The Porters

Friday, April 26, 2013

It's Time

After spending a year in the black hole of facebook, I've decided to stop neglecting my blog :) Here's our some of the happenings over the last year.

JULY 2012
Macy had Chicken Pox.... for nearly the WHOLE summer... Now that we know she has pretty bad eczema, I think what we thought was leftover chicken pox (waiting to scab over so she was "safe") was really just eczema caused by the chicken pox. Poor girl spent almost all summer indoors and out of the pool. So sad.

AUGUST 2012

My first story was published in Jack and Jill magazine, Mike turned 35 and Macy lost her first tooth!

SEPTEMBER 2012

Macy learned to ride a bike. Jane started preschool!

OCTOBER 2012

Mutti and Papa visit and Halloween - of course!!!

Botanical Garden trip with Mutti, Papa and cousins

NOVEMBER 2012

Cole turned 11 and built marble tracks for almost a month straight :)

My 2nd story was published in The Friend, "Jumping Rope with Emma"

DECEMBER 2012

I turned 35. Jane turned 4 and Christmas :)

JANUARY 2013

My Mom came to visit (the highlight of the month for me) :) My little girls saw a Barbie car (this was an important life event for them) :) And Cole's science project went on to district. Yay, Cole!

FEBRUARY 2013

Another Haircut, Macy's 7th Birthday and Mike and I's 14th Wedding Anniversary.

MARCH 2013

Family trip to San Antonio. Jane's first haircut

APRIL 2013

This month has been really low-key (I love low-key) . The only highlight is that Mike is job hunting to leave the teaching profession after 7 years (still has a job, just very burnt out). Not sure exactly where he'll end up, but we'll let you know when it happens! :)

Love you all!!!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

What'd you do this summer?

I worried my kids didn't get to do enough fun stuff this summer - so it made me think, what the heck did we do these last two months? Once I thought about it... we've had a lot happen over the last two months... even if Shamu was never involved.

Here's a few highlights from

our summer adventures.

Bought our first house.

painted, painted, carpeted, and painted our new house

(thanks Mom, Rob and Becks... and Ali and Cole for babysitting)

My Mom came to visit and bought be a camera so I can take pictures again :)

We moved for the 11th time in our nearly 14 years of marriage - ugh.

Got to replace a dishwasher and garbage disposal - yay for foreclosures!

Cut off over a foot of hair.

Braces and Girls Camp for the first time.

Lots of Dress-ups

Friends

Ali turned 12 and is now in Young Women's!

Killed on bird on the way to the temple. Yuck.

(Don't worry Mutti and Papa... it all came off your car)

and LOTS of Swimming!

Although our summer didn't have more than a 30 mile radius - it was definitely an eventful one!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Graduation Smaguation

She passed Kindergarten!!!
(Not sure why she was worried)

Yup. Macy is the Kindergardener... not Jane

Hot Dog picnic on the school's lush lawns...

Macy, Her Teacher and a creepy...I mean cute, little girl in the back.

WAY TO GO, MACY!!!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

13 years in the making...

Mike and I had our doubts if we would pull off buying a house before Ali graduated high school (kind of a sad statement now that I say it out loud). But we pulled it off!! That "we" was used generously... there was LOTS of divine intervention.

We had given up on pursuing buying a home for a few more years when this house was sat in our laps. Just around the corner for our current rental. Foreclosure, $100 down, enough square footage, enough bedrooms, enough baths... right school, right neighborhood, still close to kids friends... sprinklers for lawn (my favorite) :)

First impression when we walked in the house was "what's that smell?" followed by, "we aren't really going to consider buying this, are we?" But the more I've gotten to know the house, the more potential I see in it.

Here's the before pics.... have to put on your imagination caps to see the potential.. it's there, I promise.