2 Points!

Picture this... craziness. Kids are running in the house after a long day. It's 7:30 and they are tired, hungry, and excited to see their Daddy. Nobody is listening, everyone is fighting, and a select few children are actually crying.

Me: Guys... guys... guys...

Anna: Whaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

Sammy: Nooo... stop it! Stop touching me!

Robby: I'm NOT touching you.

Anna: Whaaaa!!!!!

Ella: STOOOOPPP CRRRYYYIIINNNGG!!!

Sammy: Yes you ARE TOUCHING ME!!!

Robby: Na-ah.

James: Hi Dad! I missed you.

Anna: Whaaa!!!

Me: Guys.. seriously - chill out.

Anna: Whaaaa!

Sammy: Daddy - tell Robby to stop touching me!

Robby: I'M NOT TOUCHING YOU!

Sammy: YES YOU ARE!!!

Anna: Whaaaaa!

James: Hi Dad.

Ella: I'm HUNGRY!!

Anna: Whaaaa!

Me: GUYS!

Anna: Whaaa!

Ella: What can I EEEEAAATTT!?!?

Sammy: ROB!

Me: QUIET!!!!!

Anna: Whaaaaaa!!!

James: DADDY - I SAID HELLO.

Anna: Whaaaa!!!!!

Me: Ok - 5 points for anyone who puts their school bag on the hooks.

Then... silence.

They shut-up and jumped into the tasks given to them. My kids are so competitive it's ridiculous. I don't know if this is a good thing or a complex at this point. As soon as I assigned arbitrary "points" to the task they immediately shut-up, focused, and became angels (albeit incredibly competitive and intense angels.) Never mind that the "points" actually mean nothing. This was completely out of the blue. We have no points reward system or anything like that. I just said the word "points" and they instinctively wanted them and did whatever was asked. The rest of the night kinda went like this:

Ok - 2 points to anyone who clears their plates.

1 point for each piece of laundry gets put into the laundry room.

3 points if you go up and get in the tub.

Amazing. I have no idea where they got this competitive nature.... oh - did I tell you that this week (following a year filled with a fantasy baseball league (where I made the semi-finals) and two football leagues) I decided to start a fantasy hockey league even though I know NOTHING about hockey outside of the Pittsburgh Penguins? So yeah - I have no idea where they get it.

I'm Old

For the first time in my life I've decided that sleep is more important to me than staying up and doing stuff. (I know - I'm a 7 year old like that.)

I honestly just caught myself saying - hmm... if I go into the bedroom now I can catch the 11pm news and then fall asleep. What have I become?

I will leave you with two fun pictures - the first is Robby modeling the clothes that Mommy bought at the multiples sale. (Yes - his hair is blue. That's what happens when Daddy takes the boys to get hair cuts.) The second is where I found Robby hiding one afternoon last week - after searching FOREVER with no luck at finding him... and growing a bit concerned.

School... It Kicks Your Butt.

It isn't a coincidence that I have not made a post since the kids started school. I'm exhausted and I feel like I never slow down. Geana's working, all five kids are in school full-time, and I've been getting them ready to go in the morning and putting them to bed at night by myself. I've also been extremely busy at work recently and I even do laundry during football games on Sundays. Needless to say - free time has been scarce.

This being said - I've been taking some notes of our goings on here at Casa de Morrisquads and some of the highlights from the past month are:

1. It took Robby and James about a week to figure out that the teachers at school tell them apart by the glasses on James' face. One day, in the second week of school, as I was unloading them from the van, one of their teachers said to James, "Good Morning Robby." To my astonishment Robby was wearing James' glasses and James wasn't wearing anything. Both boys has big shit-eating grins on their faces. Clearly they thought this was a RIOT! As other cars were pulling up into the car line and kissing their children goodbye - I had to quickly pull mine aside and tell them that this was not acceptable behaviour. To which James said, "Well - what if we just switch our shoes?" "Fine." You've gotta pick your battles in this house.

2. It also took about a week for me to get used to styling the girls hair. We're at the point now where I feel like I can brush their hair and not have them look like they've been on a 12 hour bender. This is a major accomplishment.

3. It's taken some adjusting for Sammy, who has been out of sorts with Mommy working all the time. He's slowly coming around and this morning he even helped me get the kids dressed. See - they wear uniforms to school everyday and today was the first day that the quadruplets had to wear sweatshirts over their collared shirts. Being a second grader, Sammy is an expert on the Saint Andrew School uniforms and was showing James how to tuck in your golf shirt first - then pull on the sweatshirt - and finally pull the collar out of the top so that it lays flat on top of the sweatshirt. This makes for enthralling reading, I'm sure, but it was super cute to look over and see Sammy being an older brother and helping out the little ones. It was one of those moments that just makes your heart melt.

4. Soccer. Let me fill you in... Saturdays have been taken up with soccer. The quads are on one team and Sammy is on another. We will sit at Hillcrest Elementary school for 3 hours or more on Saturday afternoons waiting for the games to start, watching the games, throwing football, and playing on the playground. Luckily - the weather has been phenomenal. Robby has turned into a little athlete (I think because he is very aggressive and has ZERO fear. I don't know if this is a good thing or not.) He has scored 3 goals in 2 games. I'm already looking into hotel accommodations in Oneonta, NY for the Soccer Hall of Fame induction weekend in 2045.

That's it from the Morris Family. Apparently our show aired again on The Discovery Health network last week. Check your local listings b/c if I'm not posting to the blog and you HAVE to hear about our family - you can always just watch us on TV!!!

Oh - one last thing... I was listening to this song on YouTube this morning as the kids ate breakfast. I heard Ella singing the chorus as she was getting out of the van today. We'll see what notes come home... oops!

The End of an Era

Most of the kids baby things - highchairs, booster seats, bumbos, bottles - were all lost in the fire. One symbol of their toddler and infant years, however, was not. Our Quad Stroller.

We bought it from a family in NJ who had triplets but thought that the extra seat would be helpful to them. They decided that it wasn't and took it off. I remember when we got the dumb thing that the seats were painted blue and red... like it wasn't obnoxious enough as it is. I promptly painted the thing a more neutral color, reattached the fourth seat, and we were on our way.

This monstrosity took us everywhere. We took it to the zoo. We won parades by decorating it. We took it to school when Sammy had a Halloween parade. We took it to the farm. This stroller took a family that was, really, immobile - and allowed us to get places. Sure we drew attention wherever we went - but it was worth it. See, it was more than a stroller to us... it was freedom.


I took the picture above this morning. We're putting this bad boy on the block and hoping to sell her to another quadruplet family that is looking for freedom and has still not really been able to find it. Our kids are starting kindergarten and don't fit in it anymore. Subsequently - we have to find ways to pay for their school shoes, their folders, their school bags, and their activities. It's funny because I can see us moving onto another stage in the "High Order Multiple" life. We're selling away the last remnants of their infanthood so that we can move on to the next stage and survive.

Quad Runabout Stroller: $450
Quad Runabout Stroller Carrying Hitch: $150
Selling your freedom: Priceless

*We're selling the Stroller and Hitch together for $500 total if you are in the Philadelphia area and able to come and pick them up. Leave me a comment.

Movie Night.

I got home sooner than usual today because work let us out early for the holiday. With the extra time, I thought tonight would be a good night to sit down with the quadruplets and watch a good, old fashioned family movie. After searching Netflix Online I ended up deciding upon a can't miss... a classic.

Some of the more diligent readers may remember that we recently watched Jaws with the kids and had a blast. It was harmless and we made a game out of it. The kids actually had a fun time with it and so did Geana and I. Tonight on the other hand... was a different story...a Neverending Story. You'd think we were watching Silence of the Lambs. Let me walk you through the movie.

Like many people in their early 30's, I remember The Neverending Story from my childhood. I remember the song... "The Neverending Stoooohoryyyy.. da da daaa, da da daaaa, da da daaaaaa.." ...and I remember this guy...

I told the girls at the onset of the movie, without really remembering anything about the film, that there are princesses and princes and horses... and it isn't a cartoon - it's all in REAL LIFE! They perked up.

Ella: Wow - real horses? I'm gonna love it!
Anna: Me too!
James: Are there unicorns?

The were hooked. This was going to be the movie of the century - the best pick in years! (It's hard to get a movie that all four of them enjoy). Then... about a half an hour into the movie this happens:


Yup - that's the scene where the brave and beautiful horse gets sucked in to the swamp of sadness and promptly expires. No more horses or unicorns would make an appearance for the remainder of the movie. Crap.

Anna: Daddy - I don't know if I'm gonna like this movie. Are there anymore horses?
Me (having no idea): There has to be, honey. It's a fairy tale, don't worry about it. After all - it was the swamp of sadness. You're bound to lose a couple of animals in the swamp.
Robby: Yeah - like Bambi's Mom!
Me: Shut-up, Rob. There is a cute dog coming up soon. Just wait!

Unfortunately before the nice cuddly white flying dog could show up... we get this guy.


This made all four kids jump out of their seats and lay on my lap - I'm being pummeled here.

James: This dog isn't fun. He's mean.
Ella: Daddy - I don't like this movie.
Robby: It's like when Olde Yeller gets rabies!

I was about to turn the movie off when our friendly dog (The Luck Dragon) showed up and the kids just loved him. Whew! Were were out of the woods. They were re-engaged and watching quietly. Things were looking up.... And then we come to this scene:

James: Dad - I can see her boobs. They should put a shirt on that statue.
Me: I know, James.
Robby: Yeah - like in Roadhouse when...
Me: Shut-up, Rob.

Okay - I made that last one up but I couldn't resist.

We finished the movie up and the kids are now in bed - surely dreaming of evil dogs, dead horses, and boobs. But honestly - the ending of that movie stinks. The empress is sitting with Bastian (the kid who read the book) and hands him a grain of sand. She tells him that this is what is left of Fantasia. She instructs him to make wishes and it will come back? WTF? Lame. This movie will be one of those movies that will remain in my head as a wonderful movie from my childhood that was ruined by watching it as an adult.

Kinda like Roadhouse.