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9

Korbin is 9 years old!!!

Since CORE testing started on his b-day and continuing for the rest of the week we made things very simple and fun this year. 

Korbin went to school in the morning and I tried to surprise him with McDonald's for lunch but my plan didn't work out. Buying the bike was not an easy task and while Jason and I were stuck at Sports Authority I had some friends take him lunch but by the time they got there he was done eating :) Maybe next year I'll catch him. This year was a no friend party year so instead he got a nice bike. He got his big gift right after school. He was skeptical at first but once he got the hang of it he was super exited. He likes the extra features he now has especially the gears. 

We went on a bike ride up to a near by park and back. For dinner this year he asked for a Little Caesars meat trio pizza.  He's had it before and liked it a lot. Bacon,sausage and pepperoni. After dinner he blew out his b-day candles on his cake and made a wish! He then opened some more gifts...clothes, a Lego set and then something extra came in the mail...his last Lego set from Lego Brick master. 

Before we knew it the day was over and had an early bed time to make sure the kids got plenty of sleep before going back to CORE testing.

Happy b-day Korbin!!!!

 WE LOVE YOU!!!!

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Korbin was born on a stormy May afternoon. Since Korbin was our first child we had no idea what anything meant. We took toys for him in our diaper bag,like I said no idea.
 All I did know is it would hurt a lot and I had a pep talk in the back of my mind that my mom gave me.
 Jason and I checked in at the hospital at about 5AM for me to be induced. Everything was fine until about 10 and then Jason had to leave and take some finals. They gave him a pager just in case I went into labor. A little while after he left my nurse came in for a check up on me. I told her I was fine and maybe I sounded a bit nervous and/or exited. That was a bad idea she told me she needed to up my dose then to get things moving along. I didn't like her much after this.
 I remember the weather being bad outside,very windy for the rest of the day and the power going out and the hospital using emergency power. 
Korbin was a big baby weighing 8 pounds 11 1/2 ounces. For the first couple of months he was on the top 10% percentile on everything. He was a good baby! I was a stay at home mom from the minute he was born and while we have sacrificed a lot at times we wouldn't trade any of it for anything in the world. 
I believe it was Jason who mentioned Korbin as a possible name. I kind of liked it. We moved it to the final test Jason had heard somewhere. He walked over to the stairs and yelled Korbin in a loud voice. It sounded nice as we laughed about it and that was it.
(Pictures are scanned. No digital camera back then but I do have a large scrapbook full of pictures I'll try and can some more:)

Play

Madison's first grade play!!!

She's one of a kind. Maddie and I had a miscommunication about the actual color of the shirt she was suppose to wear. She insisted it was white but in actuality it was suppose to be black. At the last minute I raced over to the school with a black shirt only to be told that she was fine and wanted to wear her white shirt. That's our Maddie! She must have just wanted to stand out.

My favorite song was Firefly.

She had a speaking part, she delivered her part perfectly. She only had a few days to memorize her part so to help her learn it fast we made copies of her part with a larger fun font and taped it in her room and family room. She loved seeing it and would say her part constantly.

(part video here)

Here's Korbin's first grade play(I can't believe it's been 2 years). The theme was ocean animals. We still know most of the words to the songs. I'm glad I was able to have a great seat for Maddie's performance because having a 2nd row seat during Korbin's meant having 2 heads in the way.

Valley

We used our last World Mark points on a quick trip over the mountain into the Valley. We had a great time despite the weather. It was rainy and at times snowy but we still managed to have a great time and do absolutely nothing productive.

We raced cars...

(pictures are blurry but I've never had the chance to capture the kids having a breakdown like this before, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, we all laugh about it now as we watch it on a slide show and try to remember what was said or done in each picture)

(Jason and the kids realize the car is broken,breakdown begins...)

What are dads for.

My favorite part was going into the hot tub a couple times a day even when it was snowing.

We played racket ball,

ate,ate and ate some more.

Maddie slept on a bed she made out of the chairs in the living room and Korbin slept on the couch. The beds in their room were used for storage.

We watched way too many movies and played pool.

We've had great trips using our points. Jason and I are both glad we did it.
This was a nice fun weekend getaway!

Hike

A few weeks ago we went on a little Sunday hike. 4 miles round trip. It was just above and to the right of where we live. We found some cool things along the way and just had a great time together. On our way down we also discovered there is now a paved road(new subdivision going in) that could cut our hiking in half:) 

Bug Project

Written by Maddie:
I got a lot of comments.
I made my ladybugs out of wiki sticks it was fun.

Written by mom:
Madison had a bug project due this month. She had a great time making 2 projects actually. The first project was a caterpillar. It was suppose to be very simple to make... grass seeds,potting soil, hair ties and a nylon stalking. The problem was our caterpillar never grew grass. Oh well, our last minute back up plan was a ladybug theme. It was super easy for her to make and she required very little help from us. It's hard to just let the kids do their own thing but I know it's a good thing for them to do. It turned out great! She loved getting two sheets full of comments from other students and liked using the computer to write about ladybugs.

Raingutter Regata

Korbin's pack meeting last night was the Raingutter Ragatta. The boys had a great time racing their boats. Korbin won his first and second race. Now that he's nine he is now a bear. The beginning of new adventures await him!

Screen

Our new computer had problems. The colors would be off at times so now we have a new 21.5" Imac instead. I can't deny I won't miss the bigger screen. We only had it for a few days and I was in love with being able to work on two things side by side. Counting blessings though this is a fabulous gift we received for the next 8 years worth of festivities for both Jason and myself:)

I only have 7 previous posts to write about and one on the way. Jason almost has this one up and running so in theory I should be able to catch up in the next few days of course that would mean I've done nothing else:)

28

I had a great birthday!!!

After sending the kids off to school I left to spent the day in the temple. It really was what I needed and time just flew by me. After the kids and Jason got home in the afternoon I made my request of Del Taco for dinner. Jason and the kids had a hard time understanding why I would choose Del Taco since the tradition in this home is simple you get what you want on your b-day. In my defense Del Taco was fast and cheap and I didn't want to waste anytime having anyone preparing dinner or having us sit and wait at a restaurant. We relaxed,ate our eating dinner and watched a movie and also playing board games. This is one

of my favorite things we do as a family so that's what we did.Later I had a stake meeting so while I was away the kids and Jason worked on making a yummy chocolate b-day cake with chocolate frosting and Golden Oreo's(another one of my favorite things) on top. After having b-day cake I received some beautiful homemade b-day cards and flowers(lilies... another favorite:).

I also celebrated my b-day with friends. All the girly good stuff!!! Some of my friends know me very well. I sometimes wonder what is the first thought that crosses their minds when they think of me???

Thanks again for the gifts. I loved them all!!!

S-l-o-w

The Eckardt's have a new 24'' IMAC. It's huge compared to what we have used for the past 8 years.The old Apple started to take 6 to 7 seconds to upload anything(an eternity I know that now). It got so slow I started timing it. Afterwards I would call Jason and let him know of my assessment. We love our Apple products:)