Dance Recital

I was doing a Annie update, going over her busy month when I noticed I still didn't do a post on her big dance recital!! So I am skipping the Annie update and doing this instead! In fact, I am only going to do one kid up date per month. They aren't really changing enough to do one on each each month. So May is Annie, June is Benj July is new baby August is Elias etc. and so it shall go.

This was Annie's first time in dance class. She had a rough time adjusting to the more strict rules at ballet then the preschool gymnastic classes that she was used to. I am pleased to say she learned to listen and didn't get kicked out of class...already a success. Her class is for 3-5 year olds and I am thinking she was one of the youngest ones in her class( She was 3 years and 3 months when she started) Her little body just doesn't move in the way the 5 year olds do but dang if it wasn't adorable none the less. I think being in dance did teach her some discipline that was lacking in her wild child life. We were both super happy with the experience and the North Dakota Ballet Company and she is already enrolled for the summer! Anyways, onto the big day!

Her recital was on a Saturday and I had planned to sit in the audience and secretly video the dance number so I didn't have to spend $25 on a dvd, however there was a change in plans.

I was a parent volunteer, so I was not in the audience when she was dancing. I was down stairs in the dressing area with 7  3-5 year olds. You see, there were two parent volunteers and I realized that if I didn't volunteer as well, Annie would probably pee her pants( she won't go pee on big potty's without a familiar face comforting her). I talked to the studio and they said, sure more parent volunteers the merrier. So fast forward to recital day. All the kids show up and none of the other parent volunteers for her class. Uh, hello parents!! If you signed up to help and then you drop off your kid, who do you think is watching them?!?!?!?! I can't even imagine doing that!!! So anyways, I chilled out with 7 3-5 year olds by my pregnant self. It was ok, there were other classes, parents, snacks, colors etc etc. We avoided any peeing in pant episodes, meltdowns or escaped children so all in all it was a success. I have a couple of video clips from rehearsal but none of the big recital. I am very pleased with how Annie did, I thought FOR SURE she would stand there and not move at all, she did a great job,especially since the dance teachers have always performed in front of them rather then down below them. 

Could this face be any more hilarious!!!!! I love my little bean!

Ok, so here are some pics from dance recital day:

 Hair all pulled back in a bun

She was such a pretty little ballerina

And then some pictures from Picture day

And a picture from try out your outfit day in class

And last, but not least, from recital day!!

When did my baby girl get so big!!

This is the from class but its the best I have her on video until the recital dvd comes in. She is all the way against the far wall by the dance teacher. He isn't wearing a skirt, just the leo. 

Master Corporal Eberhardt

It was about 8 years ago that I sat in Brandon's apartment with a course catalog in hand and said what are you majoring in? You have been in school for two years and you have no plan. His response" Whatever I can get done with the fastest" We went thought EVERY major some he dismissed on lack of interest, some on time commitment, some on laziness. He finally settled on criminal justice.Ya, that sounds good, I will be a cop. Oh how naive we both were. Lucky for Brandon he was able to get hired right after graduation, neither one of us had any idea how many people apply each roster( like over a hundred) for only a couple of spots. He started working in December of 07 and graduated from the academy in March of 08( a week before he became a dad)

( I didn't attend the graduation in Bismarck, too far for this 39 1/2 week pregnant lady to drive back then)

Brandon has been working as a police officer for a little over 5 years and was promoted to corporal Eberhardt, fancy I know. Within those 5 years, he had a stroke of brilliance. We both know we are going to have a big family, 5 and counting as of today(soon to be 6!) He doesn't want to be a cop until he 80(plus, what 80 year old could!). So he decided that he will work as a police office for a full career around the age of 55, retire, then become a professor at UND. His dad was a professor at UND and Brandon has always had a slight interest in it. Right now UND offers 50% tuition for employees dependents, here is to hoping in 20 years they are still doing that so a couple of our kids can go to college on the cheap. Anyways to be a professor you need a minimal of a masters but more preferable a PhD. Brandon started masters classes in 2011 and graduated this May!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

He is already 2 classes into his PhD program and should be done in 2020...just kidding, hopefully around 2015! I haven't outlined his program plan yet so I don't know exact expected graduation date.( yes I do all of that,I am his secretary after all!)

Until then, I told him I would call him master...soon to be Dr. master Corporal Eberhardt

Going to school, working full time and having a house full of kids has it's challenges and is difficult at times on both Brandon and I but in the long run it will be worth it. So this summer, while there is no school to be had we will just enjoy our family time and say a big

Congratulations Brandon, we are proud of you!

The Quarry

As we all remember, Elias was OBSESSED with all things Thomas for the longest time. During this time, if we wanted him to try something new (new food, visit new place etc) we would try to relate it to trains to make it look more appealing. Somewhere along the way, Brandon decided to take the kids to the courtyards in between our townhomes. He has great memories of playing there with his friends when he was in elementary/middle school. On a side note, his mom lived in a park view town home when the boys were younger. Brandons parents also lived in the first apartment we moved into after we were married...small town.

 Anywho, I guess Elias wasn't too excited about going so Brandon told him they were going to the Quarry and talked trains with Elias the whole way there( all 10 feet from our house to the courtyard). From day 1 both big kids, and now Benjamin have loved playing in the courtyard. We play hide and seek in the trees, play baseball, chase, or just walk around and look at nature and ask questions. Its quiet and quaint and just one more reasons I love living here. To this day, the kids still call the courtyard the quarry, as do Kelli, Andrew, Jordan, Grandma etc. 

A couple days ago I busted out the camera to play( can you tell I am having fun with this gift) and Brandon suggested we headed over to the quarry. Off we went. Here are some pictuers of the type of fun we have there!

 He is growing up too fast!

 Annie up on her daddy's shoulders, she is a daddy girl through and through

 Playing a little ball

 Running the bases , he got a homerun!

 Twoface...shocking

 Elias trying to throw Benjamin out. I missed the timing a bit but I love the determination on Elias'face

 Elias chasing after Benj

 Annie and Elias running from Benjamin, he was trying to get them out

 Benjamin feeling pretty special because he finally got the bat

 We do a lot of running in the quarry, can you tell?

 Someone needed a water( and a bath and bed)

 Looking so grown up as well

 Annie and Elias used to love being thrown in the air, Benj not so much, he wouldn't let go

 Annie...hahahahah She flipped out! It was super funny

 So they decided to twirl instead

My handsome husband. I refused to move from my stationary spot so he kinda looks like two face with the nice shadow he has going, but 1. Elias liked it and 2. I was lazy :)

No More Pictures!

Since I got my camera for mothers day, I have spend a few afternoons trying out all my settings. Most of the time the kids are willing, but occasionally they get annoyed. 

Note to self, when taking 100 pictures to figure out all the snazzy settings, do candid, it makes the kids less irritable :)

 Working on my depth of field so my background is blurry but my little man is sharp...starting to get it. Elias was a willing subject to practice on, as long as he could give me his two face smile

 After playing with different settings for outside and asking the kids to smile about 1000 times, Elias declared that is it! "You are always taking pictures! I don't want to take any more" Mind you, the photo session had only been going on for about 3 min total at this point....This is a terrible picture( like the tree out of Elias head), other then the emotion on my little guys face..he wasn't happy

So I moved onto a more willing subject, my little Annie Kat is always ready for a picture

Riding My Bike

When you think of kids and bikes one thing is obvious; They love them, they want to ride them all the time, they think they are the greatest thing ever....EXCEPT MY KIDS! I have a 5,3 and 1 year old and none of them have ever expressed any interest in riding a bike, until this year! Elias' sensory issues prevented him from ever getting on a bike and I think little sister Annie was just following in his footsteps. We have bough so many types of bikes and trikes over the last two years trying to encourage the love of bike riding..nada.

Last year at once upon a child, I bought annie a bike, shockingly she didn't want to ride it, like at all. She would try but never grasped the concept of making the bike move on her own. As the weather finally warmed up, everyone from mom,dad ,uncle jordan and grandma have helped the kids ride bike( when they want to that is). Annie has been obsessed with learning lately and today we reached a milestone! Annie rode her bike to the park and back ALL BY HERSELF!!!!! She talks about riding her bike every second she is awake, I think it is safe to say she is officially obsessed.

Elias still isn't a fan, and that's OK. He will ride when he is ready. In the meantime, Annie is enjoying her new found freedom!

Getting pretty excited that she can make it go

And she is off! We need to adjust the bike still since she has grown from last year

Taking off by herself

Thumbs  up mom, I did it!!

My little beaners, so excited to be a big girl and ride a bike!

On a side note, during this process she made me cry! I was helping her and she had that Ah-ha moment and started to make it go on her own. She turned around and said rather proudly, "I CAN DO IT, I DON"T NEED YOU MOMMY!!!". Then she proudly kept repeating "I don't need" you as she pedaled further and further away. She wasn't being mean, she was super excited and proud but for a minuet it made me sad, my little girl was getting so grown up and didn't need me....tear! Then I realized that at 31 I still need my mom so I don't need to fret, this little one will always need her mamma!



Update: In the time between when I wrote this post( Friday night) and today( saturday) Elias has also decided to learn to ride his bike! I guess he didn't want his little sister "beating" him as he calls it. He hopped on his bike and rode it like he has known how to all along, I guess he just needed a little motivation. I pushed Benj to the park in the little car while the big kids rode their bikes...I see alot of this in our future!!

Last Day of School

I would like to start off by saying technically, today is the last day of school not yesterday. We had to make up a snow day today and I didn't know that so I sent Elias off to school yesterday telling him it was his last day and such.oops! Oh well, he was excited to go see his friends one more time today. Onto the post!

It doesn't seem like 2 full years ago that Elias walked out the door for the first time on his way to Summer preschool. 

He had big time sensory issues and speech problems and I was anxiety ridden over how he would do for 3 hours without me. Well there was no need to worry since he absolutely loved it! Summer school went by fast and I began worrying how he would do riding the bus to school. I thought there is just no way that he is ever going to get on that bus and make it with out complete meltdowns...wrong again. He got to the point where he wouldn't want me to walk him out to the bus,"Mom you stay here and watch OK!" Such a independent boy. The last two years have been absolutely nothing but pure wonderfulness. 

When Elias started in preschool he was wearing a weighted vest to help him stay calm in school, he would frequently freak out if glue or other things got on his hands during project time, he hardly ever ate at snack time and would have a difficult time switching activities. As of today, he no longer wears the vest, will try(put his teeth in and chew but not always swallow) all of his snacks including veggies and fruits, he tolerates( still doesn't like it) things on his hands and has zero problems switching from one activity to another. His speech is still a work in progress but it is significantly better then it was when he first started!

He went leaping out to the bus, this his last day as a preschooler, a completely different kid then he was two years ago.

We are so thankful for the opportunity for him to participate in preschool special needs!

First day of summer preschool May 2011, 3 years old

1st day of 1st year of preschool 3 1/2 years old

 Last day of his first year of preschool! Such a grown up boy 4 years old

 First day of afternoon preschool, 2nd year 4 1/2 years old

 Last day of preschool special needs my big 5 year old was sooo excited to go to school

How did he grow up so fast?

Soccer Star Take 3

Well this "spring" marks Elias' third season of Sunflake soccer! You may(or may not) remember his first season as seen here or of course via the you tube video seen here. The season was off to a late start due to the snow field that just wouldn't melt. The kids only had 2 practices before they started playing games. Brandon is coaching once again and took Elias to his first practice last week. He has improved so much and at that first practice, he even scored a goal! I haven't been able to make it to many of the practices and games due to baby raising and such BUT the other night, Grandma Mim came over so I could sneak to watch Elias play. I brought the fancy camera to try to catch some amazing shots..I guess I should have learned how to use fancy soccer playing mode first...oh well. Elias didn't score a goal and I failed to really take any action shots but we all had fun...that counts right?

 Elias aka two face and his coach daddy

( On a side note I am not sure where this two face obsession has come from. He has never seen batman..I guess his lego set maybe?)

 Elias getting his game face on, the other team trying to be intimidating

 AH sun!

Lining up for a kickoff. Aren't little kids in giant soccer  uniforms so cute?

We are putting Elias in Grand Forks Soccer this summer. They have real, non-parent volunteer coaches and I am assuming actually teach the kids a thing or two about soccer. We are excited to see how Elias enjoys it!

Pregnancy Highlight 32 weeks!

32 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 32 Weeks

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com BabyE is the size of a Baby weighs as much as a jicama. BabyE weighs 3 3/4 pounds. (Length: about 16 3/4 inches, head to heel.)

Maternity Clothes: Yes, although I have recently discovered maxi dresses and have started to acquire several in both maternity and regular

Gender: still thinking girl, I even bought several outfits...all within the return period of course. Just for the record, I am not willing it to be a girl, as previously mentioned I would love a back to back gender..i.e. boy BUT will be thrilled either way...oh the surprise is killing me

Movement: So Much! Those heels and elbows are starting to hurt!

What I miss: Being able to walk and not waddle my way around the track. My swimsuit fitting. I look pretty sexy with my belly hanging out of my work-out swim top.

Sleep: Doing pretty good these days, other then Benj who's constant ear infections( since Feb) have wrecked his schedule. We are in the process of sleep training and it is going well so hopefully I will be sleeping through the night, you know, just in time to have a new born who doesn't sleep.

Symptoms: So So So many braxton hicks contractions
Cravings: Nothing actually...nope, nothing

Best Moment this week: The 4 total strangers that all made comments to me this week about how I must be due any day....or in 8 weeks!

What I am looking forward to: Finish house organizing and get baby stuff set up and ready. Oh and for Annie to finally meet this baby. She is so in love already!

(Annie telling the baby all about her new sea shell..she is too cute)