Grady Owen

7 pounds 11 ounces...20 inches...cute as can be! He was born at 1:35 AM on the 29th of December. Check out that hair!

Proud Nana and Papa made the trip to see him in a blizzard!


Dad had to make sure the first thing I saw was a Sooner item (notice the shirt)!

Santa!

Adyn was super excited to get his baler and has been busy making bales for his horses ever since! Addi got a camera and took the picture of her brother. She has been bugging me to start her own blog, so be on the lookout for her new website to see her pictures.

Cookies

We sure had fun making cookies for Christmas! Mom said our little brother should be here any day now, but he won't be able to eat cookies for awhile, so we'll take care of that for him.

Holiday Greetings

We will mail you all a late Christmas card when the new addition arrives, but for now here is the latest photo of our family. Hope everyone finds time for themselves during this busy season.

The Eckarts

Baby

We just can't wait to meet the little guy!

Conversations with Adyn

Been Farming Long?
Adyn and I were driving home from town. He was checking out the local harvest progress and began commenting on how the tractors were now plowing a lot of the fields for winter. The conversation continued as seen below:

Adyn: "When I get bigger, I'm going to drive big tractors and plow Papa's fields for him!"
Mommy: "When I was younger I used to drive Papa's tractor and plow fields for him too."
Adyn: (long pause to contemplate Mommy's comment...he says in an innocent voice)"...you used to be a guy, Mommy?"


When's My Brother Gonna Get Here?
The kids have been anxious ever since they found out they were going to have a new little brother. Addi of course understands the concept of time, but Adyn on the other hand is a minute by minute kind of guy and is having a little bit tougher time waiting for January 1st to come. He knows the holidays quite well and seems to judge his small world by them, so we have been telling him his brother will be here after Christmas. To this he replys, "Yea, that is after Halloween and Thanksgiving, you know when the snow comes!" Well, this past weekend we had our first snow which came during the night. The next morning he comes barreling into our room and jumps up on the bed to inform us it had snowed. "Look guys! It snowed outside, we need to take down the Halloween stuff, because it's now Christmas! Where's my Brother....I want to play with him!"

I wish it were that easy sweetie!

Halloween Fun

Pirate Addi had a penguin friend over for Halloween and they got the loot!


Polar Bear Adyn (thanks Nana!) really caught on to the whole trick or treating thing this year and had a blast running to the houses to see what treasures he could get.
There were others out and about, like our good friends the Hoornaerts, er I mean the Incredibles!

Mom's Pro Picts

Mom was just messin' around with her photography class's new studio lighting and shot a few pics of the kids. As you can see, some of the family is more photogenic than others.

Happy Birthday!

Addi had some friends over for a slumber party to celebrate her 10th birthday. They went to the Homecoming football game and spent the night watching movies and eating snacks and cake. Hard to believe our baby is a decade old already! We love you, Addi!

Addi runs the Hillsboro 5k

Addi and her friend Riley raced the beautiful fall morning away and had a great time in her 2nd ever 5k. She walked the first 5k with her Mom this spring at the Fargo Marathon, since Mom had a bad leg at the time and has been waiting ever since to get the chance to actually RUN!!! Way to go Addi, you did great!

1st Day of Preschool

Adyn sure has been happy waking up lately. He likes going to preschool, but they don't have as many tractors as Nancy his daycare lady has so he drew a picture of a combine to pass the time.

It says John Deere Combine and it has a corn header on it.

Katja & Addi

Addi had a friend over to Nana's and boy did they have fun dressing up and running around the ranch.

First Day of School!

Addi has had her clothes for the first week of school laid out for over a week now. I hope that enthusiasm never dies! (thanks for the backpack Nana!!)

Adyn was a little jealous since he doesn't start preschool until next Tuesday, but he still had a good time watching his big sis get on the bus to school.


Mrs. Down's 4th grade classroom sure looks like it is going to be fun!
I can't believe Addi is going to be 10!!! Time sure flies.

Weekend Wedding

What a nice weekend for a wedding! Shandi and Jeremy's wedding was beautiful. We wish you the best!

It was nice to see Chris's family again. Although we were missing a few!
Addi had a great time time playing with her cousins. Justin and Addi spent hours in the pool as did Adyn.

Is that a big back pack or what!

Adyn just picked out his first back pack. It is his favorite color, blue, and looks a lot bigger on than it did in the store! He is all ready for preschool, which will begin on September 2nd. He will be attending every Tuesday and Thursday at the elementary school (right across the hall from Dad and big sister) and going to Nancy's on the other days.

That Nana!

Can you believe Nana put up her own birthday present! I think the weather vane looks awesome. Way to go, Nana!!

Miss Trendsetter

Here is our little fashion gal...showing off her stylish new hat for us. It is hard to believe she will be a fourth grader this fall!

Been Workin' Long?

Adyn was helping us out cleaning the quonset while the big people put the shelves in order. I'm not sure who ended up dirtier.

It's a little ... BROTHER!!!!!

We found out today the newest addition to the Eckart family is a little boy, so if you have any good names be sure to add them to our comment section. We are all super excited to meet him on January 1st of 2009!

Little Brother or Little Sister?

You will have to check back Friday afternoon to see if we were able to find out if we are having a sister or brother next year! Mom and Dad are so excited they already moved Addi down to the basement and gave me the Sooner Room decor! While Addi was gone, I snuck into her new room to try on my rancher outfit. I know the colors are all wrong, but I just wanted to feel what it was like to wear those boots and feel the straw over my head. Ahhh, someday soon I'll be at the Spring Lake Ranch helping Papa with those bales and riding horses with Nana again.

I'll attach a picture of my favorite pony for you to see too. His name is Leo, just like my zodiac sign!

Adyn's 4th Birthday

We celebrated Adyn's 4th birthday at the Sleep Inn in Minot and boy did he have a blast on the waterslides.

Thanks everyone for the great tractors and celebrating with us!

Tractor Time with Papa

Adyn had a great time with Papa over the weekend riding in his tractor and tearing down an old corral. He only has a few more tractors to ride in to complete his mission of testing out all of the equipment in Papa's collection, since he did go baling and made his first bale!