Smithy Comments

Boo!

2011-11-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

It seems like Halloween was so long ago already, but it was only a little over a week ago, so I don't feel too bad about just getting these posted. :)

I'm a witch, Porter is Boba Fett from Star Wars, and Colin is a Caveman. See? He's already in character!

Here is our little Caveman, keeping the costume on!

It's so awesome how our neighborhood really gets into Halloween. We set up some chairs in the driveway to hand out candy, and Porter took off with some friends to trick-or-treat. This is the pre-game picture-taking session.

Colin started the candy-eating a little early. But at least he stayed put!

We went to a local pumpkin patch and played around for a couple hours. I tried to get Colin to look at me, but he was overwhelmed by all the pumpkins...

Porter swung the mallet and hit the bell! Such a strong boy!

Colin "milked" a fake cow. When he saw the water coming out, he tried to stick his face down there and get a drink!

Sittin' in a tire. It's what you do on a farm. :)

Way too long...

2011-11-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

It appears that we have some things to catch up on, hmmm...? Well let's jump in!

This is one of the reasons I've been neglecting the blog. You can see it in his face, can't you? The "what-can-I get-into-next?" look in his eyes? Yes, the two-year-old has not slowed down one bit, and seems to be adding to his repertoire of mischievous things to do.
Lately he's been getting climbing on top of the bathroom vanity and turning on the sink...for an extended period of time. He splashes in the water, "cleans" our toothbrushes, squirts the soap, and generally gets everything soaking wet. You might wonder how he manages to have enough time to do all this. Well, he usually goes for it when I'm in the shower and all I can do is repeat, "Colin, turn the water off. Colin, turn the water off." He just smiles and says "Off? Off?"

Here's another reason for the lateness of the blog update. This is Porter's first day of school (way back in August). He's started 2nd grade and is full-steam ahead. He had a rough start of it with some friend issues, but he's excelling in school, regardless. In fact, we just had a parent/teacher conference last week and his teacher wants to test him for the Gifted Program in the Spring. He was tested before and was just a couple points shy of making it, but at this stage of the game, we're happy to keep him at the head of the class no matter what. He will always be brilliant around here. :) He has fun playing with Legos, drawing, reading, making up games, and playing the Wii.

I had my 20-year high school reunion last month (sheesh, when did I get that old?) and it was a lot of fun. I got to see people I hadn't seen in forever, stayed out WAY past my bedtime, and generally had a great time talking and catching up. Britt got to stay home--I thought he would be bored if he came with me, but I actually had several people ask me where he was! At MY high school reunion! He's really networked himself around this town. :)

Britt keeps threatening to move us up to Idaho...but it's funny how those threats are only expressed between May and October. Ha! We've been talking about it and it might be a good time to make a move, but we don't have anything concrete to get us out of town. Honestly, it's hard to leave a good neighborhood where you have friends, a good school for your kids, and an area where I rarely have to drive more than 5 miles to get to anything I need. But since we've been married he's been talking about it, and now that my dad is moving up there he seems to think there's more incentive for me. We'll see... :)

Up next... HALLOWEENIES!

La Jolla--The Final Chapter

2011-08-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

OK, since I don't get any comments on the blog I'm not sure if anyone is even reading this, but I decided to finish our vacation pics anyway, if only to prove that we DID do something fun this summer!
Here's the final part of our trip--the La Jolla Cove. I think this was my favorite part. It was so fun to see the boys getting interested in the little crabs and fishes that we found, and the waves just made for awesome pictures.
Porter liked climbing around on the rocks, and Colin just tried to get wet at every chance he got. :)

Daddy pointing out some crabs in the tide pools.

My boys living on the edge! It may have been at this point that Britt's new phone got wet and quit working...

"Hey! I know you!"

Colin makes his way around the tide pools. Ironically, the wind wasn't blowing his hair like that. That's natural beauty.

Well, at least 3/4 of us are paying attention.

Here we are again, this time Porter wanted to be shy.

Porter climbs around on the rocks.

After our picnic on the beach...what a nice day!

La Jolla--Part Deux

2011-08-15T13:52:00.001-07:00

I know you've been on the edge of your seat, waiting for this second installment of our vacation to San Diego! Well, wait no longer! Here is all the excitement from LegoLand!

Porter was the driver on the "speed boat". Britt just screamed like a little girl. Ha!

Even without swimsuits, the boys got soaking wet! It took a little while, but Colin warmed up to the splashpad and was soon running around like a wet monkey!

Taking a lunch break. You'll notice how "helpful" Porter is in assisting Colin with his head shot. :)

"Hooray for Lego Land!"

The helpfulness continues, this time with the giant frog Porter won at the fishing game.

No trip to Lego Land would be complete without a visit to Lego Vader!

Porter wanted to climb this wall SO badly, so we hooked him up and watched him go. That's about as high as he got, until he got scared and started crying to get down. The workers there climbed up and "talked him down". It was so sweet how he was trying to be brave, but it was just too much. After this we went to the water park to chill out.

Up next: La Jolla--The Finale

La Jolla--Part One

2011-08-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Last month was the (now) annual Summer pilgrimage to San Diego, as we try to escape the awful Arizona heat for a few days, and enjoy entertaining our kids in expensive and under-appreciated ways. It's fun, but it's not much of a "vacation" in the sense of relaxation, although we did have a few moments in the evening on our balcony once the kids were asleep. Something about the sound of waves crashing against the beach will just lull you to a state of quiet bliss. But it was great to be together, enjoy these little boys and be a part of how fun and new everything is for them.

We visited family, went to Lego Land, had a wonderful hotel right on the beach (and I mean right on the beach), ate at Britt's new favorite breakfast place "The Original Pancake House" (twice), did some playing in the waves, tended to a wicked sunburn (me), and explored the amazing La Jolla Cove for hermit crabs and great pictures.

Anyway, for Part I of our documentation, we'll just go chronologically in pictures...


The view from our balcony at La Jolla Shores Hotel. If the beach wasn't interesting enough, the boys played on the playground, or swam in the pool at the hotel. It was sooooo nice...


But first, a stop at Uncle Mike and Aunt Pam's place. We visited with my Grandma (next to me), and my cousins Brian and Kevin. Brian's fiancee, Libby, was nice enough to watch Colin in the pool...and in the house...and by the slide...


Porter said they were the "Statue of Liberty". I think the base was crumbling quickly...

The boys playing basketball. We were especially proud of Kevin's ability to dunk on a 7-year-old. Look at that form, Britt!

It took him awhile, but Colin finally felt like getting in the water. Then he "tickled" the water, wiggling his fingers and saying, "Teek-o, teek-o, teek-o".


Colin: A Portrait of Contemplation. :)

Watching the waves, and running away from the seaweed

The beginning of his campaign for "Diaper Removal 2011". Luckily he wasn't doing anything off the balcony but looking around. Those little cheeks were just too cute to pass up...Someday this picture will come in handy. :)

My big guys heading down to the beach. Porter loved his new swim shirt.

Next time: Part II, Return to Lego Land.

And now it's Porter's Birthday!

2011-07-06T22:38:00.001-07:00

Our big boy turned the Big 7 last month and, after going back and forth about what he wanted to do to celebrate, we decided on taking a few of his friends to AirWorx trampoline jumping place for a couple hours.
I have a spring birthday, so doing things for my big day was never a difficult decision (the weather is nice, kids are still in school, and girls just want to dance around with their friends and lip-sync to music, anyway). Now I can say that, with two boys having summer birthdays, it kinda stinks. It's too hot to do anything outside so everything you try to plan has to happen indoors. That makes it challenging when all boys want to do is run wild and yell and try to shoot at things and tackle each other. Thank heavens for places like AirWorx that let little boys do all those things (for a price, I might add) and still fall flat into bed at the end of the day.


Porter is a goof ball on his way to jump himself silly with his friends


The Lego set he's been asking for since last Christmas. He put it all together by the next morning...


He wanted a Harry Potter cake, and decided that he wanted to decorate it himself. So, he carefully positioned as many Legos on the cake as he could. You might notice a "blending of genres" here...


...as you see we have an alien, a tank-top wearing Jango Fett from Star Wars, a Clone Trooper on a jet speeder, Voldemort from Harry Potter in the background, and even a pig in the back there. I don't ask anymore. :)


We ended the day with cake at the neighborhood park, where his neighbor friends came out to help him celebrate. It is so wonderful to have good people around who care about our kids. And he had fun!

And just for fun, little Colin getting interested in what's going on. Sitting on the dining table.

"Hmmm...? What's that, you say? I can't be up here? But this bowl of wonderful wicker items would be so delightful to throw upon the floor! Watch as I make short work of this!"

We survived the wicked dust storm that blew through Phoenix the other day. I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen anything that crazy. It looked like something out of those "Mummy" movies. The airport was shut down because (funny thing) the baggage handling doors were opened and all the dust started blowing into the airport. Which then made the smoke alarms go off because the sensors thought the "cloudiness" was smoke. Which then triggered all the doors in the airport to automatically open, letting in even more blowing dust.

We watched the blowing wind from our house and were concerned about a couple of small trees we had just planted a couple months ago. They were really getting blown around and we thought they might get snapped in half. Porter woke me up this morning and said, in a relieved tone, "Mommy, I have good news. Our little trees made it through the storm. They are OK." Whew! :)

Gotta love the desert! Now if only it would rain and wash off all this dirt...

Colin Turns 2!

2011-06-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

How can that be? How is it that this crazy little child has been making life around here so entertaining for 2 years already? Well, it's true, and our Sweet Little Nugget just turned 2 years old. We kept it low-key and had a little splash party in the backyard for our family. He loves getting wet and dirty and so that was our theme; along with some dinosaur paraphernalia thrown-in. Rawr!


Swinging on the "Thunder Dome". He actually lifts himself up on there!


The dragon watched over him. The green tube was...uh...a tube for water stuff...


Is this pitiful or what? "Man, where have the years gone? What have I done with my life?" He was actually just really tired at this point.


Blowing it out with a little help from Porter.


"Is there something on my face?"

He had a lot of fun for his birthday, and was pooped by the end of the day. (Yes!) All it takes is a 6-year-old and four grown adults to keep him busy, and we can finally tire him out! :) He is a fun little guy and we are SO happy he is a part of our family.

We had a really busy couple of weeks! THIS is the reason that Daddy has been so busy lately:

Britt was (mostly) in charge of organizing the Young Men's Super Activity for church this year--and he went all-out. He came up with the thought that these boys (who are aged 15-18) needed to really USE the skills they learned as Boy Scouts. So he came up with a survivalist camp-out; only the boys didn't know it. They asked each of the boys to pack a bag for 4 days in the wilderness; the day of the camp-out they had the boys drop their bags in the truck of another leader, who then drove to his house and left the packs there. On purpose. And they all kept driving.

Meanwhile, Britt had spent the good part of the previous two months assembling backpacks to give to each of the boys--hydration systems, blankets, water purifiers, firestarters, anything they would need for minimalist survival in the wilderness. He worked SO hard to order all the items the boys would need, doing so much research and calling around to get awesome deals on these things. In fact, when they saw the amazing job that Britt had done assembling these packs, many of the parents of these kids also wanted one for themselves! If there's one thing about Britt, he is thorough. :)

So everyone went to the camp-out grumbling and complaining, and they came back 4 days later sweaty, tired, and really wanting a burrito. And smiling. After all the time and effort they put into it, the trip was a success! No Giardia! YAY! :)

Here comes Porter Cottontail...

2011-05-22T22:08:00.001-07:00

Well, the end of May seems like a pretty good time to update on Easter, hmmm? Here's all the Peep Goodness...
The Easter Bunny made up the annual treasure hunt for the baskets. He is running out of places to hide these things every year, but Porter sure has fun looking for them and finding clues in the eggs! This year Porter wanted to leave a gift for the Bunny ("Since he just gives us candy and doesn't ask for anything in return!") so he left out a neat Lego creation and a cute little "book" that he made for the Bunny. The Bunny was so thankful and left a cute card for Porter! Such a sweet, thoughtful little boy...
Colin didn't really get it, but the candy was still appreciated! We're still working on the concept of an "egg hunt"--he mostly just ran around and looked for candy in the other kids' baskets. :)


Colin enjoys his basket...you can tell by the dribble of chocolate on his chin. :)


Porter loves his Peeps. This year: chocolate-dipped!

We went to the neighborhood egg-hunt right after his soccer game. He made out pretty good this year!

And then he combed his own hair on Easter Sunday... Got enough gel in there?

Checking out the 3-D Shark book. Awesome!

And Colin says, "Thank you for stopping by!" Smooch!

I've got my FrontSight on you

2011-04-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is the story of a woman. A woman whose husband convinced her that she needed training on how to shoot a weapon. A woman who attended a handgun-training course in Pahrump, Nevada--AND SURVIVED!!!

Yes, I went to the FrontSight Firearms Training Institute in Pahrump, which is about an hour outside of Las Vegas. And, yes, an hour outside of Vegas is exactly what it sounds like. Not a whole lot out there.
Britt and our neighbor/friend/fellow church-goer Jerod have gone out to this facility on a couple of occasions doing their own training, and thought that sending their wives on this trip to Mecca would be a good idea. So Kameron and I made the plans, signed-up for the course, and made reservations at the beautiful Pahrump Nugget Hotel and Casino. Yeah...

I admit, I was kicking and dragging my feet on this trip. I was whining. I would spend 4 days away from home, which would normally be a great thing, but I was not too excited about spending that time in a gun-crazy, testosterone-filled boot camp, in a city where Wal-Mart was the big draw on a Saturday night.
And I couldn't have been more wrong! (At least about the boot camp part. Wal-Mart was hopping...)

The target has no holes in it because it's the one they use for demonstration. We couldn't very well stand in front of the ones on the firing line!

Yes, I was scared. It's a nerve-wracking thing to know that you're in a training class, firing LIVE ammunition, with about 25 other people who are at about your same skill-level. You spend your time thinking, "Please don't let me shoot someone..." But the top priority of this place is safety, and, while I think they assume a certain amount of knowledge before you even get there, they are very good at making sure you know what you're doing and doing it safely. And the instructors are VERY good at what they do--super-friendly and don't make anyone feel like an idiot. And there's no boot-camp mentality, either. Nobody's screaming at you... unless it's in the Simulation. That's a whole other story... Ha!

Me and Kameron with the instructors...even after a failed "chamber check" they were still nice to us!

For two days we learned how to appropriately holster our gun, chamber check, mag check, hold at the ready, and blow some holes in the poor unsuspecting paper targets. We learned how to do various mag changes, and even clear a malfunction. Most of the time we were outside on the firing range, and it was FREEZING! Wind was blowing right through us, and it was so cold, people were taking pity on the poor shivering girls and loaning us their jackets.

Each person in the training works with a buddy--sometimes they rotate who that person is. Kameron and I were together most of the time, but they changed it up on the second day (probably because we were annoying the other students and laughing too much). We were clearing malfunctions, and the guy who was my buddy was watching me do it. I was getting it, it was coming together, and I told the guy: "This might sound kinda dumb, but my husband would be really proud of me right now." Ha!

It's not very attractive, but I'm wearing three layers of clothes. And tactical pants. And a gun. Watch out Cindy Crawford...

At the end of two days, we were tired, cold, a little smelly, and our fingertips hurt from loading ammo. We heard: "Line is set. Ready. FIRE!" about 200 times, along with "Don't be that guy" if we were straggling along. But we ended up having a good time and learned a lot.
Did you hear that, Britt? I learned a lot and I had a good time.
There. I said it. :)

I couldn't hear you...there's a pea in my ear...

2011-04-07T21:22:00.003-07:00

Here we are again, and I've let an entire month go by without any updates! Here's a recap of March:

Darcy had a birthday! Woo hoo! Britt and I went to dinner and a movie, and while that might sound boring and "married", just the mere act of eating a meal without having food thrown across the table or ordering anything in "nugget-form" was a blessing. I've been treated to several "girl's nights out" with different groups of friends, and that's always so fun. And usually involves dessert... :)

Porter wanted to give me a pedicure, so I gave him my little basket of nail polish and he went crazy on my toes. Each toe is a different color. He was so proud of himself! And I kept them on for a week.


Why do my toes keep popping up on this blog??

The boys are busy, as usual. Colin has been enjoying the exploration of the world around him, including how things fit in his ears. The other night at dinner we were all eating and talking, and I realized that Colin had been unusually quiet for awhile. I glance over at him and see what's been occupying him: he's been stuffing peas in his ear.

We were having a hard time getting all the peas out of there, but we stuck him in the shower and managed to rinse them all out. Q-tips helped, too. It constantly amazes me how quickly this little boy gets into things!

He's starting to speak a lot more now. He says "ba ba" as he waves his hand, and likes to wave at us as we leave, come home, go to bed, walk outside, etc. We hear "uh oh" a lot, and "puppy" is still in rotation. Today he started "daddy" and I'm insanely jealous! We noticed just the other night that, when we say a prayer at dinner, he puts his hands on the table and bows his head! He's just been watching us and started imitating!

Porter has started a new season of soccer on a new team the kids named the "Ice Sharks". They just played their first game and WON! He's so happy about it! The kids were so cute, hugging each other and jumping around after each goal they made. "Yay! Yay!" It was a really hot day and Porter played almost the entire time. I had to ask him to take a break so he could get a drink and rest for a few minutes. He did such a great job and works hard at practicing.

He's doing really well in school, and his teachers are impressed with him. He loves to play tether-ball at recess, and is apparently teaching the other kids how to beat box. (We weren't aware of these particular skills, or that he considered himself the Professor of Rap, but he's got a little following, I guess!). Can't wait to see where that takes him! Ha!
He makes time for goofiness, too. You wouldn't expect anything different, would you?


Smooshing his nose on the glass... Such a cute little pig-boy...

Finally, I caught this little moment the other day, and I loved it:


I love Colin resting his head on his little hand...deep in thought...

Sunday morning and the boys were back in Colin's room, each of them quietly "reading" their books. It was so sweet!

Wait...it's February??

2011-02-08T14:17:00.001-07:00

I'm here today under the assumption that Colin is actually sleeping in his room right now, and not throwing diapers around the room. Time is something that I seem to have less and less of the older that he gets. I thought that was supposed to change!

Anyway, the reason that Colin may be in the process of destroying his room is because he's now out of the crib and into a toddler bed. A bed with nothing to stop him from getting out and wandering around his room. *sigh* It's been an adjustment for all of us. :)

We put him in the toddler bed because he starting climbing out of the crib--one time he actually fell and got hurt. So we ditched the crib and converted it to toddler-size.

Colin with his converted bed--he's very happy about it...

Now nap time ends whenever he wakes up and realizes that he doesn't have to stay in his bed: he can get out and knock over his diaper pail and climb on top of it to get to the diaper cream and lotion on the dresser...and eat it! Yummy. Some other activities include: shaking and pulling on the wood window blinds, knocking over the clothes hamper and throwing dirty clothes around, pulling out the (clean) diapers and tossing them on the floor, and eating his books. Yes, I said eating his books.

If you needed any more proof to believe that he is, indeed, part monkey, here is the sweet little face after he fell down at the park the other day:


Look how he's pointing at his face. He says it now: "Ow! Ow!"

Poor baby. He is climbing over everything and keeps us on our toes all day. He's not saying much we can understand just yet--lots of talking, but it doesn't sound like our language. Chinese or something. :) He does say "Uh oh" when he drops something, which is pretty cute.

Porter is still our little soccer man, playing every Saturday. He works so hard out there--we're so proud of him. His team still hasn't won a game yet, but their coach is so proud of how they are listening better and "attacking" the ball. And Porter really seems to have fun and get good exercise and be a good team player. And isn't that what it's really all about?

Britt spent a week in beautiful Irvine, CA taking a training class, and came back with just enough time to celebrate his birthday before taking off again, this time for Denver. He's all over the place!

We kept Britt's birthday simple this year, although I did get him 15 laps around a race track in a Porsche! He'll have to schedule it whenever he's got a free Saturday, but he'll have the opportunity to get behind the wheel and play like Speed Racer in a souped-up Porsche. I hope he has a fun time!

He acts like he's happy about the birthday, but this is how he really feels:

And just so he doesn't say, "HEY! You put a weird picture of me on our blog!", I'll do the same for myself. I am an equal-opportunity weirdo.

As you can see, home life is making me slightly crazy. Luckily I'll be attending a writer's conference later this month, and going to Front Sight Firearms Training Institute to get out all this frustration. So, I can write about my crazy life, and then go shoot something. Both are fairly therapeutic. :)
Yes, at Britt's insistence, I'm going on a 2-day course on hand gun training. And when I get back, I'd better not hear any back-talk from him. HA!

Porter is Kickin' it!

2011-01-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's official: I'm a soccer mom! Porter has started on a soccer team for the next few weeks and is really excited about it! He had his first game last Saturday and played so great. There's a big focus on just learning the game and being a good team player, and that's great for a bunch of 6-year-olds. He started out as goalie and blocked a goal! He just threw himself on the ball! :) Then he ran his little heart out all over the field. We are so proud of him!

Cute boy!

Playing goalie for his team, The Sharks. He wanted to call his team The Wild Wolves, but he likes sharks, too.

And here is the other cute boy...

I actually said, "Stop so I can take your picture!" Like that would ever happen...

Britt and I also celebrated our anniversary last weekend with a really nice dinner out. We made reservations at this little place in Chandler called Cork. It was awesome! They printed our menus with "Happy Anniversary, Brittan and Darcy" and we had a great night. Terrific food, wonderful service, and a big ol' bill at the end. Ha! But it was nice just to slow down and eat a meal that was almost too pretty to eat. But we did. :)

Christmas in pictures

2011-01-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

So, it's a little late, but here's the fun stuff! We had a great Christmas--it was a busy month, but a relaxing Christmas day. Porter loves his new bike that Santa brought, and Colin doesn't really know why he's got these new toys, but he's happy about it, anyway. :)

Christmas Eve squeeze

Colin with the tree

Colin plays a Christmas tune on the harmonica (Notice the bottom third of the tree without decorations...)

Goofy Porter

They're both on top if the coffee table: Porter is putting the finishing touches on his letter to Santa, and Colin is just getting prepared to put the bucket on his head...

Christmas is WHEN??

2010-12-09T14:51:00.003-07:00

Wow, where did November go? I am shaking my head in shame... It's been over a month since I last posted! No wonder I have no comments on my posts! :) Well, I'm going to make up for it now...

I hope that my excuse of "being busy" will still fly, even though everyone uses that one. But it's true. For some reason, this Christmastime has been especially crazy for us. A lot of it has to do with Britt being gone for most of December (we'll get to that...) but there just seems to be a lot of things going on. Doctor appointments, charity donations, food for people in need, keeping track of everything going on in Relief Society, helping at Porter's school, parties we can attend (and not attend). It's the perfect storm! :)

First, here's one of the reasons we've been busy...

Note the chunks of mud on the side view mirrors... Yes, he had fun...

Britt went to Chicago for business earlier this month, came back, and then immediately took off for an elk-hunting trip. Now, I'm not real excited about killing harmless woodland creatures, and honestly Britt isn't either. But, he has a friend who was going up for elk and invited Britt to go, and he thought it was something he "should know how to do". I was secretly hoping for failure in this endeavor, and luckily, he didn't even get close to an elk for three days. And everyone was OK with that. WHEW!

Did I mention that he locked himself out of his running truck while he was up there? No? Well, let's just be thankful for AAA. :)
He just finished a conference in Scottsdale, and he's got one more trip planned, but luckily he'll be here for the important stuff.

Here's another reason we're busy:

I think it's appropriate that Porter's eyes are red in this shot...

This picture is basically how it goes around here. Porter is inside the play pen, smiling and grabbing Colin by the head, as if to include him in the picture. Colin is going to be a tough kid, I can guarantee that.


Britt's friend was kind enough to send us all Boise State t-shirts. Colin's says, "Bronco in Training". Daddy likes that!

Push the eye, and the tongue sticks out! Poor Riley...

Another Porter creation. "I call it 'Gingerbread Bedazzled'."

I asked Porter if I should rip off the head of his gingerbread boy and put it in his lunch the next day. He laughed, then stopped, looked up at me and said, "Wait. You wouldn't really do that, would you?" I started laughing and promised not to decapitate anything... Both Porter and Gingerbread Boy looked relieved.

Oh, have I mentioned that I decided to make salsa to give to our friends and neighbors this year? I mistakenly thought that it would be an "inexpensive" thing to make. HA HA HA!! Well, I have to get all the ingredients, and jars to put the salsa in. But the jar needs to look cute, so how about some ribbon to go on it? But then you can't just give a jar, so I have to get some chips to go with it. And you have to get a nice cello bag to put the chips in. But wait!! We have to put everything together in a cute gift bag! Oh, but how will they know who it's from unless we put cute tag on each bag?

YEAHHHHHH....

So, the salsa idea is getting to be a little more expensive than I imagined, but I'm still doing it. Please remind me of this next year before I decide to make everyone chocolate sculptures or something...

Here's to a more peaceful holiday season.
Merry Christmas!!

Chef Dallas and the Halloweenies

2010-11-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

Although I have yet to see the proof that my brother, Dallas, has actually learned anything during his tenure at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School, I will trust that he can now cook fantastic meals for us because I attended his graduation from the school! Woo hoo!

Me, Dallas, Dad, and Kay

What a great event! Although, things didn't bode well as we first got there, as an ambulance showed up to the venue and carted someone away on a stretcher. Hmmm...let's just say someone was overwhelmed by all the excitement and not the...er...product of the graduates. Ha!
It's fun to see him in his tall hat (it's called a toque, did you know that?). He looks so professional.
Did you also know that there's a "spirit chant" at the school? When I say "Le Cordon", you say "Bleu"! "LE CORDON--BLEU! LE CORDON--BLEU!" Boy, that looks really funny now that I type it out...

Anyway, it was great to attend his graduation and we all look forward to eating the fruits of his labors. Right? When are we gonna see some skills, little bro? Thanksgiving? Hmm...?

We also had some Halloween celebrating to do, too, and this year...well...I got dressed up, too. *sigh* Yes, I wanted to get into the spirit of things, and raided my own closet to see what I could come up with. I'm not sure if I'm happy or slightly frightened at how easy it was to come up with this:

Harry Potter and the Biker Chick. Betcha didn't know they were friends, huh?

So Porter was completely cute, casting spells of Wingardium Leviosa on us all, and meanwhile I proceeded to draw prison tats on myself. Is something wrong here?

Well, at least I had my priorities straight:

Meanwhile, Colin didn't like his costume AT ALL. He could have been so cute--it was a little Jester hat and jingle-bell collar. He wore it for approximately 90 seconds. And these were the only pics we could get before he ripped it off:

Ahh...the joy of Halloween through the eyes of a child... :)

Oh well. Once we got the costume off him, he had a great time. We went to the Trunk-or-Treat at the church, and Porter went through the cake walk SEVEN times and brought home SEVEN cupcakes. He had a pocketful of plastic toys he won at the Fish Pond, and enough candy to make us all diabetic. Luckily we've been able to stash it all on top of the refrigerator and, out of sight, out of mind. Colin just ran around looking cute and happy. Although he was a little confused at the lady with the bandanna on her head who kept picking him up...

Good times were (eventually) had by all...

Finally...an update

2010-10-26T15:37:00.001-07:00

I'm sure all of our thousands of readers are waiting anxiously to get an updated post from us, and now you can finally see what we've been up to for the last month and a half. NOT MUCH!! :) As you can see from the following photos, we've been entertaining ourselves:

Blowing bubbles in the backyard...

Putting buckets on our heads... again... He's also graduated to juice pitchers...

Having fun with Q-tips... Notice how he's using one to clean his own ears... HA!

Dressing up like Harry Potter (or "Harry Porter", we like to say. He doesn't think it's so funny... We're practicing for Halloween. I just love how serious he looks here!)

Losing a third tooth!! (He lost it at school and brought it home in a plastic baggie. Contraband to be delivered to the Tooth Fairy.)

Having fun being brothers...

We're also listening for more words from Colin--his latest is "go", which he pronounces "guh". It was funny because the first time I heard him say it, I was driving in the car and telling someone in front of me to "GO!" I hear this little "GUH!" from the back seat, already repeating what he hears me say while I'm driving. I'm in real trouble now.

We're looking forward to Halloween--Porter will obviously be dressed as Harry Potter, and Colin is going to be a little Clown Jester, if he'll keep his hat on. It's funny: he'll put buckets and bowls on his head, but I can't get him to wear a little hat. Oh well, hopefully we'll at least get a few pictures before he tears it off.

More pictures once the Halloweenies have had fun!

Ironically, it's "puppy"

2010-09-17T21:04:00.001-07:00

As you all probably know, we have a wonderful, cranky old Beagle named Riley who has been our family pet since we got him at 8 weeks old. He's now 9 years old and has had back trouble, and we know he's getting older and a little less...shall we say...patient with things he doesn't like. He has his routine and if anything shakes that up, he's going to let you know his displeasure. But, he is an awesome dog, he's put up with so much and is so smart, and it makes me cry just to think about him not being with us at some point in the future. (The distant, far away, never-happening future. Right? Right?)

My point in telling you this is to explain the love/hate relationship that occurs between Riley and our crazy mobile toddler, Colin. At this point in his life, Riley just wants to lie around the house, occasionally go outside and sniff for cats, take a walk in the evenings, and eat. Above all, eat. Colin, on the other hand, wants to run and grab and chase and pull anything he can get his hands on, including poor little doggie tails. Riley puts up with this, for a certain amount of time until he's had it, then he barks and tries his hardest to just get away from the child. And now even jumping up on the couch ceases to provide sanctuary.
However, Riley realizes one thing: babies provide food. Like manna from Heaven, food magically drops from the table directly under the baby's chair. So, Riley puts up with all the pinches, chases, pulls and plops so he can get that wonderful food.

So, it's kinda funny and ironic that, with all the stuff that Riley has to put up with now with Colin basically hunting him all day long, we've officially determined that Colin has said his FIRST WORD: "puppy".

He says it kinda like "pa-pa" but it's the first word that we've been able to tell what it is, and he understands that this word he says relates to that furry little animal in the corner. It's so cute! He points to Riley and says "pa-pa", or he points to the dogs in his books and says "pa-pa". We're so happy about it! It's ridiculous... :)

Our first child, Riley, has left his mark in yet another aspect of our lives. He is a cranky old dog, but we love him...and apparently so does Colin. And that makes me happy.

Catching up

2010-08-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Porter started his first day of 1st Grade and LOVES going to school! We're so happy that he enjoys it so much. He was actually a little nervous before school started, saying, "What if I don't make any new friends in my new class?" We were like, "Uh, right, I don't think that will be a problem." That boy can talk to a lamp post and make a new friend!
I didn't realize we had a new bus schedule until on the first day of school, I happened to look out the window and saw all of our neighborhood children making their way down the street--20 minutes earlier than I expected. I said, "Hey Porter, why don't you get your shoes on...I think the bus is coming soon." We made it just in time! And even with another change in schedule, that bus still seems to arrive early every day! :)
We went and met his teachers--he has team teachers this year. They trade off on the days they teach, so he has interactions with two great ladies during the week. I've signed-up to go into his class occasionally and read a story to the kids (totally up my alley) and I can't wait to go to his classroom and see how it's going!


First day of school...right before the bus showed up!

He also graduated to a Yellow Belt in Karate! He took a Karate class over the summer (not sure if he really enjoyed it...) but he finished and knew all the moves to earn his Yellow Belt! We are proud of our little self-defense expert.
His class did a demonstration on graduation night--I wish the pics were better, but you get the idea...

Let's see...Colin is, well, very much a toddler. He is SO BUSY!! He's into everything--the more dangerous, the better. Today Porter was putting dirty dishes into the dishwasher and Colin walks over to take something out and run with it. What is his first choice? A knife, of course! He picked up the knife and started to run with it, since he knew he wasn't supposed to have it. Sheesh. Babies running with knives...gotta love it...

Getting wet and muddy in the backyard

His latest thing is to take a drink of milk from his sippy cup, and then just let it dribble all out of his mouth, all over himself and the floor. I'm not sure why he won't drink it--maybe it feels good to just blurble all over the place.

Just chillin', peeps

He's got two more teeth on the top, and probably some more coming, based on all the biting and drooling he's been doing lately. He is so much fun, though. When Britt comes home from work and walks in the door, he's greeted with an enthusiastic squeal and Colin throws himself against his legs. He likes to point around the room where he wants you to take him, like a little tour guide waving to various items you should look at. And he "talks" quite a bit, although it's nothing we can identify as a word yet. We keep waiting for it...

I'm not even going to explain this...it just makes me laugh...

That's about it for now. We're getting back into the routine of things, doing some redecorating around the house, and pretending that Fall is coming so we can go outside and play. :) Britt is busy identifying problems with his LandCruiser and fixing them with great focus! And I'm busy creating "honey-do" lists for him...Oh, the power that I wield! Ha! And we're both busy combating the crickets that seem to have found their way into our bathroom. Ick. Where are they coming from?!?

Life is good...

Under the Sea

2010-07-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we took a trip out to San Diego to visit family, go to Sea World, and basically get out of the horrible desert summer for a few days. While we had our challenges (i.e. sleeping in the same hotel room with a baby that wakes at every little sound) we had a terrific time together! We visited the Embarcadero and the USS Midway museum (which, by the way, is not especially stroller-friendly. Have you ever carried a stroller through the inner-regions of an air-craft carrier? I guess they don't really do that in real life, huh?). Porter got Mommy on the jet-plane flight simulator--um, all I can say is "NEVER AGAIN!" We started up that thing and he immediately flipped us upside-down. I was screaming and laughing (sort of) and begging him to get us upright. Then he let me pilot for awhile before taking over again, and doing a nose-dive into the simulated ocean. That was the longest three minutes of my life. But he loved every minute of it! The things we do...

We visited with Darcy's grandma, Uncle and cousins, and they got to meet Colin for the first time. They let us swim in the pool and fed us, and it's always fun to see them. And we spent an exhausting but terrific day at Sea World, enjoying all the sea life and getting a sunburn. Woo hoo! It was so fun! Porter picked up starfish, but didn't want to touch the rays, or even the fish you could feed to the sea lions. Go figure. He loved the Sesame Street play area, and got Mommy on a couple rides. Yes, even after the flight-simulator, I agreed to some nice, calm Elmo rides. :)

Here are some highlights:


Being on the 7th floor meant that Colin never roamed alone...but he tried, and nearly chucked a pacifier on some unsuspecting tourists.


On the USS Midway. Can you guess which one is Porter?? (The Star Wars t-shirt probably gives him away...)


Supporting the troops! :) Grandpa would be proud!


My cousin Brian corrupting the little man with a Rock Star. Like he NEEDS more energy!!


How awesome is this? It looks like Colin was gonna jump on the Beluga whale, but there's actually glass in between them!


After riding the Atlantis roller coaster for the 2nd time--they got all wet and Porter loved it! He so brave! He wanted to go again before we left for the day, but the wait was an hour long. Good thing they got it in early!


Waiting for the Shamu show--Porter was SO upset he didn't get drenched by the whales, even though we were in the "soak zone" and he dutifully performed the "Sham Wham." But the show was really good. And Colin got his picture taken by some Muslims behind us. He's lovable around the world! :)


I love this picture! That walrus was looking right at Porter!


Just to prove we were there...completely safe driving on the highway at 80 mph...

Total Eclipse of the Hair

2010-07-13T20:07:00.009-07:00

As you may know by now, I have a standing movie date with my friend, Amy, to see whatever Twilight movie is being released at the time. It's always fun, and made even better by the fact that we live in different states. Which means: weekend trip! With "Eclipse" out a couple weeks ago, I made the flight up to Salt Lake City (where she had only moved a week before) and spent the weekend in Amy's lovely abode. It was a great time!
We started by getting "Sparkle Toes," which are apparently the cool thing up in Utah. I have been informed that Salt Lake is the hub of all that is cool, although I really have no basis to believe that. :)

Please let this be the only time I post pictures of my monkey toes on here...

Amy getting her sparkle on

We had lunch with Leslie, who is another gal I met online and lives up in Utah, as well. It was great to meet her in person! I experienced Cafe Rio for the first time (yum), and then we took Amy's daughters to the park. We happened to stumble upon a 4th of July carnival-thing in the park, and that was fun for the girls to run around and get tired. (Right? They got tired, right?). After a quick trip in search of sparklers, we made it home for a rest and then a trip to watch her family eat dinner (did I mention Cafe Rio was really filling?).

Then we went and saw the movie (awesome!) and drove around at 10:30 at night in search of Arctic Circle shakes. The next day we repented of all our debauchery by going to church, and then I was on a plane again to come home! It was all over so quickly! But it was great, and I'm so grateful to Amy and her family for putting up with me so soon after they moved into their house. Sadly it looks like it will be another year-and-a-half before she can make her trip down here, but we'll just have to make-do with online chats until then. :)

I did, however, miss out on a couple things while I was gone. For one, Porter lost his first tooth (see previous blog entry), but Britt sent me a picture on my phone, and I was able to be home for the Tooth Fairy's arrival that night. ;)

Colin also had some changes. When I left town, this was his long, crazy hair:

And when I came home, this is what he had:

Britt decided to get his own haircut after taking me to the airport. While he was there with the boys, he thought Colin needed a cut, too. The minute the gal took out the clippers to start his trim, he flipped out crying, so Britt just said, "Get it over with and shave it all off quick!" And that's what she did. *sigh*. All that beautiful baby hair is gone! Oh well. He's still cute, and looks more like a little boy than a baby now. And it's good for the summer. And it will grow. It's all good. :)

Happy Birthday, Porter!

2010-07-08T20:20:00.006-07:00

OK, so it's a little late, but I wanted celebrate our little man turning six! He was so excited about his birthday, he asked about it for weeks beforehand: "How many days until my birthday?" We decided not to have a party this year, but instead we'll take a trip to Sea World later this month (which will be fun for everyone!). We had a family dinner the night of this birthday, and he wanted to have "baby food" like we had for Colin's birthday: mini pizzas, mini tacos, all that stuff. It was fun!

He was excited to open his presents, of course. He got his Bumblebee Pillow Pet, a cool water gun, and an ant farm from Grandpa and Grandma (by the way: the ants arrived today and it's apparently too hot to send them through the mail--they were all dead! Apparently it's not a good idea to spend the 110* day inside a metal mailbox... How strange... :) We'll have to arrange to get them some other way.)

He's also hit another milestone by losing not one, but TWO teeth in the last few days! His first ones! The tooth fairy has been busy. He also told me that he saw the tooth fairy during the night--did you know the tooth fairy is a man, about 12 inches tall, with long hair and wings? Yeah, me neither!

I have no idea why Porter keeps closing his beautiful blue eyes in all these pictures, but the Lego apparently had to be in the picture, too. :)

Up next: Mommy goes to Salt Lake and Colin gets his head shaved! :)

Drivin' to the SLC

2010-06-18T14:26:00.011-07:00

We got back this last week from a road trip up to Salt Lake City to visit with most of Britt's family. That mostly involved sitting around and eating with everyone, but it was a fun visit. We were nervous about spending so much time in the car with the boys (especially Colin) but they both did GREAT! Porter kept busy with sticker books and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" (which I'm still not sure I like...), and Colin kept busy with...um...eating and sleeping and the occasional "get me out of this flippin' car seat" outbursts. It was actually fun to spend time together driving through the beautiful country. And the fact that we all still like each other afterward is a testament to how wonderful my boys are (Britt included).

Porter put all these stickers on his shirt. He said the "robots were all holding hands".

Colin was intent on climbing the stairs at the rest stop over and over and over again...

Eating lunch at "Pirate Island", Britt channeled his inner swashbuckler...

We visited some friends, and Colin got friendly with "Wilson"

"I want stickers, too!"

Aside from the SLC trip, we also got Colin in to see the pediatrician for his 1-year check up. He weighs just over 22 pounds (50th percentile) and is 30.5 inches long (75th percentile). He's totally healthy and hitting all the milestones he's supposed to. It's so funny when people ask how old he is, then they ask, "Is he walking yet?" I'm like, "Uh, this kid's been walking for about 4 months already!" And we're officially off the bottle now! Only sippie cups from here on out!

His hair has grown a little shaggy again so it's time for another haircut already. I'm thinking of making a montage of Colin's hair when he wakes up in the morning. Each morning I'll take a picture of his little head for one month and show the crazy styles he manages while he sleeps. We could call it "Colin's Coifs". Huh? Huh? What do you think? :)

Porter has two loose teeth and we're still waiting for those puppies to fall out. He's also started taking karate classes over the summer--I'll have to get a picture of him in his "gi" uniform. It's black (because that's cool) and a little big on him, and we're still figuring out how to tie the belt, but he's so stinkin' cute in it! He's learning about "stranger danger" and protecting himself, which is great.

Oh, and Britt and I are doing well, too. :)

Happy Kindergarten Graduation Birthday!

2010-05-29T14:56:00.011-07:00

This last week was a busy one--first, our own resident brilliant child just graduated from kindergarten! Porter was so excited to finish school, not because he doesn't want to go, but because he's so proud of himself and can't wait to go to First Grade.

His clothes are on backwards, he's wearing two different shoes, and his face is tattooed.
It was "Wacky Day" on the last day of school. At least, I hope it was Wacky Day...

He had a great year, learned about baby chicks and ocean creatures, is reading at a 2nd grade level, asks questions about everything, and will miss his teacher, Mrs. Mitchell. She even admitted that on the last day of school, she cried as she was saying good-bye for the first time in her teaching career. Porter had a really special class, and we're so proud to see how he's grown.

And now he's finally got two loose teeth to make room for that big permanent tooth making it's way into his mouth. (Can we say "orthodontist"? Oh boy...)

"I will sit on you until I get some of that..."

Our second big event was Colin turning One Year Old! Our special little guy has hit the big milestone and he had no idea what was happening! :) He still gets into everything, and seems to be expanding his repertoire to include bathroom cabinets and night lights. He recently discovered that he can unplug lights, clocks, etc. from the outlets, and I've been resetting the time for weeks now. (Exactly what day is it?).

He now has three teeth--two on the bottom and one on the top, with one more coming through on top any day now. He is a chubby little guy, and eats all the time! He loves food! In fact, if you're sitting at the table and he walks up to you and wants what you're eating, he'll grunt at you and pinch the back of your upper arm. Oww! Such a caveman...

"Which hand do I use?"

For his birthday dinner, it was Porter's idea to serve "baby food": baby carrots, mini pizzas, mini tacos, tiny watermelon, baby potatoes, even mini cans of soda. It was actually a lot of fun to shop for all things tiny at the store! Then we had cupcakes and let Colin dig in. He loved all of it, including all the attention he got!

We had a good time and we're so happy to have been able to celebrate his birthday. He is so much fun and we love him!

We're proud of both our boys!

What an excellent Vintage...

2010-05-21T19:58:00.010-07:00

This post is going to be rather selfish--I just got back from a girls' weekend in Palm Springs (and Disneyland!) and I have to share how awesome it was!

First off, I have to thank my friend, Kameron, for her use of the fab-u-lous condo at The Vintage in Palm Springs. Actually, I guess I should thank her relative, Karen, who actually owns it and was gracious enough to let 5 strangers and 1 relative stay there. It's so nice to have a great place to stay (for free!).
I was lucky to do the driving this year, so we loaded up my sweet mini-van (which is what all the cool ladies in California are driving these days) and made our way out to the desert oasis. After a brief rest, and an alarm that went off WAY too early, we began our trek to pick up Jackie at the airport and spend the day at the Happiest Place on Earth. (By the way, Porter does not know that I went to Disneyland without him. He would be so mad at me! So keep it on the down-low...).

Robyn, Jackie, Julia, Kameron, Penny, and Me

Everything went according to plan. We hit NO traffic. Our hotel was directly across the street from D-land, we parked in covered parking at the hotel and walked over. It wasn't that busy (as far as Disney standards go) and I think the longest wait we had for any ride was maybe 15 minutes. But it went by so fast! We walked all over that park, and went over to California Adventure, too. I soon realized there was a reason they call that ride the "Tower of Terror" as I heard the screams of the people falling to their dooms. I skipped that one--fear of heights, you know. :)

"Soaring Over California" was such a simple ride, but SO fun! It was the only ride where people clapped at the end! "Thunder Mountain Railroad" seemed a lot faster than I remember it, but it was a blast! We ended the day with "Splash Mountain", which lived up to it's name. All of us were soaked! My shoes were squishing on the way out!

We couldn't help noticing all the families with their kids, pushing strollers and carrying babies around. Between all of us, we realized we had left 21 children at home! But we were having fun at Disneyland without them! Which initially felt a little wrong, but we got over it surprisingly well. :)
That night we had a great dinner at La Brea Bakery (again, no wait) and it was freezing outside! We ended up huddling under a heat lamp and watching the Disneyland fireworks. It was a long day, but soooo great.
At this point I have to mention that Jackie provided the theme music to this year's trip. She introduced us to Ke$ha and this song we couldn't stop singing: "DI-NO-SA-UR a dinosaur; OL-DM-AN you are an Old Man!" Thanks. Thanks for that. :)

Heading back to Palm Springs the next day, we basically spent the rest of the weekend laying by the pool and eating. Really. That was about it.

Robyn's dreams for being on Antiques Roadshow were dashed when I pointed out that the nickel she found from "1803" was actually dated "2004", and was just a commemorative coin from the Louisiana Purchase. Seriously, she was keeping it in the secret part of her wallet because she thought she had something special. I then earned the nickname "Dream Smasher". Ha! I didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings! I was just saving her from future embarrassment, right?

Yes, I'm eating a lemon. We all did. For pictures. I never said we were smart...

We got our maracas on with a Mexican dinner and a guitar serenade to go with it ("Beautiful ladies...I'm looking for tips...I'll sing to you until you give me some cash...La-la-la-la, La Bamba!").

Head stands by the pool, raft racing, Italian sodas, cheesy magazines, Penny's not-so-happy looks at Disneyland, and Julia's concern about where her next meal is coming from. Kameron's Ped Egg and going way beyond the call of friendship to take care of Robyn's feet. Jackie's music and constant texting, and Robyn's complaints about her lack of a torso. :) What a great weekend! I'm so glad we were all able to go, and our families survived without us just fine.
Here's to next year!

Next entry: Porter graduates from Kindergarten, and Colin turns 1 year old!! Can you believe it?

Officially busy...sort of...

2010-04-28T10:16:00.015-07:00

Do you ever have those times where you know you've been busy doing things, but you can't really quantify what you've been doing? For example, right now I'm trying to update this blog and write something witty about what we've been up to, but I can't even remember what we've been doing. But I know we've been busy!
I'll give it a shot, anyway...

Colin's "It's Official" party

A couple weekends back we had a party at Desert Breeze park to celebrate the "official" inclusion of Colin into our family. It was so nice to have so many friends and family members there to support us and squeeze on the little guy. We ate pizza and cupcakes (with lizards and frogs on top!) and let the kids run around for a couple hours. Colin kept wandering into another party nearby, looking for something better to drink than water. :) We're thankful for everyone who came, we had a wonderful time, and, honestly, we're glad it's all over. Ha!

Notice how pleased Porter looks...

Colin's First Haircut

After looking like a scary caveman for too long, we had to get Colin's hair cut. My friend, Lisa, generously offered to do the honors, and he looks so cute! He sat on my lap the whole time and didn't even cry! He was wondering why his hair was all wet, and if he could stick a few more combs in his mouth, but he did great! I don't have a picture of the actual "deed", but here he is later that day, freshly shorn. :)

Porter is growing!

He's the boy with all the Star Wars he can handle...but now, we may be turning a corner. He's excited for his birthday (still two months away) and is busy creating a list of all the wonderful things he thinks we should buy him. Hmmmm... Except something is missing from the list: there are no Star Wars toys listed!! "What??" you may say. "How can that be?" Well, I think the influence of infomercials has seeped into his brain, because the things he wants include:

A Bow Rod: No more pesky flicking of the wrist when you want to cast your lure. Now there's BOW ROD! Through the wonders of spring-loaded action, you, too, can shoot your fishing lure across yards of open lake water to catch "the big one".

It's a pillow, it's a pet: It's a PILLOW PET! Pillow pets are cute, huggable pets that pop open into a full-size pillow. Your kids will love their soft, cuddly friends. All it takes is one hug and your child or grandchild will love their very own pillow pet!

We'll see how far we get with this, but I have a feeling that there's still a Star Wars LEGO set lurking in the recesses of his mind...

And now for something completely different:

Matching Jammies!!

Helllooooo...?

Muse, Temples, and Teeth (oh my!)

2010-04-12T20:32:00.009-07:00

Wow, what a weekend! It all started with me (Darcy) going to the Muse concert on Friday night. I have two words:

HO.LY.COW.

Maybe that's three words... Anyway, it was amazing! And so much fun! My partner in crime for the evening, Lisa, and I rocked out like the 37-year-old crazy women we are, and we had a blast. I was so impressed that Lisa did her homework before the show (see, she had to be introduced to the instability of my musical choices) just so she didn't have to mouth "watermelon" during all the songs. HA! Such a great show, despite the lame-o's standing around us, not moving or anything. Whaaa...? Seriously, why would you bother to pay money to go to a show, and then go to the show, and then not even appear to enjoy yourself? Lame.
Well, WE certainly did no such thing--we had an awesome time! Thanks, Lisa, for going with me!

Awkward Transition Time...

It feels weird to make this transition, but the next day we were able to take our sweet little Colin to the Mesa Temple and have him sealed to our family. (If you don't know what that means, essentially it's a ceremony where he's now a part of our family forever--he can't get rid of us now!). Britt's mom, step-dad, and grandma made the trip down here for it, and while it was a busy weekend, it was great to spend some time with them.
Colin and Porter were so sweet while they were there, and seeing them dressed in their white outfits in the Temple just made me cry. It was so peaceful and wonderful to have our friends and families there with us. Colin finally fell asleep right after we were done, so he's not really alert in our pictures!
Afterward we went for a gut-busting lunch at Buca di Beppo, then hung out at the house. We watched a rousing game of "Dads vs. Kids" baseball (where the rules mysteriously kept changing in favor of the kids), and went to bed by 8:30 that night. We were exhausted.

The next day we blessed Colin at church, and then the grandparents made their way back home. Whew! What a weekend! So busy, but so great. We're so thankful for good people around us who support and love us.

And, in the midst of all of this, we can proudly announce that Colin has FINALLY cut his first tooth! Woo hoo! Time for steak! Ha! Not really, but these teeth are a long time coming, and hopefully the rest won't be too far behind. It's on the bottom front of his gums--I keep trying to get picture of this little tooth in his mouth, but every time I pull down his bottom lip, he sticks his tongue out. Maybe we'll have to wait for awhile to get a good smile out of him!

"Don't worry, ladies. There's plenty of me to go around."

Porter took a school field trip to the dairy farm and learned the following: 1) he should drink three glasses of milk a day; 2) the dairy keeps the "girl" cows and sends the "boy" cows to a different farm; and 3) cows produce a lot of poop. Ah...the youth of tomorrow... HA!
They also have chicken eggs incubating in his classroom and hope to have a dozen baby chicks in a couple more weeks. They, too, eventually go to a different farm. Yeah...I hope we don't have to have that discussion any time soon...

Anyway, we're having an "It's Official" party this Saturday to celebrate Colin and have a good time at the local park. We're hoping it will be fun and a good excuse to make a big fuss over him again, and eat some food!

More to come later...

"The Easter Bunny is awesome!"

2010-04-05T15:41:00.011-07:00

Once again, we are beholden to the steel-trap memory of our children. The Easter Bunny spent some time getting all the goodies together for Porter's Easter basket, and reminded Porter to clear a space on his dresser where the Easter Bunny could leave it (yes, we have to "clear a space". It's pretty crowded up there.)
Porter asked, "Is the bunny just gonna leave it there?" I said, "Well, yes, I think so." He said, "Well, usually we have a scavenger hunt to find the basket. Aren't we gonna be able to do that again this year?"
Mommy: "Uh, well, yes, how about if I write a note to the Easter bunny and ask him to make you a scavenger hunt again this year?"

DARN IT!

The "Easter Bunny" then spent the next half-hour making up a scavenger hunt to place around the house, and hiding the basket. Serves me right for making a tradition... :)

We also went to a couple Easter egg hunts last week and had fun. Porter practiced holding Colin's hand and searching for eggs, while holding both their baskets. It required practice, since it was such a delicate operation. :)

Colin is walking like a circus monkey, and still no teeth. I keep praying those things will pop up any day now. This teething business is miserable.
We've decided he's either hot or cold; totally happy, or completely ticked-off. Usually he's happy when people are looking at him. When he's happy, it's wonderful--he laughs and giggles and smiles, and generally just toddles around the house looking for something to get into. But when he's mad, it's just a flat-out drama. We've realized that he never really just sits around and just observes--he's either laughing or crying. Such is the life of a 10-month-old...
We've been considering when to cut his hair--it's starting to get long over his ears, and a little shaggy. I'm not sure, though. Seems like the first haircut is the end of an era. :) But what a funny little boy he's turning into! He makes us laugh everyday with some new noise he makes or how he manages to get into things. He is amazing!

Behind the Iron Curtain

Porter is doing well, too! We went to a music program for him at his school, where he sang songs with his class. His music teacher said he was a great example to the class, and he even made Mommy cry a little by singing me a song (I tend to do that...). It was great!

Porter: my Homey

We also went to a school party at Skateland. Can I just tell you that Porter amazes me with how confident he is sometimes? He didn't know anyone at the Skateland party, and only started skating a few days beforehand, but he got out there and shuffled his away around the skating rink! When he first started, I watched him fall down a few times, and saw all the people swooshing past him, and I felt bad. So I asked him, "Porter, do you want Mommy to get some skates and skate with you?" He shook his head and said, "No, I want to do this myself." All righty, then!
He skated and played games and ate for the next two hours, all shuffling along in these skates. I just watched him dancing and skating by himself, not even caring if he was with anyone or what anyone thought of him. I couldn't help but just smile and love him for it!
At the end of the night, Skateland asks all the kids to take off their skates and dance on the rink in their socks. They blow a smoke machine and play a few songs and generally let the kids go crazy for a few more minutes. Porter was doing his "break dance" moves, which involves a sort of kicking around on the floor and then bouncing your head to the beat. I was dying laughing (all on the inside, of course!). He's just so fantastic!

More adventures to come...

Spring Break

2010-03-25T20:33:00.008-07:00

Not much going on, but I thought I would update with a few of the latest pics of the little dudes.

Colin has been getting around like a crazy monkey, walking everywhere and getting into everything. Recently the toilet has become a fascination, with the requisite "splashing" that goes along with it. (Yes...Ewww...). Still no teeth yet, but he's been cranky enough that I'm praying that they're gonna pop up any day now.
He loves to get into the Tupperware cabinet and pull everything out, then climb into the cabinet. His personality is so funny--he knows when he's doing something he's not supposed to, and he giggles and keeps doing it!
Sometimes it's total drama. Today I was holding him and then set him down to get something in the kitchen. As soon as I put him on the floor he started screaming and crying. I stood there and said, "Come here, sweetie." Instead he started walking across the room away from me, crying and waving his arms up in the air. "Wahh! Waaaaahhh!" So I said again, "Colin, I'm right here. Come here." He kept roaming around, crying and wallowing in his misery, walking in circles then collapsing and burying his face in his hands. "WHY?! Oh, WHY?!" It's hard not to laugh at his little drama sessions! Eventually he realized that I was just waiting for him to snap out of it, and he got up, and walked over for some love. Then he got a big squeeze. :)

We made it through Spring Break without a whole lot to do, much to Porter's chagrin. But we did spend some time at the park and playing with friends, hanging in the backyard, and watching "Clone Wars". Porter likes to "act" along with the show, getting out his blaster gun and picking out which character he is. He stands in front of the TV and "runs" along with the show, shooting at the droids and repeating all the dialogue. It's better than watching anything on TV! :)

Porter got chosen for a special lunch at school with the Principal and a local TV reporter. He was "caught" at school exhibiting one of the "Firebird Pride" characteristics (I think it was respect or safety) and he then gets to have lunch with some other schoolmates and the Principal. He is SO proud of himself! He's doing so well at school and we are proud of him for all the things he's learning.

Going, going, gone!

2010-03-05T10:44:00.008-07:00

On his 9-month birthday, our little man, Colin decided to take one small step for baby, one giant leap for baby-kind and take his first steps! I just can't believe he's only nine months old! He's not walking on his own, by any means, but he can stand up and keep his balance and take a few steps before falling down. It took a few days for me to actually be able to capture this on camera, but here's the proof (sort of):

He's actually a lot more excited about it than the pictures show--he squeals and waves his arms up and down, and has a big grin on his face as he's stepping. So now the real fun begins...gates will be going up shortly. :)
He's already made his way completely out the doggie door (several times a day) and still loves to eat the dirt in the potted plant. He keeps me jumping all day! Luckily all this activity seems to be wearing him out, too, and he's been sleeping better at night! YES!

We went to his 9-month pediatrician appointment yesterday--he's healthy and happy! He weighs 19 lbs. 13 oz. (30th percentile) and is 29 inches long (75th percentile). Funny, he feels heavier than that... :) His head measurement is only in the 10th percentile, which led to a few little "tiny head" jokes around here, but he's perfectly normal. At least it's not shrinking! Ha!

Porter and Britt went camping last weekend up to Turkey Creek and then played in the snow on Mt. Graham. At breakfast the first morning, they got up and made pancakes. After they got done eating, Porter said,
"Daddy, I want some bacon. Can we have bacon for dessert?"

Mmmm...bacon for dessert... Can you picture the little tear that came to Britt's eye at hearing that? HA!

Britt was also able to visit with some people he knew when he served part of his mission in the Safford area, and that was fun for him. They came back dirty, tired, and with plenty of laundry for Mommy to wash. Gosh, guys, it's so good to see you. :)

Next up: Darcy's birthday and Britt's fabulous Vegas Shoot-a-Rama!

When you know it's worth it

2010-02-19T20:53:00.005-07:00

Many days, you go through all the errand-running, the shuttling from place to place, the whining and crying, and you wonder: What is the point of all this? Am I making a tiny bit of difference anywhere?

Today I went and volunteered for an hour in Porter's classroom which I love to do. I really enjoy seeing him in another element (and I especially marvel at how his teacher gets him to do things the first time she asks). The kids in his class are so cute, and they're at an age where they still love to see their Mommy come visit. Any Mommy. :) I've even been called "Mommy" by some of them...

In Porter's class there is new girl we'll call "Rachel". She is very quiet and has a special helper who comes in and does additional learning activities with her. Rachel is much slower than the rest of the class, and often needs assistance following instructions and getting work done. She doesn't really interact with the other kids in class.

Today as I was sitting with Porter and a small group of his classmates gluing tissue paper to look like a saguaro blossom, one of the boys made a remark that "This looks like something Rachel did." Another boy said, "Yeah, she doesn't do anything right." I was surprised at their bluntness and was about to say something, when Porter piped-up and said, "Don't say that. She might hear you and get her feelings hurt."
WAY TO GO, PORTER!

Later after the groups switched out, I overheard Porter's teacher ask him to help Rachel get her booklet set up so she could make the saguaro blossom, too. He brought Rachel's book over to the table, all opened to the right page, and then quietly brought Rachel over to the table saying, "Here's your book. Now you can make it." Then he scampered away to finish another project.

I was so impressed with him, and I couldn't believe how much his teacher trusted him to be kind to Rachel and help her out. And he was up to the task, being so sincere and sweet with this little girl. This is the little boy who can't even hardly hold a spoon without turning it into a weapon. I just wanted to squeeze him and tell him how proud I was!

Later in the day, after he came home from school, I asked him about his day. Then I said, "What was the best part of today?" secretly hoping he'd say something about Mommy coming into his classroom. (So I'm fishing for validation...).
He totally surprised me and said, "Becoming friends with Rachel. That was the best part of today." I wanted to burst into tears right then. I just hugged him and told him he was very sweet and I'm sure that Rachel appreciated his friendship. How amazing is he??

I am bowled over by a little child's capacity to love--they don't care who you are, or what you say, or if you're famous, or how much money you have. They just want to be friends. These are the little kids who don't hardly know me, but hug me good-bye, anyway, because they see Porter do it at school. So I must be OK, right? :)

Sometimes when you don't know if what you're doing even matters, you get a moment like this and you realize what really matters. And sometimes you even feel like you're doing something right.

Top Gear

2010-02-10T20:36:00.009-07:00

For Britt's 40th birthday I wanted to do something fun and special and memorable, so I found something in the Car-and-Driver end of things. For 24 hours Britt was the proud renter of a red, sporty Lotus Elise (for all you gear-heads out there: 190hp rear-mounted 4cyl, 6-speed manual transmission, 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, top speed 150mph. Grunting and scratching optional.)

He wasn't expecting it (which was the sweetest part) so when he came back from his off-road morning and found this little thing sitting in the driveway, he had quite a grin on his face. I think for about 15 seconds he was afraid I had actually purchased it, but he quickly realized that was not something I would do to him (since he kinda paid for the whole thing, anyway...).

He drove Porter around in the "race car", took him to a birthday party at the park, and then Britt and I went out to dinner in Phoenix later that night. May I just tell you that I rode the whole way down the freeway with the convertible top open and let my hair blow all over the place?? And then went out in public?? Man, the sacrifices I make for this man... Ha!
But that is a fun little ride, I must say. As you're riding in it you just feel like throwing your arms up in the air and shouting, "WOOOOO!!!" There's no graceful way to get in or out of it, since you're sitting about 6 inches off the ground, but I guess the point is to look cool while you're in it, right? We had a nice dinner, although it didn't sit too well in my tummy and I probably wasn't the most fun date after that. But at least he didn't have to push me out the car to avoid any cleaning damages... :)

ANYWAY, the next day Britt drove the car to church and gave rides to his friends around the parking lot like a carnival driver. Woo hoo!! After a few more trips around town with a couple more friends and neighbors, and thankfully avoiding any speed cameras as he tested the limits of the car, we sadly had to return the weekend toy and say farewell. Then we had a quiet dinner at home with a peach cobbler for dessert, complete with candles which melted into the hot cobbler (duh, Darcy...hot fruit filling and wax do not mix...). He was kind enough to eat it anyway. :)

Britt said the best part was that he was able to share his birthday with lots of people, so that was fun for him. I'm glad we were able to do something a little memorable for his big day!
We love you, sweetie!

Court Dates and Bloody Noses

2010-02-03T11:20:00.009-07:00

Today we had Colin's final court date!! Yipppee! It took all of 5 minutes, but we had to wait for about 20 minutes in the halls before it was our turn. Porter kept whining, "When can we go innnn therrrrrrre...?" Luckily there were plenty of people to look at and games to play on Daddy's phone to pass the time. We always thought we were "fit parents", and after threatening my dad to keep his mouth shut about it, the Honorable Judge Owens seemed to agree! Ha! Nah, Dad would never say otherwise. (Right, Dad? Right?) :)
Most people probably will go through their lives never having to raise their right hand and swear in a court of law that they will "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God." So it's weird when you find yourself in that situation. But, we've done it before, so no biggie. Colin was a little angel the whole time, and everyone commented on how cute he was.

Anyway, it was a great day and we're glad that's done. We all went out to breakfast afterward and stuffed ourselves with eggs, pancakes, and bananas. And what kind of kid's meal comes with THREE pancakes, bacon, and blueberries?? Seriously! There's no way Porter could have finished all that!

If you look closely enough at Porter's pictures you might notice a slight swelling on the bridge of his nose. Yesterday we had a bad night. Britt took Porter down the street to the "grassy area" to catch some baseballs. A friend of Porter's, Scott, came out and wanted to catch some "fly balls", so Britt popped a few for the friend. (Can you see where this is going?).
Porter said he wanted to try, and with the very first ball, it came barreling down, right on his nose. There was blood everywhere, and when Britt finally brought him back to the house, he walked in crying and covered with blood. Britt felt so awful, with Porter yelling, "You shouldn't have listened to Scott! I'm never playing baseball again!"

I said, "What the heck happened?!?". Britt told me the story, and we got Porter into his pajamas and put an ice pack on him. He cried for a long time, and dribbled blood for a couple hours afterward. But we gave him some Tylenol and he took a little nap, and he eventually felt better. He still has the marks from the baseball stitches imprinted on his nose! (Which is a little funny...but not really...). He's swollen and sore, but he's doing well--thankfully nothing broken!

Next update...The Big 4-0 for Britt. Will he survive?? :)

Little Einstein

2010-01-26T08:17:00.008-07:00

Colin's hair is always cause for notice when we go out. People say, "I love his 'do," or "He has great hair." It's so funny because it just sort of sits that way on his head. Sometimes he gets little help in the "spiky" aspect of it because we still put hydrocortizone on his scalp for the cradle cap (which is just about gone) and that acts like a styling paste. But for the most part, that's just how it turns out, especially after a bath. And we love it!

He also discovered the doggie door recently. So far he hasn't made his way all the way out the door, but Riley is a little concerned that he has to share his secret exit with someone!
Notice that he's actually wearing doggies on his shirt...HA!

And not to be outdone, we've got the two boys together. Porter just smothers his little brother with love. And for the most part, Colin doesn't seem to mind.

Next week we've got some big events happening: Colin's final adoption court date, and Britt's 40th birthday! Woo hoo! We'll have some great pictures and (hopefully) some good stories, too.

Bowl Time!!

2010-01-13T14:30:00.006-07:00

When Britt heard that Boise State was going to be in the Fiesta Bowl, he decided to throw caution to the wind (along with a substantial amount of money) and get tickets to the game played at University of Phoenix stadium. Fortunately, he knew some people who knew some people and was able to get AMAZING seats on the 20-yard line, in the second row behind the Boise State side. He took Porter to the game as an "experience", and he had a great time--his main concern was getting a t-shirt and giving high-fives to the people who walked passed him in the stadium.

Apparently there were some astronauts who were honored at half-time and Porter leaned over the railing and said, "High five!" as they walked passed him. Of course, he got his high five, as well as some fives from the Boise State Bronco mascot and a few players (and apparently some random strangers who didn't mind the little boy yelling, "High five!" to them...).
Just look at how close they were to the field! I watched on TV to see if they showed up in a shot, but I never saw them. They didn't get home until midnight, and Porter was still wired from the experience the next morning. And, thankfully, Boise won the game and kept their undefeated season intact. Woo hoo!

Colin has recently taken to eating dirt. Yes, our sweet baby can now make his way to the potted tree I have in the corner, pull himself up on the pot, and dig his hands right in. It would be one thing if he just played in it, but he has to shove it all in his mouth, too. Yeeeech!

"Oh, man I've been eating dirt all day and I'm soooo wasted..."

Another big event around here was the 15-year anniversary that Britt and I celebrated on the 7th. Unfortunately, he was out of town on the actual day, but he was sweet and had a dozen red roses delivered. Awwww... Then on the following Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa came over to babysit and we went out to dinner. We were home by 9:00. PAR-TAY! ha! Seriously, we tried to stay out later, but it was hard to find something to do that wasn't a movie. Even Starbuck's folded up at 9:00. What the heck?? Plus, we hadn't really made plans to do anything special, so we just kept it quiet. But, I've started to hunt for the wedding ring upgrade we've been saving up for for the last year and a half. He's been so sweet to donate our bonus monies to the "ring fund".

Something that SHOULDN'T be kept quiet is Britt's birthday! The big man turns 40 on February 7th, so if you happen to have a bouquet of black balloons floating around, feel free to send them our way! Hee! He hasn't mentioned what he'd like to do (besides curl up into the fetal position) so I'll have to think of something...Anyone have any ideas??

It's not the Virgin Mary, but...

2009-12-30T20:24:00.006-07:00

You know how sometimes people will see outlines of the Virgin Mary in a tortilla? Or a crucifix in a corn chip? Today I picked up a couple of Frosty's from Wendy's for me and Porter. I lifted off the lid of my Frosty and this is what I saw...

Oh, Happy Frosty, what message do you have for me?? It's just so happy, isn't it? How can you not believe that someone is trying to tell you something when you see something like this?? :)

I'm not sure which is weirder: the fact that I took a picture of it, or that I posted it on my blog...

On a different note, tonight Porter said he wanted to have a Family Night to play games. So we asked him what he wanted to do, and he proceeded to list all the Wii games we could play together (and by "together" he meant we could sit and watch him play Lego Star Wars).
Then he said, "I want to do this every night. Every night until we go to Heaven. No, we'll do it every night until I have my own kids."

And here are a few random pics, just for giggles:

Happy New Year! We're looking forward to lots of great things in the coming year!

5:15 AM

2009-12-25T20:05:00.013-07:00

Merry Christmas!
Porter has been so excited about Christmas this year, he was up at 5:15 this morning, whispering, "Mommy! Santa came last night! Can we open presents now?"
We were so tired, we asked him to wait until at least another hour. So he thought he would lay down with us, but that didn't last very long. He was up again, but this time he quietly asked if he could just open his presents until we all got up. No, I told him, we should wait until everyone can open presents. That sweet boy waited until almost 7:00 when I got out of bed. He saw me getting up and he asked, "Are you staying up?? Can we open presents now??" Yes, sweetie, yes we can.

We've all been fighting colds, so we kept it low-key today. We still had a wonderful day, the boys were spoiled plenty, and we are so thankful for the blessings we have been given. It's kinda hard to believe that the season has gone by so fast, but we have a lot to be thankful for, and a lot to look forward to in the coming year.

Little Present Colin

This is Porter in (what else?) his Star Wars Clone Trooper helmet and blaster. He was so happy with this, he opened it and jumped on me saying "Thank you! Thank you!"

Porter got a Whoopie Cushion in his stocking, and grossed-out Grandma with his "experimentation"

Red Rock

2009-12-13T20:24:00.008-07:00

Last weekend we took a 4-wheeling trip up to Sedona and had a blast! We went with our neighbors and enjoyed the freezing temperatures and beautiful scenery. This was Colin's first off-road trip and we weren't sure how he'd like bouncing around the backseat all afternoon. Let's just say that the combination of the car heater and the 35-inch tires crushing the rocks must make for a sweet little lullaby, because that baby slept for probably two-thirds of the trip.

Porter actually rode in our neighbor's car because it's apparently more fun to hang out with kids your own age than your parents (Man, I thought we were cool, too!). We stopped along the trail a few times and let the kids climb around, and got Colin out of the car seat for a baby stretch. I was able to take some pictures, which was great because I haven't been out to do that in a long time.
Anyway, here some pics---enjoy!
I had to put a picture in here with Britt's "rig"--you can practically hear the grunting, can't you? And, yes, that's a snorkel...

More pics with the little man...

Porter in the car on the way up...

On an entirely different note, Colin had his 6-month pediatrician appointment, and weighs just under 18 pounds (55th percentile) and is 27 inches long (75th percentile). He's healthy and developing just like he's supposed to. He's not a good sleeper, though, so we're working on that one. This getting up three times a night is getting a LITTLE old. We'll tackle the 30-minute naps later. But he's a good eater, that's for sure!
He's crawling all over the place and has the bumps and bruises on his head to prove it. He's always running into the chair legs or the couch or the table. And he's starting to pull himself up, too. Problem is, he doesn't know what to do once he gets up there, so he either cries or just lets go and falls. Poor thing looks all beat up, but it's not slowing him down one bit. He actually unplugged my vacuum cleaner the other day.

Yesterday Porter had a fun day--he went to a birthday party, then played with a friend, then we went to a family holiday party where he met a new friend and played some more. Later that night he said, "Mommy, I feel SO good!" I said, "Really? Why do you feel good?" He said, "My heart and my spirit just feel so happy together!"
So sweet...

Please sir, I want some more

2009-11-28T21:24:00.010-07:00

So Thanksgiving was pretty low-key around here--Dad, Kay, and Dallas all came over and we ate HAM. Yes, ham. Since I was doing the cooking I was looking for the easiest (and yet more acceptable than pizza) means of feeding everyone. It got even easier, as Britt put the ham in a Dutch oven in the backyard for a few hours. I didn't have to do anything with it except put away the leftovers. That's the way to do Thanksgiving! Although later in the day, Britt and Porter went down to the neighbors to say "hello", and didn't return for about 3 hours. Porter came back saying he ate a "second dinner" and that he had a "real Thanksgiving" over at their house with turkey and gravy. Hmmm... Ironic coming from the boy who's only daily request is a cheese sandwich. Who knew he had such a delicate palate?

And you can see here that Colin is enjoying a new food adventure, as well...

Yes, he does enjoy the green vegetables, doesn't he? I mean, just look at his face! You can tell he can't wait for another spoonful! :)

The day after Thanksgiving we went to a light parade in downtown Tempe, and Porter just loved it! We were lucky enough to run into some family friends, and we sat with them on the street. Porter finagled $5 from us for a "light saber" they were selling--you know, those wonderful toys that vendors walk around with so all the little children can say, "I want one!" (It's broken already, by the way...). Anyway, the parade was really cute and the kids just loved it.

Yes, that is THE Bert and Ernie!

One of the features of the parade is that the people who walk along with the floats will throw candy out to the crowd. The kids caught on to this really quickly.

Picture it: Porter and his little friends kneeling in the gutter along the street. Their arms are outstretched in front of them in beggar fashion, saying, "Me! Give some to me!" One gracious soul comes along and places candy in their open hands, while others simply throw candy towards the ground and watch the children scurry to pick up the treasures off the street.
Yes, it's like something out of "Oliver Twist". HA!

Another milestone we've reached here is that Colin is crawling now. Not with any proficiency yet, but he's scooting along and quickly moving from one spot to another. Just in time for Christmas! He's so proud of himself, he takes every opportunity he can to roll over and get up on his hands and knees. Even on the changing table he whips around and smiles at you like, "See what I can do?"
Let the baby-proofing begin!

The Dog with a Death Wish

2009-11-25T16:30:00.006-07:00

The title will make more sense in a minute...

Last weekend with Amy was awesome! She came into town and the whole family went for "divey" Mexican at Carolina's in Phoenix (can you feel the connection?? Amy's from North Carolina...we go eat at Carolina's...get it? Hmmm...it's a stretch, I know).

We exchanged some gifts, and she was nice enough to get some books for the boys and she made some bracelets for me. So cute! Britt didn't get anything, and he was really put-out. :) And so was Riley, apparently, because he took out his anger on Amy's personal items the next day. Just wait...

The next day we got pedicures, and ate lunch at In-N-Out (which Amy was so excited about, she took pictures of both the building and the food she ordered. I guess I'm spoiled--I just looked at my food before I ate it). We had scheduled to see "New Moon" a couple hours later and I tragically got a migraine while we were eating lunch! I wanted to shoot something, I was so mad! But I soldiered on, hitting it with caffeine, Advil, and about 45 minutes of down-time at home. I was NOT going to miss this movie!

When we did get home, Amy discovered that she has some things missing from her suitcase, namely some chocolate, Jolly Ranchers, and a big ol' bag of Red Vines. Yes, Riley managed to get his gift from Amy. In the backyard we found the remnants of the packaging--and Riley was walking very slowly. I was so embarrassed! My dog consumed enough candy to send himself into a diabetic coma. And not only did he eat all of it, he stealthily picked it from the bags of our houseguest, as if he owns the place and anyone inside it! Rotten dog...

But, I was still worried about him, and texted Britt while we were at the movie to make sure he was OK.
(He survived, but not without a horrible case of gas. Whew!)

Anyway, we went to see "New Moon" and it was SO great! Much better than Twilight--I actually left the movie thinking, "Oh yeah!" instead of "What have they done?" like the last one. We had fun, then went to dinner and met Amy's friend Lori who drove all the way from Peoria to see her.

Britt was wonderful and took care of the boys the whole weekend. And he didn't even strut around nude like he threatened to! :)

I had to pilfer Amy's photos because I was a lump and didn't take any of my own, so thanks for these, Amy!
I had a great weekend, it was so much fun, and now we have to plan it all again next June (darn it all!). Get ready, Britt... :)

New Moon rising

2009-11-15T18:11:00.004-07:00

First, I need to apologize to those of you who come here looking for cute pictures of babies or little boys, because, today, this post is going to be about me, my friend Amy, and a little movie coming out called "New Moon". (You can leave now, if you want. We'll have cute pictures again soon, I promise!)

I'm getting totally excited because my friend Amy is flying out here all the way from North Carolina to see New Moon with me on Saturday! If you know me, you might remember that I made the initial crazy trip to watch "Twilight" with her last year. If you don't remember...well... here's the story...

Amy was a girl I had only known through a message board--I had never actually met her, but we were online friends who seemed to have a lot in common (she's also adopted her two girls, and we are both freakishly fond of the Twilight series). Anyway, we were joking one day before the Twilight movie came out about how funny it would be to see the movie together, and she made a joke about how she had a futon I could use. Ha ha ha. Right?

Well, about a week later she sent me an email and said, "Well, did you ask your hubby about coming out to watch the movie with me?" I was like, "Uh...nooo... Were you being serious?" She said, "Heck yeah!" and I still didn't think this was for real. I mean, how could I explain this to Britt?
"Honey, I'd like to spend a few hundred dollars and leave you for the weekend to fly across the country to watch a movie with someone I've never met before. Is that cool?"

Well, that's exactly what I did. And the crazy husband said that, yes, indeed, it WAS cool.

So I went out to N.C. and met Amy and her awesome family, and she was brave enough to let a stranger stay in her house (I could have been an axe murderer for all she knew!). In fact, when I first saw her at the airport, she said, "You're taller than I thought you were!" Ha!

We had a blast for the weekend, and secretly began making plans for her reciprocal trip to Phoenix for the next installment of the movie series: New Moon. We had to keep it on the down-low because she needed to, shall we say, prepare her husband for her own version of "I'm flying across the country to see a movie..."

Which brings us to TODAY.

Within 5 days, Amy is coming out here, to Phoenix, and staying in my lovely little hovel, and putting up with the unusual amount of testosterone here. And we're excited about it!! For you see, this little obsession with Twilight allows us to enjoy things like this:

We're planning to see the movie on Saturday (after all the craziness of midnight previews and all that--although I think Amy would probably rather do that...). It's gonna be so much fun, and Britt is wonderful for putting up with all this "teenagery" giggling, and abandonment of my motherly duties for a day or two. (Edward may be hot, but he's got nothing on my man...) :)

So that's the excitement around here (at least in my life).
Now, go back to reality until next weekend...

Halloweenies

2009-11-05T15:44:00.009-07:00

I realize I'm almost a week behind, and everyone has already mentally moved-on to Thanksgiving (and Christmas! Eek!) but I wanted to at least post some pics from Halloween.

Porter was Jango Fett from Star Wars. Don't worry if you don't know who that is, but for those of us schooled in the finer details of all that is Star Wars, Jango Fett is a bounty hunter, Boba Fett's father, and the genetic model for all the Clones created on Geonosis. (And, by the way, I did NOT have to Google any of that. It's all up here [taps side of head]. Jealous of my useless knowledge?) Ah, the things you can learn from a 5-year-old...
He had a blast going trick-or-treating and actually roamed the neighborhood on two separate occasions. Plus, he had the trunk-or-treat over at the church earlier, so he really made out in the candy department!

Colin was a frog (or an alligator, or a pea pod, depending on who was looking at him). And thanks to my friend Kameron, he didn't have to wear a dog-costume this year! :) He looked totally adorable, and had no idea what was going on!

The Photo Shoot

2009-10-26T21:16:00.008-07:00

Well, we finally got our family photos taken. I have always dreamed of having those beautiful, outdoor pictures, where your kids are smiling and the photographer gets wonderful candid shots of you holding hands or giving kisses.

Yeah...

I must say, it didn't turn out too bad, considering the one child I was worried about (Colin) was a dream baby in front of the camera. It's so funny--I pull out the camera at home and he freezes up and just stares. But for the photographer, well, he was just working it. Again, he pulls the "show baby" on us...

My usual photogenic child (Porter) decided to style his own hair that day (he wants it "spiky" now), and for some reason he smiled with his chin jutting out, or with this "I'm a bad-ass" look in his eyes. *sigh*. We did manage to get him in his usual self in a few shots, and the ones of he and Colin together are super cute.

Britt, of course, looked handsome and exactly the same in all of them, and I managed to keep BOTH eyes open in all the pictures! Quite an achievement! (I am probably the least photogenic person I know.)

So, without further ado, here are some of the good ones...

Don't be surprised if you see any of these in your Christmas card this year!

Business in the front...

2009-10-13T16:37:00.008-07:00

Party in the back!
I just love Colin's hair!
It's all fluffy and wispy on the top, pretty much non-existent on the back, and then long and thick in this little patch on the very back. It's hilarious! I've had people stop me in the store and just giggle at how he's rubbed off his hair in the back. He should have quite the beautiful mullet in another year or so...

Colin has started eating rice cereal--I'm not sure which is more bland: cereal or formula. I've gotta think that kids just LOVE it when they finally start eating something with flavor, no matter what it is. He doesn't seem to mind, though. He likes having a full belly, and that cereal seems to fit the bill.
Just in time for Fall Break, Porter has a cold/cough/fever, so we've been taking it easy around here for awhile. He can't wait to go play with friends, and hopefully by tomorrow he'll be germ-free enough to do that. Needless to say, NONE of us has been getting nearly enough sleep for the last few nights. Ugh. I know why sleep deprivation is a form of torture...

But we did have this sweet moment earlier today:

Porter loves to read stories to Colin. And it's sweet of Colin to pretend to pay attention. :)

I'm in "Fall Cleaning" mode and coming up with all kinds of things I'd like to update around the house (most which I haven't shared with Britt yet). Hee hee! New exterior lights and replacing the awful vertical blinds on the arcadia door top the list, but we'll see what the budget will allow. We just got through with that new bathroom, so my Fall updates might be more "backyard barn" instead of Pottery Barn. Speaking of backyards, anyone need an old bathtub that's been sitting outside for the last four months? (Yeah, we're those people...) HA!

Can I call it or what?

2009-10-01T16:17:00.002-07:00

Today we took Colin for his 4-month pediatrician appointment. He's a solid 15 lbs. 13 oz., and is 25 inches long. And he feels every bit of it! He's healthy and developing on schedule, and we're gonna start him on rice cereal next week! Hopefully that will fill him up a little more and he can sleep better.
30-minute cat-naps are NOT cutting it! At the doctor's office this morning I was reading some papers that they gave me while I waited. They described what to expect from a 4-month-old, and said the following:

"Babies at this age typically sleep through the night, and usually nap between 4-6 hours during the day."

I actually laughed out loud. At the doctor.

I guess if I combined all the little naps we might get a total of 4 hours. And we usually sleep through the night (does waking up at 4:30 am count as through the night?). But we're making good progress, and he might just be too excited looking at the world to close his eyes and miss out on something.

Gumby faces

2009-09-28T19:35:00.008-07:00

DISCLAIMER:

No children's faces were harmed in the making of these pictures.

Porter wanted to make some goofy faces and take pictures. So here are his:

Elastic little guy, eh?

And then he wanted to take one of Colin. This was Colin's initial reaction:

It's amazing what those chubby cheeks will tolerate!

We laughed so hard at his little face! Colin didn't seem to mind, either! He thought it was great fun. I guess I should be prepared for many years of he and Porter making faces together.

But we've also got a cute one, too.

And on a different note, this afternoon Porter came home from school and, as usual, wanted to give Colin a kiss when he got home. I was holding Colin and leaned him over to let Porter give him a kiss. As soon as Porter's lips touched Colin's face, Colin spit up chunky formula cheese--right into Porter's mouth! Porter pulled away: "EWWWWW!!!" with formula all over his face and ran to the sink. I'm laughing hysterically at the whole scene, and luckily Porter was laughing, too. Colin was just...well, hanging out wondering what we were all laughing about.

Ahhh...the joys of babies, no?

My son--the social drinker

2009-09-24T09:12:00.003-07:00

Britt has a group of LandCruiser friends who get together for camping and cavorting in the wilderness. Last weekend they had a desert clean-up scheduled where they all go out and pick up the garbage in a particular area, and just generally try to make the planet a little cleaner. It's a good family activity, and also a good excuse to get everyone together and grunt and scratch and be manly for a couple days. :)

Anyway, Britt took Porter on this camping trip, and he always has a good time running around with the other kids and playing in the stream. He got dirty and ate junk and didn't get nearly enough sleep--basically, the perfect weekend for a 5-year-old.

One of the dads that came up brought up some root beer for his family. Porter was thirsty, and saw what the other kids were drinking, so he walked up to this man and asked,
"Can I have a beer?"
The guy looks at him, laughing, and says, "You want what?"
Porter says, "Do you have a beer for me, too?"

Hmmm...I promise he's not getting any of the "hard stuff" at our house. But Britt thought it was so funny that he had to go buy some Virgil's Root Beer (in the glass bottles) to share with Porter last night. *sigh*
Here's to you! [clink]

Houston--we have a date

2009-09-18T16:03:00.004-07:00

We finally received word this week on our final court date to make Colin's adoption completely official. February 3, 2010.
It seems like it's a long way off, but I know it's going to fly by, with the holidays and everything. And it's only 4 days before Britt's birthday, so that will be a nice present for him! Unfortunately, using a private attorney didn't shave any off any wait time like we had with Porter's adoption (apparently the courts are only doing adoption stuff once a month, so it's just where you end up on the list) but we're glad that everyone's "t's" are crossed and "i's" are dotted. Woo Hoo! And we're SO thankful to our attorney/neighbor/friends The Williams' for all their help!

If you were around when we had Porter's adoption finalized, you might remember we had an "It's Official" party for him at a local park. We're planning to do the same thing with Colin, and since it will be in February, the weather will be perfect enough to do something outdoors again. I remember last time with Porter's party, the wind was blowing really hard that day, and I had all these balloons strung up around our little gazebo at the park. We had a "puppy" theme and everything (not that Porter remembers ANY of it...). I was so mad! I was thinking, "No one will come with weather like this!" But they did! It was so great to have all our friends and family there to celebrate with us.

I also remember that this was during Porter's "I only want Daddy" phase, so that's probably why he looks so unhappy in the picture here!

We're all doing well, and we're happy and healthy. Colin is closing-in on his 4-month birthday and we're planning his visit to the pediatrician. That boy can eat, that's for sure! He's got to be close to 15 pounds--each of his legs probably weighs 5 pounds a piece! Ha! Thunder thighs! It looks cute on him--not so much on me, thank you very much. :)
His acid reflux seems to be under control and even the cradle cap is clearing up. Yeah! His little fingernails are the sharpest instruments of torture I've ever seen. And they grow, like, every three days! I'm gonna start calling him Wolverine... Ha!

Porter is learning how to read and write, and brings home tons of worksheets he's been completing in school. He's having school pictures in a couple weeks--I can't wait! I was talking to him about what nice shirt he could wear for pictures, and he says, "I could wear my Star Wars t-shirt!!"
*sigh* The same Star Wars t-shirt he searches for every week in the laundry.
Don't be surprised if you see Luke Skywalker peeking out from the t-shirt on the grinning Porter. :)

Life and times

2009-09-06T10:11:00.007-07:00

So yesterday Britt got fed-up with our cell phone provider and ditched them. Then he went to T-Mobile and got himself a new toy (that new "myTouch 3G" Google phone), which now gives him endless opportunities for "organizing" himself. Right, honey? You're more organized now? :) He keeps coming out and telling me all the new applications he's discovering. How long will this time of research and discovery continue? We may never know...

I'm still waiting for my new phone, mostly because I'm a spoiled brat and didn't like the pink one he brought home yesterday. I'm not getting that fancy-schmancy phone, but something else, for sure. Oh, and the numbers are still the same, in case you were wondering...

Colin gave us his first honest-to-goodness laugh this week! I was changing his diaper, and then started chomping his little toes to get him to smile. Then he busted out with a laugh and my heart just about burst! I picked him up and ran to where Britt was putting Porter to bed, and tried to replicate the giggle. "He laughed! I swear he just laughed. Watch this. C'mon, I know you can laugh!" But, alas, we haven't had a laugh since then. He can do it, though!

He's also started to push up on his arms when he's on his tummy. For the longest time, when you lay him on his stomach, he'd just lay there and cry like you had committed a personal offense against him. It was so pathetic. "Why? Why did you lay me like this? Oh, the humanity!" But now he's pushing up and looking around, which will be great when he can start sitting up on his own and crawling. One step at a time...

Porter is doing great in school, and loves riding the bus (who would have thought?). He comes home with some crazy stories, and it's hard to know what's for real and what he's making up.
"Today we had a fire in my classroom!"
"Today someone came to school and played Star Wars music while we ate lunch!"
"I squished a bug today because all the girls were screaming."
"Susie and Betty want to chase us and kiss us on the playground, so I have to be at school today."

Well, yes, by all means, you'd better not disappoint the ladies...

We're also trying to implement a system of chores and allowance for him--he doesn't seem too interested in figuring out what the chores will be, but he wants to know about this new bank I bought him and how much money will go in it. Hmmm...

I recently got "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins, and I'm excited to read that. I've got to finish "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles first, since my friend loaned it to me several months ago, and I wasted so much time with "The Time Traveler's Wife". I'm still angry about that book! :)

And one of these days I'll get the ironing done. I promise.

Life is hard when you're 5

2009-08-30T07:55:00.007-07:00

Yesterday was a rough day for Porter. He's already tired from all week at school, and he's got the sniffles, too. Then he had an all-day playdate marathon with his friend, Moss, so he was extra tired.
The boys were playing over here yesterday and, being the conscientious mommy that I am, I left them in the living room with a Star Wars movie to put up some wall decor in Colin's room. When I came back to the living room, I found the boys splashing in lemonade in front of the TV. On the floor. On the play table. All over their feet and hands. (Did I mention that I had just mopped the floor not 3 hours earlier??). I was not happy. No, I was not happy.

Porter was giddy. And continued laughing and splashing after I told him to stop. Then as I dragged him to his room, he flopped at my side, laughing and smearing his sticky, lemonade-y hands along the walls.
Sticky lemonade was everywhere.
And before you think he's just expressing his youthful exuberance, you should know that he had been laughing at pretty much everything I asked him to do yesterday. Yes, that little smirk that says, "Whatever...Mom..." and makes you want to shred a dishtowel with your teeth.

So Porter was banished to his room for a few minutes, and eventually came out sniffling and hiccuping with tears on his cheeks. He defiantly walked up to me and said, "I want to tell you something."
I stopped and knelt in front of him. "Yes?"
"I wanted to tell you that you and Daddy just 'hired' me so you could be mean to kids!"

It's those moments where you don't want to laugh because they are SO serious, but at the same time, what they're saying is so funny. I told him, first, that we didn't "hire" him, and that we loved him very much. Next, that Daddy and I were not trying to be mean, but he has consequences when he makes a wrong choice. And one of those consequences was that he got to mop the floor (again) and clean up his mess. He was sorry, and I was sorry for getting so upset. We "hugged it out", and went to bed a little earlier last night. :)
After awhile he was actually happy to mop the floor (who knew?).

And now, just for good measure, I'll throw in a few pics of Colin, who only makes messes in his pants, and occasionally on the front of his shirt. And sometimes on my shoulder. Or on my pants. Sometimes on the floor. And the couch...

Nothing special...just new stuff

2009-08-23T18:02:00.006-07:00

I'm taking advantage of the sleeping baby and the little boy watching a Star Wars movie to make some updates here. Seems like every time I want to get on here something pops up to stop me, usually my own lack of motivation. ha! Seriously, it's all about priorities, right?

We survived 5 days without Britt while he took a business trip to San Francisco. He made the time much more bearable by sending me a dozen roses with a pint of Ben and Jerry's (sorry ladies, he's taken!), and he had a package sent to Porter, as well. Porter loves getting mail, so Britt got him a couple Star Wars things and sent them to us FedEx. Porter was concerned that he be home "to sign for the package" since it was addressed to him. :)
In Daddy's absence, we went and saw "Ice Age 3" and that was a good time. I was taking a chance by bringing Colin with us, but as long as I filled him up and held him he just slept. Whew! Probably won't be able to do that much longer.
Porter also got to visit with his friend, Max, who was in town from Salt Lake. Those two always pick up right where they left off, even when they don't see each other for months. It's really fun to see them play together.

I went to "curriculum night" at Porter's school (I know--"curriculum" for kindergarten? Well, it's still nice to know what they're doing...). I wandered around his classroom and saw all the things he's been doing for the last two weeks. They have a little "journal" they write in (usually it's just a picture and a word that describes it). Porter's journal had two entries in it: one was about playing on the swings on the playground, and the other was about how he hit his eye one morning before school. I can't wait to see what other things stick out in his mind...

So things are good--it's still too flippin' hot, but I can't do much about that. I've been reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" because I've been wanting to see what all the hub-bub was about. All I can say is: "Meh." It's an interesting concept (traveling through time and seeing your spouse and yourself at different points in time) but the story is pretty crude in places, and the character development is lacking. Too many f-bombs. I don't see the "romance" everyone seems to see in it. Oh well. I know what to read if I'm looking for romance... :)

Kickin' it, elementary school

2009-08-10T19:56:00.010-07:00

I knew it was going to happen. Since last May I've been counting on it, and since this summer has been SO long and SO miserable, I've actually been looking forward to it. But, finally, it happened today.
Porter started kindergarten. And he LOVES it!

He woke up at 5:30 this morning (yes, that is 5:30 a.m.--the boy was excited). He got himself dressed, ate breakfast, got his stuff together. Then proceeded to follow me through the house whining, "When can we go to the bus stop???" I told him that if he didn't get up so early he wouldn't have to wait so long. But we finally made it to the bus stop and met a few neighborhood friends.

The bus showed up and Porter was the first one in line to get on. He just walked up to the doors, and stepped on inside. He never looked back. Sat in the very front seat. Then all the other kids filed-on and the bus drove away. And then I promptly burst into tears.

Dang it! I had managed to keep my cool all morning, then watching that bus drive away made me realize just how grown up my sweet little boy is. But I was able to go to the school this afternoon and help to get all the kids back on the right buses to go home. I went to Porter's classroom, and he eventually realized I was there. He says, "Mommy! I'm not going home with YOU! I'm taking the bus, remember?" Well, yes, I'm actually here to help you get on the right bus, dear one. :) Then later today he said, "I can't wait to go to school tomorrow!"

Wasn't he just learning how to walk last week? It's gone by so fast. It's kind of a bittersweet time. Part of me misses that "little boy" aspect that I will never see from him again. The other part of me is excited to see him take advantage of the new opportunities before him, to watch him learn and grow. And I know he's going to learn some hard lessons: someone will be mean to him; someone will make fun of him for something; he's going to learn that he is not the center of the universe. He's actually been learning that last lesson for about the last three months--thanks to Colin... :)

But just when I think that Porter's "little boy" days are behind him, he does something like this that gives me hope for many more years of shenanigans.

I present to you: Harry Porter!!

We love you, Sweet P.

Don't squeeze the baby...

2009-08-01T15:36:00.005-07:00

This picture pretty much sums-up Porter and Colin's relationship:

I love the look on Colin's face here! "Please...Porter...(gasp)...my eyes are...bugging out... Unclench a little...Please..." Ha!
And then there's Porter: "I just want to hold him, can I hold him? Please? Can I hold him?"

This one is a little more like it:

BTW, we took Colin to his two-month appointment and he weighs an even 12 lbs., and is 23 inches long. He's healthy, and in the 50th percentile for both. And last night, after the drama of the doctor, he slept for 8 hours! Yippee! Now, what excuse can I use for being tired...?

Mommy, here's the deal

2009-07-26T20:57:00.006-07:00

So our little man, Porter, is a big boy. We've always known that. We took him to the doctor last week for his annual check up--the child weighs 52 pounds and is 3 inches shy of being 4 feet tall! I couldn't believe it. Well, actually, I can believe it, because I can't hardly lift him anymore. That might have something to do with the Mini-One that requires that we hold him all the time, lest he unleash the fury that we call "Mr. High Maintenance". So I've been experimenting by doing most everything with one hand, least of which is lifting Porter. I think I'd be pretty capable if I should ever lose the use of one arm (as long as it's my left arm--I still need the right one for writing...). But I hope it never comes to that. :)

So Porter is big and wonderful and social, and helps me learn things that I never thought I would. He's incredibly observant, and uses my own material against me. For example: from the time that Porter started talking (and hanging around other children) we've told him that saying "stupid" wasn't a nice thing to do. It just sounds so ugly coming out of his sweet face. So, if anyone has ever driven with me anywhere, you probably know that I have conversations with other drivers that they are completely unaware of. I blame my dad--he does the same thing. Sometimes, I say things that are...ahem...not appropriate for Sunday School, "stupid" sometimes being one of them. Of course, while Porter is in the car, I tone it down, but occasionally the word stupid slips out.
"Mommy," he says with a disapproving tone. "You're not allowed to say 'stupid'." Yes, thank you sweetie, I'm sorry. I guess those rules go both ways, don't they?

He likes to make "deals"--something he learned from me, too. When he was younger, I would try to convince him to do something I wanted him to do by making "deals" with him.
"O.K., here's the deal. If you clean up your room, you can have a Popsicle. " Usually it worked and I thought I was so smart! Only lately he's started using them himself when he's not getting what he wants.
For example, we're at Target the other day and he wants me to buy him a toy. "No," I tell him, "you just had a birthday and your room is full of toys." He begs for a few minutes, which doesn't work, and then proceeds to use logic on me. "OK, Mommy, here's the deal. You buy me a toy and I will give you my old light saber." Well, as tempting an offer as that is, it didn't work, but he's sure giving it a good shot. I've gotta give him credit for trying all the angles! (But having my own light saber would be pretty sweet...)

Colin is a sweetheart, and is now 2 months old. He usually sleeps in a good 5-6 hour stretch at night (woot woot!) and is a good eater. Everyone comments on how cute he is--you should see how everyone just stares at him in church. Of course, today they stared for a different reason. I was holding him on my lap and he was starting to fuss a little. So I turned him around to face me, and as soon as he saw my face, he spewed projectile formula all over the front of me. It was like it shot out of his mouth first, then dribbled all down the front of him. Ugh. Ten minutes later, I got to get up in front of everyone and say the closing prayer. Pretty lady...

But he is a sweet little baby, and we love him so much. We are completely in love with the smiles and "happy baby noises" he makes now. He says "ah-goo" and "haaa". Even when he cries it sounds like "MEH!" (Homer Simpson would be proud...). We're taking him for his 2-month doctor appointment this week--he's getting some shots, so we'll see which "happy baby noises" he makes after that. :)

Turning a Corner

2009-07-13T20:49:00.007-07:00

I think we may have found the magic formula! After several weeks of experimenting with different kinds, I think that Good Start might be the one! Colin seems to be doing better with this one (i.e. not crying so much) and actually seems like he can handle a little bit more. He'll finish off the bottle, and when you take it out of his mouth, he keeps sucking at the air for a few seconds. And before he gets fed, he makes these little smacking noises like, "Oh, yeah, dinner's coming!"

We've also started calling him a "Show Baby" because of his behavior around other people. He saves all of his crying for home time, because when we're out, he's all smiles and cuteness for everyone else. Today I had a Relief Society meeting at my house--he slept for the entire two hours we were there. As everyone was leaving they said, "Oh, he's just so perfect! Look how he slept the whole time!" I said, "As soon as you leave, he'll start squawking, I guarantee it." Sure enough, not 5 minutes later he woke up and started crying. Of course, some of that may have to do with his big brother who is obsessed with kissing and hugging this little guy. But it's really wonderful to see how Porter just loves being a big brother. Today he said, "I think if I was gone for three weeks that Colin would miss me." Umm...yes...I think he would. But, where are you going for three weeks?? :)

It's become so sweet for us to interact with Colin lately--he's started smiling at us, and it's just the most amazing thing to feel that connection. And it's so stinkin' cute!! Of course, we haven't been able to get a picture of it yet, but we're stalking him with the camera and will hopefully get something good. It's crazy the things we'll do to get a smile out of him now--all the loopy voices and faces we'll make. Hmmm...maybe we should take pictures of that, too.

Britt has started teaching his online computer-networking class last week, and he's...uh...enjoying it. He's really been working hard to get the class up and running, and has struggled with a lot of system issues. But it's a great resume-enhancer, and he's enjoying a new challenge, like always.

I've been doing the mommy-thang, taking care of stuff on the homefront. Tomorrow I've "invited" my brother over to help me paint the baby's room (which essentially means that I need someone to either do the painting or run interference with the boys). I'm anxious to get that room all set-up and ready to go, now that Britt has moved his office out of there. It's going to be green and brown with a monkey theme! I hope it's cute!

Porter and I are also initiating a "Mommy and Porter" date night once a month. The other day he made a comment about how he didn't get time with me anymore, and it put the "Mommy guilt" in full swing. I suggested that we do something once a month, just the two of us, and he gets to pick what we do. He wants to see the new Harry Potter movie that opens this week, so we're gonna see if we can keep Daddy home with the baby, and go have some fun together. I'm excited to spend some time with him!

Anyway, that's about it for now. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the "Toy Monster" has made his way through the house for several nights, and has "eaten" a few things. Luckily, with a broken dishwasher, Porter has had lots of opportunities to wash dishes and earn his toys back! Tonight he actually said that he wanted to leave his toys out so he could do the dishes to earn them back! Whaaaa...???

Potty Talk

2009-07-08T20:37:00.013-07:00

Well, it may seem weird, but we're pretty excited about our new bathroom! I've hated the shower and bathtub in the master bathroom since we moved-in seven years ago, but it was never a high priority to change it. Until last year when we discovered a leak under the tub, and we capped-off the plumbing to the tub to stop the leak. Well, now we had a good reason to actually do something, but we just didn't: a) have an idea of what we wanted to do; b) have the money available to do it; and c) put the time into changing either a) or b). (Please note that when I say "we" in the previous scenario, I'm actually referring to myself. Britt does, in fact, provide the funds, but wasn't interested in perusing the tile and fixture ideas in Bathroom Today magazine. That was my job.).
Anyway, almost 9 months later we finally got an estimate from a remodeling company to rip out the tub and shower, and turn it into one big shower area. After the hysterical laughter died down at the estimate, we asked my Dad and brother (who do this sort of thing) if they would give us the "friends and family" discount. Little did they know what they were getting into...

Britt and I picked out the tile and did some rough sketches with my bro on what we wanted. We moved the direction of the shower head, and walled-up the toilet area so it's just it's own little room. Then we built an entrance to the shower from the bathroom walkway with two pony walls topped with glass, and we added a bench at the end of the shower. Everything got tiled (at an angle, I might add), and we replaced the plain old window with a big glass-block window. (Please note that when I say "we" in the previous scenario, I actually mean my dad and brother. I supervised and provided refreshment.)

Since there were only two of them, and I requested something rather time-consuming, it took about a month to complete. Luckily, we were gone for two weeks of that, so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience--for us, at least. So, without further ado, I present: BATHROOM!

In the pictures, when you enter the shower you turn to the left around the corner to get to the shower head. This has been a big project for everyone, and I'm so thankful to my dad and brother for their skills and willingness to work under such harsh conditions (i.e. seeing me first thing in the morning). Seriously, they are talented and I'm so thrilled with my new bathroom! The pictures don't do it justice. Now you can contact them for all your plumbing/remodeling needs... :)

The Secret Formula

2009-07-03T20:22:00.002-07:00

Yesterday we took Colin for his one-month check-up. We've got a 10 pounder, folks! He's a big boy, and is stretching out, too, at 21 1/2 inches long. He behaved himself at the doctor (even though he had to get naked to be weighed) and Porter enjoyed the wait, too, by playing with a half dozen tongue depressors. Anything can be a light saber!!

We're still trying to find the magic formula for Colin to get over the crankies and settle down. We're trying our third formula to see how he reacts, but the doctor said it might take a few days to see how he does. We're keeping him on the schedule (which he's doing well with) and trying to get him to sleep more than two hours at a time. We're also doing some neck-stretching exercises, as one side of his neck muscules are stronger than the other side. He gets floppy with his neck, so we're using a little neck pillow for him to sleep with and use in the car seat.

And, as if that weren't enough, our little man has cradle cap! Ugh! (I swear--I feel like a terrible mother! But none of this is my fault!) LOL. If you don't know what that is, it's like flaky dandruff on the baby's scalp. We've got to put mineral oil on it, wash it with soap, and brush all the flakies out every day. Eventually it will go away, and it doesn't bother him--he just looks like he's got dandruff. Lovely.

Porter is all recovered from his birthday party, and seems to think that the entire house is his toy box. We had a discussion last night about the "Toy Monster" and how this monster will come through the house on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights after he goes to bed and take whatever toys he's left around the house. These toys will be donated if he doesn't do something to earn them back (like clean his room or help keep the bathroom clean). This might sound mean, but I'm so tired of stepping on miniature plastic guns, Legos, and weird little "treasures" that he accumulates (rolled-up pieces of foil?? Really??). So far the "monster" hasn't made an appearance, so we'll see how it goes...

Kids, kids, everywhere...

2009-06-27T20:25:00.010-07:00

Today we had Porter's 5th birthday party--complete with all the Star Wars you can handle! We mistakenly thought that having a "small" party at the house would save us time and money. HA HA HA! Silly people! It was fun having Porter's friends over because they are all good kids, you just have to lower your expectations from the classic Pottery Barn catalog picnic. (Does anyone really have those little kids' parties complete with starched white shirts and dogs that sit peacefully next to a plate full of fondant-covered birthday cake?). But I digress...

We started by dressing up as Jedi trainees, and ended with a Darth Vader pinata, so I guess it wasn't all bad. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, we had "Yoda Sodas" and "Padawan Pizza" (I forgive you if you don't know what that means--mothers of girls usually look at me like I'm from the Dark Side) but if you had heard the chanting of "Yo-da So-da, Yo-da So-da" you would know that the kids get it. :) All the kids wore giant white t-shirts with black ropes around their middles, and brought the light sabers (if they had them). Otherwise they got pool noodles with duct tape-covered "handles". Clever, no? We had Jedi tests where they had to identify what pictures and smells were, and we also had a game of "Pin the Chest Plate on Darth Vader". The hit was the Darth Vader pinata, which I must say, was pretty cool. It didn't take long to make short work of the decapitated Darth, and the candy frenzy resulted in at least one injury. Not to worry, though, merely a flesh wound. :) We followed that with pizza and birthday cake, and that was that. Porter had a great time, and was SO happy that all of his friends could come play with him. Because that's essentially what it was--a giant play date with his friends. Which is great.
We're so lucky to have such good neighbors and friends who care about us. I've been so amazed at the out-pouring we've seen of people who want to give us gifts or help us with babysitting. It's really humbling to be on the receiving end of service, and I'm so thankful for these people in our lives.

Today is also little Colin's one-month birthday, and as I'm writing this he's been screaming in Britt's arms for the last 30 minutes. Yes, it's that wonderful acid reflux and nothing we do seems to make him happy sometimes. Like right now. Britt is a saint with this kind of thing--my eye started twitching after about 5 minutes, but Britt handles it really well. Maybe it's the Mommy-thing: you hear a crying baby and you've got to do whatever it takes to make it stop. :)

Otherwise, Colin is doing really well. He's getting bigger and you can see him starting to fill-out and grow. We had to take out the head-rest in his car seat because he's too long for it now. He's starting to make little cooing noises and really pay attention to your face while you talk to him. We're waiting for the first "real" smile, which seems like it could be any day now. We've got lots of little half-smiles and grins while he sleeps, but we're waiting for the smile as a reaction to something we say or do.
We're taking him in to his one-month doctor appointment next week, and we're expecting him to have gained some good weight and height. At his two-week appointment he was up to 8 lbs. 2 oz., so he's definitely gaining weight.
We make jokes about how stealthy his personality is: he gets around people and visitors, and just sleeps and coos. People say, "Oh, he's such a sweet little baby. He's so peaceful and calm." And we're thinking, "Uh, yeah, would you like to stop by around 3:00 a.m. and see how peaceful he is?" Ha! He saves it up for us, I'm sure of it. :)

Ah--now the crying has stopped. He seems to have worn himself out. And just in time for the next bottle. Whew!

We're looking forward to some down-time after the birthdays and doctor visits are done for a month. But then the preparations get started for the first day of kindergarten. I can't believe my sweet baby is old enough for that already!
Oh, and the bathroom is finished! It looks so nice! We'll get some pics up soon--before and after, you know.

Bigger every day!

2009-06-18T10:52:00.005-07:00

Colin is three weeks old now, and he's already looking bigger and older. He's had a traumatic week--we took him to get his 2nd PKU test done (blood, ugh), we've been regulating his bottles every two hours (we had an intervention--his drinking was getting out of control), and a couple days ago he got (GULP) circumcised. He's probably wondering, "What are these people doing to me?" He's doing well on all counts and healing up quite nicely. Although he has been shooting me some dirty looks lately...
He has been crying a lot lately (really?) and the doctor thinks he might have acid reflux, so we're trying to be a little more stringent about his eating. Previously he was "snacking" all day, and that was getting pretty exhausting. He was crying, anyway, and we weren't sure why, so the pediatrician gave us some ideas to try. He's doing better, but still HATES to wait for his food. It's probably his most-hated thing, outside of being naked.
And last night (drum roll please) he slept for 5 STRAIGHT HOURS!! It was amazing! I woke up and thought, "Wait a minute. Did I already get up? Did Britt get up? Why aren't I more tired?" We're hoping for a repeat performance tonight, but we'll wait and see...

We're also planning for Porter's 5th birthday party in another week or so. He wanted to have a "Star Wars" theme, so we're getting decorations and things ready for that. We've got a plan to have all his little friends go through "Jedi Training" at the party, with all of them participating in activities to test their Jedi powers. Then we'll have "Yoda Sodas" and "Padawan Pizza". I hope it's fun--I haven't had a lot of time to plan it, so we'll see if we have a little revolt on our hands if the kids get too bored.

And our bathroom is almost complete! Yippee! It will be so nice to move back in there. We're getting the glass block window installed today, and then the floor of the shower done in the next day or two. Then is should be finished. I'm sure you're all waiting for pics... Ha! Don't worry--we'll get bathroom pics up soon enough!

More things to look at...

2009-06-14T19:53:00.005-07:00

Just to add some more pics to mix:

And I like this one because of Colin's face--it's so funny if you can see it! And Porter took this picture--not too bad, eh?

This is me and my friend, Leslie, who lives in Idaho Falls. Thanks to Facebook, we re-connected and she got us in touch with Colin's birthparents. She is awesome!

Home at Last!!

2009-06-09T20:13:00.009-07:00

We are home!! It was a long drive, but we got the word on Monday a.m. that we could head back to AZ and we jumped in the van (which is in serious need of detailing) and got home late last night. We actually made pretty good time, considering we were traveling with a newborn and a 4-year-old who kept asking, "Are we there yet?" It's so nice to be back and to get settled. Of course, we're gluttons for punishment and have a master bathroom in the middle of being remodeled, so things are quite a mess around here. But it's turning out great, and my dad and brother are working hard to get it finished for us. Once it's all done we'll have a beautiful bathroom.
But getting on to more important matters, I can FINALLY post pictures of our sweet little Colin! He's keeping us up at night, but he's a good little boy. He loves to eat, and will let you know when he's hungry (if you're the investment kind of person, I would suggest "Similac" as your next purchase). He's a sweet little boy and loves to be held and snuggled.
He makes funny little faces, especially while he's sleeping. And Porter LOVES being a big brother. That boy always wants to hold the baby, or feed the baby, or kiss the baby. He's learning how to be more gentle, but I have a feeling that Colin is going to learn how to hold his own pretty quickly. :)
We managed to have some fun while in Boise, visiting with family and friends and keeping Porter occupied. He got to visit cousin Michael's "pizza factory" and make a pizza, and go to the Discovery Center with Grandma and Daddy. We also took a walk around Julia Davis Park where Colin got to show off his sweet new sunglasses. It's also where Britt took Porter for a balancing act across a fallen log, and ended up losing his shoe to the raging current of the Boise River. They were both a little wet for the trip, and Britt said he felt like a 12-year-old.
We ate out A LOT, and I'm really looking forward to slowing down and getting some home-cooking going. Of course, that means that we're having friends bring us meals for the next few days (ha!). I had forgotten how many things you can't get done when there's a baby around the house--they don't seem very demanding, but they are stealthy, those newborns. Just when you try to sit down and type up a blog entry-- BLAMMY! --they poo their pants and expect you to do something about it. :)
Anyway, things are good and crazy and we feel like we don't really have control over anything like we used to. Basically, like we've got a new baby. And I'd better wrap this up before the effects of sleep-deprivation make me start typing something really strange. Keep checking back for more pictures.

Holding Pattern

2009-06-06T13:19:00.002-07:00

Well, we're still hanging out in Idaho waiting to get the green light to go home. Apparently someone in the AZ bureaucracy didn't like the paperwork they were sent, and we're waiting until the "right" stuff can be faxed to them. Gotta love government. And it's now the weekend, so you know nothing is getting done until Monday. *sigh*
In the meantime, we're getting lots of personal time with our little Colin, and Porter is loving being a big brother. We took Colin to the pediatrician a few days ago for a check up and he's doing well. He's up to 7 lbs. 5 ozs. and shows no signs of slowing down (if the rate he's eating keeps up!). He's not tongue-tied, as was a concern, and he's a healthy little boy. The only time he really cries is when he's hungry or naked (but then, wouldn't YOU cry if you were hungry or naked without your consent??) :) Diaper changes have to be quick or he kicks it up a notch. He's a pretty good sleeper--he gets up quite a bit during the night, of course, and for some reason, he likes to stay awake between the 3:00 am to 4:00 am hour. He just hangs out, rooting for a bottle and looking around for about an hour. Not much to see then, but I guess that doesn't matter to him! Luckily Britt and I have been "tag teaming" during the night so between the two of us we might have a cohesive thought in the morning. :)
Porter has been a real trooper through all of this. We've been trying to keep him busy and doing fun things so this seems like more of a vacation for him, and he's such a good sport. He's played with cousins, gone to the park, went to a movie, and the discovery center in Boise. He "helps" quite a bit with Colin. Yesterday he cried about wanting to go home, which made me cry about wanting to go home. He wants to see his little friends and sleep in his own bed. I do to. :) And Britt has been a great "hunter-gatherer" for us--he solves all the problems as they come and doesn't even freak out (i.e. dead battery in the car yesterday). I'm thankful for him and his steady brain.
Hopefully we'll get home soon and I can post up some pictures. And I'm so excited for the ward baby shower next week! I go to church with some awesome ladies!

Pictures coming soon...

Baby Boy!

2009-06-01T09:38:00.002-07:00

First off, I need to apologize for not having pictures to post right now. We didn't bring the cords to connect the computer to the camera, so they'll get posted later.
Second off, this will be a quick post because I'm tired, barely conscious of what I'm writing, and not even sure what day it is, but I wanted to put something out here. We're in a hotel room in Boise, ID with our brand new baby boy! He was born on May 27th, at 7:11 am, weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz. (we kinda like all those 7's--we've got those in the family already!). We had placement on Saturday the 30th, and what an exhausting day. It's a beautiful experience, but so hard to sit with people who so obviously love this little baby, and are making the biggest sacrifice for him to have a good life. We love our little boy's birthfamily and pray for them.
We drove out to Boise to visit with Britt's family, and plan to stay here until we're told we can go home. Luckily we've got a wonderful hotel room, so staying here isn't so bad. But I'm still anxious to be home and get "nested".
Third, we're thinking naming this little guy "Colin". It seems to fit him, and it's a name that has always stuck with me since I started thinking about it.
So that's the main updates for now--I promise to get pictures and other things up as soon as I can. It's just hard living out of a suitcase right now! Hope to see you soon!

Farmer Brown Graduates

2009-05-24T08:44:00.007-07:00

Well, it's official--Porter is growing up way too fast. This last week we went to his preschool graduation ceremony from Happy Apple preschool. We were also entertained by the play his class put on, where Porter had the lead role as "Farmer Brown". We practiced for weeks! He was so proud of his performance--each child held a little stick figure with their character on it and said their lines (with some prompting, of course). They held it in the front yard of the school. It was so cute! And if I can figure out how to get a video clip in here, I'll do it!
He also went through a little graduation ceremony and got a trophy and certificate. It was nice of Grandpa, Uncle Dallas, and Aunt Judy to witness all the festivities too. We're so proud of him! He's learned so much this last year, and is starting to read a lot better. He likes to sit with his "Curious George" book and read the stories. Of course, much of this time he's just memorized the story, but he's starting to recognize the words and read them, too. He doesn't understand that he's on summer vacation now and wants to keep going to school! Kindergarten will come soon enough, I know. He'll be going to all-day kindergarten (which I'm not totally thrilled about, but that's our only choice now) and will be riding a bus to school, but I think he'll really love it! Mommy is still getting used to the idea... Ha!

We're all waiting on pins and needles for news of our little boy to be born up in Idaho. We've been in contact with his birthparents this last week and everything seems to be going well. As soon as we hear, we'll pack up the van and start heading up there. I'm obsessed with making sure we've got everything for the trip--and then I realize that we're still going to be in civilization and can buy something if we need it! Duh. We'll probably have to stay up there for at least a week and a half, waiting for the interstate compact to be signed by Idaho and Arizona. Porter is getting excited--he asks things like, "Will my baby try to pull my hair?" or "Will the baby cry at night?" Uh, yeah. There will be crying. :)
And, no, we still haven't decided on a name. We've got a list of about 6 names that sound good, and we'll see which one fits this little dude the best.
More updates coming soon!

"It's because I wear a shirt outside"

2009-05-19T07:40:00.007-07:00

Girls' weekend in Palm Springs was fantastic! Even though the weather was just as hot as in Phoenix, it didn't seem as hot (maybe because of the "good sun" in California vs. the "bad sun" in AZ). Hanging out by the pool helped out, too!
On the drive out, our poor friend Penny finally divulged that she was feeling sorta car sick, but a quick stop for Dramamine and a potty break got us back on the road. Our accommodations were SO sub-par that I don't think I can ever stay there again (can you feel the sarcasm?). Seriously, such a wonderful place (thanks Kameron and Karen!). A concierge to help us open the patio doors? A kitchen stocked with groceries when we get there? Bentleys and Mercedes' in the parking garage? Are we spoiled or what?
After some time spent at the pool, where Jackie came dangerously close to being impaled on a patio umbrella, we lazed around and eventually found our way to dinner. Mexican food--yum.
Then we stayed up 'til about 2:00 am talking and laughing.
Our next day was pretty much the same, except Kameron woke up before the rest of us and made us all breakfast. Seriously?? I could get used to this! The other girls went to go work-out that morning. I took advantage of my clothing deficiencies and stayed back at the room to read and get cleaned-up for the day. After a quick trip to the local store buying salsa and no chips, we ate lunch on the patio, and went for another trip down to the pool. My farmer tan was a topic of conversation ("Is it because you wear a shirt outside?" Why, yes, I DO wear a shirt outside! Jackie is CRAY-ZAY!) Reading entertainment magazines and various other things that Kameron brought along, as well as Julia showing us her sweet synchronized swimming moves, made the time pass way too quickly, and soon it was time to get back up to the room so we could go eat again! (Are you seeing a trend here?)
Jackie took us down to the "hot spots" of Palm Springs, and we walked around until we found a B-grade Italian restaurant. It wasn't our goal to find a B-grade Italian restaurant, but it's where we ended up. Service was bad, but food was good, and we all went into a carb-coma.
We still managed to stay up late and talk, this time making it an early night at 1:00 am. :) I could share what we talked about all weekend, but we vowed to follow the Vegas rule: "What happens in Palm Springs, stays in Palm Springs".
The next day we had to sadly return home and get back to reality. It was such a relaxing, wonderful, fun trip. No time constraints, nowhere to go, and plenty of talking with great friends. We're planning to make it an annual thing! Britt and Porter survived without me (probably a little too well) but they seemed happy to have me back, anyway. They took a trip to Makutu's Island, went to a birthday party, Britt went to the NRA convention in Phoenix (no, I swear he's not a weirdo) and left Porter at the neighbors, where he played for most of the day. They went swimming, ate lots of food, watched movies. Woo hoo! I'm thinking Porter believes that it's way more fun when Mommy's gone! :) It was still good to see my boys again. Now I'm doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, and giving-in to Porter's requests for snuggles. How can I possibly say no to that?

Everybody's Workin' for the Weekend

2009-05-13T18:07:00.002-07:00

Oh, I can't think of that song without remembering the Patrick Swayze/Chris Farley Chippendale's skit! That was so funny...
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the weekend because I'm taking off with some friends for Palm Springs. I could call them "church ladies" so it would seem that the opportunity for getting into trouble is minuscule (and technically, I do go to church with all of them) but you would never confuse any of them for the Dana Carvey "Church Lady". (Wow, two old SNL references already. Must have something on the brain...). But, honestly, how much trouble can a car full of 30-something Mormon moms get into? :) (I'll post the embarrassing photos later...)
Britt and Porter have plans to hang around and scratch themselves, as I understand that is the custom of men when women aren't around. I'm hoping that's AFTER the school field trip to Makutu's Island play gym. We can't get banned from there so close to summer vacation!
Anyway, the boys will be fine for two days, and I'll still make it back in time for church.

Unexplored Territory

2009-05-12T17:45:00.002-07:00

So, this is what it's like to "blog". I've just spent the last two hours setting this thing up, and I hope it's everything I want it to be. I'm sure I'll tweak it along the way, but this will do for now.
It's weird writing a first blog entry. What am I supposed to say? I'm assuming if you're here you already know us, and you already know how cool we are, so I'll skip the introductions. Ha!
I'm excited to get this up and running and hopefully provide some more updates to our friends and family members. Feel free to bookmark this page and visit often. My goal is to update once a week (unless something really incredible happens, then it will be more frequently).
Speaking of incredible things, we are very excited to add another member to our family in a few short weeks. In fact, that's one of the reasons for creating this blog--we are adopting a baby boy from Idaho, and we're using this blog as a means of keeping in touch with his birthparents, as well as giving updates to everyone. He's due on May 30th, and we are so amazed at how blessed we are. We'll have a lot more to put up here soon--there's a lot going on right now! I hope I can keep up!
Anyway, more posts coming soon.