Halloween 2010

Well, it has come and gone - the fun times of Halloween. So much anticipation and now it is over. But boy was it fun! We had a blast. This year was so fun for Ben. He got into it so much and enjoyed it all. We were one family full of superheroes. Green Lantern, Supergirl, Batgirl and Batman! Ben told us he wanted to be Batman so we all decided to don our superhero alter egos. Last night we went to grandparent's houses to show off costumes. Of course grandparents have more than just candy. At both houses the kids walk away with bags full of stuff. Everything from dolls - to books - to toys. It is crazy! We then went to the fall festival at church. Not the best of times. It is way to crowded and loud. We knew that from previous experiences but had to be reminded I guess. We did enjoy seeing our friends. Here are Kate and Isaac. Neither one of them look like they are having a good time.
We decided that next year we will just do our own festival with our friends. Matt got creative with his costume and made his own Green Lantern ring!

Ben did enjoy the games at the festival. Here he is doing the football toss.

After the fall festival we went to my parents house for some yummy food and to watch the Auburn game! WAR EAGLE!!!!! 9-0!! Can't believe it!

Tonight we were all excited for some trick or treating!!! Kate found the candy bowl and knew exactly what to do!

Batman and Batgirl!

My super cute Batman!

And Batgirl!

Ready to go trick or treating!

We had the best time trick or treating! Our neighborhood is very kid friendly so that makes it very easy. Ben loved going up to the doors and ringing the doorbells and saying "Trick or Treat." After about the 3rd house he figured out that he would get candy at every house so he got so excited. He said "This is awesome!!" People just handing you candy is pretty awesome!

Kate got some candy. When people would hand it to her she would hold onto it for dear life! She was not going to let go for anything!

We actually went down our whole street and the one behind us because we were having such a great time. Ben also loved coming home and handing out candy. He enjoyed seeing all the costumes. We had a ton of trick or treaters. We went through 2 giant bowls of candy.

Here is Ben showing off his candy stash. He got to eat 2 pieces and was so excited. That will probably be it though. We are not big candy people (has something to do with being a dietitian). Don't tell anyone but I think we actually gave out some of the candy we had leftover from last year.

Kate even got to have her first taste of candy. She LOVED it of course. Nothing like M&M's all over a 1 year old. I love it when people give out healthy things. Here she is enjoying some pretzels. We were laughing last night saying this was her last first. Meaning since her birthday is in 2 weeks it is the last time we will say it is her first something like Christmas, Halloween etc.

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween weekend!

Pumpkin Carving

We are getting excited for all the Halloween festivities this weekend. It is going to be so much fun. I caught a picture of my cuties this morning before school. They were both wearing the glow in the dark ghost shirts.
Tonight was the annual carving of the pumpkin. We usually go to a Sunday School social where we do that but it was last weekend when the kiddos were sick. So we did the carving tonight. Everyone got in on the action. The pumpkin turned out awesome as usual. Matt is a great pumpkin carver. He always does something that Ben is into at the time. You can check out previous years pumpkins here and here. So of course this year's theme had to be Batman. Doesn't it look awesome!
2 silly kids with the pumpkin. They both loved it!

Can't wait for more fun!

Just Alike

This has always been one of my favorite pictures of Ben

Today Kate was crawling through the tunnel and I grabbed the camera and caught this...
Too cute!! Just like her big brother.

New Glasses

For the first time in over 2 and a half years Ben is sporting a new look today. He finally got new glasses!! We decided that it was time to get a new pair. He has done amazing with his glasses for the past few years. When he first got glasses we just knew that we would be buying a new pair every few months but we never had to get a new pair. He just kept wearing them and wearing them. They had finally gotten WAY too small and pretty scratched up. So we got him some new ones. They are similar to his old ones. We thought about going really different but liked these on him so much. They are a little longer and thinner. They are also a darker color. He loves his new glasses!

Interview With Ben at 3 1/2 Years Old

Last night Ben and I were driving home and I asked him a bunch of questions to try to keep us awake. I was asking him about things he liked and some of his "favorites." Here is what our little "interview" looked like...

What is your favorite food?

Chicken and fries (so very healthy I know)

What is your favorite shape?

Circle (I don't know how you have a favorite shape but still a circle is his favorite)

What is your favorite color?

Green (hence why that is all he wants to wear)

Where is your favorite place to eat at?

Chick-fil-a, Chilis, Five Guys, Rosies (can you tell we eat out a lot)

What is your favorite TV show?

Krypto (Strange I know - this is a show about Superman's dog. It was on for about a week on Cartoon Network. Thankfully I taped 6 shows on the DVR and he watches it all the time)

What is your favorite movie?

Toy Story 3 (the last movie he saw so of course that is his favorite)

What is your favorite toy?

Batman toys

Who is your favorite superhero?

Batman (of course is there any other)

If you had a million dollars what would you buy?

Toys (what else would a kid say?)

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?

GG's house (I thought that was so sweet)

What is your favorite thing to do as a family?

Watch TV (ok we don't watch much TV as a family so I don't know where that came from)

Who is your best friend?

Micah (like I didn't know the answer to that one)

What is your favorite animal?

Zebra (huh??)

What is your favorite game?

Axis and Allies (I know that makes his daddy so proud)

What is your favorite book?

The 3 Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf (I don't think I have ever read that one to him but I am going with it.)

Such fun to get into the little guy's mind. Can't wait to look back at these answers one day and smile.

Recapping the Weekend

Another fun weekend for the Eckleys. It started on Friday night with Isaac Johnson's 1st birthday party! Kim did an amazing job with the party. It was the cutest pinwheel theme. All the food was green and blue. So cute! This was Kate's first time to go to a birthday party for one of her friends. She had a good time I am sure. She didn't really tell us but she seemed to enjoy herself.

Kate and Isaac. So cute. They are exactly 3 weeks apart in age.

Saturday started out sort of rough. Ben had a touch of a stomach bug. It wasn't bad at all and lasted about 2 hours. He never really felt bad so that was good. But it did mess up our plans for the day. He was supposed to go golfing but he didn't get to go. SAD! He was also supposed to go to John Thomas' birthday party but also didn't get to go. Super SAD. He hasn't been able to go to any of John Thomas' parties for the last 3 years. I don't know if he will ever get to go. We did let him pull out Axis & Allies to play with since he was sick. He played for HOURS!! He had such a fun time setting up elaborate battles. On Saturday I did get to hit some garage sales. Got some great clothes for Ben and a couple of toys for Kate. Almost done Christmas shopping for them. Until they realize the difference, their Christmas presents come from consignment and garage sales. Matt did get to play a little golf. We then watched the Auburn game. Oh my goodness!! It was so wonderful. I can't believe we are ranked #1. Last time we were number 1 was in 1985 and I was 5 years old. We have waited a long time for this!!! So even with the quick sickness Saturday was fun and successful.

Here is Ben's elaborate set up.

Sunday Kate had a touch of whatever the bug was. Once again she seemed fine just had a little upset tummy. So she and I stayed home from church. I hated to miss but it was nice to get a lot done to get the week started. When the boys got home, we wanted to enjoy the outdoors so we headed up to Green Mountain and enjoyed the Nature Trail. It was a beautiful day and we loved being outside! We walked the whole trail and had a great time.

So great weekend all around. The week is starting off good and busy as usual!

Getting Excited for Halloween

Happy Friday!! We are getting geared up for another great weekend. A couple of birthday parties (Kate's first one to go to for one of her "friends") and a BIG football game.

We are getting really excited around the Eckley household for Halloween next week. It is such a fun time of the year. I have wrestled a bunch with what we as a family would celebrate regarding Halloween. To me it is just a fun time to dress up and get candy (although me the dietitian does not like that part - I am the mean person that hands out pencils. I just can't give out candy). I know there are a bunch of people that say it is "satanic" and such. We choose not to celebrate it like that. We celebrate the fun side of Halloween. I enjoy sharing fun things with my children and this is just another fun thing we do. Matt came across this article a couple of weeks ago and it really has transformed what we think about Halloween even more. I encourage you to read it. We look forward to sharing with neighbors what we believe as they knock on our door!!

I am so excited to have 2 kiddos to dress up this year. I wanted to dress them in coordinating costumes of some sort. I let Ben take the lead and he made his choice so Kate's costume followed. Matt and I are even joining in the fun. I won't give it all away but let's just say we are going to be one SUPER family.

Kate has like 3 Halloween shirts that I have enjoyed putting on her this week. I thought she looked so cute yesterday. Ben is also giving you a clue as to what he is going to be!

PS - I know Kate's bow is really big but it matched her outfit! I can hear Jessica laughing all the way from her house!!

School Pictures

So why is it that there is never a decent school picture taken. I mean really I don't know if I have ever seen a good one. Poor Kate had her first experience a couple of weeks ago with the dreaded school picture. Here is what we got...

So I admit that I forgot it was picture day. But I remembered as we were walking into school and thought she was dressed cute so it would be ok. Umm... Who would have guessed that it would be an orange and yellow background. I like to think that her funny face is her saying, "This so clashes. Do not take my picture!!" They just didn't capture her at her best. Oh well one day we will all look back at this and laugh. But needless to say I didn't buy any!

Speech Therapy

Today was a big day for Ben. He started speech therapy. It is something that we have been struggling with for about a year now. He started talking really late. He didn't say mama or dada until after he was 1. Since that time, he has just been late at saying things. Not a real big deal. Then the more he talked, the more we had trouble understanding him. We had him tested for Early Intervention last year. He didn't qualify because his language understanding was off the charts. He has a great grasp on language it is just the articulation that is the problem.

So after that we didn't worry too much about it. Then over the last couple of months, it has become more of an issue. He is falling behind the other kids in his class in speech. It is also so sad to us when he is trying to tell us something and we just can't understand. We only understand about 50% of what he is saying. At his age it should be more around 80%. So we knew there was a problem. I don't know if it was a pride issue or what but we kind of just didn't do anything about it. It is not easy to admit your child has a problem. But as the frustration grew on all our parts we decided to get him tested again. This time we went through the local school system. He qualified for services because his articulation does have some issues. His main problems are Ds, Bs and Hs. We got him all signed up for services last week. It was sort of hard signing all the IEP papers but we know this is what is best for him.

So today he started. We are so thankful that he qualified for services through the school system. It is amazing what they offer for preschoolers for free. He will be going once a week for 30 minutes. The school that is just 4 minutes away. It is also the school he will attend when he starts kindergarten so if he still needs therapy it will just continue. So good. The therapist is awesome!! We feel so blessed.

He did great this morning. He walked in and got right to work. Mrs. Busby said he was so smart and worked so hard. She says it won't be long at all until we are seeing great results. We are excited because we so want to understand what he is saying! He has "homework" to do each week so we will be working on that hard each week.

He was excited this morning to go to the "big school." I am so proud of him and all he is going to accomplish.

Wee Wee Wee All The Way Home!

****Sorry to all my Arkansas readers. This was what was on the game day buttons and I thought it was so cute. It just had to be the title.

We had an amazing time in Auburn this past weekend!! You could not have asked for a better weekend. We were able to visit with both of my grandmothers which was special. There was also lots of time with friends! So much fun. Enjoy a few pictures from the trip. I actually didn't take that many pictures. We were just having a great time and I didn't get out the camera too much.

Saturday morning we did a little walking around campus. I had to get the traditional pictures in front of Samford Hall with Kate!

Love this picture of my girl!

It was so good to be back on campus! There is nothing better than Auburn on game day!! Oh I have to tell you about the sweetest moment. We started walking down Magnolia towards Toomers Corner. Ben looked around and said in amazement "There is Auburn EVERYWHERE!!" He couldn't believe that everyone was wearing Auburn clothes and saying War Eagle! It brought tears to my eyes to watch him run in front of Toomers Corner. He had the biggest smile on his face and was just in awe!

Cute one of Ben pushing Kate around campus After walking around campus for a little bit we headed out to the Facilities area to tailgate. We met up with the Wrights (Brad, LeeAnn and Paige) and the Smiths (Steve, Jamye and Morgan). It was like we were reliving our "glory days" back at Auburn. We found the perfect spot to tailgate under a bunch of trees. The weather was beautiful. I mean we could not have asked for anything better. The company was so much fun. We laughed and talked and got all caught up!

The mommies and babies! Yes 10 short years ago we were living together at Auburn. So much as changed!

We had quite a spread of yummy food! Like I said I didn't take many good pictures. Too busy having fun!

Poor Ben was surrounded by all girls. He made his own fun!

More food! You know what is important at a tailgate. Of course we had to have some BBQ pork. A preview of what we were going to do to those piggies later in the day.

All the girls. The picture actually turned out halfway decent.
Kate - 11 months, Morgan - 5 months, Paige - 8 months
They can hang this picture up in their apartment one day when they are living together.
Kate got so tired. She fell asleep and stayed out for some time.

My sweet guy!

A great Auburn family picture.

So then the boys headed off to the game and the girls went back to the Smith's house to watch in comfort (I think we got the better end of that deal). We had a great time watching the game and playing! The boys had a blast at the game.

Ben slept through the entire 1st quarter. Now I don't understand how he could sleep with 87,000 screaming fans. But he did. Then he enjoyed popcorn, soda and candy! Who wouldn't enjoy the game with all that.

Ben loved when the band spelled things out on the field.

Silly boy!

They made it through about 1/2 of the 4th quarter before Ben was about done. Since it was a super long game I can understand. Matt said he had to try not to be selfish but just go when Ben was ready. At that point we were actually behind and didn't look so good. Thankfully as soon as they left things turned around for the team. Final score 65-43. It was a crazy one!!

Perfect weekend!! That is all I can say.