Branson.

Over the weekend, the boys and I took a mini-getaway with my parents to Branson (southern Missouri). I think everyone in the state of Missouri had the same idea as it was so crowded. We had a great time and stayed at the very nice, Chateau on the Lake. The boys thought it was a castle.

The hotel was beautifully decorated for the holidays. The boys were amazed by the enormous homemade gingerbread house.

Branson has a new part on the water, called the Landing. It is known for its water show which synchronizes with music. The Landing has tons of shopping and restaurants with the old time cobblestone walk. It was a very neat place to see and once again the decorations were AWESOME!

The boys getting ready to watch the water show.

Conner in front of the water show.

Grandma and Grandy on the Landing.

I can't believe we are only 5 hours north and their flowers are still blooming!

The boys had a great time and we even took part in seeing the famous show, Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. I don't have any pictures since they did not allow cameras. It was quite the show and the dinner was fabulous.

I tried to get one group shot in front of the reindeer that were on the Landing.

The boys were excited to come back from swimming the first night to this bear knocking on our door who had left them cookies and milk. To our suprise we weren't even charged!

11 Years of Bliss.

On December 27th, Heath and I celebrated our 11th anniversary together! Gosh it has been a fast 11 years to say the least, and never in my wildest dreams imagine having 4 boys at that. We have had a great 11 years together with lots of memories and lots more to come I'm sure! (Don't ask me about Heath's look on his face, not for sure what that was all about!)

Since I was headed to Branson (husbandless) on Saturday, we went out on Friday night with some of my old friends from high school and had lots of fun. Anne, Danielle, and I met up with our husbands and had lots of reminiscing of old times.

We had lots of fun talking about old times and there were several "laugh our heads off" moments. It was great catching up again.

{Christmas Day}

Christmas Day was once again a successful one in the Eckler household. We had a bit of a scare though last night, when we were helping Santa out placing presents under the tree, only to realize that we were missing 2 bags of presents for Corby and Preston. My mom helped Santa out by wrapping them and delivered them to me earlier in the week. When we went to place them under the tree, we realized that Corby and Preston's bags were missing. We made a phone call to my parents at 11:30pm, and they had to meet us half way so Santa could follow through. Luckily they were not misplaced but rather just forgotten. Heath and I were racking our brain as to what to do since Wal-mart was closed for the evening.

Once again Quin was not happy. We almost let him sleep in, but thought we didn't want him to miss out. Once he got going, he really enjoyed opening his and any other present he could find.. Corby came to our room at 4am and we told him that he couldn't wake us up until he saw the sun rise. He stayed in the basement for 3 hours building his Lego's he received from my mom and then at 7 proceeded to wake everyone else up because he couldn't stand it any longer.

Corby going through the stocking. Corby's big gifts this year were his PlayStation portable (PSP), IPOD, and anything to do with Star Wars. The boys were also very excited to receive the Nintendo Wii as their group gift. Who says we are in a recession???? I guess Santa is recession proof right?

Preston loved Christmas this year. His big gifts were also a PSP (gotta keep up with the big brother even if he doesn't know how to work it), IPOD alarm clock/dock, and lots of movies. He is our movie buff!!!

Quinners not quite awake yet. We had such a relaxing and lazy day! None of us got out of our pajamas all day! I can't remember the last time this ever happened. My parents came over and my mom swears she hasn't known me never to take a shower! Gotta have one of those days!

Conner was thrilled to finally get to sit on his bike! I can't believe after finding it a couple of weeks ago, he was so patient and knew he couldn't have it until Christmas! We had a wonderful day and hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. It was a lazy one, but I don't think we did much sitting as the boys hopped from one thing to the next. My fingers are raw from twisting those stupid wires to get the toys out of packages! The boys are begging me to take them shopping tomorrow with all of their gift cards they received to purchase games for their PSP's and the Wii. I'm considering it as we will have a 5 hour drive on Saturday to Branson for our little getaway with my parents. Heath is staying back as he has to work on Monday. He is feeling very lucky to have the entire house to himself all weekend!

{Christmas Eve}.

~Christmas Eve 2009~

We spent Christmas Eve with everyone at my parents home. As you can tell Quin was once again not thrilled to get his picture taken with the group. This has become the routine the past few photo takes. Here the boys are all dressed up in their finest to attend the children's mass.

Here he is all smiles and loving playing in the wrapping paper. Notice the bumps and scratches on his forehead. Heath let go of him in church and he slipped and fell forward hitting the pew and making everyone around hold their ears to his high pitch scream. Luckily there was singing going on at the time and not the homily!!!

After many takes, we finally got a decent annual "sista" picture. If you know Heath, his idea of taking the picture is acting like he is a professional photographer and snapping a million a second with his sayings of "make love to the camera". So needless to say, we were all dying laughing and I should really post some of the outtakes that we captured.

Onto the family picture. Sheri and Chris added a new addition to their family, a toy terrier (I think that is what it is), named Milly.

The Eckler Crew. I forgot to give Heath the memo to wear red or black. Oh well...guess the brown had to do.

The Ruhl family all dressed up. The girls looked stunning as ever.

Wow, trying to get this taken with all the grandchildren was not an easy task, but we got it accomplished!

Grandma and Grandad even made it to lunch and opening of presents. Everyone is in this photo except, Quin who was taken a much needed nap.

Preston loves games and he added Uno Attack to his collection.

Conner was thrilled with his collection of Power Rangers and Toy Story toys and Corby got several Mizzou items and Star Wars.

We had a great Christmas Eve and we really didn't need a visit from Santa after the haul we made.

Happy Holidays.

Happy Holidays! By now those of you on our mailing list have received our annual Christmas card and holiday letter. Thanks to Kim for helping me design them and having them turn out so well!!! They look a lot better in person because they have a pearl finish, and these posted are a scanned copy! I hope each and everyone of you have a Blessed holiday season and a wonderful 2009.

Christmas at the Ecklers'.

This will be the first year that we have decided to stay put on Christmas Day. We usually travel to Heath's family, but with 4 little ones wanting to play with their toys on Christmas Day, we thought this would be the perfect year to start a tradition of staying home. Last night we went to Heath's parents house and had a delicious supper and then opened gifts. The boys were excited to open presents for the first time this year. I think they have been counting down the days since early November!

Preston ripping into his presents.

Quin was more interested in playing with the bubble lights on the Christmas tree than having anything to do with opening presents.

It was hilarious to watch him with his new toy that sang and danced.

Some people know me way to well. My new Mizzou purse! This will come in handy for the games next fall!

Cool check out these cars I got!

Preston with his racetrack.

Conner was thrilled with this dump truck and new cars.

Preston helping Grandma Barb open her gifts. He didn't care whose it was, he was just all about the opening.

Papa Tom opening his presents.

Quin was about ready to crash before we left.

We are headed to my parents tomorrow so lots more pictures to come in the next few days!

Holy Rosary Christmas Program.

Due to the ice storm on last Friday, the boys school Christmas program had to be cancelled. Luckily the weather cooperated on Monday and they were still able to have their school party and program before dismissing for the holidays.

All dressed up and ready to perform. It is getting harder and harder to capture a picture of all 4 of them looking at me!

It is also getting harder to please them with their clothing. Corby complained of his button down shirt and Preston with his dress pants. I told them they can appease their mother one day, OK two or three, a year for some photos!

Can you tell the look of fear in Corby's face. He has become very reserved and almost anxiety ridden this past year. He has trouble getting up in front of people, but once he got on stage, he did an excellent job!!! I was very proud of him!

The entire 3rd & 4th grade classed performed together. He is on the far left in the middle row.

Now Preston on the other hand has no trouble getting up in front of people.

His class had the cutest song with actions to go along with it.

I was so proud that he knew the entire song! It's amazing to me how fast they learn their song words for these programs and how much hard work that goes into them! For such a small school, I have to say they put on some nice performances.

Happy 36th Birthday Heath!

On Sunday (the 21st), Heath turned the B-I-G 36..OUCH! Gosh it's hard to think I met him when he was a whopping 22! We celebrated with our friends, Matt & Shelly from Kansas City.

Heath with all the boys on his birthday!

The boys picked out his cake. He had 2 choices a farm theme or Kung Fu Panda...he opted for the farm.

Gosh we've aged!

Conner thought he was missing out in some photos...so he decided he would pose for me.

Corby and Preston were excited to try their hands with new faces at Checkers and Yahtzee!

We had such a great time catching up with our friends! I've known them both since I was in high school! Matt was my softball coach, and Shelly my basketball coach and we kept our friendship up all these years! They were even so kind to let me live with them for 6 weeks to finish up my Internship in Kansas City, while Heath had already accepted a position in Illinois and he had to go ahead and find us a place to live over there! Gosh how time flies!

Heath being stupid with the camera! But I thought it was a good one of us!

Little Clown.

Quin thought he was quite hilarious putting this bank bag on top of his head tonight. We thought he was pretty cute. When one of us tried to remove it, he would yell at us. So I guess we have another clown on our hands. His laugh is contagious and can brighten any room. We are looking forward to Christmas with him this year to see how he reacts to presents.

Conner's Christmas Program.

Conner had his first audience performance today while performing in front of parents and grandparents at his first preschool program. He did so well and I was amazed that he knew most of the songs that were sang. It was funny during the week listening to him sing the songs, because he seem to combine all the words to several different songs into one. He is just glad that he doesn't have to go back for awhile. We finally got him where he doesn't cry dropping him off...so now we will have to retrain him after the new year.

Here he is showing the nervous Conner look.

All eyes were on Mrs. Walker the entire time. She does an excellent job with them and Conner has really learned a lot in just a few short months.

He even had the motions down. Here he is singing Up on the Housetop.

It's sad for me to think that in less than a year and a half he will be entering Kindergarten! I know, we all know, time flies!

Here is a little video of one of the songs. Sorry for the quality. My flip camera is not the highest quality....guess I will have to invest in a better video camera.

{Snow Day}

Today was our first official "Snow Day", and the kids were released early from school. Of course the first thing when they got home was to put on their new snow pants and go play in it.

Conner was not thrilled to say the least to put on his pants, since they were a touch big and kept falling down. His playing outside lasted all of 5 minutes max!!!

Corby was my longest survivor of the snow and sub freezing temps (6 degrees with a windchill of -10). He was a little disappointed in that it was a dry snow, which makes it hard to build a snowman or snowballs.

All bundled up for our first fun in the snow!

Preston can live outside any day in the heat...but he is not as much for the cold weather only lasting a little bit longer than Conner!

I knew once they arrived back inside they would need to warm up and what better way than with some hot chocolate.

What a bad mom I am putting marshmallows in Conner's hot chocolate! We had a major meltdown over this one! Preston and Corby enjoyed theirs, so I guess it wasn't so bad!

Ok....the marshmallows were removed and everyone "happied up! " It is still snowing and we are looking at a break tomorrow, but possible icing on Thursday. The kids are just hoping to kick start their break a little early....I have to agree, I think I'm in the same mindset! Until then...hope everyone keeps warm!

{Deck The Halls}

After surviving the stomach flu last night and today, (Thanks to Quin and Preston), I got motivated and finished the last minute decorating. I thought it would be a perfect time to take pictures of our {finally} finished 2 month renovation project, not by choice.

Of course I didn't want to post without a picture of some of the boys, so here is Conner and Quin decked out in some of their Christmas pajamas.

The stockings are all hung...

So this is what a kitchen floor looks like? Seems like we were getting pretty use to plywood.

View from the top...oh and our new furniture since the downstairs was ruined, so we moved the upstairs furniture to the downstairs.

Hopefully the rest of the family does not get hit by the stomach bug, but I guess if they get it I hope its before the holidays!

Christmas Party.

It seems the next few weeks we have several "to do's" to mark off of our list just in time for the holidays. Tonight was the boys 4-H Christmas party. We had a fun filled night with a wonderful dinner, playing bingo, and a visit from Santa.

Corby takes Bingo very serious. He had two cards going at one time and was thrilled when he won!

I am really not for sure what Preston is describing what he wants here. We have learned that Preston is our most suspicious child this time of year, and has even found several presents that have been hid. We have since had to tell him different stories, as he thinks the gifts that he found were his. He even found Conner's "Wow Factor" gift, his very own Mizzou bike and showed it to Conner. We were very disappointed, but Conner was thrilled! We have since found much better hiding places and Conner has learned that he can't have his bike until Christmas!

Conner is my most reserved child when it comes to public places ( I know hard to believe), and it shocks me that he has no fear when it comes to sitting on Santa's lap. His little smirk is the cutest just watching Santa.

He was thrilled when he opened his new horse truck and trailer.

I'm afraid the end is near with Corby on the believing in you know who. He hasn't asked as many questions as in the past, but we know it is soon to come. I'm sure this will be the last year we can ask him to sit on Santa's lap.

As you can tell from my previous post, Quin was no way going to sit on that crazy looking man's lap again. I made Heath sit with him for another shot with Ole' St. Nick.

Poor thing with the look of fear once again.

We finally finished up the last little decorating this weekend and I even got most of the presents wrapped and placed under the tree. The main thing that is on Heath's "to do" list this week is to write our annual Christmas letter that I know some of you are just dying to receive. We made our annual trip on Friday night to drive through the Avenue of Lights, and now we are just patiently waiting for Christmas. The kids are getting so excited they can hardly stand it. We are hoping to experience getting a real Christmas tree next weekend, since our house project is completely finished (if I get motivated I will take pictures of the "after"). We still have all three boys' Christmas programs and I'm hoping to fit in some baking (yes you heard me) and decorating Gingerbread houses somewhere in what time we have left. I hope everyone enjoys this time of year as much as we do.

Meet Santa Night.

Tonight we went to the Parents As Teachers Christmas Activity night and saw Santa and Mrs. Clause (AKA Grandma & Grandy). I thought for sure that Conner would catch on, but Santa disguised his voice, but Conner still had a very suspicious look on his face. He did keep asking where Grandy was.

Mrs. Clause read stories to the kids and passed out candy.

As you can tell, Quin was not liking Santa at all. Why is it that us parents make our children suffer this horrible experience all for a photograph! He later would give Santa five and even waved to him.

He did recognize grandma and was a little more at ease sitting on her lap.

They had several stations set up, and this by far was Conner's favorite. Anytime he gets a chance to throw something, you better believe he is there!

Quin had fun shaking the bells and throwing the presents that were available for the stacking station.

Conner building a garage as he told me with the presents.

Playing in the snow.

Before we left we even got a chance to make a couple of Christmas crafts. It was a fun night and I don't think Quin will be sitting on Santa's lap again this season!

Preston the Birthday Boy!

I know I say this every year, but oh my, I can't believe my Preston is going to be 7 tomorrow (the 3rd). I'm posting this tonight as he was dying for his birthday gift and I will already be at work tomorrow when he wakes up.

I also can't believe that we purchased and IPOD for a 7 year old! I don't even have one, but once I was downloading the songs and playing around with it, it was pretty cool!!! He had been asking for one, but I didn't really know if he knew what one really was. I decided to go the cheaper route and purchased it on EBAY, and got one of the older editions. This way I can see if it was really worth it.

Of course Corby was all about being the helpful brother and showing him how it worked. Now he has also added one to his Christmas wish list!

For those of you who don't know, I'm sure I have mentioned it in previous posts, but Preston had a virus attack the cerebellum of his brain at the age of 2. He completely lost all of his motor skills, and had the shakes so terrible as if he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. We spent several months making trips to the University Hospital to see a pediatric neurologist who ran several tests on him, and at one point told us that he would be tested for a neuroblastoma, aka brain tumor. We are so blessed and thankful that it only took him 10 months to get over and for the most part (kidding) we are blessed that he is such an active child to have overcome that horrible virus. When I sat in the cancer ward at the university, I sometimes think back and wonder how many of those families lost their child to that horrible disease and how thankful we are. God has blessed us in so many ways. Ok, enough of my long drawn out story of wishing my son a Happy 7th Birthday!!!

Thanks Youngblood's for his new outfit that he has insisted on wearing tomorrow on his special day, and to the Yager's for his Wal-mart gift card that he can't wait to spend after Christmas.

Christmas Spirit.

Yesterday we woke up to our first snowfall of the season! Although it didn't stick around very long, it made everything look beautiful! The trees were just filled with the white stuff and it looked very festive! It was a perfect day for some Christmas shopping!

On Saturday, we finally took on the task of decorating the house...or what of the house we could. We are hoping our house project will hopefully be completed by the end of this week. Last week our basement was completely finished with new drywall, paint, and carpet. They just have to put some of the baseboards back on, and that room will be completely finished.

We usually have our Christmas tree upstairs, but with the upstairs not completed yet we thought we would put it downstairs this year. I actually think I'm going to enjoy it more!

Quin has officially broke 3 ornaments off the tree! One of them being our Walt Disney World Ornament...guess that is a good excuse to go back right???

Trying to get some quick snaps of him in front of the tree is not as easy as it was last year! He has officially become the most busy kid we have had!

Wild Man on the move! (Or Master of Destruction!)

Here is just one view of the finished basement. I think we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hard to believe we have been in such a mess for almost 2 months! We are just thankful we were able to put the tree up since the boys have been begging!