The Echols Family

Hallie

2009-11-12T15:21:00.008-06:00

I have a couple of stories to share about Hallie that I just have to write down. Chad was off work yesterday with the kids and he called to tell me that he made a CD for Hallie of her favorite songs. She asked him to write her name on it. Once he did, Hallie said

#1 done- my name on a CD.

#2- they are going to name a state after me.

#3 - my face will be on Mount Rushmore.

#4- my face will be on money.

She has some big dreams and I have no doubt she can achieve them all. When I asked her later what she was going to do to get her face on Mt. Rushmore she said she was going to be president. I told her not all presidents get their face on Mt. Rushmore and she would have to do something really good to have her face on Mt. Rushmore, she thought for a minute and said "I think I'll make sure all of the hungry people have food." Such a sweet girl.

Last week I had to go out of town on business and when I got home Hallie had left a note on the counter. Here it is...

She is really challenging me about sharing my faith, I wish I could have told her that I did share Jesus with people on the trip.

Then yesterday when I got home, Hallie wrote the papers below about God while Chad was helping Blake with homework.

She is such a precious child and I love the fact that she loves Jesus!!

Translated below for those who can't read her writing....

God loves me for who I am and I am special in His way and everyone arond us plus our moms and dads are specital to. For God so loved the world he gave his onle Son whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 There is onlee one God that can bulid ocean. You are the onlee one that deserves my life. You shoud not bend your knee to eneybody but God. God is the onlee persion who is Holy because He made the world. All have sind and come shourt of the glory of God. Depart from evil and do good. Read the Bible for it is Gods word. Serve God by reading the Bible and doing his comands for for it is rite and God likes it.

Love the Lord your God with all heart and with all soul with all your mind and with all your stiath. Got to church for God loves it. Be a Christchin for God likes it.

(I tried to keep her way of spelling!)

Hawaii

2009-10-06T13:38:00.006-06:00

I don't even know how to begin to blog about our trip to Kaua'i, none of the words I could use would do it justice. It was amazing, beautiful, fun, relaxing and so much more. We were gone long enough that I truly got to relax, most of our vacations they are too short to ever get relaxed, this was perfect. The flight was not fun at all, but all of that faded away as soon as we landed in Kaua'i. We were met by our friend with Leis for both of us and we went straight to a fabulous dinner at Duke's, with a table that overlooked the ocean.

The next day we decided to stay at Heath and Amanda's house and hang at the beach all day to recover from the previous day of travel. After walking only about 200 yards, we were at a beautiful beach. Because of where they live, the beach was basically private! On a given day, we maybe saw 3 people in any direction, some days no one! It was a beach with no chairs, umbrellas or anything, so all you saw was the beautiful beach and ocean. Here are some pictures from the first day at the beach:

Day 2 we went to a wonderful church in Lihue where we met some fantastic people. Then off to Puka Dog, this was the resturant I heard the most about when Chad got home from Hawaii last year, and Chad couldn't wait. After eating a smoked sausage dog with Pineapple relish and Lemon garlic sauce (which was great) we saw some of the island. I was amazed at the beauty. Almost everywhere you go there are mountains on one side and beach and ocean on the other.

Chad and Heath doing a great job surfing:

The rest of the week was spent sight seeing the island, relaxing on the beach, going to a Luau, going on a dinner cruise of the Napali coast and just having a great time. Here are some pictures of Waimea canyon and other beautful spots all over the island.

On the last day we went zip-lining through Princeville plantation. It was so much fun. The first jump off of the 1st platform was a little scary, but other than that it was great. We zip lined into the plantation and to a spring with a little waterfall. While the guides fixed lunch, we were able to swim and jump in this private spring. So much fun!

We had a fabulous time visiting wonderful friends and just being together. I discovered how much I like my "vacation" self and my goal is to strive to not get stressed out so much now that I am home and just enjoy being with Chad and the kids...

The Camping Trip When . . .

2009-08-04T19:29:00.003-06:00

This past weekend we went camping, or camper-ing, with some friends at Rickwood Caverns State Park. We were all excited and couldn't wait to get there and enjoy the weekend.

We arrived on Friday and were anxious to get the fun underway. The kids ran, played, and rode bicycles. We ate dinner, sat around, and were enjoying the evening. Then it got dark and the raccoons came out and as you guessed it, the kids and their moms went crazy. Those sneaky rascals were on us before we knew it. There were probably only 2 or 3 of them, but they would creep so quietly that it surprised us when they would pop out from under the camper, picnic table, and bushes. After hours of hitting the raccoons with rocks every time they showed their beady little eyes, the kids and the moms decided to call it a night and stay inside of the camper.

The next morning the sun came out, the raccoons were gone, and the fun began. We had a big and delicious breakfast. The kids played some on the playground, rode their bicycles, and roamed around the campground. When it was time for the pool to open, we went swimming. I must say that this pool was awesome. It was a really big pool and although there were a lot of people there, it didn't feel crowded. The coolest thing about the pool was that it had a high dive. Blake just had to jump off of it.

He even talked Jaime into jumping off of it. We played and played and had the absolute best time.

After lunch, things got out of control again. We heard thunder off in the distance and the pool was closed. This trip then became the camping trip when the kids got bored.

We all decided to take them on a nature hike. As we were heading down the trail, it began to sprinkle just a bit. When we got about 1/4 - 1/2 a mile down the trail, the lightning started popping around us and the bottom fell out. Being soaked and out in a very bad thunderstorm made us decide to head back to the camper. We walked as fast as we could to get out and finally made it back to the park office. No one complained even though we were all soaked to the bone.

A few minutes later, it was discovered that our campsite had flooded, everything was drenched, and the awning on the camper had ripped. It took a while, but we managed to get the awning put away, the campsite cleaned up, and the kids dried off. We then checked the radar and noticed that another line of storms was coming. With the prospect of having 10 people confined to one camper for the remaining evening, we decided to pack it in and head to the house.

As we were packing up, we commented that this will always be "the camping trip when. . ." The one when we fought off raccoons. The one when we got caught out in a thunderstorm. The one when we were the wettest that we have ever been in our life. The one when the awning on the camper broke. And the one whe we had a great time through it all. We can't wait to do it again.

The Stepford Kids

2009-07-28T18:58:00.002-06:00

When I got home from work last night, I was greeted by Hallie at the top of the stairs. She said, "Hello Daddy. How was your day today?" I noticed that she was in her pajamas. She told me that she had already taken her bath and put on her pajamas. Blake then said that he had taken his bath too, but hadn't yet put on his pajamas. He then added that he would go and do it now so I wouldn't have to ask him later. Then they exited the room to play with Andrew and Daniel.

Jaime pulled me aside and told me that the Blake and Hallie had been great ever since she got home. She went on to say that both of them unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and had been playing great together without any arguing. They jumped at every chance to do something to help her cook dinner and had cleaned up the downstairs of the house.

A few minutes later they came downstairs and asked if there was anything else that they could do to help with dinner. Jaime asked them to set the table and they replied, "We would love to." Then they worked together and got it done, complete with knives, spoons, forks and drinks for everyone. Once dinner was ready, we sat down to eat. The kids went on and on about how wonderful everything tasted. All through dinner, we heard, "yes sir" this and "yes ma'am" that, "please may I have some more of these wonderful beans", "this is the best chicken that I have ever eaten", "mommy, you are the best cook in the whole world", etc, etc, etc. After a while, I looked at Jaime and asked if it said Echols on the mailbox or Stepford. Who were the robot kids and where were mine?

After dinner, they brought us cards that they had made. On one side was our name. On the other was something they had written about us. Jaime's card said "Mommy, your cooking skills are awesome." My card said, "Daddy, your baseball skills are great and remind me of Chipper Jones." It was hard not to laugh at all of their thoughtfulness, but we managed to do it.

Throughout the whole night, they were the most polite, well-mannered, kind, sweet kids you have ever seen. We thanked them for being so great that night and wondered how long it would last. Today, they were back to normal. I wonder how long I need to charge the batteries to get a few extra days of that behavior.

10 years old

2009-07-02T20:41:00.006-06:00

Today is Blake's birthday and he is 10 years old! It is hard to believe he is 10 already.

This morning when he woke up we fixed his favorite breakfast, pigs in a blanket. He then had a great morning with Hal and their summer babysitter. They made some fantastic sugar cookies and I know they had a great time doing it. After Blake's 10 year old well child visit to the Doctor, Blake thought we were headed to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. But, much to his surprise, he came home to a surprise birthday party. He was very surprised and very excited. We ate some pizza, opened some presents and then we sang Happy Birthday. Watch to the end of the clip below and you will see his biggest surprise!

Blake said this was his best birthday ever (he says that every year) but I do think it was one of the best.

Blake, we love you so much. We are so blessed that we get to be your parents and watch you grow. You have grown up so much this past year. I love that you love to eat what I cook and you try everything! You are enjoying school so much and are learning more every day. You are such a good artist and you amaze me every day with your pictures and drawings. Our lives changed 10 years ago today when you were born and I can't wait to see how you grow in the next ten years!

Father's Day

2009-06-21T19:00:00.002-06:00

With Jaime out of town, she turned over the celebration Father's Day to Blake and Hallie. Since Blake and Hallie were organizing, my Father's Day started at about 5:45 with 4 pairs of eyes staring at me as I woke up this morning.

Apparently, Blake and Hallie woke up bright and early this morning and then woke up Andrew and Daniel. They all gathered in Blake's room to sign their Father's Day cards. Then, they gathered all of their gifts that they had made and piled it all, cards and gifts, next to me in my bed. After that, they just stood on the side of my bed, staring at me, until I woke up. Knowing my kids as I do, I don't think they were standing there long because if they had been, I am sure that I would have gotten poked by something. As I opened my eyes, they all said, "Happy Father's Day Daddy. Can we open your presents for you?"

Andrew and Daniel had framed something that they had made at school. It was a poem with their hand prints on it. Hallie had cross-stitched the word "Dad" with a baseball beside it. Blake had written a book about me and him and included pictures of us in it. They were all great.

After church, we all went to Alabama Adventures for a little fun in the sun. We floated down the lazy river, rode down some water slides, and played in the water all afternoon. Everyone had a great time and it was a great day.

Going out for pizza

2009-06-10T19:14:00.002-06:00

Around 3:30 or 4:00 everyday, Jaime and I have the same conversation. It is the "what is for dinner" conversation. I am sure that everyone is familiar with that one. Well, we had a gift card to the California Pizza Kitchen, so tonight I suggested that we take the kids out for pizza. We told the kids and they were excited.

After getting to the restaurant and looking at the menu, I realized that California Pizza Kitchen is not known for a normal variety of pizza. (It had been a while since I had eaten there.) The whole menu is specialty pizzas and our family is like most in that we all like different kinds. We decided to opt for the BBQ chicken pizza, which was great and then we took a chance on a new pizza. It was the cheeseburger pizza. Seeing that it comes complete with lettuce and tomato, we ordered with with the meat and cheese topping only, but with the addition of tomato on half. Then the waitress mentioned that the sauce was a blend of ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and pickles. This should have been our first clue to abort this decision, but we said that would be okay. In my defense, I honestly thought it would be more of a ketchup/tomato flavor in the sauce, not more mayonnaise/mustard flavor. They brought out the pizza and we gave a slice to the kids and they began to eat and here is where everything went downhill.

Blake took a bite and made a face like he was about to vomit. He sat there with his mouth open making a "get this out of my mouth" sound, but he eventually swallowed it. Hallie took a bite and immediately screamed "yuck" and then spit her piece out onto the table. We got on to Hallie for doing that. While that was going on, Daniel had taken a bite and immediately started to cry because he didn't like it either. He just sat there with his mouth wide open, showing the whole restaurant the pizza in his mouth, while he was crying as hard as he could. Jaime allowed him to spit the bite out of his mouth, which he did, and then continued to cry. Andrew ate a couple of bites, but seeing the commotion that the others were making, he declared that he didn't like it and wouldn't eat anymore.

Thinking that it could not be that bad, I took a bite. I did not spit it out, cry, or announce to the restaurant that it tasted horrible, but it did not taste like pizza at all. When they say "cheeseburger pizza", they mean "cheeseburger shaped like a pizza". It tasted exactly like a cheeseburger. You tasted the cheese and meat, but you mainly tasted the mayonnaise and mustard in the sauce. Jaime took a bite and did not like it either.

After we assured the kids we would order them another pizza, they stopped crying and settled down. Seeing that our whole family did not like the pizza, the waitress offered to remove the pizza from our table and to have the manager remove it from our check. We replaced it with a ham and pineapple pizza, which the kids all ate.

As we were waiting for the check, I heard our waitress tell another table that the cheeseburger pizza was their newest pizza and had only been on the menu for one day. I wanted to tell them not to order it and that the cheeseburger pizza was the whole reason my kids were crying, but why should we get to have all of the fun.

Easter

2009-04-18T15:08:00.004-06:00

Our Easter morning started off early, around 5:15, so that we could all make it to the 7:00 church service. There were no Easter baskets filled with candy when the kids woke up. They were told that the baskets would most likely show up after church, which they did. After a great service and Sunday school lesson, we headed home to get ready for the afternoon fun. We stood outside for a couple minutes and took some pictures of the kids in their Sunday best.

We headed over to a friend's house for an Easter Extravaganza and lunch. There, we ate and ate and ate some more. Our kids didn't seem to eat much and were content to play in the backyard. Later in the afternoon, they did manage to eat some brownies, cake, and cupcakes.

After lunch, it was time for the egg hunt. The kids went inside while the adults hid the eggs. As you know, you can't have anyone get an advantage by seeing where you are hiding the eggs, but when you are hiding possibly more than 100 eggs, they are all hidden in the open so you can't help but to see them. The kids ran through the yard picking up plastic eggs like they were gold coins. It was a blast.

After every egg was gathered, all of the kids sat on the lawn and sorted out their loot. After seeing what their friends had found in their eggs, the trading began. They traded jelly beans for M&Ms, toys for other toys, candy for toys, etc. Daniel did find an egg with a quarter in it, but that was the only money that I noticed. Eventually, everyone was satisfied with what they had and ate a little of the candy and played with their toys.

When it was time to leave, we only had to drive about 2 minutes down the road, which was a good thing. After we got home and took baths, our kids crashed. They were so worn out that they even slept through the storm that rolled in that night. It was a great day.

Here are some pictures of dying easter eggs the night before.

April Fools!!!! (plus 3 days)

2009-04-04T08:59:00.006-06:00

This morning I got in the shower to get ready for the day. As I looked down to pick up the shampoo, I noticed that it was not there. Also, the soap was gone too. When I noticed that it was not in the shower, I got out to look around the bathroom, but couldn't find it. Jaime came in at that point and asked what was wrong. I told her that I could not find the shampoo or the soap. She looked and didn't see it either.

The kids spent the night with my mother last night, so we thought that maybe Blake had packed it. (It seemed like something that he would do.) Jaime called and Hallie answered the phone. She asked Hallie if Blake had packed the shampoo and soap and Hallie said no. She said " It's hidden". Then Jaime asked where. Hallie added, in a matter of fact tone, that it was behind the toilet. Jaime looked and sure enough, there was the shampoo, the conditioner, and the soap. Jaime laughed and asked Hallie why she put it behind the toilet and Hallie replied, "April Fools".

There was nothing to do other than laugh and tell her that she had pulled a good one. It was hilarious. She later said that she got the idea from a show on the Disney Channel. Regardless where it came from, it was a good one.

Hopefully, she knows that April fools is only for one day in April, not all 30.

Learning to Ride

2009-03-13T05:42:00.002-06:00

A week or so ago, Hallie went to visit her friend, Mason. (He is the one who sent her the love letter in the previous blog story.) Mason learned to ride his bike and wanted Hallie to bring hers over when she came. Seeing Mason ride without training wheels made Hallie want to learn. For all who know Hallie, you know that she can't let someone know how to do something that she can't do.

This past weekend, Hallie insisted that I take the training wheels off of her bicycle. I didn't really want to because I didn't want to spend the day holding the back of a bicycle and watching her fall down repeatedly, but since she really wanted to try, I removed the training wheels.

We made a couple of trips across our driveway while I was holding onto the back of her seat. I walked away for a second to take a drink of my water and when I turned back around, Hallie was riding her bike. She made about 5-6 revolutions with the pedals and screamed, "Did you see that?" From that point on, she just started riding. We ran out of room in the driveway, so we went down to the cul de sac. She rode and rode and rode. She did fall twice, but only cried once because she saw blood. Once the bandaid was on, she was back on the bicycle.

I would say that it was the easiest bike riding lesson ever, only there was no lesson. She just did it. I guess there is no substitute for no fear and extreme determination.

Snow Day

2009-03-01T17:23:00.008-06:00

We have snow. Yes we do. We have snow. How 'bout you?

This morning we all woke up to snow on the ground. Jaime saw it first and we waited for Andrew and Daniel to wake up. Blake and Hallie were at Bidee's house. Andrew woke up and without even coming downstairs, we heard him yell, "Daniel, it is snowing outside of our window". I don't know what made him decide to look out his window, but he did and was very excited.

We immediately got dressed and ran outside to play. We caught some snowflakes on our tongues, threw some snowballs, and made a little snowman. The snowman didn't last long because Daniel decided to kick it over.

Here is some video of Andrew and Daniel enjoying the snow.

When the snow slacked up a little and before it got really bad, I drove out to Bidee's to get Blake and Hallie. They had made a snowman and were making snow ice cream when I got there. We rushed out the door to make it back home.

Once we got home, we all suited up again and played some more. Hallie wanted to make a big snowman, so we did. Blake wanted a snowball fight, so we did that too. Hallie and Daniel wanted to make an even bigger second snowman, so we did that too. After everyone talked of being cold and wet, we scooped some snow in a big bowl, went inside, and made some snow ice cream. It was a blast.

A few hours later the snow was gone and one of our snowmen had fallen to the ground. We went out again and Hallie and Daniel smashed the other snowman to the ground with a baseball bat.

In a year or two or ten, maybe we will get to do it all again.

The Name Game

2009-02-26T20:20:00.002-06:00

Andrew and Daniel have started a new, for lack of a better word, game when we are going places in the car. The game is they think of everyone that they know and ask Jaime and I that person's whole name. Normally, it is us, them, Blake, Hallie, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc.

The other morning, on the way to school, they started the game. After going through the usual suspects, Daniel thought of someone that he has never asked before. "Daddy, what is Santa's whole name?" I chuckled and then told him that it was Santa Claus. Then he really threw me a curve.

"Daddy, what is God's whole name?" The first thing that popped in my head was the many sermons Pastor Buddy had preached using God's name. I told Daniel that God's whole name was Yahweh (I am). He told me that I was wrong and God's whole name was Yahweh God.

Then he asked, "what is Jesus' whole name?" I completely drew a blank for some reason. (Jaime later told me this one was easy, Jesus Christ.) I couldn't think so I just told him Jesus' whole name was Jesus. He again told me that I was wrong and said that Jesus' whole name was Jesus Is Strong. Then he started to sing, "they are weak, but he is strong". Then he said, "See Daddy, Jesus Is Strong". How do you disagree with that?

Talent that every boy should have

2009-02-16T14:09:00.007-06:00

A few nights back, the kids decided that they wanted pancakes for dinner. Blake and Andrew seemed to be in an eating contest to find out who could eat the most. Blake ended up eating 6, slightly edging out Andrew, who ate 5.

After dinner, it was bath time. We finished bathing Andrew and Daniel and then laid them on the floor while we got their pajamas. They started playing and rolling around on the floor. Then Andrew broke large, cut the cheese, stepped on a frog, or just plain farted. (However you want to say it.)

Being a normal 3-99 year old boy, he thought it was hilarious and so did Daniel. Because he got such a great response, he fired another shot. They both laughed again. Of course, I thought it was hilarious too. Then he did it again and again and again and again. He ripped off about 15-20 in a row. Even Jaime couldn't help but laugh.

As a father, it was a glorious moment. One of my sons has the gift or maybe it was just the pancakes. You know what they say, "Pancakes, pancakes, good for the heart . . . "

Love Letter

2009-01-27T06:10:00.003-06:00

When Hallie was 3 years old, she met a boy named Mason at school and they became great friends. At school, they were inseparable. Many of you, I am sure, have heard Hallie talk about Mason. Hallie has always had a crush on Mason and Mason has always had a crush on Hallie. They have talked of being married for about 3 years now.

Since both of them live in different school systems, they have been separated for their first year in Kindergarten. Hallie still talks about him and they have managed to stay in touch. They have been to each other's birthday parties. Jaime and Mason's mom even got them together for their first official date to take them to the movies.

The other day, Hallie got a letter from Mason in the mail and she was extremely excited. She opened it up and read it fairly easily, even though it was written by a kindergarten boy who was learning to read and write phonetically. I guess in the language of love, there are no misspellings. I had to share this letter.

Translation: "Dear Hallie. I love you because you are so beautiful."

After school

2009-01-22T18:02:00.001-06:00

We have been fortunate enough to find a baby-sitter to watch Blake and Hallie after school instead of them having to go to after-school care. Long story short, we were put in touch with a girl from the youth group of our church, who was looking for a job to sit with kids after school. The opportunity sounded great to us, so Shaye started last week.

Shaye meets the kids at the bus stop and takes care of them until we get home from work. She gets them started on their homework and spends time doing fun things with them. Hallie and Blake say that the have played games and "done all kinds of fun things". She also helps us out tremendously by driving them to their after school activities such as Blake's drama class and Hallie's gymnastics. I can't tell you how much easier this has made things on us.

The first week, she gave them a bible verse to memorize with the promise of doing something special at the end of the week if they were able to do it. Hallie the overachiever, of course, had the verse memorized the first day. Both had it memorized by the end of the week and have repeated it several times since.

Blake and Hallie love having Shaye around. In their own words, "she is great". It has also been great for us.

Bedtime

2009-01-14T19:35:00.004-06:00

As anyone with kids knows, bedtime is a process. Our kids are no different. None of them like to go to bed and none of them go to bed the same way. Here is what I am talking about.

Blake always has to listen to music. Hallie always asks for a story, a kiss, a hug, to be tucked in, a second kiss, a second hug, something to drink, and music. Andrew and Daniel always want books to read in bed with them. Of course they have to read them by night light because we are smart enough to know not to leave on their bedroom light.

Blake and Hallie always go to sleep easily. They stay in their bed and we don't hear from them until morning. Daniel is usually asleep really fast and rarely gets out of his bed to come downstairs. Daniel does have a peculiar habit of taking all of his clothes off before he falls asleep. There have been many mornings that we find him waiting for us in his room naked as a jaybird. On the days that he does keep on his pajamas, he usually takes off his pull-up. Except for that, he is no problem.

The problem is Andrew. We think that he just doesn't need as much sleep as the others. He seems to need a minimum of three trips downstairs and a minimum of three trips back upstairs before he will close his eyes. The funny thing about him coming downstairs is that he changes clothes for each trip. The first trip is normally in the pajamas that he wore to bed. The next trip usually consists of a shirt change. In the trip after that, he is wearing clothes that he would normally wear to school, sometimes complete with jacket and shoes. At least it makes it easier to get him dressed in the morning.

When morning does come, Hallie is always the first one up and some mornings comes downstairs completely dressed. Here recently, her back seems to be hurting every morning. I am starting to think that it is a ploy. She comes downstairs, climbs in our bed and announces that her back is hurting and she needs a massage. Then she lays their with a huge smile on her while she gets her back massaged. Like mother, like daughter

Back to School

2009-01-07T17:57:00.001-06:00

Growing up as a kid, the worst days of the year were the first day back to school after the summer break and Christmas holidays. I never could get excited about going back to school. Seeing my friends again would have been the thing to look forward to, except for the fact that they lived up the street from me and I saw them every day during the break. I would have just rather stay home from school and play with my friends. This is not really the case with my kids.

Both Blake and Hallie were excited to get back to school. Blake was excited mainly to see his friends and teacher. Hallie was excited to see her friends, teacher, but was also ready to get back to school work. For all who know Hallie, she would tell you that is how she rolls. Word!

Tuesday was the first day back to school for them. Hallie was awake just minutes after Jaime and I had gotten out of bed. She was dressed before anyone. Then she brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, ate breakfast, packed her backpack, and went to sit in the car. She sat in the car for probably 15-20 minutes before Jaime and Blake were ready to go.

At work today, someone was telling me of a news story that they had seen. In that story, a 6 year old boy had wrecked a car while attempting to drive himself to school. According to the story, this boy's deadbeat mom wouldn't get out of bed to take him to school, so he took the matter into his own hands.

After hearing that, I immediately thought of Hallie, especially since she is 6 years old. Thankfully she knew that her mommy was going to take her to school so she just stayed put. Although, now that I think of it, I believe that Hallie could safely drive herself to school. She has more determination than most everyone that I know, so I don't put much past her. Just as a precaution, maybe I should teach her to drive.

Christmas

2009-01-01T10:55:00.006-06:00

Another Christmas has come and gone. This year at the Echols house was busy, as always, but it was great fun.

We started off by going to the Christmas Eve service at our church. We have been doing this the last few years and always enjoy it. We put the kids in their pajamas, since the service doesn't start until 8:00, and head to the church. The kids get to go to the sanctuary, which they love. One thing that I really enjoy about the Christmas Eve service is taking the Lord's Supper. Since Christmas is about the hope of a Savior who came to die for our sins, so that we may spend eternity in Heaven, it is always cool to celebrate the reason that Jesus Christ came on the day we celebrate his birth. Since Blake had accepted Christ as his savior and has been baptized, he was able to participate in the Lord's Supper also. Before the service, we were talking with a friend who asked the kids if they were ready for the night (meaning Santa coming to town). Blake said, "I really can't wait until the Lord's Supper." It wasn't exactly the answer that I was expecting him to say, but it did bring a smile to my face.

On Christmas morning, I always look for the kids to be up really early. The normal Christmas wake up time is around 4:00-5:00 AM. Even though we had a late night, I did not expect it to change. I woke up to see the clock read 5:02 AM. I listened and didn't hear any noise. Knowing that Jaime would most likely take me out of this world if I woke the kids up, I laid in bed and waited and waited and waited and, yes, I waited. Finally about 6:45, Blake came into our room asking if it was Christmas morning and if he could look to see if Santa came. Seeing this as my chance, I jumped up and said go wake everyone up, which he did. All six of us ran into the family room and saw that Santa had definitely been there. Blake, Hallie, and Andrew immediately went to full speed. Daniel needed a few minutes to warm up, I guess, but he was fired up when he did get going.

Later that morning and throughout the day, family began to show up. We opened presents, ate food, hung out, and played with toys. It was a blast and the kids racked up, as always.

Blake got some Legos, several Muppet movies, some games, some Indiana Jones action figures, some books, and a couple of articles of clothing. Blake has not really locked into one gift, but has loved and enjoyed them all.

Hallie got a razor scooter, a triangle, some games, some books, some Pixos, and some clothes. Hal's favorite gift might have been a pogo-stick. She is always asking to go outside to play with it and is determined to master it. I have seen her get 7 consecutive jumps on it and she was excited that she was getting better. With her determination, she will have it down in no time.

Andrew got a Mickey Mouse racetrack, some trucks and cars, some books, some games, and a baseball glove (which is standard issue to a Echols kid, although Santa brought a left-handed one. He really should pay more attention.) Andrew's favorite gift is one that was actually given to him and Daniel. It was a motorized green truck. He is always talking about his truck, wanting to see his truck, and wanting to ride in his truck. He is getting better at driving it. The day after Christmas, with a clear driveway, he done a lot better in not running into things. Of course, after a while of doing circles and riding down the street, we had to start using it as a monster truck. Daniel would set up small kid-sized patio chairs in the driveway and Andrew would drive over them. He has broken one of them.

Daniel got some Pooh and Tigger action figures, some books, some games, a ball, some puzzles and a baseball glove. He hasn't really locked into anything really hard, although he can be seen playing with a Little Einstein puzzle game during the day.

Later in the day, Hallie checked the mail and noticed that there was a letter from Bennett the Elf. Bennett is the elf that lives with us for a few days before Christmas Day. Bennett sent the kids a letter thanking them for letting him stay at our house again this year. Included with the letter was a picture that the elf had apparently taken. It was a picture of Santa Claus in our living room prior to putting out the kids gifts. Since very few people ever see Santa in their house on Christmas Eve, I wanted to share this with everyone.

Here are a few more pictures from Christmas at the Echols house. We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-12T19:35:00.004-06:00

Well, in the promise of catching up on several things that we have yet to blog, here is Halloween.

As with every year, the kids look forward to Halloween. I have yet to figure out if it is for the opportunity to dress up as their favorite character or if it is for the humongous amount of candy that they seem to get. I have also learned that with four kids, all of which who trick or treat, you get a whole lot of candy.

For Halloween, we had several friends come to our house to socialize and take all of the kids trick or treating. It was a great time. I did realize that taking 25 or so kids around the neighborhood at the same time doesn't work like you would probably want. Everyone lines up to head to the first house and then it is a free for all. The first kids head to the next house and then the next house. The kids in the back do the same thing, only slower. Next thing you know, you have 25 kids running all over the neighborhood at different places with one thing on their mind. Candy!!!!!!!!!

Thankfully for us, we had professional parents to assist in the madness that was trick or treating. I really only saw one of my four actually go from house to house, but on occasion I would catch a second. It was really fun though and you can't turn down the excitement. After all, you don't want to because the more candy they get, they more you get to eat and then throw away later.

Here are a couple more of pictures of the Echols kids.

Blake as Indiana Jones

Hallie as Alice (from Alice in Wonderland)

Andrew as Mickey Mouse

Daniel as Donald Duck

Parties and Football

2008-11-11T19:19:00.008-06:00

It has been a while since we last blogged anything. Things have been busy here, but now it is time to catch you up on a few things.

As you saw from the last post, Andrew and Daniel turned 3 years old. On each of the kids birthday, we usually let them pick where we go to eat. It is their choice. Andrew and Daniel pose a problem because although they are twins, they don't always think alike. Knowing that they would probably agree on McDonalds, we decided to make the choice for them. We ate at home and then headed to celebrate at one of the greatest places ever, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

It was a lot of fun. The "Hot Now" sign was on so we all got to sample some hot doughnuts. For any of you who have never had a hot glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut, you are extremely deprived. The kids also got to see the doughnuts being cooked and glazed on the conveyor belt. They thought this was great. Of course they had to wear their Krispy Kreme hats. After that, they all sat down to the doughnuts of their choice. We sang happy birthday and then let Andrew and Daniel open some presents. It was a fun night and they keep asking about eating doughnuts. Hopefully they won't think they get presents every time that they go.

A few nights later we celebrated another birthday party for Andrew and Daniel with our families. Grandparents, aunts and uncles came over to give their birthday wishes. Andrew and Daniel loved this party too. All of the kids love it when all of the family is together.

The end of October also brought the end of flag football. Blake decided that he wanted to give it a go this year. His team was the Jets. With this being the first time playing football, other than in the driveway, he did a good job. He got a little better each week and eventually got to run the ball a couple times. Here are a couple pictures of #44 in action.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW AND DANIEL!

2008-10-23T12:07:00.014-06:00

I can't believe you are 3 years old. It seems like yesterday that you were born. You have grown so much in the past year, you are not babies anymore.

Andrew, you are so big. I love that you love cars and motorcycles so much. There is nothing you like better than to play in someone's car. I know that someday you will either be a race car driver, or maybe design new cars! You would be great at that. You are such a sweet boy. You still love to sit and cuddle with me. You also love to sing (when no one is looking at you). You and Blake can sit and cuddle for hours, just being next to each other. I am so glad you love your brothers and sister the way you do. I love the way you laugh and talk. Andrew, Daddy and I love you so very much and hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Daniel, you are getting so big too! Everyday you suprise me with the new things you know and do. You never surprise me because I know there is nothing you can't do. Your smile and laugh come straight from your heart and everyone knows what you are thinking at every moment. You can't hide a thing. You love to play and be silly. You also love to sing, but most of the time you don't care who is watching. I love that you love to read books. You can't go to bed at night without at least 10 books in your bed that you read before you go to sleep. Daniel, Daddy and I love you so much and hope you have a fantastic birthday!

A lost tooth and the A/B Honor Roll

2008-10-15T18:19:00.007-06:00

Hallie lost her first tooth today!! I was picking Andrew and Daniel up at Mom and Dad's and Chad called and said Hallie pulled her own tooth. I can't believe it! She is getting so big. She looks so grown up.

Blake got his first report card today from 3rd grade and he got on the A/B Honor Roll. We are so proud. Way to go Blake!! Keep it up.

Here are some pictures of the boys being silly

Hallie and Double Trouble

2008-10-01T18:20:00.002-06:00

I have been so fortunate to begin a Bible Study on the book of Daniel with some very special friends. We meet every Tuesday night for several hours and I love it!!!! I have learned so much already, and it's just the second week. I have been getting up early (the only time our house is quiet) to do my homework. This morning, I was at the kitchen table early and Hallie came downstairs. She asked what I was doing and I told her I was doing my Bible Study, so she asked if she could go get her Bible to read with me. Of course, I said I would love for her too, so she went upstairs and got a Precious Moments Bible that was a New King James Version. She began to read the 1st part of Genesis, she was doing okay until she got to the word firmament. Try explaining that to a 6 year old at 5:30 in the morning!!

I did the best I could and suggested she try reading my Bible, because it was a simpler version, NIV. She read a while in that but decided she liked the New King James better. Then, she got frustrated with some of the words, so I suggested she get Blake's Hermie Bible, which is an International Childrens version. She had better luck with that.

When Chad got out of the shower this morning, Hallie was sitting on our bed with two versions of the Bible, looking and comparing the two versions!!! She eventually moved on to the story of Jesus' birth and read that. She wanted to read the Prodigal Son, but we couldn't find it this morning, so Chad found it for her just now, and she is reading away.. She is so special, she has such a desire to learn and I love that about her. All I can say is....Watch out Beth Moore!!!!

As far as the little ones are concerned... The picture below is what happens when you think they are napping on a Sunday afternoon, but they decide they are not tired.

Please note, they got both mattresses off the bed, sheets and mattress covers off and bed skirts off. We are in trouble....

Disney 2008

2008-09-27T13:10:00.017-06:00

M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!! That mouse sure knows how to show people a good time. We recently got back from a trip to Walt Disney World. As always, the mouse never disappoints. This was Blake and Hallie's third trip to Disney World and Andrew and Daniel's first. My mother(the kids call her Bidee) also went us. We all had a great time.

This time, we stayed in the Caribbean Beach Resort. It was pretty nice, but the pool was outstanding. We found out that the pool had been closed for remodeling and just opened up again a few days before we arrived. We all loved it. The big pool was complete with two waterslides which me, Jaime, Blake and Hallie rode over and over. There was a smaller pool for smaller kids. The water was only about a foot and a half deep, but had a big playground in the middle of it complete with 3 waterslides for the little ones. This pool was probably one of Andrew and Daniel's favorite things to do.

For the first day, we went to Animal Kingdom. We rode and did most everything in the park. Blake and Hallie were both anxious to ride Expedition Everest. Blake loved it and rode it again, this time with Bidee. Hallie said she liked it, but didn't want to ride it again. At Animal Kingdom, we also attempted our first Disney character meeting. We took the kids to Camp Minnie Mickey to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. We knew that Blake and Hallie would be fine and would enjoy it, but we weren't sure about Andrew and Daniel. Andrew was okay at first. He handed his autograph book to Mickey, but after seeing Daniel being so scared that he cried and cried and screamed and cried some more, Andrew didn't want to get his picture made with Mickey. We kept Daniel away from the other characters and Andrew did a little better.

That evening we ate dinner at the Cinderella Feast. After getting my food at the buffet, I started to head back to our table. Cinderella was kneeling down talking to some kids at a table. As I walked by, she stood up and we bumped into each other. Thankfully, neither of us fell and I didn't spill my food on her. As I got back to the table, Hallie said, "Daddy, you just bumped into Cinderella. You never ever bump into a princess." I said that it wasn't my fault and Cinderella bumped into me. She replied, "It is never the princess' fault!!"

The next day we headed to Magic Kingdom. Breakfast with Pooh, Tigger, and the gang was good, but Daniel was still terrified of the characters. Andrew and Daniel were able to ride a lot more here. Hallie's favorite thing at Disney World was here and it was Splash Mountain. We stayed the all day and even caught the fireworks show, which everyone enjoyed.

The next day we went to MGM Studios. For Andrew and Daniel, we started the day at the Playhouse Disney show. This may have been their favorite thing, with the exception of swimming in the pool. We also had lunch with some of the Playhouse Disney characters such as Leo and June from the Little Einsteins and Jo-Jo and Goliath. Daniel again was terrified, but Andrew just danced to the music.

Blake had been looking forward to this day since July. Why? Because this park held the Indiana Jones stunt show. He had been saving his money since his birthday so that he could buy a real Indiana Jones hat and real Indiana Jones whip. When the time came, he was so excited that he wore the hat for the rest of the day.

The next day we went to Epcot. It was good, but Epcot isn't a big park for kids so we just did a few things such as Soarin', Test Track, and the Nemo and Friends aquarium. We also saw the Turtle Talk with Crush show. Now this was pretty cool. Crush from Nemo appears on a screen made to look like he was in the aquarium and he talks to all of the kids. He actually makes jokes and responds to the kids questions. It was really neat.

Our final day took us back to the Magic Kingdom to do the couple of things that we missed and ride Splash Mountain a couple more times. We finally were able to ride the Dumbo ride after 3 trips to Disney. The line is always too long to wait with kids. About 4 o'clock, we left the park to drive back home and no one wanted to leave. We literally had to drag and carry the kids to the car and buckle them in.

It was a fun trip and I can't wait to go back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALLIE!!

2008-09-12T07:48:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday sweet girl! I can't believe you are 6 years old today. It feels like just yesterday that you were born. Daddy and I were so excited to have you here. Blake could not wait to see you. Daddy brought Blake in first to see you and he was happy. Later in the night after your were born, I was holding you and you started making the sweetest sounds. I know you were talking to me already, telling me all about your day.

Your first year was so much fun. I remember dropping you at day care for the 1st time, I cried the whole day, but when I got there to pick you up, you were as happy as could be. You loved to chase Blake around, he would run in circles and you would happily chase him around. You loved to be outside right from the start. We would go outside to play with Blake and you would follow along and love to play in the grass.

I love that you love to learn. I love you want to share your day with me. I can't wait until you get the car after school to tell me about your day. I love that every day you come home with new things you learned or discovered. I love that you love your brothers so much and you are such a big help to me. I love that you love to cook and help me in the kitchen all the time. Daddy and I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Countdown to Disney

2008-09-09T18:26:00.002-06:00

Four days and counting until we head down to the happiest place on Earth. You guessed it, I am talking about Walt Disney World. Where else can you walk around wearing a hat shaped like the head of a duck, give hugs to giant over sized characters, meet princesses and pirates, and love every minute of it.

We have been talking it up to the kids for some time now, but it is now time to take the hype to another level. By the time that we are ready to go this Saturday, the kids need to be so wound up that they are chanting "We are going to Disney" all the way to Orlando. Well, maybe not all of the way, but at least until we hit the interstate.

For the last few days, every time that we see the kids, we ask them how many days until we leave. We also ask them if they know what we will be doing in 6, 5, 4 days from now. We have bought them several shirts to wear and, of course, they had to have Disney characters on them. Last night, our dinner was even used to hype up our Disney trip. We ate ravioli, but it was not just any ravioli. It was shaped like Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse's head. Needless to say, we are almost are literally living the phrase "shaking with excitement".

You might think this is a little excessive, but as we see it, there must be a frenzy of excitement before you go on vacation. That is just how the Echolses roll.

Labor Day at the Lake

2008-09-06T06:51:00.005-06:00

Over Labor Day, we got to spend a couple days on Lake Martin with some friends. We had a blast.

When we first got to the lake, all of the kids had to try to catch a fish. They asked several questions about the worms as we were putting them on the hook. None of them were too concerned though because they really wanted to catch a fish. Hallie managed to hook the first fish. It was a catfish and she managed to get it to the top of the water, where she could see it, before it wriggled off of the hook.

After fishing, we moved onto swimming and everyone loved that. The older kids jumped in and swam all over the place. The youngest kids also jumped into the water from the stairs, but later decided to ride in an inflatable boat.

After swimming, it was time to take a ride in the real boat. Everyone took turns riding in "Big Blue". Big Blue was a giant inflatable raft, which was pulled behind the boat. Everyone thought it was awesome and it was. The kids got to take turns driving the boat and honking the horn. Andrew especially loved to drive the boat and that is all that he has talked about since.

The next day brought more of the same activities, but it was still awesome, if not better. The fish were really biting in the morning. The kids managed to catch about 8-9 catfish and a bream. They got to swim for a longer period of time and also got more chances to ride Big Blue. During the second day of riding Big Blue, the kids got more courageous and started to do tricks. I know that I said it before, but it was a great weekend.

On the way home Monday night, we asked our kids to tell us their favorite part of the weekend. Blake said that his favorite part was riding Big Blue.

Hallie said that her favorite part was fishing. Andrew said that his favorite part was driving the boat.

Daniel said that his favorite part was jumping in the water and swimming.

First "Date"

2008-08-16T09:21:00.005-06:00

Last weekend Hallie went on her first "date". She and her friend Mason, have been boyfriend and girlfriend for about 3 years. They have "fallen in love" and their wedding is already planned. She has decided who her bridesmaids are going to be; her cousin Emma, her cousin Brita and her friend Brantley.

A couple of weeks ago Mason's mom emailed me and asked if we could take the kids to the movies. Hallie was estatic. She said she and Mason have always talked about their first date and had decided it would be going to the movies. She also mentioned that she and Mason would kiss in the movies on the first date. Chad and I were adamant that there would be no kissing on this date. Mason also had decided that I would drop Hallie off and Mason's mom would drop him off and that they would go alone. We reminded them both that they were only 5 and this was just two friends going to the movies, not a date.

Hallie wanted to wear her Easter dress to the movies, and she told us Mason was going to wear his best suit. We convinced her that a school dress would be fine and she did not need to wear a fancy dress. The day of the date, she was so excited, she woke up early and asked all day when it would be time. We finally left and she was over the moon.

They had the best time. Lots of hugs, but no kisses. They loved the movie and they loved going together. Here are some pictures from the date. We have decided these have to be shown at the rehersal dinner!!

Aquarium

2008-08-12T19:34:00.007-06:00

A couple of weekends ago, before school started, we wanted to take a little trip with the kids. We decided to go to Chattanooga to the Tennessee Aquarium. We also thought it would be fun to stay the night in a hotel and let the kids swim. Now that I think of it, this would actually be our first family vacation with all 6 of us going on our own.

We got our tickets to the Aquarium and headed inside. For those of you who haven't been there, the Aquarium has two buildings, Ocean Journey and River Journey. We headed to the Ocean Journey building first and the kids loved it. The favorite thing was them getting to touch the sting rays and sharks. When Jaime and I first seen the tank and all of the people reaching in to touch the fish, we just knew that we would be the parents of the kid that fell in the water. Blake slipped and came close, but he managed to stay dry. We did see a kid fall in, but thankfully he was not one of ours.

Also in the Ocean Journey, the kids loved the penguins. They were always moving, jumping, and swimming.

We headed to the River Journey next, which is a much larger building. The kids loved this one too and this time they got to touch sturgeon. They managed to surprise us by not falling into this tank either. In the giant tanks, there were a couple of divers feeding the fish and cleaning the tank. The kids loved playing with the divers. The divers would come up to the glass and interact with everyone.

After that building, we went and ate pizza at the Mellow Mushroom and then went back to the Aquarium so the kids could play in the water outside the entrance.

We eventually made it to the hotel and they got to swim. We followed that up with a few hours or more of iCarly episodes on Nickelodeon before going to bed.

Blake said that his favorite thing was seeing the turtles. Hallie's favorite thing was playing with the divers. Andrew's favorite thing was looking at the alligators. Daniel's favorite thing was touching the fish. We had a great time.

1st day of school 2008

2008-08-07T06:00:00.007-06:00

It's been a crazy morning, both kids up before 6, they are so excited! Here are some pictures from this morning.

Hallie's 1st day of Kindergarten

Blake's 1st day of 3rd Grade

Both of my school kids...

As I dropped them off, Hallie was so excited. All she said was "Bye Mom, See you tonight." She hopped out of the car and never looked back. As they walked into school, Blake had his hand on her shoulder guiding her in. I can't wait until tonight and hear how it went!

Wipeout!!!

2008-07-21T21:03:00.003-06:00

Jaime and I stumbled onto a new tv show a couple of weeks back. It is called Wipeout. For those of you who haven't seen it, it is basically an obstacle course made up of giant oversized inflatable objects. They start with 24 contestants and cut the field in half after each round until there is 4 contestants left. Then the fastest one through the final course wins. In actuality, the show is a competitive version of America's Funniest Home Videos. The contestants slip, crash, and fall throughout the whole show. We laughed and laughed the first time that we seen it and thought that the kids would enjoy the show.

Last week, we all sat down together to watch it. The kids didn't know what to think at first, but as they seen person after person slip and fall into the water and get punched by the punching wall into the mud pit, they thought it was hilarious.

As the game went on, Andrew and Daniel began to act out the games on the show. Every time someone attempted to jump over or across something, Andrew and Daniel would jump off of the couch. They also ran into the couch and pretended to splash in the water. Of course, they would laugh as hard as they could after attempting their own obstacles and expected us to laugh too, which we did. The only thing funnier than watching unknown people fall off of objects into water is watching your own kids act out falling off of objects into water.

Later in the game, I started yelling, "SPLASH!!!!" every time that someone fell in the water. After a couple times of this, all six of us were yelling, "SPLASH!!!!!" and laughing as hard as we could at the poor saps that just couldn't make the jump. It was probably the most fun of television that I have seen and the main event was in my living room. After all, you know what they say. The family that laughs at people slipping on giant inflatable red balls and falling into water. . . , well, they really don't say that. (But they should.)

The House of Flying Pancakes

2008-07-16T20:55:00.005-06:00

This past Monday, Blake and Hallie spent the night with their Uncle Brian and Aunt Dawn and Jaime had gone to bible study. That left me with the twins for the evening.

On the way home from school, I had asked Andrew and Daniel what they wanted to eat. Daniel said spaghetti, which was immediately shot down since we ate that recently and also since we had pizza a couple nights previous. Andrew asked for strawberry pancakes. Since we didn't have any strawberries at home and since I don't have any idea how to make strawberry pancakes, we opted for the original version of pancakes. You know, Bisquick.

When it was time to start cooking, the boys wanted to help. They sat on the counter and helped me count out the ingredients. Using a 1/4 cup, we counted out the amount of Bisquick and milk. When I went to get the two eggs, I found that the eggs were stuck in the carton. I stood in the middle of the kitchen, pulling and squeezing the eggs to get them out of the carton until I finally squeezed too hard and SPLAT!!!!! Egg all over my face, glasses, clothes, floor, etc. For that second that I stood in disbelief at what had just happened, I hear two boys laughing as loud as they could. I look up at them, with egg all over my face, and start laughing. Then Daniel says, "Again Daddy. Do it again." Eventually, I stopped laughing long enough to get everything cleaned up so we can get back to making our pancakes. Not wanting to repeat the egg explosion, I end up cutting the next two eggs out of the carton and adding them into the batter. Then, we cook up the pancakes.

When the first batch was ready to come out of the skillet, I took the first pancake, flipped it up in the air, and caught it on a plate. The boys cheered and said, "Again." Immediately recognizing that I had a captive audience, I flip the next pancake, catch it, and they cheer again. Then I went into Japanese steakhouse chef mode. The more they cheered, the better my tricks got. I started flipping them higher and higher. I even done a couple of no look catches. Next thing I knew, I was in a stance, exactly like a baseball player who is about to steal second base. I flip a pancake as high as I can across the whole kitchen and chase it with the plate. I caught several like this and Andrew and Daniel loved it. Although, I performed these feats with skill that few have ever seen, I did drop a couple onto the floor. When that happened, they laughed like I had smashed an egg on my face or something. It was awesome and hilarious. The only thing that stopped me from doing this all night was I eventually ran out of pancake batter. After that, we sat down to eat.

While we were eating, Andrew began to get a piece of pancake on his fork, go through the flipping motion, and act like he was catching it in his mouth. Me and Daniel would laugh so he kept doing it. Like father like son, right?

The next morning, Daniel was talking to Jaime about eating pancakes the night before and I heard him say, "Daddy pitched them in the sky". I think I may have started a trend. I may have to work costumes into my show for the next time.

A Great Weekend

2008-07-14T07:01:00.002-06:00

It started with yet another birthday party for Blake. He wanted to have 4 friends over to spend the night Friday night. They ate pizza, ice cream, cake, cookies, and played more Fusion Frenzy than I thought any 5 kids (and 2 adults sometimes) could play. Sallie kept Hallie at her house, with the girls, otherwise she would have driven Blake crazy!!! Thank you Sallie. They slept really well, and didn't wake up until after 7:30. I was really impressed. Thank you boys for helping Blake have a great birthday.

Andrew and Daniel got to spend Saturday afternoon at Grandma and Grandpas while I went to a baby shower and the rest of the family recovered from the sleep overs. They had a great time as always and Saturday night was early to bed.

Sunday, after church, the kids played with water balloons, washed the cars with Chad and had a great time playing outside. Then, we got everyone dressed and went to the $1 movies to see Horton Hears A Hoo. We had lots of fun. Andrew and Daniel did really well, this was their first movie. We were able to get 1 large popcorn and 3 drinks and everyone was happy. We refilled the popcorn once and the kids ate and ate and ate. I had some cookies in my purse, so for $16 we had dinner and a movie. (If you consider Sprite, popcorn and cookies dinner!!) It was a really good weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!

2008-07-02T08:09:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday Blake. It is hard to believe you are turning 9 today. Time has gone by so fast. It seems like you should still be a baby. I remember your first birthday party. We had it at Poppa and Bidee's house, we had just moved back to Birmingham from Atlanta and we were living in an apartment. We had a Sesame Street Elmo party for you. Mommy worked really hard on your cake, Bidee had to help and show me how to do it. You were unsure about getting your hands dirty in the cake, but you finally started eating it. There were so many people there that day. Uncle Jeremy made you a banner to hang in front of the house, so everyone knew it was your birthday.

You opened presents for about 30 minutes and had so much fun. It was a great day.

Daddy and I are so proud of you. We are proud of the boy you are becoming. You have grown so much this year. You do a great job helping us, you help with the boys, you clean up all the time and you love to help in the kitchen. I love that you still love Veggie Tales. I love that you have grown up and love Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I love that you love to read.

Daddy and I love you so much and hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

Mommy and Blake at 9 months.

Blake at 1 year

Honduras June 2008

2008-06-30T19:20:00.006-06:00

I know we are way behind on blogging and we have a bunch to catch up on, but I want to blog about our trip to Honduras.

Once again, I am at a loss of words to say. How was our week in Honduras? Amazing, wonderful, peaceful, God-directed, and so much more. The story of our trip began several weeks before we left for Honduras. The airport we normally fly into in Tegucigalpa was closed because of an airplane crash at the airport at the end of May. Our only other option to fly in was into San Pedro Sula, which is a 5 1/2 hour bus ride up and down the mountains of Honduras. So we landed about 3 on Saturday afternoon. It was a very long day as we did not arrive at the shelter until after 10, long after the boys had gone to sleep. On the way, we stopped at a Honduran Buffet called Bongos. It was quite an experience as we all seemed to remember that meal long into the week...

Sunday morning we got up very early to the screams of the boys waking up. It was so amazing to see them all again. They had grown so much. Moises was there and I got a big hug first thing. I'm not sure if he totally remembered me, but we were good friends not long into the trip. Church was wonderful Sunday morning, we had a great time with the boys. After church we headed to the streets of Tegucigalpa to meet some of the kids on the street. We had buckets and buckets of fried chicken, and after getting their bellies full we talked to them about God. It was great, the kids are so beautiful. They were all very malnourished, not very clean and a lot of them were on drugs. But we were able to talk to them and send them off with lots of food, that they can bring to their friends or family. After the streets, we headed to the grocery store, to buy the food we were going to deliver during the week. Over 100 bags each of rice, beans and dried milk were purchased. After about 10 full to the brim carts of food, we were ready to go.

The rest of the week was very similar. We would do the food ministry in the morning and then go to the farm in the afternoon for a small building project and to do crafts and spend time with the older boys. Those were wonderful days. We split up into teams and brought food to most of the houses in a community called Monte Redondo. It is where the Farm is located and also where Noah's Ark Baptist Church is. We got to meet the great people in this community, bring them food, pray with them and tell them about the church at Monte Redondo. It was wonderful to meet so many people. Everyone was very welcoming and warm. They all invited us into their homes, and as poor as they were, every house was clean and every person had a wonderful smile.

In the afternoons, we played with the older boys. We did Spray Tie Dye, made duck tape wallets, they showed us how to make bracelets and we had a fantastic Silly String fight.

There are so many stories I want to tell, but I can't get them all out right now. Moises and I got to spend some very special time together, again climbing the trees. He loves to climb and eat whatever nut or fruit grows on the tree. Most of them were not recognizable to me, but he loved them.

I also met a very special boy named Samy. I had heard of Samy before because he was a part of the ministry and then left about a year ago. The ministry finally found him and now he was back. He lived a very hard life while he was gone and his mother was murdered during that time. Now he and his brother are in the ministry and doing great. He came and sat by me at church on Sunday, and after that we sought each other out every day. We spent lots of time reading, he would read in Spanish, I would read in English, then he would read the English with me. They boys have a real desire to speak English and be able to communicate with the teams they meet.

Chad got very attached to a boy named Saul, he is 13 years old and a trouble maker! He and Chad had a great time together. He will have to post and tell you all about his time with Saul. It is so amazing that we can spend hours with a boy and barely say a word. There is a huge language barrier, but it doesn't matter. We laugh and hug and play and don't even have to say a word.

I love Honduras. I love everything about it. I love the mountains, I love the valleys, I love the smells and the sights. I love the people and I love the children. The children are so beautiful. The people are so gracious and thankful. It is a country that is very wicked, with human life not being valued at all. But, there is also a light in Honduras that is burning brighter and brighter. As people begin to help others, street children become educated, men of God who know how to live and treat their wives, as the gospel of Jesus is spread to every person, you can feel and see the changing of the country.

I am so privileged that God has allowed me to be a part of this ministry now and for many years to come.

One of the couples who went with our group, brought a video camera and the below link is a short video with clips from our week. It is only a couple of minutes, but it shows a little bit of everything we did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHvU_RcvDGw#

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, your toys and your clothes, they were all distributed and it was wonderful to have them all. The kids and parents were very grateful.

Me and Moises

Handing out toys during the food ministry.

Chad and Saul

Sleepy Toys

2008-06-04T17:51:00.004-06:00

Most kids need something to hold on to or have in their bed to go to sleep at night, preferably something other than mommy or daddy. Andrew and Daniel have always had their little bear blankets.

Recently, Daniel has started sleeping with The World Book Encyclopedia: Q-R Volume. I don't really know why. Maybe he is trying to gain some knowledge by looking at it in the last few minutes of light before he goes to sleep or maybe the thought of reading an encyclopedia is so boring that having it in his bed puts him to sleep. Who really knows? The other night he ripped out several pages, so we may have to put a stop to that. (I guess he really didn't want to learn about Quebec, eh?)

As weird of an object as that is for a child to sleep with, it isn't the strangest thing that one of our kids has used.

When Blake was a toddler, he started crying one night and nothing would calm him down. Any of you who are parents, have faced one of these nights. Any of you who are not yet parents, it is coming. Anyway, Blake would not stop crying. Jaime got up and tried everything to get him to stop. She held him, rocked him, sang to him, gave him a pacifier, and let him cry a bit more from his crib, but nothing worked. She then woke me up. I held him, rocked him, sang to him, gave him back his pacifier and let him cry some more from his crib. Since none of those ideas were working, we tried some different things. We pushed him around our house in his stroller, let him watch VeggieTales, read him stories, offered him something to eat, offered him something to drink, let him lay down in our bed with us, changed his diaper, checked to see if he was running a fever, and finally drove him around the town for about an hour or so in the car. Nothing would work. We were tired and in a very bad mood.

Finally, that moment of "I can't take any more" came and we put him on the floor crying and he started stumbling through the house. We followed him and he walked to the refrigerator. At this point, we opened the door and offered him anything out of it as long as he would go to sleep or at least stop crying. Blake reached in and grabbed the bottle of maple syrup. It wasn't even the Mrs. Butterworth shaped bottle, which is shaped like a person as most of you know. It was just a plain ol' bottle of syrup. Once he had it in his hand, he stopped crying and walked back to our bedroom and wanted to climb in our bed. Needless to say, that night, me, Jaime, and Blake slept the last couple hours of the night in our bed with a bottle of syrup. At least the cap was stuck on good. None of us woke up sticky in the morning, however after a night like that, we would not have cared.

Blake's Baptism

2008-06-01T17:37:00.005-06:00

Last Sunday, Blake was baptized! It was a wonderful day. He got baptized at Hunter Street at the 9:30 service, his good friend Hunter was baptized the same day. Another good friend, Riley, was baptized at the chuch picnic the Sunday before. (Which I intended to blog about but never did, it was a wonderful day with friends (friends is not a strong enough word, family is more like it), great food and finished off with Riley's baptism in the lake.. An amazing day!!) Back to the baptism, Blake was so excited. He came down the baptism steps in front of the big church and he was smiling. It was so amazing to have all of his family and friends there to witness his profess his faith and follow Christ in baptism. We were all so proud.

Afterwards we headed to Ed and Sallies house (Hunter's parents) to have a big party for a three boys. We had some more wonderful food, barbeque, homemade ice cream, the works. Ed spoke to boys about the importance of the day and also the importance of the people who were surrounding them. They all had a room packed full of people who love them and are going to support them as they grow. It was wonderful day and one I will never forgot and one I hope the boys will always remember.

Blake, we are so proud of you and love you so much!!!

Aloha

2008-05-16T20:06:00.021-06:00

Aloha makamakas!! For all of you who don't speak Hawaiian, that means "Hello friends". Normally our blog is mostly about the kids, but as the oldest of the Echols kids and at times, most immature, I wanted to tell about something that I had gotten to do recently.

Thanks to Jaime, who I like to refer as the "greatest wife ever", I just returned from a week in Hawaii. I went to visit my longtime friend, Heath, who is currently living on the island of Kaua'i. It was a full blown guys week and did I mention that it was in Hawaii. (I couldn't remember.)

It was a blast. On days that Heath had to work, I spent a lot of time sitting on the beach and balcony staring at the waves rolling into the bay and also snorkeling. A few days into the trip, we were sitting on the beach and seen a shark attack a turtle in the spot where we had been snorkeling a few days previously. Needless to say, that really ended my snorkeling trips for the rest of the time that I was there.

We toured the whole island. We seen the old sugar cane mills, sugar cane and coffee fields, several waterfalls, Menehune Lake, and most every beach that we could find. Some of my more favorite things that we done were going up to Waimea Canyon, the dinner Catamaran cruise to view the Na Pali Coast, and touring the North Shore side of the island.

Here are a couple pictures from Waimea Canyon and the Kalalau lookout.

Here are a couple from the Na Pali Coast.

Here is a good shot of a beach on the North Shore. The cool thing about the North Shore side is that the beaches run right next to the road. You pull the car off to the side of the road, open the door and you are standing on the beach. They also are not very crowded as you can tell. This picture was taken on a Saturday.

One of the other great things the food. We stayed clear of the places that we could eat here and stuck with local eating places. The best was the Smith's Tropical Paradise Luau. It was more food than anyone can eat, but I tried most all of it. Of course the kalua pork was the best, but the teriyaki beef and sweet and sour mahi-mahi was good too. I also ate a Hawaiian sweet potato, which was purple, and a few bites of poi. Poi is sort of weird and I won't waste anytime explaining it because, I don't know that I can. Another one of my favorite eats was at Puka Dog. You may ask what that is and I will say that they only serve hot dogs and fresh squeezed lemonade. Puka means hole in Hawaiian. They cook the inside of their buns on some type of post and then they put the dog in the hole. You pick your type of dog (sausage or veggie), then you pick your garlic sauce (mild, hot, or volcano), then finally you pick your type of sweet relish (mango, banana, coconut, pineapple, etc). I had a sausage Puka Dog with mild garlic sauce and coconut relish. Possibly best hotdog ever.

The last day that I was there, we attempted to ride some waves with a boogie board. As amateurs, we were in way over our heads. The surf looked good, so we headed out to find that the waves were probably 8-10 feet high. Both of us managed to catch a few waves and it was awesome, but most of the time we drank more saltwater through our nose than anyone ever should. Our boogie boarding skills did draw the attention of some locals. There were some 11-12 year old kids who were making fun of us. We knew we looked goofy, so we joined in on the fun.

I had a great time and I must give the host/tour guide/cook/photographer at the Mixon Makai 5 stars.

Aloha!!

A Day with Hallie

2008-05-05T07:41:00.002-06:00

Hallie likes to talk, as most of you who have spent time around her know. She isn't talking to hear herself talk. She is talking so that you can hear her talk. What most of you may not know is that apparently she knows it all too. I was at home with her one day last week and she just couldn't help but to share some of her wisdom. I wanted to share a few with you.

Hallie on driving.
Daddy, a speed limit is how fast you can go and not break the law, right? If you break the law, then the police will take you to jail. Mommy says that you drive slow. You don't want to break the law, right?

Hallie on hitting a baseball.
Hal: Daddy, how do you hit the ball hard?
Me: You have to swing really hard.
Hal: I will try to swing really hard, but I can't promise that I won't swing at bad pitches. I am only 5 and I don't really know which pitches are bad, so I swing at them all.

Hallie on God.
Daddy, God hates sin, but he does love everyone. Well, I don't think that he loves Satan. Satan tried to take over Heaven before the world was created. That is why God threw him out of Heaven.
(From a previous day) Refried beans are great, but God is better than refried beans.

Hallie on going to Kindergarden.
Daddy, I know that I have to go to Kindergarden because I am only 5 years old, but I am smart enough for first grade. I know all of this Kindergarden stuff.

Now we are all the smarter thanks to Hallie.

Light's Out

2008-05-01T11:39:00.002-06:00

Andrew and Daniel have been out of their cribs for some time now and sleep in twin beds. They have adjusted to sleeping in their beds, but won't seem to go to sleep without me or Jaime sitting in the room with them. This has been ongoing for a while. Jaime and I alternate nights just to keep our sanity.

Last night, it was Jaime's turn to sit. We try, every now and then, to break them of needing us in their room, so she decided to put them in the bed and leave to see if they would stay in their beds and go to sleep. We do have a gate to make sure that they stay in their room. (They can open doors, even if they are locked.)

After she got downstairs, it was obvious that they didn't stay in their beds. We heard them banging on the floor, wall, door, gate, and anything else that they may have been colliding with while walking around in the dark. Eventually, we didn't hear them anymore, but not allowing ourselves to be tricked, we stayed downstairs a little longer.

When it was time for Blake and Hallie to go to bed, we all walked very quietly upstairs hoping not to disturb the potential sleeping kids. Blake and Hallie went to bed without a hitch. Next, I headed to Andrew and Daniel's room to check on them. As I went to step over the gate and into the room, I almost fell on my face as I tried to avoid the two little bodies that were cuddled up next to each other in the doorway right next to the gate. They were cute and hilarious at the same time. Here is a look at what I saw.

I guess when the warden calls for light's out and locks you up in the dark, you have no other choice but to go on to sleep.

The Kids in the Hats

2008-04-04T14:59:00.011-06:00

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So they sat in the house
All that windy, wet day.

Blake sat there with Hallie.
They sat there, those two
And Blake said, "How I wish
We had something to do."

Too wet to go out
And to wet to play ball.
So they sat in the house.
They did nothing at all.

They found their ball jerseys
And dressed for the game.
They were seeking to find
some baseball fame.

They turned on the Wii
And they started the play.
The Cardinals and Dodgers
Would play on this day.

No rainouts inside
Of the living room
The wind up, the pitch
Hallie connects with a "Boom!"

Hallie takes the lead,
But Blake comes back.
The Echols World Series
Is now in the sack.

The series ended tied
One game to one.
And now, at this time
All the baseball is done.

I'm the King!!!!!

2008-03-26T20:44:00.002-06:00

The other night at dinner, Hallie and Blake began discussing the Echols Kingdom and how the roles were divided. At first, Hallie declared herself queen, Blake a prince, Andrew and Daniel jokers, and Jaime and I servants. After hearing this, Jaime and I said, "We are WHAT?!?!?!?" Hallie told us again, in a tone that seem to say, you heard what I said, that we were servants. We weren't the only ones objecting to our roles. Daniel announced to everyone, in a loud voice, "I'm the King". Clearly he did not want to be a joker.

Realizing that there was unrest in the kingdom, Blake took it upon himself to make peace. He changed things a little by saying that he was a prince, Hallie was a princess, I was the king, Jaime was the queen, and Andrew and Daniel were still jokers. Andrew's response was "I'm a joker". Daniel's response was, again, "I'm the King".

Andrew and Daniel were later changed to princes, but Andrew again said, "I'm a joker" and Daniel again declared, "I'm the King".

They were changed to knights, but Andrew still said, "I'm a joker" and Daniel said, yes you guessed it, "I'm the King".

I even got in on the discussion and told Daniel that I was the king, but he continued to insist that it was him. No matter how many times different roles were announced, Daniel always said that he was the king. After a minute or two of arguing who was actually the king, Daniel ended up being declared King.

As the old saying goes, "If you can't beat them, join them". ALL HAIL KING DANIEL!!!!!! LONG LIVE THE KING!!!!!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-24T05:17:00.006-06:00

Happy Easter to all of you. We had a fantastic day and hope all of you did as well.

We woke up to the kids checking out what the Easter Bunny had left for them. Lots of candy!! The got nice and sugared up before we headed to church.

We then headed to church to worship during the most important weekend of the year. I had a party with my 2nd graders to celebrate Jesus, then headed to a wonderful service.

We went the Bidee's house for Easter as we do every year. Normally Poppa would offer the blessing every year, but because he is not with us, Blake offered the blessing. He did a wonderful job, thanking God for Jesus dying on the cross, the wonderful food, and for his family. He is growing up so much and we are so proud of him. We then hunted lots of Easter eggs and came home exhausted from a great day. Hope all of you had a wonderful day as well!!

Iowa 2008

2008-03-21T07:56:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday, Mom, Dad, the kids and I headed to Iowa for my grandpa's 81st birthday party. After over 15 hours in the car in one day, we were very happy to get to my grandparents house. On Sunday we went to the farm and had a birthday lunch for my grandpa. 36 members of my family were there to celebrate. We had lots of fun. The kids met lots of cousins they had never met before and became fast friends with them.

Hallie and Blake headed outside with Uncle Bruce to ride the horse Joe Joe. Hallie had the best time, she got to ride him twice and loved every minute of it. Blake rode once and he enjoyed it, but he is not the animal person that Hallie is. After that, we all got cold and went inside, but Hallie and her cousin Brita, decided to explore the farm on their own. They spent about two hours by themselves on the farm. They searched for eggs, and found three (which they ate the next day), the got in the pen with the sheep and baby lambs, they also stumbled upon a mama cow who had just had a calf. The mama cow was not too pleased with the girls, she snorted, stomped her foot, and started to get close to the girls. They girls ran back to the house to tell us what they had discovered. They were the first to meet the new baby calf, no one else knew it had been born!! Hallie came into the house with no boots (she had lost them running from the mama cow) and she was covered in manure. She had the best time and would love to live on the farm!!!

The next day both kids got to go back to the farm, Blake stayed inside and played Legos with his cousin Brett, while Hallie and Brita helped Uncle Bruce with his chores. They even helped him shear a sheep!

It was very cold and snowy while we were there. Here are pictures of the kids with the snow taller than they are!!

We headed back on Tuesday and finally made it home on Weds. It was lots of hours in the car, but we had a great time and the kids made lots of memories!

Big News for Blake

2008-03-18T21:45:00.006-06:00

We had some big news last week and I am sorry that it has taken this long to get it posted. Several of you already know this, but for those who do not, last week, Blake had asked Jesus into his heart.

Over the last month or so, Blake had been asking a few questions here and there about heaven, God, Jesus, sin, etc. Jaime and I had been answering them the best that we could and talking to him about Jesus and heaven. We had been wondering if he really understood the reason for accepting Christ as his Saviour. One night last week, Blake told Jaime and I at dinner that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. Later that night, after Hallie went to bed and while I was putting Andrew and Daniel to bed, Jaime and Blake had a long talk about everything from sin, to God's love, to Jesus, to the cross, to family members in heaven, and what it means to be a Christian. When the twins finally went to sleep, we talked with Blake some more about accepting Christ. Then we prayed with Blake. He said his own prayer to ask Jesus into his heart and after hearing it, there was no doubt in either mine or Jaime's mind that Blake fully understood what he had done. It was obvious that God was at work. After we all prayed, we hugged and kissed him and told him how glad we were that he would spend eternity in heaven with us.

Both Jaime and I are so proud and extremely happy for Blake. He has told lots of people and is excited each time that he does. Already, he is sharing Christ with others by telling them his news. Congratulations Blake! We love you so much!

Blake versus Chad

2008-03-11T21:21:00.003-06:00

A few nights back, we were sitting around and Hallie began to make up a game. This all-around competition was going to take place between myself and Blake. For round one, it was a two question trivia face-off. Hallie asked me, "How many homeruns did Babe Ruth hit?" I answered correct with 714. She then asked Blake, "Do you like ice cream?" Blake answered correct with yes. For my second question, Hallie asked, "How many homeruns did Hank Aaron hit?" I answered correct again with 755. She the asked Blake his second question which was "Do you like me?" Blake said yes and was told that was the correct answer. Round one ended in a tie. Blake-1 / Chad-1

For round two, it was to be a catching contest. Blake and I were to throw a ball back and forth. Every time you caught it, you got a point. First person to ten wins. Blake started throwing the ball hard over my head and won this round. Blake-2 / Chad-1

For round three, Hallie informed us that we were to have a juggling contest. Since Blake cannot juggle more than one ball at a time, I easily won this one. Blake-2 / Chad-2

For the final contest, Hallie announced that it would be a reading contest and pulled the book to be read from Blake's school backpack. It was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Being a bit cocky after my juggling win, I guess, I told Blake that he was going down. As if that wasn't enough, I say that I can read this book with my eyes closed. I open the book, close my eyes, and begin. I got out the first couple lines, said "The End" and closed the book. After hearing my trash talk, Blake was not going to take it lightly. He started talking smack back to me by saying that he could read the book without the book. He then recites 7-10 pages from the book, word for word. He started with "The Whos down in Whoville . . ." and went to the point in the story where the Grinch ties a horn to his dog's head. It was incredible and completely unexpected. When he stopped, I declared him the winner. Hallie wanted to keep playing, but there was no way that I was going to play any further. I couldn't stand for any other humiliation and took my beating and left. Blake won 3 to 2.

After that, I asked him how he had memorized all of that. He just said that it was his favorite book and that he reads it all of the time. I knew that it was his favorite book, but I had no idea that he had memorized. That was a good one. The next time Blake and I compete it will be a contest that I know I can win. Maybe something like which one of us is taller.

Blake's autobiography

2008-03-06T20:53:00.002-06:00

The other night we were sitting around the table and while making conversation, Jaime asked Blake about his day at school. He told us that his class was writing their autobiographies. With great interest, we asked Blake what he had written in his autobiography. He then started with the normal stuff. He said that he had written his name, his age, and his birthday. Upon further questioning, he said that he had written that he had a sister and two twin brothers. Next his story took a different turn.

Blake begin to tell us that he had written about the time that he fell asleep on the school bus and didn't get off at his stop. When that happened, Jaime called me in a panic because we had no idea where he was. Blake was found a couple of bus stops later and driven back home.

Next, he told us that he had written about a day at after-school care when his class went inside and he was left on the playground and got locked out of the building. He said that he had to wait a long time for someone to come back and let him in.

After that, he told us that he had written about a time at pool party with some of Jaime's sorority sisters when he stepped in a drain on the side of the swimming pool and his foot got stuck. He told of how much it hurt and of how his foot was scratched up for days.

With us thinking that there had to be a happy story somewhere, we asked again if there was anything else that he had written about. He said yes. He said that he had also written about another time when he got sick on the school bus and mommy had to come and get him. (He had actually had a seizure that day.) He said that he doesn't really remember it all, but does remember that the bus was stopped on the road and the firemen and paramedics had to come. He said he remembers mommy carrying him off of the bus.

Now, I know what you are thinking. With an autobiography like that, we should have named him Lemony Snicket instead of Blake Echols. After all, judging by his autobiography, his life does appear to be a series of unfortunate events.

Pinewood Derby

2008-02-08T08:50:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, Blake participated, once again, in the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. For those who are not familiar with what the pinewood derby is, I will tell you. Each cub scout builds a car out of a block of wood and then they all race them down a track to see which car is the fastest. The scout gets to design their car however they want.

Last year, Blake, of course had to design his like the General Lee. (Was there any other choice?) This year, he changed his mind about designing Sheriff Roscoe's police car and deciding on having his car look like a Nintendo Wii controller. After we were finished, it looked great, if I must say so myself and I must.

When it came time to run the race, the Wii car got a lot of attention from the other scouts, who thought it looked cool. Blake didn't have the fastest car in the cub scout pack, but did manage to win one of his heats. He was really excited.

The car has been retired to his "box of special things" as he puts it, but may still manage to make it out every now and then to roll across the floor. Who knows, eventually it may end up doubling as a dummy controller so that the twins don't throw the real ones across the room while trying to play the Wii.

Honduras

2008-02-04T16:29:00.000-06:00

I know over the last few months, we have blogged rarely, at best, but I have found it hard to get motivated to write. I want to write all of this down about Honduras so I can share with you about my experience. I have had a hard time communicating my experience verbally, I don't know if I'll do any better by writing it, but bear with me. It will probably be a brain dump.

It is hard to describe my experience, I have tried to sum it up in one word and I can't think of one word that is awesome enough to describe what I heard, saw, felt, thought, etc. We got to Honduras on Saturday night and went straight to the boys who live at the shelter VBS program. Most of it was in Spanish, but it was so much fun to see the boys express what they had learned in VBS, they sang, quoted bible verses and had a whole lot of fun. That night I began to get to know the boys, they are so loveable, they all want attention and love, but are also very patient.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church, it was all in Spanish and it was great to hear all of the songs we sing in Church sung in Spanish, while we sang along in English, this was our first opportunity to meet the older boys who live on the Farm. The boys from 5 - 12 live in the Shelter in Tegucigapa and the boys over 12 live at the farm in a town called Monte Redondo. After church we went to lunch at the farm and then headed back to Tegucigapa to go to a soccer game between two national Honduran soccer teams. It was a chance of a lifetime for the boys and they had a great time. It was fun for me to see as well, I'm not so much into soccer, but to watch the boys was lots of fun.

We slept every night at the shelter where the little boys live, so we had lots more time with them and also had the 45 minute bus ride every morning to get to know them better. The language was a barrier some, but we had great translators who helped us communicate. Monday morning, we got up and headed to the farm, but on the way we got our first experience with the Food Ministry. We would stop the bus on the side of the road and bring food to families that Stan (the director) has visited before. Most of these people are squatters who live on the side of the road in what I will describe as shacks at best. They almost all have dirt floors, with whatever they can find to make walls and a roof. There is no running water, no bathrooms, just a one room shack where the entire family lives. Most of the familes consist of a mother with 5 or more kids living together, lots of times there are 3 or 4 generations living in one little house. As little as they had, they always invited us into their homes, we talked with them, we played with the kids and gave the kids candy. Usually the food we brought was rice, beans, canned milk, cereal, flour, corn meal, etc. They were all very kind people who were very grateful for a group of North Americans that come and bring them food, smiles and hugs. Here are a couple of pictures of some special families I met during the food ministry.

We did the food ministry Monday, Tuesday and Wendesday morning. Every afternoon, we went to the farm, ate lunch, and while the men worked building a fence, the women did arts and crafts and played with the boys. One afternoon we tie dyed t shirts, we did paper mache, made books, necklaces and yo yos. We also played lots and lots of games. We taught them Duck, Duck, Goose, which in Spanish is Bato, Bato, Gonzo. We played red light, green light and lots and lots of soccer.

That is also a great time to bond with the boys. On Monday, I saw a little boy named Moises walking with Stan (the director in Honduras). He was only 5 years old and the youngest boy in the shelter. I went up to them and asked if Moises would come sit in my lap, he agreed and the picture below is right when he sat down with me.

After that, I wanted to be with him all the time. We walked together and held hands, we could not really communicate verbally because of our language barrier, but we communicated anyway. He would sit with me on the bus, during meals, and we played together for a lot of the trip. On Tuesday, we got a coke bottle, cut the top off, and threw rocks in it for about an hour and a half. We had the best time.

On Wendesday, we played all afternoon together. I helped him climb almost every tree on the farm, he would climb and pick every berry or nut off of the tree and threw them to me to hold. He then would jump from as high as could, looking very pretend scared, and crying "Jaime, Jaime, Jaime" until he jumped into my arms. We played for hours.

That night on the way to church, he fell asleep in my arms on the bus, and we sat very close during the whole church service. He did not fall asleep on the way back from church, but he laid in my lap and we talked about the stars "estraillas" the whole way home.

On Thursday, we left the kids at the orphange to do their chores, they hand wash their own clothes, hang them to dry, wash their own dishes and each have nightly chores to keep the orphange looking nice. The adults headed to Denali, a town about 2 hours away. Lots of the boys who live in the shelter and at the farm are from Denali and we were going there to see if we could get any more boys off of the streets and into the shelter. It was a beautiful day and as we sat in the park and sang songs in Spanish, several street kids came and we were able to talk to them. There were sisters and brothers and uncles of some of the boys in the shelter. We showed them pictures from our camera and they could see and hear they were doing well. We did not bring any boys back with us, but there are several Stan will go back and talk to at a different time and try to get them to come back with him.

On Friday, I had to say goodbye to all of the boys and come home. I was so ready to come home to my family, but I felt as if I was leaving some family behind as well. It was very hard to leave all the boys, but especially Moises. We had become the very best of friends, and my heart aches right now thinking of him. His mother gave him to the orphange to protect him and his brothers from an abusive father, so I know she was doing the very best she could from him. But, my heart breaks that he does not have a mother to put him to bed at night, to clean his hands and face after he eats, take care of all of his bumps and bruises. His story is so much better then the majority of the boys, they have seen and experienced much worse than him. But, the shelter is a wonderful place and they people who run it provide so much love and security for these boys that would never have it. Still, my heart aches that he will never have a normal home, with a mom and a dad and brothers and sisters. I did not know how I could love someone so much, after just knowing them a week, but I now know. I can't wait to see him again, and hopefully next year I will get to back and visit.

Here is a picture at all of the boys at the shelter.

There are so many more things I want to say, but I don't know how to put them in words. It was a wonderful, fantastic, emotional week for me. I saw God work in so many ways through everyone who went on the trip and everyone we met while we were there. Things are very clear in Honduras, I seem to muddy things up here in the United States. Every meal time another child says the prayer and they are such sweet sincere prayers. They always pray for each other, for the kids on the street, their moms, the leadership at the shelter and the people who are there to help them. They always share their food. These kids have fought their whole lives for every scrap of bread and yet if one of them is still hungry after their food is gone, they always share. They fight, like all boys, but for most of the time, they take very good care of each other.

Every morning and every night we would have devotion and share time and Stan always would get out his guitar and we would sing. The below link is some of the kids from the shelter singing with Stan. This is just one of the several songs that are on GodTube where you can see them sing. Click on the below link or search on FCM (Forgotten Children Ministries) on Godtube.com

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=dff883ba2d52715c97bb

I have watched these many times since I have been home. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I probably will post again with more pictures and stories.

Snow Day!?!?!?

2008-01-23T18:57:00.000-06:00

Yes, we live in Alabama and yes, we got some snow. It was just a little dusting, but it did coat the ground enough to have some fun. This was the first time that Hallie had seen snow in her life.

The night that it was supposed to start, I didn't sleep at all and was probably more excited than the kids. At about 4:00 on Saturday morning, I woke up and never really got back to sleep because I was waiting on little feet to come running in my room screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, there is snow on the ground". I probably could have looked out the window on my own, but I wanted to have the excitement of the kids telling me about it. About 6:30 that morning, I heard them coming down the stairs. They came into my room and announced, "Daddy, can we have some breakfast?" I thought, forget about breakfast, I need to know if there is snow on the ground. Well it turns out that there was no snow, but it did start later that morning.

As soon as we seen it, we bundled up like a bunch of eskimos and went running out to play in the yard because snow was falling from the sky. We caught some flakes on our tongue and found a little patch of ice to play with and then went back inside. Later, once the snow had accumulated a little, we went out for some real snow fun. We threw snowballs, Blake made a snow angel, we ate some snow, and we built a snowman. He was only about a foot tall, but it was still a snowman. After about an hour of playtime, we scooped some snow in a bowl and took it inside to do one of my favorite things to do when it snows and that was make snow ice cream. It probably wasn't like mother used to make, but it still hit the spot.

The snow was gone about half an hour after we went inside, but we did get to enjoy it for a while. Maybe sometime in the next five years, we will get some more.

Things they say

2008-01-16T19:37:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone, it's Chad. We are all doing well despite our lack of posting stories. I thought I would take a moment, since I had the time, and share some of the goofy things that my kids say and ask.

The kids got the 2nd Disney Scene It game for Christmas. While I was at home with Blake one day, we were playing. To begin the game we selected the characters that would be our pawns to move around the board. He chose Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars and I chose Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Blake asked, "Dad, are you using her because you think she is hot?" I said no and that it was because I was Nemo the last time and I wanted to be someone different.

A week or so later, Jaime had made some cookies. It was late and Blake was on his way up to bed. He asked if he could have a cookie and Jaime said no. He then asked, "Why? Is it because they are poisoned?" As I laughed, Jaime told Blake that she has never ever put poison in her cookies.

A few nights later, Jaime and I were watching T.V. in the living room. We heard a loud "Bang!" from upstairs. It sounded like someone was beating a metal shelf with an aluminum baseball bat. I went running upstairs and just as I got to the top, I looked towards Hallie's room just in time to see Daniel's feet jump up on Hallie's bed. As I entered the room, looking around for anything that was out of place or broken, I noticed that all four kids were sitting on the bed. I asked what the noise was. Blake said, "I don't know" and Andrew repeated him. Then Hallie said, "It was nothing" and Daniel repeated her. I asked if they heard the loud noises and Hallie asked, "Did it sound like a clatter?" (She had recently read the Night Before Christmas.) I said that it sounded like a very big clatter. Blake then said, "I don't know. Maybe it was a tornado." I said that it was not a tornado, it was 4 kids who were doing something that they should not have been and if it happens again, all of them will be in trouble. They said that they would let me know if they hear anything. With no evidence, I left the room and let them keep playing.

Who knows what they will say next?

Bennett the Elf

2007-12-30T16:57:00.001-06:00

Although Christmas is over for this year, I need to share one more story from this Christmas season that I have not taken the time to do. The story is that of Bennett the Elf.

From the start of December, Blake and Hallie had been telling us that they needed to set out some crackers, pretzels, candy canes, and a letter so that Santa Claus would send an elf to live at our house during the month of December. After a week or so of not knowing what they were talking about, we finally were able to get the official scoop. Apparently, a kid can write a letter to Santa asking him to send an elf to live at their house in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Once the elf arrives from the north pole, he comes to life every night while everyone is sleeping and does little things. Sometimes, he may do nice things for the kids or he may do mischievous things. You just never know. The kids then wake up in the morning and search for what the elf has done.

We decided to let the kids write a letter to Santa and our elf, named Bennett, arrived. Here are a few things that he has done. The first night out, he replaced all of the stockings with everyone's socks. After that, he made cookies for the kids, decorated the tree with underwear, led the kids on a scavenger hunt, gave the kids a gift, built things with toy blocks, and decorated the tree to look like Yoda, from Star Wars. (Blake loved that one.)

All in all, the kids had a lot of fun with Bennett and are hoping he will show up next year. We told them that we will have to see if Santa can spare him again during his busiest time of the year. Hallie's response was, "Of course Santa will let him because he is not a real elf. Bennett is a toy elf that comes to life at night. There is a difference."

Christmas with the Echols

2007-12-29T09:04:00.000-06:00

Well, Christmas is over and Santa got a work-out bringing gifts into our house and filling stockings for 9 people. It is a good thing that we have two chimneys into our house. Both Jaime's parents and my mother spent Christmas night with us.

We were expecting to be up at the crack of dawn, since 4:00 a.m. is usually the kids Christmas Day wake-up time, however at 6:30 we started to hear some people moving upstairs. Shortly after, little feet came running down the stairs to check out their loot. We held Blake and Hallie up to wait on everyone else. Once everyone was ready, we turned the tornado loose and they went running into the living and they all began pointing out what they had gotten in unisom. Blake had a Nintendo Wii, some Legos, a Haunted Mansion "Clue" game, and a few other little things. Hallie had a teddy bear dressed like a princess, a giant doll, a Disney Scene It game, and some other things. Andrew and Daniel ended up with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins Rocket, both complete with all of the figures, a Tigger game, and stuffed animals of Pooh and Tigger. They were all pretty excited, but couldn't wait until it was time to open the presents under the tree.

After breakfast and the rest of family arriving, it was time to begin the present opening. Wrapping paper flew in every direction. The kids unwrapped all of their gifts and then began to try and open the packaging so they could get down to playing with their new toys. Eventually, everything was opened, every game was played, and every box was carried to the garage, but the playing is still continuing today. This reminds me that I need to end this and go play the Nintendo Wii. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year.

Looking out for one another

2007-12-15T06:57:00.000-06:00

Being twins, Andrew and Daniel spend a lot of time together. They are in the same school class, the sleep in the same room, and usually, at home, if you are looking for one, the other is close by. A couple weeks ago, we had put up our Christmas tree. The next day, me, Andrew and Daniel were home by ourselves, so we decided to wrap some presents for Jaime, Blake, and Hallie. When we were done we put them under the tree and I started to do some other things around the house. About 30 minutes later, I hear the sound of paper ripping. I run in the family room, and see Daniel sitting under the tree with all three presents unwrapped. Needless to say, he was in trouble. I spanked his bottom, on the spot, and right in front of Andrew, who was watching the whole thing, and told them, "Do not touch the presents". Daniel cried and Andrew was really un-nerved about the whole thing. I think that is when they made a pact. I'll explain.

The next week, I had them alone at home again. I had sat them at the table to eat lunch. I gave them their pizza and told them to stay in their chair and eat their food. As with the previous week, I got up to do some things around the house. I finished upstairs and began to walk down the stairs. Daniel heard the sound of me walking and said, "Andrew! Daddy's coming!!" After that, I heard little footsteps go running across the floor and the chair being slid across the kitchen floor. As I turned to go down the last few stairs, where I can see the table, I see Andrew climbing into his chair. I ask, "What are you doing?". He looks up at me with a nervous smile and says, "Eating pizza.?.?." I replied, "That is what you should be doing". I never did find out what he was doing and it may not have been anything, but it was not what he was told to do, so he was trying to hide it. I knew the day was coming when they would start to try and do things without me knowing, but I didn't figure that it would be 2 years old. When I was a kid, I knew that I needed a lookout if I was doing something that I shouldn't, so I guess they figured it out too.

Blake the Egyptian and Hallie's solo

2007-12-08T15:30:00.000-06:00

This week both Blake and Hallie had their programs at school. Thursday night, Blake was an Egyptian in the schools program of "Feeling Good". Blake's class talked about all the different parts of the Food Pyramid, hence the Egyptians. Blake had a speaking part and he did a very good job, singing and dancing like an Egyptian. Thanks to Bidee for sewing Blake's costume so fast. (Please be kind in you comments, I did the beading on the collar. ) After multiple hot gun burns, this was what we ended up with, and Blake was so proud. Below are the pictures from Thursday..

Today was Hallie's school program and she has a solo this year. She sang the verses to Mary had a Baby and the rest of the school answered her as she sang. She did a very good job and was very excited to get to sing in the microphone. She was not nervous at all and we were very proud. Chase always puts on a great Christmas program and this year was now different. At the end was a slideshow of the kids in Helena dressed in old fashioned clothes. They had taken the pictures in Black and White and then tinted in color. I will post some when I get the actual pictures. It was a great day.

The White House

2007-11-17T17:01:00.000-06:00

Hi. It's Chad. I was in Washington, D.C., this past week for a training class. On Wednesday morning, I skipped out on training and went to take a tour of the White House. It was extremely cool. That evening, I called home and told Jaime about it. Hallie wanted to talk on the phone to me, so I began to tell her about it. Her response was, "That was cool. Did you see George Washington?" I told her that I did not, but I did see his picture. Blake was next to talk. I told him about going to the President's house. He wasn't quite as impressed at first. In an attempt to build him up to my excitement level, I told him that the President has his own movie theater and bowling alley in his house. He perked up at that point with an excited "Really?!?!" I then told him about the swimming pool, basketball court and tennis courts. Blake couldn't believe his ears and was amazed that someone could have all of those cool things in their house. Thinking of the best thing ever, in his mind, to have at your house, he then asked, "Daddy, does the President have his own McDonalds in his house?" After I quit laughing, I said, "No, but if the President wants McDonalds to eat, someone would bring him McDonalds." I guess even though you may have 5 star expertly trained culinary chefs at your service, there is no remedy for a Big Mac Attack.

Baking cakes

2007-11-12T11:18:00.000-06:00

I have been baking cakes for about 25 years. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade I had a surprise Anniversary party for my parents, where I baked and frosted two cakes (from scratch) while Mom and Dad were not at home. I like to bake and have been doing it forever. Then this weekend, the kids and I decided to bake a Checkerboard Cake for Mom's birthday, again I have baked this cake before with no problems. I decided to do a cooked chocolate frosting, which is very simple, again something I have done before. Below you will see the results of my cake baking adventure. Let's just say, nothing worked right this weekend.

It tasted great, but that was about it. At this point, I gave up frosting the rest of it and we just ate it as it was. Oh, well.

Chad vs. Hallie

2007-11-05T18:00:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. It is Chad. Hallie finished soccer a couple of weeks ago. After we had gotten home, she was a little upset that she had not scored a goal in any of the games this year. It definitely wasn't for lack of trying. She worked really hard to score a goal, but just couldn't do it. She came really close in the final game, but missed the net. Since she was upset, I had told her that next year, she would most likely score lots of goals because she would be older. I went on to say that when you get older, you get stronger and faster, so you will be able to kick the ball harder and run faster. She thought on this for a second and then replied, "Daddy, that can't be right because I am way faster than you." I told her, "No, you are not." She went on to say that she was and she has beaten me in a race. After that, I did what any dignified dad would do. I told her that she was wrong and the next day that we were outside, I was going to race her and prove to her that she was not faster than me. Race day arrived this past weekend. We were outside playing and I reminded her about our race. We lined up. Hallie said, "On your mark, get set, go!" and the race was on. One thing to remember when racing someone in a sprint for a distance of 25-30 feet is that the jump out of the starting gate is crucial. Hallie was a littler faster out of the gate than I was ready for, but I am proud to say that I won the race. Yes!!! You heard me right. I am a slightly faster runner than a 5 year old girl.

Happy Birthday Andrew and Daniel!

2007-10-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

On the kids birthdays I have been writing about the day they were born, but for Andrew and Daniel I need to start the story a little earlier. Because their birth story is the same, I will write to both of them together, I will write individually to them later.

When Mommy was about 8 weeks pregnant, I went to the Doctor. Daddy stayed at work that day because we knew all they would do was tell me I was pregnant. Before I saw the Doctor, they did an ultrasound and as soon as they lady put the wand to my belly she asked me how many pregnancies I had in the past. I told her 2, one for Blake and one for Hallie. She then asked me if I knew I was having twins. I was shocked!!! I started laughing and crying all at the same time. I kept on saying, but I already have two babies, I can't believe I am having two more. She kept looking at the ultrasound and saying everything looked great. Daddy had been teasing me ever since I got pregnant that it was going to be twins because I was so sick and I was not sick with Blake and Hallie. So they walked me back to the room and I called Daddy. He answered the phone and I said "Guess what? We are having twins." Daddy started laughing and said he knew I would try to tell him that because he had been teasing me for so long. I told him again I was serious and he did not believe me. Finally the nurse walked in the room and asked me if I had told my husband yet, when Daddy heard that he said,"You are serious aren't you?"

I said yes and we both started laughing. We were very excited, but also a little scared. Two babies at once was going to be a lot of work and we were worried.

Once I left the Doctors office, Daddy and I decided to go ahead and call family and tell them the good news. I called Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Brian and Aunt Dawn and they were all very surprised and very excited. Daddy called Poppa and Bidee, Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeremy. They were very excited too. I drove around in my car for about 2 hours before I went back to work because I could not believe I had two babies in my tummy.

Before long it was time for you both to be born. We were watching the Alabama/Tennessee football game and I was having lots of contractions, we called the Doctor and he told us to go on in to the hospital and get checked. When we got there they told me I was in labor and would be in the hospital until you both were born. That night they gave me some medicine to try to get my labor to stop so you would not be born yet, but you both were ready to be here.

So, they next morning we called all of the family and told them you would be born today! They all came to the hospital to wait. At 4:17, Andrew was born. Andrew, you were small 4lbs, 5 oz, so they took you straight to the ICU and I did not get to hold you right away. Then at 4:22 Daniel, you were born. You were small too, 4 lbs, 1 oz, but you were doing a little better so I got to look at you for a minute before you went to ICU. I was so ready to see and hold you both, but because you were so small I couldn't right away. Daddy and I went down the hall to see you about 11:00 that night. Andrew, we walked up to your crib and you looked just like Blake when he was a baby. You had brown hair instead of red, but you looked just like Blake. We walked over to your crib Daniel and we were so surprised. You didn't look like Blake or Hallie, but you did look just like your Daddy!

Andrew, when I first held you I could not believe how small you were. We had so much special time when you were still at the hospital. I would sit between you and Daniel all day long and alternate holding you and watching you. You came home when you were 3 weeks old and we were so excited. Blake and Hallie had not seen you yet and they wanted to hold you all night long. For the first two weeks you were home we went back and forth to the hospital several times a day to see Daniel and we had lots of special time together.

Daniel, when I first held you, I could not believe how much you looked like your Daddy. You were small too and so handsome. You had to stay at the hospital two more weeks after Andrew went home, but we came to visit you several times a day. I got to give you bottles and give you baths. We missed you so much when we went home at night, but before long you came home as well. Daddy, Andrew and I came to the hospital to pick you up and we were so happy to have you both in the car with us.

Here is a picture of you both on the day Daniel came home from the hospital. You were 5 weeks old and Blake and Hallie were so happy.

Andrew, you are such a wonderful boy. You are so happy and you love to cuddle and be held close. I love to sit and hold you as we talk or sing. I am so proud of all that you do, you love to play ball and you surprise me every day with the new words or songs that you know. I hope you have a wonderful, happy birthday and Daddy and I love you so much!

Daniel, your smile lights up the room. You show every emotion on your face and when you are happy the whole world knows. You don't sit still often, but when you do I love to watch Tigger and Pooh with you. You are such a big helper, I love it when you help me do laundry or load the dishwasher. I am so proud of you and all of the new things you are learning ever day. I hope you have a great birthday and Daddy and I love you so much!

WEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

2007-10-17T19:40:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. It is Chad. As you probably can tell from the previous blogs, we all had a great time at Disney. One of my favorite parts, and I know Blake's too, was riding the rides. We basically rode everything we could and wanted. All of the kids showed a ton of courage to get on some of the giant rides and loved them. Blake and Hunter even braved the Tower of Terror with me and Jaime. Blake loved it, but it was definitely not Hunter's favorite. He did show more courage than his parents, who chickened out. (Just kidding Ed and Sallie.) Blake says that the Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest were his two favorite rides. I would have to agree.

The most favorite ride of all the kids was Splash Mountain. We ended up riding that about 3 or 4 times and we got wet every time. Soarin' was also a highlight. For those who don't know what that ride is, you are raised up in a row of seats to be looking at a giant movie screen. Then the movie starts and you are flying over California. The seats glide with you as you are flying and you feel the mist of waterfalls, smell the orange groves, and all sorts of things. All of us were amazed with this ride, but probably none as much as Hallie, who asked me, "Daddy, are we still in Disney World?" She really thought we had flown away.

The 3-D things were a little too real for Hallie. She loved the Muppets and was amazed at parts of Mickey's PhilharMagic, but the Bug's Life show scared her to no end. She was fine initially, but when the giant spider came on the screen and started throwing its deadly poisonous quills past our heads, she was ready to go. She sat in my lap with her eyes hid until it was over.

Another ride that everyone seemed to like, but it took a little time to get over it, was Dinosaur. It was a little intense and Hallie had to ride it with her head down. They take you picture as a big dinosaur is screaming in your face. We all looked a little scared, except for Hallie, who wasn't looking. After the ride, I asked Blake what he thought of it. He replied, "Whew. I thought that was real."

It was such a great fun trip that I could go on and on about all of the rides, but I will leave it here for now.

More Disney Pictures

2007-10-17T07:31:00.001-06:00

Sallie has set up a photo album with a lot of the pictures they took when we were all at Disney. They are fabulous pictures. Here is a link to the album...

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sklawrence/Disney2007

Enjoy!

Disney World

2007-10-11T07:14:00.000-06:00

We are home and had a fantastic time!! There are so many stories to tell, I don't think I can write them all on the blog. The kids were wonderful, they had a great time and there was very little fussing the whole trip. Blake loved the rides, he rode every single one with his hands in the air. His favorites were Tower of Terror, Expedition Everest and Splash Mountain. Hallie rode everything she was big enough to ride, she loved Splash Mountain, the Goofy roller coaster and meeting all of the characters.

The lines were not bad at all, we did not have to Fast Pass many rides and were able to walk on lots of them. Some of the highlights of the trip were many, many, many knock-knock jokes told by Hunter, Blake, Brantley and Hallie. Everytime were were still for a minute, more jokes were created. Very few made sense, but they had a great time.

Another highlight was the fabulous food we ate. We had a fancy dinner at a Steakhouse and all of the kids were fantastic. They behaved very well, ate all their dinner, and stayed up way past their bedtime and never complained. We also ate at the Whispering Canyon Cafe, it was so much fun! The kids got to be loud and silly and no one cared. They got to yell for ketchup and everyone is the resturant brought their ketchup to our table. Then they got to bring our ketchup to someone else's table when they called for it. We celebrate Hallie and Brantley's birthday on several different days, and on the last night both got birthday cakes.

Too many stories to tell, I'll post more of them later, but here are some of the pictures.

The girls at their birthday dinner...

The boys on a Star Wars speeder..

Hallie with Snow White..

Blake with Goofy...

All of us at dinner...

More pictures and stories to come!

Walt Disney Day 1

2007-10-06T07:05:00.000-06:00

I'm not going to post much, we are all anxious to get back to the parks this morning. We are having a great time and all of the kids have been fantastic. Here are some of the highlights from day 1.

7 Minutes

2007-09-20T20:23:00.000-06:00

When was the last time you got into an "yes it is"/"no it is not" argument with a kid? For me, it would be very recently. We were on the way home the other night, when Hallie asked how much longer until we get home? It was about seven minutes so I told her so. She then replied that seven minutes was a long time. My immediate response was "no it is not". She said, "Yes it is". I said "No it is not". You can see where this is going. Over and over we repeated our statement. I even tried the old Bugs Bunny sneak tactic by saying "yes it is", hoping that she would say "no it is not" so that the game could end, but Hallie was too smart for that. She thought that I had gotten confused and said the wrong thing, so she corrected me.

Seven minutes later, as we were pulling into the garage, I finally get the last word in with a resounding "no it is not", however Hallie had made her point, whether she knew it or not. The point that she made was that seven minutes IS a long time, especially when you are continually saying, "no it is not".

Our 5 Year Old Soccer Coach

2007-09-18T21:05:00.000-06:00

Hallie has started playing soccer this year. She has had a couple games and is doing really well and enjoying it. After each game, she always asks if we won. The league that she plays in does not officially keep score, but knowing that she wants to know if we win, I keep score. After the first game, she asked and I explained to her that we had lost. She was a little upset, but said that we would win the next one. A couple days later, on the way to school, she asked me if they would win their next soccer game. I told her that I hoped so. Then, in a very strong coach voice, she asked, "Do you want us to lose?" I said no. Then she said, "You want us to win, Right?" I said yes and then it began. She launched into an inspirational coach locker room speech that would rival the greatest coaches ever. "Well, then we need to run fast. We have to run fast and kick the ball hard. We have to kick it so hard that no one can stop it and we have to kick it in the net. If the other team gets the ball, we have to chase them down, kick it away from them and kick it into the net. We can't let them score. We will score all of the goals and they won't score any. We are going to win this week because we are the best." After that, I was fired up. I wanted to go an play some ball right then. Unfortunately, we lost the next game too, but Hallie played even better the second week and tried really hard. She even kicked the ball out of the pile of kids a couple of times and started to kick it toward the goal. We will get that win sometime.

Here are a couple of pictures of the little soccer dynamo in action.

Andrew

2007-09-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

I know I have a lot to catch up on after Hallie's birthday week, but I have to share this story while it is still fresh on my mind.

Last night about 3 am, we woke up to Andrew screaming. He usually cries out about once a night and we just let him go back to sleep, but last night he kept crying and crying. So I went upstairs to try and calm him down. When I got up there, he had taken both his shorts and his diapers off. I found the diaper and it was dry, so I thought we were okay. I took him downstairs to get another diaper and when I turned on the light, I found that he had dried poop all over him. It was in his hair, on his face, all over his legs and pajamas and all over his bear he sleeps with. So while Chad goes to change the sheets and put the dirty ones in the wash, I have to run bath water and bathe him at 3 am. In the middle of this, Blake comes down and says he can't sleep because of all the noise. We finally get Andrew bathed and dried off and back in bed (where he screams for another 15 minutes until he falls asleep). Amazingly Daniel stayed asleep through all of this. After Chad and I trying to go back to sleep for about 45 minutes, we finally fall back asleep, and Blake comes back downstairs and says he is not tired anymore. I convince him to go back to sleep and when I wake up this morning, he is asleep on the floor next to my bed, with only one little pillow and no blanket! He is lucky I looked down before I stepped out of bed, because that would have been a big surprise for both of us!

Happy Monday!!!!

Happy Birthday Hallie!

2007-09-12T07:15:00.000-06:00

Today is Hallie's 5th birthday. I know I have a lot of blogging to catch up with, and hopefully in the next couple of days I can catch up, but since today is Hallie's birthday, I want to write about the day she was born.

Hallie...

When Daddy and I found out we were having another baby, we were so excited.. Mommy was hoping for a baby girl, so the day we went to find out if you were a boy or girl, Blake came with us and when the told us you were going to be a girl I started crying. I was so happy. Daddy and I decorated your whole room in pink and white. Daddy even painted pink and white flowers on the walls of your room, so when it was time for you to be born, you could come home to your own beautiful room.

Mommy had been to the Doctor several times the week before you were born, and even spent the night in the hospital one night, because we knew you were coming. The night before you were born, I cleaned the whole house and then Daddy and I walked and walked and walked around the mall, hoping it would make you come sooner. The next morning I went to the Doctor and he said, "Are you ready to have your baby today?" And I said "Yes!". I called Daddy and he headed to the hospital to meet me. I called Grandma and Grandpa and they got on a plane from Charlotte so they could be here when you were born. Daddy called Poppa and Bidee and they went and got Blake from school to bring him to the hospital so he could be there too.

We waited all day and then about 5 o'clock at night, the Doctor told me it was time for you to be born. Then at 5:30 you were here. Daddy and I were so excited. You were beautiful. Daddy went to the waiting room and told everyone you were here. He went and got Blake and Blake was the 1st one to see you. He was very proud of you. Everyone else came into the room and they could not wait to hold you. Grandma and Grandpa were there, Poppa and Bidee were there, so were Uncle Brian and Aunt Dawn and Aunt Julie and Uncle Jeremy. (Sorry Jeremy for leaving you out! ) That very night, you started talking to us. You were making the cutest noises as we held you.

Daddy and I love you so much Hallie. You are a very special girl. You love everything you do and have so much excitement about everything. You want to learn and grow so fast and you are doing that everyday. We hope you have a wonderful 5th birthday.

Here is a picture of you this morning with the big vase of flowers Daddy wanted us to give you on your birthday.

Gymnastics

2007-08-17T07:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Hallie and her friend Brantley started gymnastics. They had a fantastic time last night. There were about 50 girls in the gym at the same time on all of the different equipment, so it sometimes was hard for Hallie to focus but she did a really good job. They did 15 minutes on the floor, bar, beam and vault. Hallie was one of the smallest in the class, but she held her own. I think the girls are really going to enjoy it. They were busy the whole time and got to use all of the equipment. Hallie's favorite yesterday was the beam, I imagine that her favorite will be different every week. Here are some pictures of Hallie on the beam.

Shopping with Hallie

2007-08-10T18:15:00.000-06:00

It isn't often that we all venture out to the mall together, but when we do, you can count on Hallie to keep it from being another dull shopping trip. Last weekend, we all headed to the mall to shop for some clothes for Jaime, which is even more rare. As we came off the elevator and walked past the lingerie section, there were two full mannequins in their underwear. Hallie walks right up to them, tilts her hips and head back, points at them with both index fingers, and says, "Looking good ladies". Jaime and I started laughing hysterically. Of course, that led to her saying it to every other mannequin in the store.

Well, this spot in the store has gotten Hallie's comments more than once. Several months ago, we were walking through the same store and Hallie spots a pair of leopard print underwear. She picks them up and tells Jaime that they look awesome and she should buy a pair. She then tells Jaime, "Mommy, if you had these, you could be just like a tiger. ROARRRRR!!!!!!" Jaime looked to get my reaction and I simply replied, "ROARRRRR". It was hilarious.

Later into the same shopping trip last weekend, Blake and Hallie decided that they wanted to go to the Disney Store. We say no because we knew they will want to buy something and we didn't want to have to drag crying kids out of the store. After much begging and promising that they will not ask to buy anything, we give in. As you know with everything Disney, customer service is top notch. The moment we walk in, a Disney employee walks up to us, with a big smile, and asks if she could help us today. The moment that those words left her mouth, Hallie looks up at her and says, "We aren't buying anything today. We are just looking". The employee was a little surprised, but thought it was funny. Of course, we were dying laughing and proud that she kept to her word. Blake did too. Neither asked for anything in the store.

1st Day of School

2007-08-09T16:19:00.000-06:00

Today was Blake's first day of second grade at his new school. He was so excited he got up at 5:30 this morning ready to go. I had to drop him off at 7:15 (as soon as they opened) because he couldn't wait to get there. When I picked him up, he said he had a great day. He likes his class and really likes his teacher. He already knew 3 boys in his class from Cub Scouts and 1 girl from church. Another one of his friends from Cub Scouts is in after school care with him, which is wonderful, because he already has a friend in after school care too! He has finished his homework already and I know he will sleep good tonight.

Here is a picture of him this morning. You can tell, he was not very patient as I took his picture.

Yesterday was Hallie's first day of 5k. The first day of summer care this summer she started asking her teacher when lessons began and has asked every day since the beginning of July. So yesterday she was beyond excited when she finally got to start her lessons. Here is a picture of her yesterday, she had to wear special clothes on the first day.

And not to leave anyone out, here are some pictures of the boys playing outside this weekend. Normally they just play with the water in the buckets, but it was too hot, so they just got in the buckets! You can tell by the pictures that Daniel was the one who came up with the idea. Andrew just followed along and I'm not sure he really enjoyed it!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

2007-08-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

. . . Take me out to the crowd. Buy me some nachos and a giant foam finger. Well that is how our version went. Blake and I went to his first major league baseball game on Tuesday night. That is one of the best father-son moments. We saw the Atlanta Braves put a whipping on the Houston Astros, 12-4, and had a blast. We got there early and was able to meet and get autographs from several of the Astros players. Two of the players that we met were centerfielder, Hunter Pence, and third basemen, Ty Wigginton. What nice guys. When we finally made it into the stadium we played a little homerun derby on an xbox 360, watched batting practice (almost caught a homerun ball), bought our foam finger, and headed to the Sky Field for a little fun. In the Sky Field, we were able to look out over the city and Blake was able to run down the base path.

After that, we got our pizza and drinks we settled into our seats at the very last row in the upper deck. When the game began, we joined in with the crowd. Although the Braves and Astros are my two favorites teams and I was unsure who to cheer for, Blake decided that we would cheer for the Braves and we cheered as loud as we could. Blake would even put on a dancing exhibition for the people in our section in between each inning. We were able to see the Braves belt 4 home runs and after a great and loud rendition of take me out to the ballgame, we headed to eat the second greatest stadium food. That is nachos for all of you amateur baseball fans. Blake played a little in Tooner Field, which is the kids play area, and then we watched the final 3 outs and the fireworks. We had a great time.

As fun as that was, there is one thing better than going to a baseball game and that is going to two baseball games. Tonight, we went to the Birmingham Barons game. Although the twins were determined to run all of the ballpark, we had a good time. Thank goodness for 25 cent hotdog nights. Blake and Hallie sat with their friends, Hunter, Brantley, Brandon, and Caleb, and cheered for the Barons. Hallie put on the foam finger and started chanting, "We're #1." Later the cheer turned to "Go Barons" and then "Biscuits are rotten", which I must give Blake the credit for coming up with that cheer. (The Barons were playing the Montgomery Biscuits.) They all had fun watching the game and eating their hotdogs, nachos, slushies, etc. Daniel sums up the night best as he says, "Baseball is #1."

Poo-Poo in the Potty and The " Tooter"

2007-07-26T14:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day at our house. Hallie always gets "prizes" at school for good behavior and for napping and yesterday she got into the car and said, "Mommy, I got a tooter today at school". I said "A what?". I thought she meant a tutor and I could not figure out why she needed a tutor for something in 5k. She said " A Tooter, Mommy", the she held up a whoopee cushion and all of a sudden it made sense. All night long she talked about her "Tooter"!

On that same note (not to gross anyone out), Daniel was in the bathtub last night and he started to say Potty, Potty, Potty, so I took him out of the bathtub and set him on the potty and he went poo-poo in the potty!!! We were so excited, both Chad and I started yelling and clapping. He acted very nonchalant like this was an everyday occurrence. He wiped himself and we put him back in the bathtub, of course as soon as we did he pee-peed in the tub, but we have made the first step!!

The Echols Family Musical

2007-07-22T17:40:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. It is Chad again. Have you ever heard anyone say that they have a hard time watching musicals because people don't break into song in real life? Well that person has never spent anytime at our home. It is not uncommon to hear someone burst into song when going from room to room. It is usually Blake and Hallie singing because Jaime and I reserve our songs to each other when no one is listening. My love, there's only you in my life . . . Sorry about that. That is for later. Anyway back to Blake and Hallie. Today I asked Blake to wake up Hallie from her nap and he began singing a song about how he was going to wake her up and then kept singing his attempts to do it. One of the better songs in the Echols Family Musical occurred this week in the car on the way home. Blake had loaned a toy to a friend at school and she had lost it. He was upset and mad at his friend for losing it. We were having a discussion about how it is okay to be upset when something is lost, but it isn't worth losing your friends over it. Blake then asked, "what if someone lost Hallie?" I said that no one would lose Hallie. He asked, "What if someone lost me?" Before I could answer, Hallie began singing and Blake answered her in song and it went on for a bit. Here is what it sounded like:

Hallie: If you got lost, I would come and find you.
Blake: But what if I was super far away?
Hallie: I would drive a car and I would find you.
Blake: But you can't drive a car.
Hallie: Then I would wait until I was 16 and then I would have my driver's license and I could find you.
Blake: But what if I was in a bear cave?
Hallie: You could call me on a cell phone and then I would know where you were.
Blake: But what if the bear ate my cell phone?
Hallie: Then you could send me a map and I could find you.
Blake: But what if I didn't have a map? I'd be lost forever.
Hallie: Yep! You'd be lost forever.

And then the song ended. I reckon that not all musicals are comedies, although I was laughing my head off.

Blake's Birthday and the 4th

2007-07-05T07:55:00.000-06:00

We had a fantastic weekend where we celebrated Blake's birthday all weekend. Blake decided he wanted to go to Laser Tag for his birthday, so we invited several of Blake's friends and their families to come play Laser Tag Friday night. We had a great time, it was fun for the adults and kids to run around a play together. We went to DQ afterwards and had dinner, cookie cake and ice cream.

Saturday, all of the family came over and we had dinner, cake and a birthday party for Blake. Again, we all had a great time. The babies loved all the attention and Blake wanted to play with all of his toys. He is the best present opener ever, he loves everything he gets, and gets so excited with every present.

Sunday we took a day off from birthday celebration, but on Monday I sent cupcakes to school for Blake and then we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. Poppa and Bidee came over Monday night to wish Blake happy birthday and then the birthday celebration was finally over!!!:)

On the 4th, we went to Chad's aunts house and ate WONDERFUL BBQ and got to swim in the pool. Blake and Hallie always love to swim, they put on their life jackets and swim and swim. Andrew was really scared of the pool and would not get in, but Daniel got in and we had to fight to get him out of the pool. He loved to splash and play in the water. It is really strange, because Daniel hates the bathtub but Andrew loves it. I think they boys keep switching personalities, just to confuse me. We went to Poppa and Bidee's after swimming and got baths to get ready for school today. We had Andrew and Daniel out of the tub, with diapers and shirts on when they wandered into the bathroom where Blake was showering. Poppa decided Andrew wanted to get in the shower, so Andrew got into the shower with Blake, with shirt and diaper on. He had a great time, then Daniel had to get in too. They had a great time.

Maybe next year we will get to see fireworks. They are too late when we have school and work the next day. Hopefully next year the kids will be big enough to stay up to see the fireworks.

Happy Birthday Blake!

2007-07-02T07:46:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking about what I would write on each of the kids birthday, and I realized I'm not sure if I have ever written down the details about the day each of the kids were born. So today, I will write about July 2nd.

It all started on Friday, 3 weeks before my due date. I rode MARTA into work that morning and was getting settled at my desk, ready to start the day. All of a sudden I needed to go to the bathroom (which was not unusual being 9 months pregnant), I won't share all the details about this part, but after going to the bathroom I realized that something was going on. I went back to my desk to call the Doctor and as I was talking to him on the phone, my water broke right in my chair. I ran to the bathroom and handed the phone to one of my co-workers. When I got back to my chair (with golf towels all in my dress), the doctor said it was time to head to the hospital. I called Daddy and he was at work so we decided he would meet me at the MARTA station where I left my car. One of my co-workers drove me to the MARTA station, where we could not find Daddy, we finally found him and Daddy and I headed to the hospital.

We got there and waited until noon, until there was finally a room for us at the hospital. They looked and me and decided that would be the day that you would be born. Daddy headed home to get our bags and everything we needed to stay at the hospital. While he headed home, he called Poppa and Bidee and they got into the car with Aunt Julie to head to Atlanta to be there when you were born. I called Grandma and Grandpa, and Grandma got into the car to get to Atlanta. Grandpa could not come that day, because he had to work.

Daddy got back to the hospital and after several hours it was finally time for you to be born. Grandma, Poppa, Bidee and Aunt Julie were in the waiting room and Daddy stayed with me. We were so surprised and so happy when they said , "It's a boy!". It was 8:31 pm. We had not decided on any names, because we did not know if you would be a boy or girl. So as soon as we saw you, Daddy said "How about Timothy Blake". I said that is perfect, and that is how we decided on your name. You were so beautiful, you had a head full of red hair, and pretty blue eyes. Daddy and I fell in love immediately. We couldn't stop looking at you, and everyone wanted to hold you at the same time. Grandma, Poppa, Bidee and Aunt Julie came in to see you and they were so excited to meet you.

After several hours, Daddy, Poppa, Bidee and Aunt Julie went back to our house to sleep and Grandma stayed at the hospital with me and you. Grandma got to feed you your first bottle. Mommy was too tired, so the nurses let Grandma do it. I will never forget laying in the hospital bed, watching you eat your first bottle, I was so proud.

We went home on the 4th of July and as we drove home, Mommy sat very close to you in the back seat, and we watched fireworks as we drove home. It was the perfect way to bring you home from the hospital.

Both Daddy's and my life changed that day Blake, we love you very, very much.

Happy Birthday!

New Home

2007-06-27T15:09:00.000-06:00

We are finally in! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all that helped us move this weekend. I don't know what we would have done without everyone's help. Thank you to those who helped lift and carry, those who watched our kids and other kids so we could have help moving, and those who brought us food so we did not have to stop moving to worry about eating.

We are getting settled. The first night I don't think any of us slept well the first night, but every night after that has been better. We still have lots of boxes to unpack, but we are a good way through them. Andrew seems to have had the toughest time getting adjusted. I was most worried about Hallie being in her own room, but she has been fine. I laid with her the first night, just to get her to sleep, after that she has been great.

Daniel got in trouble at school yesterday. He was in time out a lot. Apparently a new little girl was in their class and she brought a baby doll with her. Daniel would take it from her every time she got close to him. I know Daniel loves baby dolls, he must take after his Dad! I have heard that Chad had a baby doll he loved when he was a child that he carried around. I'm glad he loves babies, but we need to learn about taking things from other people. I hope today was better.

Finally...a new post

2007-06-19T08:30:00.000-06:00

I know it has been forever since I have posted, we have been very busy and I have not taken the time to write anything down. It has been a good few weeks. Chad and I had our 10th Anniversary on June 7th, we saw each other for about an hour on the 7th due to work and softball, but we took the 8th off and had a great day. We ate breakfast at Ranch House which is one of Chad's favorite places and then had a relaxing day, we went to the movies, looked at furniture and grocery shopped. It was nice to get it all done without the kids. It's hard to believe we have been married for 10 years, sometimes it feels like it was yesterday. I remember every detail of the day we got married, I was so excited and nervous. I cried the whole way down the aisle and through the whole service. I always cry at weddings, so it was only compounded on our day. I remember Chad being so happy. He smiled and smiled all day long. It was such a wonderful day. I am so blessed to have married such a wonderful man. He is a great husband and a fantastic father.

The big kids have had a fun couple of weeks, Blake has already been on many field trips with his school and Hallie is now in 5K and can't wait until the lessons start. On the second day of summer care, Hallie asked her teacher when the lessons start and she was very disappointed to hear that it would not be until August. Both kids have spent lots of time and both sets of grandparents houses. It has been great for us to have an opportunity to get the house packed.

The babies are good, they are growing so much every day. They love Little Einsteins and GO Baby on TV. Everyday they are saying a new word, we now say Elmo, outside and go baby. Hallie is LaLa and Blake is Blah.

We move on Saturday and we are very excited. There is a lot to do and I think today we have all of the new utilities turned on and all of the old ones turned off. I'll post more soon.

DeSoto State Park

2007-06-02T14:52:00.000-06:00

This post is about a week late, but I was waiting to get pictures developed before I posted. Last Friday, Blake and Hallie went camping with Uncle Brian and Aunt Dawn. They had a fantastic time. We sent cameras with the kids and below are some of the pictures they took.

I was going to post some pictures of Brian and Dawn with the kids, but the only pictures of them were in the tent in the middle of the night when Blake and Hallie were playing with the camera. I decided they probably would not want me to post them on the blog. Hallie informed us on Saturday that she slept "bare bodied" in the tent while camping and Brian and Dawn were quick to tell us that she did not sleep "bare bodied" but that Blake insisted on sleeping in his underwear, "just like his Daddy!". I think they all had a great time. Mom and Dad, Chad and I and the babies met them at DeSoto Saturday morning and we ate S'Mores at their campsite, had a wonderful picnic lunch Mom made and cooked for us. The kids were completely worn out after they played on the playground and swam with Chad in the river. Here are some pictures of all of us at the park.

Final Baseball Game

2007-05-21T18:33:00.000-06:00

I am going to post pictures of the trip, there just has not been time to post them yet. I want to get them on the blog, I have run out of time. Saturday was Blake's last baseball game and I think all the boys had a good time. Blake likes to be on the team, but I don't think that baseball is his favorite thing. He likes hanging out with his friends, but when it comes to hitting or playing in the field he doesn't care much. Here are some pictures of Blake at the game.

Here are Blake, Hunter, Riley and Brandon.

Here are the girls !! Hallie, Brantley and Reagan

This is the last week of school, so all they are doing is playing and watching movies. Blake came home tonight and at the dinner table asked Chad to spell "I cup". Chad didn't understand and Blake asked Chad again to spell "I cup". Chad said "what?" and finally Blake said "Spell 'I cup' I-C-U-P (spell it outloud and you will get it!!:)) Blake and Hallie just laughed and laughed. Chad and I tried to keep a straight face and we ended up telling him he should not share that joke, but I had to share it with all of you!

Hallie's 4K Graduation

2007-05-18T12:43:00.000-06:00

I know this info is about 2 weeks old, but this is the first chance I have had to blog about it. Hallie's graduation was the day before we left for our cruise, we were all still battling the stomach bug, but we had a great day. She was very excited and looked cute in her cap and gown. She was one of the 4k's that got to have her own part of the graduation. She said her "Z" blends for the whole audience. Each child received a special award and Hallie got the award for Best Manners. I'm glad she is polite at school, I wish some of that would translate to home!!!

She sang lots of songs with her class, they said their ABC's frontwards and backwards. They named all of their presidents and said lots of different pledges. Here is a picture of the whole family from graduation..

Here is Hallie with her diploma..

Home Again

2007-05-13T20:54:00.000-06:00

We are home from our cruise and had a wonderful time. I will post more stories and pictures throughout the week, but we had a fabulous time. The islands were beautiful and we relaxed the whole trip. As soon as the ship left the port in Ft. Lauderdale we both sighed a huge sigh of relief, we knew we were on our way. It was really easy to slip into the relaxed mode of the ship, we ate all day, swam, slept in the sun and shade and watched a bunch of movies on the movie screen above one of the pools. They played movies all day and then at night, you could watch a movie and eat popcorn while sitting on top of the ship. It was really cool.

On the house front, we do (finally) have a contract on a house in Russet Woods. We are very excited. It is going to be perfect for our family, Blake will have his own room and we all will have lots more space.

The kids did a great job while we were gone. I think Mom will probably sleep for 3 days once she gets home, but the kids managed really well. They were excited to see us and we had a fun night just playing and doing what they wanted to do. I'll post more about the trip later this week.

New House

2007-05-02T15:58:00.000-06:00

We think we have a house! We are really close to having a contract signed on a house in Russet Woods. We are very excited. Hopefully in the next day or so, we will know for sure if everything is going to work. We have a few more details to work out. I will update as soon as I know for sure.

Daniel is still sick, he is home with Mom again today. I am hoping he will be better enough to go to school tommorow. Andrew woke up last night with a 103 fever, he was without fever this morning, then this afternoon it has started again. I need everyone to get well! I am hoping that all this will be over on Saturday, and Chad and I can leave on our trip and not worry about the kids. It's going to be hard to leave them when they are sick, but we will go and have a great time.

Stomach Bug and House Update

2007-04-29T13:59:00.000-06:00

When it rains, it pours. That's what it feels like at our house right now. In the middle of the night Thursday, we woke up to Daniel throwing up. He threw up every 15-20 minutes all Thursday night and most of the day Friday. We went to the doctor and it is just a stomach bug. But, as of today, he still is not eating hardly anything. The throwing up has stopped, but now it is coming out the other end and he can't eat anything. He is sleeping a lot and I am worried about him. Mom was supposed to go home today, but is staying for a few days, at least. Daniel will not be able to go to school tomorrow, so it will be great for us not to have to miss work. Hallie started throwing up last night, but is better today. She just has a weak stomach.

On the house front, we had the inspection on Friday and I think everything is good. We are going to need to fix a few things, but they were all expected. We spent all day Saturday looking at houses and only found one that is a possibility. We probably will make an offer today, but the offer may be too low. We really like the house, but we aren't going to pay full price for it. More updates later..

Another Quick Post

2007-04-25T19:06:00.000-06:00

It has been so hard to make time to blog at all in the last couple of days. Okay, to catch everyone up, we have a signed contact on the house. I can't believe it! I never thought we would have gotten this far, this fast. We have the inspection on Friday and that should be our last big hurdle. But, we have to find a house fast. The buyer wants to close the end of May, but we wrote into the contract the end of June, just in case we can't find something. The goal is still the end of May, but we will see. We are going out on Saturday to look, I'm sure the right thing will be out there. Everyone is fine here. We had 18 month old checkups for the boys yesterday, they are 31 inches tall and 23 pounds each. They are getting so big! I'll try to post again with more news about the house.

The Weekend

2007-04-22T12:37:00.000-06:00

It has been a very crazy last few days, and I am just now sitting down to blog for a couple of minutes. Blake and I had a good time together on Thursday and Friday. We went shopping, went to Toys R Us, went to lunch. On Friday, Blake got to go to work with Bidee for a couple of hours. She and Ms Ginger took Blake to lunch, then they had a fun couple of hours playing while Blake was at work. While Blake was at work, I went shopping for cruise clothes and got several things I needed for our trip.

Also, on Friday, we had someone come look at our house. We were very excited. During Blake's baseball game Saturday morning (which he did great at, he hit the ball from the pitcher every time, did not have to use the Tee at all), we got a call and the person who looked at the house Friday is going to make us an offer. I am waiting now for the offer and am very nervous. We are really excited, but also anxious about finding a house for us in such a short time.

Blake went to Huntsville to spend Saturday night with Aunt Julie, he is not home yet but I know he had a great time. I'm ready to hear about all he did with Julie. Saturday night, I had a bridal shower to go to, and had a fantastic time. The food was great, the company was even better, and we got to celebrate with Leah as she is getting ready for her wedding.

I'll post more later, I hear the babies upstairs crying, they just woke up from nap!

Quick Post

2007-04-18T18:50:00.000-06:00

This is going to be really quick, I have been working from home after work for about 2 hours and it is time for me to go spend some time with the family. Chad had to stay home with Daniel today, Chad took him to the Doctor and he has bronchitis. They put him on an antibiotic and even tonight he is feeling much better. Blake went the Barons game today with day care as a field trip, he could not tell us the score or who the Barons played, but he had a great time anyway. Andrew and Hallie are fine, normal days for them. I liked posting the old story about Hallie, I'll have to keep thinking and post some more old stories.

Hallie's Fish

2007-04-17T17:52:00.000-06:00

They have limited our Internet access at work, so now I am going to be blogging from home, which will be a little more challenging, but I will do my best. We have had a pretty uneventful two days, just the normal stuff. Blake is out of school for Spring Break, so I am taking Thurs and Friday off and we are going to play for 2 days. I am excited, it will be fun to do some stuff just with him. I think I am going to have to show the house a couple of times on Friday, but I am glad to do that.

Since there is nothing going on, I decided to post an old story about Hallie that I still laugh about whenever I think of it. This happened when Hallie and I were driving home from day care one day, it had to been when she was 2, because it was when she was potty training. As Hallie was learning how to use the potty, especially going #2, she would always say when she was done that she was "making fish". A common quote from her was "Look, Mommy, I made some fish!". On this day when we were driving home from school, Hallie (how do I say this nicely?) pooted in her car seat. She started laughing and said to me, "Mommy, my fish are talking. My fish are talking!"

That is one of my favorite Hallie stories.

Lost Tooth

2007-04-15T17:14:00.000-06:00

Blake lost his first baby tooth on Friday! And when I say lost, I mean lost. He was walking down the hallway at school and it just fell out of his mouth. Blake and his teacher looked and looked but could not find his tooth. I was disappointed, but Blake was fine with it. He wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy and she came to our house Friday night. She left Blake $3 and he was very excited. Saturday, Blake played in his first coach pitch baseball game, I was not there, but I was told that he did a good job. Chad said he fouled lots of balls, but he did hit one, he got thrown out at first, but Blake has never been concerned about winning. Other than Saturday morning we had a very relaxing weekend, I was able to nap both afternoons and the kids got lots of rest as well. We had several "Movie Nights" with the kids. It was a great weekend.

Andrew and Daniel are fine, they are saying more words everyday, Daniel's newest words are balloon and Poppa. Andrew says light all the time. Hallie helped me cook dinner tonight, she peeled half a potato and cut that half of a potato into chunks with a butter knife. She was very determined and got it done, even though it took her a really long time.

Home Sick

2007-04-11T18:03:00.000-06:00

I just now have a chance to blog today since I was working at home, Hallie was sick. As I write this now, Daniel is sitting in my lap drinking a sippy cup and pressing letters on the keyboard. It is really hard to type. He also is singing to the music that is playing from the toy Andrew is riding around the room on. Hallie is upstairs with Chad as he gets Blake is the shower. We just got through the "fun" that is homework every night, Blake only missed one of his bonus words and got the rest right, so it was not so bad. He brought tests home tonight from last week and he got every answer right on every test. He is doing a great job.

We had a realtor call at 5:15 and said they were sitting outside our house and wanted to know if they could bring someone in to look. I hated to say no, but I dinner on the stove, Chad and the boys had just gotten home, and Hallie and I were both in our pjs. The house was also a mess, so I had to say no and watch them got see the house across the street. Oh, well, surprise visits are one of the reasons we did not put our house on with a realtor.

Saturday, Chad and I took the kids to see the new Disney movie, Meet the Robinsons in 3D. We had a good time and the kids liked it, but the funniest part was when we got home and the babies got a hold on the 3D glasses.

Andrew...

Daniel..

Easter Weekend

2007-04-09T14:22:00.000-06:00

I know it has been forever since I have blogged, for some reason I have had a hard time getting motivated to write. It has been a good couple of weeks, we got the house on the market and have had one person look at the house. We have lots of people slow down and look and pull the brochures, maybe the right person will come along soon.

We had a really wonderful Easter weekend, Mom and Dad came in Thursday night, we sent Blake to school on Friday and had a fun day with the younger ones. Mom, Dad and Hallie went to eat lunch with Blake at school, and he was thrilled. He had fun showing off more of his family. Chad was in Atlanta on Friday, so the rest of us dyed Easter Eggs Friday afternoon. The babies each dyed one as well. They had fun putting their hands in the dye to get the eggs out. Both of them kept calling the eggs "balls", so of course as they dyed them, they got thrown on the table and broken, but they had a great time. Blake and Hallie are expert Egg dyers and theirs were beautiful, I will post some pictures when I get home.

Saturday, we stayed inside and tried to stay warm. Chad and I took the big kids to see a movie in the afternoon and we had a nice time with the big kids. Both Blake and Hallie commented how nice it was to go somewhere without the babies. It's fun to spend time with the big kids and do "Big Kid" things. When we got home Hallie got to cook in her Easy Bake Oven, or her "real kitchen". She made My Little Pony Cookies with frosting and cookies, she has not let us eat them yet!

Blake got to go to his own Easter Egg Hunt Saturday night, he had lots of fun. I'm glad there are kids in the neighborhood for him to play with.

Sunday morning, the kids discovered the Easter Bunny had been to our house, they had fun with all the candy. Daniel realized he loved Cadbury Caramel filled eggs, and ate his share Sunday morning. Andrew went straight for the lollipops. The big kids had a little more control. Again, I'll post pictures later.

We all got dressed and went to church. Mom and Dad visited Blake's Sunday School class with us. The 1st graders have done an amazing job understanding about Easter. They could tell us in very specific detail about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and also about the miracle of Easter morning. I am amazed every week about how much these kids know and how eager they are to learn. They teach us every week with their insights and they way they interact with each other. Everyone of them is coming to hold a very special place in my heart. I have become very attached to my class and look forward to them every week. After a wonderful Easter service, we headed to The Echols' for Easter Dinner.

After lots of good food, we had an Easter Egg hunt with all of the cousins and lots of games for the kids to play. Blake and Hallie look forward to this day every year. Hallie and her cousins Emma and Avery, had on the same dress as she did, so they had lots of fun taking pictures and being "twins". The boys hunted lots of eggs, Daniel had an "eye" for them, and found lots of eggs. Andrew had more fun just throwing the eggs like balls once he found them. There will be lots of pictures coming soon!

First Sprinkler Day of the Season!

2007-03-26T18:25:00.000-06:00

We had a great weekend. Saturday, we dropped off the kids at Bidee's house while Chad and I went and looked at cars. Since the white car was beyond repair, it was time for a new one. We bought a very nice used van, it is in great condition and it will be a huge timesaver for us to have two vans. We won't have to worry about switching cars everyday depending on schedules. When we got home with the van, Blake kept on saying "We are rich to get a new van." We kept reminding him that it was a used van, and we were very fortunate to have what we do. Later that night, the iron broke so we went to get another iron, when we got home with that Blake said "Wow, we really are rich to get a new van and a new iron all in one day!" Chad and I laughed and laughed at our $6.82 new iron from Wal-Mart.

Saturday night we had a great time hanging out with friends. We ate great food, let the kids run wild and had a great time with the grown-ups. I am reminded once again about how blessed we are with such wonderful friends.

After church on Sunday, we spent the rest of the day playing outside. We got the sprinkler out and Chad and the kids played and played. Andrew was tired, so he just sat on my lap and watched everyone else have fun. It was great for me, I loved my special cuddle time with Andrew. Here are some pictures of Daniel and his first time running in the sprinkler.

Bad Dreams

2007-03-22T06:14:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. I'm Chad, the dad that Jaime has mentioned. One of the duties of being a dad is getting woke up in the middle of the night when one of your kids has a bad dream. The other night, Hallie taps me on the shoulder and says that she had a bad dream. I asked my usual opening question which is, "what was it about?". She says, "I had a dream that I was asleep in my bed and Blake's drum set started putting itself together under my bed and poking me in the back through my mattress". Since Hal sleeps on the bottom bunk and the drum set is on the floor under her, I am sure you can see how frightening this is, right? After informing her that drum sets do not assemble themselves and that I would rather sleep than assemble a drum set under her bed, I tuck her back in the bed and she goes to sleep. As strange as this dream may seem, it is not the strangest that I have been told. One night, a while back, Blake wakes me up. He was crying and said that he had a bad dream. After the usual question, he says, "I had a dream that my legs were stuck in the toilet and you were pee-peeing on me". Of course, you don't want to laugh at your child's bad dreams, but sometimes they make it hard. After a few minutes of silence, while I am trying to regain my composure (thankfully the lights were off), we make a trip to the bathroom to show him small the hole in the toilet is and to show him that his leg won't fit. I also assured him that I look before I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night so I would not pee on him. Then he calms down and goes back to sleep. I know most kids are afraid of monsters, ghosts, Frankenstein, and other terrifying things, but sometimes I guess self-assembling drum sets and dads who pee on their kids can be just as frightening. With that being said, parents, please turn on the light and look when you make that middle of the night bathroom trip just in case one of your kids is stuck in the toilet. We can't have kids being terrified of that.

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-19T18:24:00.000-06:00

We had a very fun, very busy weekend. My Uncle Larry and Aunt Marilyn came in town to visit this weekend. Mom and Dad also came into town and Brian and Dawn spent the weekend with us. Friday night, everybody came over, we just played with the kids and visited with each other. Of course, the big news was Brian and Dawn and the new baby and we all enjoyed looking forward to meeting the newest Bone. Saturday was not as warm as we had expected, so instead of going to the park, we went bowling. We had a great time. I didn't know that Brian, Larry and Marilyn were such accomplished bowlers. Needless to say, I tied with Blake and Hallie beat me! The babies even got to play.

Here is Andrew.. Here is Daniel..

But this is what Daniel enjoyed the most

and this is what Andrew enjoyed the most. He was standing on the table watching everyone bowl.Everyone had a great time, the babies even played a little Skee Ball. Sunday, after church, we met for lunch, then went shopping at the mall. Larry and Marilyn got a couple more snuggles and giggles from the kids and then it was time for them to go home. We hated to see them go, but hopefully we will get to see them again soon.

A New Addition!!

2007-03-18T16:23:00.000-06:00

We got some very exciting news this week. We found out that my brother, Brian, and his wife Dawn, are going to have a baby!!! I am so excited! The big kids have decided it is going to be a little boy with red hair, just like Blake. That would be wonderful, but a little red headed little girl would be just as wonderful. It will be so exciting to have a new baby for Christmas this year. I can love and hold and cuddle and feed and then go home and and sleep through the night! This will be my first time being an Aunt and I can't wait. We love you Brian and Dawn, we can't wait to meet the new arrival.

Chi-O Banquet

2007-03-16T09:33:00.000-06:00

Chad dropped me off in Montgomery with my friends Leah and Carrie to make the trip to Troy for Chi-O's 30th year anniversary on campus and to honor one of our advisors who passed away this fall. We met most of the rest of our "once a month" dinner group in Troy, Nikki, Heather, Shea and Julie. We got to each Crowe's Chicken (the best chicken fingers and sauce on the planet), see how Troy has grown since we have been gone (10 years!) and see some friends we have not seen in a lot of years. I got to see the Chi-O house for the first time and it is very pretty. We had a dinner and a Band Party afterwards. I realized that there is a reason I am not in college anymore. After going to bed around 2, which some nights was early at Troy, I was exhausted the next day. I had a fantastic time, sometimes it is nice to have a break from "Mommy" duty. I missed Chad and the kids, but I was much more patient when I got home after a day away. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends. It is great to have a group of girl friends that can get together once a month and share our lives. Together, our joy is multiplied and our burdens are divided. I am very lucky!

Then on Tuesday night, I went to dinner at Shelli's house with some of the girls from Sunday School. We had a fantastic time talking and eating, with some fantastic school. We don't get to see each other as often as any of us would like, so it was great to spend this time together. I was again reminded of how blessed I am with wonderful friends. It was a great night, I hope we can do it again very soon.

USS Alabama

2007-03-14T15:45:00.000-06:00

Now that I am finally finished with last weekend, I can move to this weekend. Last week was pretty normal, just busy. Then on Friday, we headed to Mobile for Blake and Chad's trip to the USS Alabama. We went with our friends Ed and Sallie and their kids Hunter and Brantley. Blake and Hunter rode with Ed and Sallie and I don't think they looked up from their electronic games the whole way down. Brantley and Hallie rode with us, and I think they had school in the back of the van the whole way down. They used Hallie's flash cards and took turns tracing letters and spelling words. They did great job and the babies were very good for the car trip. We got to Mobile and went to a fantastic park and let the kids run and play. It was a beautiful day, we had a picnic with McDonald's at the picnic table, and just played and played. We went for ice cream and the boys had their first ice cream ever. They were a huge mess! I'll post some pictures if I can find some. I forgot to send the camera with Chad, so we don't have any pictures on the ship, but we have some from the day.

The boys went to the ship that evening and it sounds like the kids had a great time playing "war" on the ship. Chad said the kids had full access to the ship and they went as high as they could go and as low as they could go. Apparently the bunks were three high and all the kids wanted to sleep on the way top ( I'm not sure how much sleep they got!) Hallie, the babies and I stayed with Sallie's parents and had a very relaxing evening. The babies went to sleep before 7, the girls played and played, especially with their dog Maggie. Hallie really wants a dog and we are trying to hold her off until she gets her own home! Sallie, her mom and I just ate good food, watched TV, and went to bed very early. We had a really good time.

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to Montgomery so I could go to Troy for the Chi-O 30 year anniversary banquet. I will post more about that later. I will try to post some pictures when I get home tonight.

Cottontails

2007-03-12T13:30:00.000-06:00

Alright, I am still on last weekend, but I need to get all this down before I forget. Last Sunday the kids and I went to Cottontails with Bidee, Aunt Julie, Aunt Sue and Lori. One of my purposes was to get chalk portraits of the kids done. Last year when we were there we got Hallie's done and really liked it, so we decided to do the other kids this year. They all did a really good job. Daniel's picture being done is to the left. Blake was very excited, he loved getting his picture drawn. You can see his finished product on the right. The boys did a good job as well, it was tougher for them to sit still. The rest of the afternoon, we walked around Cottontails and shopped. Didn't get much else, some pictures for the big kids rooms and that was it! It was a nice, busy weekend. Check out the post of Blake's Cub Scout banquet. I added some pictures.

Cub Scout Banquet

2007-03-08T14:05:00.000-06:00

I have not blogged in several days, I haven't felt good this week, but I know I need to get our whole weekend down before I forget about it.

Blake had his Cub Scout banquet Saturday night and it was a luau. We really had a good time, we sat by our friends from Sunday School, and we all had lots of fun. The food was really good, they had a real, whole, roasted pig. That was the first time any of us had seen that. The kids thought the meat was great, although Hallie came back to the table and told me that there was chicken up there that they had shaped into a pig! I guess all white meat tastes the same to her.

At the Awards ceremony, Blake got his Tiger Cub badge and was very proud. I really don't know what it means, but because Blake is excited, I am too. He did not win any awards for his General Lee pinewood derby car, but he and Chad had a great time building it. This weekend Blake and Chad get to camp on the USS Alabama for Cub Scouts, and I think Dad and son are equally excited about this one. I don't have any pictures to post of the banquet, but if I find some I will upload later.

Sweet and Sassy

2007-03-05T15:22:00.000-06:00

We had a very busy weekend, so there will be several posts about the whole weekend. I'll start with Saturday morning.

Hallie was invited by her cousin Emma to go to Sweet and Sassy with her Saturday morning. Hallie has been looking forward to this for weeks. We met Lori, Emma, Sue Sue and Bidee at the "salon". The girls got a manicure complete with glitter lotion and sparkly nail polish on their nails. They even got flowers on one of their fingers. After that, they got their hair done like princesses. They both looked beautiful. They got glitter hairspray and were "glowing" from all of the sparkles. They also got a little bit of makeup on and they really felt like princesses.

After all of the treats at the salon, we all went to lunch, the girls were very silly and had a great time. We went to get ladybug cookies afterwards and Hallie was sweet enough to suggest getting a cookie for Blake, since he had missed all the fun. I am very proud of her for always thinking about her brothers. Blake does the same thing, he always gets a sucker for Hallie whenever he gets one at school or the doctor. Hallie and Emma had a great time together, I wish they could play together more often. I'll post more tommorow about the rest of the weekend. I need to spread it out over several days.

Andrew and Daniel

2007-02-28T15:30:00.000-06:00

Not much going on right now. We've had a good couple of days. H,A & D had pictures at school yesterday with live bunnies for Easter!! Hallie had a great time with the bunnies, and I can't wait to see the pictures. The babies teachers said that D was terrified and would run from the room as soon as they sat him down. A was not scared, but they said he would just lay his head on the ground and pretend he was asleep. Oh, well. I'm going to try and get a professional picture of all the kids together soon. We have not had one taken since the babies were born.

Yesterday as we were getting dinner ready, we looked to the stairs in our house and Andrew was WALKING down the stairs!! He has decided that he doesn't want to crawl down them, he now holds on to the wall and walks down the steps. I can't believe it. I always thought that Daniel was braver than Andrew, but Daniel still won't crawl down the stairs. He just stands at the top and yells when he wants to come down.

Daniel has decided that it is his job to put dirty diapers in the trash. Now, as soon as you take his diaper off and get him cleaned up, he stands up and picks up the diaper and takes it to the trash. Then, he generally will come back to you asking for a "Thank You" for putting the diaper in the trash. When Andrew gets his diaper changed, Daniel will hang around until Andrew is done then take his diaper to the trash.