Brother in law...The End.

The last entry for this year is an announcement.....I have a new Brother in Law! Colton is now a big brother and Jason well he's just older :)

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One of my last years resolution is now complete. I kept track of our family and had fun writing about us on our blog. I have enjoyed doing it and I hope we'll enjoy reading all of these entries someday. Next, have a book made.

Joyeux Noël

Christmas was Christmas again. Lots of food,presents, family and friends.

We opened presents at home

and then went to the E's to visit with family before everyone headed their own separate ways. We had homemade waffles for breakfast. Yummy! Afterwards we headed to my aunts for an early dinner then to my G-ma's(she wasn't home)and then back home. Hope everyone had a Feliz Navidad!

10:30 12:30 and 2:30

After eating christmas eve dinner the kids opened one gift each. They always get exited to open their new Pajamas.

I found Korbin a Darth Vader set

(he loves them but they fit hit perfectly so if I dry them they're done for and he'll have floods) and Maddie a hot pink set with cupcakes

(loves her PJ's as well).

Jason and I opened the gifts the kids made for us at school. We have our new ornament for the year and a new christmas story to read. After opening presents for our activity we made a music video to send to my mom. She loves them, to her this is better than any gift we could send her. We each made a paper hat. Maddie was a reindeer and Korbin was one too, Jason was an elf and I was Santa. We sang 'Out on the housetop' in front our x-mas tree. After reading our christmas story we put the kids in bed. New rule... you don't leave your room until morning unless there is an emergency. Maddie was a stinker and woke up a few times. The first time was at 10:30. I was ok with it since it wasn't super late. She got a drink. Tucked her back in bed after answering a few questions that couldn't wait. On christmas eve I stay up and talk on the phone for a while as I do last minute preparations. My sister was a good sport and didn't complain about her minutes for once. At 12:30 Maddie again came out of her room and I had something out that I would have rather not have her see. She's such a stinker. She was up to something. She needed to go to the bathroom. She made a comment on the wrapping paper and talked to my sister on the phone. Again she asked more questions as I tucked her in. After a bit of waiting I got everything done and was just making some finishing touches on some gifts when again someone came out of their bedroom. Maddie at 2:30. She helped me with g-ma E's gift for a few minutes and then we both went to bed. Santa can't come unless everyone is sleep.

Cali

The weekend before christmas I flew down to Cali. It was nice to spend 4 days in nice warm weather. A soon as I got off the plane I was blinded by the sun and also found out I was way overdressed and packed wrong. There was no need for a long sleeve shirt and jeans and more jeans in my luggage.

My trip is a blur, there's always something to do or be done and this trip was no exception. When I wasn't with my little sister helping her with last minute preparations for her pinning ceremony I was at my parents business.

Sunday night=tears. My sister is done with school and her pinning ceremony was emotional, long,happy,fun and final. It was nice to see all of my sisters, mom and dads hard work come together and pay off. The night ended with a bang of dancing.

She's going to make a fabulous nurse!

Other stuff...

I ate yummy food of course. Except I need to remember to ask for hot sauce on the side when I order my tacos from King Taco. My mouth has never felt so hot and my sister was a brat and wouldn't stop for a drink.

I didn't try the new restaurants I'm curious to try without the kids and Jason. That will have to wait until next time.

I wore 3 in heals for my sisters ceremony. A first for me. Even Jason was surprised when I told him. I'm not a fan of being that uncomfortable but formal attire I guess calls for it or so my sister convinced me of.

After using my sisters iphone I can see why people like(now I want one and Jason doesn't care as much for them anymore). Someday.

The kids had fun @ home once they got over the shock they couldn't come with me. They were not happy with me. I left a menu all planned out with their meals (they wouldn't let Jason deviate). With dinners pre made they used their extra time having fun together. I figured they needed a break from house stuff too. Everything was left in it's place. They did a lot. On Sunday they went sledding and had so much fun. The hill was like a sheet of ice and they loved it. Mariana and a few other friends helped so much with the kids. I can't send enough thank you's!

Came home to a lot of neighborhood gifts. I felt somewhat guilty eating all the yummy treats because I didn't make any neighborhood gifts this year. However I got over it:)

Home sweet home! I miss Cali but when I'm there I miss home. I'll have to settle by going back and forth.

Santa

We went to pay our yearly visit to Santa tonight at W. Bay. Maddie asked for a Nintendo DS1 and Korbin asked for a Wii game (Super Smash Brothers Brawl to be exact). Jason and I didn't ask for anything from Santa. I just thought it would be fun to have a picture taken with him (picture taken by Korbin).

After our visit to Santa we went on a fun carriage ride to see the lights around the park(40,000 lights). My favorite part.

Most of the pictures I took of the displays didn't turn out except for a few.

Priorities

Jason and I found this on the kitchen fridge last night.

Korbin must have filled it out. He kept it simple and seems to have his priorities all lined up for each day. I love it!

Four AM

I was up and out the door @ 4 AM yesterday morning. I froze outside for about 2 hours waiting in line(mind you it was a very COLD morning) had to wear a silly hat(the kids love it) and an extra long shirt that almost goes pass my knees (the kids fought for who got to wear that awesome shirt to bed last night) and last but not least had to parade thru a restaurant while people yelled and shouted.

All for 52 free Chick fil a combo meals. Was it worth it... heck yeah! I've got to say I never would have done it by myself or camped out like other people did. I'm not that crazy! It wasn't bad freezing my toes off with my friend Amity by my side. It was a fun adventure!

(Gorgeous pictures to come someday!)

Buffalo

This past weekend Colton and Russ came up. The main event of this trip was Ryan,Spencer and Russ going to Montana to catch themselves a buffalo. Colton stayed with Grandpa & Grandma E. and had plenty of fun with his 'cousins'. The kids loved playing with their uncle. The whole hunting adventure looked cold. Spencer got the buffalo with one shot. Our part in this...I've asked for 10 pounds of buffalo. 10 pounds seems like a good amount to either love buffalo meat or hate it. The kids and I have never had it. I'm not sure if the picture Russ sent us of the buffalo above is the one Spencer shot but I'd rather not post the pictures of the actual buffalo we will eating in a few weeks. The less I know or remember of where my meat comes from the better. If you have any good buffalo friendly recipes please pass them along :)

What are kids for!

Korbin has two friends over. As these 3 boys were sitting around doing nothing productive inside I was raking leaves outside. As I was sulking that today is Friday and Jason didn't have an early work day(Friday's are early days to compensate for late Thrusdays) I thought why am I out here freezing while I have three boys sitting inside on a nice warm couch.

So here's what happened next....

Jason isn't home but I can hear him clear as day saying 'that's why we had kids!'

The extra two kids today indirectly volunteered.

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What did I do during this time...caught up on my e-mail and wrote this short post inside a nice warm house:)

Monkey Man

Korbin went from looking like a monkey man

to looking like a drill sergeant.

Girlfriend

Saddie aka Russ's girlfriend passed away yesterday. We're sad we wont get to play with her anymore. She had an endless amount of energy even as she got older. She was a very happy dog and a Bush supporter. She was a great campaign dog for Bush with her Bush bandana a few years ago. She was truly spoiled by Russ. Colton used to growl like Saddie before he even knew how to talk. She'll be missed by the kids.

Girls Club & Boys Schedules

I love that my kids have great friends around that they get to play with almost on a daily basis. On Monday Maddie started her first girls club with some of her girlfriends.

On Monday night I noticed that she had arranged all of her friends self portraits on the wall next to her bed. I thought it was so cute. I obviously needed to take pictures of it. She likes spending time with these girly girls.

Korbin has great friends as well. Some of his friends he plays with just at school and some that he plays with after school. During the summer Korb spent a lot of his time with Conner M. and Ben N. All three of these boys had a blast together during the summer months at the pool. Now they all go to scouts together and have a blast during their den meetings too.

Korbin has a lot of fun with these guys.

Peaches

All those canned peaches might not last as long as we thought they would with Maddie around...

Last night we opened our first jar of canned peaches and loved them!  We all enjoyed our Sunday treat except Korbin. He vetoed his way out of it. He really does not like peaches. He's our picky eater, I'm getting accustomed to the look he gives us when we offer him certain foods.  That kid lives off of PB and J everyday! He reminds me so much of myself when it comes to food except I never liked PB and J growing up. Yuck.
Maddie ate about 90% of the jar of peaches in about 3 minutes and asked for more afterwards. I really wonder how she stays so skinny.

My first time canning wasn't a bad experience like I had imagined it would be like. It was messy but not as messy as some of my other projects I try. I love calling Jason and telling him my tasks and imaginative ideas for the day. Some ideas he talks me out of(safety concerns I'm sure) but for the most part he's a good hubby who endures the good results along with the bad results. The first 10 times I made homemade rolls was an interesting and expensive adventure. Also I have given up on my quest of making a great homemade pizza for a while. Thanks Callie for letting me pick peaches off your peach tree and Crystal for the apricots and Grandma E for lending me the steam canner that we used so much this summer!

Halloween

Halloween day this year was spent at Grandma and Grandpa E's. Russ(Jason's dad), Colton and Sadie came down from Colorado for a few days. It's always fun to see my little brother in law.

It's fun to see his confused expression when the kids call him uncle. He corrects the kids with 'my name is Colton'. Sadie wasn't feeling well on this trip. She's 11 yrs. old and a beautiful well behaved very clean dog. She truly is spoiled and she knows it too. We hope she gets better soon so she can chase the kids around.

The kids taught Colton how to throw a frisbee. He did it except kinda backwards. It was cute to watch.

We had a light dinner and went trick or treating around the cul de sac before going to Kati's.

Halloween night we spent at Kati's. It's a fun tradition we look forward to each year. We had dinner and went around her neighborhood for some candy. The kid

s always stock up very nicely. We had six adults and 5 kids this year. The odds were in our favor. After we got settled back at Kati's the kids ran around like crazy from all the sugar and at this point we confiscated the candy.

We brought Ethan home with us for a sleep over. They fell asleep right away...a first for this crowd!

Wizards of Waverly Place

Disclaimer; Unnecessary to read. Won't miss much if skipped!
  It all started with Maddie having a tummy ache on Friday night. She complained early in the night but I didn't quite get how severe it was until she threw up...not at our house but at someone else's house during a Halloween get together. Surprisingly I wasn't as mortified as I thought I would be due to the circumstances. I'm becoming quite mellow lately maybe I'm realizing I can't control everything and I'm slowly starting to turn to Jason's was of thinking. She was sick for the rest of the night. I claim every 20 minutes but I've been corrected that it wasn't that bad the entire night. Compromise... It was every 20 at the beginning of the night until 12 and then once more at 2(that's when I blanked out for the night) and then one last time at 4(when Jason fell asleep). We took care of Maddie together so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but still a sleepless night shows the next day. Jason slept on the coach Maddie on the floor with me on one side and a garbage can on her other. Korbin woke up early and refreshed the next day since he feel asleep on our bed.

No pictures could be included in this post some things are better never to be seen. 

On Sat things didn't get any better for Jason and I, we both got sick but not as bad as Maddie. Korbin was a great helper all day long and managed not to get sick. I still quarantined him once Jason and I got started to get sick just in case. Yesterday was full of red Jello, frequent naps and the Wizards of Waverly place October marathon. Jason and I like to watch kids shows which sometimes shock people but we enjoy it(we sometimes even catch ourselves watching them when the kids aren't around) but we might have reached our limit yesterday.
Today was clean up day. We feel much better today and did almost the same things as yesterday except there was more food,showers, and fun movies. Maddie lost her 2nd tooth and we had fried ice cream for dessert. Tonight was a much better night. I'm counting this event on my 2009 'Redo days'.

Halloween Prep

Costumes...Costumes...Costumes... I'm glad to say costumes are almost out of the picture. I'm glad Korbin has decided he wants to reuse his Power Ranger costume from last year(in the long run this has been a big help since we're not home very much right now). Working on only one costume has been a nice break. Maddie's costume was somewhat easy to make once I got a few kinks out of the way. I couldn't find a pattern for the skirt I wanted to make so I had to try and make it using Mad's and my imagination. It's not exactly what I had in mind but very close. She loves it and that's all that matters anyway. The puffy underskirt was the challange but I sought some advice on how make it from a few sewing experts in our ward (older ladies are very cute and patient). Can't beat experience! The shoes we found @ the GAP in Park City last Friday. Cute silver flats. They didn't have her size but not to worry a few phone calls yesterday and voila there in the mail coming all the way from Colorado. I love silver(flashback... Jason had a red rose spray painted silver once for me. It was really neat)! Maddie will be a cute Minnie Mouse and Korbin a cool Power Ranger this year!

Note to self for next year: After posting this and spending a little bit of time this afternoon with Tosha M. and Tammy B. I have found this is the second year in a row either one of them has the costume my kids want to be for Halloween. I'm bypassing stuff next and seeing what's available up the street first :) These two ladies crack me up and are great examples to me to want to be a better person.

Spousecation

Jason had his last vacation for the year last week. It's a very well deserved vacation and a nice break before it gets crazy with the Holiday season. It's a blackout from now until the second week of January for us. The only thing that will keep him at home now would be the swine flu and I'd rather him go to work than have that or if his shoulder keeps bothering him (he tore a muscle a few weeks ago and it's been a bit sore since then but the doctor said it would probably be ok if he takes it easy at work and stretches his shoulder out everyday). He is spoiled and I will admit it is very nice to be spoiled with 5 weeks off a year. We spent almost every day together except for a few things. We found some cool Lunch deals while we were out for every day of the week except Monday. We went to Boston's on Monday. I prefer never to return there again. Even the salad was gross. We've decided Chilli's is our official favorite place to eat. It's just plain good food. We tried a few other new places like The Pita Pit. They have a great and yummy Wed deal. The rest of the week was filled with shopping,errands,pack meetings, movies,other meeting, more stuff and a few fabrics store. Handcock fabrics included a 23 minutes trip inside . This was not one of Jason's favorite pass times of the week but he was a good sport and was patient with our purchase of less than one yard. Picking out the fabric took less than 10 second the wait in line to have the fabric cut was very very long. All in all it was a very nice and laid back week!

Aunt

My Aunt Eva passed away tonight(my aunt on my mom's side). She was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago. The last few months have been rough for my mom's side of the family. My aunt was at a recovery facility when she passed away. Everything that could have have been done was tried but the cancer was spreading too rapidly in her body. My aunt would always tease all of her nieces and nephews to always think outside the box when it came life. She found joy in giving us advice probably because she wasn't able to have children of her own. I am grateful for the opportunity to have spend an hour with her last week before she passed away. She talked to my mom on the phone while I paid my last visit and it has left me with such a fond memory of my aunt smiling/laughing while talking to my mom. My grandparents are coping the best they can with the loss of their daughter. We'll all miss her very much but we know she is in a better place now free from the pain she was suffering from.

Baptism

4 years ago today I was baptized as a member of the LDS church. Our small family has had many changes since then. We've grown closer to our Heavenly Father and we see and know all the many blessings he has given us for the last four years. I'm thankful for my family and for all their hard work and laughter they bring into our home.

A few things I want to remember from that wonderful day:

1)Jason being able to baptize me

2)He only had to dunk me once

3)We forgot towels and as I sat in the bathroom freezing Jason and I talked thru the walls and we laughed at what was happening

(help came to the rescue)

4)Many others but these are just a few that have popped in my head right now

Thursday

Thursday October 1st:

A 50% off family size Papa Murphy's pizza(Papa's perfect),pajamas,an early Thursday for Jason,Monster vs. Aliens, junk food!,Golden Oreos (one of my favorite thing),The Office (the first episode we have watched this season...laughed almost the entire time),board games and funny non flattering pictures of each other to kick start the night, I think I got it all.

Yup! We're The North Ogden Eckardt's.

Other Eckardt happenings:

Colorado...Expecting a baby.

Layton...Sending away a cute missionary in 3 weeks.

S. Ogden...Golfing.

Ca/Wayments...Moving to Arizona.

Salt Lake City

Today was Korbin's first 3rd grade field trip and it was like no other field trip he's been on. Our field trip started by first catching a ride on the Front Runner by the train station followed by a quick ride on Trax that took us to our final destination The Gateway. The kids had an exiting trip on both the Front Runner and Trax. Trax might have been a little bit more exiting due to the jerking of the train when it would make stops. I thought it was fun until someone landed on my toes during one of the jerks, not so fun after that for me but Korbin was having a blast!

We ate lunch by the fountain and the kids had a little free time before we headed into The Clark Planetarium. The Planetarium is a really cool place for kids to explore. I had forgotten how much fun it can be since it has been at least a year since Jason and I have taken the kids there. Anyway after a scavenger hunt of over an hour inside the planetarium we headed into one of their cool theaters for a 40 minute shows called The Ultimate Universe. The kids really enjoyed it!

Afterwards we jumped back on Trax then we jumped back on the Front Runner,were I had a 'what kind of friend do we want to be' conversation with Korbin (hate having these, not my favorite part of parenting)and the next thing I know we are back by the train station where it all began. It was a great field trip! The 3rd grade teachers really pulled it off. It was a fun trip and I can see this as being one of Korbin favorite 3rd grade memories.

We left @ 8:17 and returned back home around 4:30. It was one of those days were if the house would have been left clean and spotless it would have been clean and spotless all day:)

I think about silly things like that:)

WoRk

My new adventure as a substitute teacher has started. Today was my first day teaching a full day. I taught a class a few weeks ago but it was really more like volunteer work in my opinion. Helping children read for two hours and having an hour off is just what I would do for free in Korbin's or Maddie's classrooms.

Today was a new experience. I was able to teach one of Korbin's 2nd grade teachers class. This year Mrs. C has moved from 2nd grade up to 5th grade. She's very well organized and loves bright pens and lots of Post It's. The day went pretty smoothly as far teaching materials went. We did have a gray hour where we entered attitude chaos mode right before lunch. After seeking and following some advice from other teachers and having a lunch break the class recovered and we finished the day with most of the kids agreeing it was a two thumbs up kind of a day. I'm hoping they remembered the two thumbs up stuff when they went home and told their moms how their day was at school. Today just flew past me.

Music

We've taken a break from piano lessons for the past few weeks. I'm glad we took this break from piano since we had Korbin continue his piano lessons during the summer. Last year around this time of year it was overwhelming having the kids in so many different things. This year I backed off a few things and piano was it for the month of Sep. Today after church I had Korbin practice a few songs for a little while just to keep him on his toes since he has 2 more weeks off. Afterwards Maddie wanted to play. I taught her a few simple things I know like finger position,some of the notes, etc. She caught up pretty fast and really liked it. We played together for a few minutes and then I left her to herself. I'm not sure when she'll start piano lessons but I don't think we'll wait until the beginning of next year. It made my day when I came up a while later and saw her still playing the notes she now knows to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She was very content and made my day.

Rebel or Crazy Mom

When it comes to soccer this year is Maddie

a)a rebel

b)being stubborn or

c)maybe her mom is crazy

I've gone back and forth between these choices and others over the past 3 weeks. Maddie hasn't been into soccer and I didn't or couldn't understand why.Today during her game my reasoning was it's all my fault because I drilled into this poor little girl she was going to be on a team with her coach from last year and with a few cute girls she really loves to play soccer with and as it turns out she's not on that team. Her new coach is great with her and is very understanding especially today after Maddie just stood there and watched the ball go past her more than once as the other team scored and after many pleas for her to run. Let's just say she wouldn't play and she sat out half the game. I vented to Addy's mom today and she was kind enough to listen to me. Nicole was Maddie's coach two years ago. Frustration was all over me. So when Maddie asked if she could play with a friend today after the game I said NO over and over again because I felt she didn't try at all during her game so no rewards if you don't try your best. Well I should know better by now, Maddie isn't a very talkative person when it comes to expressing her feelings. She doesn't like to show certain feelings to others. A few minutes ago after another plea for a friend I told her no and why not yet again. After another emotional spill she explained to me that she doesn't know how to play this soccer and that's why she doesn't want to play. I gave her a baffled look! Crazy mom sat silent for a minutes as she recalled a conversation she had with a few friends at lunch 2 days ago. How are kids expected to play if they don't know what they're expected to do. Positions! That's what she's not getting.

We talked it over figured out the problem and hopefully figured out a solution...Sigh...this parenting stuff keeps throwing me curve balls.. Sigh...I guess we need to practice practice practice positions with friends starting tonight.

So far

...our days are full of schoolwork,homework,practices,soccer games and hanging out with friends. We're squeezing in the fun wherever and whenever we can in between all of the above. The kids are doing great in school and we're getting into a steady scheduled rhythm again.

Fun highlights we have done in the last few weeks...

Over Labor Day weekend we did a little newspaper route. The kids really got into it once they were awake. Things in the dark are a bit dangerous, I still have the scratches to prove it on my leg from a small rose bush (it looked like just a non thorny bush in the dark). We ate a dozen donuts within an hour on Sat. morning. On Monday Jason and I agreed that we would never call or complain if our newspaper is ever late,is a little wet or isn't on the right side by the door where we like it to be every morning. We got plenty of exercise and learned to work as a team,that part was a bit tricky.

School Carnival. The kids pay for their own tickets every year for this event. The carnival is probably one of the only things that Maddie and Korbin will really stick to doing jobs for with very little effort on my part when it comes to me reminding them of why they should do their chores/jobs. This year they each decided to buy $4 worth of tickets which doesn't seem like a lot but it lasts just about the right amount of time with the long lines and the bumming around that we like to do. The kids had a lot fun!

Soccer

Soccer has started again...

This year I enrolled Korbin in soccer so he could get some exercise. He likes soccer and has never officially complained about playing soccer but he never showed any enthusiasm towards it either. Jason and I just came to an understanding that he just didn't like it and maybe that is why he didn't seem to put any hard effort into it when he would play. Sports aren't a big thing to him, so we just let it go this year.

Of course it doesn't fail that as soon as I come to terms with something that drives me crazy it magically gets better. He ran so much during Saturdays game I was surprised. He did a great job helping out his team. All we have to do now is go over positions so he doesn't run around all over the field:)

I'm hoping that he'll keep up with the running and keeps enjoying soccer just as much as he did last Sat.

Maddie played well. She still loves soccer. The other day Jason asked what she liked more soccer or doing dance stuff (like the junior cheer leading stuff she was doing) she really took her time to answer his question but her final answer was soccer. She scored a goal at her first game of the season. She's so funny she was a defender but somehow ended up being a forward. We can tell she likes being a forward so much more,she just loves to run.

After scoring she was done playing,she yawned so much during her game I stopped counting after a while. She was dragging. I'm glad I didn't enroll her in any other sport and I'll be careful with how much she does during the week. She's still having a little bit of a hard time waking up in the morning but she's getting there. I use to be the same way when I was younger. My mom finds Maddie's morning rituals hilarious because she lived through the same experience when I was Maddie's age.

WHS

We signed Maddie up to be a junior cheerleader last week at a local high school. During the week she learned a dance and a few cheers. On Friday she performed during half time at a football game.She did a great job!and had a lot of fun!

By the end of the night she was so exhausted from a busy week she ate a bowl of cereal and crashed hard in a chair. She had a very busy first week of school.

This is where Korbin spent most of his time during the game. Playing with friends far away from us. What a stinker!