Catching You Up...

So I thought I would catch you up on what happened with the Eckleys over the weekend and on Monday. Friday night we took Ben to a high school football game (our alma mater - Grissom). We wanted to see what he thought of football and it was just something fun to do. He LOVED it!!! He sat and watched for the entire 1st half of the game. He liked seeing the players and listening to the bands play. We taught him to say football (boot ba) and Go Tigers (ga ga) (I know he is not really good at the talking thing but he has hand motions for them which makes it so cute!) Grissom lost as usual but we still had fun. We are planning on taking him to the Auburn game this week up at Vandy (if we can get tickets). Hopefully he will like that just as much! Here are some pictures from the game...

I love his smile!!

He looks like he is so intent on watching the game and knows just what is going on!

The band... I just had to throw in a picture of them because Matt and I are a bunch of band dorks. Ben really enjoyed watching them march. I am still undecided if I will steer him towards band or encourage other opportunities!

On Saturday we went for our usual morning bagels (I will have to do a post on that sometime) and then went to pick out some new plants for our beautiful landscaping (more on that later too). Then we went to a Sunday School party. It was lots of fun to just hang out with our friends and watch some football and let the kids play. Ben had so much fun just playing! Sunday was church. We were keeping the nursery on Sunday night. We teach 5 year old SS in the mornings but it was our turn for rotation at night. It was Ben's age that we had and we had 8 little ones just like Ben. AHHHH!!! We survived. It was fun to see Ben interact with his friends. I thought he was the sweetest one in there (sorry Jenny - John Thomas is cute but I would have to place my vote with Ben!)

Now that you are really bored with the fun of our weekend.... Monday!!! Ben was invited to his first birthday party. The little boy next door that he plays with is turning 2 so we were going over to his house for a party yesterday morning. I am getting ready and Ben walks into the bathroom and he is not wearing his glasses. He never takes his glasses off. He loves wearing them because they help him see so well. I asked him where his glasses were and he just smiled at me. Usually if he has taken them off I can find them pretty easily but I looked and looked for 30 minutes and couldn't find them. So we went to the party and had so much fun (Ben loved the pinata and eating and playing). Come home search more for the glasses and can't find them anywhere. Ben is loving following behind me looking with me for the glasses. I think he thought it was a fun game. Matt gets home and looks for about 2 hours for the glasses with no luck. I am starting to panic thinking we are going to have to buy another $350 pair of glasses. The little girls in the neighborhood come over to play with Ben and we tell them if they can find his glasses we will pay them $5. They search for about 5 minutes and find them. Yep! Right under our bed (which both Matt and I had looked under several times!). We paid them $5 and everyone was happy!! The joys of parenting.

Now you are caught up but probably really bored with all this writing!

The Big Dilemma!!

Ok so now I know that there are at least 5 of you that are still reading this blog! Thanks I appreciate your support. I am not going to answer a burning question that I know all 5 of you have (I am sure this has kept you up at night wondering what I was going to do). Who am I going to cheer for in the Auburn vs. Tennessee football game today? I am an alumni of both schools so I know this is really bothering most of you and you are dying to know what I am going to do (actually most of you probably didn't even know I went to Tennessee).

So as an answer... I was cleaning out the attic one day this week and came across a good representation of where I stand.

Yep there it is my UT diploma. Still in its tube in the attic. I don't even know if I have ever opened it! Compare that to my Auburn diploma hung proudly on the wall of our study...

That should be a pretty good indication of my loyalties! WAR EAGLE all the way!! I had a great time at UT and made some great friends there but will always be an Auburn girl at heart. So GO TIGERS beat up on those Vols today!!

A Day with 2 kids

So today I got to experience what it might be like to have 2 kids. I kept a friend's little girl all day. Hannah is a little over 2 so pretty close in age to Ben. They had lots of fun playing together but it was challenging. We went to the library for storytime and then went to the park for 2 hours. I figured I would try to wear them out. Having 2 kids is alot of work! They were going in different directions and doing different things. AHHHHH!!! Ben is a "go for it all" kind of kid and Hannah is more reserved and likes to stop and smell the roses. So I felt like I spent the day in the middle. It was fun but I don't think we will be having another one anytime soon. I enjoy my little guy and all the fun I get to have with just him. I would post some pictures but I didn't take any. Really how are you supposed to have any time to take pictures with 2. So enjoy the blog now (all 2 of you that are reading this still) because once we have another I am sure it will stop! And I know all of you guys that have 2 or more kids will leave comments about how it is easy when it is your own kids! You just don't convince me! Oh and we are doing it again tomorrow so maybe I will post some pictures then.

Fun with Bubble Gum!

This is my first attempt at a video. (We bought a video camera just because we had a baby and we have taken a grand total of 17 minutes of video over his whole 18 month life. Great parents we are!!) Last night Ben and Matt were watching cartoons and playing on the couch. Matt was blowing bubbles with gum and Ben thought it was so very funny!! You can hear Ben's attempt at talking saying "ga" for again. Also notice how Ben is sticking out his tongue to try to blow bubbles. So cute!! Enjoy!

Our Helper!

Ben is such a sweet little guy! He amazes me everyday with what a giving heart he has. I have never really had the gift of giving but Ben sure does. He wants everyone to be happy and everyone to have everything he has! To go along with that means that he loves to help him mommy and daddy. And we love the help. Anytime I am doing any cleaning (a rare event) he wants to help out. When he sees a mop or a broom he wants to clean (LeeAnn learned this because he mopped her entire new house when we went to visit). Every morning he helps me open the blinds and make my bed. I will never forget the time when he could just barely walk and I heard him grunting while I was making up the bed one morning. I turned around and he was trying to pick up a huge pillow to help me out! Such a sweetie. The one thing he does to "help" that is not really helping is unloading the dishwasher. He unloads as I load. So cute but so not helpful. If you try to pull him away he cries. He just wants to help. Such a sweet spirit! I sure do pray he stays this way so that I can teach him how to clean bathrooms!

Choo Choo Train

Do all little boys like trains, trucks, and cars? I really do believe that boys are born knowing how to make car noises. It cracks me up when Ben goes around the house making car noises with his little cars. We didn't teach him how to do that. His latest obsession is trains! And I do mean obsession. He has several books about trains and that is all he wants to read. He loves to go to church so he can play at the train table. It is all about trains these days. Most of you know Ben doesn't say much at all (really just about nothing) but he has learned to say Choo Choo Train! And he says it a lot! Anytime he sees a train it is Choo Choo Train!!

On Saturday we decided to fuel this new obsession and take him to the train depot and museum here in town. When I was a kid I remember it just being a couple of train cars sitting outside. They have improved it greatly in the last 20 years (I guess they do that kind of thing). There are about different types of train cars that you can climb all over and explore. They have an old time garage with old cars, trucks and a fire engine that you can play on. It was great. They also have a little train that you can ride on! It was so much fun. Ben had a blast. He probably said Choo Choo Train 200 times! He climbed and explored for almost 2 hours. It was great! And Matt and I enjoyed it as well. We bought a membership to the depot so I think we will be making lots more trips back! Here are some pictures from the train depot (The picture of Ben in the construction machine needs some explanation - It is actually not part of the depot. It was there to do work and Ben wanted to play on it. It may have been his favorite part of the day. Yes, our son the rebel. Doesn't just want to play on the things you are supposed but also the things you aren't!)

PS - Ben is getting a train table for Christmas don't worry and we are doing his big boy room in trains. I had already decided all of this before he decided he liked trains. So it is a good thing he likes them because if he didn't I was going to make him like them!

Flashback Friday (I know I must be going crazy!)

So this is twice in one week I have done a cliche blogging thing. I can't believe it!! Oh well! It is sort of a flashback but also what is going on with us lately. Last Sunday after church we drove down to see my college roommate Ashley and her new little boy! Ashley and I met the first week of freshman year down at Auburn. We lived next door to each other. We quickly became friends then roommates! We had lots of fun together those 4 years. Even though we both have moved a lot over the past 5 years we have kept in touch and try to see each other every couple of months. She had a baby at the first of August and it was driving me crazy that I hadn't gotten to see him so we just packed up and headed down to Piedmont for a visit. It was great to get to meet little Jack. He was so sweet! Ben didn't really care for him. He was more interested in Ryan's Guitar Hero. So it got me thinking about all the great times at Auburn and what a great friend Ashley is...

Back in our single fun days!!

This is when Ashley and Ryan came to meet Ben (they came when he was a little baby but I didn't have any pictures so this is the best I could do - he was 4 months old - the flashback part of the blog for today)

Look how much things have changed. We both have sweet little boys! This was our attempt at a picture. Ben wouldn't sit still and it is hard to get pictures of newborns. I am so excited for Ashley and Ryan. They are going to be great parents! We are excited about many more fun times ahead with the boys!

Had to throw in Ben playing the guitar!

Wordless Wednesday - Yea Right!!

So when have I ever not been able to say something. I have always admired people who don't say much in life but that sure isn't me. All you bloggers that can do wordless days I am impressed... I just have to talk about my pictures!! We went to the park tonight after dinner. They just opened up a new park in our neighborhood that is great. Ben loves to go play. We had a great time. Ben really has no fear!! He loves to climb and slide all by himself. The only thing he won't do is swing. He has never been a swinger! We also enjoyed some time throwing rocks into the pond by the park. What is it with boys and their fascination with throwing rocks?? Ben could throw rocks for hours. The last picture cracks me up... Matt and Ben were pretending to sleep on the slide. Enjoy my "Wordless Wednesday" (wordless for me because I am not going to tell you about every picture.)

Farm Animal Noises

Ok so two posts in one day. I know you all are probably thinking I am crazy but the funniest thing happened earlier today and I just had to write about it. Ben and I went to storytime at the library today. It is for kids his age and it is lots of fun. Today we read books about farm animals and sang songs about farm animals and did a farm animal craft. The librarian (who happens to be a friend - Mrs. Betty), was reading a book about animal noises and had done a couple of animals and all the kids were being very quiet. Then she gets to the cow page and asks "what does a cow say?" Ben jumps up and screams at the top of his lungs "MOOOOOOOO." It is one of the 4 animal noises he knows and you could tell he was so proud of himself. He looked around at all of the other kids like "I am so smart - I know what the cow says and none of you said anything." It was too funny!!

Ben's Best Buddy!!

Ben has lots of little friends these days. He loves going to church and playing with Micha. At school he plays with Drake and he has so many friends in our neighborhood (Anna, Morgan, Graham, and Evan). But his best friend in the whole world is Brown Puppy!!!! Many of you have met Brown Puppy and seen Ben's love for him. We got Brown Puppy last Christmas from my parent's neighbor Mrs. Lou. It took Ben a little while to warm up to him but now they are inseparable. As you can tell, we are not the most imaginative when it comes to naming our stuffed animals but Brown Puppy really fits him. Ben loves to just hold him and twirl his tail around his fingers. That is how he goes to sleep each night. It is so cute. He provides Ben with such comfort!! We thought we had lost Brown Puppy last week and I didn't know what we were going to do. Ben always wants to take him with us when we leave the house and we try not to let him but he had taken him and hid him in the car. We just wanted you to meet Brown Puppy!