Family Photos

We had my Mom and Dad in town this last week (which was lots of fun) and my Dad took some great pics (even with his hurt back, working around our crazy schedules, and around Macy NOT liking the cold).
Here's a few to share:  (taken on our front porch)

This is the closest we could get to Macy and Jane sitting still in the pic.  Macy was chronically looking up at the  clouds,. Jane was usually picking her nose.  So here's the winner :)

Pretty Ali.  Age 11

Cool Cole.  Age 10

Very Cold Macy.  Age 5 1/2

Jane Train.  3 yrs old. in 5 days

Jenner - 21 years old
(yes, I had my kids very young)

I'm not mad.  Despite what my face says. :)

Yup.  We still like each other. 

They were so done at this point.
Ali's face just got more devilish in each pic (this was her starting point).

Look A-Likes

Who do people tell you that you look like?

I'm told I look like:

Celine Dion (don't love this one.. but I get it A LOT.  They always mean it as a compliment, but I haven't learned to take it as one yet) :)

When I had my very short hairdo.
Trinity from the first Maxtrix movie -
(I don't really see this one)

I ran to the grocery store early one more, hair still wet and slicked back from the shower and the stocker guys followed me around telling me I looked like her.  Odd morning.

What about you?

Halloween

Halloween was fun.  Here's the costume run down:

ALI- CAT FROM THE SHOW "VICTORIOUS"
Pretty much a hipply dressed teenager with red velvet red hair.  No one had any clue who she was.  Her night went something like this:

"And who are you?"
"Cat"
They look up and down.  "A Cat?"
"No, Cat from the show Victorious."
The nod without having any clue what she's talking about.  "Uh-huh."  Big handful of candy and quickly move to the next kid in the fairy costume.

Another one.. after a few like above...
"So what are you?  A Fashion Diva?"
Ali... warn out from explaining herself. "Uh, huh.  I'm a fashion diva."  Holds out candy bag.

COLE: KNIGHT
"Mom, I want to be a ninja or a knight.  Either's fine.  They both have swords."

MACY:  PIRATE/WITCH
Found her costume cheap at the thrift store.  Cute little red and black striped piratey dress that we added a black witch hat too.  She liked it, but seemed sad about it from some reason that I couldn't place.  I finally got it out of her that night before bedtime.

"Don't you think a witch needs to have a broom, Mom?" We hunted from a broom, but couldn't find one under $8.00 (and I'm too cheap to pay that much for a broom).  We got creative and made one out a of dowel, black duct tape and balck garbage bags cut into strips to be the bottom.  Adorable.  She was all smiles after that.

JANE:  FAIRY PRINCESS
This gal didn't care what she was as long as she could wear a crown... and even then.  She fell so in love with her fairy costume that the crown idea got thrown to the curb.


TRICK OR TREATING:
This was Jane's first year to trick or treat.  Last year at Halloween we were moving here, staying over at Rob and Becks with Jane and Cole throwing up.

After we'd finish one house she'd turn and ask, "Can we go another one?"  And would dart off to the next door.

Down her they're a little odd.  People sit in camping chairs in their driveways or on their porch with their bowl of candy.

Now we've spent the last 2 weeks being asked at EVERY hour of the day by Jane for a "sucker." "No, you can't have that for breakfast."

(I really wish her favorite candy was something else...still says an "F" for her "S"    Lovely.)

What's a blog without pics?

I'm going through some blog withdrawls not having my camera.  So, I've decided to go ahead and add some entries.. minus the pics (I know that's not as fun).

Seriously... I know my house can get messy, but where the heck did I put that thing!?

Andrea Bocelli with the Tabernacle Choir

I have loved Andrea Bocelli since I first heard him after high school. 

When I saw that he had done a recording with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, I had to hear.

This is phenomenal. 

It is Andrea Bocelli with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the Lord's Prayer.

 Just when you think the song has hit it's climax, the choir joins him. 

Outstanding!

If you have spotify, there is a better recording of this on his Christmas album.

Enjoy!

Ali update

Thought y'all might like an Ali update.  Here's some highlights:

-Dentist said it'd time for braces, so by the end of the year she should has a *gleaming* smile.
-She is in choir and LOVES it.  I sort of forced her into that class.  Glad I did.
-She just got her first Middle School report card - straight A's! (Nice Work, Al).
-She is addicted to using "y'all" and slips it into her conversations whenever possible.
-She's an awesome babysitter and getting closer to being able to babysit for other families too!

Love you, Ali!

Beyblading

Toys R Us hosts a Beyblade tournament about 4 times a year now.  They had one back in August, but it was on Mike's birthday and Cole broke his wrist, so he couldn't go.  He has been counting down the days to the one he went to this last Saturday. 

I can't find my camera, but I got some pics from online that gives you the gist of what it was like.

There were a lot less oriental people at our tournament. (I think this pic was in Japan)
  And the kids were not this well behaved. 
Sitting still...standing back... do ten year old American boys do that?

Beyblades are like fancy spinning tops that battle each other.  
Cole and his friends love 'em.  The orange "bowls" are the arenas where they battle.

There were over 60 boys there.  Cole made it through the first round.  The boy he went up against was INTENSE... thrashing around, yelling at his beyblade.  When Cole won he was very professional...shaking hands and giving congrats.

The second round Cole went against the only teenager in the bunch and lost.  Shouldn't there be age limitations or something?  He handled it well, still shook hands and said good game.

Nice job being a great sport, Cole!

It's Free Comb Day!

Was it only me that thought it was cool that they gave away combs on picture day to keep head lice in check?

Here's this years school pics... we'll find a good cheesy one of Jane and get that up here as soon as I find my camera :)

Alison Porter - 6th Grade (2011-2012)

Cole Porter - 4th Grade (2011-2012)



Macy Porter - Kindergarten (2011-2012)



...and around the corner.

The story only makes sense if you know:
Mike's favorite reply to the kids asking "Where's my..... ???" is "Up your butt and around the corner."  Then he bellows out a laugh, while the kids stare blankly at him.

================
I was helping Cole find a matching pair of socks in my mountain (literal mountain) of laundry. 

"I found them, Cole!" 

Jane, who was "helping" me look, cocked her head and asked:

"Did you find the sock in your butt?"

"What?"

"In your butt, Mom."

"Did I find the sock in my butt!?  Oh... like Daddy says?"

"Ya, like Daddy says.  In my butt and around corner.  Then he laughs real loud."

Hey, Mikey! She likes it!

Sunday night as I was putting Macy to bed, she looked at me, her shoulders slumped.  Her chin drooped. 

"How many more days 'til it's a school day, Mom?" 

I answered cautiously.  "Umm.. zero.  When you wake up tomorrow it will be a school day."  I watched her face for the tears.  Instead she threw her arms in the air, a huge, "catch some flies" grin.

"YES!!!  I love school, Mom."

Boat Races

For pack meeting Cole's scouts took veges and made boats to race.  These competitions always seem to end in one kid with the engineer for a father winning and the rest holding back the tears (or in this case, more than one just flat out crying).  Minus that tension, it was lots of fun to watch.

Started with a balloon toss.

Lovin' the Dennis the Menace do.

Mike's Birthday.

Mike is 34!  Happy Birthday, Old Man!

Jane has a little black eye.  Crazy girl kept falling into the corner of stuff.

First Day of School

So, the first day of school was August 23rd...  I'm a little behind.  Here are the few pics I took.  Everyone is loving school (including Mike).

Cole - 4th grade, Macy - Kindergarten, Ali-6th grade (middle school), Jane - the lonely, whiny one at home.

Macy at her desk!  Kindergarten is all day here.

Jane waiting to pick Macy up.

We're Safe.

A handful of you have heard about the fires here in the Austin area.  We are safe.  There was a large fire about 5 minutes from our home, but it was under control that day.  The very large fire that you are hearing about is about 30-40 minutes south of us in Bastrop and is severe.  Almost 800 homes have been lost (including my visiting teaching companion's in law's home), and only 30% of the fire is contained.  Please pray for rain for us.  We desperately need it.

 Love you all.

Anyone got a good idea?

I have to come up with a non-fiction article for my children's writing class and I am stumped.  Any ideas on something that would interest kids but hasn't been written about a lot?

I'll fight to get the remote... or fall off the couch trying!

Ali and Cole were fighting each over for the remote.  Cole fell over the back of the couch, tried to catch himself with his wrist and broke it in the process :)

Lego Party

Here's some pics from a little get together Cole had with some friends (it really was more of a get together so that a newer boy in a neighboring ward could get to know some of the boys in the area).

They did a tower build to see how tall of a tower they could make.  Made paper airplanes with lego man pilots.  Did a slip n slide and sprinkler under the tramp and built "lego" rice krispy creations.  It was a success!  (Mostly because I stuck with my gut that 6 boys is easier to handle than 10).

Dallin

Seth

Andrew

Isaac

Ethan

Cole

Jane's creation

Macy's treats

He has a job!!!

Mike got hired by Windermere Elementary. 

He interviewed a few weeks ago for their fourth grade position.  After interviewing we ran into my visiting teaching companion who raved about the principal and offered to put in a good word.

Later she told us that before putting in a good word she asked her current principal (who Mike had interviewed with before) if it would even help.  Their conversation went something like this:

Principal:  "Who is this for?"
Jeri (my VT Companion):  "Michael Porter"
P:  "Oh!  We want him at our school so bad, but are waiting for our enrollment numbers to go up.  Ya... putting in a good word would have helped to get him an interview, but Mike interviews so well he won't need the extra good word."

The Principal from the school where he was hired called last Friday afternoon (we thought the call was to say that the job had gone to someone else).  Instead she offered him the fifth grade slot instead of the fourth he interviewed for (much more his style).

He starts in a about week.  Has training next Monday (of course it's right when Rob needs help moving... seriously, how are we ever go to pay Rob back for all his help with our gazillion  moves?). 

We are counting our blessings.  It is near impossible for most teachers looking for work down here to get an interview, let alone a job right now, so we know the Lord had a hand in making this happen.  We won't even miss a paycheck!  Pheew!

Ali's 11thBirthday!

That's Stu in the corner.  They were down to visit.

Ali reading a card (like Elvis?)

Pillow Pet from the Porter Family (not us :)  those visiting ones).

Her new mp3 player (and lots of cash from her grandparents behind it... thank you).

Happy Birthday, Ali!!!  We love you!!!

No infection!? Have you seen my cheek???

I took a big bite of cereal, carefully making sure to only chew on my left side.  A couple of grape nuts escaped to the other side of my mouth, sending a sharp zing through my newly crowned molar when I bit down.

Should it still be hurting this much?  I thought as I popped another 5 Advil (barely numbing the pain).

The pain didn't get better.  I felt like a nursing mother again, the pain startling me awake each night.  I rolled over to the medicine waiting on my nightstand.  More Advil, more water and once the ibuprofen kicked in, more sleep.

I knew it was time to see the dentist again when the Advil was no longer helping and I woke for my middle of the night tooth "nursing" to find the right side of cheek swollen. 

"There's no infection.  I don't see anything that says that you need a root canal."  My dentist stared at the x-ray and back at my swollen cheek.  I stared at the x-ray too, trying to will the x-ray to give my dentist some answer to make the pain go away.

She sent me off with a referral to an endodontist (root canal doc) in one hand, and a prescription of viacadin in the other.

The Endodontist said the tooth had undergone too much trauma from getting a crown put on and it caused the tooth to start dying.  There was infection, just not visible because it was leaking out the bottom of the tooth and into my gums and face (lovely.. I know).  He gave me antibiotics and set me up for a root canal 5 days later.

I have never been in such extreme pain in my life (and I have a very high tolerance for pain).  No child bearing experience of mine could ever top those 5 days, not even my c-section recovery.  It got to the point that I called back the day I came home and tried to reschedule the root canal for sooner, even that day, but the doctor had already left and wouldn't be back until Monday.

It was a long weekend, but by the time the morning of the root canal rolled around, the swelling had gone down, and the pain was back to being bearable.

The procedure was easy and painless.  So glad it's over with.  I still wish I had Mike's genes when it comes to teeth.  Not fair that he can skip out on getting cavities and I can't, even with my "by the book" hygiene.  Not cool, Mike. :)

The 4th!

What a Fourth we had!  Started the morning with a ward breakfast.  Piled into the van, turned the key to hear a nice machine gun clicking.  Car wouldn't start (not the thing you want when your minus one job).  Mike called his brother for some ideas while I piled all the kids in Pop-pops car and then we were all off the breakfast (Mike and I still a bit worried about the van). 

Here's the kids on the playground after "eating."

Ali was off with friends.

Side note:  We really like our ward.  Taken a bit to get used to being in a ward with people our own age (most younger, actually).  But man, there's lots of good people down here. 

We've had multiple couples flat out "ask" to be our friends.  We're trying to break out of ourselves and make that happen. 

One gal sitting in front of us turned around before sacrament and told us how she has been wanting to ask us to play Rook with her and her husband.  I mentioned that if she liked Rook, she'd love Hand and Foot.  She took that as a sign from Heaven that is was meant to be (she and her husband we're complaining the night before that they had no one to play Hand and Foot with).  Ha :) 

After that.  The couple behind us asked Mike, "So, do you guys go out with other couples to dinner and stuff like that?  Would you guys want to do that?"  Too funny.  So maybe the whole purpose of moving here is to get us out of our shells. :)

Back to the Fourth

Got home from the breakfast and took the battery to AutoZone to see (to hope... to pray) that the battery was just dead and that that was all that was wrong with the van.

Sure enough, it was dead and thanks to my bigger than average paycheck, buying the new battery was no problem (we have learned to not get excited when my paychecks are bigger than average or when extra money shows up.  We now ask, "So...what's going to break now?"  Ha.

Got home and I took a nap because my stupid new crown is killing me (4 advil every 3-4 hours to make it ache instead of hurt).  I haven't felt pain like this since recovering from my C-Section. 

After my nap everything seemed hunky doory with the van.  Had the hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner and tried to think of what we could do with our bored kids, since it was 100+ degrees outside and fireworks are banned in our city and all of Austin (didn't feel like driving an hour to see the nearest firework show). 

So we opted to let the kids get a new movie.  Loaded up the kids in the van, turned the key (it started... pheew) and drove off to Target.  Got the movie, some treats and got back in the van, turned the key and.... it wouldn't start.  Luckily we had bought jumper cables earlier that day and got a lady to jump our car.  I anbesoled my tooth (which did nothing) while the car got jumped.

It started up, but kept dying slightly when we turned corners and stuff.  So we said a prayer that we'd make it home without the car dying (did not like the idea of sitting in a car on the side of the road  in 100+ degrees with 4 kids, melting ice cream bars and no air conditioning when the rest of the world is off BBQing and doing fireworks.  Would not be fun). 

After a white knuckle car ride, we made the 10 minute (mostly on 50 mile an hour plus roads) drive home with only a few scares.  During all of this, Mike had the thought, Maybe one of the connections is loose on the battery.    Sure enough that's all it was. 

Mike gave me a blessing for my tooth, and we had a good time watching the Boston Pops and the fireworks, followed by a little Diary of a Wimpy Kids; Rodrick Rules.

So...the car is fine, my tooth will likely be fine in a few weeks, just very tender/swollen from the procedure (doc said no root canal needed).  And the kids enjoyed their first firework-less fourth.

Happy Independence Day!