Beach Trip!

Here we are for a week of fun and relaxation at the good ol Myrtle Beach! We got here Sunday and will be coming home on Sunday. Here are some midweek pics of our trip. So far we have stayed at the pool and the beach for the majority of the time. Mom, Dad, Kris, Gina, Connor, and Kaitlyn are all here with us. Mom, Dad, Kris, and I did manage to go to the outlets already and Kris and Matt snuck away yesterday to try to test drive a new Camaro. There were none to be found!! We also went to Broadway at the Beach to do some cruising around all the shops last night. Kris, Gina, Matt and I watched the movie Mall Cop the other night, something we have been looking forward to since it came out in the movies. It was good, not all that I had hoped for though!! We also made fondue one night - YUMMY!! The kids have loved the beach and the pools - Carly can swim all by herself now!!! Chloe did it a couple times, but you could tell she was nervous. Chloe really likes the "snake" pool. It is just a little kiddie water park. Connor has fell in love with the lazy river. Kaitlyn loves all the splash pools. She loves getting wet, but when it comes to letting go with her float on in the big pool, she is baby stepping it there!! Gina has gotten her to swim a little bit, but I guess she doesn't like her feet not touching!! Harper, well, he loves it all. Whatever anyone else can do, so can he!! Carly and Chloe are really enjoying living at the beach and I know it is going to be very hard for them on Sunday. They like getting up and eating doughnuts on the balcony. They get 3 little ones every morning. I had to buy 4 bags of those things - $8 on just doughnuts, but that is part of what makes the beach so special to them.

Kris and Connor in the snake pool

Kaitlyn

Loving the beach!

Carly, Chloe, Kaitlyn, and Harper splashing it up!

Sand Castle!

Connor and Kaitlyn - the lifeguards

Night stroll down the beach stopping for pics!

Ok - now I am tired of loading these pics so I will do more later!!

Can I freeze time please?

Yesterday was such a great day, I just didn't want it to end. In the morning, we took the kids to the pool and had a great time. I don't know when you turn your phrases from, "Wow, you did that yourself, I'm so proud of you." To: "You can't do things yourself, you need your parents to help you and guide you." But we are at the stage of being proud of every little thing that they do by themselves. I guess when the girls turned 4, they decided that it was time for them to grow up!! This is sad, but exciting at the same time. Carly decided yesterday that she was going to swim by herself!!! And she swam under water to me! I couldn't believe it. My girls are such chickens and this girl has decided that she wants to swim! Chloe did it too, just not as far as Carly and not as sure of herself - I give her another week and she will be right there with Carly. They also decided that it was ok to go down the water slides too. Well, Harper went down them first and then they decided that they could do it. I will never forget the looks on their faces on the first slide!! The look of fear and determination followed by pride and success!

We took Harper to Mandy's house in the afternoon and headed off to the girls' dance recital! This is their second year taking dance and they absolutely love everything about it!! They loved getting their blush, lipstick, their sparkling, twirling dresses on, seeing the stage and the big girls. They were so pumped to get on that stage and do their dance. Now, of course they looked very nervous and weren't too eccentric with their moves, but they loved it. We had to watch the whole recital and they were very upset when it was over - they really wanted to watch more of those big girls. When we got in the car, they wouldn't stop professing their love for all their dance teachers - they love: Ms. Deanna, Ms. Sabrina, Ms. Amanda, and Ms. Lori. They were so loud, Matt and I couldn't even talk - and they sit in the very back on the 3rd row of the van!!! When we got home, they lined up stuffed animals and proceeded to reenact the whole recital. This was at 10 pm!! The excitement that they had last night was awesome! Matt and I just loved every minute hearing their squeaky little voices incessantly talk. Their dance lessons were worth every penny!! We couldn't stop smiling and just wanted to bottle those moments up. Their little lives are just that, little!!! They are going to be going to school next year, so this is my last year with my babies!! After August, I just want to freeze time!! We will have 2 four year olds that are so cute and helpful. A 2 year old that is trained and is an absolute ham!! And a tiny little baby to hold and cuddle!! How much better can life get!!! I love being with my kids every minute of them growing up and don't want to miss one second of their little lives! Anyways, back to yesterday. So, we told the girls we needed to go check on Harper since he was in bed and didn't go to the recital with us. We all went into his room and looked in his bed. He was laying there with the biggest smile EVER on his face! He jumped right up and was dancing in his bed (he must of heard us come home and he woke up). So I scooped him up and he hugged each one of us several times and gave us lots of kisses. He couldn't get enough of the girls and they couldn't get enough of him. We rarely do stuff apart from each other, so Harper was obviously very excited to have us home. Those five minutes sitting on the floor of Harper's room with our 3 kids was terrific! I love my family so much and am so thankful God has blessed Matt and I with an abundance of love for each other that we have such wonderful kids. I can't get my smile off my face when I look at this family I have been given. God is so AMAZING!!

Before the rehearsal we had a little snack on the curb. These kids love their Daddy! This was his first day off since May 25th, so they were all a little clingy to him!

Here are the girls getting ready for the rehearsal! They loved the sparkles on the stage!!

All but one of the girls in their class.

Chloe looking so cute!

Carly doing one of her favorite steps - Wiggle, Wiggle, Wiggle

Ok, I went to add pictures from the actual recital, and they aren't on my memory card!!! YIKES! I had such cute pictures. So I may add some pics later once I find them, if not, then these are all that I have!

Oops - Party Update

I just realized I never blogged on my girls' birthday!! My sweet angels were 4 on May 16th!!! I can't believe how big they are getting. (The above picture is them dressed in their princess dresses that we got them- they have gotten into all the princess stuff - even though they have no clue who they are since they don't watch TV) We were supposed to have their friend birthday party at the park, but it was raining off and on that day, so we had it at our church fellowship hall. They all had a great time. We had pizza and wings and then an enormous cake for dessert. It was definitely nice to celebrate right after Harper's accident - we have alot to celebrate!

Carly and Chloe unwrapping gifts!

Since Harper's birthday is in June and he doesn't really know what is going on, we decided to combine his little friend party too. (Thanks Christian and Preston!!) Harper doesn't have many kids in his Sunday School class, so his friend list is short :)

Carly getting ready to blow out her candles - look at her face - she is so excited!!

Chloe was ready to blow out these candles - all their parties have been outside so we have always had the wind to deal with - this was the first time they got to blow them out for real!!

And of course here is our little Harper - he got a little cake and he was so excited to blow his candles out, that he did so before we got done singing to him. It was so cute how he blew them out - Man we are thankful for this kid!!! Check out Ethan to the right of him in the pic. He is in the girls' Sunday School class and he reminds us just of Harper. They look a lot alike.

2 hot chicks!! They got sunglasses in their goody bags, so here they are modeling them on the swings.

This is Preston - one of the girl's future husband!! (I think it will be Carly) Isn't he the cutest thing!!! This boy is such a ham and the girls absolutely adore him. I couldn't find any other pictures of other kids from the party!! Chad was our wonderful photographer and Matt and I didn't do too good of a job documenting the day. I guess we were still in a fog! Oh well - thanks everyone for coming and making Carly, Chloe, and Harper's day special!!

Pray for Tysons

Mike Tyson's 4 yr. old daughter is currently on life support from getting hung by a cord on a treadmill! This could have been us 2 weeks ago! This hits home big time! Please pray for this family and this little girl to make a recovery!

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/30932524/

My Sweet Kids

"God sends children for another purpose than merely to keep up the race - to enlarge our hearts; and to make us unselfish and full of kindly sympathies and affection; to give our souls higher aims; to call out all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion and to bring round our firesides bight faces, happy smiles, and loving, tender hearts. My soul blesses the great Father, every day, that He has gladdened the earth with little children." ~ Mary Howitt
I look in the sun room today, while making lunch, and see all my babies snuggling together on the couch. Aren't they so sweet! They love each other so much and take such good care of each other. God knew the exact combination for our family!

And little Dennis the Menace is back to Normal!

The great thing about kids is how resilient they are!! While what happened to Harper has scared me for life, he is back to living life normally!! The beginning of the week we actually were getting publicity from Harper's death deifying trip down the slide - front page of the Monroe paper and being on channel 6 news at 4:15, 5:30, and the next morning - and we also had a visit from the police officer that came first to our house (the kids absolutely loved getting in the police car and turning on all the lights). Now things have settled down and we had a nice quiet night at home - well as quiet as it can get here - that is, until bath time! I put Harper in the tub and then came in the kitchen to get the girls. They were finishing their cookies and I told them to get undressed and get in the tub. I go back there and they are out of the tub. I said, "Girls, why aren't you in the tub?" The girls replied, "Mom, there are cookies in the tub!!" I look and there Harper is sitting in the tub after doing a number 2 and just smiling!!! So out he goes, and I am stuck sanitizing the tub and the girls are still talking about the cookies!!! And the best thing is - I get to enjoy doing all this because I have my healthy Harper Banks!!!

Harper with the "peace man"

"Peace Man Car" - He loved the blue lights

Here is Carly telling Chloe how many lights she had switched on - they loved this car!

Here is all his publicity (can't post the newspaper article):
http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/vitindex.html
http://www.unioncountyredcross.org/

One Horrible Experience

On Thursday, May 14th, was the worst experience I have ever gone through! Harper was in a terrible accident, but with God's amazing grace he was able to pull through wonderfully!! I am so thankful for God's strength He gave me during the whole ordeal and the wisdom and knowledge he gave me so I knew how to react. I will try to explain this to the best of my ability. The kids were on the swing set playing and I came inside to throw Matt's potatoes in the microwave (the back of the house has a lot of windows so I watch the kids the whole time they are out there). Well, we have a rope tied to Harper's swing and the girls must have brought it up to the tree house with them. (I did not see this, I am just thinking this is what happened). Here is where it gets hard to tell this story without crying. Well Harper went down the slide and the rope was still attached to the swing and pulled through the top of the tree house and then the rope got wrapped around his neck. I looked out at this point and saw him on the slide. He had basically hung himself and was lifeless with the rope around his neck mid slide. I ran out there (I have no clue how long he was out there like this - not long - but long enough) and he was solid blue/purple and totally hung. I was home alone and neighbors were mowing so they couldn't hear me screaming. I got the rope off of his neck and had to get to the house to the phone. His body was like a doll so limp and floppy and he was not breathing, blue, and unconscious. So I kept him as flat as I could while I ran and was giving him cpr. I laid him on the floor and called 911 while giving him cpr. I had him awake and breathing by the time the paramedics got here. (all that lifeguard training finally paid off) They gave him oxygen and we were taken to CMC main. Luckily Matt was on his way home - but he was greeted with a street full of police and paramedics. The girls were so awesome during the whole thing and I was able to explain everything that was going on and they were such good helpers. They did not cry - they were so brave and knew Harper had a boo boo, but when I finally called them inside he was awake so they never saw him the other way. He was put on a little body board and we were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Harper was given xrays and monitored through the night. He has a really bad rope mark around his neck and is very spotted - looks like he is covered with freckles - kind of like Dennis the Menace. He is such a great boy!! The whole ambulance ride he laid still and quiet. He did not talk the entire time. In the ER I was rubbing his head and kissing on him and he whispered the best three words in the world, "I love you!" Talk about an amazing God or what!!!!! He had my precious baby boy in his arms the entire time and gave him the best personality in the world to make this horrible thing a million times better. He is eating and acting just like Harper - very tired though since we didn't get a room until 11 and then we were woken alot. So, we are home and everyone is doing well - of course I am having the hardest time because I had the worst situation burned into my memory and I keep seeing his little lifeless body at the end of that slide. I was very worried he may have brain damage, but the Dr.'s all said he was acting so wonderfully that they highly doubt that. We think that he actually dreamed of what happened last night. Harper is a great sleeper and he woke up screaming uncontrollably and we couldn't calm him down until we turned the lights on and he realized we had him and he was ok. Poor guy! He must remember it somewhat to have done that. Anyways, please pray for our continued recovery and praise God for the miracles he performs everyday!!
Here I am explaining to him that the IV had to stay in his hand - we were in the Children's Er.

Harper loves his Daddy so much! He gives him great comfort at this late hour while we were waiting!

Here is Harper enjoying his breakfast - pancakes, french toast, and milk. He thought he was so big eating in bed. He also liked looking out the window at all the cars - he named every car - "Black one, White one, blue one."
Of course breakfast wasn't complete unless elephant joined him. So he put him on his shoulder and fed him too!!
Laying down relaxing a little bit while we wait for the Dr.'s to come and discharge us. It had been a long 20 hours!!!