Wow, I am a slacker! Part 2

Thanksgiving! By far my favorite holiday, I. Love. To. Eat. This was a special one, my cousin, who joined the Navy in July came home for a visit. The best part was that he surprised our Gram. She didn't think he was coming home for another week. They were talking on Skype when he walked into the room. It was a moment I'll never forget. She started crying as she held him. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. As my Gram would say, "precious".

So sweet!

Jesse and Ella

 Pigtails!! Any mom of a little girl is counting down the days until her hair is long enough to put in pig tails. We finally reached that milestone! The problem now is that she won't hold still. It sounds like someone is killing her, but it's worth it. Look how cute:

The next event in our lives was a visit from my friend, Christina. She brought her boyfriend, Lenny home for the very first time. Her visits are always such a joyous time, but never long enough. She needs to move home, I miss her.
Her visit inspired another major event for us: The Brellas spending their first night away from home. As we partied it up at Christina's family Christmas party our children were exhausting Matt's mom and stepfather!  I was never worried about the kiddos or my in-laws, but myself. I didn't call a million times or go and pick them up in the middle of the night (which might have happened once before when they were supposed to stay the night at my mom's house)! Go me!

Christina, Lenny and Ella

Christina, Lenny and Bradley

BFF!

I love that Christina and I lean into each other and the men just stand there because we are making them, priceless

Now you are all caught up! With Christmas right around the corner we'll have more to share soon!

Wow, I am a slacker! Part 1

This is going to be pretty long, so I'll break it up into Parts. I'm going to be more diligent about our blog in 2012!

Let's see....we had pictures taken in August, but I never picked them up, so when we went to have our pictures taken for Christmas we got them all, it's amazing how much these little guys change in a few short months!

Love this face! Bradley at 18 months.

Happy guy!

22 months, so handsome!

He loves to make funny faces!

Ella, 18 months

Such a cutie!

Ella, 22 months- such a grown up!

They are talking up a storm these days. For a long time we were worried about Bradley because he just wasn't talking. Ella was chatting like crazy (this was one of those times that it was hard not to compare, I know better, they are two DIFFERENT children. Just like any other separate pregnancy siblings). No worries these days!! They can both count to 10!

In October, we made our annual trip to Georgia to visit Matt's Grammy and Grampy. Our children are so blessed to have a full set of great grandparents!

Grammy and Bradley

Matt's Uncle Dan showed up for a visit too, it's has been a long time since all the Eckerts have been together. We tried to get a family photo, the results were, uh, not good.

 

Priceless

Next came Halloween! I used my domestic skills to make my children's costumes. This was my very first sewing project. It wasn't too bad and now I'm a sewing addict, it's so much fun!

Pebbles

Bam Bam

 

I could eat them, they are so cute!

Part 2- coming soon!

No Babies Were Harmed in the Making of This Video

Since I was pregnant I've heard stories of twins who have a special bond and seem to understand each other when nobody else does. My children have never really acknowledged the others existence. So, the other night when I was cooking dinner I noticed them playing with each other on the fire place. They were giving each other high fives and hugs. It was too cute. I grabbed the camera to film this rare moment. That's when I captured another memorable moment, not quite the one I was looking for.

My better half!

It is pretty much known that this blog is not authored by our entire family, but by me, mom and wife. Therefore, you get to learn a lot about me, but not so much about my wonderful husband and the Brellas daddy. So, this post is dedicated to him.

Matthew Oakley Eckert is one of the greatest people I have ever known, he's intelligent, loving, hardworking and passionate. At the same time he has the ability to drive me absolutely out of my mind. What more could I ask for? 

Some little known facts about Matt:

• He loves, loves, loves Notre Dame (the college itself and of course FOOTBALL). Most of this I'm sure comes from his faith as a cradle Catholic.
• He hides the fact that he is super smart, he's an engineer after all!
• His favorite movie is "The Goonies", he even owns a piece of the house they filmed it in. As I told him I was writing this post and talking about this movie he lifted up his shirt to show me his "Goonies" undershirt, now that's a true fan.
• He totally got me hooked on the T.V. show, "Love in the Wild", yet I'm not allowed to watch, "The Bachelor" because it's stupid.
• He named his dog after camping gear.
• He wanted to name our first born son, King.
• He prays with our children every night before they go to sleep.
• His first girlfriend was named Laura (So was his last!).
• He is privy to information that he could tell me, but then he'd have to kill me.
• His reaction to my pregnancy was complete fear, but now he can't believe we didn't have them sooner. Best Daddy Ever!! 

First hair cut!!

Our little babies are all grown up, so grown up that they desperately needed haircuts. Ella's bangs have been falling into her eyes for over a month and Bradley was sporting a full mullet. Luckily, my step mother, Mary is a hairstylist and was able to give the Brellas a much needed first hair cut!

Bradley before, look at those curls!

Bradley after, so handsome!

Ella before, hair in the eyes!

Ella after, I love the grumpy look on her face.

"Do you see what they're doing to me?"

"I love my daddy!"

Family photo with groomed children!

The Spooky Old Tree...

It seems lately that I have been obsessed with words. Not my own, but those of my children. When it comes to development my kids are always on the slower side of the normal range. In my heart I know that it is still "normal", but I just worry. Even though I have 2 kids I'm still a first time mom, experiencing all of these milestones for the first time. There is some part of me that thinks maybe I could be doing more...more reading, talking, well everything.
So, for the past two weeks I've been working on communication! I'm asking the Brellas more questions and explaining what things are, even when they don't seem to care. I've managed to get Ella to point and say "da da" to everything, even me. Plan backfired.
I've also unleashed the reader in my young daughter, she's always loved books, but now she loves them on a whole new level. Today, she kept bringing me, "The Berenstain Bears and The Spooky Old Tree". Don't get me wrong I love this book (in fact it was my favorite book growing up), but I read it at least 10 times today (5 of those one after the other). I was very glad when Matt got home and was able to take over. However, he kept reading with different accents and Ella wasn't amused, so she brought it back to me. I think this particular book might get "lost" for a few days.
The moral of the story is, RELAX. They have a well check up tomorrow and I'm sure I'll hear they are right on track.
Did I also mention they are officially 18 months old? My little babies are growing up.

Our Fairytale Engagement

During the summer of 2006 I was working in Malibu, California at a camp for blind children. Matt was home in Colorado Springs. We had been a couple for a little over a year. I knew that first summer that he was going to be my husband and he thought the same thing, but he had a saying, "You need to get to know someone through all the seasons before marriage is a option".
Before I left for California, Matt and I had gone to a jeweler to look at engagement rings. We had decided that I would pick out  two rings and he would make the final decision, this way it would still be a surprise, but I would get a ring that I really loved. I wanted an emerald cut diamond, but Matt really liked the princess cut. So, the salesperson helped us find two settings we really liked, one for the emerald and one for the princess. When they dropped the princess cut diamond into the setting all I could say was, "Holy cow". It was spectacular, I've never seen anything like it. I liked the emerald setting too, but I was in love with this one. I left the decision up to Matt as promised.
Matt came to California to visit at the end of July. I had a few days off and we decided to go to Disneyland with my new friend, Kari. I was so happy to see him, this was a small camp with 30 employees sharing one phone and two computers. I didn't get much time to talk to Matt, so to have him there in person was amazing.
I didn't suspect that he would pop the question on this trip, mainly because our family wasn't there and I still had three weeks before coming home and I couldn't imagine saying goodbye to my new fiancee. Getting engaged was the farthest thing from my mind.
After a few hours at the park we decided to have our caricature drawn. I remember that it took forever and I was very concerned about how we would look, goofy or gorgeous? When he was done the artist motioned for us to come take a look. As a women my eyes went directly to my side of the portrait and I immediately started to comment about how I like the way my hair looked. I was so engrossed that I didn't even notice the huge ring and bubble over Matt's head that read, "Will you marry me?". My friend Kari was kind enough to tell me to look up. I was floored and before I knew it Matt was down on one knee holding my hand. To be honest I don't remember anything he said (thankfully he wrote it down for me). I just remember seeing the "Holy cow" ring and giving him the wrong hand. At some point I said, "YES!" and we were engaged! It was truly a fairytale moment and I had my prince charming. I can't believe it's been 5 years since our magical moment. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing husband.

July 26, 2006.

The greatest Aunt Marty!

Matt's, Aunt Marty and her husband, Steve came to visit from Illinois! The last time we saw them I was barely pregnant and they were getting married. Needless to say there wasn't a lot of time to chat, but this time we spent a lot of time visiting and playing with the babies. We were sad to see them go, but we'll cherish the memories!

Chris, Bradley, Ella and Marty

Chris, Matt, Bradley, Ella, Marty and Steve

Ella loves her greatest Aunt Marty!

I got a good one!!

I feel so very proud of myself right now. I did it. I managed to take a good picture of my children. If you read my earlier post you'll know I'll been trying to do this for the past week. Well, today I met VICTORY!
On top of that, my mom bought the babies a water table...so cool! They love it and spent a good 30 minutes playing in the water and getting drenched. Thanks, mom!

Our attempt at a family photo

Splash!

This is it, the "good" one!

I love that Ella is trying to lick Bradley and Saylor just thinks it's a giant water bowl.

"You want what?"

The other day my mother-in-law, Chris asked for a recent, good picture of the Brellas together. She will be going to lunch with an old friend and wanted evidence that she has the cutest grandchildren in the world. Matt and I just looked at each other and I explained to her that we don't have any. I have tons of good pictures individually, but none of the two together. I told her I would try to get one...
That evening when we got home, I took the kiddos into the front yard and start taking a TON of pictures. Guess what? Not a single good picture of the two of them, geez. I'll have to try again tonight.

This is the last "good" picture of the two of them, they are 6 months old.

At the pool

At the zoo

Well, at least they're both in it

Best one of the bunch

What if daddy holds them, hmmm not so much :(

A day at the pool!

My mother-in-law, Chris and I took the babies to the pool for the first time. I thought they would love it (they love baths, it's the same thing, right?) and they did for the first 20 minutes. Then, Ella took in a whole mouth full of water and she was done. A couple minutes later Bradley did the same thing. Next time were going to go to the inside pool and get in the water with them (vs. holding their hands and letting them wade in the water). I'll report back how much fun they have!

Brrrr

I'm cold too!

Sliding and bouncing!

Yesterday I made my mom take us to the park! I haven't been brave enough to do it on my own because there are too many of them and not enough of me. Bradley loved to swing, Ella did not (she knows a baby could get hurt). Most of all they loved the slide!!
When we got back to my mom's house her neighbor had a bouncy castle set up and said we could see if the baby's would "bounce". They couldn't really stand up, but they loved it when we would bounce them from the outside. All and all a very fun day.

I like it!

Weeeeee!

Before

During! This is my favorite!

My mom teaching Ella to climb back up!

Trying to stand, he was unsuccessful.

Bouncy fun!

Do it again!