November Cell Phone Pictures

November Cell Phone Pictures

 We spent a lot of time outside in early November. Samuel would get tired pretty eaisly so we would let him rest and watch the ipad. He fell asleep. 

  

 Michelle came to visit over my birthday and we went to lunch yummy!

 I started sewing the kids library totes for their homemade Christmas presents. They all turned out great.

 Benjamin posing with the card the kids made for me.

 The kids woke up up and made me breakfast. I have, one piece of crunchy toast with peanut butter, two strawberries, a graham cracker, a crunch par and a oatmeal raisin cookie. I would say that is well balanced. They are so sweet though so I ate some of it. 

 Benjamins school pictures. He is turning into such a little dude.

 Falling asleep in the late afternoon is something that happens frequently to poor Samuel. 

 I surprised Annie and took her to Olive Garden after ballet one day. She is such a book worm, she was reading while we waited. 

 I get home from grocery shopping with a big headache and tell Brandon. I finish putting groceries away,and come out to my living room with my 5 kids plus 8 others who were not there prior to me telling Brandon I had a headache. Then Brandon goes and gets ready for work. Men aren't very observant. It turned out well, they wern't too loud and I drank some coffee and my headache went away:)

 Hanging out in his dirty room. He loves his swings

 Annie was the North Dakota Ballet Company dancer of the month for November! She was SO excited. 

 Thanksgiving day selfie with Nicholas.

 My little saints on All Saints Day.

 I love this little outfit. It is amazing how fast his hair has grown in a couple of months!

 Outdoor family football in mid November, yes, thank you!

 Annie and I did a couple of cooking classes. This one we made Cauliflour pizza crust pizza. 

 Creeper

 Samuel and his PaPa

This is what happens when you play with daddy.

First Snow...and Blizzard

We had an absolutely beautiful November this year. We were playing outside in sweatshirts( sometimes less) well into the middle of the month. We took advantage of the weather by being outside from the time we were done with school to sunset. There were lots of walks, neighbo-rkid play time and backyard playing. We knew that snow was lurking just around the corner....

Beginning of November

 Second week of November

 Third week of November, still warm and no snow!

 Finally, shortly before Thanksgiving, we had our first snowfall. It was a very heavy wet snow as the temps were just above freezing. That didn't stop the kids from playing outside for hours until all the snow had melted away. They brought in soaking wet clothes and big smiles when they were finally done.

After Thanksgiving,the weather did warm up for a bit and back outside we went. More walks and backyard playing. When North Dakota gives you nice weather in November you take advantage of it. I am thankful Nicholas is a boy of the North like his big brother Benjamin. He will be outside for hours upon end without a peep.

The past couple of years we have avoided any really big snow storms. The first week of December we were projected to get a foot of two or snow and boy did it fall! For 2 full days and part of a third, it snowed and snowed and snowed. I don't know what our final snow fall total was but I think it was around 20+inches. The kids wasted no time getting outside. The snow was so deep Samuel had trouble walking. When Benjamin fell down to make a snow angle, the snow was higher then he was. The kids had so much fun and we had to force them in on several occasions to warm up. The school kids got two snow days( not us), so as soon as we finished up school for the day, we gathered the neighborhood kids and played all day.

We have had several more inches of snow and some serious cold days but that can't keep the kids inside. They are really into building forts and digging holes in the giant snow banks that are all around.  Many a snow ball fights have been happening here on 27th Ave. It has been a great start to winter!

Happy Thanksgiving

It is Christmas Day today so as my Christmas present to my millions of blog followers, I am finally updating it. You are welcome. Today we are heading back to one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving! This year, we switched it up a little and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of work but the food and company was good so it was well worth it. On the plus side, we didn't have to get all bundled up and travel. 

We started off the day by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It has become a tradition in our house now. The kids like looking at all the balloons and it is great to just rest before the craziness begins. This year the Vikings played on Thanksgiving so right after the parade we started watching the game. While the men and children were gathered around the TV, I started making the turkey. I always brine it, a tradition my mom has taught me, and I will say it was quite good. In between all the good preparing, I made my kids get dressed and took some obligatory Thanksgiving Day pictures. 

 Around 5, the rest of the company showed up and they brought a haul of food and some yummy wine. We ate...alot, then ate some more. We hung out, talked, had some wine and just spent some good quality time together as a family.

I am not sure if this will be a yearly tradition or if we will head back to my parents next year, only time will tell. I will say either way, I think my mom  has managed to at least teach me how to cook well enough that I can pull off a Thanksgiving dinner if I need to.

Nicholas 12 months

Nicholas Joseph Eberhardt- 1 Year Old!!

Weight: Nicholas is a little peanut! He weights 19 lbs 6 oz and is around the 15th percentile for both height and weight. He is comfortably in 12 month clothes.

 

Hair color- He has what I like to call "hockey hair". Ever since the hair cut buzz disaster of this summer, I have been letting his hair grow. It is a light brown or blonde color and there is lots of it in a flowing out of control style. It is my goal over Christmas break to cut it!

 Eye Color-Beautiful baby blues

Sleep-  You take one nap a day around noon for an hour to an hour and a half.  You go down for the night around 8 but wake up EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT. You don't like sleep very much and I don't know why. You are lucky you are cute:)

Eating- You are a full on people food eater. You eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack , dinner and bedtime snack. One of your favorite foods is veggie straws. You don't really like fruit which is weird but love peas, meatloaf and a lot of other family favorites.

Daily routine- Wake up around 8. Breakfast with the family, play time nice big morning poop. More playing, snack more playing, lunch followed by nap time. You thankfully take pretty good naps and wake up thirsty and just wanting to snuggle for a bit. I get it, I don't like it when my naps end either. After nap you toddle around playing and hanging out with the big kids who are usually done with school by then. More snacking and meals then bed time around 8.

Firsts: I am not sure if you had too many first this month. You did however climb all the way up the stairs when I was in the laundry room. I guess our makeshift baby gate is no longer sufficient! You also had your first thanksgiving but did not eat as much as I would have expected you to. First time decorating for Christmas.

Birthday Celebrations: You poor poor 5th child. You didn't even have a party or cake or anything. We got hit with a monster blizzard and no one could make it over. We had tomato soup and grilled cheese, but at least you liked it:)

Nicknames: Nikka, Nikk Nikka boom boom, booomer, smacker

Message to Nicholas: Why don't you love me?!?!?! When I am home you love hanging out with me during homeschool and love when I let you help me cook meals. When daddy is home, you HATE ME. You cry when he leaves the room, cry when he gives you to me and pretty much cry whenever I walk in to the room. Ok, its not that bad but seriously kid, love me when daddy is around please! Other than the whole you love daddy way more than me, you are a great baby. You can pretty much find anything to play with and be content. You recently have taking a great liking to playing with the little boys, cars are your favorites but you do settle for Duplos if that is what they are playing. You love climbing, love trips swimming and love open gym. You are a very active kid and your sense of adventure leaves me running to rescue you many days.. You think a lot of things are silly and it is pretty easy to get a good laugh out of you. You are adorable and I can't imagine our lives without our little St. Nicholas day baby!