Perfect Timing

If there is possibly a good time to get sick, during the Olympics is one of them. We had already cleared our schedule and were plopped on the couch already, so being sick wasn't all that bad. A nasty cold moved in and took down Annabelle and myself with Samuel getting it a bit.

 

 

Annabelle was quite thrilled because in our home we severely limit our children's television exposure until they are 2, and she had made the cut a whole month previous. The Olympics couldn't have come at a better time for her!

 

 

And with everyone being sick, our king snuggle bug, Joseph, was thrilled with all the extra snuggle time he got with his family.

London 2012 Summer Olympics

Andy and I love the Olympics! But, having no cable makes it quite a struggle to enjoy them. And missing them just wasn't an option we were too excited about. So, we bought cable for the duration of the Olympics. It was amazing! For about 2 weeks we trimmed down our schedule and hunkered down to soak up as much of it as we could. We even (gasp) ate dinner in front of the television a few times.

Seeing as though I'm a homeschool mom and I just can't bear to see good teaching opportunities pass the kids by, I incorporated some school into our t.v. time and used the Olympics to do a unit study. It was pretty cool how easy it was to incorporate the Olympics into so many school subjects. There were so many different math, reading, science, geography, and social studies opportunities just waiting to be explored. And the motivation it gave the boys watching all the sports was adorable. They thought they were hot stuff imitating what they saw! Their favorite sports were gymnastics, archery, fencing, shooting, kayaking and wrestling.

 

We can hardly wait until the Winter Olympics!

 

 

Delivery From Morocco

How this story all came to be is just too neat. A friend from our church traveled to Morocco this summer and ended up meeting a very sweet high school friend of mine who lives there with her family. They made the connection that they both knew me. So my friend living in Morocco sent home a package of gifts for everyone in our family! How neat is that?! I didn't even hear of the story until one day a friend came over to visit and brought this package. She wouldn't give me any clues until I opened up the card and read it. What a small world. They sent Andy and I a traditional cooking dish they use over there. They sent the boys some alphabet books and posters in Arabic and then these are the shoes they sent for Annabelle. She is simply obsessed with them. How adorable are they!? Even though I don't get to see these friends anymore, it is such a blessing to know that we have been friends for so long and our friendship has lasted through the years even though we're not even living on the same continent!

 



Samuel Turns Six

On Samuel's actual birthday Daddy took most of the day off, as tradition, to celebrate with the birthday boy! The boys had gymnastics, and then we went to the park for a picnic and to swim. Dinner consisted of pepperoni pizza and then dessert was Kohr. Bros. It was a very special day, celebrating this amazing boy!

Eating his homemade popsicle from his new popsicle maker.
Oma and Papa Bear really know how to make this boy happy!

Special Hope Network Event

Holly brought her camera, yay!

When we moved to Charlottesville, we have had the opportunity to get to know the Nelson family. They have a beautiful family which consists of three children all adopted with special needs. They sold all they had (we bought their van) and moved to Zambia, Africa in 2008 to start a non-profit, Special Hope Network, ministering to special needs children. Holly needed to come home for awhile to tend to some things here so we held a get together where she could update us on what's going on. It was wonderful to see her and hear what all is being done in Zambia.

Samuel's Birthday Celebration in MD

Samuel's Birthday Trip to Dutch Wonderland

Samuel wanted nothing more than to head to Gigi and GranRan's house for his birthday. So, that's what he got. They graciously hosted our clan and treated us to a special trip up to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA. I was hesitant to see how they would do on all the fast rides, but they had a blast. The weather was threatening to ruin our visit, but it ended up being gorgeous. A very memorable day.

My handsome knights.

Now those are some faces of pure joy!

Samuel wasn't excited to go on the merry-go-round.
He thought it was going to be too slow. Just another sign he's growing up.
It actually went quite fast and he wasn't disappointed.

Sorry, GranRan, I just had to document this.
This Grandpa sure does know how to have fun!

Daddy and his boys.

While everyone else was riding rides, this is what greeted me at each entrance.
I suppose someone needed to guard the stroller.

Annabelle could even go on some rides when I couldn't.
Such discrimination!

Oh but wait, I did get to go on one. We had to take a picture. The tram!

Tiny tot rides.

Daddy holding onto his boys so they don't fly out :)

Joe loving life on the merry-go-round.

Headed for pizza and then home!

Independence Day

Even though the temperature was hovering around 100 degrees, the Eckerts were debating whether or not to brave the heat and head to Staunton, VA to go to the Frontier Cultural Museum for the day. When we went to the website we realized that there was free admission that day, so we decided that after days of being housebound for most of the day due to the extreme temps, we were going to give it a go.

Andy figured if we go and it's just miserable, we can always leave and not feel like we have to stay to get our monies worth. So that was our mindset. We packed a cooler with tons of ice water and headed West. The kids did amazing and I even behaved myself! We had a really great time despite the heat.

All decked out in their patriotic attire.

Annabelle was enjoying walking around the West African village.
She looks right at home, doesn't she?

Daddy testing out an African bed, which he then decided would be suitable.
He's a tad bit crazy!

They had a bunch of festivities for the 4th, including a reading of
the Declaration of Independence and a gun salute.

We were thrilled to see they had an American old fashioned school house.
We're reading through the Little House on the Prairie series
and this looked just like the one in the books.
This couple told a story in the school. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

This was the blacksmith's shop. He was making nails that day.
Another highlight.

We came home, took naps, then went to a friends house for a cookout and then to the fireworks. Such a great way to spend celebrating the 4th.

Samuel's New Bike

Apparently, now I know why there is Spiderman paraphernalia every where I turn... there's a new movie coming out. Well, Samuel sure hasn't been oblivious to it. Nana and Poppy won't be in town for his birthday, so they wanted to celebrate with him early. They got him a bike!

This kid adores his balance bike and is not one for change, so convincing him it was time for a big boy bike didn't go over so hot...that is until he found a Spiderman bike. Problem solved. But, then we had the issue that it came with training wheels and he didn't want us to take them off, even though we were positive he wouldn't have a bit of trouble. We took them off nonetheless and told him he would go and give it a try.

We took him to the school nearby to give it a go. He literally didn't have any transition time. I held on to the seat for about 1 1/2 steps and he asked me to let go. And that was that.