The last 2 years...

Its hard not to think about how much Andi has changed over the last 24 months and I just wanted to share some cute pictures of her!

1 month old

4 months


Dec- 7 months


1 year old


14 months

17 months old

A new big sister at 18.5 months!

1st day of toddler school- 21 months

a few days short of her 2nd birthday!

Happy Birthday to Andi!!

Today Andi Marie turns 2! I was awake last night at 12:49 and still cant believe that only 2 years ago she became our "baby Andi" What a big kid and great big sister!

We had her tiger tailgate birthday party on Saturday and couldnt have asked for nicer weather. We were lucky to have our friends and family join us for lunch for the big day. Of course Andi got spoiled with all of her presents and playing with Cole and Madison. We are starting to get the hang of this birthday party thing and cant wait for the next one (hint, hint Aliza!)

more party pics!

FFA Banquet (the last one!)

Thursday night we attended a very special FFA Banquet. As many of you know, FFA has always been a huge part of my life. I can still remember going to school with dad and watching early morning parli practices while I was in elementary, attending state and national conventions while in high school and attending the barnyard zoo every year (even now with Andi & TJ).

There are so many more FFA activities that Kyle, Gina, Travis and I have done and been to with dad and even though we are all out of school and are now alumni members of the FFA, it is still weird to think of my dad as the (new) principal of North Shelby instead of the ag teacher. He definitely has worked extremely hard for the past 25 years to accomplish the many successes that he has had in his career as an ag teacher including state and national winning teams, state FFA officers, mentoring past students and past student teachers that have become successful ag teachers themselves, holding offices himself in area, district, state and national levels and most importantly developing a rapport with students to help take them to the next level of involvement in a great organization that will help them both in high school and in life.

As you can probably tell I am pretty proud of him! :)

Now for some pictures...

Andi and I dressed up for the banquet.

Andi excited to see pa-pa.

Andi and pa-pa

Dad and his "favorites"

The whole Eckler family!

getting bigger!

I can not believe that it is the middle of May already! TJ is already 5 months old and in 1 week Andi will be 2!! Sometimes I am so busy trying to take care of them that I forget to enjoy them! Even though we have our rough minutes (DAYS!) they are truly a blessing and I wouldn't give up my day job for anything! Sometimes in the middle of doing something I catch TJ or Andi doing something and it about makes me cry as I think about how "old" they are or how amazing they are in all that they have learned in their short lifetimes!! :)



TJ is um lets say likes attention from me :) and to be entertained. This morning I tried laying him down on his blanket where Andi had already laid her babies down. It might have worked for a few minutes but we will never know because my precious daughter and her ever expanding vocabulary snatched them up one by one and say "MY babies, TJ!)

I know from first glance at this pictures you would never think she would say something like that (LOL) but if you look close......another new favorite "sentence" is "mo crackers pease...NOW!" and if I dont acknowledge her or move fast enough she thinks counting will help...haha we have some fine tuning no doubt!

TJ playing in his exersaucer...getting bigger and stronger every day. He is doing pretty well at sitting up but still needs help so he doesnt fall completely over. That might be because he sees "big sister" coming too!

I am so glad that I found this shopping cart for Andi last year. She thinks it is her stroller and loves playing with it outside. Her favorite toys outside besides the park is this and her basketball and oh yeah TJ! I know that I cant complain too much about her mischievousness because sometimes I add to it!

(Dont worry I am holding on too the cart and TJ is too big because he is wedged into the seat!! Still Andi thought that she was pretty big stuff!

Mother's Day weekend

Mother's Day weekend was a busy one (like most of our holidays!) because we try to see everyone the day of or the next day (which never seems to work). Saturday we hung out with maw-maw and paw-paw "kate" (according to Andi) We were enjoying the outside so much while planting flowers, trimming trees and playing with some kick balls that I completely forgot to get the camera out of the van! After we left there we headed back to church and then made it back to my mom and dad's house. We all managed to be there at the same time to surprise mom with her mother's day present.

Mom unknowingly was headed out to bottle a bottle lamb and caught us all crowded in the garage waiting for her to see her new swing!

What would a trip to mom and dad's be without Andi going to see Bubba and the other lambs? Lucky for everyone Uncle Kyle was there to take her!

We had PLENTY to eat and every time Andi disappeared we found her sitting at the table munching on some fruit.

and then we of course had to have some popcorn!

Sunday we headed to Middletown to eat lunch with Great Grandma and Grandpa Eckler and then supper with Great Grandpa and Grandma Tainter. We had lots of fun and got to see some of our aunts, uncles and cousins that we get to see only a handful of times a year. Even though it was too cool to be outside we still managed to keep busy (and forget my camera once again- I did manage a few pictures early on though)

Gina, Kyle and Audrey working on a puzzle

Andi's new buddy JT. She kept busy making sure he was awake!

Andi had a blast playing with Kelly and Alicia. I am guessing that they will be able to "teach" her a few things in the years to come!

Arent they cute?!

Where has the time gone?!

I really had no clue that I was so far behind on my blog!! (until I was kindly reminded by a few of you!) I guess with all of the commotion the last couple of weeks (Dad becoming a principal, Gina getting promoted/the Pollards moving to MN, house moving issues, etc.) and getting to be outside I just lost track! I finally made time today to get some pictures up of what we have been up to. Enjoy and have a great Mother's Day weekend!

We finally stopped feeding rice cereal to TJ and started oatmeal instead...he loved it and he loves all of his vegies so far. He doesnt make faces at all just opens his mouth to wait for the next bite to chomp down on!

We have finally cured Andi of having to try all of TJ's foods after we gave her some sweat peas. She instead is learning that TJ eats his baby food and she gets to eat big girl food like (healthy) fudge bars!

Andi found the connect 4 game and loves playing with it...its easier and cheaper than her wanting money to play with her piggy bank all the time! :)

TJ is finally on the right formula and on baby food and seems much happier- yeah!

Andi LOVES jewelry and lucky her- her Aunt Gina sent some bracelets and necklaces in a care package!

She loves playing with TJ and why wouldnt she share her prized jewelry with him?

(Poor) TJ all dressed up!