Mini Me?

So a couple of weeks ago we were in a store and ran into someone I went to elementary school with.  She didn't recognize me but she saw Kate and knew it was me because she said Kate looked just like me when I was little.  I thought that was sort of funny.  So I thought I would do a comparison.  I do sometimes look at Kate and think she is my little mini me.  Then other times i don't think we look that much alike.  What do you think?   

She's A Mess

Miss Kate has had some really good weeks lately.  The amount of discipline required has really gone down.  She has a much better attitude about things and overall is just much more pleasant (I say that and now we are going to have some really bad days!).  She has also finally decided that she wants to be potty trained.  Yes that would mean it took about 10 months to potty train her.  Ugh!  Really who would have thought we could have 2 kids that it took almost a year to potty train.  She all the sudden has begun not having accidents and going potty by herself.  Thank goodness because I really thought I was going to lose my mind.  We are just thankful things are looking up with Kate.  

Her behavior and attitude may be looking better but she is still a huge mess that goes around making huge messes.  Ben was always such a calm child and never made big messes.  Kate walks into a room and things just get destroyed.  There can be a toy Ben has played with for 5 years and it looks brand new and Kate touches it one time and it is broken.  She is just a walking ball of destruction.  Today she got very quiet during rest time and I went to her bathroom and this is what I found.  A giant pile of new toothbrushes and water everywhere!  

 She has also decided she no longer wants to wear clothes.  If we are at home she just strips down to nothing.  We had a house full of people the other day and out she walks with nothing on!  Ahhh!!  Thankfully we leave our clothing on in public but I am sure one day she will strip down out somewhere!  Thankfully she is just too cute!

I have always been really good about keeping coloring stuff and pens away from the kids because I don't like messes.  Well Kate decided to improvise last week and took a magnet off of the fridge and drew all over the wall with a magnet.  Yes a magnet!!  

I think God continues to humble us through Kate.  We thought we had this parenting thing all figured out and He says "Ha!"  I am going to give you a wild child.  Our prayer lives have definitely gotten better since Kate came along.  But what a joy she is.  She keeps us laughing for sure.  I pray daily God can use all of her energy and quirks for His glory!  Can't wait to see what He does with her.

Weekend Wrap Up

It wasn't that big of a weekend but when I started looking back at the pictures it looks like we did a lot.  

It started Friday night when Ben went to a birthday party for his buddy Jack.  It was at the gymnastics place where Kate is going.  Kate liked showing Daddy her gym.  Ben had a blast playing with his buddies.  

 Saturday morning Matt and I did a major closet clean out.  I have been trying to go through things and clean out.  We got rid of ALOT of clothes.  There were clothes that we wore in high school still in the closet.  It was time for them to go!

 Ben had a basketball game which is always exciting.

 Saturday night we met our friends the Burkharts at Red Robin.

 Then we were off to the Havoc hockey game.  The Burkharts love hockey.  We had seen them at a game earlier in the year so we enjoyed hanging with them again at the game.  Matt was the popcorn man!

It was Melissa George night at the hockey game.  This is a foundation set up by some friends of ours to honor their daughter's who stayed in the NICU.  We have a special place in our hearts for the NICU so we try to go to this game each year.  Ben and Kate were excited to bring their premiee clothes and trade them for these cool toboggans.  The George's daughter Lily Baker is in Ben's class at school.  We think he has a little crush on her.  He would not take his hat off all night because Lily Baker was wearing it too.  So cute! 

 We enjoyed a fun night of hockey and fun friends!

 I never get pictures with friends so I was glad I remembered to take one with Ashli.  So glad we got to spend the evening with the Burkharts.  They are tons of fun!

 Sunday morning it was our normal church routine.  I got some funny pictures of the kiddos at Panera.

Kate was excited because we were both wearing pink and brown.  We were twins!  Love her!

 Sunday afternoon was really lazy.  It was great.  We ended the weekend with a little Wii.

It was a great weekend with just a little bit of everything!

Gymnastics

We embarked on a new adventure today.  Kate had her very first gymnastics class.  This really was a new experience for me.  Something about Ben doing soccer, baseball and basketball doesn't seem all that strange.  But this girly girl stuff is sort of strange.  I didn't do dance or gymnastics growing up so I don't know much about it.  Kate is such a high energy little gal and she loves to jump and tumble so we figured this would be a good thing for her to try.  She was so excited.  She has loved getting some new leotards and has been talking about gymnastics for several weeks.  She could not wait!

 She was bouncing all around waiting for class to start! 

 She loved every minute of it!  They did balance beam. 

 And lots of "flips!"

Her teacher is Ms. Pennie and she was really great with Kate.  She came running out saying "gymnastics is great!"  She is already asking when she gets to go back.  It is going to be a long week waiting for next Thursday. 

100 Days

Today is day 99 which means that tomorrow is the 100th day of school!!  That is a super big deal for a kindergartner.  They make a huge deal of it and celebrate in a big way - a 100 day party and fun 100 day projects.  They had to make display of 100 of any objects.  They could do whatever they wanted.  We did a little Pinterest search (what would we do without Pinterest) and Ben picked to make a gumball machine.  

 It turned out super cute!  He was so excited to take it to school today.

I can't believe he has been in school for 100 days.  It has been a wonderful 100 days.  His teacher Mrs. Davis has been excellent and he has learned so many new things and made such great friends.  Looking forward to the last 75 days and then it will be summer!!!!

A Day In the Life

I thought that I would take pictures throughout the day and document what a day is like for us these days.  Mind you today was a bit busier than normal but it is sort of like any other day.  There is always something going on!  

It started at 5:30!  Bright and early.  Up and getting ready and getting dinner in the crock pot.  I love the crock pot!

 Then it was packing lunches and feeding kiddos breakfast.

 Then to get everyone dressed and out the door by 7:30.  I like to call 7-7:30 the crazy time because it is totally crazy!!

 Then it was drop off at two schools!

 Then off to work for a full morning of patients and work.  Always very busy.

 Then a quick trip back over the mountain to check Ben out of school early for a dentist appointment.

 The dentist appointment went well and we got better answers that we did at our last one.  We picked up Kate from school and got a little frozen yogurt treat.

 After yogurt I had the bright idea of taking 2 kids shoe shopping right at nap time.  That was a disaster. But we did manage to find Ben a pair of new tennis shoes and I didn't lose my mind.  Then it was back to my office for more work.  The kids had fun making a mess before Matt picked them up.  I worked a couple of more hours.

 Then I rushed home at 5:30 and we scarfed down that crock pot dinner (BBQ coca cola chicken from Pinterest - not that good).  Then it was off to Ben's basketball game.  He had a good game with a couple of rebounds and passes.

 Sweet Kate and I at the game!

 We finally made it back home.  I had a little more work to finish up while the kids got baths.  Then it was bedtime for them.  I am now exhausted!  Posting this and watching a little TV.  I am exhausted just reading all this.  It was a great day and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love my job, kiddos and hubby!  It's awesome.

Makes Me Smile

We had a very low key weekend!  It was WONDERFUL!!!  Really we didn't do much of anything.  I wish I had something exciting to talk about but it alas I don't.  We just enjoyed being together as a family.  That is my favorite thing to do.  We just got to play and be together.  Then today Ben was off of school so we got to spend even more time together.  It has been awesome!!  I love just getting to hang out with and play with my fun little people.  I haven't been able to stop smiling because these guys are just awesome!!  We have had fun doing goofy things like sliding around on blankets.  

Not Off To The Best Start In 2013

In the past month I think we have spent more on medical bills than we have in the past 3 years combined.  2012 ended with the horrific stomach bug and Kate's ER visit.  And since 2013 started we have had 3 doctor visits and 3 antibiotics for 3 of us.  Kate had the ear infection and crud.  I had a bad case of tonsillitis and Matt had the ear infection and bronchitis.  Ugh!!  It has been a rough start!  And poor Kate has had the worst of it I think.  She was acting weird on Wednesday and then yesterday she broke out in spots all over her body.  Today it has developed into full blown whelps.  Poor thing!  It looks like she is allergic to penicillin drugs.  Thankfully the rash/whelps are not bothering her but she looks horrible.  Her face is the worse but there are red spots over her entire body.   

 Thankfully everything we have had can be helped with a little medicine and we are joyful in that!  I could be much worse and we find joy in that!  We aren't letting a little sickness get us down.  We are enjoying the beautiful sunshine that we haven't seen in a couple of weeks and thankful for God's wonderful blessings.  Ben has managed to avoid all this other stuff and is doing great!!

Snowy Day

It was one of those rare Southern snowy days today!  They had been predicting some snow for a few days but you just never know.  It did snow for about an hour pretty hard but that was about it.  The roads are really slushy but should be fine now.  Really it is all pretty much gone now.  Thankfully it snowed right as Ben got out of school early so he could play in it before it melted.  It was really wet snow so not very much fun to play in but we enjoyed it for a little bit!  That's about all we will get around here for a while I am sure!

Various And Sundry Things

So I have several pictures from my phone from the last couple of weeks that I wanted to share.  None of them were exciting enough for their own post but maybe all together they will be slightly exciting (ok no not really but I will try).  

We were all ready for the big national championship football game last Monday.  We all wore our Irish green and I got these special Notre Dame brownie bites.  The game was not good for us sudden Notre Dame fans but that's ok!

 I bought myself some new dish towels last week.  I know that is probably not very exciting but it is to me.  You see I still had the same dish towels we were given as wedding presents almost 10 years ago.  They were disgusting and so embarrassing.  I am so excited to have some new cute/clean ones.  Although if you happen to be reading this blog and gave us dish towels as a wedding gift know they were well used and loved.   

 I was at Ben's school last week working in the library and there in the front foyer of the school were displayed some artwork from the kindergarten classes.  I loved Ben's emu.  Isn't it awesome!

 And here is my cutie coming through the library with his class.

 Kate is still not wanting to take a nap most days.  I make her go in her room for rest time so I can have some quiet time to myself.  Well during that time she manages to totally destroy her room.  It was perfectly clean and 45 minutes later it looks like this.  AHHHH!!!  I then spend 20 minutes cleaning it each night.  Not sure if that is worth the few minutes of silence.

 Speaking of that crazy girl.  This is what she did yesterday in car line.  She did fall asleep with the blanket on her head.

 And finally a rant...  They are doing road work on one of the two ways over the mountain.  That means everyone is trying to go the other way.  Traffic has been horrific in the mornings!!!  I mean terrible!  Today I left super early and it still took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to drop Kate off and get to work.  That normally takes me about 25 minutes.  It is insane.  I sat at this light just like this for about 8 cycles.  I thought I was going to go crazy.  And in other news it has been raining non stop for about 5 days.  I mean monsoon type rains.  If I had built an ark maybe I would have gotten to work faster today.

Well that catches you up on the total randomness of the Eckleys!