New Trick

We all know how obsessed I am with my cloth diapers, well I will admit, they do have one drawback. Once the kids reach, oh, about 8 months or so, they have the desire(and ability) to pull that diaper right off! Well tonight my friends, Mr. Benjamin did just that! I had taken his clothes off to put on his PJ's, but had to run to get the clothes. When I returned I found Benjamin in his birthday suit giggling in a soft fuzzy blanket. I quickly snapped a couple of pictures before securing his diaper again. ( and for all those wondering *cough kellie cough*, yes the blanket did get washed right after)

Halloween Party

This year, in addition to advising the cheer/dance program at UND, I am also helping out with our town's first all star cheer program. The program takes place at the local gymnastics center and it has been really fun getting to know the gym and their staff. Well, this weekend they gym hosted it's annual Halloween party! We dressed up the kids, called cousin Gavin and headed over. 

Annie dressed up like Merida, she had a red wig and the spitfire attitude to go with it! Elias decided to be Captain America. He wore his mask and wheeled his shield like a pro. Benjamin didn't get a choice, I bought him a "turtle" costume at a 2nd hand kids clothing store. The shell was missing but I still bought it because it had a head piece that wasn't easily removable. 

 I am happy that Benjamin is walking now, but it sure does make picture taking more interesting.

Brandon and I went back and forth on what to do with Mr. Benjamin. We ultimately decided that we would put him in the backpack in his costume( with jammies underneath) and let him observe. It was the perfect idea as he just kind of hung out most of the night. He didn't make one peep in complaint. Onto the big kids:As soon as we got to the gym, the kids headed over to the pit. They had a blast jumping into the foam and climbing their way out, good way to get all that energy out too! After some time in the pit, Annie did the obstacle course about 100 times while the older boys ran down the tumble tramp and visited the haunted house. Annie ran into her friend Ana and they had a blast playing together. We all visited the (not-so) haunted house one more time before we called it a night. Elias had a blast playing with cousin Gavin and Annie was in friend heaven with Ana. It was such a perfect night!

The Initiative

I realize some of you reading this blog may not have grown up with TGIF..a 2 hour block of TV on Friday night that consisted of 4, 30 min shows. One of those shows was full house. The dad on that show, Danny Tanner was a neat freak! The show used his obsessive cleaning for many puns throughout the shows run. So now you are wondering why the heck am I giving you a run down on Danny Tanner ...Brandon has gone Danny Tanner on me! 

About a month ago he looked at me with crazy eyes and said very passionately " Today is the day! Today is the day we take back the house! The initiative begins today!"

You see, our house is small( 1444 sq ft to be exact) and we have 5 people living here. Between the kids toys, my crafting stuff and all the other necessities of life( clothes!) our house was exploding  In a matter of 2 days we organized the entire house. Put things where they belonged, got rid of broken or unused items and gave the house a good clean. 

That evening, Brandon was helping Elias clean up his trains for bed, Elias was resisting. I walked in and overheard Brandon saying to Elias " Elias it's the take back the house initiative, are you on board" This convinced Elias that yes, cleaning up his trains was important. From time to time I will catch Brandon or one of the kids mention the initiative as they are cleaning up items around the house. It is official, Brandon has brainwashed the house! 

About a week after "The Initiative" began, our 4 year old $25 vacuum broke. This nearly caused a nervous breakdown in poor Brandon. That evening, I rushed out and purchased a new vacuum. Brandon must have been telling the kids all about it because as soon as I walked in the door they were asking to see the new vacuum. Every house guest that came over for the next 2 weeks got to see our new vacuum( Note to self: Brandon is REALLY good at brainwashing kids). 

Anyways, our house may not always be in tip top shape, but it's a heck of a lot better than it used to be, thanks to the Eberhardt's own Danny Tanner.

 I went grocery shopping one morning and I came home to see Brandon wearing Benjamin in the backpack and frantically cleaning the kitchen. I'm  not quite sure by he might have been chanting "The Initiative  under his breath.

The kids and their new favorite toy

Date Night

The past couple of months, Brandon and I have done something we haven't done consistently in years...socialize with other people. I don't mean like "Oh happy anniversary let's go out to eat" I mean like, these people invited us here lets go. It been weird but fun. Having two sets of grandparents in town plus my sister and my niece( and her wonderful perfect-for-babysitting friends) all willing and eager to babysit it has been easy. 

As most of you know I fret and worry, I don't like leaving my kids for purposes other than to work or do errands, it makes me feel guilty. But now that they are all sleeping eating and pooping wonderfully...whoooooo hooooo let the partying begin. Ok, not really partying but fun none the less. In the last couple of months we have done dinner with friends, dinner with colleges, house warming party, (family) backyard BBQ, and a wedding dance. Brandon't coworkers are still in shock when we walk through the door, because for 5 years every time he got invited to a cop function, we never went. Anyways here are a few pics of our date nights :) 

 Brandon drinking his super classy Colt 45 at the back yard BBQ

 Wedding dance

 Ok, this isn't really a date but it was fun working together

Date night with Kellie, Jim, Dan and lester...Very romantic:)

Year in Review

A excerpt from a former blog post on pros and con's of being married to a cop:

"The last complaint I have is the shift work. We are lucky in GF that our officers do a full year on one shift before they have to change, some places do a month or so each shift then switch. Brandon has been lucky enough to be on days( 7:30am-5:30pm) for the last 2 years. Starting October 1st he has to switch to midnight( 10:00pm-8:00am) and I am NOT looking forward to it at ALL. I hate being alone at night and I have no idea how he is going to sleep during the day with 2 then 3 kids playing. Hopefully its only a year he is on this shift and you never know we may both really like it( this is my small attempt at being optimistic.)


As you can tell, I was less than enthused about him being on midnight shift. Most of the things I feared came true. Brandon had difficulty sleeping, he was constantly tired from switching around his schedule so much, it was hard to get anything done on his days off because he was so tired...the list goes on and on. That being said, I actually enjoyed him being on Mids! He got to see the kids for about a hour before he went to bed in the morning and he was up by 4, on day shift he doesn't get home until 6. We actually got to see him way more when he was on mids, on his days on that is.
 The kids LOVED going into our room and waking up daddy at 4! Elias even learned how to tell what the hands on the clock look like when it was time to wake up daddy. When Benjamin was a newborn there was no fighting who had to stay up and walk the floor, it was Brandon on his nights off! He was up anyways why not hang out with a cool kid. I got used to being alone and enjoyed my down time in the evenings after everyone was in bed. I guess my fake optimism paid off as mids wasn't really as bad as I suspected. In fact when shift bidding came around again we had a really hard time trying to decided what shift he should bid on.

Brandon is in his 5th year as a officer. At the end of your 5th year, as long as you meet certain requirements(which Brandon has) you usually are promoted to corporal. Shift bidding is based on rank but they have to even out the officers, corporals, Sargent etc. So as a 5th year officer he is guaranteed his 1st shift where as a 1st year corporal, he has no shot to get his first choice. This being the case, he decided to bid on days one more time before he is more than likely stuck on afternoons(5pm-3am) for a couple of years.

So far life on days is grand. He has had a few late calls and not gotten home until after 8pm but with both sets of grandparents in town its not really a big deal. I feel I have really hit my stride as a mom so doing all 3 bath and bed alone is very manageable...  ok, it could be less to do with my awesome mom skills and more due to the fact that my kids are getting older but shh). His days off are great and he is less irritable,probably due to the fact that his sleeping pattern is much more normal. All in all I say it was a successful year, hmm I guess being positive sometimes does pay off!

Week With Kellie

Hello, This is Elias. Mom is letting me write this blog post today! Kelde had her fall break from school and she came to see me! We did lots of fun things like play outside in the quarry (a.k.a courtyard) and go to the pumpkin patch. Kellie even taught Benjamin how to ride a bike! He is the first Eberhardt to learn how to make the bike move on his own! Kellie even had fun carrying baby Benjamin around in a backpack. One night, cousin Skyla came over to babysit and mom,dad and Kellie went out with friends. We love kellie and can't wait to see her again!

 Heading out the pumpkin patch with Kelde

 Kelde is our favorite

 Baby Benjamin taking a picture with Kellie

 It was a long walk to the quarry, so Kellie carried Benjamin. 

 After we were done at the quarry, we came back to play in the leaves and ride bike. Annie and I don't love our bikes but Benjamin sure seamed interested. 

 Benjamin even made the bike go all by himself! Two days after this, Benjamin took his first steps!

 Kellie and Benjamin hanging out. 

Date night!

Pumpkin Patch

I meant to make a fall to-do list , but when we had our first blizzard warning before the first week of October was over,I decided it was a lost cause. Had I made a list, the number one thing on it would have been to visit Nelson's Pumpkin Patch! We have gone for the last three years and plan to continue on the tradition. The first year we went was kind of a gong show. Annie was just over a year, Elias had sensory issues we had yet to discover at it was less then ideal. The second year we went, the kids were older and had a bit more fun but it was a cold day and runny noses and crabby babies prevailed. 

Year 1 Annie 11 months, Elias 2 1/2

 Year 2 Annie 2, Elias 3 1/2 Mommy 6 months pregnant with Benjamin

Year 3 Annie 3, Elias 4 1/2 Benjamin 9 months 

This year was out lucky year! Brandon was able to take the last 4 hours off of work and we surprised Elias at school and picked him up early. We headed out to the pumpkin patch right as they opened. It was overcasted and high 50's low 60's...perfect pumpkin patch weather if I do say so myself. There was only one other family there when we arrived which was a stark contrast to the previous two years  which were jammed packed. We started off the afternoon with a family picture!

I should rewind, as we were leaving the house, the oh-so-wise Kellie suggested we bring the backpack for Benjamin to ride in. We all agreed that he was the perfect age for it and Brandon volunteered to wear baby Benj for the afternoon....Benjamin LOVED the back pack!! After we got everyone out of the car, and of course took the family picture it was onto the hay ride. We were the only ones on and the kids loved pointing out the trees and Halloween decorations along the way.

Annie just sat and relaxed along they way,looking like the free spirited hippy girl that she is, Elias decided to embrace his inner cowboy and knaw on some straw and Benjamin just enjoyed the view from his pack. 

After the hay ride we took a walk along the "spooky" trail. Annie encountered a unusual friend and even dared touch it. We took the traditional walking picture as well as the daddy baby pictures  Along the way we encounter a giant hay stack that Kellie and I decided we must climb. Daddy and Benjamin stayed grounded while we braved the heights. 

 Best. Picture.Ever.

After all the climbing was done, Kellie and I couldn't resist the chance to jump off and do a corny cheerleading pose. Brandon managed to take a good picture for once and we all had a good laugh. We continued on the trail until we reached the tunnel to come out. Annie was petrified so Daddy carried her though to safety. After our trail walk we ventured over to the min corn maze, house and pet feeding area. Annie gave us her best chicken impersonation and both kids begged to climb into the chicken coop. We considered but decided best not to :) A game of bean bag toss, pumpkin bowling and tractor driving rounded up the pumpkin patch..or so we thought. 

As I mentioned earlier, the pumpkin patch was always crowded when we went in previous years. There are always lots of games but with so many kids, and my kids being young, they never really got he opportunity to try them all out. This year since they were the only kids there (while we were there) they had free regin. As we got to the front of the patch, we detoured to the pumpkin section and let Annie and Elias each pick out two min pumpkins. Elias chose orange ones and Annie chose her beloved white pumpkins. We made our way to the front where the fun really began. They had a few man made games and the kids had a ball! A water duck race and skeet ball game were major favorites. After 15 min of playing games, Kellie and I left Brandon with the big kids and detoured to take some pictures of Benjamin without his backpack! 

 It was approaching dinner time and the kids were still keeping it together, so we decided to head out before epic meltdowns ensued. Poor Elias was to tired he fell asleep on the way home! It was a great afternoon and I can't wait until next year to go again!