Happy Easter

Well this past weekend was Easter. Now in order to get ready for Easter, my mom and dad have been here the weekend and the Saturday before Easter. My mom cleaned the whole house and got everything set up for me. My dad was here the whole week trying to put up a new swing/play set that we bought the kids. We wanted to have it put together before Easter. The beginning of the week was rainy and then the weather was nice enough to put it all together. It was not an easy task. The pieces needed to be drilled and it was more time consuming than we had thought it was going to be. But good ol' papa had it done in time. I don't think that a day has gone by since that Elizabeth has not used the play set, so it was well worth it. It was also used a

lot on Easter.

The kids had a great time decorating eggs on Saturday afternoon with Nana and Papa. On Easter morning they were all awake at 5:15am. Now on Christmas we had to wake them up, but for the Easter Bunny we wake up very early. They all had to search for their baskets and then they had to find all the eggs that had been decorated the day before that the Easter Bunny hides on them. At church, Elizabeth slept the whole time. I think that she was a little tired from the morning. We then had my mom and dad, my Nana, Aunt Linda, Cousin Audra, her husband Steve, and their two children Hannah and Nate here for Easter dinner. The kids had a great time playing together and on their 116 Easter egg hunt outside. I still think that we are missing a few of the eggs. Hannah and Eric were lucky enough to find a few more eggs after all the other kids came inside because they were outside climbing trees. Todd was the one to hide eggs up in the trees. It was a very nice day.

Time to Bake Some Cakes

While Ashley was here helping out, the kids had a cake walk at there school. What this means is that we had to bake and decorate 5 cakes!!! Each of the kids decided on a different cake that they wanted to make. Ashley and I then went and got everything that we needed. Ashley really wanted the kids to make a Beehive cake. When no wanted to make it, we decided that we would make it ourselves. When Todd saw how great it came out he told us to enter it into the cake contest as an entry for the 18 and over age category. As for the kids, Elizabeth made a Butterfly cake, Alex made a doggy cake, Eric made a Guitar cake, and Tyler made a wrapped present cake. On Thursday we baked all the cakes and then did all the decorating on Friday. It was messy and a lot of fun. The kids had a great time. It was fun to decorate them, but we also had a great time that Saturday trying to win a cake. Well thank goodness that lucky Papa was there. We ended up leaving with 3 cakes. Ashley even won best cake for the 18 and over age category. We will be bringing some steak tips on vacation with us for her. She won a gift certificate to a meat market in New Hampshire while she is in Wisconsin. Her favorite food is steak, so we decided that we would pick some up and bring them with us when we see her again in May. Here are the pictures that we have from all the cake baking and the final products!!!

I'm Home

Well I am home from the hospital. I came home on Saturday afternoon. The surgery went well and I am feeling well. They had to take a little more than we had originally thought, but all is well. I am now at home resting and taking it easy. Ashley is here and helping out a lot. Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and thoughts during the last week. It was greatly appreciated. I will be sure to fill you all in a little more later on.

We are Finally Getting Better

Well the month of February was a sick one for the Bernhardt Family. I feel that I have had a sick child home with me almost every day. I guess when you have four kids that is what happens. The germs just seem to keep getting passed around. Todd started it all by getting strep for his birthday and then it all went downhill from there.

Well we were all well for vacation week two weeks ago, and then Eric had the stomach bug last week and then Todd had it over the weekend. So I guess Todd started it and ended it. Everyone was back at school today and everyone seems to be healthy. Can I just say that I am sick of the snow as well. We had beautiful weather all weekend. The kids were riding their bikes and we took long walks. Then we woke up this morning to it snowing!!!! I was not a happy camper. I will be very happy when spring finally arrives.

Well I am hoping that March is a little better for us. My niece Ashley is going to be coming to stay with us for a week at the end of March. She will be here to help with the kids while I am recovering from surgery. Yes, I finally have to have surgery for my Crohn's. I will be going in on the 19th and they will be removing about 9inches of infected intestinal tract. I should be in the hospital for a few days and then have to have help at home for a week. I will let you all know how it goes when I am back home. I am sure that I will have the time to write on the blog since I will just be taking it easy for a week.

THINK SPRING!!!!!!!!

She's Getting So Big!

Well Elizabeth has reached a new milestone!!! She now has earrings!!!!

We had gone to the Mall right before Valentine's Day and she had mentioned that she wanted to get her ears pierced when we were there. We did not end up doing it that night and I thought that she would forget about it. Well I was wrong. She has been asking about it ever since. Yesterday morning when I was watching our neighbors daughter, Elizabeth noticed that she had earrings. She then asked if she could get earrings too. I told her yes, some day. She replied with "Can we do it this day, please." How could I say no. I had told her that it would hurt. It was going to pinch her ears, but she still wanted to do it.

So last night off to the mall we go again. Nana met us there to help in case we needed it. I was fully prepared to accept that we might have to leave with only one ear done. There was a teenage girl getting hers done right before us and we watched quietly to see what happens. I asked Elizabeth one more time if she really wanted to do this. She shook her head yes. We went to the counter so she could pick out which earrings she wanted. She decided on her birthstone ones.

So now it was our time. I picked her up and placed her on the tall stool. She looked so tiny sitting up there like a big girl. The woman made the marker marks on her ear lobes and asked if they were where we wanted them to be. They looked good so now it was time to pierce the ears. She tells Elizabeth that she will count to three and then she will feel the pinch. They would do one ear and then the other.

1,2,3, pinch...I waited to hear the scream, but it was quiet. Elizabeth looked for one second that she might cry, but she didn't. She was so brave and did an awesome job. After the second ear I picked her up and gave her a giant hug. We asked her if it hurt, and she said "NO" She got her lollipop and off we went to go ride a few rides.

The Time Has Flown By.....

Well here I am again, telling myself that I will be better at keeping up with the blog. I have really let it go this time. I cannot believe that I have not posted anything since August. My goal from here on out is to update it at least once a week.

I will try to update you all a little now on what has been going on with us. The kids are all in school again, though we are on school vacation this week. Tyler and Eric are in second grade and Alex is in first grade. They seem to be enjoying the year. Tyler is playing indoor soccer right now and really likes it. He will be continuing to play travel soccer this spring that he started in the fall. Eric is also going to be playing soccer this spring with Tyler. He decided not to play indoor soccer and decided to start guitar lessons, which he loves more than anything else. All three boys just finished basketball. It was the one year that all three were able to be on the same team together. Alex really liked having his older brothers there to help him and cheer him on. Elizabeth is taking ballet and tap lessons. She goes once a week with her friend Emma. It is really cute watching a room full of 3 and 4 year olds dancing and learning routines. I still cannot believe that Elizabeth is going to be 4 years old in two months. She still looks to little to me to be 4. Elizabeth is going to be playing soccer in the fall as well. She has been looking forward to this since last summer.

Todd is very busy with work as it is that time of year again. He has officially had his first case of strep throat for this season. I am just wondering how many more times is he going to get it again before May. I as well have just finished getting over being sick. Having a fever for four days is no fun. All the kids were not feeling well either. Three out of the four are on antibiotics. The doctors office actually laughed when I called on Saturday to get them an appointment and said that all four needed to be seen. Hopefully we are all on the mends and are going to be felling so much better when school starts back up next week.

I have been very busy this year. I took on being the PTA president this year at the kids school. It has definitely been a learning experience and has been a lot of fun and hard work. It has kept me on my toes. There are days when I tell Elizabeth that we have to stop by the school and she says "Oh No, not there again!" She has made very good friends with the two women that work in the front office. Whenever we enter the school she walks right into their office and hops up in their chairs and sits at their desks. I think she thinks of that space as her second home at times.

Well, it is time to go and start dinner. I will try to do my best to keep this posted once a week!!!!

Disney World

We had a wonderful time in Disney. Sorry that it has taken me so long to update the blog again. The pictures from our trip were on Todd's computer and I wanted to be able to post pictures when I wrote.

Well Florida was definitely hot when we went and I have to say that Elizabeth does not like the heat. She has been this way since she was a baby. Her favorite time was when it rained. She would be hot and cranky, it would rain, and she would be laughing and smiling. It was so funny to watch her mood change with the weather. Needless to say she was not a big fan of going on rides. Her favorite was A Small World. She loved the dolls and her eyes lit up as we went from room to room. The other part that she loved about the trip was the characters. We did a lot of character meals since we had five children ages 7 and under. She would get so excited when they would come into the room and over to our table. She even was able to hold Mickey's hand for one of the parades around the restaurant. She has fallen in love with Minnie Mouse. She did not even know who Minnie was before we left and now she wants to go back just to see Minnie.

Tyler and Eric had a blast trying some of the bigger rides while we were there. They were able to go on them with Todd and their cousins Jacob and Jonathon. Eric's favorite ride was Splash Mountain. Tyler's favorite was Toy Story Mania. They also had a good time going on the Tower of Terror, Thunder Mountain, the new roller coaster Mt. Everest, Mission Space, and Soarin. They enjoyed going back to the room in the afternoon and swimming in the pool.

Alex was a little more reserved while we were there. He would want to go on the bigger rides and would make it to the front of the line. As soon as it was time for us to go on he would back out and want to go and sit down with me. He tried so hard. His favorite ride was Star Tours. The boys actually were able to go on that ride about ten times because of the infant swap that Todd and I were able to do with Elizabeth. It was Star Wars weekend when we were there and the boys were able to have their pictures done with a bunch of Star Wars characters. They got to make their own light sabers and watch a Star Wars parade. It was really cool to have a bunch of Storm Troopers marching all around the park. Alex also enjoyed the characters. He looked like he was going to come out of his own skin when the characters would come over to us. His favorite character was Pluto. During one of the meals Pluto pretended to eat him in his giant mouth. Alex thought that this was so funny. Every time that we saw Pluto after that Alex would just go up to him and stand in front of him waiting for Pluto to eat him again. He couldn't understand why Pluto wouldn't do that anymore. How do you explain to Alex that it is not the same guy in the costume. It is times like this that I am reminded how young and little and innocent he still is.

It was a wonderful time and of course Todd wants to go back in five years again because then Elizabeth will be the perfect age. All I can say is that I will never go back in June!!!! Too hot and Too busy!!!!

Update, Update, Update

Well I am so sorry for the length of time that it has taken me to update the blog. Easter feels like it was so long ago. I will post a separate blog with pictures that I have from the past two months, but I will use this one to just inform you of what has been happening in the Bernhardt Family. The month of April was pretty quiet around here. Elizabeth turned 3 and had a Dora birthday party. We had her friends in the neighborhood over to celebrate. She got her first big girl bike. She is growing so fast and it is hard to believe that she is already three.

Then came May. May was also quiet around here. We took the kids to see a Yankee game in NYC. Todd really wanted the kids to see the stadium before it is taken down. We were only there for a day, but we had a great time. Everyone enjoyed swimming in the pool and the kids have asked if we can go back there every year. We do have to say that prior to our game the Yankees had been on a losing streak. They won the night that we went and then their luck has turned around. The boys like to think that they are the reason for the turn around.

Then last weekend Tyler and Eric received their 1st communion. It was a great day and we had a little party for them after at our house. They were excited and really enjoyed the day. It was a special moment for them. They are a little sad because our priest is leaving our church to go to another church in the same parish group. We do not know who the replacement is yet. Tyler really likes Father Mike and thinks that he is very funny. He has made CCD and church a lot of fun for the boys. We will miss him.

Now we are into June. We are winding down the school year and getting ready for a few hectic weeks. A week from now will be the boys last day of school. We are leaving next Saturday for 9 days in Disney World. We are all very excited. We have been watching the videos from the last time we were there so that Elizabeth and Alex can see what it is all about and Tyler and Eric can see what they did when they were 20 months in Disney. We are going with my sister and her family and the kids are excited to spend time with their cousins.

We fly back from Disney on the 23rd. When we fly back my dad will be there to pick up the four kids and bring them home and Todd and I are getting on another plane. We are going to Puerto Rico with Todd's company. He won a trip this year and we have to leave on the same day that we fly home from Disney. It will be a crazy couple of weeks, but we are looking forward to both trips.

I will fill you in on how everything goes and I will be sure to post pictures soon. Have a great June!!!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. We ended up having it at our house this year because my Uncle Rick had hip surgery last week and my Aunt was not up to hosting it this year. Our weekend celebration started on Friday afternoon with making cookies with Nana after all the kids got out of school. They were very interested in making the sugar cookies that they could decorate and then the only one that wanted to help with the chocolate chip cookies was Elizabeth.

Then on Saturday afternoon Nana and Papa came over and we all decorated Easter eggs. The kids loved this. We had a Winnie the Pooh decorating kit that Elizabeth picked out and then we also got a camouflage kit that the boys liked. Tyler made Elizabeth an Easter egg with blue on top and green on bottom and then put all the different characters from Pooh around the center. He said that it was the Hundred Acre Wood. Alex decided that he did not want to wait for the special egg holder that came with the kit or a spoon and used his fingers to dunk and retrieve the eggs. By the end his fingers were very colorful!!!

On Sunday I expected the kids to be up early, but they were not. Tyler and Alex were up at 5:30 and then Alex went back to sleep. Eric woke up next around 7 and then Elizabeth and Alex officially woke up at 7:45. Mind you we needed to be to church at 9. They then spent the next half hour looking for Easter Baskets while I made breakfast. We ate got ready and barely made it to church in time. Thank goodness for Nana and Papa saving us a couple of seats.

After working through a few wrong turns :) Audra, Steve, Hannah, Nate, Aunt Linda, and Nana all made it. We had a wonderful afternoon with eating and the kids playing. We even had a little concert put on for us. Then the kids had their egg hunt and got even more candy. The adults had their annual egg hunt with scratch tickets in their eggs. There were no big winners this year. The afternoon winded down with the kids flying kites out side and the adults relaxing. It was a wonderful day!!

Now we have to get ready for Elizabeth's 3rd birthday. There is always something going on!!!

The Month of March

Well it is finally time that I catch up on what has been happening in the month of March. The month started with my mom's 60th birthday. As a surprise my sister and her children all flew home from Wisconsin for the weekend. We had 6 surprises for 60 years for her. The first one being that the children made breakfast for her. She really likes an overnight french toast recipe. Then we had her at our house at 8am for breakfast. When she got here we gave her a bag with things that she can use in Jamaica (yes she got her trip for her birthday) and told her that her second surprise was waiting for her. Then Sandra and the kids all came around the corner and really shocked her. She was so excited. Then she went to have a manicure with Ashley, then we girls went to the movies, then we went to dinner at Telly's and the final surprise was shopping on Saturday with the girls all day. We know it is what she loves to do and we had a blast.

The following weekend was our town voting. While my neighbors and I went for a very long and drawn out school voting morning my parents watched the kids and painted the downstairs bathroom and both bathroom ceilings. I wasn't sure about the color at first but it is definitely growing on me.

Then the this past weekend was Easter. I will write more about this in the next entry I have to download all of the pictures first. In between all these weekends the kids have been at school and are doing very well. We have a break right now with sports. We are waiting for baseball and spring soccer to start up in April. Hopefully all of the snow will be melted so that this can happen. Tyler and Eric started an after school enrichment program on Mondays and Thursdays. It is a science club and a literacy club. They are really enjoying it. Hope you enjoyed the update. There will be more soon!!

Catching Up

Well it has been a long time since I posted anything. I had meant to write a while ago because Tyler and Eric lost both of their two front teeth. They lost their teeth within a week of eachother. It has been a very funny dinner table for the past few weeks watching them smile with no front teeth.












We have also had a big week this week for Elizabeth. The NUK NUK fairy had to come on Sunday night. Teea ate our last pacifier on Sunday afternoon. When we showed Elizabeth what happened she was crying because no new baby was going to get her pacifier. We told her that we could leave it on her windowsill and the fairy could fix it and give it to a new baby. We had to make it clear that the NUK NUK fairy couldn't bring it back to her. It was tough on Monday during nap time, but have been doing very well since then. I keep telling her what a big girl she is and that I am so proud of her. I think that Todd had a harder time than Elizabeth did through all of this. He told me that he was not ready for her to give up her pacifier. Thank goodness that he has been working late every day this week.

Our Tea Party Princess

This year for Christmas my mom and dad gave Elizabeth a tea party table and chairs and a Tinkerbell costume. They have the Disney Princesses on them. Then we gave her a tea set and more dress up clothes. Well on Christmas itself Elizabeth was a little overwhelmed to say the least. She opened five gifts and then went to lay on the couch in the den. We did end up getting a couple of pictures of her in the costume at least. Well, the next day she was so excited about her tea set and table and chairs that we had multiple tea parties.


The first one she set up for her two Elmo's that we love dearly. She at least posed for the picture with them during the event...







The next day Elizabeth and Eric set up a party for a bunch of stuffed animals and Elizabeth's babies on the living room floor. The table only has two chairs so we couldn't possibly fit everyone at the table so Elizabeth decided that it was ok to use her specially blanket for the event. The had so much fun together. It just makes me smile to see her older brothers take such an interest in playing with her like this....even when it is a tea party.




Well I have to say I think our little girl has a thing for hosting parties. We just might have to have a birthday tea party when she is a little older(thanks for the idea Cammi!!!)

Super Hero Day

For Christmas this year Alex got a superhero kit from his Uncle Rodney and Aunt Andrea. The kids had so much fun today making each other into different superheros. I think the part of the book that they liked best was when it tells a superhero never to sneeze or wipe your nose in your cape. Why? Because it is just gross!! So may I introduce to you The Terrific Metal Man and his sidekick The Amazing Eagle. Then we also have The Amazing Guitar!! It was an interesting start to vacation week is all I can say.....

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!! We had a wonderful holiday weekend. It started with a family Christmas party on Saturday. We all had a wonderful evening. The children were very excited when we had a visit from Santa with a big red sack and a toy for all the children. Then the adults had a swap with 27 people. The gifts were yet again very interesting this year, though the men were happy because there was a lot of sports stuff this year.

The boys then went shopping with Todd on Sunday for me. Eric took them all over looking for the perfect gift. He knew what he wanted and was not going to settle. Elizabeth and I had a wonderful quiet time at home for the afternoon.

Christmas Eve was very relaxing. We were able to relax and enjoy being home with eachother. We went to church with my parents at four thirty and then spent a wonderful evening at their house. My mom cooked so much food that I did not have to cook anything on Christmas we just had leftovers from the night before. Some of their neighbors came over and it was a very relaxing evening socializing and spending time together. The kids were very happy to get back to their house and have a new webkinz waiting for them. I think that it made their night. When we got home we put out our cookies and milk for santa and then sprinkled the reindeer dust on our lawn(snow banks). They all went to bed and right to sleep, I think they were wanting for Santa to hurry up and come to our house. On Christmas day the kids woke up to hear bells ringing and Nana and Papa seeing Santa taking off from our house. It was very exciting. The gifts were overwhelming again this year. We need to learn how to cut back. It was a calm day with the kids opening gifts and taking breaks to play with the toys that they got. Elizabeth quit after the fifth gift. She did not want to open another present after that. She got her blanket and pillow and told us "I watch tv now!" I think that it was a little too much for her. The kids played all day with all their presents. The adults ate, played skippo, and even had a lot of fun scratching scratch tickets from Todd. We all won something this time which made it even more fun. It was nice to spend the day with family and enjoy being with those that you love and care about. All the kids were excited to give their gifts to Todd and I that they had picked out. You could tell that they had spent a lot of time thinking about what they wanted to give us. I did get a beautiful necklace from Eric ( the one that took three jewlery stores to find) , a sweatshirt from Elizabeth, a pair of bright pink fluffy slippers from Alex, and an electric griddle from Tyler. I loved it all!! I could not have asked for a better day. I hope that everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas as well. Teea was so overwhelmed as well. Can you tell which one is the dog in the picture? I think that she spent the better part of the day curled up beside my mom or dad!