Trapped inside

I have heard more then once " how on earth do you live in ND, it is freezing up there!" My thoughts on ND winter are as follows, it gets chilly starting in October and full on winter gear is needed by the beginning of November. It is mostly chilly, temps in the teens or so for November -Most of January. Then, usually only for a week or two,  the temps dip really low, like sub zero low. Then they are back up in the teens, and, occasionally the single digits for the rest of winter. This pattern has been pretty consistent the past several years, at least in my little world.
As a college kid, I did not look forward to those long walks across campus in the blowing wind and falling snow. Now, as a mom of four, I downright dread the winters (to some extent).
 It is very difficult to get kids bundled up, out the door and to our destination in any decent amount of time.The more kids I have, the "warmer" I find it needs to be, before I can justify running errands with them. The car is cold, the stores are cold and never mind you that now we have to worry about exposed flesh freezing right off their faces! 

This has been the absolute coldest winter I can remember in my 15 years here. Elias has had school canceled due to Heat, Wind(i.e. blizzard) and now freezing temps, -60 ( with wind chill) in case you were wondering. There have been several days where this family wasn't going anywhere! We have crafted, played, watched movies but even the "special" things were starting to become routine since we have been stuck in side SO MUCH. 

The last snow day, I decided to channel my inner Brandon. I was going to be the "fun" parent. I was going to be the one to think of cool games and what have you's for us to do! I started off the day with a time honored classic, the fort! I got all the chairs and blankets I could find and set up the most saddest looking fort I could imagine, BUT I did it with love, and the kids still loved it!

After all that fort fun, which actually lasted for a couple of hours, it was time for a movie! We watched the oh so super annoying  Oogieloves movie. If you every want your kids to stare at the tv as if they are in a tranz, just fire up oogieloves on the ole netflix. After we snapped out of our oogielove daze, we had pizza and naps! While the little boys were napping, Annie, Elias and I made chocolate chip cookies! We all dove in for a wonderful warm yummy treat after Benjamin woke up. I let the kids free play and got the house back in order just in time to wake up daddy! He was surprised to hear about our adventrues, and that we were still in our jammies! Hey, I was being the fun parent, when kids request a jammy day, they get it!

Well, THAT was scary!

Well last night if finally happened! After almost 6 years of raising babies, we had our first real injury in the Eberhardt household. We have had lots of ear infections, scraped knees and falls along the way, but, up until tonight nothing more then that. So, here is how our evening went down:
We were getting ready to head to the mall as a family, I was topping of Samuel and Brandon was getting himself and the diaper bag ready. Annie was playing on the stairs with Benjamin and Elias was practicing personal responsibility( i.e getting himself ready) Benjamin started crying and Brandon rushed over to soothe whatever injury he had just endured. The crying stopped after about a minuet and we proceeded to pack up the family and head to the mall. Once inside, we all took off coats, hats, mittens and headed to the arcade. Well, as soon as Brandon took off Benjamin coat he began screaming and crying. We thought he was just being stubborn at first but when the crying didn't stop and we noticed him cradling his arm, I got instantly worried. Brandon had to pick up his glasses( which was the real reason we were there) and Benjamin did stop crying for a moment when we stepped into the arcade so we thought we were maybe just dealing with a dramatic tired boy. As we played in the arcade( all 3 minuets thus far) we noticed this arm thing was real, he wouldn't straighten it, wouldn't put weight in it and wouldn't let anyone touch it. We cut the trip short and headed home. By the time we back got to the bench to put on our coats, Benjamin was screaming. Brandon had to just wrap the coat around him and put him( very unsafley) in his carseat, as Benjamin wouldn't let us move his elbow to get him properly in there). I dropped Brandon and the other three off at home and I sped off to the ER with Benjamin just sure that something was out of place and by us waiting they were going to have to cut his arm off, not dramatic at all, I know.
Benjamin was screaming again by the time I got him out of the car seat, this kid was in pain. The good news is, when you bring a child who appears to be in that much pain into a crowded ER, you get seen pretty dang quick! We walked right back .The admitting nurse pinpointed the problem to his elbow, since I wasn't sure if it was wrist, elbow arm or shoulder,  and sent us on our way to urgent care.
Benjamin would be ok one second, then move his arm a fraction of an inch and it was like someone was cutting his arm off. It was so sad and all I could do was give him small sips of water in-between his screams and try to calm him.
The doctor came in within 5 minuets and said it sounded like pretty classic Nursemaid Elbow
It very common in toddlers and the Dr wanted to see if that could be the cause before he ordered any x-rays. He gently checked Benjamins wrist and shoulder, during which Benjamin was screaming so loud I thought we was going to pass out. The Dr placed his finger near his elbow did 3 motions with his arm, looks at me and says" OK, that should do it" Benjamin had a supervised look on his face, and while he was still crying, it went from a painful to a normal cry. The Dr. said he felt the ligament go back into place and that we should wait 5-10 minuets to see if Benjamin would start using the arm and grasping/lifting things again before we could be discharged. I asked Benjamin if his arm felt better and through the tears he kept repeating" yaaaa"
So, the Dr. left, and within 3 minuets, Benjamin was walking around grabbing my phone and telling jokes. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! Even when someone has an injury and they get treatment, you rarely see instant relief.  The kid who literally 4 minuets before couldn't hold a single fruit snack, was now pulling and pushing to get in and out of his chair. Several hours later, I am still amazed by how that all played out.
The Dr. walked back in a few minuets late,r and looked at me with a big grin and I said "You are amazing, that worked like a charm!" He was pretty pleased it was that easy and sent us on our way with the discharge papers. In total we were at altru for under 25 minuets! It was amazing.
Brandon and I were SO relieved, I think after seeing how much pain he was in and how sudden it came on, that we were both convinced he was going to be in a full arm cast for the rest of his life or have his arm amputated. Ok, we are crazy parents, but so are you, I bet!
We gave him extra snuggles, some Tylanol and an extra long bath and tucked his happy, pain-free butt into bed.
The best part was when Brandon was talking to Benjamin and asked what the doctor did. Benjamin bent his arm all about and muttered words about doctor, arm and all better....all with a big smile on his face.
What started off as pretty scary, ended in the absolute best possible way! Praise be to God

Cell Phone Goodies

Since I got my not-so-pocket size camera, I have started using my camera phone quite a bit. It is not always convenient or realistic to get out the big guy for a snapshot, thus my phone has become a well used camera. I just now finally got around to getting all of the pictures from the last month or so , off of it. In no particular order, enjoy some adorable pictures of my adorable kids. 

 The kids have been in skating lessons this winter, they both seem to be enjoying it now

 Our house, all lit up for Christmas

 I love this picture for some reason! Elias was just hanging out, watching TV and Benjamin was climbing all over him. It didn't even occur to Elias to care. 

 Sunday fun-day at the Eberhardt household

 Annie all dressed and ready to head to preschool, sporting her infinity scarf mom made

 Aunt Nikki sent Annie a dress, and I think she liked it.....

 Oh Elias, He got his desert privileges taken away for bad behavior. He chose to express himself artistically. After drawing this lovely pictures( while I will keep until he is married with his own kids) He handed it to me, with a frown on his face and said" I am sad" 

 Sometimes Annie thinks the jumper is her gymnastics bar. She has gotten her head stuck more then once. And yes, that is Benjamin taking full advantage of her predicament and attempting to step on her. I didn't help, but I did take several pictures. 

 One of the first times Samuel sat up on his own!

 Samuel getting so big! He learned how to push himself up in December

 Just hanging out in the laundry basket

 My Christmas Annie all ready for her last day of preschool before Christmas break

 Pam and Samuel hanging out during our Christmas cookie baking extravaganza

 Annie Kat hanging out with Grammy

 Benjamin decided to try to feed a bottle to Samuel. He won't drink one from anyone else so why not let Benj give it a try. It was a very sweet moment.

 Benjamin got stuck while trying to climb over the rainforest toy. I like this precedent I am setting in my household, you get yourself in a jam, mom isn't going to help BUT I will take a picture.

 Babies loving the wrap!

 Our santa photo from this year, we didn't get a professional one since the family before us took 427 of them and it took FOREVER for the workers to finish up with them

 Another one of my favorite pictures. Skyla has a rather large teddy bear, Brandon and Annie were snuggling up on it at Christmas 

 "Look Mommy, Sam is stuck. Get Sam mommy, Get Sam" Samuel is learning to crawl, more often then not he just propels himself backwards.

 Our house can get rather crazy. Sometimes, to get anything done, you need to wrap a baby...or two. While all this baby wearing was going on, Annie retreated to a quiet place to read  her books

 There is a squirrel on my snowman

 Super excited Annie after the gymnastics team gift exchange

 Samuel moved into the big boy crib

 While we were waiting for the other set of bunk beds to arrive, the kids got to sleep on an air mattress in their room. Benjamin was struggling to fall asleep, but did finally manage to, on top of Elias!

 Sassy pant Annie all ready for gymnastics, she wanted me to take a picture of her, so, I did

 Oh sweet Benny boy! He was watching a music video on the ipad and managed to get to a Spanish version of mickey mouse club house. He was SO confused!! It was pretty dang funny

 Kellie and Annie were snuggling on the couch,the next thing we knew, Annie was passed out. Guess preschool is tiring!

 Look who is officially sitting up on their own!

 Wonder what this not to little guy is dreaming about

 I picked Annie up from preschool a few weeks ago and surprised her with a mommy-Annie lunch date. Us girls have to stick together in this house of men!

 We made a trip to the K-Mart mall as a family on one of these blistering cold days. Benjamin had too much fun in the quarter rides. Kellie decided since he made such a cute ice cream man, she should purchase some from him.

 Benjamin's new hair cut

 Movie night! We have a pretty good system down. Benjamin sits in the middle with the bowl, older kids on either side of him.Elias is in charge of water. No fighting and happy family

 Sup girl

 My least favorite picture!! I have no idea where he is picking this up from, but he recently began grabbing the hockey stick and saying " I play hockey" and so on. Not cool my son, not cool Don't get me wrong, hockey is fine and dandy but the rink is cold and the gear stinks, not the sport for this sissy mom!

My cute Samuel. He is getting some teeth so he has been playing with his tongue a lot.

phew, that was a lot of photos for just a month! I guess when you have 4 kids, you get 4x the pictures!

Hand Made Christmas, a month late

So this year for Christmas, I decided that I wanted to try to hand make everyone something. The men women and children were all going to get a hand made gift by yours truly. I can knit I can sew and apparently I don't require sleep and am completely disillusion because let me tell you, this was NOT an obtainable goal! I found a couple of projects that I was focusing on and managed to get all of my immediate family gifts made for. I started off my Christmas making, with a really simple infinity scarf. It takes 2 yards of fabric for an adult scarf, and each (2) yard of fabric yields 2 scarfs. They are quick and super easy, especially when you make your husband help fold them in half, thanks dear!

The puppies were up next on my list, I made booties for Bradey Mike and for Rollins. I don't think Bradey is a huge fan of them but according to my sister, Rollins seems to like them, she has even requested another pair. Good thing rollins is a girl because I have lots of girly fleece laying around. You know, for my 6 month old baby girl....oh wait I had a baby boy( Note to self: when you don't find out the gender, don't assume your motherly instinct is right and purchase clothes and fabric!)

Last up, Knitted ear warmers! These are quick and simple. I made several and the thing I like most about them is how fast you can crank one out. I am still learning how to knit better but I have come a long way since my first one I made for myself.

I had high hopes of making boot cuffs and leg warmers but those projects quickly proved impossible in my given time. I do have a pair of leg warmers I am knitting for Annie's ballet teacher as an end of the year thank you and a couple of head bands in the works but with 4 kids, its been a bit difficult to get them finished. In due time, I suppose!