Outside Fun

On Elias' last day of school, we spent the whole evening out side. We played, we did gymnastics, we ate ice cream...and of course, we took pictures! I have a problem but I don't care, I love taking pictures of my sweet babies. Besides, when I am taking pictures and someone poops their pants, I automatically get out of changing that diaper! HA, now you know my secret!! Anyways, these are some of my favorites from that day. 

 " Mommy, take a picture of me sweeping" Goes to get broom and proceeds to sweep

 This girly is really getting good at handstands. Pointed toes and everything!

 I love this picture. I was messing around with a new setting and it really looks he is popping out of the picture, yes?

Hope you summer is off to as wonderful of a start as ours is!

Bye Bye Kindergarten

Elias on his first day of school 2013-2014 school year 

This year has flown by and dragged on all at the same time! When trying to sum up the year I don't even know where to start! I guess by season

Fall: School started and the days were long and lonely without our Elias. Meltdowns ensued daily after he got off the bus! We both adjusted ,and soon, he was able to make it a full school day without meltdowns. He was learning how to read and write and all those good things kids do in kindergarten. He became more and more independent as the months went out, learning how to put on his coat and shoes without help, this was a big one!We have Mrs Morton to thank for that( special resources teacher).

Winter: School is a very exciting time around the holidays! Lots of craft and art projects came home daily , and I loved it! The kids got out once in a while for recess but overall, it was another long cold winter. Elias was really starting to do quite well. There was talk at parent teacher conferences of possibly graduating from his IEP. Speech was doing great and he was on par academically with his peers. 

Spring: Elias graduated from his IEP!!!!! While we were beyond thrilled at his accomplishments this did provide us with one big problem: transportation. Up until now, all of Elias' transportation needs had been met by the school district. We would now be responsible for getting him to and from school. The last two months of school were great for Elias. He got to go outside once again for recess and was really loving reading, writing and drawing. 

The last two months for me..sucked! It is very challenging to get 4 kids up fed, dressed, loaded up and out the door on time. We would leave a huge mess coming and going with coats, hats, breakfast....all times 4! It was stressful and I am very thankful to be done with that!!! Uffda! Luckily, my dad was able to pick Elias up most days, so that worked out wonderfully! Thanks dad!!

Anyways, Elias was excited to be done with school and is looking forward to what is up next for him....ANIMAL TRACKS!! He is taking a "summer school" class for Kindergartners where he gets to learn all about animals. He chose this over all other activities including basketball, tee ball and soccer. He really really really loves animals and has been talking bout this class non stop!

Anyways, I took a few pictures of my silly dude on his last morning as a kindergartner! He is getting so big, this one is!

Annie's Preschool Graduation

Before I go on about my little preschool graduate, my true feelings on this graduation ceremony can be summed up by my now favorite blogger Matt Walsh

Blog Post from Matt Walsh

Onto my baby girl!

Annie received this darling dress as a gift from Aunt Nikki. I think it might very well be the cutest dress I have ever seen in.my.life. Nikki said if they had it in her size, she would have bought it, and I totally agree! After wearing, what has now become her favorite dress, for a few hours, Annie found...POCKETS!!! She started squeeling and I thought something was wrong. Nope, she was just super excited "MOMMY, this dress has POCKETSSSSS!!!!!!'" My goodness,she is adorable!

Onto the festivities!

 We dropped Annie off in her classroom and went to get our seats. We kept Elias home from school for the morning so he could go see his sister's school and watch her ceremony. Annie took a picture with Mrs Sandline, her wonderful teacher. 

 I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was basically a musical concert. The kids marched in and did 5-7 songs. Annie knew them all and had a grande time. After the songs were done, each teacher presented her class with their completion certificates. The parents took their kids, got some pictures and headed home. We decided to drop Elias off at school and head to Perkins to treat Annie with a muffin. It was a nice little morning to celebrate Annie's year at preschool!

 This is Annie's BFF Virgil. If she had it her way, they would be married now. She thinks about and talks about him CONSTANTLY!!!!!They are too cute. We are hoping to have a few play dates with Virgil this summer. 

Thanks for the great year Mrs. Sandline!

Recital Day

Wowzers, I have fallen behind! Between sick kids, end of year programs and start of summer, time is a-flyin! 

Anyways, here we go with Annie's recital day! Annie was VERY excited all day to be able to dance on the big stage. We ate a quick dinner and put on that sparkly outfit, did our hair and skipped out the door. 

I was volunteering again backstage and got to spend time with Annie and her classmates! Their group was the second group of the show, so they didn't have a long wait at all. We did a group potty break and headed upstairs to await our turn. 

Things were going pretty well until about 5 min before we were supposed to hit the stage. 

*Back story*: Annie had been battling weird fevers and symptoms for almost three weeks. The day before her recital, I finally caved in and took her to the doctor. He tested for UTI( which was negative) but otherwise figured it was just a long lasting viral infection. He said as long as she was feeling good, she could still go to her recital. Recital morning, she was fine..until right before we were to go on.

She had been happy and chipper all evening, then she came up to me, asked to be picked up( very weird) and started crying saying her ear hurt. She was BURNING up. They called us to go on stage. Annie said she could do it so she went out to dance. She did great! After the dance, she seemed to be OK so I thought maybe she was just getting nervous. The girls had their snacks and things continued to go downhill. She was dancing to some music with her classmates and just crumbled in pain. I had my dad come pick her up since I had to at least stay until intermission.

She got home and had a 103 fever. Poor girl just can't beat this! I headed home at intermission and she was still in pain. I tried some onion juice in the ear, she screamed bloody murder and 15 minutest later, she was fine and skipping around. We have not seem that nasty viral infection since, so take that! 

So, another eventful, but successful recital for Annie! 

Annie and her teacher, Miss Leigha. I have known Leigha since she was a freshman on UND's dance team. Now she is practically running NDBC. Great job Leigha!!!

All the little ballerinas! The mom's all loved the girls costumes because they were so pretty..and not pink or purple!

Trying to have her snack, shortly after this, we had to leave :(

Happy Anniversary Brandon!

I can't even begin to believe that Brandon and I have been married for 8 years!!!! I decided, since I am not the mushy type, that I would tell the story of how we met.
March 2003, UND tryouts, Mat room at Hyslop sports center.
Brandon walked in (late I might add) wearing a mighty mouse tee shirt and sporting a full goatee.He was quiet, charming and oh so humble. I enjoyed working with him, he made me feel tiny,and what girl doesn't love that! He made the team and I didn't give him another thought until August when practice started. As you can tell, that 18 year old kid sure did leave a (non) impression on me!
In August, we were paired up as stunting partners. One day after practice, I was handing out contact sheets for the team. I told Brandon he better call me every night to make sure I didn't need anything..and he did! I don't even think he was that interested in me, he was doing it to be, well, to be Brandon.
After a couple of weeks, I finally grew so annoyed I said "Yes, my roommate and I need ice cream" Fully expecting that to be the end of the phone calls, I instead hear a knock at my door an hour later. Brandon had gone and bought a GALLON of ice cream! After that I decided that I might kinda like this silly kid. We started officially dating in September of 2003 and were engaged a little over 2 years later on December 5th 2005.
May 13th 2006, we walked down the isle and 2 became 1. It has been a hectic last 8 years. The Eberhardts have earned 2 bachelors degrees( me ChemE, him CJ) and one masters( him, MPA). We bought our first house ( which we still live in) and had 4 babies. I wouldn't want to be on this adventure called life with anyone else!
 Here are some pictures of each of our anniversaries. 

1st anniversary, heading to Minneapolis to celebrate our anniversary and Brandon's 1st college graduation

2nd Anniversary (Elias was only 6 weeks old, time fly's)

3rd anniversary and pregnant with Annie

4th anniversary

5th Anniversary and pregnant with Benjamin

6th Anniversary

7th Anniversary and pregnant with Samuel

I made a little video to celebrate our anniversary

http://youtu.be/HE5HKePToEk

Pre-Recital Festivities

This week is the week! Annie had ballet pictures, ballet rehearsal and finally on Friday the big ballet recital!!! Annie has missed the last two weeks because she has been battling a nasty viral infection of some mystical sorts that leaves her with spurts of high fevers and chills. She is one smart cookie and still remembered her dance so onward we march to the big recital. We started off picture day with snapping some cute pictures at home. Annie had a fun time twirling in her tutu, and I also took what is probably my most favorite picture of her...ever!!! After picture day it was rehearsal day at the Fritz. It is a much bigger stage than last year, but it didn't' seem to phase my little ballerina. Scroll down for the rehearsal video!

 LOVE. LOVE. LOVE this picture!!!!!!!! That's my beaners!

Getting a quick picture of my best girl before class pictures.

Click HERE for recital video

Princesses

You would think in a house full of boys, poor Annie would be deprived of princess time in lieu of superheros. Well you, my friends, would be wrong. Not only does Annie usually play some form of princess or baby from sun up to sun down, she usually drags the boys along for the ride. She has a very strong personality and the boys tend to fall in line when she orders them to. 

So, last summer apparently Brandon in a passing-not-really-thinking state of mind, promised the kids they could get a toy if they went across the monkey bars. I am 100% not OK with this but 1. I don't think he actually thought they would remember a year later 2. I don't think he even really meant it, he just said it to see if he could get Elias( who had no interest and zero strength) to do it. Well, Elias NEVER forgets anything. This spring, first trip to the park, there he went, all the way across. The next day, there went Annie. Both kids were so excited to get their toy! Ah, what? Brandon and I didn't remember the promise but Elias was adamant Brandon had made it. This coming from a kid who reminds us when he is being punished( no mom, I can't watch that, it isn't educational. Remember I can't watch anything that isn't educational for the rest of the week?) so we believed him. 

Not wanting to break a "promise" Brandon headed to the store with the kids to pick out a toy. Elias picked out a hulk ramp toy and Annie picked out a princess game. After lunch we set up the toys and got ready to play the princess game. At first it was just Annie and daddy playing, but soon all the boys wanted in on the action. Annie did a great job at playing and, without help or cheating, beat her daddy fair and square!

As you can see in the pictures, she was pretty happy about it!

Annie is pretty lucky to have a daddy who will wear a tiara and jewels for her!

 EEEEEE I WON!!!!!