Home Remedies

Once again I am VERY far behind on my blogging..*sigh* I will keep this post short and sweet and then I won't have to feel so bad about going weeks in between postings. 

We get a lot of ear infections in this house...A LOT! Elias is on his second of PE tubes, and ,while Annie and Benjamin don't have tubes, they have had their fair share of infections. I am always looking for home remedies to cure the common ailments that plague kids ,however I never get enough nerve to try them.
As Elias started school, the colds started for the kids and grown ups! I woke up one morning with the worst sore throat I have EVER had! I had my tonsils out years ago and haven't had problems since so when I woke feeling like this, I thought I might be dying, dramatic I know but, hey I was sick. Anyways I googled the crap out of home remedies and decided to try cayenne pepper.It was hot, nasty and burned like the dickens,but you know what...it worked! I felt great just minuets after applying it to my throat or gargling it. I had to reapply every few hours but it was well worth it! What did I do you say? 1. I took Q-tips, dipped them in a mixture of honey, lemon juice(couple drops) and cayenne pepper. I rubbed it on the back of my throat and let it burn! 2. I gargled dash of pepper in warm water and repeated until the cup was gone. Like I said, burned but effective.

So, I had tried home remedies on me, and guess what, they worked! Onto the kiddos. Annie came down with an ear infection and I had heard wonders about onion juice so I went at it. I cut a onion in half and scrapped juice off with a spoon into a bowl. Sucked up a few drops in a dropper and applied 2 drops to the hurt ear. I made her lay on her side for a few min then let her run. Worked like a charm! This has happens twice in the last 3 months and I kid you not, she was all better in a matter of minuets after complaining for hours about her ear hurting. Here is picture proof. 

Poor poor sick Annie...so miserable

 Onion prepared for the scraping..ps your child WILL smell like onion until bath time, but they will be happy:)

 I kid you not, this is 15 minuets later..The theory is that onion is a natural anti-inflammatory so the juice helps the ear swelling go down and allows the fluid do train

Go Vikings!

As long as I have known Brandon, he has been a huge sports fan. Timberwolves in the Winter, Twins in the Spring and Summer and of course, VIKINGS in the fall. The last few years, with young kids, it has been pretty hard to sit down and watch games. Before Brandon became a police officer( you know, back in the day where he had EVERY weekend off) Brandon used to go over to his mom's a lot on Sundays and watch the game and eat yummy food. Since getting a real job and becoming a dad, Sundays usually mean work or family time. Well this year Annie and Elias are old enough that Brandon has gotten his football watching Sundays back...when he isn't working that is. All three kids go down for naps around noon, right around kickoff. Brandon is able to enjoy a quarter or so in peace before the clan starts waking up. After the kids wake up, they watch the game with daddy and learn about football. Brandon has an amazing ability to make anything fun and exciting. He has those kids so excited for Sundays now! Stop by our house on any given Sunday and you will find us all sporting our vikings apparel....except me beings as I am the only Eberhardt lacking a vikings tee.

Fargo Fun

This year has been a busy growth year for Mr. Elias, he has grown so much that his old braces were way to small. Elias and Mom packed up and  we headed to Fargo to get sized for a new pair. While we were planning this appointment, we thought it would be fun for Uncle Jordan and daddy to come along and have a boys day with Elias so that is what we did! Mom and Elias did the Dr. appointment, then we all met at Olive Garden for lunch, then mom headed home while the boys did their thing in Fargo. Here is Brandon to tell you more about their adventurers.

First of all both Jordan and I were very disappointed with Amber's choice of restaurant. Don't get me wrong I love Olive Garden as much as the next guy (especially during never ending pasta) but we have one in Grand Forks now. When you go someplace different you should eat somewhere that's not normally an option. Oh well. It's Amber..enough said. Anyways we went to Scheels (sporting good store) after lunch because they have cool stuff there for Elias. Then we went to the mall and to my uncles house. Elias had a blast and was completely exhausted.  

 Elias sitting on Abraham Lincolns lap. He is sooo good at pictures. 

 This one is my favorite. Elias looks a lot like Reagan.

 They have a virtual reality sports simulator. Elias was a soccer champ.

 Elias got first place!

 Elias proud of his score! First place

 And football

 He was really good at baseball too. Not really. He hit the guy every time. 

Brandon got lazy too tired and never finished this post so he will comeback to update captions later, but I just wanted to get it up.

Potato Bowl Football Game

The culmination of potato bowl week is the big football game! This year we have been able to take Annie and Elias to all the games as they are older and enjoy these events now. The grandparents have taken turns watching baby Benjamin so daddy can enjoy the game with his big kids. There are 2 day games on the schedule that we plan to take all 3 kids to, but for the night games, big kids only. If you have kids ages 2-4 and you are wondering how you keep children entertained at a sporting event, see Brandon's advice below

 1. Encourage your daughter to eat popcorn like a puppy

 2. Give your crazy daughter poms to shake 

 3. Always have a smart phone on hand for games or shows when the older scholastic one gets bored of sports

 4. never leave home without candy

 5. ever

 6. Ask your kids questions that they can answer while the game is going on to engage them

7. Take lots of pictures and keep showing them to the kids

French Fry Feed

In our quaint little town, every September we celebrate Potato Bowl Week! It is a fun filled week that centers around two very unlikely things;Football and French Fry's. We have a potato plant here in town that provides the potatoes for several local( and not local) businesses. Every year during potato bowl week, they try to serve up a record breaking amount of french fries to the public...for free! This event is known as the french fry feed. The current record is over 5,000 lbs...thats a lot of fries! Every year we try to make it to the event as it is a family fun packed time. They have french fries, bounce house, face painting, meet cheer/dance/football players, a pep rally and fireworks. This year we decided that between the weather and ages of our kids that we would just tackle the fries and head home. We got to the French Fry Feed right when they started and only had to wait in line for about 7 min.

 Cousin Gavin came along for the fun, I guess they were having fun during the wait

 Gavin trying to pick up Elias. 4 year old Elias is just as tall as 7 year old Gavin

 Poor Benjamin looks high in this picture, he was falling asleep

crazy Annie Kat waiting for her french fries

After we got our fries we headed over to the hill to enjoy them. I picked out a nice flat spot to park the stroller and enjoy our french fries. My wise husband suggest we move up the HILL to eat, since the spot I picked had fresh grass clippings strewn about. He parked the stroller...sideways and ignored my warning that Annie was going to tip, he locked the stroller and looked at me with a HA, I am smart look....3...2...1.. BAM Annie goes down! Poor thing fell over face first still in the stroller, people were looking at us like we were the most incompetent parents every. Annie cried but it quickly stopped as soon as she was rescued and given french fries. After that little fiasco we all sat down to enjoy fries

 Hanging out on the hill 

 Yummy fries

 Elias was double fisting

While everyone was enjoying their fries, Benjamin and I walked around a bit and the sleepy little bugger fell asleep, have I mentioned how much I love my wrap ! After the kids were done with fries we walked around and talked with some of the UND cheerleaders, Gavin even took a picture with few, he is already a ladies man. Next we headed over to the bouncy houses, which is where the real fun began. 

 Benjamin fell asleep, he loves his wrap!

 Gavin taking a picture with some pretty UND Cheerleaders

There were several bounce houses set up, some meant for younger kids like Annie, and some for older kids like Gavin. There were signs on the outside stating "no more than___ kids in at one time" um hello do you think 4 year olds can read? Unsupervised kids were climbing in those things like crazy.Annie was having fun at first but it just became way to big of a safety issue to let her play in there with 100 other much older kids, so like the mean mom I am, I made her get out...melt down #1 began. Elias and Gavin were having fun in the big kid bouncy houses until they got to the police man house. It had started to rain a bit and it was an obstacle course house so the final wall at the end to get out was very slippery. There was a wall to climb up and several areas in side to get lost in as the adults on the outside could not see in. Gavin came out and told Brandon he lost Elias. Gavin went back in and tried to find Elias but couldn't. At this point I was talking to Brad (UND Cheer coach) while Brandon was waiting with Gavin and Annie, I asked Brad if he would go search for Elias. He climbed in and retrieved Elias, luckily Elias had met Brad a couple of times so he didn't resist the help. Funny thing was, that as Brad gave Elias back to us, he was approached by several other parents  to help retrieve their children. The Eberhardt clan headed home but I think Brad was kept busy helping out stuck kids!

Elias going down the big slide

We grabbed some Mickey D's and spent a cousins night at our house playing, eating and watching a movie.It was a fun filled day for sure!

8 Months

Weight: I am not sure how much Benjamin weighs now, but my guess would be right around 20lbs

Only real men can pull off a pink diaper

Hair color- Brown and let me tell you it is thick! I even had my first haircut this month.

uggg thanks for the haircut mom

Eye Color- Mostly brown and he has a beautiful set of eyelashes to go with those big brown eyes.

Sleep-  Doing much better in this department. In fact last night he slept for 11 hours in a row with out getting up , 8:30-7:30 am. It was glorious! The poor guy is teething still, so there are some nights he is waking up non stop because he is in so much pain. A little Tylenol usually does the trick to sooth those swollen gums

Happy baby after a good nights rest

Eating- Everything! He has decided that he is big enough to eat on his own and most days it is a struggle to feed him pureeded food,even the chunkier stuff. I have gotten creative though and am still able to make all of his own food. I am cubing apples, peaches, pears, carrtos,etc and steaming them then freezing. That way instead of thawing a cube of puree, its a bunch of diced fruit and veggies. He had veggie soup for the first time and liked all the chuncks of soft food in there. He is a big fan of toast and crackers as well. Our daily food intake is as follows
Breakfast: Fruit, toast  and (sometimes) milk
Mid-morning snack-Some kind of finger food like toast, crackers, puffs, etc.
Lunch: 2-3 oz fruit&veggie and milk for lunch
After nap snack-milk
Dinner: 2-4oz meat or "real food" pureed for dinner and milk
pre bed meal-milk
He seems to nurse more for comfort than for nutrition most meals, the exception being his afternoon milk, he is usually hungry for that one.

First chunky food...bananas,now I eat everything!

Daily routine-I have scaled his naps back to 2 a day and so far it is going well. He is napping between 3-4 hours a day and sleeping for about 10 hours at night. He wakes anywhere between 6 and 8 depending on if he woke in the middle of the night. We have breakfast and play time before it is time for a snack and our morning nap around 10. After nap its play play play until lunch and alone time with mommy while the big kids are napping. After they get up I get another snack and it is back to napping. A fun filled evening of eating,pooping and playing and it is time for bed.

Firsts: He stood up for the first time this month for 12 whole seconds! He had his first official hair cut and first top teeth emerge(making the total up to 4 with 2 moving in yet). He had his first big boy food;toast, bananas, soft peaches, pears,carrots. He has had pasta and loves loves mac and cheese.  He also says DaDa with a purpose as well as waves bye bye. He recently has started shaking his head and seems to do so with perfect comedic timing, he is his fathers son!

 My 3 loves

I couldn't decide which one I liked best

Benjamin stole my phone! He will stand for longer and longer periods of time but no steps yet...maybe this month!

What we are looking forward to: Those first steps, I can't imagine they are that far off. Hearing MaMA with meaning!! Every time I ask him to say mama he starts babbling kelliekelliekelliekellie I know that is tough to believe since it is difficult to imagine a baby can say kellie and not mama but I have attached a video to prove my point. Its hard to hear over Elias being loud so listen close.

Day with Friends Part II

Last week we had the pleasure of having Logan and Carter over for the day! Annie and Elias were thrilled to have friends to play with for a whole day. Logan was a little hesitant when Daddy had to leave, but after about 4 seconds he was over it and happily playing with the big kids. Benjamin and Carter had a starring contest, then Benjamin tried to eat Carter, after that initial greeting, they were best buds.

 So many babies, such a small living room! They all had a blast though

Cheese..big kids doing what they do best, destroying!

It was time for Benjamins nap so Carter got to party in the bouncer while I put Benjamin down, after Benny was sleeping, it was Mr. Carters turn to nap. Brandon though it was the perfect opportunity to take the big kids outside for some fun. I cleaned up and relaxed while they played and played. 

 Ready to head to the park

 Playing a little baseball

 Could this be any cuter?

 Time for a little soccer

 And of course building sand castles

The kids had a blast outside, and it was so nice that the weather was gorgeous and I didn't have to try to keep 3 toddlers quiet during baby nap time! The little boys each slept for over an hour and I even had down time, who knew that was possible with 5 kids( thanks Brandon!)

Once the kids came inside it was time for lunch and more play time. Annie took a strong liking to Carter and he seemed to reciprocate. They spend lots of time giggling at each other, it was such a joy to hear. 

All good play time must come to an end as did Annie and Carter's. It was time for all babies to have lunch and naps. Everyone..all 5 kids slept for at least an hour, some longer. I was able to clean up...again and even pay bills and balance the checkbook, this daycare stuff is easy ( haha ,no its not, I just have an amazing  helper aka Brandon!). After everyone was awake, it was time for hide and seek. The big kids had too much fun with the little boys and I hung out down stairs.

 Counting

 Logan being discovered!

In between hide and seek we had some shanannagins going on...Logan learned how to climb up Elias' staris to his bunk bed( under supervision) and LOVED hitting the ceiling with the hockey stick, he was giggling constantly while doing this. I may have made Carter wear a cloth diaper and took pictures of it, hey I will never miss an opportunity to spread my cloth love. And Benjamin may have crawled across the floor to an unsuspecting Logan and stole his hockey stick from him..pretty funny!

 I love this picture! Logan was counting for hide and seek and Benjamin was on the move for his hockey stick. Benjamin stole it right from Logan, while his eyes were covered. The look of shock on Logan's face was priceless. No worries, the stick was safely returned with no tantrums from either boy.

 Cloth buddies!

 Again with the trying to eat carter...stop benjamin!

Those big kids sure are loud, lets read some books!

We had a very busy but very fun day! We are happy any time the Bina boys come to play.