Owen with his Aunt Misty

Luke got stung on the lip by a yellow jacket that was on the rim of his Pepsi. Poor guy!

My brother, Jason, just came home from Iraq. We are so happy to have him home safe and sound. We were seeing him for the first time at Seth’s ballgame. He was very excited to see his nieces and nephews for the first time in seven months. He had never met Owen before, since Owen was born after he went to Iraq.
Here he is with Keinzie…

Elijah…

Kyra…

and Baby Owen.

Throwing Rocks in the Lake

Playing on the Playground

Since having children, I’ve found that certain circumstances that I have encountered with my kids have really made me feel like a mom. Of course I realize that I am a mom. There are times, though, that you look around at the three little ones, and think, “Do I really have three kids? Wow!”. Other times, though, the things that happen make you feel like you are in that special club. The Mom Club that requires gross, messy, or terribly awkward moments for membership.
For instance, I experienced one of those moments when Kyra was a toddler. She quit playing, came over to where I was, croaked out a “Mama” in a pitiful sick voice, and, realizing what was coming, I held out my cupped hands under her mouth for her to be sick in. Yes, you really feel like a mom when you offer your own hands to catch your child’s puke, so as to avoid cleaning it off of the couch and the carpet.
Another of those moments was when Kyra threw up in the middle of the aisle at Home Depot. Public puking = slightly embarassing.
The first time you scoop poop out of a bathtub…that’s one of those moments. The first time you wake up in a soaking spot of pee, and it’s not your own…that’s one of those moments. The first time you give a kiss, and realize too late that your kid has a very runny nose…one of those moments. When you scrape poop out from under a small toddler’s fingernails…that, too, is one of those moments.
Today, I had another “I feel like a mom.” moment. Thankfully, this time, it involved no bodily wastes.
Sometime during the night last night, I woke up to Kyra sharing my pillow, and hearing her chewing gum. Yes. Chewing gum. In the middle of the night. I said, “Kyra Joy, go spit that gum out! Are you crazy? If you fell asleep with it, it could get in your hair.” She got up and spit it out. That is about as far as my middle of the night thought processes went.
Fast forward to this afternoon…
I was in the middle of making a casserole for dinner, when Kyra says, “Mommy, I think I must have a tangle in my hair.” I bent to look at her hair, and what did I discover but a bright red wad of Big Red matted about half way down the length of her hair. My heart sank. Thankfully, I, too, was once a little girl with gum stuck in my hair, and I knew what to do. I got out the peanut butter, applied a generous glob to the offending gum, and worked it in with my fingers. It took a little bit of work, but I did get it out, washed her hair, and combed the last particles of the grainy gum out with a fine-toothed comb. In the middle of this process, with my water boiling over on the stove, the baby crying in the bedroom, Kyra whimpering over the fact that I put peanut butter in her hair, and Elijah repeatedly telling me, “Me no want butter in my hair!”, I thought, “Wow. I really feel like a mom!”.

I’ve had quite the busy weekend, and I’ve learned something….the more active you are, the less time you have to sit in front of your computer and blog. Lightbulb moment, huh? Okay, so not really an astounding revelation. That’s where I’ve been, though. I’ve been out doing things.
Friday, I went to the park and played tennis with Stephanie (my cousin and one of my best friends). We had a lot of fun. I was pretty pathetic. We didn’t play an actual game. We just hit the ball back and forth. We were better when we quit…after an hour and a half…than when we started. Hopefully, soon, we will be playing actual games. I got a good workout, though. I was hot and sweaty and breathing hard the whole time. It felt good. We walked a lap around the park after that, which is 1.2 miles up and down small hills. We let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes, too, because we’re nice like that. Not long after we got home, Chris’ mom and aunt arrived from Texas, anxious to see and play with the kids. They were here until almost midnight.
Saturday, I got up and took the kids to Chris’ grandmother’s to spend time with them. It was a little on the boring side for me, but they all had a blast. They spoil my kids rotten. We left there around five, and came home. I watched the Tennessee game, which was AWESOME! Go Vols! About the time the game was ending, Chris’ grandma, mom, and aunts got back from visiting his uncle at the hospital. They came bearing gifts and an impromptu party for Elijah. You can check that out here. They stayed until about ten thirty, at which time we all fell into the bed completely exhausted.
We got up early yesterday morning for church. Chris worked the night before, so I took the kids on my own. It was the first Sunday of the month, so the kids got their Sunday School awards. Once a month, they get a certificate and a little toy or trinket of their choosing from the box of prizes. So, they call Kyra’s name, and she went to the front of the church, got her Perfect Attendance certificate, picked a pencil from the box, and came back to the pew. Such a good, sweet child! Next, they called Elijah’s name. He walked to the front of the church, reached into the box and picked out an orange pencil. Then, he reached into the box, as everyone began to laugh at his double-dipping in the reward box, and selected a small orange monkey. After that, since he apparantly feels that he should get extra compensation for deeming to go to Sunday School every week, he reached into the box for a third time, and selected a really cool matchbox car. Satisfied that he had got what he rightfully deserved, he left the Perfect Attendance certificate in the hands of the Sunday School Superintendant, and ran back to his seat. I was laughing along with everyone else, albeit with a very red face. I mean, it was funny. Especially considering the fact that, for the last month, it has been very iffy whether Elijah would go to S.S. without a big fit or not. So, everyone forgets about the little Harmon boy, and continues to clap for all of the other children. Then, they got to the moment that all the kids wait for…Student of the Month. They called Kyra’s name, and she looked at me with that exact look that Miss America gives the other contestants when she just got announced as the pageant winner. You know, that, “What? Little ole’ me? Why, I never would have imagined it, but, yes, you’re right! I do deserve this!” look. Then she pranced herself up to get her special Student of the Month certificate and the little bag of special toys and trinkets (a kaleidiscope, a notebook, a box of glitter crayons, and a bracelet). As she came back to our seat, Elijah gave his sister an approving grin. I smiled at Luke (my little brother), and said, “We really racked up this month.” Luke grinned back and said, “I think maybe you need to put a little extra in the offering plate today.” Yes. My kids are something else. We’ll just leave it at that.
The rest of yesterday afternoon we spent at home, recovering resting from our weekend with Chris’ family, and then we went back to church yesterday evening.
Today, it’s a pretty chill day. We have just been hanging around the house all day. Chris is at work, the kids have been playing, eating chocolate cake, and watching tv. I did yoga this morning, but not much else. Owen’s napping. In a few hours, I’m gonna go play tennis with Steph again. That’s it.

Elijah had a wonderful birthday party last night. He got a set of Superman dishes, a Superman sippy cup, and a Superman birthday cake.

“But….isn’t Elijah’s birthday in March?”, you ask.

Why, yes, it is. But that doesn’t matter when you have a doting grandmother and two crazy, adoring great-aunts. They don’t care about silly little details like dates and years you’ve been alive, or even things like confusing young children about the concept of birthdays and age. Nope. It doesn’t matter to them. All they care about is spoiling.children.rotten. Rotten! ROTTEN!

Daddy and Elijah watching Uncle Seth play middle school football.

Me and Owen.

Kyra strangling Daddy watching the game with Daddy.

This is Owen with his great grandmother, Mamaw Geraldine (Chris’ grandmother). Aren’t they sweet together?

Kyra told me that they were pretending that they were at the movies. I asked her why didn’t their chairs face the t.v. She acted like that was a stupid idea. Instead, they “pretended” that they were watching a screen. Silly kids.