Celebrating Granna

My awesome mom had a birthday yesterday and we have spent the last couple of days celebrating!  Yesterday the kids and I went with her to Kidventure and to lunch at Happy Tummy.  We had a great time!  Tonight we got together with the whole family for a little Mexican feast at our house.  It is always fun when we can all get together.  The kids were excited to give Granna her presents and to have some birthday brownie.     

I have the absolute best mom in the whole world.  I thank God daily for blessing me with a mom that has taught me so much.  She really is my best friend.  I don't know how I would make it without her.  Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you!!  This is my favorite picture of me and my mom from many years ago!  

More Olympic Fun

We enjoyed another night of Olympic fun last night (well we have been every night but last night was special).  Our awesome neighbors the McClures came over for dinner and some Olympic activities.  We started out with some Olympic crafts.  

 We did some pool noodle Olympic ring painting.

 Then each of the kids made a flag for the country they were cheering for.

 Then we went outside for some Olympic type activities.  There was balloon badminton and some volleyball.  

 And some pool noodle hurdles.

 Of course no Olympic party would be complete without some Olympic watching.

 Dressing up as Minnie and a fairy is an Olympic sport right?

 Hudson won the gold medal for one year old walking.

 The daddies even got in on some boche ball action.

It was a fun evening with friends.  What a great way to support team USA!!

Gender Reveal

I only had a baby a little less than 3 years ago but things have changed so much in those 3 years.  One of the big things that has changed is gender reveal parties.  It is a fun way to let everyone know what you are having.  Saturday we got to go for our first ever gender reveal party for Kelly and Andrew.  It was awesome!!!  We could not wait to find out if it was a little boy or girl.  Kelly of course went all out for the party.  The decor was all orange and yellow.  So cute!

 Everyone was supposed to wear pink or blue to show what they thought the baby was going to be.  I found these super cute big cousin shirts for the kids to wear.  They were so excited.  Ben thought it was going to be a boy (he senses these things) and all the rest of us were wearing pink.

 This was the big box that held the answer we were all waiting to learn. 

 My awesome brother and Kelly!  Don't they look so cute.  They are going to be awesome parents.  And you can see their votes.

 We all voted by signing a photo mat in the color we thought.

 We got to wear the cutest little stickers to show our vote.

 One of their friends made this awesome shirt for her little boy.  Since Kate wanted to name the baby Princess Daisy there was a little Team Daisy movement!!

 Super cute Kate!!  Excited to find out.

 There were lots of family and friends at the part all ready to see what it was going to be!

 Then it was time!

 And out came BLUE balloons!!  IT'S A BOY!!!!

 So exciting!!!  You could hear Ben yelling over the top of all the screams "I told you so!!!"  He was pumped!

 All the kids had fun playing with the blue balloons.

 We got a fun little onesie that said "I'm the little cousin."  Can't wait for the little guy to wear it!

 We also all submitted suggestions for names and they ended the night reading them.  It was really funny.

What a fun night it was.  I am so excited about my new little nephew in January.  He is already one little loved boy.

Back To School Shopping

I would like to say I am in denial about school starting back.  We have had such a great summer and I am not ready for school to start back.  On the other hand I have 2 kiddos that are super excited to start back to school.  This weekend was the tax free weekend so we decided it was a good time to go get some supplies.  I have always loved school supply shopping.  It is like a "right of passage" for the start of school.  The crowds were a little crazy and we had a hard time finding just what we needed but overall we had a good time and have everything ready for Ben's first day of school.  So excited for him!

 We also went and checked out the class lists that were posted this weekend.  I remember doing the same thing when I was little and it was always so exciting to see who your teacher was and who was in your class.  We are so excited for Ben!  He has an awesome teacher, Mrs. Davis and he knows several of the kids in his class.  His class is a perfect size at 14.  It is going to be an awesome year.  It is such an huge answer to prayer as well.  God is working out all the details perfectly for this school year and we can't wait!

I can't believe my little guy is going to be in kindergarten.  How exciting!  Now we will just enjoy the next 2 weeks of summer!

Summer Tour of Homes - Outside

I took last week off from the tour of homes so thought I would finish off this week with a little look at our outside.  Here is the front of our little house!  

When we were building our house I knew I wanted a cool vine to grow over the arch of the doorway.  We started growing wisteria a couple of years ago and it is amazing.  It just keeps growing and growing.  I just love it!  I am not good at growing things but hopefully I can get up the courage to grow some potted plants by the front door soon.  

 I try to change out the front door decorations each season.  I made this fun watermelon burlap door hanger for the summer.  I think it is fun.  Can't wait to pull out our Auburn wreath for the fall.

We are not the best landscapers on the block but we have worked hard to get some good looking flower beds.  The hot, dry summer has not helped how they look so imagine it looking a little better.

 We are super excited out the latest addition to our landscaping.  Matt has been asking to have a rock border put in since we moved into the house.  Every time I would do a renovation inside he would ask when he was going to get the rock border.  So last week we finally got it!  It looks awesome!

 It goes all the way around the house!

 This is our back porch.  Very sad looking.  Our next big project is going to be to add a flagstone patio, firepit and then screen in the back porch.  I cannot wait!  It is going to be great to have a fun outdoor entertaining space.  I have seen some awesome porch projects on Pinterest.

 This is our Toomer's Oak that we have in our backyard.  It is growing great.  Probably one of our favorite things in the yard.

 And this is the kid's favorite part of the yard!

Well, I guess that is about it!  You have seen all our house now.  Hope you have enjoyed and now we have a record of what our house looked like in 2012.

Going For The Gold

Olympic fever has taken over the Eckley household for the last week.  We are loving the Olympics!  The TV stays on most of the day and we watch whatever sport is on.  Matt and I have been staying up late each night watching to see what happens.  The kids are really enjoying all the different sports and cheering for the USA.  So far synchronized diving and water polo are Ben's favorites.  I (like most women) like the gymnastics and swimming.  I laugh when my heart starts beating fast as I watch a swimming race.  The lady interviewing those poor swimmers when they are done is cracking us all up.  She asks the worst questions!   Everything has turned into a race with medals awarded including who can buckle their seat belt fastest (I still have yet to medal in this event).  It really has been fun!  We are looking forward to another week of watching the Olympics.  

Tonight we went to the local yogurt place and their "Go for the Cold" event.  We are eating our yogurt in support of the USA.  

Here the kiddos are watching the rowing event tonight.  

 Cheering on the USA ladies to a gold medal!

Cracking Us Up...

Every once in a while I try to post some of the funny things the kids say so I can remember how funny they were at this age.  Lately they have just been cracking us up with some of the things they say.  I don't have any pictures today.  Totally mean to take some but I am just too tired.  We have been staying up way to late watching the Olympics!  

Speaking of the Olympics...

The other night we were watching synchronized diving and the Mexican pair came up to the board.  Ben said, "Mexicans - they have good restaurants."  

We are hopefully going to get to find out this weekend if Andrew and Kelly are having a boy or a girl.  This has led to some funny conversations...

Out of nowhere at dinner one night Kate said, "I am going to have a cousin.  It will be a girl and she will be named Princess Daisy."  (Kelly said they would take the name under consideration).  

At another random lunch Ben said, "I think they are having a boy.  I can sense these things you know."  

At lunch yesterday Ben said the prayer...

"Thank you God for everything you made.  Thank you for the food.  Thank you for my family.  And thank you for the person who wrote Star Wars."  

The boy is totally obsessed.  But at least he is thankful and prays for George Lucas.