Silly Kids

I have finally been writing some of these down and I must say, this batch is a good one. Benjamin has been saying some pretty cute things lately and I think he has now officially secured his spot in the silly kid memoirs.

Annie was having a ROUGH time one day. These three bits are all from the same one hour time frame.
Me: "Annie, why are you upset?"
Annie: "Because I wish I was Abu"  then she lets out a series of cries that can only be comforted by snuggles with mommy.
 I guess finding out that you can not be a monkey from a Disney movie is a harsh reality.

Me" Annie, time to get ready for the movie"
Annie" I can't stop crying, looks like I will be crying at the movie"

Me:"Annie, papa and Gavin can't come today, they have plans"
Annie: "Why can't they coooommmmeeeee? Oh no! looks like I am going to cry again"

A few more from Annie:

Annie: " MOMMY! I know how to say red in Chinese. Azul!"
Me: " That's great Annie, but that is blue, and in Spanish"

Me: "Annie what is wrong?"
Annie" I REALLY want to play with Elias but there is no hair left" ( I still have no idea what this was about)

A couple from Mr. Benjamin:

Me" Benjamin, are you going to have so much fun at Grandma's house tonight?!"
Benjamin" NO! I want to go to Disney World "
...if it were only that easy my son. Oh, and for the record, he did have fun at Grandma's

I was laying with Benjamin putting him to sleep when Brandon walked in.Benjamin sat up, pushed as hard as he could and said:
" Mommy, Mommy, Get out GET OUT!! Daddy here, daddy here" Gee thanks buddy!

Elias isn't around that much during the day due to school, so I don't have as many from him. I feel kinda bad for posting this last one but it is too dang funny not to.

Brandon was taking the older kids somewhere. Elias was trying to decide if he wanted to go or stay with me and Samuel. I was trying to help him make a decision.
Me: "Elias, you have to decide right now what you want to do.If you are going you have to get dressed right now. Elias daddy is leaving soon,what do you want to do?"
Elias" Well, I am itching my butt now, so I need to wash my hands"

He then proceeds to go into the bathroom and wash his hands, while singing Happy Birthday.

Will Winter EVER end?

I am going to be honest, I don't really mind the winters here. A few months of cold, a couple weeks of really cold and a late spring. For the benefits of living in North Dakota, the winter is something I can handle. What I can not handle is another winter like we have been having! Seriously, there was a 50 something day stretch where the temperature failed to get above 0...ZERO. We were teased with a few 30 degree days last week and I foolishly thought spring was near...nope. We are full on back to sub zero days. The forecast into March is gloom and doom, let's put it this way, the high for March 1st is -7. I will repeat that, the HIGH for MARCH 7th is NEGATIVE 7....I am so so so so so over this winter thing!!! OK, enough of my complaining. 

Last week when it was in the 30's we headed out for some snow time. Snowmen, walking in snow, shoveling snow, being thrown in snow. You name it we did it. After all the snow time, we came in for some  hot coco and play time. These winters are long but at least we have each other to make it through!

I think we have gotten a bit of snow this winter, what do you think?

Daddy had a great time throwing Annie in the snow. Annie had a great time running all over the place like the crazy woman that she is. Benjamin had a blast "cleaning otherwise known as shoveling. Elias Samuel and I hung out inside where it was toasty warm. 

 Notice the height difference of Annie compared to the snowman. The top was taken last week, the bottom about 5 weeks ago. Snow Snow Snow!

After all that snow play, it was time for daddy-baby play. The kids were all ears while daddy explained how their tickle game would work now that Samuel was old enough to be involved. 

The were very attentive while Samuel got his first turn, he LOVED being one of the big kids! 

 Now it was everyones turn! ahhh so many tickles!

February Cell Phone Pics

I decide that since I take so many cell phone pictures, I should just do a monthly post of all the ones that didn't make it onto another blog post.

Elias Update

Stats: Elias is growing growing growing! He started off the year in rather big size 6/7 clothes. I have noticed recently that some of those pants are getting a bit small. This kid is going to be 5 feet tall before he is in 1st grade at this rate! He has an appointment the day after his birthday for his legs, so we will get official weight and height then.

Health: After months of being sick, Elias finally is healthy again! Well, sorta. He does have a bit of a cold now, but nothing like it was the beginning of the school year. Elias is still wearing foot-plate-things in his shoes to help with his leg development. We are hoping at his next appointment (the day after his 6th birthday...6th!) he will graduate to "regular" shoes with no inserts/braces of any kind. If he does, that will be the first time in almost three years he has just had to throw on shoes and go. If he still has to wear them, that is just fine too.

We had Elias' eyes checked a month ago because he would complain the letters were "too small" when we would read at home. He did very well at the checkup and does have some very slight near-sideness? no far-sideness? Well he has one of the two, but not enough to require any sort of correction. He also has an eye that drifts out, but nothing to worry about just yet.
Overall, he is doing great

Obsessions: 

Elias still loves his Lego's and superheros but he has developed a new obsession. MINE CRAFT and SURVIVAL CRAFT. I'm not even really sure the point of these games, other then that they are on the iPad,  and I make him play on creative mode so things don't try to come and kill him while he is building houses and such. He loves watching videos of people playing mine craft online as well. I think he is studying up for his opportunity to dominate the mine craft world. Due to his love of these games, his obsessions with screen time has grown. It is a constant effort on Brandon and I's part to make sure he isn't playing/watching too much. Lucky for us, he has a wonderful imagination and when he gets kicked off the computer, it takes him about 30 seconds to conjure up some superhero game and next thing I know, all the kids are running around saving the day.

Activities: We are still over committed in this area. Elias has gymnastics on Tuesdays and just finished up his skating lessons on Saturdays. Skating is definitely not the Eberhardt's thing so far, but Elias stuck with it and I am proud of him. We will probably take them a couple more years just so the kids have the basics down. You really can't grow up in ND without knowing how to skate. Elias will be in basketball this spring as well as soccer. In the summer he will do tee ball. We are not sure how long he will stay in gymnastics, but so far he seems to really enjoy it and as long as he isn't in to much at one time, we will stick with it. The good thing about all these activities, is that they are going on one right after each other.So skating session ended and basketball begins. Basketball ends and soccer begins, soccer ends and tee ball begins. At least this is how I am justifying it to myself

School: Elias is loving school! We had his parent teacher conferences in January and his teachers all said he is doing great! He is a totally different kid then he was during intro to Kindergarden and even at the beginning of the  year. He has integrated into the class room well and rarely uses his para any more. Here are a few of his habits at school:
*He loves the morning circle time when they go over the calendar and such. He soaks everything up but rarely talks during this time. This is a far cry from the beginning of the year when he was blurting often.
*He does not like to leave for speech. His teacher says he worries that he is missing out on something and he doesn't like to be away from "his" classmates and "his" classroom
*He is doing great at lunch, eating more then just soybutter sandwiches every day !
*He is sure to point out if the class takes a different path during their day then originally planned and will check with his teacher to make sure it was on purpose.
*He is a very well behaved boy, so much so, that they moved students around a bit and moved a couple of kids near Elias so they could benefit from his example. I'm not sure what that means but it sounds good.
*He is doing great academically, but struggles with penmanship, gee I wonder where he gets that from!

  We have an IEP meeting in a couple of weeks and things are going so well for him, we expect him to be dismissed from his IEP.
This is wonderful and terrible all at the same time. It is wonderful that he is "normal" now, but terrible because now I will have to take and pick him up from school. We have been spoiled having the bus come to our door for the last 3 years.

Message to Elias: My oldest "baby", I can not even fathom that you are almost 6! 6 seems so much older then 5 doesn't it? I think I say that every year but it is so true. When did you grow up on me! You are turning out to be a very proper young man. You don't use slang and don't like to use contractions. You are old school, and I love it. You like to apply everything you learn at school to your life, which is very helpful. Teachers tell you about healthy food and all of a sudden you are eating spinach and black beans like no tomorrow. Teachers tell you about teeth and you eagerly brush three times a day. You have the fire drill down pat as well. I know exactly what you are learning at school since you apply it to your home life almost immediately. You love your activities and are pretty happy for basketball to be starting up, I think dad might be more excited but we will just have to wait and see. You still have your days where you need "some alone time" but you are usually polite and tell your siblings to leave you be for a bit. Speaking of your siblings, you love them to pieces, and your mom and dad as well. You are helpful taking care of and entertaining them when you are asked...most of the time. Annie is your best friend and Benjamin looks up to you so much! Make sure you are teaching him the way to be a nice young man.
You have had some rough afternoons after school, all that learning can be tough! Some cuddles, resting and down time are usually just what you need to make it through. Oh, and you love Jesus, a lot which is just about the most wonderful thing of all. Keep on being exactly who you are little man. 

Happy Valentines Day

I will start off by saying, I am not a fan of valentines day. Another religious holiday that has been turned into a marketing hayday. I will save the rant but the bottom line is, I do not approach this day with wonder of what my amazing husband will buy me or do for me to show me he loves me. He scrubs the caked on food off the table so I don't have to. He cleans the toilet bowls while we all sleep, that is love right there.

So, while I am not a fan of the holiday, I am a sucker for any reason to do a themed celebration! Bring on the hearts! In valentines fashion we did heart shaped foods for lunch and dinner, Brandon even tested his cooking skills by making heart shaped pizzas, they kinda even look like hearts!

We started off the day low key, older kids had school and had too much fun at their respective holiday parties! When they got home, I let them open their goodie bags. Luckily, due to school rules, the candy was kept to a minimum. Lots of pencils and trinkets for them to awe over. After they opened their treat bags, I let them open the gifts I bought for them! I was at Target a month ago and bought them each a toy. As I left I immediately felt buyers remorse for breaking my shopping challenge for no good reason. On the way home, I had the brilliant idea to just wait and give the gifts as valentines gifts. Winner winner chicken dinner!

While we were sitting down to our fancy Valentines dinner, my parents dropped by on their way out to dinner. They looked so pretty, I took a couple of pictures.