Ben's Twin

You know how they say that everyone has a twin out there somewhere in the world... well, Ben is personal friends with his twin. It is a little boy named Gabriel. Gabe is about 6 months older than Ben but they look very much alike. Chris and Jess (Gabe's parents) were one of the first friends that we made when we moved back to Huntsville. Gabe was just born and we thought he was a really cute little guy. Little did we know Ben would look just like him! We have both actually had people at church make comments about how much they look alike They have been confused on numerous occasions in the nursery. Gabe is a little bigger than Ben but they both are slender and tall with glasses and curly blonde hair. So cute!! Matt and I laugh about how if we want to know what Ben will look like in 6 months all we have to do is look at Gabe. Chris, Jess and Gabe just started going to a new church so we won't get to see them as often but we sure enjoy their friendship. Today Jess and I look the boys to the Botanical gardens and had a good time running around with them. Several people asked if they were related. So I thought I would introduce you to Ben's twin!

This picture was several months ago. So cute!!

Today at the Botanical Gardens. Looking at the train.

We even dressed them alike today.

Gift Giving

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!" Matthew 7:11

Those of you who know me very well know that giving is not one of my strong points. For much of my life, I have struggled with giving away things (money, gifts, etc.). I have seen such a huge change in my life in the last few years. God has really been working to in me to give me a heart that is giving (and if you can believe it a heart that actually enjoys giving). I think becoming a mom has changed my heart in this way so greatly. When I look at Ben I just want to give him the world!! Anything and everything should be his. I walk through Walmart and I want to buy every toy there and give it to him.

This past Saturday, I got up early and went garage selling. It was the big garage sale here in our neighborhood. I only had $26 as I headed out. I really didn't need anything but I just thought I would check it out. I came back 2 hours later with no money and a car full of toys (and I mean full to the top - I could not have gotten one more thing in the car). I only bought things for Ben. Every house that I stopped I found something that he just "had to have." I even begged one lady to take a check so I could buy Ben a great Christmas present (I got a great deal on Little People!). I was so excited and couldn't wait to get home to give Ben some of the things that I had gotten (don't worry I did save most of them for Christmas

Then it hit me as I remembered the verse above. I finally understood it for the first time. Just like I spent all morning searching and seeking the perfect toys to give Ben, that is what Our Father wants to do for us (but He is even better at it than we are)!! He wants to give us the world but we don't let him! He has so much for us but we limit Him. It was just a very powerful and humbling thought! Thank you Lord for loving me that much and thanks for working in me to give me a giving heart.

I thought I would share one of my favorite finds from the garage sales... A Cozy Coupe car. I remember these when I was little and I always wanted one. Ben loves playing with them a friend's houses and at church. I was so excited to give it to him. He LOVES it!! He played with it all Saturday morning and then Sunday when we went out to the garage he started squealing. I could tell he was excited that it was still there! I guess he thought he was only going to have it for the day. He is so cute in it because he can only go backwards!

Pumpkin Patch

The calendar is telling us it is fall so I changed the background on the blog. The weather is not exactly cooperating but that is ok. Today it was 87 degrees. More like summer than fall. We are trying to get in the fall spirit though!

We went to the Tate Farm pumpkin patch on Saturday. It was so much fun!! When Ben walked in he literally said Whoa!! There was so much to see and do. We went on a hayride and got to pick our own pumpkin. There was a petting zoo with farm animals. They had all sorts of little kiddie climbing things which Ben loved!! There was a hay maze and a pumpkin gun! So much to see and do!! We took so many pictures that I couldn't include them all but here are some of the highlights. Thanks to Uncle Brett and Aunt Joanna for going with us and helping us out. It took all four of us to watch after Ben.

I am not a fan of petting zoos but I did let Ben look at a bunny that I held.

The thing Ben loved the most was climbing up into a cotton picker they had turned into a slide. I love this picture because he is holding his cup and trying to figure out how he is going to go up the ladder.This was the cool slide!
The pumpkin shooter!

Picking out our family pumpkin. It is now on our front porch. It was so neat to actually get to pick the pumpkin off the vine. They had all sorts of different pumpkins as well. We got some neat ones and made a display on our mantle.

On the hayride... Ben has major texture issues so he wasn't a big fan of the hay!

Be on the lookout. I have lots to post and write about this week.

Double Dipping

Ben takes double dipping to a whole new level! Last night we went to eat at our favorite mexican restaurant - Rosies!! So good!! Ben's new thing is that he loves to dip whatever he is eating into sauce or pretty much anything. So last night he was dipping chips into salsa. The problem was he never changed his chip. He dipped the same chip over and over and over into the salsa and would lick off the salsa. We tried to get him to use a diffent chip but no he just wanted to use the same chip. When it finally got soggy enough (from salsa and spit) he would eat it and get another. He probably dipped the same chip 25 times. So funny. Needless to say he got his own bowl of salsa. He did a pretty good job of finishing off his bowl.

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.