The joke in our family was that everyone needed a new "E" page of their address book we had moved so much! We are pretty much settled for life (cross my fingers!). Anyways, it was great to see them and had such a great visit! Gina got to leave for California today for a work trip! Hope the weather is better there than it is here! I know everyone is tired of my posts on the weather, but it is just down right depressing!

The boys couldn't wait to play Jason's Playstation right when we got there.

Quin was just ready for some down time and to be out of his carseat!

Gina and Conner.

Jason's dog recently had puppies and brought them in the house for us to see. Quin liked the way it felt on his face.

Conner actually showing his sensitive side of petting the puppy.

Corby fell in love with the little pups.

Preston thought he needed to take on a game of "War" with Jason. I think there might have been a little cheating on Preston's part. He will argue that!

Corby always would take a dive after every throw of the ball. I guess he thought it would give him a little push.

Conner could care less how many pins he knocked down, just as long as he didn't miss his turn.

Our little fish.

Preston must have jumped a million times to Jason (Poor Jason!)

Boys in the pool. Let's say they all slept very well!

Jason giving Preston a ride in the pool.

A Night Out!

It doesn't happen very often very often where Heath and I enjoy a night out to eat without the kids! It costs us a fortune for a baby-sitter, so it is usually 2-3 times a year at the max (so far we have used 2 of those nights out this year...Lucky Hearts and this night!) Saturday night we went out to the famous Pear Tree Restaurant! It is a wonderful steak house in a town of 600...I'm not kidding! People are known to drive hundreds of miles to experience this awesome steakhouse! Our friends Dawn and Steve and Mary, were able to make it with us. Rodney, Mary's husband came down with the flu, but Mary was a trooper and didn't want to miss out on the awesome meal! Rodney is our family practitioner and we have been hit hard with the cold and influenza season here! So, I guess all those germs and everyone breathing on him finally caught up! It was a great night out! So here are some pics of us on our night out!

Rub A Dub Dub....Fun In The Tub

Thanks to Grandma Michaele, Conner showed off his creative side the other night in the bath. He loves the bath, and I was needing to get some stuff done upstairs and thought what better way not to have him under foot, by having him play in the bath. (Ok, you cautious people, I was never 3 feet from the bathroom and heard him the entire time.). It was then time to get out, when I was amazed by his wonderful artwork! Let me tell you, Heath was not thrilled scrubbing it off the walls. It's not as easy as it says on the package! Anyways, it kept him occupied for some time, and I got what I needed to get done in the meantime. He is such a clown!

Oh and he was also drinking the water!

Very proud of himself to say the least.

Artwork in the making!

Totally Conner!

He even took it upon himself to color himself.

New Feature!

The Most Awesome Concert!

I'm hoping they have another tour this summer!

OK, here is the cheesy couple! Heath was just thrilled to be there!

As most of you know, I am a huge Faith Hill Fan!!! Oh and Tim McGraw! Well since I finally figured out how to posts music to my blog, I thought what better way to show how big of fan I am by posting a Tim & Faith Song. Heath and I have been to both Soul To Soul Tours I & II, but missed last summer since Mr. Quin came along!!! They are the most awesome couple (I know I get caught up in their celebrity lives)!! Anyways, here are pics from their Soul To Soul Tour II, which Heath treated me to my 30th birthday with 5th row seats! How amazing!!! I'm telling you...I'm a Hopeless Romantic!

{ Happy Love Day}

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I am a sucker for making holiday cards! I know call me "Cheesy!". Let me tell ya...this was not easy getting this crew to take this picture. ( Sorry for the bad scan job...it's late!) We took it last weekend at Quinn's house before the big birthday party! The kids only had one thing on their mind...FUN CITY! I had to totally bribe them into taking a picture for me. I had a huge audience behind me to keep their attention. As you can tell from the picture I only had one of them look directly at me! Oh Well, it's one for the scrapbooks and I was proud of what I did end up with!

Well hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day! We are planning on going out to eat with our friend's Dawn and Steve and Rodney and Mary (We are going to miss you Greg and Jessica!) to an awesome steak house on Saturday night. Well I was a procrastinator, and didn't make reservations until last night and the only thing they had open was 7:30. Oh well, it is well worth the wait. We usually only make it to this place once a year!

Well hope everyone finds a little love tomorrow!


XOXOXOXO

Preparing the Valentines

This is a big event in our house! I frantically ran to Wal-mart last night to purchase our 2nd set of Valentine's Day cards. I thought that I would be on top of things this year and would have each of them pick out their favorite Valentine's at Target about a month ago when we went to Quinn's house to visit. They were all excited for the ones they picked out and even got to pick out a sack of candy to go with them.....well on a Sunday afternoon, Heath was very gracious to let me take a long nap (NO THIS IS NOT A HABIT IN MY HOUSE!!!!). I remember vaguely that one of the boys came into my bedroom to ask if they could have one of their tatoos that went along with their valentine cards. I could care less at that point since I was immersed in a deep sleep, and said whatever just to get them out of my room. Well I told the boys that they needed to get their valentine cards together the other night so we could address them. They both told me they had no clue where they were. Of course I tried to play the tough mom act and said something like this, "Well boys, that is really sad that you two will be the only ones with out cards to pass out at your party". Ok, do you think I could have sent them to school sitting at their desks suffereing through their party without anything to pass out??? No, so I had to squeeze that into my tight schedule this week and I ran and bought it all over again. So much for me trying to stay ahead of things. Moral of the story is...DON'T TAKE A NAP IN THE ECKLER HOUSEHOLD, BECAUSE IT WILL COST YOU TWICE AS MUCH!!!

Well they boys truely did enjoy addressing their cards for their class parties. Conner even got into the action by putting his treat bags together for the daycare party.

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!!!

New Bloggers!

I would like to welcome my cousins' Meghann and Maureen to the blogging world! I have added them to the side of my favorite blogs! Just click on the Whitmer Family and Maureen Cosgrove. Please be sure to check out their blogs!

Can't wait to see more posts soon!

Katie

TJ's Baptism

Let's just say we've had another busy weekend at the Eckler household! Today we traveled to Macon to celebrate our nephew Thomas James (TJ) baptism. He did wonderful and didn't cry one bit during the service. We then went back to Travis and Jessi's home for a delicious meal and cake.

Big Sister Andi.

Aunt Gina with Thomas. Gina was one of the Godmother's.

TJ after the baptism.

Proud Parents and Godparents.

Making the sign of the cross on his forehead.

Party Pics from Sydney and Chloe's Birthday Party

We celebrated Sydney and Chloe's birthday party yesterday at Fun City, in Burlington, Iowa. Quinn thought it would be a good idea to combine both girl's parties since Miss Delaney Marie will be making her entrance to the family on or before (Quinn is hoping ) March 3rd! Sydney turned 6 on January 31st and Miss Chloe turns 3 on March 6th. Fun City is a place that has an indoor waterpark, indoor go-carts, bowling alley (non-smoking at that !), arcade, and laser tag! The cousins took part in laser tag for the first time, the arcade, and go-carts. I think the adults were worn out more than the kids! I don't think I could feel my feet last night! They had lots of fun and thats all that mattered!

7 Months Old

The Big 7 months came yesterday! Quin is getting so big and such as sweet personality! We are still working on sitting up unassisted, but I think he is just a content baby and would just rather lay on the floor to see the world! He loves his baby food and is still so happy!

Playing with Aunt Quinn's phone. (Anything to get a picture!)

Chewing on the phone. (We officially have our 2 bottom teeth in place).

He's in the stage to put anything in his mouth!

Oh No! My mom took the phone away for a split second to try and get a picture! We don't see this face very often!

Then she gave it back to me!

Singing to the Birthday Girls

Here is everyone singing to Sydney and Chloe at their birthday party.

Java Anyone

For those of you who don't know, I have an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I know, how could I with 4 kids! When I get hooked on something or enjoy something, I become very passionate about it! Well for those who know me quite well, know that I am a fan of flavored coffee! It seems that whenever I make a trip to get groceries or to do some shopping by myself, and have some alone time, I must stop and get some java to go! We have recently been blessed with a Starbucks in one of the towns I go shopping. So tonight while I'm enjoying some alone time I made a quick run through Starbucks to get one of my many favorites a "Grande' Mocha". Well I sipped on it the whole way home so I could enjoy it as long as possible. Of course when I got home, I had millions (it seemed like) of Wal-mart bags that had to be put away or put back in the car to take the daycare. I literally stepped into the laundry room for a split second, to only come back to see Conner belly-up to the bar sipping on my last few drinks left of my coffee. I'm telling you, it is never a dull moment!

Oh did I mention he was also having a conversation on my cell phone.

Cheers to Starbucks!!

This is good stuff!

The evidence.

I must also mention that it is that time of year where we either A. Get new tennis shoes or B. The boys toys will fall off. We have made it 1/2 way through the school year and the boys old shoes had to be retired. They were beginning to run the soles off of them, especially since they had to wear them for soccer also. So tonight, while I was out and about I took the time to purchase 3 new pair of shoes to hopefully make it to the end of the school year! They were all pleased with their new shoes and had to test them out by sprinting around the coffee table! I need to start keeping track of how many shoes I will be purchasing for 4 boys throughout the years! I'm sure it will be too numerous to mention.

Proud of their new shoes.

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Ok, my spellcheck is still not working! If any of you who use "Blogger" know how to enable this, please let me know! I didn't know if I hit something under the settings or if it is just my computer acting up. Any suggestions would help!

Photo Shoot

Well here are the photos that I went and got taken at Wal-mart a few weeks ago for Quin's 6 month photos and Conner's 3rd birthday photos. Remember, I usually go to Sears, but they were booked that day and down to one studio! Anyways, they are down in the books and done! I am really good about getting their pictures taken every 3 months without fail up until their 1st birthday! It is amazing to me to see the resemblence of the boys at this same age! You can defiantly tell they are brothers!

I wasn't planning on getting Conner's pictures taken on that day, but he was still dressed up from church and thought it would be a perfect time to get his 3rd birthday pictures taken! As you can tell from the look on his face, he has the "up to something look"!

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On a side note...please bear with my spelling and gramatical errors! My spellcheck is not working right now, so on my previous posts, don't think that I've lost my sense of spelling! I do think I am a pretty good speller, but it is usually so darn late when I get these posted, that my brain is ready to shut down for the day and I keep pushing it to go a littler longer!

Once again we are supposed to get socked with winter weather over the night! Go figure...we set a high record yesterday of 70 degrees!!! I'm telling you...gotta love this Missouri weather!

Roller Skating Party

Today the boys had their first experience with roller skating. Corby and Preston's friend Parker had his 8th birthday party. We first went to Pizza Hut for lunch and then we went to a new roller rink/arcade at the town nearby us for the gang to skate. They finally got the hang of it before we left. My boys said ice skating was easier??? I actually think it is the other way around.

This is where Corby spent most of his time at the beginning. Here he is with his friend and classmate Austin holding on for dear life!

Here he is getting a little more brave and breaking away from the wall. His friend Parker is in the background.

Preston thinks that anything with wheels or a blade must be like running. He really didn't skate but rather made him run faster having wheels.

Corby trying out roller skating for the first time. I will say, I wasn't too impressed with the new roller rink. It had a huge sign on it that said...NO SMOKING! You would think at a kid friendly place they would abide by their own rules...no chance of that. We left smelling like we had been at the bar all night. I made the boys change clothes as soon as we got home. Oh, and it wasn't the cleaniness place either. Oh, well it was cheap entertainment for the day, and they had absolutely no clue.

Preston the running skate man!

The boys taking to the roller rink for the first time. Non of the group had ever been.

Lucky Hearts

Last night our school held their 6th annual Lucky Hearts Banquet. This is our school's biggest fundraiser of the year, raising more than $17K!!! It cost $125 per couple and that includes a prime rib dinner, all the beer and wine (some took more part than others! Ha), a night of fun and dancing and a chance to win $10 thousand dollars! We weren't very lucky this year. They sell 300 tickets and they call each number. We did win $200 a couple years back but have been called out every other year. It is just a great night of fun!

It is a night where everyone gets to dress up.

Matt and Quinn made it to their 3rd annual Lucky Hearts...again they were not winners either.

Sister picture. Quinn has 4 weeks left until the 3rd Ruhl sister arrives.

From Left to Right: Mary, Lucy, Katie, Jessica, and Dawn. We had lots of fun on the dance floor after the meal and tickets were drawn.

Group picture #2.

My mom and dad also got to enjoy the evening out. They turned in before the dancing began.

Dawn, Mary, and I having fun on the dance floor.

A fun night...indeed!!!

It was a Mardi Gras Theme...hence the beads! No nothing was shown!!! Ha!

My friend Amber (I watch her 2 little kids) and her brother Rodney which is my friend Mary's husband.

Dawn and Steve all dressed up.

Mary and Rodney. Was that the wine talking???