Annie's Day

We took the kids for the semi annual dentist visits and were not to pleased to find out that Annie had 3 cavities! They were all in the back of her mouth on the one side, teeth that she will have for years to come before they finally fall out, thus they needed to be filled. Brandon and I now brush all the kids teeth a couple of times a week to make sure we are getting all the nooks and monitoring flossing, however, Annie still needed to get her cavities filled. As anyone who has had dental work done knows, you have to get a shot...in you mouth! For a 5 year old this was not very good news. We talked it up, told her the steps they were going to take to help make it not hurt, then we did what any good parent we bribed the crap out of her in exchange for her bravery! We started off the day with homeschool where I snapped  this oh so adorable looking picture. She looks so grown up now! Then Annie and I headed to Green Mill for lunch and off to run some errands. She got a new small color wonder book and then if that wasn't enough, she had 1 on 1 gymnastics time with Miss Jenna!! Annie was SOOOOOO excited after her fun morning that by the dentist came I think she had forgotten she was getting shots...in her mouth. Annie took along Jelly and here daddy and  headed off to the dentist. I wasn't there but I was told she was a rock start patient and did a great job!! After the dentist she went to target and picked out a small toy then to Grandma Mims for dinner. Annie now knows how to really take care of those teeth after the lessons she got AND she isn't afraid of the dentist:)

That is what I call a fort!

This may not surprise any of you who know Brandon, but I left him and Jordan alone for a few hours, came home and the ENTIRE living room had been turned into a fort. Brandon had gathered all the sheets he could find, he armed himself with duct tape and got to it. The kids were giggling in delight when I got home, they couldn't wait to show me around!  I have to admit, it was kinda fun to climb around in there, that is until I realized in order to pay bills on the computer, I had to be half in half out of the fort...that was just uncomfortable. Here is to having fun in sub zero temps!

Two random things

1. I am thinking of giving up the stay at home mom gig to run for political office. I will slowly creep my way up the Todem pole and when I arrive at the top I will pass a very important piece of legislation; Sick Days for Stay at Home Moms!! It will allow any stay at home mom a week of sick leave per year. A highly qualified super nanny will provided, curtiosy of the United States Government. He/she will cook, clean, homeschool and basically keep life moving smoothly while the sick mom naps and or watches Netflix all day. I'm obviously kidding but wouldn't it be nice? It is the only negative I have found with staying home, no sick days I could have used one today and yesterday but alas life carries on as usual while I am high on Sudefed and running through three boxes of Kleenex. 

2. Snack time for the kids during lent is torturous. For those who aren't catholic, during lent you can only have two meatless meals during the day which together do not equal a full meal. No snacks between these small meals and you get a normal dinner but no second dinner. I had no idea how many times a day I was eating until now. For the last several years I haven't had to do the lent fasting because I was either pregnant or nursing. It's a doosey! Anyways, so I'm adjusting to eating what a normal person probably eats rather then my 6 meals a day and ALL around me is food! The kids snack twice a day and all I want to do is gobble it up!!!! Instead I remember the sacrifices our Lord made for us, don't steal my toddlers crackers and go and have a glass of chocolate milk instead, cause that is totally allowed! 

Those are my random thoughts for the day. 

Is it dinner yet? 

Valentines Box

Aunt Nikki was at it again, and with perfect timing I might add! With us doing our no screen bit at home, it gets massively destroyed on a daily basis. Think every toy every bin out every morning! On home school days, it is almost exclusively Benjamin who makes the mess, and in case you are wondering he is pretty terrible at cleaning up. He is either so attached to his wonderland he has created or he just shoves everything under his bed( proudly I might add) that it is very difficult to get a clean house back. Sometimes I try to bribe encourage Annie and Elias to clean for me, I won't make them clean Benjamin's mess because that isn't fair but at the same time I didn't want to do it during nap alone. Ding Dong! The UPS truck delivered a surprise package from Aunt Nikki and you wouldn't believe how well and quick those kids cleaned up that basement! Even Benjamin managed to let his "pool pool party" be cleaned up for the sake of opening the box. It was filled with all sorts of goodies and Valentine themed treats! The box was a huge hit and even Samuel got in on some of the action! Thanks again Aunt Nikki!

 I love this one! I don't know if Samuel was even OOOOOOOOing over, but the other kids kept doing it so by golly he was going to too! 

 After the box was opened, Annie of course had to model some of the contents, she is a silly girl

Dinner for 6

Two weeks ago, we were trying to figure out what to do for dinner, I can't even remember who suggested it, but one of us said "Hey! how about Happy Joe's?" It is only a couple of blocks away and it was very kid friendly. We packed up, told the kids where we were going and headed to dinner with a very excited bunch. On the (short) drive, it occurred to me, this was the first dinner out to eat with just the 6 of us. I don't find eating out with children enjoyable, and it is super expensive, so we don't do it often. If we do go out to eat, there is always at least one other person along if not more. 

We pulled up to Happy Joe's ordered and got right to the games. All the kids had a great time except Samuel who I think was a bit overwhelmed by the whole experience. He did finally settle down when dinner came and he got his very own cup with a straw. We ate, chatted and were merry. I took the kids to cash out their tickets( on candy of course) and we headed home. We were only there an hour, spent way to much money( almost all on food) but had a wonderful time. The cost alone is an indication of how long it will be before we do it again, however, the kids had a great time.

 Benjamin and Brandon, 2015

Elias and Brandon, 2011( the last time we were there)

Annie, 2011

Annie, 2015 and Yes she dressed her self in this one!

Family Selfie!!!!! I sure do love this crazy crazy bunch of people!

Superbowl Sunday

I have been failing miserably at this whole blog thing this month! We have been doing SO much and shockingly, I haven't been taking that many pictures, and if I do they are stuck on my phone, Brandon's phone or the nice camera. Who has time to actually plug a device in and take pictures off, not me! Ok, I haven't made time, anyways, two weeks late but none the less, here is pictures from Superbowl Sunday.

We didn't do much, just the way I like it! The kids knew it was superbowl the whole day, they were so excited for Brandon to finally wake up and start the festivities.  The kids played and ran off energy for most of the early afternoon and by the time the game was ready to start, most were ready to sit down and relax. 

The evening was uneventful, we watched the game, played, hung out with the Graf's who came over and played and watched some more. Grandma came over and gave the kids who needed one a bath, then everyone left and I went to bed before the game even ended, because who cares about the superbowl, its all about that yummy super unhealthy food!!!!

January Cell Phone Pictures

I didn't take many pictures in January, but here are the January happenings from the Eberhardt household!

Benjamin was pretty excited to get some mail for his birthday!

 Samuel loves his big siblings and so far, they love him too!

 This guy and his big brother Benjamin sure do keep me on my toes. Samuel grabbed a chair carried it to the counter, climbed up, scooted all the way under it, and went to town on some popcorn Brandon had from eh night before. 

 Everybody loved daddy.

 This is Benjamin in his "home" He LOVES being in here, sadly I don't let him becuase its the bottom of Annies wardrobe and I don't want it to break. He puts blankets, pillows and stuffies in there with him, shuts the doors and it so so so happy for so long. He is a cutie!

 My little sports dude. We were taking turns doing songs and he was about to preform Hey Brother.

 Trying to shove snow in water guns

 Elias and his captive audience

 Elias was SO proud of himself. He got his own snack of veggie sticks, ritz and peanut butter. He felt like such a big kid

Babies anyone?

No Screen and school Updates

So, at the beginning of the year, I decided that this year, our challenge to our family would be to watch little to no screen. Between the smart phones, Ipad, TV, and PS3, we could really rack up a lot of screen time. The first several days went great, it didn't take long for either of the little boys to detox,which was my biggest concern. We now spend the morning playing and just utterly trashing the house. Nap time is when the kids get their educational screen time in ( ABCmouse.com, ABCya.com and readingeggs.com) and after nap is clean up time, snack time and wake up daddy time. The days have been flying by, the kids are playing great together and Samuel has really come along way in playing with others and by himself. I would say more days then not, we do not watch screen. Both Brandon and I have been going to the gym a lot more and sometimes, if one of us is gone and kids start going crazy during dinner prep, a 20 minuet show is the solution. I have also let Benjamin or Samuel watch Pentatonix on the ipad a few times here and there when I really needed to get through a lesson with Annie or Elias and nothing else was working. As for the adults, Brandon is on his phone less and so am I! So far so good, we could step it up a bit but that is what Lent is for, right?

Homeschool update time!

So far, homeschool is going great. It was very challenging at the beginning of the year with Samuel and Benjamin. Then of course more challenges wtih two bouts of a stomach bug and of course the big move! However, We have really hit our stride and everyone is loving it, well most of the time :)

Our morning starts off anywhere between 7:30-8:30. If the little boys are still eating breakfast I always start with Annie and Elias reading lessons since they have to be 1 on 1 and they tend to take awhile. I can usually get one done while the little boys finish and if I am really lucky the boys go play and I can do the other. Next,I usually then have the big kids do any independent worksheets such as handwritting, spelling practice, cursive, or any coloring pages they may have for the day. During this time I clean up the little boy mess, play with them for a few minuets, get clothes out for everyone, get dressed,  find something the young boys can do for a bit ,and make a run for it. Lately, the little boys have been giving us almost a full uninterrupted hour or so in the morning after breakfast. This is where they cause so much destruction, but have so much fun! Next to nap time, this is the time that we are able to get the most amount of work done. 

Once the little boys have destroyed everything in sight, they are ready for a snack. Usually around 9:30 or so we take a break for snack. From snack to lunch its a gong show. Samuel and Benjamin are done playing alone and they want to be doing "school" or Benjamin will be crying for one of his older siblings to play with him. I can usually get away with snuggling Samuel and taking turns between letting Elias or Annie play with Benjamin while I do one on one discussion type stuff with the other( Religion, non experiment based science, sight words flash cards etc.)

Lunch time hits and its all smooth sailing from here! The little boys go down for a nap and we finish up anything we need to. The big kid do their screen educational stuff while I catch up on the cleaning, laundry etc etc. We are usually done before the little boys wake up from nap but occasionally we have to do some school in the evening too. Throw in all of our activities, and outings and we have been having ourselves a very fun and educational year! 

On a more academic side, Elias is reading great and we are still working on that handwritting. He especially loves math and science, a man after my heart! He does great in spelling which was a total surprise for me because, well, I suck so bad at it!! 

Annie rushes most of her work but other then very sloppy handwritting, she is doing great. She is fully reading and its fun to see her grab an early reader book and be able to get through the entire thing herself. She loves loves to read and will do so to Samuel as often as he lets her! She has little to no interest in math but understands all the concepts we have done so far. She enjoyed science but enjoys it so much more if we have an experiment or hands on activity to do. 

Not even the scientist in me could get this one to work! We were trying to make milk into stone and the darned stuff would solidify!!! I am going to blame it on my help:) We will try again next week!

We have done a few homeschool field trips with other families and we are also in homeschool tennis with some of those same kids. On Brandon's days off, we try to do fun activities with him like open gym, shooting hoops at choice, lunch dates or trips out and about as needed. That is the best thing about homeschool, the kids can spend as much time with Brandon as Brandon has, and we can homeschool in the evening if need be. The other wonderful bonus to Brandon having school days off is, he takes the little boys and spends some one on one time with them while me and the olders hit the books! All in all , this year is going great!

Do you want to build a snowman?

I apologize for my long hiatus, we have been busy with school, activities, so on and so on. It doesn't take that long to update the blog so if I am being totally honest, I was just really lazy the last few weeks when it came to my free time. As I mentioned  before my absence, we are doing no screen and let me tell you, this house gets TRASHED. Anyways, after the third person sent me a gentle reminder, I figured it was time to give up the blog or get back on, lucky for all of us I am back:)

A couple weeks ago the weather was in the 30's and the yard was packed with hard wet snow! Brandon got up a bit early, the kids were all home and we decided to build a snowman! Actually, Brandon and Annie build the snowman, Elias crawled around the yard eating snow , Benjamin had broken into the shed and was busy trying to shove snow into water guns, Samuel was sleeping and I was chipping ice off the driveway( which was actually kind of fun since it came off in sheets, almost therapeutic. )

BUT, you get the point. Eventually, the big kids all did unite to help dad with the snowman, but most of the credit goes to Annie and Brandon. Our snowman has since been named Pete, which is a shame because I always did like that name for a boy( no, no baby news just liked the name) but I guess this solidifies we will never use it. Anyways, the kids had fun, Brandon had fun and now Pete is a wonderful addition to our front lawn.