Headed to Disney World-Day 1 (10-29-11)

Today is the day!!! After months and months of planning our Disney trip has finally arrived. The morning went on as usual, Brandon even let me take a hour nap before he had to head off to his Grandfathers funeral. After nap Grandma Mim and Jeff came over to take us to the airport. Check in and security went very smooth since Grandma was able to help us...then the fun really started. I made the kids all sorts of goodies and gave them each their own new backpack to store it in, I however, did not anticipate them wanting exactly what the other one was playing with all the time! The entire 20 min we waited in the gate area the kids were wineing and crying pretty much constantly. Luckly that is as long as it lasted, as soon as we boarded the plane they turned into perfect little angles. Due to flight rules and the size of the plane Elias and Ann sat in their own row and I sat across the isle from them. I was pretty worried about this but the isle was so small i was very close to them both. They quietly played and colored and of couse snacked, and looked out the window. The flight attendent was very helpful and the trip was actually enjoyable. Once we landed we had a 2 hour layover in MSP. We walked the long way around to our gate to kill time and once I found it was backed tracked to play in a acarde then ate McDonalds for dinner. After a quick outfit change for Annie a potty break for Elias and a poptart break for them both we headed to meet daddy and Uncle Jordan. Up to this point the trip was as smooth as it possibly could have been but then all heck started to break loose. We had another hour to kill which went by pretty fast but once we boarded the play the kids were visibly exhausted and over tired but couldn't fall asleep. They didnt' know what they wanted and were very difficult to keep entertained. One of them was pretty much always crying sometimes rather loud. They kept wanting to switch seats to sit by someone new and it was emotionally exhausting. Annie finally fell asleep and Elias contined to melt down. By the grace of God the plane ride finally ended after what seemed like 100 hours and we deboarded, got our baggage and headed to the resort. We checked in, found our hotel and crashed hard at 2am!! Day one of travel was 12 hours and I was glad it was over!

 Grandma, Elias, Annie and Jeff headed up the escalator at GFK's new airport...fancy

 Getting ready for our adventrue, notice they are already obsessing over their backpacks contents.

 Happy kids playing during takeoff

 Elias playing in a small arcade at MSP

Daddy and Uncle Jordan finally joined us and the babies were happy to be strolling around with them!

Off to Disney!

Well today is the big day! After being asked to go to Disney World in June of 2010 the day has finally arrived (16 months later) when we actually get to go! We have already had some snags in our origional plan. On Wednesday morning Brandon's grandfather suddenly passed away.I never really knew my own Grandparents, Rose( who passed 2 years ago)  and Nelmer were the grandparents I never had. They were both wonderful people and will be missed greatly! The prayer service was Friday and the Funeral is scheduled today at 2pm. Our flight was supposed to leave at 3pm from Grand Forks and since Brandon and Jordan were both casket bearers ( and wouldn't want to miss the funeral anyways) they had to change flights. After what seemed like hours on the phone with Delta they managed to get on the latest flight out of Fargo at 5pm for only a few hundred dollars extra.For all of us to switch flights would have cost almost $2,000!!!The disadvantage of using skymiles to pay for flights is little to no flexibility on changing flights.  This means that I will be flying from Grand Forks to MSP by myself with 2 kids on a plan that only goes 2 wide(Annie had to get her own seat since she is 2 and is to big to be a lap baby), not sure how this is all going to work but I'm sure I will manage. When we land in MSP we have 2 hours to kill before Daddy and Uncle Jordan join us for one more hour of a layover and then a 3 hour plane ride to Orlando. Good thing I spent the last 5 days frantically working on projects to keep my kids busy! I used old fabric from fleece pj's I made to make all the crafts. Again alot of the fabric is kinda ugly but hey it was CHEAP! The kids don't usually get to play with markers or pens so I think the excitement of that alone will keep them entertained for a little while.

 Felt books with 3 suprises inside

 One baggie has flash cards( my kids LOVE these,the next a mini puzzle that will fit on a tray table an the last has sheets of stickers.)

 Marker travel book

Markers and blank paper...they will be happy for awhile!

 Coloring books with crayons, colored pencils and pens!

 The finished project.

I looked up the size of a airplane tray table ( approx 16.6 x 9.5) and I made a felt play mat for Elias's mini thomas trains he has. I just finished and we are leaving in a hour so there is plenty of work left to be done like add the tracks, Gordan's hill an all the trees but I just simply ran out of time. I think there is enough here that he will be excited. I failed as a mom since I didn't even get to start Annie's zoo but hopefully she will forgive me!

Sewing Projects Part 1

Last year for my birthday and Christmas gift my mom bought me a sewing machine. Ever since I became a stay at home mom I always wanted to learn to sew, I felt like if you are going to be a SAHM you might as well act like it. I am addicted, I love having a project to do and love the fact that I have a finish product that my kids can wear/use when I am done. I am not the greatest yet but I am learning. I have little to no patience for finishing my garments( hand sewing...no thanks) so most of my projects are best viewd from afar. Over labor day Joann's was having a pretty big sale on fleece so I decided to buy some to make Annie and the baby pj's. I bought enough fabric for 6 pairs of pajamas and cotton fabirc to make 2 dresses for Annie and a blanket for BabyE. When I got home and looked at my pile of fabric I thought I would never get it all done! Slowly I started checking my projets off the list and in just a month and a half I managed to make 7 pairs of pj's( 8 if you count the one I sent to my friend as a baby gift), 2 ribbon blankets, one big blanket, 2 dresses for Annie and as if that wasn't enough I bought mock smock fabric and made her 2 more dresses for Disney! I bought the cheapest fabric I could find since I am still learning so while not all of this is my personal style choice it sure was cheap!!!! I am currently in the middle of sewing project marathon #2 only this time I have 5 days to finish it all before we leave for disney...you will just have to wait and see what I am creating, until then have fun looking at my not-so-perfect but made with lots of love clothing!

  0-3 month footed zip sleepers for BabyE

 4 pairs of gripper bottomed-footed pj's I made for Annie. On a side note we let her pick her jammies out every night and if there is a pair clean she always picks FEETY jammies! Winning!

 The 2 easiest dresses I have ever made in my life. The fabric is sold like this so you measure yoru childs cheast, minus 2 inches sew one seam and call it good! I added ribbon ties since she is so active..don't want it falling off

 2 dresses I made for Annie. The one on the right I lost all patience for and the arm wholes are intersting but the one on the left turned out pretty cute. In the winter she will wear these over a long sleeve shirt and with leggings.

small Ribbon blanket and Big baby blanket for BabyE!

Apple Extravaganza

Earlier this week my neighbor bought over 3 grocery bag filled with apples from her tree! Not sure what to do with them other then give them to the kids for snack that afternoon, I decided to start baking. Brandon set up shop in the living room and peeled 2 whole bags of apples for all the goodies we were about to make! I made 2 apple pies one for each of my neighbors and 2 apple crisps one for us and one for Kellie's family. I also sent home half a bag with Kellie and we still have half a bag left so I see a couple more pies in our future.

 The 2 giant bags of apples poor Brandon had to peel

 2 pies done and ready to be put in the oven!

Kellie didn't realise when she came home from fall break I would be putting her to work baking!

Our yummy apple goodness we baked

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend the Eberhardts decided to take advantage of the last nice day and headed out to Nelson's Pumpkin Patch! Its a good thing we went when we did because the weather every day since then has been cold and windy!!!!The kids had a ton of fun! We started out looking at all the pumpkin, although we decided not to buy any since we will be out of town over Halloween. We then took a quick walk along the not so spooky trail and ended our trip by playing in the hay maze. It was a great fall day and I am so glad we got a chance to visit the patch!

 Our failed attempt at a family picture, doesn't the background look great though!

 Me pouting because its impossible to get a family photo:(

 Daddy and Annie playing basketball...with a soccerball

 Grandma chasing Elias

 Daddy and Annie 

 Half of a family photo

 Kellie trying to play with a very independent Annie

 Another attempt to take a picture with my daughter

 Playing on the little playset

 Kellie pulling Annie along the not so spooky trail

 The Eberhardts

 Annie trying to pick up a pumpkin, it may have been a bit heavy for her

 Another attempt at a family photo, I should just give up!

Both the babies wanted Daddy and only daddy! With Brandon working nights, sleeping during the day and having class for grad school his babies see him much less and they miss him terribly! The number one thing I hear now is " we go find Daddy" or" no mommy no mommy, daddy!" I know they still love me but boy do they love their dad!

Pregnancy Highlights 28 weeks

28 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 28 Weeks

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com BabyE is the size of a Chinese cabbage. He weighs about 2 1/4 lb and is almost 15 inches long from head to heel!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: + 20 lbs ( I blame the extra 2 lbs the last 2 weeks on the cookie dough we bought from a little girl selling it for a fundraiser....such good cookies!!)

Maternity Clothes: Yes Please. I love them...if you didn't figure that out by now

Gender: Baby Boy!

Movement: For sure! Before I just felt little kicks and punches and now he is starting to roll across my stomach! I guess he is getting bigger( but hopefully not 10lbs big like Elias)

What I miss: A good night of sleep, sleeping in, having energy. I don't know if any of these are actually from being pregnant or just a combination of Elias being sick for the 7th week in a row, Brandon being on midnight's and me being way busier then usual with coaching.

Sleep: hmmm whats that again?

Symptoms: Just being so incredibly tired all the time

Cravings: snickers which is not a good thing! Luckily this craving only lasted a week or so but man did I eat  a lot of snickers in that week( they were mini...does that make it better?)

Best Moment this week: Watching BabyE roll across my belly instead of watching him jab it! Its so fun to feel a little elbow or foot rolling all over.

What I am looking forward to: Going to Dinsey World with my family in two weeks! 

Fall!

I love that it is mid October and we are still able to enjoy daily walks and trips outside without all the heavy winter gear loading us down. This week we decided it was time to rake the massive quantities of leaves that had fallen in the front yard. Elias and Annie both loved running through them and jumping around in them. They both also gave a shot at trying to rake them but quickly gave up and went back to destroying the piles I was making. I will be sad when the beautiful fall weather leaves us but for now we sure are enjoying it!

 Elias jumping in the leaves

 Daddy teaching Elias how to rake

 Cheese!

 Elias took off to jump in the leaves, Annie wasn't happy he was leaving her ....

 So she tackled him and then they got in a fight :)

 Sister gone, all better

 Annie's turn to run around

 Trying to rake those leaves is hard work

 Elias practicing the skills Daddy taught him

 I told Annie to sit in the leaves and say Cheese, she said no, sat in front of them and gave a really long drawn out Cheeeesssseeeeeee while not looking at me. Goober!

There's a good smile!