A Few More March Moments

Reagan took ballet and tap again this year, and in March I got to attend her class and take a few pictures.  She’s still not a brilliant dancer, but I could definitely see an improvement from last year!

The kids also participated in their first Bible Bowl this year.  Why I don’t have a picture of them, I’m not really sure, but here’s a picture of Jake at Bible Bowl.  My kids looked just like him!

JonZReaTom ended up all on a team together, and their team leader named them God’s Quads! They did REALLY well, especially considering they were competing against lots of older more experienced teams.  In fact, I think they may have been the only team from our church that made it to the final round!  They didn’t win, but we were really proud of them and can’t wait to see what they do next year!

Here is another cub scout adventure.  This time we went hiking at Concord park. 

And finally, one of our newest skills—doorframe climbing!

Oops! Missed a few! Camping, Artwork, Safety City, Lysa, and RISK

I should have known that I would miss some pictures!  These came off my phone and didn’t make it into the correct folders.  Now they are in the right place, and I’m ready to share them with you!
First, in September 2013 over Labor Day weekend, we took the kids on their first REAL camping trip.  That is, we camped in a tent for more than one night  somewhere other than our back yard!  It was miserably hot, but the KOA had a pool and our camping buddies, Josh and Cris and their kiddoes, had a camper with air conditioning, so we managed to survive and have a great time!

Jim holding the big fish Cris caught.  She used hot dogs as bait, and now my kids think that is the only bait anyone should ever use!

All the boys on the playground—clearly it was a game day!  Go Vols!

Actually, I know it was a game day because Jim and Josh worked their tails off in the heat trying to hook up a TV to watch the game!

Also in September, Thomas painted this picture for me.  He said it was a blood machine and told me all about how the different parts worked to carry blood to people who need it.  He’ll make an excellent blood donor someday!

In October, the second graders went to Safety City, and Jonathan and Zachary’s sweet teacher snapped this pic of them and sent it to me.

In November, I went out of town one weekend with my friends Michelle and Katie.  We went to hear Lysa TerKeurst speak and even got to meet her.  It was a great weekend!

Jim also taught the boys to play RISK!  (Reagan and I were gone to ballet and a birthday party.  She wasn’t purposely excluded!)  They had to take a couple of breaks, but they finished the whole game!

Okay, now I think I’m caught up! 

More Snow, More Scouts—February 2013

Well, it snowed some more in February, a little better than the January snow, and I was able to take some pretty cute shots of the kids.

Thomas, Jonathan, and Reagan

 

 

We even managed to finally lure Zachary back out into the snow!  This may be the first time he’s played in the snow since he was about three!

 

At the Cub Scout banquet that month, the boys acquired their new rank badges, Tiger cub.  Jim attached each boy’s new badge.

Zachary

 

Thomas

 

Jonathan

Learning to Ride a Bike: November 2012 (minus Thanksgiving)

The most monumental thing about November was the kids all learning to ride their bikes.  Woohoo!

Our good friends Josh and Cris had shown us the trainer bike they had gotten for their kids.  It’s basically a bike with no pedals.  It allows the child to just practice getting balance.  So Jim took one of our kids’ bikes and removed the pedals to make our own trainer bike. (Note: in case you decide to do this to your kid’s bike, in removing the pedals, Jim made it impossible to reattach them, so that bike was permanently pedal-less)

This is not our bike, but you get the idea!

 

Boy, was that kid not happy! But the others were pretty nice about taking turns with it, especially the boys, and it wasn’t long before they were coasting easily down the street, their feet poised inches above the ground, balancing like pros!

So one day Thomas looked at Jim and said, “Take the training wheels off my bike!” So Jim did, and Thomas hopped on, and in almost no time, he was riding his bike!  Zachary said, “Me too!” and in one day we had two kids riding bikes!  On day 2, Jonathan was riding his too! (His was the one Jim removed the pedals from, so we had to buy him a new one)

Reagan was not happy about the boys taking off and gaining this skill without her, so she put some extra effort into the trainer bike, and within a week, she was pedaling off with the boys too!

I took video of all the kids riding their bikes, but I took it with my phone, and now it’s all sideways.  Nobody wants to look at that, so you’ll just have to use your imagination!

In addition to riding a bike, the kids also went to their first UT basketball game!  Super fun and a lot less expensive than football games!



Go Vols!  So glad Josh, Cris, Carter, and Kennedy invited us on this outing!  It was lots of fun, although I think the kids’ favorite part was riding the bus from the parking lot to the stadium!

Another treat this month was getting to sit it on one of Reagan's ballet classes.  Look at her go!

Superlatives

I realize this is really random, but it seems like a quick and easy way to capture some of the cute and quirky things that make my kids special at this moment of their lives.  So, if five-year-olds got superlatives, here are the ones we would win.
Most likely to randomly lean over and give you a kiss and say I love you…Zachary
Most likely to be sent to timeout…Zachary
Most likely to sing really long songs that have no actual words in them…Thomas
Most likely to sing really long made-up songs with actual words…Reagan
Most likely to be kidnapped by his kindergarten teacher because he is so adorable you just want to take him home…Jonathan
Most likely to fall down on the soccer field…Thomas
Most likely to score on the soccer field…Thomas
Most likely to need to go to the bathroom IMMEDIATELY upon sitting down for a meal…Thomas
Most likely to ask for extra stickers or suckers at the doctor’s office so he can share with his siblings when he gets home…Jonathan
Most likely to come home with a green dot instead of a yellow dot…Zachary
Most likely to get in trouble at school because he is yelling at other kids WHO AREN’T DOING WHAT THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING…Zachary
Most likely to get in trouble at home because she’s screaming at her brothers…Reagan
Most likely to ask a bizarre out-of-the-blue question at bedtime to put off actually going to bed…Reagan
Most likely to visit Mom and Dad in the wee hours of the morning…Thomas
Most likely to do a chore without being asked…Jonathan
Most likely to tell you a story you don’t think will ever end…Jonathan
Most likely to ask a stranger in a waiting room to read her a story…Reagan
Most likely to name a pet Rainbow Heart Love…Reagan
Most likely to explain to you very intellectually why you are wrong…Jonathan
Most likely to explain with much crying and hysterics why you are wrong…Reagan
Most likely to just cry…Thomas
Most likely to throw himself in the floor while crying…Zachary
Most likely to still not eat chocolate…Jonathan
Okay, I better stop before this post takes you two years to read.  I’m certain I could think of a hundred more.  Some of you could probably think of a few as well!  Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our little lives!  Happy weekend!

What’s in a Name?

Apparently quite a bit!
Today at VBS we learned about how Jesus has a name, that he received his name from God, and that it means “God saves.” 
Jesus’ name is special and we all have special names too.  As part of the theme of the day, one of the activities the kids did was find out what their names mean.  Apparently God secretly influenced the naming of my children because they are quite appropriate, one in particular!
I admit that what the kids’ names mean is not something Jim and I considered when we picked the names.  We both liked the name Reagan and chose three more presidential names to go with it.  (For the full story, read HERE.)
Little did we know…
Zachary means “remembered by God” as in “God remembers Zachary every day and protects him from incurring the complete wrath of his parents who are driven absolutely bonkers by his whining and constant car noises.”
Jonathan means “gift of God” and fits him perfectly.  God knew how rough it would be sometimes to raise quads, but at least He took pity on us and gave us Jonathan who often makes the rough times just a little bit easier.
Thomas means “twin”!!!!!  How cool is that?!?  Not only does it make sense because he’s a multiple, but also because according to JIM’S ENTIRE FAMILY Thomas is practically a clone of his daddy.  Daddy’s little twin!
Reagan.  If you thought the other names made sense, wait til you hear this one!  Reagan means “little queen”!  Are you kidding me?  It’s like we waited until after she had been around a couple of years and then chose the exact name that matched her personality!
Coincidence?  Oh, no, no!  God knew exactly what He was doing when He picked these names and put them in our heads!
What about you?  Does your name fit you perfectly?

Learning to Write

The kids are learning to write, which means they write their names a lot since those are the best words to write! Here’s a few shots of how they are doing these days:

Obviously, there’s lots of room for improvement, but I think they’re doing pretty well so far!

This Time We Stopped at Three, So Far

The week after our Indiana cousins left, we immediately began getting ready for the next set of cousins…and promptly we got sick.

Reagan started running a high fever. When she complained that her ear hurt, I thought for sure that she had an ear infection. Not wanting to put that off another day, I called the dr immediately. It was late in the afternoon, and they could only work us in if we came RIGHT THEN, so I packed up ALL THE KIDS and headed for the dr’s office. As it turned out, Reagan didn’t have an ear infection, BUT she did have strep! So it turned out to be a good thing that I had to bring all the kids with me because then they could ALL be checked for strep.

Jim met us at the office and took this picture with his phone. Four throat checks=four popsicles!

So that was Thursday. Aunt Jojo and Co. were set to arrive on Sunday, so Saturday was a big cleaning day. At least, it was SUPPOSED to be!

Jim headed out that morning with a friend of his, hoping to FINALLY get into the woods. This trip had been postponed twice already. The kids were playing. I was cleaning. And then, there it was…the piercing cry of a child who is actually really hurt. I rushed from the kids’ room where I’d been putting away laundry and found Jonathan in tears, crying out something about his head. Apparently, he was spinning in circles in the living room and fell, hitting his head on the coffee table.

Do you have any idea how many times a day my kids hit their heads on stuff? ALL THE TIME. So I thought, okay, he’s hit his head. Hold him. Make soothing noises. Comfort him until he stops crying.

But wait…What is all over the back of Jonathan’s shirt?!?

And then I saw it drip…the blood…from the back of his head.

My kids have had a lot of bumps on their heads, but never any that bled, so I have to admit that now I was the one who needed comforting because I started to get a little panicky. But I sucked it up and forced my voice to stay calm as I explained to Jonathan that he had a booboo on his head and I wanted to take him into my bathroom to get a better look at it.

It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t a large cut, but it looked deep, and I didn’t know what to do. Did he need stitches? I don’t know anything about stitches! I never in my life had an injury that required stitches! But I was pretty sure he needed stitches.

So I called Jim. He was about two miles from his exit to the woods. I made him turn around. I didn’t really have a plan at that point, just a vague idea that I needed to take Jonathan to Children’s and I would have to do something with the other kids and I needed Jim. Luckily, since he wasn’t standing in our bathroom looking at our son and his bloody shirt, he could be a little more rational. He suggested I make some phone calls and see if someone could come over and watch the kids until he got home and I could go ahead and take Jonathan to Children’s. Brilliant! In the end our wonderful neighbor Scott drug himself out of bed (he had just gotten back in town about 4:00 that morning) and came over to watch the kids while I left with J.

All this time, Jonathan had been GREAT. Since he couldn’t see the blood himself, he didn’t freak out about the injury, and he was really good about holding the rag to his head to help with the bleeding.

I managed to get him to Children’s (bloody shirt and all), and THEY WERE WONERFUL! All of the doctors and nurses, and there were strangely a lot of them, were so nice and helpful and so sweet to Jonathan.

They put a numbing cream on his cut so he barely noticed at all when they did the stitches. And since they called them “string band-aids,” he didn’t even know he got stitches!

It’s kind of hard to see, but his stitched-up cut is right there in the middle of the picture.

Jojo and Co. arrived the next day (post coming next, I hope) and their visit continued without further medical needs for anyone, but then the day after they left, my ears were yet again assaulted by piercing cries of pain. This time it was Thomas.

The kids were playing in their bedroom. Thomas was in the closet. The door was open. The door was shut. Open. Shut. Open. Thomas stuck his fingers in the crack between the hinge side of the door and the door frame.

Shut.

He screamed and screamed. I was terrified his fingers were broken, but he would barely let me look at them. He just kept crying and screaming, “Put on a band-aid! Put on a band-aid!” Since that was the only way he would let me touch him, I did. His middle finger was already turning purple and there was a bad scrape along the cuticle on that finger and the next two. They didn’t seem to be swelling which I took as a good sign, but I was afraid they might, so I tried to make the band-aids loose since I anticipated having to remove them later when he was calmer. I gave him some pain medicine and an ice pack and put him down for a nap, since he practically begged me for naptime. I called Jim and the dr’s office. They said to keep an eye on it and let them know if it got worse instead of better.

Thankfully, it didn’t get worse. Here’s a picture I took of his fingers a couple of days later. It’s been a couple of weeks now, and his middle finger still has a dark purple area under the nail.

It’s been a couple of weeks now since Thomas hurt his fingers, and so far Zachary has not been injured or gotten sick enough to need to see a dr. Hopefully, in THIS instance, we can be content to stop at three.

This Is How You Stand When You’re Cool

I was in the kitchen the other day, and the kids were playing in the living room, when I heard Reagan ask Jonathan, “Why are you standing like that?” His answer:

“This is how you stand when you’re cool.”

Well, that was something I needed to see! After all, I want to be cool, so I need to know how to stand! Apparently, you need to stand like this:

I think the look on your face is just as important as the way you actually stand, as is the presence of your blankie! All the cool boys are carrying them these days. Aty least, they are at my house.

And in case this look is too difficult, the other kids were quick to offer their own equally cool stances. You’re sure to find one that works for you!

Zachary rocked his now-classic Superman pose. He doesn’t need the costume to be a super-cool superkid!

Reagan has achieved a level of coolness that is not for beginners. The foot placement is definitely only for those with advanced degrees in cool. And please note Jonathan in the background, still cool.

When I asked Thomas how he “stands cool,” he just started jumping around like a crazy person, and then wanted to see the picture. I told him he had to be still for me to take a picture, although I kind of wish I had just done a video. Here he is standing still AND cool.

And yes, he picked out his own clothes that day. He’s not just cool. He knows fashion too.

So I hope this has been of help to you. Check back often for more ideas on how to be cool the JonZReaTom way!

Get Me Outta Here!!

Since the kids recently turned four, we also recently had our four-year checkups. Now, my kids have been LOOKING FORWARD to these checkups for ages, begging me to take them TODAY to get their shots. Can I get my shots NOW? PLEEEEASE? I'm not kidding. BEGGING FOR SHOTS.


Why in the world are my kids begging for shots? Two reasons: the treasure box and a convenient forgetting of how much shots hurt. Mostly the treasure box.


Finally the kids turned four. Time for checkups and shots! Yea! Jonathan and Zachary went first. (I may be a supermom, but I'm not super enough to take all four at the same time, especially if shots are involved. They may not remember that shots hurt, but I do!) Most of the checkup was great! The kids are healthy, etc, etc, I'll post more about the checkups later. This post is about SHOTS. Zachary got his first, and when the first needle went into his leg (there were three total BTW) he looked at me with total shock. He DID NOT expect the shots to HURT!!! And then he started wailing. Jonathan, in the meantime, scrunched himself as far into the corner as he could go and refused to come out. After consoling and calming Zachary, I literally had to pry Jonathan out of the corner with him begging me the whole time not to make him get the shots.


But as awful as it was, it was nothing compared to taking Reagan and Thomas. Reagan cheerfully volunteered to go first. (Yea, shots!) I really tried to prepare her for the fact that the shots WOULD hurt. She was undeterred. And then she got poked and started crying. I don't want the shots! I don't want the shots! Too late. But the worst part was that she wouldn't stop crying. Thomas was so scared that I had to hold both of them after her shots, and she starts begging me, "Don't do it to Thomas! Don't do it to Thomas, Mommy!" So sweet of her to be thinking about her brother, but NOT HELPING TO CALM THOMAS. She continues to beg for Thomas' life while I help the poor nurse prepare for T's shots. As soon as the first needle goes in, he starts screaming, "Get me outta here! Get me outta here!"


I had to turn my head away. Not because I couldn't bear to look at the fear and pain on his face, but because I was afraid I was going to start laughing. Isn't that awful? Now don't get me wrong. I do not enjoy seeing my kids scared and in pain. IT WAS AWFUL. The whole experience was excruciating for all of us. But Get me outta here! was just too much for me. I composed myself quickly and turned back to him with a face full of concern, and was overjoyed when the experience was over, but the memory remains, and I think I will enjoy telling him all about it when he's old enough to understand the humor of it.


Get me outta here!

Nature Nook: Little Green Thumbs

Okay, it’s taken me forever, but I’m finally getting to the gardening post! I mentioned before that we planted our very first Harris Family Garden on Mother’s Day weekend! I didn’t include it in the Mother’s Day post because it wasn’t really for Mother’s Day. We just happened to do it that weekend.

Jim built a raised bed off the side of the house in the sunniest part of our back yard on Sat. Then on Sun his four little helpers were ready to start planting! First, they helped bring all the tools to the garden.

I don’t think we really needed all those tools, but if one child is going to carry something, they ALL have to carry something!

After spreading the dirt out, it was time to decide where each plant should go. We had 3 tomato plants, 1 cherry tomato plant, 3 squash plants, 2 okra plants, and 1 mystery bean. (Mystery bean story coming soon!)

After much deliberation…

What do you think, Zachary, a little more to the right?

…JonZReaTom decided all the plants should go together on the right side to keep each other company. They would have plenty of room to grow as long as they grew up or left.

Fortunately, they were overruled by Daddy, and the plants were placed more appropriately across the whole bed. It was now time to get panting! Each of the kids got to have a turn planting and watering.

And here’s how it looked in the end!

Already we are producing lots of tiny tomatoes! I’ll have to get a picture soon! I have to admit that I find the garden very exciting! If I had done more of the actual work, I might find it even more exciting! JonZReaTom’s favorite part so far has been that it attracts butterflies! I’d like to get some pics of them too! There’s so much going on these days and never enough time to tell you all about it! Have a great weekend!