Busy Eckerts

I am back to full time work now which means full time daycare for the kids.  Emmy goes to gymnastics and swimming when she is at school and has started the preschool curriculum.  She is busy and always has a lot to talk about.  Bobby is Mr. Popular in his class.  Every kid seems to enjoy him and he loves his teacher (and she loves him too).  He always is so friendly to everyone there and he likes his classroom.  There have been a couple more families that have started going to this school again this year which is fun for us.  It has been a hot end of August so we've been swimmig in our pool a lot.  It has also been a good start to my work school year.  It will be a busy fall with some work trips I've planned and I've also volunteered to start teaching Sunday School.  Emmy is excited to go with me but she isn't in my classroom as I have been paired with 1st and 2nd graders.

Family picture time

We took a family picture this summer and it literally was a 2 minute photo shoot.  We got a couple great shots out of it.  I'm so proud of my beautiful little family.  Today marks Robb and I together for 6 years!  It's been a great six years.

Play park

We also hit the indoor play park and put some quarters in the bus for the kids to drive.  Grandma Pearl came with us and it was fun to spend some time with her.

What we did while dad was away

I took the kids to the park and we played pretty hard while dad was away

 My cuddle bug....this is my favorite thing to do with my boy.  Just snuggle him up in a blanket and hold him close!

Bobby did not want to share the steering wheel with Emmy for this picture.  He has a hard time sharing the driving duties at any park or during play time.  We then took a time out since it was so hot and ran through the sprinklers that turned on while we were playing.  The kids loved it!

Just the kids and me

The kids and I have had a lot of time together since Robb is gone for softball since Thursday.  Today we went to the gym, the store and just enjoyed each other.  When Emmy got up she was still sleepy and so she laid down on the couch.  Bobby came over and told her that he was her prince and he would kiss her to wake her up.  She really wasn't ready for Bobby's special attention and so I told him that I"d be his princess.  "No, Emmy is my princess"  he said.  I asked him what I was to him then and he said, "You're my mommy Jody Eckert!"  As I'm typing this he yells out "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum....I'm going to see my mum"  Then he runs over to me and says, "Mommy, I love you my baby bumblebee"  He really just warms my heart on a daily basis!

I wear my sunglasses at night!

My little super star came out of her bedroom around 9:00 last night requesting that I find her sunglasses for her so she could wear them to bed.  She told me her room was too bright to sleep in and that wearing her sunglasses would help with this.  I tried to warn her this could be dangerous since she rolls around so much.  She really couldn't be swayed and so I found her glasses for her and later on came into her room and removed them while she was sleeping.  I couldn't resist taking a picture first.

Robb's first 10K!

I talked Robb into running a 10K with me. He's only been training for a month and he didn't stop to walk even one time during the race.  We ran the race in 57 minutes!  The course was a lot of hills which is also really tough.  We met up with my aunt Cathy and cousin Cheyenne at the race as well and Cathy took these pictures.  The kids were at the finish line with Bob and Candy holding up a sign and looking very cute in their track suits.  They were so excited to see us and I was super excited to see them (I am actually waving to them in one of the pictures).

 Here I am trying to encourage Robb to finish strong!

 Here we are getting ready to start

Waving to our fans......cute little kids that were waving to us

Pontoon fun!

Daren and Carly took us all on a boat ride again this past weekend.  The kids LOVED it.  They played on the sand bar and Bobby insisted on driving with Daren every chance he got.  He would try to move Daren's hands off the wheel so he could have sole ownership of driving.  He would ask very nicely, "Captain Dawin, can I drive with you?"  We had a fun time on a beautifuly day.

Amusement park fun!

We had some family fun at the amusement park this past weekend.  Emmy made a new guy friend who she shared stories of past rides at Busch Gardens with.  The kids loved going down the super slide and riding all the rides they were tall enough for!  Emmy went on the swing ride with Bobby and they had so much fun until the ride started going in the backwards direction.....Bobby was close to tears when we asked them to stop the ride and his  mommy rushed in to rescue him.  Emmy was trying to comfort him when I ran over and she told me that he didn't like going so fast.

Urban Harvest 2013

We had a great time at Urban Harvest this year once again.  Emmy got a hula hoop last year and so before we left she told me that she was going to buy Bobby a hula hoop too!  She ran and got her piggy bank of coins and helped him pick out the perfect hoop.  They both are so cute to watch as they hula hoop.....Emmy has actually gotten very good.  Grandma Launa was there and she helped Emmy pick out some cute hair ties and the lady who was selling them let Emmy have a free ring that she chose with her.  We all stopped by a cupcake shop and got some treats.  Bobby did some fancy dancing!

 They held hands as they explored and Emmy showed Bobby where the hula hoops were located

I was changing Bobby's diaper and I thanked him for sitting so still and being a good boy.  He put his little hands on his hips and said in a deep voice, "Just doing our jobs mom."  Later on he got after my computer pushing buttons on it to the point where it was really messed up.  I started scolding him and put him in time out but he was smiling at me and almost laughing.  Not really taking me seriously.  So I scolded him a little louder and emphasized that he would be staying in time out.  Then he started crying that he didn't want to be in time out.  During this episode, Emmy came up behind me and started yelling out to me, "Mom, just make sure to tell him you will still love him,"  I tried to ignore this to focus on Bobby but she kept repeating this over and over again until I had to ask her to stop.  When I scold her it is always really important to her that she know that I still love her very much and so I always must say this to her during her time out or reprimand. The difference is that she takes me seriously and feels bad when she is naughty whereas Bobby just waits me out so he can go back to doing whatever he got into trouble for again.

Space Aliens

We took the kids to Space Aliens yesterday for dinner since it was a night where proceeds would go to the students traveling to Guatemala this year.  The kids enjoyed their pizzas but more importantly were pretty excited about the games.  Once the games were completed they had lots of tickets to redeem for prizes.  Here is Emmy with her monster teeth that she won....she actually does look pretty scary!  Bobby has a new saying now.  Yesterday when asking me for something he asked......"pretty please with candy cheese!"

We also went to see my friend Jill and her new baby Charlie Belle.  The kids loved seeing the baby but Bobby did come up to me while I was holding the baby and say, "Mommy you need to hold your baby bumblebee"  Levi and Bobby were new friends.  Bobby dressed up like a pirate and told me he would save me since I was his princess.  Emmy and Lexi dressed up and played pretend too.  The kids didn't want to come home. 

A little more zoo

 The kids really enjoy the zoo.  I always bring quarters to buy corn so they can feed the goats and mini horses.  Bobby can't get more corn fast enough and made another family laugh since he ran over to them and said, "Hey, I need more corn!"  I had corn but the family was closer and Bobby is not shy.

He also waved to this huge ostrich. Emmy was kind of nervous of these big birds but not Bobby!

Eckerts support the students going to Guatemala

The kids took a picture in their Guatemala run T shirts.  They were excited to be matching!

A fun Saturday morning for us ladies

 Since Bobby was sick we had two less runners for the family fun run.  I had planned on defending my win from last year's Guatemala River run but Emmy did not want to miss the race.  Therefore we changed the plan and she and I ran the 10K (I pushed the jog stroller).  We listened to Disney tunes and she had a snack along the way.  We started way in the back since I thought that we would be slower than the racers but Emmy got such a kick out of passing people that she motivated me to run fast.  Every time we passed someone she would yell, "Yay Mommy, congratulations!!!"  We ended up passing all the lady runners and most of the men!  We finished the 10K in 48 minutes and that is with pausing at the start to make sure we had our tunes figured out.  When we got about 200 yards from the finish line I told Emmy to get out and we ran another 100 yards holding hands.  Then I told her that she should race ahead of me and get first (and beat her mom).  She loved that and also enjoyed the cheering the students did for her as she crossed the finish line.  She chatted their ears off for a while and I showed some of the students a video of Bobby singing since he couldn't be there to show off his personality.  My kids are just my whole life!

After the race, Emmy and I went to the BisMarket in the park and she jumped in a bounce house and played for a good 45 minutes.  Then we went to Capital Affair where she and I walked around and had a great time checking all the crafts and food out.  Emmy picked out some hair barrettes (she's wearing them in the picture), ate some roasted almonds, found a big hair bow she loved and then picked out balloon yo yos for her and for Bobby.  Then we headed to the food court where she got to pick one treat and she chose the sno cone.  She was really enjoying it while we waited for some fire roasted pizzas to take back to our guys Bobby and Robb.  She made some new friends while sitting and eating her sno cone and was chatting up these senior citizens like they had known each other forever.  When one of them commented to me that Emmy was not shy, Emmy launched into a story about a friend she has that was shy at first.  Emmy said being shy is okay and that after a while this friend started to really like Emmy which is how they became such good friends.  Emmy had quite an audience of captive listeners by the time we left.  I just enjoy our time together so much. 

Later on Emmy went to Gabriel's birthday while Bobby and I stayed home.  Robb was home with us for a while before he headed to the party since Bob and Candy had taken Emmy early.  Bobby and Robb were played and Robb was ticking Bobby.  "Mommy, come and save your baby bumblebee!" Bobby started yelling for me.  We always call each other 'my little baby bumble bee' but to hear him call for me in that way was so funny!  He had moments where he had energy but nap time was him crying that his ears, tongue hurt.  He layed in my lap all day and just was not himself.  Emmy and I said a prayer tonight that Bobby will feel better.

Bobby is under the weather and unfortunately missing out on a lot of fun times

 Poor Bob-Bob got sick on Friday and so he stayed  home with daddy and rested while Emmy and I went to the park.  She reprised many classic pop hits on the instruments that were at the park.  We had a great time but got back in plenty of time to give Bobby extra cuddle time.  I was up all night providing cool wash clothes to keep his fever down and checking on him while he slept.