Cubbies

My sweet little man started Cubbies a couple of weeks ago. Cubbies is the 3 and 4 year old AWANA program at our church on Sunday nights. He did Puggles last year and now he has moved up to Cubbies. This is much more structured. They have memory verses each week they have to learn that go along with their stories. They also do fun games and sing songs and such. It is a great program. Ben has already learned 3 verses (God loved us and sent His Son. While we were sinners Christ died for us. Everything He had made was very good. ) He has earned his vest and will start earning patches for his vest. I better learn how to sew quickly so I can sew on those patches! I am so proud of my little guy!

Weekend Recap

It has been a long Monday! Busy, Busy! I am still adjusting to Ben going to school 3 days a week. I didn't think it would be that big of an adjustment but it another day we are up and out the door before 8. But I think we are finally starting to settle into our new routine.

We had big plans this weekend to do something fun. We weren't exactly sure what we wanted to do but it was going to be fun. We talked about going to Nashville or Birmingham. Wellll... that didn't happen. I had a blow out in the van on Friday afternoon. Thanks to the construction worker who helped me change the tire. As always Walmart's auto department was a horrible experience on Friday afternoon and the tire didn't get changed until Saturday morning. So no fun adventure for us this weekend. Oh well. We did enjoy a fun game night with the Mobleys on Friday night. Saturday we hit a few yard sales and went to our usual Panera breakfast. We see the same people there every Saturday. It is so cool. They have become our friends. One of our "friends" invited to come her the city concert band play at Bridge Street that afternoon. It sounded fun so we decided to do that. Well..... we didn't quite make it for the concert but we did have fun walking around Bridge Street (for those of you who don't know it is an outdoor mall here in town that is awesome!) We ate dinner at Red Robin and enjoyed strolling in the cooler weather.

Ben and I enjoyed a carousel ride. He was too scared of the animals so we rode a teacup. Those things will spin fast! Checked out the ipad at the Apple store.
A rare picture of the kiddos and mommy!

Sweet Kate!

Sunday was church as always! Matt and I actually had to keep the nursery on Sunday morning. We had Kate's class. It was so much fun to watch her with kids her own age. She is by far the most curious little girl of the group. She was getting into everything and not very interested in being held like the other kiddos. One of the ladies at Panera Saturday told us she thought Kate was going to be a gymnast because she is so compact and never stops moving. Could be!

So it wasn't a very exciting weekend for us but we had fun hanging together as a family which are the best kind of weekends!

A Break in the Heat

After 37 days of temperatures in the 90's (that ties a record from 1937), yesterday we finally had a day where the high temperature was only 89 degrees!!! We can safely say it is the hottest summer of our lifetime. So 89 degrees felt like heaven. Combine that with a no humidity and a nice breeze and it was wonderful feeling outside. For the first time in weeks we were able to go outside and play. I loaded up the kiddos and met my mom at the park for a picnic dinner last night. We stayed outside for 2 hours just enjoying the nice weather. Today it was back in the 90's but still not horrible.

Kate's 1st Eye Appointment

While I was pregnant with Kate I asked Ben's eye doctor in Birmingham if the eye condition that Ben has is genetic. I loved his answer "maybe." They are not sure if it is or not. Sometimes it runs in families and other times it doesn't. Not really all that reassuring. He told us to get Kate's eyes checked before 1 year of age.

So we did this past Monday. Kate did awesome at the appointment. She sat so still in the chair letting Dr. Jennifer check out her eyes. We got some great news. Kate's eyes are perfectly fine. In fact Jennifer said that her eyes are better than most babies her age. YEA!!! No glasses for Kate. It is amazing for me to think about that when Ben was Kate's age we found out he was going to get glasses and it wasn't but 3 months later he was wearing them.

Kate wanted to pull up on everything in the waiting room. She made it her goal to pull every magazine off the tables and onto the floor! Kate getting some hugs from Dr. Jennifer. I know you are wondering if we are this close with all our doctors. The answer is no! Jennifer was a friend of mine from middle and high school. We went to college together and have been friends for a long time! She is an awesome optometrist in Madison so if anyone needs an eye doctor go to Jennifer!

Since we are on the subject of eyes - Be praying for us over the next couple of weeks. We are starting to put dilation drops in Ben's eye daily to help with his vision. Our doctor in Birmingham said it could cause some behavior changes and some other side effects that are not fun. Dr. Jennifer reassured me that it shouldn't be bad at all and I trust her but still am dreading the experience! It is not going to be fun for the little man.

Oh and just as a note for the baby book that I will hopefully one day get to. Kate said her first word on Sunday. She said mama!! I was so excited. And since Sunday she has started saying dada and baba (which we are saying means Ben). Fun stuff!

Birthdays When You Get Old

So I was thinking back on our day yesterday and what a sad sort of birthday it was for Matt. I didn't do a very good job of making is special. I guess when you get "old" birthdays just aren't what they used to be.

Kate and I did take Matt out to lunch... Ben couldn't wait one more minute to give Matt his birthday presents so he opened all his presents the minute he walked in the door from work. His presents consisted of brown socks and work pants. Not all that exciting. Ben did pick him out a couple of fun things - Captain America toy and a Wii game. Just what every dad needs!
Matt's big gift was a lawnmower. How unexciting is that! Ours died last week so it was more of a must buy gift since we had to mow the lawn or face the wrath of the homeowners association!

I did cook Matt one of his favorite meals of baked spaghetti. Our after dinner entertainment was playing Candy Land!

The evening was capped off with blowing out one candle on the 1/4 of a cake that was left from the weekend. See it was all sort of sad!

I hope Matt enjoyed his day even if it wasn't that exciting!

Happy Birthday Matt!!

Today is my sweet husband's 31st birthday! I laugh and tell him he is now "officially" old! He is not just 30 he is "into his 30's." I probably shouldn't make too many jokes because my turn is soon.

I just want to brag on my Matt for a minute. I know I am a little biased but he really is the most wonderful man in the world! There is not a thing that he would not do for his family. I remember when I was a teenager our youth pastor talked about true love is when someone provides for you and protects you. That sums up Matt's love for us, his family. He provides for us so well and protects us daily. Not just physically but spiritually and emotionally. Everyday when he comes home from work he hits the ground running. He helps me with what needs to be done around the house or with playing with the kids. He is the most hands on dad I know! Over the past year I have seen him grow so much as a husband, father and man. His relationship with the Lord has been so real and open.

Happy Birthday Matt! I hope you have had a wonderful day! I love you so very much! Thank you for all you do for us. I hope you have enjoyed the day that is all about you!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of him from the last few months -

Time to Party!

We did some major partying this weekend!! Lots to celebrate. Saturday morning we went to the Mobley's house to celebrate Genevieve's 2nd birthday. Jessica did an amazing job with the dog theme. It was so cute. Every little detail was perfect and so well thought out. Ben was so excited to go to the dog party that he packed up all his stuffed dogs and put them in his carrier to take to the party. It was so cute. The kids and I had a blast. I can't believe Miss Genevieve is already 2!

Here is Ben sporting his dog shirt and ears and dog name tag! I wish I had gotten more pictures of all the cute things Jessica did. It was totally awesome. Kate in her doggie dress!
Ben helping Genevieve check out her gifts. The 2 of them crack me up. They have a great little relationship together and get along so well.

Eating his cake out of a doggie bowl!! So cute!

Saturday night it was time to party for Matt's birthday!!! Brad and LeeAnn were in town this weekend. Brad's birthday was on Monday (1 week before Matt's). So we try to get together every year to celebrate the birthdays!! It was so good to see the Wrights. We miss them so much. It is so much harder not to see them as much now that Paige is around. LeeAnn I talk pretty much everyday so we stay in touch but I sure do miss getting to see Miss Paige grow and change. We went to eat dinner at Rosies and then came back to our house for a birthday party (Ok just cakes and hanging out but it was great). Paige is such a cutie! She has an awesome sweet smile. Kate and Paige had "fun" together. We made plans for fall football and a Christmas time trip to New York!!! Can't wait for more fun times with the Wrights!!

Doesn't get much better than babies and Rosies!

Emily Paige & LeeAnn Wright

Emily & Katherine LeeAnn Eckley

I still think it is so funny!

Ben has been in rare form the last couple of days. He has been wild! He put on Kate's headband and was running through the house! He loves Brad and LeeAnn so much. He got so excited when we told him we were going to see them this weekend.
The girls! We were laughing that we had to get a picture of them dressed alike so that one day when they are in each others weddings (because you know they will be) they will have this picture to put in their prewedding video. So Kate is 3 months older than Paige and they weigh and measure the exact same right now. Kate is little and Paige is right at the 50th%ile. It makes us laugh.

Tried to get a picture of all of the kiddos. Kate did not like Ben holding her and Paige thought they were so interesting.

The birthday boys! So glad we had a reason to get together and celebrate.

Matt's favorite cake is red velvet so I made him a cake. It turned out really well! Calories don't count on birthdays right?

Today has been full of more celebrating. We went out to lunch with Matt's family which was awesome. My mom came over to do a little celebrating as well. We are looking forward to a fun family celebration tomorrow night! I love birthdays!!!

Laughter, It Does A Body Good!!!

I just had to take a quick moment to write about an awesome time that Matt and I had last night. We left the kids at home (with Mema and Opa don't worry) and went over to our friends the Johnson's house! We just hung out for a couple of hours and played games. It was an awesome time!! Our new friends the Pociasks were also there. We played Apples to Apples (awesome game). The thing that we did the most was laugh. It is great to be able to just hang with friends and laugh and laugh. We were laughing so hard at times that we were all crying : )! I am so thankful for friends new and old that we have. I know how important it is to have good friends that surround you and keep you accountable. We are so very blessed to have such amazing friends. Nothing like a night out with friends!

Here are some pictures. I meant to get one of Matt and I but I forgot. Anna took one with her camera. She is an AWESOME photographer so I will have to get it from her and post it later. if you are in the Huntsville area and need a photographer check her out here.

The Many Faces of Kate

The Many Faces of Ben