Halloween festivities

The past few weeks have been crazy for our family.  We have had so much going on and there are times were I feel I am just barely keeping up.  I usually like from 7-10pm when the girls are in bed, the house is clean and I get the chance to just sit and breathe.   The girls are getting over coughs that they have had for a few weeks.  Eric is finally feeling better and we are actually going to be home for a weekend!  Tonight we are taking the girls trick or treating at the Holiday Inn where local businesses set up booths and the kids collect candy.  Tomorrow, the dorms on campus are opening up for the kids to do more trick or treating and on Saturday, if the weather stays decent, we might take the girls to the pumpkin patch.  We still haven’t done it yet, because between our schedules and the weather, it has just not worked out.

In more normal news, Hadley is enjoying her dance class.  She is working on doing what the teacher does and listening to her verbal instructions.  That is really hard work for a three year old.  She is loving it and her teacher says she is doing great.  Zoey Belle is just as crazy as ever.  She loves to do anything that Hadley is doing and really enjoys books, play-doh and legos.

From now until the end of the year we have weddings, family get togethers and everything in between.  I have a feeling January is going to be here before we know it.

I am sure we will have plenty of pictures from this weekend, so I will try to update by Monday with those!

check out all the photos HERE

PJs and Dancing

Lately the girls have been really into this claymation show called Pingu. Basically, it’s a penguin and his family and all the crazy fun they have.

The episodes are only 5 or 6 minutes long and after each one they place this song that the girls love. If Zoey Belle is anywhere in the house, she will immediately start bouncing and nodding her head when she hears it.

Hadley loves, of course, just spinning around in her footy pjs and letting her hair go wild.

Click HERE for all their pics from tonight (they start toward the bottom of the page)

Where has the time gone…?

Sorry for the lack of updates.

I blame Lindsey.

No honestly, the days just fly by. Gerry, our friend who lived in the basement for the past 5 months or so, has moved out. He’s gone to Texas, which seems like a terrible idea, but the promise of income and his girlfriend seem to have convinced him otherwise.

It didn’t seem like we even saw him that much when he was here, but we definitely have missed having him around since he’s been gone.

Hadley always was telling people about Gerry’s mean cat and Zoey would always laugh and smile when he came in the door. I think the girls are probably missing him too.

That aside, it’s business as usual in the Eckert house. Get up, do stuff, eat, nap, do stuff, eat, bathe, sleep and repeat. It’s been a fast and fairly uninteresting year so far, but that’s not a bad thing. We are all here, healthy and happy. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

Skateboarding

Today Garrett and I took Hadley, Makai and Dawson to Aurora to skateboard. The weather was finally nice and is looking to get bad, so we figured we should make the trip.

Dawson had a great time and was able to ride his skateboard all the way down the bank ramp and roll away without falling. I was pretty impressed and proud of him.

Hadley and Makai, on the other hand, were totally content just sliding down the ramps and running around. That’s right, now I’m the guy letting his kids run around a skatepark and slide down the ramps.

After about an hour of skating, we decided to head home. The kids had done a good job and Garrett bought them all a pop from McDonalds on the way home as a treat. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we a get a break in the weather this fall and winter to go again.

Check out new pics HERE

Back in Action

Sunday morning we went to the Des Moines Botanical Center. They’ve got a dome with all sorts of plants and flowers. The girls mostly wanted to look at the waterfall and all the large Koi fish. Zoey lost her shoe at some point, so we had to manage by having her wear her piggy slipper. She didn’t seem to mind.

Hadley is continuing to have problems listening and staying with the group. I think that she just gets excited and she is so ambitious that she doesn’t think twice about leading the pack. The issue is that she just takes off and leaves us in her dust.

We had lunch at Perkins with Michael and Nancy before heading back to Nebraska. Zoey Belle got a grilled cheese and fries, which she spent most of her time tearing apart and throwing on the floor. Hadley got rainbow pancakes, which are basically normal pancakes, except covered in sprinkles and whipped cream. Needless to say, she didn’t leave anything on the plate when she was finished.

The trip back from Des Moines wasn’t too terrible.

Hadley slept a majority of the way, which saved me from having to listen to her nursery rhyme and kids song CD for too long. She really loves those songs, but man are they annoying. I have been singing them in my head all day.

Zoey Belle slept for a bit, but then just enjoyed the drive. She loves making noises and giggling in the back seat.

We got home and were completely exhausted. After Linds got everything put away, the Schwarz family stopped by to say hi for a few minutes before the kids went to bed. Overall they were really well behaved this weekend and we had a great family getaway.

Check out the photos HERE.

Des Moines

well, we are currently sitting in a hotel room in Des Moines. We are staying with Nana and Michael.

This morning we went swimming then to the Science Museum. Hadley and Zoey enjoyed getting to play hands on with all the cool science stuff. We also went to a planetarium type thing at the museum to learn about constellations and the galaxy.

When Hadley sat down she asked Nana if she had any popcorn. I’ve trained her well.

Tonight the plan is to swim, eat and then try and get some sleep. Could be interesting since Zoey Belle figured out how to get in and out if the pack-n-play.