Everyone's Gotta Have Some

Because everyone needs a turn licking the bowl....

I Have a Dream Fort

Since the kids had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day off of school they BEGGED me to let them build a fort and sleep in it.  I've let them do this before.  I know exactly what it entails--a huge mess, a brood of tired kids the next day, and a ton of fun!  I figured if Martin Luther King, Jr. could have a dream--I shouldn't squash my kids dream, so I caved.  It was all the things I expected.  Scott help them build it big enough that all the kids could fit under it.

Every blanket and pillow in the house succumbed to the pressure...not to mention the sleeping bags, flashlights, headlamp and lantern. 

The kids stayed up way to late...Ellie finally gave up and went to her own bed after awhile.  At three in the morning I heard my name being yelled--someone had apparently stepped on everyone else as they made a bathroom run. 

But the next morning, we huddled under their fort and read Percy Jackson together, and later I heard a few of the kids say in their prayers that they were grateful that mom let them sleep in their fort. And that made the ginormous mess all worth it.

Christmas Memories

As seems to happen often, December flew by in a flurry.  We decided to visit family in Utah before Christmas this year so we could see Scott's sister and her family who were visiting from California at that time as well.  It was a bit hectic trying to get everything ready to go.  I wanted to leave Thursday after school and go half-way so we'd have more time with family before we had to come back home.  The weather became ominous the day we wanted to leave--luckily I was able to get everything ready and we left shortly after the kids got home from school--just as it started to snow on our route.  We had an hour or so of snow on our path, but we were able to get ahead of it and make it safely all the way to Moab where we spent the night in a hotel.  Hotels are always fun--for one night.

We didn't bring our camera to Utah--one of the things we realized shortly after we left, but with the imposing storm we didn't feel like we could turn around.  Luckily, Kaitlyn and Brynn both got their own camera so hopefully they will help me capture 2011 memories.  Here are some of our Utah highlights:

• Seeing the reindeer and lights at Thanksgiving Point with my family.  For those of you there with us you know the truth--not worth the effort, except still nice to be with the ones you love!  There were two reindeer who stood in the middle of the corral and didn't move.  After buying some food from a little candy machine to feed them Brynn remarked, "That was the biggest waste of a dollar!"  The reindeer were obviously well fed and turned their noses up to our offering.
• Porter family Christmas Eve.  We always draw parts from the Nativity to act out.  We get just a few minutes to run around the house and come up with a costume.  Scott was a sheep, and I loved his creativity.  He draped a Kleenex over each of his ears to mimic sheep ears--it was pretty good.  My mom got a present for each of the grand kids to open.  As much as Scott and I try to teach that it is better to give than get--getting is always so much fun.  When we asked the kids their favorite thing from Grandma Porter's house several of them announced it was opening a present from Grandma.
• Cousins!  Cousins!  Cousins!  Seriously--they are the best!  Whenever we visit family the kids run off together with all the cousins, and they love every minute of it.  We got to meet my sister's newest, Dodge, too.
• Having lunch with my Grandma and Grandpa Porter.
• Sledding with Grandpa Esplin.  Of course, no sledding could take place until Grandpa Esplin had cleared the driveways from snow of just about everyone in Provo with his four wheeler. What a great example of service he is.
• Shepherd's dinner with the Esplin's.  Grandpa wanted to make the experience more genuine, so he cooked up some lamb.  Our bunch wouldn't have made it well as real shepherds with the taste buds we all have.
• Bowling at BYU.  My kids love doing this every time we visit Utah.  This year was especially nice, because it wasn't very crowded.  Jared loved bowling and smoked even the big kids.
• Granny B's tour.  I've been wanting a tour of Granny B's since Jeff bought the company.  It was amazing to watch the production line of all the pink frosted cookies.  And seriously, they are the best tasting too--so go buy some now :)

I love to visit family, and always feel a bit melancholy when we leave.  Some of the kids left teary-eyed as we drove away too.  We feel so blessed to be part of such wonderful families.

Parent/Teacher Conference

Last week I went to parent/teacher conferences for Kaitlyn, Brynn and Jared.  I came home beaming, and feeling so grateful that my kids are doing so well right now.  Each child's teacher spent the time telling me how wonderful they are.

Kaitlyn's teacher says she is extremely responsible, and always on task.  She said she is very strong in math and language arts, but she especially shines in her writing.  Her teacher was impressed with the voice she has in each writing piece.  She was one of the only students to score very high in both math and language arts on their DBA test. 

Brynn's teacher thinks Brynn is so funny.  She said she is also always on task, and a very good leader.  She is able to help others, and can explain things so the other kids can understand.  Brynn's Enrichment teacher said Brynn is the most responsible second grader he's ever taught. 

Jared's teacher thinks he is one of the sweetest boys.  She showed us his journal and the darling pictures he is drawing.  He has improved so much since the start of school!  He is kind to everyone, always attentive and on-task too. 

When I was a teen-ager I remember after showing my report card to my parents my dad would remark something like he was proud of my good grades, but then he'd say he'd love me even if it wasn't filled with straight A's.  One time I asked him why he always asked me that.  He said he didn't want me to think his love was contingent on a perfect report card.  I did (and still do) tend to be a people pleaser, but I had an intrinsic desire to do well.  And really, I don't remember that it was very hard to get good grades. 

My dad proved he meant what he said when after my first summer semester at BYU, I called home crying with a {gulp} 'C' in American Heritage.  (For the record, that was my one and only blemish on my BYU transcript).  My parent's weren't upset, and even offered comfort!  It was great to know that my parents did in deed love me--even though I wasn't perfect.

Now, as a mother, I have the same feelings as my dad.  I sure love to go to conferences and hear that my kids teachers can see how special and neat they are.  And I am proud of their success.  But, I also want them to know that even if they are not perfect (since none of us are), I love them no matter what.

Birthday Boy!

This sweet boy is one—and I don’t know how it happened so quickly! As I prepared for Thanksgiving this year, I couldn’t help but reflect on what I was doing “last year” at this time. The memories are so vivid, that it is hard to believe it was already a year ago. I spent Thanksgiving last year in a hospital with a warm newborn cuddled on me, and a plate of leftovers from the meal my mom prepared for my family. This year, that little baby sat on my lap munching on his own roll while we ate.

We celebrated Nate’s birthday by going swimming together at Scott’s work. He had pumpkin pie for his first birthday cake. Don’t worry—he can have any kind of dessert he wants on his birthday as soon as he has an opinion. For some babies, their first cake or other sweet is given to them on their first birthday. Not so for Nathan. He’s already sampled his fair share of cookies and cake! He loved the pie!


 

  

Some notables on Nate:

• Nathan LOVES to play ball! When he was only seven months old he was watching Scott throw the football to Jared and started bouncing up and down while making baby noises. I told Scott that Nathan wanted a turn, and sure enough when Scott threw the ball to him he grinned from ear to ear. And then he picked it up and threw that ball right back to Scott! He throws and chases footballs and basketballs all over the house.

 • Nathan also loves cars—or anything with wheels. It is so cute to watch him push cars all over the tile floors. I often find him clutching wheels he’s rummaged from Jared’s stash of Legos.

• Nate has never really “crawled.” He gets around with a funny gorilla-type scoot. It’s hard to explain, but we have some good video footage for memory sake.

• Nathan has been taking several steps at a time for the last couple of weeks. He is so proud when he does it and looks around with a huge grin on his face making sure we see how big he is.

• Nate is attached to his blue silky blanket that Grandma Asay made. Every time he sees it he giggles like he hasn’t had it for years.

• He loves to turn off the TV while the kids are watching it. It drives them all crazy, but it’s hard not to laugh at the same time. He pushes the button off, looks around at everyone and starts laughing like he is the funniest thing!

• Nathan has never slept through the night.

• Nate brings such joy to our family. I love how everyone rallies around everything he does. They love every new accomplishment and I often hear one of the other kids exclaim, “Mom, guess what Nate just did!” He loves to play with the big kids, and lately he has taken quite a liking to Kaitlyn. He loves when she takes him outside or lets him play the piano. We love this boy!

Words of Affirmation

I'm a "Words of Affirmation" kind of a person (from The Five Love Languages) so imagine my delight when after telling the girls how Scott and I met, Brynn responded, "Oh yeah, I can totally see why Dad thought Mom was catchy!"  That comment is still keeping me going.  Thanks Brynn!

I Can't Decide!

Scott is mad at me for the family picture I posted on my heading--he is accusing me of choosing it because it is one of the better pictures of me.  Can you believe it--would I do something like that?  I think all the family looks good.  But, I will post some of the other favorite family pictures.  I really wanted family pictures with our New Mexico scenery.  It's hard to get seven people to look good all at once.  I wish I had the awesome talent of my sis-in-law who can photoshop pics to really make them stand out.  Which one do you like?